Movies

Stan Lee might've allowed way too many hands in the cookie jar, because another $1.4 million just up and disappeared and he has no idea how ... TMZ has learned.

Sources connected to Lee tell us ... detectives working in a specialized unit that deals with elder financial abuse showed up at Stan's Hollywood Hills pad Friday to look into the latest theft. We're told detectives met with Lee for more than 2 hours.

Detectives peppered Stan with a bunch of questions ... including exactly who had access to any of his accounts and a timeline of when the cash went missing. Stan turned over financial records to help them find the culprit.

We broke the story ... someone siphoned around $850k out of one of Stan's bank accounts to buy a condo. Another $300k also disappeared.

He's had a rough 2018 ... he's been dealing with health issues and a former bodyguard causing a scene.

A "Black Panther" actor is one of many DACA recipients sighing in relief after the Supreme Court refused to take up the case ahead of schedule ... but he says his future in America is uncertain.

Bambadjan Bamba came on "TMZ Live" hours after SCOTUS issued the Trump administration a crucial blow in its bid to phase out DACA by March 5 ... basically telling the Prez to kick rocks and to allow the case to go through the appeals process first.

Bambadjan says the court's decision -- or non-decision, if you will -- is not the long-term solution for those who want to renew work permits and remain in the country.

Director Kevin Smith-- the director behind iconic flicks like "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy" -- says he's lucky to be alive after suffering a massive heart attack Sunday evening.

The 47-year-old had performed the first of 2 standup comedy shows at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA when something went wrong.

"After the first show this evening, I had a massive heart attack," Smith says.

"The Doctor who saved my life told me I had 100% blockage of my LAD artery (aka 'the Widow-Maker')."

"If I hadn’t canceled show 2 to go to the hospital, I would’ve died tonight. But for now, I’m still above ground!"

Smith posted a photo from the hospital covered by tubed and wires.

It was almost inevitable ... The Weinstein Co. has announced it will file for bankruptcy after hemorrhaging assets and facing multiple lawsuits in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

The Board of Directors said it had no choice ... this after investors bailed in droves after disclosures of Harvey Weinstein's alleged misdeeds.

There were potential buyers at one time ... Colony Capital's Tom Barrack was once interested but he saw no upside and bailed. Maria Contreras-Sweet, former head of the Small Business Administration in the Obama administration also formed an investor group, but that went south.

The actor who plays the creature in "The Shape of Water" has mixed feelings about an artist's creation of his character's penis ... but he appreciates the sentiment.

We got Doug Jones out in Bev Hills and asked what he thinks about the sex toy inspired by his Amphibian Man. He tells us it's a fan art thing and, while he prefers other, classier past examples of fans paying homage to his movie characters ... he's not gonna knock an artist's freedom of expression.

Doug says his movie -- which is nominated for 13 Oscars -- has been getting all sorts of positive buzz during awards season ... so it's okay if it veers down a weird Fish-man dildo path, too.

As for his performance, and whether he feels he got snubbed for an Academy Award nomination ... the creature keeps it classy, and says maybe someday he'll get his due.

Reese Witherspoon knows if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself ... which is why she spruced up her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Reese filmed herself out on Hollywood Blvd. Sunday morning, and told her IG followers she'd be visiting an old friend in the area. That friend ... 2010 sidewalk Reese.

She playfully cleaned up some smudges on her star ... while also giving the hardware a nice little pep talk on not letting the world walk all over it, despite its permanent position in life.

Emma Chambers -- best known for her role as Honey in the rom-com "Notting Hill" -- has died from natural causes ... according to her agent.

The English actress appeared alongside Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant in the hit 1999 film, and was a star on the long-running British comedy, "The Vicar of Dibley," for which she won a British Comedy Award.

According to her agent, John Grant, Chambers passed away Wednesday. He says ... "Over the years, Emma created a wealth of characters and an immense body of work. She brought laughter and joy to many, and will be greatly missed."

Emma is survived by her husband, actor Ian Dunn.

She was 53.

Our photog gave it the ol' college try, but Kanye West and Kourtney Kardashian weren't having it when he asked about Kylie going south on Snapchat.

Kanye and Kourtney went to the movies in Calabasas to see "Black Panther" and, as they left, we asked them about the power of Kylie. As you know, she pretty much said she was done with the app and the stock plummeted over 7% after her tweets, although it did bounce back a bit, closing Thursday at only 6% down.

Krista Allen walked in on a would-be burglar, who she says badly injured her dog during the break-in ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us Krista arrived back at her San Fernando Valley home Thursday and found a transient woman inside. We're told Krista called 911 and held the woman down until cops arrived.

The story gets crazier ... Krista claimed the woman pointed out that their family dog was having difficulty getting up, which led Krista to believe the woman had kicked her pup. The dog -- an 11-year-old beagle named Jack -- was, in fact, injured. Krista had to take him to the vet for treatment. She posted an update on him, and also revealed ... another dog, a puggle named Jake, was also injured during the incident.

Cops say the woman drank Krista's alcohol and ingested pills that were in the house. We're told she also had Krista's vibrator.

We've reached out to Krista's rep ... no comment.

Oprah, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon know the drill -- a pilgrimage to Disneyland's a must anytime you're in a Disney film.

The stars -- along with Storm Reid -- surprised a bunch of "A Wrinkle in Time" fans Thursday at The Happiest Place on Earth. Fans never saw it coming ... they were at the Sunset Showcase Theater at Disney's California Adventure for a preview of the flick before the foursome made the surprise appearance.

They all ultimately made their way into Disneyland where they posed in front of the Magic Castle. BTW ... it's the first time we see Mindy out in public since she gave birth back in December. Motherhood suits her well.

Gotta hand it to the marketing folks at Disney ... every film Mickey makes, inevitably, the stars of that film somehow end up with Mouse ears on their heads.

Harvey Weinstein realizes the enormous misstep his civil lawyer made when he filed legal docs suggesting Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Gwyneth Paltrow have no problem with him, because he's just schooled the attorney, telling him to back off.

Weinstein's rep tells TMZ, "Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologizes. Once again, moving forward, Mr. Weinstein has advised his counsel to not include specific names of former associates; and to avoid whenever possible, even if they are in the public record."

Lawrence and Streep blasted Weinstein for dragging them into his defense, calling it exploitative, predatory and downright disgusting.

Jennifer Aniston made a rare public outing since announcing her split from Justin Theroux ... and she did not look happy.

Jen was spotted leaving Grauman's Chinese Theater Wednesday night after the premiere of her longtime friend Jason Bateman's new movie, "Game Night." She and Jason have been close for nearly 20 years and have done 5 movies together.

However, 'Game' is an action comedy ... so it seems unlikely that is the reason for her solemn face.

As we reported ... Aniston and Theroux announced their separation last week and all signs point to divorce being the next step. We did some digging, though, and they might not ever have been legally married -- which would certainly make the split go smoother, for the lawyers, anyway.

Jennifer Lawrence has joined the chorus blasting Harvey Weinstein for suggesting she's fine with his conduct, at least toward her.

Weinstein filed legal docs Wednesday trying to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of all women who dealt with the fallen mogul, saying Lawrence had spoken "glowingly" about him and quoting her as saying, "He had only ever been nice to me."

Lawrence tells TMZ, "Harvey Weinstein and his company are continuing to do what they have always done which is to take things out of context and use them for their own benefit. This is what predators do, and it must stop."

Lawrence goes on ... "For the record, while I was not victimized personally by Harvey Weinstein, I stand behind the women who have survived his terrible abuse and I applaud them in using all means necessary to bring him to justice whether through criminal or civil actions. Time's up."

Meryl Streep, who was also mentioned in Weinstein's docs, called Weinstein's legal tactics, "pathetic and exploitative."

Alejandro Inarritu is going to bat for the creative team behind the Oscar nominated documentary about Syria ... posing one simple question for the feds.

We got the Academy Award-winning director Wednesday at LAX and asked if he'd heard about a hiccup the filmmakers of "Last Men in Aleppo" are having under Trump's travel ban.

We broke the story ... the directors and cinematographers of the film are trying to attend the Oscars after being nominated this year, but can't come because their country is on Trump's banned list. They're currently attempting to use party invites to gain passage.

Meryl Streep's pissed Harvey Weinstein used her for his defense in one of the class action lawsuits against him ... and she's not having any of it.

The Oscar-winning actress says just because it's true that Weinstein wasn't sexually inappropriate or physically abusive toward her in their business relationship ... it's not evidence he didn't assault or harass the many other women who have alleged such misconduct.

She calls Weinstein's move to use her name -- along with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lawrence -- to aid in his case "pathetic and exploitative," and adds ... "The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them."

3:15 PM PT -- FOX tells us, “These claims from Mr. Zindel’s estate are baseless, wholly without merit and we will be filing a motion to dismiss. Furthermore, the estate’s complaint seems timed to coincide with the Academy Award voting cycle in order to pressure our studio to quickly settle. Instead, we will vigorously defend ourselves and, by extension, this groundbreaking and original film."

"The Shape of Water" doesn't deserve a Best Picture Oscar, it deserves one for Best Ripoff ... according to the family of a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.

David Zindel says his father, Paul Zindel, wrote a 1969 play called, "Let Me Hear You Whisper" ... the story of a lonely female janitor who works graveyard shifts at a lab that performs animal experiments for military use. She becomes infatuated with a "fantastic, intelligent aquatic creature held captive in a glass tank."

Spoiler alert: that's 'Shape of Water' to a T.

There are several more similarities according to the lawsuit filed by Zindel. In docs, obtained by TMZ, Zindel says the scientists in his father's play discuss using "vivisection" to kill the creature, and scientists in 'Water' use the same exact term.

He adds ... the amphibious creature in 'Water' is removed using a laundry cart -- ditto for his dad's play. If Zindel's allegations are true, the biggest difference is the creature -- it's a dolphin in the play, and a merman in 'Water.'

Paul Zindel died in 2003. David is suing FOX Searchlight and director Guillermo del Toro on behalf of the family trust Paul set up for his children.

Zindel is seeking all the profits from the Oscar nominated film, and an injunction blocking it from further showings in theaters.