If you thought the Sarah Palin campaign-boosting documentary The Undefeated wouldn’t resort to such propaganda-y things as comparing the former half-term Alaskan governor to a Marine while video of a burning building plays onscreen, some bad news : it does. On the upside, however, is this hilarious juxtaposition: “On day one, Governor Palin made it absolutely clear that this was a different governor,” says someone in voiceover just as a dollar bill is being cut up with scissors. Different! (Alternate: That’s one way to slash the budget?) The trailer for The Undefeated is here.
The Ward , John Carpenter’s first directorial effort in 10 years, is not an ideal hiatus-buster. The premise itself — a psych ward for young women is the site of a killing spree — is somewhat pre-Carpenter, and the toe-dip into torture porn feels a little desperate. But his budget-blond lead, B-movie mistress Amber Heard, is well-chosen, and the combination of an excellent supporting cast and a pliable theme work to offset the sizable debits incurred by the often rote direction and seriously iffy ending.
Composer David Arnold this week reaffirmed his interest in having Amy Winehouse contribute the vocals to the next James Bond theme song, which Arnold will assist in writing for Sam Mendes’s untitled 007 film set to shoot this fall. It’s a natural inclination considering the singer’s vintage ’60s style and tone (assuming you want to go vintage; there’s always the Duran Duran or Chris Cornell route, I guess), but then there’s that minor problem of Winehouse being unshakably strung out on booze and/or drugs. Plan B might be in order. That’s where you come in.
Complex.com in their infinite list-making wisdom made a list today of the best songs of 2011 so far. Their were 25 of them. So of course, we weren’t about to repost the whole list here. But there were five in particular that we felt needed to be shared. Three Songs on the lists you may not have heard yet: Mr. Muthaf*ckin eXquire – Huzzah SBTRKT – Wildfire (Remix) feat. Drake & Little Dragon The Weeknd – House Of Ballons/Glass Table Girls Two songs that will definitely make the end-of-the-year “Best Songs Of 2011″ lists DJ Khaled – I’m On One feat. Drake, Rick Ross, and Lil Wayne Adele – Rolling In The Deep The guiltiest guilty pleasure of 2011 YC – Racks feat. Young Future (Admit it: this is your joint!) Check out the full “25 Best Songs Of 2011″ list here
We take our lingering questions straight to the director. By Eric Ditzian J.J. Abrams Photo: MTV News After months of mystery, “Super 8” finally arrived in theaters over the weekend. The secretive marketing campaigns seemed to have paid off, with positive reviews and experts predicting lasting box-office success . With all that film-going satisfaction in mind, the way J.J. Abrams crafted his nostalgic thriller left plenty of lingering questions to be answered. So when the esteemed master of mystery stopped by our MTV News headquarters on Tuesday, we asked him our most burning “Super 8” questions. ( Spoilers ahead! ) Hanging Humans MTV News : When we go into the creature’s cave, we see the humans hanging upside down. Are they hanging upside down because he’s saving them to nosh on later? J.J. Abrams : I love anything involving aliens and noshing. First of all, a man’s got to eat, let’s be honest. Part of it is that he’s a hungry guy and he’s been through a lot, and part of it is that there’s a second connection that he can make with people, so he’s sort of used them as sort of a library of information of what he needs to know about the human technology to use it. Zombie Movies MTV News : The zombie movie that the kids made — why a zombie movie? Why not monsters? Vampires? Why zombies? Abrams : There are a series of films that George Romero did — “Night of the Living Dead,” “Dawn of the Dead” — and I thought that that would be something that could be a big influence on the kid who makes the movies, and so he’s sort of trying to create a movie the way that George Romero, his sort of hero in the movie, did with his zombie films. MTV News : Is there a director’s cut, maybe something we might see on the DVD of their zombie film? Abrams : There’s definitely a movie that’s three times as long, but it’s probably four times as bad. Kiss MTV News : Why no kiss between Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney? Abrams : You know, I don’t know who wanted to see the kiss between Elle Fanning and Joel Courtney, but to me … these were kids who, their affection for each other didn’t necessarily need to be played out with a kiss. But I think that hopefully you get the sense that their feelings for each other are profound. Cameo MTV News : We hear Bruce Greenwood did the motion capture from the creature. Abrams : Bruce Greenwood came in and he did some motion capture, body capture and also facial capture for the performance of the creature. A lot of it we ended up using and a lot of it we ended up having to animate and change because, frankly, when we saw the creature move, sometimes it felt like we had to change it up to make it work better. The PG-13 F-Bomb MTV News : It was a great use of the PG-13 f—. Was there always going to be the one F-bomb you threw? Did you go through different iterations? Abrams : It made me laugh, the idea that this guy who was such a sort of dink at the beginning and the fact that you know he was trying to sell these kids pot, he’s trying to hook up with his sister and he’s just an utter loser working at the camera store. The idea that this guy kind of gets roped into this adventure and sort of starts to really care about these kids. It makes you sort of like the guy, and so his showing up and seeing these kids are still alive and being happy about it and then seeing that this bus has been overturned after this attack of the creature. That reaction that he had just felt like the reaction he would have. And I was hoping that we’d get past the rating and not have to lose it, and luckily we did. Check out everything we’ve got on “Super 8.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Super 8’
We take a look at the album’s chart domination as it reaches #1 yet again. By Jocelyn Vena Adele’s 21 Photo: Columbia Records Adele seems to be unstoppable. Her sophomore release, 21, has managed to top the charts for nearly as many weeks as it’s been out. Clearly, this Brit has never heard of the sophomore slump. If you take the album by the numbers, it’s had quite the impressive run. Just how impressive? Here’s how it shakes out: 114,314 : The number of units she sold this week, beating out Lady Gaga’s Born This Way with 100,255 units. 16 : The number of times Adele’s 21 has been on the charts. 10 : The number of times it’s topped the charts. 2.2 million : The number of records sold since the album hit stores in late February . Gaga, meanwhile, has sold about 1.4 million records in three weeks. 1 : The number of singles released from the album. 8 : The number of consecutive weeks “Rolling in the Deep” has ruled the singles charts. 352,000 : The number of albums sold in 21 ‘s first week, compared to Gaga’s 1.1 million . “It is something, isn’t it?” Dave Bakula, Nielsen’s senior vice president of analytics, told MTV News. “I think if we were to look at this back at the beginning of the record … I don’t think anyone would have guessed.” Given that more than 2 million people have already bought Adele’s album, the question remains: Who is still buying it? “It shows the power … of her fanbase. You’ve got a song that’s performing very, very well, still being discovered by new people every week,” Bakula said. “You’ve got an artist here who wasn’t a household name prior to this record coming out, so you do still have that discovery process going on with her. “What it really goes to show is the fact that there still are that many people discovering the album every week,” he added. “I think it shows a lot about the latent demand that is out there for great music.” Can she be beat? “To be honest, certainly there are releases week in and week out that will come and go, much like Gaga,” he said. ” … There are always going to releases who come in and come out like Beyonc
This Sunday April 17, 2011 at 8pm Anthony Anderson and Royal Watkins will be streaming their Mixtape Comedy Show live from Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. In addition to some of today’s hottest comics tune in for a musical performance and MC battle! But that isn’t all. Anthony Anderson will be announcing the winner of an iPad 2 giveaway during the show. Just follow him HERE (@andersonanthony) on Twitter for a chance to win and watch the show on Sunday right here on TheUrbandaily.com to see who won. Simple ain’t it? But quite clever. (Watch the March show below until Sunday when this becomes the live stream from Gotham Comedy Club.) Live streaming video by Ustream Social Stream RELATED POSTS: iPad 2 Fail: “F*** Steve Jobs!” Anthony Anderson & Royale Watkins Present The Mixtape Comedy Show!
Adele is finally getting her time in the spotlight over here in the U.S. where she was recently interviewed by both Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly . She tells Rolling Stone of her first time meeting Beyonce : “I was about to meet Beyonce and I had a full-blown anxiety attack. Then she popped in looking gorgeous, and said, ‘You’re amazing! When I listen to you I feel like I’m listening to God.’ Can you believe she said that?” She also gave Entertainment Weekly a list of the top 8 songs on her iPod, naming Rihanna ‘s “What’s My Name” as one of them: “Over New Year’s and Christmas, I had time off and I went to all my friends’ parties singing it. Doing the dance moves, I was convinced I was Rihanna. She was possessing me with that song. I swear.” We love to see females respecting females! Soulful Singer Adele Covers Aretha Franklin’s “A Natural Woman” On VH1 Unplugged Beyonce Turns Superhero For New Video [PHOTOS] Rihanna “Hates” Khloe Kardashian & Lamar Odom [AUDIO]
Adele is finally getting her time in the spotlight over here in the U.S. where she was recently interviewed by both Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly . She tells Rolling Stone of her first time meeting Beyonce : “I was about to meet Beyonce and I had a full-blown anxiety attack. Then she popped in looking gorgeous, and said, ‘You’re amazing! When I listen to you I feel like I’m listening to God.’ Can you believe she said that?” She also gave Entertainment Weekly a list of the top 8 songs on her iPod, naming Rihanna ‘s “What’s My Name” as one of them: “Over New Year’s and Christmas, I had time off and I went to all my friends’ parties singing it. Doing the dance moves, I was convinced I was Rihanna. She was possessing me with that song. I swear.” We love to see females respecting females! Soulful Singer Adele Covers Aretha Franklin’s “A Natural Woman” On VH1 Unplugged Beyonce Turns Superhero For New Video [PHOTOS] Rihanna “Hates” Khloe Kardashian & Lamar Odom [AUDIO]
British songstress talks stage fright and body image in Rolling Stone cover story. By Gil Kaufman Adele Photo: Larry Busacca/ Getty Images While she was besting Britney Spears on the American album charts and helping to lead a new British invasion , U.K. soul pop diva Adele also landed the cover of the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine. And though the cover marks yet another milestone of her rising fame, Adele isn’t immune to some of the same fears as the rest of us, say, stage fright. Despite her calm assurance in the studio and apparent ease at coping with her sudden success, the Grammy winner told the magazine that she still has nervous nights. “I’m scared of audiences,” she said. “One show in Amsterdam I was so nervous, I escaped out the fire exit. I’ve thrown up a couple of times. Once in Brussels, I projectile vomited on someone. I just gotta bear it. But I don’t like touring. I have anxiety attacks a lot.” And it’s not just audiences that freak her out, it’s other celebrities. But the singer revealed that she has drawn some strength from an unlikely source: Beyonc
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