Stars all over Boston

It's been a memorable year for the local film community. Martin Scorsese won an Oscar - at last - for his Boston-based crime drama "The Departed"; Ben Affleck wowed us with his directorial debut "Gone Baby Gone"; and, thanks to tax incentives approved this year by lawmakers, Hollywood shot no fewer than eight major movies in and around the Hub in '07. Roll the credits:

"21"
When: March 2007. Some scenes were shot in Las Vegas, but most of the filming took place in Boston, including one day when the Mass. Avenue Bridge was shut down so a helicopter could land.
Director: Robert Luketic
Stars: Kate Bosworth, Jim Sturgess, Laurence Fishburne, and Kevin Spacey.
Story: A drama based on Ben Mezrich's bestseller "Bringing Down the House" about a team of MIT students who train with a professor to beat the Vegas casinos at blackjack.
Release date: March 28, 2008

"The Golden Boys" (formerly "Chatham")
When: March 2007. Scenes shot in Chatham and elsewhere on the Cape, including a hangar at Cape Air in Hyannis for an ocean rescue scene.
Director: Dan Adams, who also wrote the script.
Stars: Charles Durning, Rip Torn, David Carradine, Bruce Dern, Mariel Hemingway, Julie Harris, and Christy Scott Cashman.
Story: A romantic comedy set on the Cape in 1905 about three retired sea captains who vie for the affections of an attractive middle-aged woman.
Release date: Has a distribution deal, due out in '08.

"The Great Debaters"
When: Summer '07. After much of the filming was done in Louisiana and at Wiley College in Texas, crews arrived in Boston. Scenes were filmed on Memorial Drive, Harvard's Sanders Theatre, and at the Citi Wang Theatre, which was transformed into a 1930s-era South Station.
Director: Denzel Washington, who also stars and produces. Oprah Winfrey is a co-producer.
Stars: Washington, Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, and Denzel Whitaker.
Story: Feel-good flick about the debate team at the tiny, all-black Wiley College, which takes on the country's biggest and best colleges and wins.
Release date: Today.

"My Best Friend's Girl" (formerly "Bachelor No. 2")
When: Filming began Aug. 19 when crews took over the Foley Hoag law offices. Over the next several weeks, scenes were shot at the Daily Catch in South Boston, at an apartment on Comm. Ave., at the Fairmont Copley Plaza hotel, and at the strip club Centerfolds.
Director: Howie Deutch
Stars: Arlington's own Dane Cook, Kate Hudson, Alec Baldwin, Jason Biggs.
Story: A romantic comedy about a rogue (Cook) who is hired by his buddy (Biggs) to take his former flame (Hudson) on a lousy date to convince her how great she had it with her ex.
Release date: September 2008

"The Women"
When: Filming began Aug. 19 - the same day as "My Best Friend's Girl" - at the Prudential Center and Saks Fifth Avenue. Additional scenes were filmed at a South Boston warehouse, which was turned into a New York fashion house; a Sherborn residence, which was a stand-in for a Connecticut estate; and on Newbury Street, which subbed for Madison Avenue.
Director: Diane English, who also wrote the script.
Stars: Annette Bening, Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Candace Bergen, Bette Midler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing, Carrie Fisher, Cloris Leachman, and Debi Mazar.
Story: An update of George Cukor's 1939 classic that starred Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, and Joan Fontaine. Based on the Clare Boothe Luce play about Mary Haines (Ryan), who finds out her husband is cheating on her with Crystal Allen (Mendes), and the affair becomes the talk of New York society.
Release date: October 2008

"Pink Panther 2"
When: After a shooting stint in France, the sequel moved to Boston on Sept. 8 with Steve Martin in Winthrop Square.
Director: Harald Zwart
Stars: Martin, who also wrote the script, John Cleese, Lily Tomlin, Andy Garcia, Jean Reno, Emily Mortimer, Yuki Matsuzaki, and Aishwarya Rai.
Story: The comedy is based on the characters created by Blake Edwards. This time, Inspector Clouseau (Martin) partners with a squad of international detectives to stop a globe-trotting thief who's stealing historical artifacts.
Release date: February 2009

"The Lonely Maiden"
When: Began filming in Boston Nov. 12 and wrapped last week. Shot scenes around South Boston; at the Grecian Yearning restaurant in Allston; and the Worcester Museum of Art.
Director: Peter Hewitt
Stars: Morgan Freeman, William H. Macy, Christopher Walken, and Marcia Gay Harden.
Story: A comedy about three museum security guards who devise a plan to steal art that's been transferred to another museum.
Release date: October 2008

"The Box"
When: Nov. 15. Locations included the Boston Public Library and a neighborhood in Milton.
Director: Richard Kelly
Stars: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, and Frank Langella.
Story: Based on the Richard Matheson short story "Button, Button," the film centers on a suburban couple (Diaz and Marsden) and a wooden box that promises to give them $1 million if they press a button.
Release date: 2008

"Real Men Cry"
When: Began filming Nov. 26 in a house in South Boston that's barely a block from where "The Lonely Maiden" filmed scenes a few days before. After some wrangling with the Department of Correction, the filmmakers also got the OK to shoot at the Billerica House of Correction.
Director: Brian Goodman, who co-wrote the script with fellow South Boston native Paul Murray.
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Mark Ruffalo, Amanda Peet, and Donnie Wahlberg.
Story: A drama about two boyhood friends who struggle with crime, addiction, and violence.
Release date: 2008

Pint-size Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin says watching her brother, Spencer, go to the hospital for his asthma made her want to do something for other young people who can't be home at this time of year. "I think about kids who are sick and in the hospital," Breslin told us over the phone. "It really must be bad during the holidays." So the "Little Miss Sunshine" star has partnered with New England-based battery company Duracell on its powerasmile.com campaign to give toys and batteries to children's hospitals around the country. "It's really simple and free," the 11-year-old said. "You just go to the website and upload a picture of yourself smiling. That's it. For every photo, Duracell makes a donation." Breslin is on a break, having finished three movies including "Definitely, Maybe" with Pittsfield native Elizabeth Banks and "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl," with Boston College alum Chris O'Donnell, who plays her father. "He's a very nice guy," Breslin said, offering no Hollywood scandals from the set. "No, he's very nice."

Sports, not music, will be center stage when Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and baseball guru Peter Gammons host their Hot Stove, Cool Music Boston roundtable at Fenway Park on Jan. 5, the day before their eighth annual concert. With the lofty title "Building a Winning Enterprise: Excellence on the Field, Court and Ice - and in the Community," the chat features Sox special adviser Bill James, Celtics managing partner Steve Pagliuca, Bruins Hall of Famer Cam Neely, and J.P. Ricciardi, Epstein's counterpart at the Toronto Blue Jays. Sunday night at the Paradise, Epstein and Gammons will join Lori McKenna, Buffalo Tom's Bill Janovitz, former Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo, Dropkick Murphys' frontman Ken Casey, and Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones for the concert, which benefits the Red Sox Foundation.

Boston-based Internet entrepreneur Mike Zapolin was in the Big Apple as a guest at his former boss Mike Milken's annual holiday party. After a stint in jail and a cancer diagnosis, Milken has turned his attention away from the world of high finance to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Milken picks up the tab for the entire evening, Zapolin reports, so all the money can go to the foundation's research efforts. "Millions were raised through the live auction," Zapolin wrote in an e-mail. "[It] included prize packages that only Mike could arrange." With "The View" moderator Whoopi Goldberg as MC, the bidding soared for lunch with Viacom honcho Sumner Redstone and dinner with Lebron James in China during the Olympics.

Among the 100-plus revelers at Ginny and Roy MacDowell's annual holiday extravaganza in Wayland the other night, one couple beamed a bit brighter than the rest. Former Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson and his ex-wife Jackie are getting back together after a messy public split, she said. "The reconciliation is taking place," Jackie said during the party. "Ted's been spending a lot more time with us - as a family." The couple made headlines in 2006 after they were arrested for assault and battery. The charges were later dropped. They divorced late last year. Ted was in the spotlight early this year when he talked to the Globe's Jackie MacMullan about the aftereffects of the debilitating concussions he suffered during the 10 years he played as a pro. It appears that Ted's efforts to rebuild his life are working. "Things are now good for us," Jackie said.

Globe correspondent Allan E. Dines contributed to this report. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.