I know that it’s absolute heresy to so much as whisper the possibility that anything at all might be wrong with The Dark Knight , but a new supercut from the folks who brought us The King’s Speech: Just the Stammering goes a long way to spotlight one of the blockbuster’s weakest links: Heath Ledger. The late actor’s Oscar notwithstanding, is there any more glaringly showy, scenery-scarfing, overindulgent, “I am so bad! Look how bad I am!” villainy in the modern comic-book canon than Ledger’s turn as the Joker? How brainwashed were all of us four years ago when we walked out of Christopher Nolan’s spectacle thinking we’d seen the genre’s definitive evildoer, only to look back at this 10-and-a-half-minute showcase of cackling, lip-smacking, hand-clapping camp and wonder, “What was that? ” I mean, it’s fine! The movie’s good! I’m looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises , etc. etc. But keeping it to Academy Award-winning supporting actors alone, something tells me that we wouldn’t be cringing as much at all of Christoph Waltz’s bits standing apart from Inglourious Basterds , or every longing, bittersweet note of Christopher Plummer’s performance drawn out from Beginners . (Hint, hint. Someone should get on that.) [via thecussingchannel ]
Lee Daniels-directed film, also starring Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey, has met with decidedly mixed reception. By Kara Warner Nicole Kidman in “The Paperboy” Photo: Lee Daniels Entertainment Much ado is made over the glitz and glamour that surrounds the exotic Cannes Film Festival each year. A lot of what brings so many celebrities and so much attention to the international film fest is its location. Who doesn’t want to travel to the sandy shores of the French Riviera for “work”? The other big draw, of course, is the opportunity to see movies of all genres, budgets, origin, etc., many of which can get an early jump into awards-season consideration with positive reviews from the notoriously hard-to-please Cannes audiences. From the outside looking in, “The Paperboy” is one of the films at the festival that has major awards-buzz potential because of its director, Oscar nominee Lee Daniels (“Precious”), and its cast: Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Matthew McConaughey and John Cusack. Judging from the initial reactions to the small-town, sexed-up murder mystery, however, the reception has been decidedly mixed. “Daniels wants to show us realities that other movies don’t, and I truly think that he’s got the talent and drive to do it. But there’s a major downside to that impulse,” wrote . “If what happens on screen is in any way odd or exaggerated or, even worse, if it defies common sense, the clang of falseness is going to be deafening. “The line on this movie in Cannes is the same one that a lot of critics, including me, took on Daniels’ ‘Shadowboxer’: that it’s so luridly overripe it’s nuts — or, at the very least, high camp,” Gleiberman continued. “Certainly, you’re going to have that feeling during the scene when Kidman, at the beach, saves Efron from a jellyfish sting by urinating on him — which is an anti-jellyfish home remedy, but the way the scene is shot, I think Daniels had something else in mind. The wrong notes, the extremeness, just piles up from there.” Efron and Kidman spoke to the film’s extremes during a press conference Thursday (May 24). “I don’t think I was supposed to feel comfortable,” Efron said. “It’s like life. This character is supposed to be learning the ways of the world, and that can be very uncomfortable. But it’s also exciting.” “I’d been looking as an actor for something raw and something dangerous,” Kidman said. “I may be uncomfortable watching the movie. But that’s my job — it’s my job to give over to something, not to censor it, not to put my own judgments of how I feel as Nicole playing the character. I am there to portray a truth.” And no matter the discomfort surrounding the onscreen nudity, sex or the pee scene, Efron said he loved the experience of making the movie. “I’ve been in love with her for a long time, since ‘Moulin Rouge,’ “the actor said of Kidman. “It was the loveliest time in the world for me.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Photos 2012 Cannes Film Festival
On the eve of his Cannes debut in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis , Robert Pattinson spoke with Metro France about a host of topics, most notably his fear of being fired from the film and his eagerness to reunite with the director on a “really weird” film about the film industry. And, oh yes: His balls. More specifically, how Cronenberg really wanted to get them in a shot for one particularly revealing scene… [ GALLERY: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and more at the Cannes Film Festival ] Granted, the nuance of language gets a bit lost via Google Translation (hat tip to fan blog Robert Pattinson Life for their translated version). Either way, temper your expectations: The Pattinson junk did not make it to the screen as planned. “Five minutes before we filmed, David told me, ‘I want to see the bottom of your balls on the top of the frame.’ At the moment, I reminded myself that I would do anything for him. So I went back to see him and told him that wouldn’t happen. He took it really well. At the start, it’s a very bizarre scene that you won’t see again in another movie, I promise.” Oh, that Cronenberg! Pattinson also told Metro France about the film he hopes to reunite with Cronenberg on after he hunts Saddam Hussein in Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s Mission: Blacklist : “I don’t know when exactly we’re going to shoot. It will be David’s first movie in America. In Los Angeles, to be exact. It will be about the film industry and I promise that it’s going to be really weird.” As it should be. Read more here and here , and follow Movieline’s Cannes coverage as Cosmopolis debuts tomorrow.
It would be very easy to show up here and report that Men in Black 3 has no reason to exist, that it’s just another threequel that didn’t have to be made. The truth is a little more complicated: Men in Black 3 — which was, like its two predecessors, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld — is neither as much fun as the first picture in the series nor as totally useless as the second. It has an actual story line, one that’s quite moving in places. And it features a bit of casting that’s pure genius. Men in Black 3 is almost good enough to make you care about its existence. And yet not quite. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones return as Agents J and K respectively, and their partnership is no more harmonious than it ever was: Agent J accuses K, quite justifiably, of barely being able to communicate on any human level. Agent K responds with yet more evasiveness: He’s a man of few words who appears to be carrying a great deal of baggage beneath his eyes alone. He has secrets, dammit, things that Agent J might be better off not knowing. Which makes Agent J that much more eager for some sort of connection with his partner-slash-father-figure. Meanwhile, Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement, from Flight of the Conchords , doing his best Tim Curry imitation), a goggle-eyed alien villain whose dastardly plan was foiled years ago by Agent K — the episode also cost him an arm — escapes from prison with the goal of traveling back in time to kill Agent K before that arrest, and that arm-hacking, can happen. Simultaneously, Agent J wakes up in world where Agent K has been dead for years; he too travels back in time, to 1969, aiming to save the life of his taciturn hound dog of a partner, a guy who, as J aptly puts it, has “kind of a surly Elvis thing happening with him.” Outside of an early scene in which J and K show up at a Chinese restaurant to investigate a health-code violation that involves noodle dishes laced with alien eyeballs and such, Men in Black 3 is pretty low on the silly, clever creepie-crawlies that were the mainstay of the original. (The script is by Etan Cohen, based on the comic-book characters created by Lowell Cunningham.) And because this is a costly summer blockbuster, released in 3-D no less, its last third is cluttered with the usual manic action, which is undistinguished and unmemorable. But Men in Black 3 does have its charms, partly thanks to some first-rate second-banana players: The luminous Emma Thompson and the radiant Alice Eve play older and younger versions of the same character, and their presence helps tone down some of Will Smith’s unbearable “Love me!” rays. Jones is barely in the movie, but at least he makes an impact: It’s fascinating to look at his face, aging apace in the normal fashion — how has it gotten to the point that it’s such a wonderful thing to watch an actor grow into the face he was meant to have? But most wonderful of all is Josh Brolin as the young Agent K. It’s so easy to believe that Brolin could turn into Jones, given a couple of decades. Brolin mimics Jones’s phrasing perfectly, capturing the essence of his easy drawl, getting those Southern-fried pauses just right. His features even carry that half-worried, half-exasperated look that Jones’ Agent K has always worn so well. The plot of Men in Black 3, once you strip away the silly action and 3-D falderal, is relatively simple and straightforward, and even though, in essence, it’s not anything you haven’t seen before, it still manages to strike a semi-meaningful chord. Its effects, particularly a sequence that takes place near the very top of the Chrysler Building, atop one of those majestic art deco eagles, are reasonably impressive. But somehow, its actors end up mattering more. Is that a strength or a liability in a summer blockbuster? It ought to be the former, but these days, who can tell for sure? Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
With ‘Battleship’ sinking at the box office, the role of Finnick Odair could serve as the actor’s life raft. By Amy Wilkinson Taylor Kitsch Photo: Getty Images Forget those Robert Pattinson rumors . I have a winning first-round draft pick for Adonis-like District 4 tribute Finnick Odair: former “Friday Night Lights” star Taylor Kitsch . To be sure, Kitsch’s name isn’t a new one in the frenzied speculation over who should play the ” Catching Fire ” hunk. For months, he’s been mentioned in the same breath as fan favorites like Armie Hammer and Garrett Hedlund, but with the less-than-stellar performance of “Battleship,” Kitsch needs one in the win column, and ” The Hunger Games ” sequel could be it. When the MTV Movies staff sat down at the end of the year to compile our 2012 wish list , my deepest desire was to see the erstwhile Tim Riggins make good on the big screen. He’s had a couple opportunities so far, starting with Disney’s sci-fi adventure “John Carter.” The adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel reportedly cost the studio $350 million to produce, but opened to a disappointing $30.6 million domestically . Likewise, last weekend’s board-game-inspired actioner fell $15 million short of box-office experts’ modest $40 million projections. Kitsch has one more 2012 film yet to bow — the Oliver Stone-directed “Savages” — but he needs a high-profile role in a box-office barnburner to really introduce him to the masses and secure a spot as a go-to leading man. Hence, Finnick Odair. I’ll be the first to admit Kitsch doesn’t perfectly fit my mental image of the trident-wielding tribute; he isn’t blond, nor is he very tall (though have you seen him without a shirt on?). Abs aside, what matters more is that he’s able to effectively capture the essence of this surprisingly multifaceted character. Which, if you watched the dearly departed “Friday Night Lights,” you know Kitsch can do. After all, Finnick is really just the Tim Riggins of Panem. He’s clearly damaged yet still has the capacity to nurture and love — in other words, just two bad boys with big hearts. After the first film’s boffo box office (returns are currently around the $400 million mark), the sequel’s success is basically a foregone conclusion. So, Taylor, as you ponder your next career step, why not take a look at the “Catching Fire” script (if you haven’t already) and see if you’re up for the arena? This could be the blazing hot role you’ve been looking for. Do you think Taylor Kitsch would make a good Finnick? Sound off in the comments below and tweet me @amymwilk with your thoughts and suggestions for future columns! Earlier “Hunger Games” columns:
Just about a month before hitting theaters (and right on the cusp of its theatrical marketing campaign), G.I. Joe: Retaliation has been pushed back by Paramount from June 29 to March 2013 to allow for a 3-D conversion. But director Jon M. Chu and the studio had deliberately opted for filming in 2-D before the 11th hour shift. So why opt for 3-D now? Last year, Chu was looking at his filming options but swore he’d rather go 2-D than do a post-conversion: “If we do it in 3-D, there’s no way in hell I am dimensionalizing it. I mean, dimensionalizing can work if you have the time and you have the money. But studios don’t want to put in the time or the money, so what’s the point? There always going to shortcut you, so why put yourself there?” A year later, Chu spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the decision to forgo 3-D as a filming option: “It seemed like a natural thing, but I told them, ‘I know 3-D. This is what we need. If we’re going to do 3-D, we’re going to do it right.’ It had a certain price tag to it, and I was like, if you guys are down I’m down, but I do need more time to do it right. And they were about to do it but they cut it just a little bit short, and [I said,] “if you guys are going to cut it short there is no point. Let’s make a movie — let’s go for it and we’ll go all out. And we shot on film, super-35, and I thought this may be one of the last times I get to shoot on film, and it was actually kind of freeing.” Clearly someone somewhere rethought that choice, and now Chu has nine months ahead of him to complete a decent post-conversion on the film. Over at Deadline , Nikki Finke reports on why the 3-D landscape now might look a little more enticing than it did when Chu and Paramount were planning the G.I. Joe sequel. A studio source explained the move to Finke thusly: “We’re going to do a conscientious 3-D job because we’ve seen how it can better box office internationally… Jim Cameron did all of Titanic ‘s 3-D in post — and look how well that movie turned out.” Here’s the thing: Post-conversion detractors might still cite Clash of the Titans and its infamously muddied conversion job as reasons to avoid the added process just to squeeze out more profit in release, and until very recently I counted myself in that camp. But one upcoming film that I caught actually made me rethink this position: Men in Black 3 , a post-converted 3-D offering that might actually help turn the tide for non-native 3-D. That film’s director, Barry Sonnenfeld, did a surprisingly good job demonstrating how one could pull off the post-conversion process given enough time/the right approach; MIB3 features some of the best post-converted 3-D seen so far, shockingly enough. Granted, Sonnenfeld was able to shoot in 2-D with his eventual 3-D process in mind — featuring camera work and visual gags designed specifically to be enhanced with 3-D — whereas Chu’s G.I. Joe 2 likely was not. So Chu has a challenge ahead of him… but it could yet work. G.I. Joe: Retaliation will now open on March 29, 2013. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Kid Cudi tells MTV News watching himself on seven screens simultaneously during 30-minute film ‘was weird! But it was dope.’ By Alicia Malone Kanye West and Kim Kardashian attend the “Cruel Summer” premiere during the Cannes Film Festival Photo: Getty Images CANNES, France — Kanye West is nothing if not ambitious. The rapper/designer/mogul has added a few more slashes to his name, as producer, writer and director of the experimental short film “Cruel Summer,” which had its premiere during a splashy party Wednesday night during the Cannes Film Festival. The 30-minute short, inspired by West’s upcoming G.O.O.D. Music compilation of the same name, was projected onto seven screens inside a tented pyramid, designed to give viewers a fully immersive experience. “Cruel Summer” stars G.O.O.D. artist Kid Cudi as a car thief who falls for a blind Arabian princess. The seven screens alternately come on and off, sometimes showing different angles of one shot, other times acting as an extended wide screen, complete with a ceiling and floor. This means the audience looks around them at the images, instead of staring straight ahead, which, as Kanye explained in a speech, was to reflect real life. “It related to a post-Steve Jobs, post-Windows era, where we’re always on our BlackBerry in a ball game or at the movies,” West said. “I was very particular about having the screens separate, where your mind puts the screens back together, the way you put memories together. I’m not the best director in the world, but I had an idea that I thought would be amazing to inspire people, like a dream of one day this being the way people watch movies. You know, [Quentin] Tarantino doing a movie like this or a horror movie like this, animation, 3-D … in this form that surrounds you. People want to go back and see it more and more because they missed something to their left or to their right, and it feels more like the experience of life.” “Cruel Summer” plays like an extended music video, in a similar way to ‘Ye’s 2010 online film for “Runaway,” with sparse dialogue and striking slow-motion images set to a rocking soundtrack. The music is provided by various G.O.O.D. artists, many of whom make cameos in the film, and there’s a super quick appearance by comedian Aziz Ansari. Among the celebrity names attending the premiere party at the Palm Beach Club were Jay-Z, Kim Kardashian and Kid Cudi, who told MTV News the experience of watching himself on seven screens was surreal. “It was weird! But it was dope,” Cudi said. “I’m nervous, just like with anything I do, with people watching, but I’m really proud of it. I’m happy that Kanye had me as part of it. It’s so humbling. He’s a genius, he’s the best, the illest … you can quote me on that!” “Cruel Summer” was co-directed by Alexandre Moors, who previously worked with ‘Ye on the videos for “Runaway” and “N—as in Paris.” The script was based on a screenplay by Elon Rutberg, and it was shot entirely in Qatar in the Middle East. “We were literally shooting in Qatar less than a month ago,” West said. “It was the most impossible feat, all odds were against us having this moment, showing this at Cannes. The reason why I went so hard is that this is my goal. What I want to do post-Grammys is I want to change entertainment experiences. Like if [late fashion designer Alexander] McQueen or [director] Tarsem [Singh] was to meet the entertainment value of Cirque du Soleil or Walt Disney. We’re going to bring it to New York to Qatar and re-edit it … so you guys are seeing the rough draft of this concept.” Although the world premiere of “Cruel Summer” coincided with the Cannes Film Festival, it is not in competition or part of the official screenings. The film is now open to the public in Cannes until May 25. Related Artists Kanye West Kid Cudi
The Dark Knight Rises blitz charges on as WB unveils a set of new character posters to whet your appetite for destruction. Get a peek at Bane, Catwoman and Batman posing dramatically in the dark and dreary elements as these new posters encourage you, dear Bat-fan, to RISE . (To the challenge? No, to the megaplex!) Bonus: Here’s another set of slightly less rise -able Batman-Bane-Catwoman character posters. I like the way Anne Hathaway’s masked Catwoman sits atop her cycle, head tilted in repose. Is she sad? Is she even awake? WE DON’T KNOW! The Dark Knight Rises ends the legend or whatever on July 20. [via Yahoo ]
Dario Argento would be screwed if he didn’t have a hot daughter. The Italian horror maestro used to be great, but his movies have been on a steep downward decline since the mid-’80s. Now their only saving grace is his exhibitionist daughter Asia Argento , who has no problem stripping down for Daddy Dearest’s movies (Exhibit A: 2007’s Mother of Tears ). Argento’s new movie Dracula 3D (rather inexplicably) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this week, and as expected, it’s terrible. Like sub-direct-to-video terrible. But look on the bright side: The reviews all note that Asia once again does her dad a solid by going naked, along with Italo-Spanish star Miriam Giovanelli. Miriam’s character is described as “mostly naked vampire Tanja” by Film School Rejects ‘ Simon Gallagher, who writes in his scathing review: “Argento doesn’t usually play by conventional or commercial filmmaking rules, e ven including nude scenes for his daughter (and almost every other female character to excess) in amongst the provocatively kitsch horror moments and downright ludicrous story elements.” In other words, hold out for the good parts on Mr. Skin…but if you’re feeling masochistic, you can see the trailer for Dracula 3D after the jump!
The best tidbit about E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Grey S&M erotica series, besides the fact that your mother may be reading the salacious bestselling tomes right this very second , is that the book trilogy began, as great cultural touchstones do, as Twilight fan fiction. So it’s all sorts of strange to watch Kristen Stewart and her Snow White and the Huntsman castmates Chris Hemsworth , Sam Claflin , and Charlize Theron reading steamy passages from the naughty, naughty 50 Shades of Grey aloud. Awesome or creepy (or both)? You decide! Props to MTV’s Josh Horowitz for getting the erstwhile Bella Swan to utter the lines hardcore 50 Shades fans have been imagining her saying since James’ kinky prose first hit the ‘net, but really: Did they have to make them say the 50 Shades killing words?? (Just die already, inner goddess.) High five to Stewart for being a good sport. Extra points to Theron for giving it all she had. Maybe there’s a part for her in the planned film adaptation — Mrs. Robinson, perhaps? [via MTV ]
