Director Martin Scorsese won’t say the Rolling Stones are like the underworld characters in many of his movies, but he admits the band’s music evokes memories of the rough, mob-tinged street life he grew up around.

The Academy Award winner and the legendary band founded in London in 1962 have combined on “Shine A Light,” a concert documentary shot at New York’s intimate Beacon Theatre in October 2006.

Scorsese and band members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts held a press conference on Sunday ahead of the film’s U.S. release on April 4.

“I don’t know if I can make any direct associations,” Scorsese said with a laugh when asked what similarities he sees between the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members and the brutal criminals he has depicted in films such as “Goodfellas,” “Casino” and “The Departed.”

But the native New Yorker says their music has always struck powerful chords with him, so much that he used the group’s violence-laced song “Gimme Shelter” in three of his previous films.

“The music has been very important to me over the years. It dealt with aspects of the life that I was growing up around, that I was associated with or saw or was experiencing and trying to make sense of,” Scorsese said.

“It was tougher, it had an edge. Beautiful, honest and brutal at times. And it’s always stayed with me and become a well of inspiration to this day,” he added.

The film offers 17 songs mainly comprised of concert warhorses like “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Start Me Up” and “Brown Sugar,” and features guest appearances by blues legend Buddy Guy, White Stripes guitarist Jack White and singer Christina Aguilera

They insist their marriage is strong, but they’re on the verge of a break-up

After months of speculation that their 7-year marriage is on the rocks, Madonna and Guy Ritchie put on a united front last week.

The Material Girl issued a strong statement to the world’s press via her PR Liz Rosenberg, saying: ‘I’m delighted to confirm that Mr and Mrs Guy Ritchie remain happily married. Though they were in different countries recently the family are joyfully back together at home in London. All is well and wonderful in the Ritchie household.’

But Now can reveal that Madonna, 49, and Guy, 39, are leading totally separate lives. According to various sources that we spoke to during the last week, their contrasting lifestyles mean they’re virtual strangers, as their lives head in different directions.

“Horton Hears a Who,” the Dr. Seuss adaptation starring wacky comedian Jim Carrey as Horton the Elephant set a box office record this weekend, opening at No. 1 with $45.1 million in North America as the year’s biggest release.

Children across the U. S. and Canada crowded to see the animated film “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” thus giving it the year’s biggest box-office opening with $45.1 million.

The Blue Sky Studios project, produced by 20th Century Fox, is directed by Jimmy Hayward (animator on “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Finding Nemo”) and Steve Martino and has Jim Carrey voice Horton the Elephant and Steve Carell voice The Mayor of Who-ville.

This is Carrey’s second Dr. Seuss adaptation, after the live-action film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which opened with $55.1 million in 2000. “The Grinch” went on to gather $260 million in U. S. ticket sales; what with spring break giving kids around the country extra free time, “Horton” has a good chance of reaching similar heights.

Lending his voice to the rubbery elephant has brought Carrey his greatest debut at the box office since 2003’s “Bruce Almighty,” which took $67.9 million in its opening weekend.

Second to “Horton” is last weekend’s number one, the Warner Bros. adventure film “10,000 BC,” which slipped into second place with a $16.4 million take.

“Never Back Down,” from Summit Entertainment, debuted in third place, with a nice $8.6 million gross, while Walt Disney Pictures’ “College Road Trip” earned another $7.9 million at No. 4. Sony Pictures’ political thriller “Vantage Point” is still in the charts and ranking well too, at No. 5, with ticket sales worth $5.4 million in its fourth week.

British film “The Bank Job,” starring Jason Statham and Saffron Burroughs, ranked seventh, with a $4.9 million gross. It was followed by new release “Doomsday,” a British sci-fi film which earned only $4.7 million.

Will Ferrell’s sports spoof “Semi-Pro” was at eight, bringing New Line another $3 million in ticket sales, while Columbia Pictures historic romance “The Other Boleyn Girl” followed at No. 9 with $2.9 million. Family flick “The Spiderwick Chronicles” rounded up the top ten with $2.4 million.

Doomsday is Neil Marshall’s homage to various films from his youth. The Mad Max films and Escape From New York must have made a vivid impression on him. Judging from Doomsday, their pull on his imagination is enthralling and maddening. Last year, Edgar Wright made Hot Fuzz which was an excellent and hilarious homage to American action films. I would not say that Hot Fuzz is as derivative as Doomsday. In fact, the only film I have seen that is more derivative is Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales. Kelly used Kiss Me Deadly, Repo Man and several other films as a template to make his own film. Kiss Me Deadly seemed to have been the most influential film in Richard Kelly’s view of the world. Southland Tales may have been one of the most self-indulgent films ever made. I do not think this is bad thing, but watching Marshall’s Doomsday, I could not stop thinking about the constant barrage of visual quotes that Marshall made throughout the film. Neil Marshall has cited the Mad Max films, Escape From New York, Metalstorm, The Warriors, Zulu, Excalibur and the films of Terry Gilliam as big influences. Trust me, these films are in there and more. I would throw in Def-Con 4 and Damnation Alley as possible influences as well– I see shades of them too. The impact of these films on him is undeniable. The impact of these films on me is undeniable. After his brilliant The Descent, this is the last thing I expected from him. That is not a bad thing, but does it ever rise above homage? Does the film ever feel like it has anything original to say?

In “Tropic Thunder,” one of three summer films featuring Robert Downey Jr., the actor appears on screen as a black man.Downey Jr. plays overly committed actor Kirk Lazarus, a white man cast to play a black soldier in a satire of the performing profession. The film also stars Jack Black and Ben Stiller, who co-wrote, directed and produced it.

“If it’s done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago,” Downey told Entertainment Weekly magazine. “If you don’t do it right, we’re going to hell.”

Stiller said he was “trying to push it as far as you can within reality,” with the intent of satirizing over-the-top actors, not African-Americans.

“I had no idea how people would respond to it,” Stiller told the magazine. But at a recent screening, black viewers liked the film, he said.

Downey explained that he kept the character from becoming a caricature because he “dove in with both feet.”

“If I didn’t feel it was morally sound,” he said, “or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I’m just C. Thomas Howell in (”Soul Man”), I would’ve stayed home.”

Paramount is set to release “Tropic Thunder” Aug. 15.