SMH at this : A Swedish judge cleared a man charged with rape because the victim was a transgender woman with male genitalia. From The Local: A man who attempted to rape a woman has been cleared of the charges by a Swedish court after it turned out that the woman he tried to rape was actually a man. Prosecutors said the defendant was “brutally violent” in the “attempted rape”, tearing off the victim’s pants and grabbing at the victim’s crotch, according to The Local’s translation of Sweden’s Nerikes Allehanda newspaper. But because the victim had a penis, “The intended crime never had the possibility of being fulfilled,” Sjöstedt explained. The unnamed defendant was found guilty of assault. The ruling infuriated Hyper Vocal’s Cooper Fleishman: “More than anything, this case highlights the sheer absurdity of the double standard with which we treat male victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Changing the verdict solely because of the victim’s genitalia is like switching a grand theft auto charge to petty theft because the car happened to be blue when the thief thought it was green.” Queerty’s Benji Douglas added, “In essence, the judge ruled that it’s not possible to rape trans women.” This guy should have been punished to the fullest extent of the law. Regardless of the physical limitation, this dude is a dirty violator and needs to be punished for committing a sex crime! Source
Comic-book movies can be many things — ridiculous, entertaining, stupendously dull – but very rarely are they erotic. I’m not talking about the garden-variety sexually neutral charge thrown off by a fit actor, man or woman, who happens to look good in a latex suit. Even in the best comic-book movies, made by filmmakers who know what they’re doing — people like Sam Raimi, Bryan Singer, Guillermo del Toro and Jon Favreau — sex is often treated as a mild embarrassment, a thing that just doesn’t mix well with action inspired by comic-book panels. And so amid all the questions about whether or not the Spider-Man franchise ought to have been rebooted just 10 years after Raimi kicked off his own spin on it, maybe the real question to ask of Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man is — when it comes to sexual chemistry, why can’t more comic-book movies be like this one? Depending on your expectations, The Amazing Spider-Man — based, of course, on the characters created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko — is probably not as good as you hoped or as bad as you feared. The plot is fairly standard: The movie opens with the typical traumatic childhood event — in this case, the young Spider-Man-to-be Peter Parker is hastily left behind by his parents (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) who must flee, somewhere, to safety. Peter is left in the care of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Martin Sheen and Sally Field), and before we know it, he’s grown into Andrew Garfield — his Peter is an awkward and only mildly sullen teenager who tries to ride his skateboard through the halls of his school (a no-no) and who harbors a not-so-secret crush on the most adorable science nerd you’ve probably ever laid eyes on, Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy. Before long, young Peter has an encounter with mysterious one-armed herpetologist Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), a man who knows something about Peter’s parents and who may hold some of the keys to their disappearance. Later, Dr. Connors will turn into an ill tempered scaly something, but only after Peter is bit by a radioactive spider and realizes that he himself has super-sticky spider powers. He fashions his own costume and web shooters — they allow him to spin magnificent transparent web structures that look like rubbery spun sugar – and, after his failure to take action spurs a personal tragedy, he becomes a swinging, web-slinging vigilante, cleaning up the streets because, well, someone has to. And the police force, which happens to be headed by Gwen’s dad, Captain Stacy (an all-too-straight-faced Denis Leary), doesn’t always do the greatest job. In most ways, The Amazing Spider-Man isn’t really all that amazing. The action is occasionally thrilling, particularly the sequences in which Peter tests out and perfects his newfound powers — Webb has some fun with vertiginous camera perspectives that work reasonably well in 3-D. But like so many contemporary action movies – in fact, like almost all of them — the action sequences in which Spidey fends off various bad guys are imprecise and hard to follow visually. And the script, by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves (from a story by Vanderbilt) leaves dozens of unanswered questions: Why is Character X a pretty nice guy as a human being but a baddie once he’s transformed into Creature X? And how (and why) does he change back and forth? Also, thousands of tiny versions of Creature X overrun the city at one point — where have they come from? The list goes on, but I suppose we’re not supposed to care. But what The Amazing Spider-Man does have is a pair of extremely charismatic leads in Garfield and Stone. I enjoyed Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man pictures well enough — even the much-derided number 3 — and had no specific desire to see the series resuscitated. But watching Garfield and Stone made me think doing so wasn’t such a bad idea, and Webb — who previously directed the somewhat gimmicky but ultimately winning romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer — knows just what to do with these appealing young actors. Garfield is just on the cusp of being too handsome to play Peter Parker – he’s almost not nerdy enough, a requirement that the gifted Tobey Maguire filled pretty ably. Still, Garfield makes you believe in his geekiness. His Peter seems to be uncomfortable making eye contact, and the occasional shy smirk crosses his face, though it’s less a bratty affection than a nervous tic – he’s like Heathcliff with just a touch of Asperger’s. As charming as Garfield is, though, Stone’s Gwen Stacy — a girl with the kind of smile that Mattel could never have dreamed up for even its most winsome doll — nearly outshines him. Gwen is more graceful than Peter is, socially and physically, but when the two finally get together, she meets him more than halfway in a tentatively bumpy pas de deux – watching the two characters settle into each other’s rhythms is one of the movie’s chief delights. Raimi, in his first Spider-Man movie, gave us that erotic half-mask kiss between Maguire and Kirsten Dust’s Mary Jane, but beyond that, his Spidey was rendered in safely asexual way; comic-book fans have been known to tolerate a little bit of ewky girl stuff, but not too much. But Webb doesn’t seem to care about staying within safe limits. Peter, having stolen into Gwen’s bedroom, tries to explain to her why he can suddenly cling to the sides of buildings and swing through the air with impossible lightness. “I’ve been bitten,” he stammers. She leans in close with her husky whisper: “So have I.” And that sound you hear is the cumulative sigh of a million viewers who suddenly sort of remember, maybe, that there can be something more to movies than elaborate yet repetitive action sequences and strained 3-D effects. You’ve got a girl and a guy in a bedroom, alone. Aren’t you just dying to see what happens in the next panel? Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
In Monday afternoon’s round up of news briefs, a network has bought the television rights to foul-mouthed teddy bear comedy Ted . Mirren appeals for more female filmmakers at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Andie MacDowell and daughter join a project, and Paramount is pursuing a U.S. version of Inbetweeners . FX Picks Up TV Rights to Ted The network will premiere the Seth MacFarlane-directed comedy that make $52 million at the box office this weekend, Deadline reports . Craig Gillespie Catching Flamingo Thief Gillespie is in negotiations to direct Red Hour Films’ Flamingo Thief which Will Ferrell will likely star. He will play a lawyer who becomes obsessed with stealing figurines of flamingos after his wife leaves him, Variety reports . Helen Mirren Asks for More Female Filmmakers at Karlovy Vary Picking up her Lifetime Achievement Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in Czech Republic, actor Helen Mirren said, “I don’t know how many female directors are presenting their films in this festival. I very much doubt that it’s 50%. Not too many, I’m sure,” she said during a speech in which she paid tribute to the film-maker Nora Ephron, who died last week. “When I was making films [early in my career] there were very, very few female directors, and there were certainly no women on set, which made taking one’s clothes off all the more difficult…Things have moved on, but as far as I’m concerned, they haven’t moved on enough,” The Guardian reports . Andie MacDowell and Daughter Tie Up for Mother’s Day Andie MacDowell and Rainey Qualley have joined the cast of Mother’s Day , joining previously announced cast members Susan Sarandon, her daughter Eva Amurri Martino and Christina Ricci in the indie drama. The story revolves around the relationship between 12 mothers and their daughter, directed by Paul Duddridge, Deadline reports . Paramount Looking to Bring UK’s Inbetweeners to Big Screen The studio has tapped the series’ co-creator Iain Morris to write and direct a U.S. version of the popular British sitcom. The program follows several suburban teens who range from somewhere in the middle in the cool to geek spectrum, THR reports . Studios & Teamsters, Other Crafts Unions Reach Tentative Agreement The three tentative agreements include a 2 percent annual wage increase and additional funding of union health plans, THR reports .
Ninja Thief steals Purse, Car From IHOP And this idiot was caught on tape. Police say a sneaky thief grabbed an employee’s purse and car at a South Salt Lake IHOP restaurant on Sunday. The incident was caught on the restaurant’s surveillance video system, as the thief ducked and crawled behind the store counter to grab the employee’s purse. Police say the thief walked out of the restaurant on 2100 South 307 West and stole the employee’s silver 4-door 2003 Chevy Impala that was located in the parking lot using the keys found inside the purse. The victim, a 22-year-old female IHOP employee told police that when she was ready to leave work at 7:00 a.m., she discovered that her black leather purse was missing from under her workstation and her car was gone. Police say investigators viewed the restaurant’s surveillance video, and saw the suspect, dressed in motorcycle garb as she entered the restaurant just before 5:00 A.M. and headed to the restroom. As the suspect walks past the workstation, police say she looked back, checking the location of the employee’s purse. Just moments later, police say the suspect walked toward the door as if to leave and looked over her shoulder to check for the employees. Police say the suspect then crouched down on the floor and made a “Spiderman/Ninja” crawl back to the workstation, stole the purse and walked out the door. Police say the suspect walked in the restaurant and stole the purse in less than two minutes. The employees told police that the suspect arrived at the restaurant on a motorcycle or scooter with another person who stayed outside. Police say it also appears that the suspect had planned out the heist and knew the location of the purse. Police described the suspect as a young woman in her early 20s, with brown hair, wearing a black leather jacket, black helmet, and dark denim jeans. SMH. Sounds like an inside job to us! Source
MTV News speaks with Robert Kirkman about what fans of the undead can expect from Oakland, California, convention. By Josh Wigler Jon Bernthal as Shane Walsh in “The Walking Dead” Photo: AMC If the worst should happen and a zombie apocalypse occurs this weekend, there’s no safer place in America to be than Northern California: “Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman will be in Oakland as part of the inaugural Image Expo , greatly increasing your survival odds if a pack of flesh-hungry walkers swarms the scene. “The Image Expo is an Image-centric comic book convention, so all of the guests have something to do with Image Comics,” Kirkman told MTV News during a recent phone interview. “All of the Image founders will be there, as well as new creators who are doing comics with Image this year: Ed Brubaker, Brian K. Vaughan, we have Jonathan Hickman coming here … all kinds of cool guests.” Running from February 24-26, the first-ever Image Expo makes its debut during the 20th anniversary of Image Comics. Kirkman, a longtime Image reader and current partner at the company, considers the anniversary a milestone achievement for a publisher that originally launched with a very uncertain future. “There were a lot of naysayers back in 1992 when the company was formed, saying they’d be gone within six months,” Kirkman said. “For Image to still be around, still generating new ideas and content and bringing in new creators into the industry, taking a lot of chances on people who’ve never been published before, that’s one of the things that Image does the best. It’s really cool that this vision of a company created by creators for creators, that offers the greatest creator-owned deal in the industry and gives everyone the kind of freedom every creator wants to have, is still standing.” Indeed, Image has plenty of new creators to brag about going into 2012. Kirkman identified “Captain America” writer Ed Brubaker’s new thriller “Fatale” as one of the books he’s most excited for this year. “Y: The Last Man” scribe Brian K. Vaughan’s upcoming sci-fi epic “Saga” is another of Kirkman’s must-read books in 2012. But Kirkman is equally excited about the arrival of some new creative voices at Image this year, including the company’s onetime PR and marketing coordinator Joe Keatinge, who launches a new series titled “Hell Yeah” in early March. “There are a lot of things he’s involved in that I’m very excited about, but the fact that he’s launching a creator-owned book, ‘Hell Yeah,’ is really great,” Kirkman said about Keatinge’s upcoming projects. “Image is the place that brings in new talent and shepherds them into the comics industry, and I see big things from this Keatinge kid.” Of course, Kirkman has plenty of his own books he’s bringing to the table as well. During Image Expo, Kirkman will champion some of his fan-favorite titles including “Walking Dead” and “Invincible,” as well as his new comic “Thief of Thieves” that debuted from his Skybound imprint earlier this year. “It’s about a guy named Conrad Paulson who lives a double life as an international thief named Redmond, who is rumored to be the greatest thief who ever lived,” Kirkman said of the book’s premise. “But he has a problem: he chose his thief life over his personal life, and he has an estranged ex-wife and a son he’s never talked to. He has a ton of regrets. The book is about him trying to get his life in order and turned around, turning his back on his career as a thief… but finding that he is completely and utterly unable to do that. He’s completely addicted to the thrill of stealing objects. He tries to work around that by working out a way to steal for the greater good.” Taking a page from his “Walking Dead” television experience, Kirkman is implementing a writer’s-room approach to “Thief of Thieves.” Rather than writing the book all on his own, he’s working alongside an unknown number of other writers — including “Morning Glories” scribe Nick Spencer — to add even more voices to his latest creative endeavor. “It’s been a lot of fun working on ‘The Walking Dead’ in the writer’s room. I’ve grown to respect that method of crafting stories, so I figured I’d give it a shot on a comic book,” Kirkman said. “It’s cool to sit down with other writers — currently unnamed, but we’ll be making announcements soon — and plotting out the story in the same way we’d be doing it on a television show. Having those different brains in the mix, people with different backgrounds generating different ideas and adding to the stew of the story we’re putting together is very cool. When you sit down and read the first 25 issues of ‘Thief of Thieves,’ you’re going to see all these different ideas at work. It’ll be cool to see how it all comes together.” Kirkman fans traveling to Image Expo to take a bite out of the writer’s biggest hit to date, “Walking Dead,” won’t walk away disappointed either. The convention will host variant editions of “Walking Dead” #94, as well as a select number of limited-edition “Walking Dead” watches . And, of course, there’s that little AMC series to consider as well. “We’ve got a panel called ‘Walking Dead’ Live where [‘Talking Dead’ host] Chris Hardwick will be interviewing myself and [actors Norman Reedus and Steven Yeun] together on a panel,” Kirkman said. “We’ll get to do that live before a panel audience, which should be pretty exciting. We’ll also have autographs, signings, all that cool stuff. We might even play ping pong with people. I cannot confirm that, but we’ll see. We’re going to be having all kinds of fun!” Are you heading to Image Expo this weekend? Sound off in the comments section or hit me up on Twitter @roundhoward ! For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com .
That’s not a euphemism or double entendre. It was a legitimate question Thursday. This week down at the glamorous and totally disease-free New Jersey Shore … JWoww and Rog patched things up, Sitch and Paula grew closer, Deena “did sex” with some schmoe, while someone ate her and Snooki’s special cake for Danny! How did it all play out in Seaside Heights? Let’s recap Jersey Shore , THG style! Deena and Snooki decide to make an apology cake for their boss. It’s not a meatball cake, but it is made and frosted and decorated by them with love. Aww. Plus 12 . Once morning came, a corner of the cake was eaten! MIKE! Minus 6 . Deena ends up with cake in her face. Again, not a euphemism. Plus 4 . After she says “I wanted him to get the full-on cake,” Danny gives it to her, in the grill. Cake or no cake, Snooki was late to work again, as she goes to the doctor to get treatment for her UTI . Minus 15 for us visualizing the state of Snooki’s UT. She’s had 10 UTIs in the past year she says. How is that even … Minus 10 . Snooki and JWoww accuse Situation of stealing a piece of the apology cake, but it turns out it was … Pauly D! Minus 7 for the (unlikely) false accusation. “Don’t cook a cake in my house and expect me not to eat it,” he says. Fair. Plus 5 . Deena apologizes for blaming The Situation. He’ll find a way for you to make it up to him later, believe us. That or he’ll blackmail you. Either way, Plus 6 . Fortunately, Jenni and Roger did not split. Basically, Rog is “like 65 years old,” according to Deena, so he doesn’t play games. Umm, what? Eh, Plus 8 . The Situation wishes Paula a happy birthday and tells us that she’s his “main squeeze.” Aww! Then it’s birthday sex time. For Paula. Dirty. Plus 12 . Paula tells Sitch he makes her feel special. Time to wife her up, Mike. Since that only means “date” in the Jersey Shore world, you can handle it. Plus 6 . Besides, his actual wife, The Unit, is still in Miami. Plus 3 . Snooki breaks her one-drink rule at the club. Minus 17 , because it can’t be called a rule if it has never once been adhered to. Every night’s an exception. Vinny takes Pauly D on a lunch date. Bromance at its best! Plus 12 . Been awhile since we’ve seen proper GTL (not GTGVB ), followed by a romantic lunch. Ronnie and Sammi let loose at the bar. These two have not fought
A thief was recently busted trying to steal a flat screen LG TV in this hilarious video, which has the feel of a viral marketing campaign by LG itself. It’s unclear. Either way, it’s hilarious. Utilizing the thinness of the product to his advantage, and with surprisingly well-planned execution regarding the security camera angles, the random schmoe made it all the way out the door before being busted. His undoing? Walking very, very slowly and carrying a GIANT ASS TV. Smart Thief Stealing LG TV Has to be fake, right? The way he stares right at the camera throughout, and with LG and “world’s slimmest television” emblazoned clearly on the window? What do you think? If this is alternate form of advertising, it worked and them some. If it’s a real heist gone awry, bravo to the perp on such a ballsy, stupid idea.
Unofficial Hobbit Dwarf Week continues! Yesterday, Peter Jackson gave us our first glimpse of brothers Dori, Nori and Ori (played by Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy and Adam Brown), and today we’re treated to a photo of the other set of brothers in his Company of Dwarves, Óin and Glóin (played by John Callen and Peter Hambleton). If you weren’t scared off by me declaring it Hobbit Dwarf Week, you’re brave enough to click through.
Last week Movieline spat a little blood when looking at the chilling new poster for Final Destination 5 . Pretty freaky! Too bad the real horror still awaited: This week, double over in a spastic ulcer when looking at Rob Lowe in full make-up as alleged wife murderer Drew Peterson for Lifetime’s upcoming TV movie Untouchable . And look: Here are 10 horrifying images it calls to mind.
Hold onto your capes, Bat-fans: According to SuperHeroHype, the first teaser trailer for Chris Nolan ‘s summer 2012 sequel The Dark Knight Rises will play in front of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 in theaters next week. Also expected to play for the Potter crowd: Your first look at December’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and November’s Happy Feet 2 . Accio, Batman! [ SuperHeroHype ]
