Movies

Seth Rogen testified before a Senate subcommittee Wednesday and pledged allegiance -- to "House of Cards."

Seth went to Capitol Hill to voice his support for legislation to increase funding for Alzheimer's research. Seth's mother-in-law suffers from the disease.

By congressional standards, Seth was hilarious ... and a little too hip for the room.

Safe to say Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee, is not a big fan of "Knocked Up" ... but he was clearly amused.

Check out the video. Pretty funny.

Jennifer Lawrence is so worn out, so beat down -- at the age of 23 -- she needs a break from Hollywood ... or at least that's what one movie honcho claims.

Which is cool -- because she's totally earned it, right? Not even close ... said one person.

Ernie Hudson was shaken as he met our photog outside a terminal at LAX, having just learned his "Ghostbusters" co-star Harold Ramis had died.

Ernie is emotional and what he says is clearly heartfelt. He humbly confesses he probably wouldn't have had a career without Ramis ... and then goes on to explain why he was such a legend in the movie business.

And on a sad note ... Hudson says any possibility of a new "Ghostbusters" movie is now out of the question.

Hulk Hogan ... you might get KNOCKED THE F OUT ... because the guy who played Deebo in "Friday" wants a piece of you in the ring ... AGAIN.

Of course, wrestle-a-holics know ... before he terrorized Ice Cube, Tiny Lister played Zeus in the 1989 wrestling flick "No Holds Barred" ... where he battled the Hulkster for the first time.

After the movie, the two wrestled in the WWF a couple of times ... with "Zeus" losing every match.

Now, with Hulk gearing up for his "comeback" ... Lister says he wants the first shot -- saying, "We got some unfinished business!!!"

Lister is 55. Hulk 60 -- hopefully, no one breaks a hip.

Eddie Murphy does NOT own the name Murphy ... and an indignant comedian -- Brando Murphy -- is determined to prove that point with a new $50 MILLION defamation lawsuit.

Brando claims Eddie is hell-bent on destroying his career, which Brando thinks is rooted in absurd vanity.

It looks like Brando is trying out new material in his lawsuit, saying, "The name Murphy is of Irish decent ... and not exclusive to Eddie Murphy, a 'Black Man' of African Ancestry and a purported African American."

As for Eddie's grumblings that Brando tries to look and act like him, Brando fires back, "[i] did not create [myself] and that the way [I] looks is an act of GOD."

Brando says he never tried to pass himself as Eddie's son. He does not address the fact that he appeared in the stage act, Sons of Comedy, which also featured Richard Pryor's son.

BTW ... Brando also claims one of Eddie's people threatened to have him killed.

For his troubles ... Brando wants a modest $50 mil.

Amanda Bynes has just scored a victory of sorts in her DUI case, pleading no contest to a lesser offense ... TMZ has learned.

Amanda was arrested in April 2012 in West Hollywood and charged with DUI.

Amanda's lawyer Rich Hutton was in court this morning and accepted a plea of "wet reckless" -- a drinking-related offense that does not have the serious consequences of DUI.

Under the terms of the deal, Amanda will be placed on 3 years probation, must attend a 3-month alcohol ed course, and pay various fines.

It appears her license was suspended because she refused to submit to an alcohol test at the time of her arrest.

Her lawyer tells us she's doing well now.

Hollywood legend Harold Ramis -- famous for his films "Caddyshack," "Ghostbusters," "Groundhog Day," and "Animal House" -- has died.

According to his family, the writer-director passed away early this morning at his Chicago home from complications stemming from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis, a rare disease involving the swelling of blood vessels. He was surrounded by his family.

Ramis was 69. He is survived by his wife Erica, his sons Julian and Daniel, his daughter Violet, and two grandchildren.

Ramis began suffering from health issues related to his autoimmune disease in 2010.

In addition to "Caddyshack" and others, the comedy legend directed "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Analyze This" and several other films. He also wrote sequels to his films, like "Ghostbusters 2" and "Caddyshack 2."

"Avatar" star Sam Worthington punched a photographer who kicked Sam's girlfriend ... according to NYPD ... and both men were arrested.

Cops say Worthington and his gf Lara Bingle were walking out of a bar in Greenwich Village when the paparazzo went all Bruce Lee on Bingle for some reason ... and that's when Worthington jumped to her defense and punched the guy in the face.

Sam was charged with assault, released ... and given a ticket to appear in court at a later date.

Katherine Heigl's hit hard times ... telling us she needs to hang onto every penny and is in NO position to donate cash to finish her new movie.

Here's the thing ... Hollywood hasn't exactly been beating down Katherine's door since she foolishly left "Grey's Anatomy" and trash talked Judd Apatow's movie -- she even admits it in this clip.

So now she's counting on a crowd funding campaign to raise $150,000 to complete her indie film "Jenny's Wedding" -- and makes it clear she won't be pitching in because she just ain't got it like that anymore.

Michael B. Jordan has a message for all the hating comic book fans who say a BLACK man can't play the extremely WHITE Human Torch -- CHILL OUT!

Jordan just got the the role of Johnny Storm in the upcoming Fantastic Four remake -- even though in comics, the character's always been blonde-haired, blue-eyed ... and has a white sister Sue Storm (Kate Mara got that role).

Oksana Grigorieva -- the woman who Mel Gibson struck in the mouth -- just lost hundreds of thousands of bucks because of her big mouth ... by violating her confidentiality agreement. ... court sources tell TMZ.

It all has to do with an interview she did in October with Howard Stern. Oksana -- who promised in her settlement agreement with Mel she would say NOTHING about him publicly -- blabbed about the actor.

In the Stern Interview:

-- Howard sympathizes about her problems with Mel, telling her she has to go forward in life. She refers to her "painful and dark" experience and says now she wants to help others.

-- Howard asks if Mel wined and dined her. She says it's too painful to even talk about.

-- Howard talks about how amazing the famous audio tapes are, and Oksana responds, "Life happens ... I'm still catching up on the humor part."

-- Howard, who referenced portions of Mel's rants during the interview, told her a woman shouldn't be treated that way, especially the mother of your child. She said, "Thank you."

Apparently that was enough for a judge, because court sources tell us, hizzoner ruled Oksana was never supposed to talk about Mel -- even obtusely -- and as a result she forfeited the remaining installments of her $750,000 settlement. We're told she was still owed half -- $375,000 ... money she now will NOT get.

TMZ broke the story ... Oksana has filed for bankruptcy. Pretty amazing, since Mel initially offered her $15 MILLION but she rejected it.

No one can explain how the first 'Sharknado' became such a HUGE hit last year -- but now that we've seen Ian Ziering shooting the first scenes of the sequel in NYC ...

Ummm.

Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green's new baby boy is obviously worth a lot to the couple -- because they named him Bodhi Ransom Green.

27-year-old Fox gave birth to Bodhi on February 12th, as TooFab first reported.

Bodhi is Fox's second child with Green -- she gave birth to their first son Noah in 2012. Green has another son Kassius from a previous relationship.

Paul Walker got his dying wish -- at least one of them -- TMZ has learned, his dad is now officially the executor of his estate ... just like Paul requested in his will.

A judge approved Paul's request to make his dad executor this morning in Santa Barbara court.

The entire family was there -- Paul's mom and dad, his 15-year-old daughter Meadow, and Meadow's mother Rebecca Soteros. The issue of Meadow's guardianship was not raised in court.

As we reported, Paul specified in his will that he wanted his mother Cheryl to become Meadow's guardian in the event of his death. He made no mention of Rebecca.

You wanna see a shark tank an actor's career? We caution you ... this video of "Sharknado 2" is painful and at the same time hysterical.

The stars shot scenes on the streets of NYC Wednesday. Here's the TMZ review:

Mark McGrath: As believable as Britney Spears singing at the Super Bowl.

Vivica A. Fox: She made me feel guilty. I was rooting for the Great White.

Judd Hirsch: His best Taxi days are behind him.