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“Hello, and unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that the Democratic primary did not go the way I had hoped,” said former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was recently bested in the NYC Democratic mayoral primary by Zohran Mamdani, a political unknown who energized a young and diverse electorate to emerge as the party’s contender in the upcoming Nov. 4 election.

Conceding the loss after the late June primary, Cuomo praised his rival for running “a really smart and good and impactful campaign.”

However, in a video posted on X Monday announcing his run, the former governor, sounding and looking rather subdued, said, “My opponent, Mr. Mamdani, offers slick slogans, but no real solutions.” He spoke standing in front of some green in Central Park interspersed with handshaking around the city and promised New Yorkers they’d soon be seeing a lot more of him.

It’s now official: New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani is the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, having toppled disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the establishment pick, in a wild primary that has already had seismic effects throughout the party. A 33-year-old Democratic Socialist, he will go up against the Republican nominee, Curtis Silwa, a scandal-ridden Mayor Eric Adams, and, potentially, Cuomo again in November, looking to become the first Muslim, first Indian-American, and first millennial leader of the Big Apple.

Mamdani’s momentous campaign has provided...

If you’ve kept up with right-wing tech oligarch Peter Thiel (or at least his interviews) you’ve probably noted his obsession with the term “stagnation.” While I don’t want to give too much credit to a thoroughly evil individual whose company, Palantir, is currently concocting a database of every single American citizen for nefarious government means, I must do a bit of a stopped-clock-is-right-twice-a-day admittance. Stagnation, not innovation, is the norm in modern mainstream cinema––hence why I’m reviewing Jurassic Park 7, which runs off the fumes of a 32-year-old blockbuster. Frankly, one wonders what the world would be like if John Sayles’ rejected script for a Jurassic Park 4 (featuring gun-wielding mercenary dinosaurs sent on rescue missions) had been made. It’s not a high standard to ask, but a single risk-averse decision may have pointed towards Hollywood moving at least incrementally forward.

Jurassic World Rebirth at...

As a young man Zohran Mamdani hated seeing his filmmaker mother Mira Nair leave for months at a time to go make movies. The only child was very close with his mother, and he coveted their time together.

But he was Ok with her absence for one project — The Reluctant Fundamentalist, which the Indian-American filmmaker shot when Mamdani was a 20-year-old sophomore at Bowdoin.

“Usually he doesn’t like me being away — he won’t encourage me to go do that romcom,” the Monsoon Wedding director recalled when I talked to her in 2013 at the Riverside Drive apartment where she and her husband Mahmood raised their son. “But this one he said ‘Mamma you can make.” She called Zohran “my oxygen, my fuel” in directing the film.

What does the The Reluctant Fundamentalist say and why was it so formative? The movie (forget the title, which can give a different...

Updated: Zohran Mamdani held a solid lead over Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary race for New York mayor, signaling a major upset by a political unknown against the state’s former governor.

Mamdani led Cuomo by nearly eight percentage points, with more than 90% of the vote counted on Tuesday evening, according to the AP.

“Tonight was not our night; tonight was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night,” Cuomo told his supporters, conceding that his rival had “won.” He credited Mamdani with running “a really smart and good and impactful campaign.”

Mamdani, a Democratic socialist and state assemblyman, has run a campaign focused on affordability, proposing things such as a rent freeze and city owned grocery stores. But he put a big emphasis on social media and a heavy slate of media appearances, contrasting himself with the Democratic establishment.

“Tonight, we made history,” Mamdani told supporters. “In the words of Nelson Mandela,...

Zohran Mamdani declared victory in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary Tuesday night after Andrew Cuomo conceded the race in a stunning upset, as the young, progressive upstart who was virtually unknown when the contest began built a substantial lead over the more experienced but scandal-scarred former governor.

Though the race’s ultimate outcome will still be decided by a ranked choice count, Mamdani took a commanding position just hours after the polls closed.

With victory all but assured, Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist who ran an energetic campaign centered on the cost of living, told supporters, “I will be your Democratic nominee for the mayor of New York City.”

“I will be the mayor for every New Yorker, whether you voted for me, for Governor Cuomo, or felt too disillusioned by a long-broken political system to vote at all,” he said. “I will work to be a mayor...

Eric Adams has been elected the 110th Mayor of New York City.

Facing Republican rival and Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa in Tuesday’s vote, the former New York Police Department captain and longtime Brooklyn borough president was declared the winner by AP at 9:10 Pm Et — that’s literally mere minutes after the polls closed at 9 Pm Et.

Even before his very strong win was proclaimed and right as polls closed, odds on favorite Adams took to social media to de facto declare victory:

The polls are officially closed in NYC.

To our supporters, volunteers & endorsers of all backgrounds, faiths & from every corner of NYC: Thank you, from the very bottom of my heart, for being a part of our team.

Tonight, we celebrate — because tomorrow, the real work begins! pic.twitter.com/6EAZRN3paB

— Eric Adams (@ericadamsfornyc) November 3, 2021

Set to assume office on New Year’s Day 2022, Democrat...

Former police captain Eric Adams cruised to victory Tuesday to become the next mayor of New York as voters across the U.S. picked new city leaders from candidates who were largely defined by their stances on police and crime.

Adams, who will become the second Black mayor of the nation’s largest city, first triumphed this summer in a crowded Democratic primary after he struck a nuanced stance on law enforcement issues. His message on crime and his experience as a police officer largely insulated him from attacks from his Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian ...

Former police captain Eric Adams cruised to victory Tuesday to become the next mayor of New York as voters across the U.S. picked new city leaders from candidates who were largely defined by their stances on police and crime.

Adams, who will become the second Black mayor of the nation’s largest city, first triumphed this summer in a crowded Democratic primary after he struck a nuanced stance on law enforcement issues. His message on crime and his experience as a police officer largely insulated him from attacks from his Republican opponent Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian ...

The Associated Press Tuesday called the New York City Democratic primary for Brooklyn borough chief Eric Adams, a former NYPD captain who appears to have beaten out his closest rival Kathryn Garcia as well as third place Maya Wiley.

All three had trounced former presidential hopeful Andrew Yang in primary voting last month.

With most absentee votes now counted, Adams led Garcia by 8,426 votes in the city’s first mayoral contest to be determined by so-called ranked-choice voting, a somewhat confusing system that allowed voters to rank all the candidates by preference. The city will announce official results in July. Adams, the overwhelming favorite to win in November against the Republican nominee, Curtis Sliwa (founder of the Guardian Angels), would be the Big Apple’s second black mayor.

Garcia is the former Department of Sanitation commissioner. Wiley, who was the leading candidate among progressives, is former counsel to outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio.

New York City voters are heading to the polls today in a primary election just the third mayor in the past 20 years.

Because of the political makeup of the left-leaning city, the race among 13 Democrats in today’s primary will effectively decide the official winner, rendering Election Day in November a formality. The top candidates in pre-primary polling have been 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang; Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, activist and MSNBC contributor Maya Wiley; New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer; and former sanitation commissioner Kathryn Garcia.

There are only two Republicans on the primary ballot, businessman Fernando Mateo and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa. Both are considered marginal in the overall picture.

Polls close at 9 p.m. Et, but results could take a while to be tabulated. The lengthy process is due to a switched to “rank-choice” ballots this year. As is familiar to Oscar voters, those choosing candidates...

Director Sam Hobkinson’s Fear City: New York vs The Mafia details the historic investigation and prosecution of New York’s criminal Commission. The resulting convictions of the law enforcement actions marked an end of an era. New York was no longer under the thumb of mob bosses; businesses maintained control of their goods, manufacturing and trafficking; the thin blue line thickened.

As the documentary points out, the Mafia was untouchable when they controlled illegal street trade, but when they made offers which legitimate business couldn’t refuse, law enforcement stepped in and cleaned up. Fear City: New York vs The Mafia depicts this specific period in New York as a war zone. “The Bronx was burning every night,” Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa says in the documentary.

While much of the day-to-day peril of city living has been exaggerated into legend, this is what drew a British...

With the ink still drying on Megyn Kelly’s $25-30 million separation agreement from NBC News, questions have begun to emerge about what the ex-daytime star might do next. Without the shackles of a non-compete clause, Kelly’s future is more open than at any time in her television career.

“At this point, with the money that she settled for, she could buy time and do whatever she wants to do,” longtime radio host Curtis Sliwa told TheWrap. “She’s going to be swimming in dough.”

But few expect her to just retire — despite the debacle of her short-lived tenure at NBC hosting the third hour of the network’s morning “Today” juggernaut and an even shorter-lived primetime magazine show.

So where will she take her talents — and how soon? Kelly herself has teased her desire to get back into television, telling TMZ in an interview posted this month that...

The Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons celebrated their 12th Annual Get Wild! Summer Gala at Joan and Bernard Carl’s Little Orchard Garden on Coopers Neck Lane in Southampton, NY.

Beth Stern At The 12th Annual Get Wild! Summer Gala

Credit/Copyright: RobRichSocietyAllure.com

The event honored Jay Schneiderman, Southampton Town Supervisor and Susan McGraw Keber, East Hampton Town Trustee, and welcomed distinguished guests to celebrate the united efforts to rehabilitate animals and successfully release them back into the wild across Long Island.

“It’s important for us to recognize the continued efforts of everyone involved with The Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center. The commitment to rehabilitate Long Island’s wildlife is a shared passion for us all. We truly thank our honorary chairs Ellen and Chuck Scarborough, hosts Joan and Bernard Carl, benefit co-chairs plus committee, and sponsors,” said Director of Development Shelley Berkoski.

The picturesque...

Embodying every cliché of the working class New York City loudmouth is long-time local legend Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, an organization of do-gooders who formed in 1977 in a McDonalds on Fordham Road in the Bronx. His new documentary Vigilante: The Incredible True Story of Curits Sliwa and the Guardian Angels, directed by David Wexler, is an entertaining yet one-sided look at the organization told mostly through an extended interview with Sliwa and archival footage of New York in the Ed Koch, David Dinkins, and Rudy Giuliani eras. The lattermost mayor would finally give credit to the Guardian Angels while Koch and the NYPD fought against the collective, which initially was founded as a neighborhood watch. Only later as crack rock hit the poorest neighborhoods of color would the Angels become more proactive, robbing crack dealers, throwing the product in the sewer, and giving the cash proceeds to soup kitchens.

"Do you call the police, or do you mind your business?" One of the most subversive films of 2014 is A Most Violent Year, written & directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Oscar Isaac as a humble businessman trying to keep his company clean in the tough times of 1981. The title of the film refers to "one of the most dangerous years on record for New York City", and to help provide some background on that time, A24 has created a must-see short doc. Featuring Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, performance artist Penny Arcade, and Harlem street-style legend Dapper Dan, this short doc dives into New York City in 1981 and how tough it was to work and live then. It's a fascinating promo for a great film that I recommending seeing. Here's another viral video going around showing actor Oscar Isaac running with the crew during filming: See the two official trailers for A Most Violent Year,...

Before entire networks were built on populist personalities; before reality morphed into a TV genre; the masses fixated on a single, sociopathic star: controversial talk-show host Morton Downey Jr. We have the just released second trailer for his new documentary Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, as well as the earlier released first trailer and poster.

Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie - Trailer 2

Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie Trailer

In the late '80s, Morton Downey Jr. tore apart the traditional talk format by turning debate of current issues into a gladiator pit. His blow-smoke-in-your-face style drew a rabid cult following, but also the title "Father of Trash Television." Was his show a platform for the working man or an incubator for Snooki and The Situation? Ironbound Films' Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie dissects the mind and motivation of television's most notorious agitator.

Lower the safety bar...

Funnyman Tracy Morgan cheered up miserable New England Patriots fans on their way home from the Super Bowl by putting on an impromptu comedy show at Indianapolis Airport.

The 30 Rock star jetted out to Indianapolis, Indiana to see his favourite team, the New York Giants, emerge victorious over the Patriots in the big game on Sunday.

Morgan mingled with other travelling football fans on his way back to New York on Monday, and he burst into an impromptu stand-up set at the airport to keep their spirits up.

Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels charity, was among the crowd at the terminal and he tells New York Post gossip column Page Six, "I was waiting for the flight with a crowd of Giant celebrants and Patriots fans looking like the Grim Reaper was about to get them. Tracy... ran up and embraced me. We started talking... Then Tracy started doing stand-up for everyone in the terminal, and even the Patriots fans perked up.

"He was taking pictures with them, shaking hands, and saying, 'Great game. You should be proud.' Tracy was like a king in his court - he had everyone's attention."

Morgan even continued his routine after boarding his fight to New York. Sliwa adds, "I was sitting in steerage, Tracy was in first-class... and you could hear him telling jokes... Everybody had a good belly laugh. It was the best comedy show I have seen for two reasons: I laughed hard, and I didn't have to pay for it."

The comedian says, "It all started at the food court. We were feeling so good. There was an amazing electricity. I was with my comrades and my Giants fans and my family. It was a star-studded flight."...

Washington, Oct 1: The victims of Mob boss John Gotti's crimes are upset with the constant meeting between John Travolta and the late criminal's family to research for his movie.

The 57-year-old actor has already met up with Gotti's family thrice in the past 10 months to research for 'Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father', a movie based on John Gotti Jr's memoir of growing up in the Mob.

"He (Travolta) wants to go out playing a guy who made my life and other people's lives miserable for decades," Fox News quoted radio host Curtis Sliwa, a victim, as saying.

"Looking at some of these photos, you have to say to.

Barry Levinson tells Andrew Pulver how John Gotti's son himself has given the green light to a film about the Teflon Don

The Cannes film festival is the launchpad for many a still-to-be-realised movie: the streets, cafes and hotels are packed with dreamers and hucksters alike. But some pitch-merchants have more pedigree than others: here, for example, is Barry Levinson, director of Diner, Tin Men and Rain Man, who has slipped quietly into Cannes to talk up a film of which not a frame has yet been shot, but the world is already very well aware: the biography of notorious mafioso John Gotti, the "Teflon Don".

"I find it awkward to talk about a movie before there's a movie," says the 69-year-old Levinson, baseball cap pulled down over his eyes. "I'm not crazy about any of this. I don't like speculation about what may or may not happen." But on some level,...

The Gotti name linked to controversy - again? John Travolta recently called his next movie, Gotti: Three Generations - in which he'll play Mob boss John Gotti Sr. - "the most interesting untold story in America." But that doesn't mean the subject matter is sitting well with everybody. Adding fuel to the fire was an April 12 New York press event to drum up publicity for the upcoming film. Besides Travolta, Lindsay Lohan, who's in the running to play Victoria Gotti in the picture, attended the gathering with the famous Mob daughter As a silver spotlight is being placed on the family,...

In New York City, NY1 is the city's respected local news channel and it's premiere show, Inside City Hall often gets national politicians as guests. Yet the "Political Rundown," a wacky weekly segment featuring radio personality Curtis Sliwa and political commentator Gerson Borrero seems like it would be more fitting on a morning zoo radio show than a distinguished political program. Although some of the topics discussed are local to New York, the craziness can be universally enjoyed.

This week a fashion designer built sustainable communities in Africa, a weatherman toured the country on a feel good gift giving spree, and a star-studded documentary encouraged kids to go outside and play.  Here are this week's most inspirational pop culture moments.

New York Street Games, a new documentary narrated by Hector Elizondo, features a wide array of notables like Ray Romano, C. Everett Koop, Joe "Joey Pants" Pantoliano, Regis Philbin, and Curtis Sliwa. It takes a look at the games kids used to play out in front of their own homes.

The film tells of a world before cell phones, the internet, XBox, and PSP when kids had to find entertainment all on their own. They used pink Spaulding balls, big pieces of chalk, old broom handles, and even their own bodies to play stickball, stoopball, kick the can, Johnny on a pony, and hopscotch.

The celebs reminisce about...

MSNBC has canceled its noontime Curtis & Kuby debate show starring Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa and attorney Ronald Kuby, the network has announced. In its place, the network is opting for news. Through Election Day, the network will present Countdown 2002 from noon-1 p.m. EST, which will focus on the midterm elections. Chris Jansing will anchor that show as well as the following news hour from 1-2 p.m. "We decided that live news coverage works better in that time period rather than what 'Curtis and Kuby' were doing," an MSNBC spokeswoman said Friday. The ratings were disappointing. The network said an average of 222,000 viewers were watching the show. Following the election, the network will produce a second hour of its Countdown Iraq show, which runs at 7 p.m.

Boasting that he's been arrested 19 times, New York publisher and multimedia pornographer Al Goldstein is the primary subject of Alexander Crawford's "Screwed", but the documentary (screening Fridays at midnight at the Nuart) is somewhat ambiguous in presenting the raw world of hard-core adult entertainment.

Goldstein is best-known for publishing Screw, an explicit magazine started in 1968 after the Brooklyn native claimed he worked as an "industrial spy." Profane and extremely harsh in his opinions of enemies and women, Goldstein is a rabid self-promoter and admittedly not too different from the typical male consumer he serves.

One such Screw reader and proud owner of thousands of pornographic tapes is loner Big Bob, whose philosophy is in keeping with his taste for a specific kind of heterosexual activity. Another colorful character is a young man seen cruising in his car and talking about hookers.

"Screwed" sets out to explore as much of the raunchy environment around Goldstein as possible, including several scenes of sadomasochism with Screw's senior editor Dave Clark and one Joe Lavezzo, a mild-mannered insurance man who uses the magazine to find call girls.

Before the struggles of Larry Flynt, many felt Goldstein's publication was suppressed as a sign to the media overall, while others claim that the city of New York tolerated Screw because it published ads for hookers and reduced business on the sidewalk.

When the filmmakers visit Goldstein on the set of a X-rated movie he's making, "Screwed" leaves little to the imagination. Similarly, Goldstein's tirades on his cable-access show "Midnight Blue" are hateful blasts aimed at celebrities, politicians and other public figures.

One learns that Goldstein has not had luck with lasting relationships and his vicious on-air attacks against his fourth wife are unabashedly misogynistic. His attitude comes from the sex industry, in which men look at women as objects and women look at men as "wallets."

But there's no denying the relish with which Goldstein enjoys his kingly position in a "self-hating business of losers." And when Big Bob, whose sexual activities are not limited to passive voyeurism, fails to find anything wrong with porno, the filmmakers find their thematic statement: "A world with no pornography is a world with no imagination."

There is little balance to Crawford's approach and "Screwed" is undercut by including only one avowed Goldstein opponent, Curtis Sliwa, founder of New York's Guardian Angels. Sliwa's blaming Goldstein for the deterioration of New York seems melodramatic, while the sundry women interviewed and seen performing are generally upbeat about their lifestyles.

SCREWED

Headlock Films

Saint Dympna Prods.

Director Alexander Crawford

Producers Todd Phillips, Andrew Gurland

Co-producer Victoria Cook

Cinematographer-editor Alexander Crawford

With Al Goldstein, Dave Clark, Joe Lavezzo,

Curtis Sliwa, Ron Jeremy

Color/stereo

Running time -- 85 minutes

No MPAA rating...