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There’s no question that photographer and artist Laurie Simmons has an eye for images, and while her feature directorial debut “My Art” relies heavily on a series of homages to some of cinema’s most beloved features, the newbie narrative filmmaker really impresses in an unexpected arena. Simmons pulls triple duty on the film, writing, directing and starring in the feature, and although she knows how to compose lovely shots and her insight into the art world is keen, it’s her performance as artist Ellie that stands out in an otherwise predictable feature about growing up, no matter your age.

Mashing up mid-life crisis narratives (the film is heavy on the Nancy Meyers influence, down to the shades of “Baby Boom” and an attention to great interior design) with various recreations of classic films that run the gamut from “Some Like It Hot” to “Jules and Jim” and plenty of pictures in between,...

It's been a strange couple of weeks of films with the boys. First, we had a period of almost three weeks where I didn't get to see them because of all sorts of different scheduling issues. The hardest part of adjusting to life as a divided family is making my peace with the very different way the kids and I spend time together now. I've gone from having hours with them every day to having a handful of hours every couple of weeks. It makes time feel much more precious, but it can add a layer of stress, as well, because I'm constantly aware of the ticking clock. I know the boys feel it, too. We talk when I don't see them, but it's not the same. You try having a serious conversation on the phone with a seven-year-old. It's just not satisfying, no matter what. Kids today don't really...

Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis keep this joyous Billy Wilder comedy fizzing from start to finish

"I tell you … it's a whole different sex!" This is the awed insight from the terrified 20s Chicago musician Jerry, played by Jack Lemmon, in Billy Wilder's 1959 comedy Some Like It Hot — now on re-release. He is disguised as a woman to escape scary gangsters, and so is his buddy Joe, played by Tony Curtis. They will get up close and personal with a girl-band on a night-train to Florida, including the demure ukulele player Sugar Kane, superbly played by Marilyn Monroe, demonstrating the most famous lip-pursing mannerism since Mae West: somewhere between a pout and a moue.

As well as everything else, it is the best remake in movie history: reworked from a 1951 German comedy that Wilder had discovered called Fanfares of Love written by Peter Thoeren and Michael Logan,...

Billy Wilder movies, Johnny Carson interviews tonight on TCM Billy Wilder is Turner Classic Movies’ Director of the Evening tonight, July 8, 2013. But before Wilder Evening begins, TCM will be presenting a series of brief interviews from The Tonight Show, back in the old Johnny Carson days — or rather, nights. The Carson interviewees this evening are Doris Day, Charlton Heston, Tony Curtis, Chevy Chase, and Steve Martin. (See also: Doris Day today.) (Photo: Billy Wilder.) As for Billy Wilder, TCM will be showing the following: Some Like It Hot (1959), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Spirit of St. Louis (1958), and The Seven Year Itch (1955). Of course, all of those have been shown before and are widely available. Some Like It Hot vs. The Major and the Minor: Subversive and subversiver Some Like It Hot is perhaps Billy Wilder’s best-known film. This broad comedy featuring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis...