Another day, another inventive bit of marketing for the indie drama Martha Marcy May Marlene . On the heels of the QR-coded trailers for the Sundance sensation that debuted online Monday, the Fox Searchlight team has released a motion poster of MMMM that is subtle, affecting and totally creepy. Awesome! If star Elizabeth Olsen is the next Jennifer Lawrence, she already has her predecessor beat; you didn’t see a motion poster for Winter’s Bone , did you? (Lawrence didn’t get her first motion poster until The Hunger Games .) Click through for a look.
Since its release at the end of July, Cowboys & Aliens has grossed around $110 million worldwide. That’s not a washout on the level of The Worst Movie Ever! , but it’s still a big enough disappointment to possibly dissuade future Hollywood genre mixes — especially ones that deal with cowboy hats . Not that anyone should have been surprised by this underwhelming result — even the guys from The Asylum stayed away from Cowboys & Aliens .
Western meets sci-fi flick is full of ‘nifty scenes,’ but ‘unappealing’ overall, critics say. By Terri Schwartz Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig in “Cowboys and Aliens” Photo: Universal With a concept as inspired as “Cowboys & Aliens” and an A-list cast that brings together James Bond and Indiana Jones themselves, it’s hard to imagine what could possibly have gone wrong between bringing the movie from the production room to the big screen. MTV’s Splash Page blog found a lot to love about the movie despite its flaws, but other critics have not been so kind. Maybe it was the fact that director Jon Favreau took the summer blockbuster too seriously. Fans hoping for a tongue-in-cheek mash-up of a Western and an alien movie are in for a straight-laced action flick without a lot of room for humor, like in Favreau’s “Iron Man” films. Even the movie’s charismatic leads couldn’t rescue “Cowboys & Aliens” from its identity crisis, critics are saying. Still, there was plenty to love about the movie as well. “Cowboys & Aliens” is certainly a fun ride to take this summer, so before you head to the multiplex this weekend, take a gander at the “Cowboys & Aliens” reviews we lassoed up for you. The Story “The whole aliens-on-the-frontier incongruity never comes to much, really. There are nifty scenes, like the horseback riders battling silvery skeletal airplanes, but what ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ lacks is a good story. Basically, the characters — [Daniel] Craig’s enigmatic outlaw, [Harrison] Ford’s scowling boss, a tribe of Apache — must put aside their differences to form a posse and defeat the invaders. Who do we care about onscreen? For all of Craig’s edgy charisma, no one. ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ has fun moments, but it’s a plodding entertainment because it mostly tastes like leftovers.” — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly The Leading Men “In Daniel Craig, the movie has what feels awfully like the second coming of Steve McQueen. Maybe it’s the laser blue eyes under the broad forehead, or the laconic refusal to speak except when absolutely necessary, but Craig has a presence here that feels downright mythic. … The chance to be as mean as he wants to be energizes [Ford], whose storied crankiness finally finds a home. It’s a character part, and you can sense Ford’s relief at letting another man shoulder the load. Consciously or not, there’s a generational passing of the baton just under this movie’s surface, and it helps immensely that Craig’s up to the task.” — Ty Burr, The Boston Globe The Cowboys and the Aliens “In Hollywood’s ancient prime, maybe a third of all movies were Westerns. But those days are as dead as the horse-mounted cavalry; in the past 30 years, the genre has been resuscitated only when some powerful director wanted to make a movie like the ones he grew up loving. So ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ has got to get to the aliens pretty damn quick. Even here, Favreau and his crew sprinkle a few memorable moments: the aliens’ low-flying scout planes, looking like 10-winged titanium dragonflies and lassoing the townspeople for abduction; a desert vision of an upside-down steamship, which momentarily summons the ghost of Werner Herzog’s ‘Fitzcarraldo’; and the recurring image of Craig retrieving his cowboy hat, whether he’s fighting off human varmints or escaping from the aliens’ stronghold. A man ain’t a man without his Stetson.” — Richard Corliss, Time The Concept “Cowboys versus aliens is a concept that may make you smile in anticipation, but wipe that smile off your face before buying your ticket, because the film takes its subject seriously — deadly seriously in the case of Harrison Ford, who plays a nasty rancher with the snarls and scowls that have become his trademarks, as if in penance for being so charming in the past. One interesting twist has a posse of cowboys teaming up with the Apaches they fear in order to vanquish the aliens, but the storytelling, punctuated by incoherent flashbacks, is often inscrutable.” — Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal The Final Word “A leaden mash-up of western and science-fiction elements that ends up noisy, grotesque and unappealing, this Jon Favreau-directed film features five producers (including Brian Grazer and Ron Howard), six executive producers (Steven Spielberg and Ryan Kavanaugh among them) and six credited writers, led by ‘Star Trek’ rebooters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and ‘Lost’s’ Damon Lindelof. No wonder the film plays like a business deal more than a motion picture. Listed as a producer, not a writer, is Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, whose concept for the original graphic novel inspired the film. That’s right, ‘Cowboys’ doesn’t even retell the story the graphic novel does; it sets out on its own. This is not a satisfying journey.” — Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times Check out everything we’ve got on “Cowboys & Aliens.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ Related Photos ‘Cowboys & Aliens’
Director Joe Cornish tells MTV News that ‘Starship Troopers’ and ‘Gremlins’ provided unlikely inspiration for alien-invasion flick. By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz “Attack The Block” Photo: Studio Canal Although there are some big Hollywood names among this weekend’s new releases “Cowboys & Aliens” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love.,” there is an equally intriguing, if slightly lesser-known film hitting select theaters called “Attack the Block.” What sets “Block” apart from all of the others is that it was shot on a small budget and features a cast of mostly unknown actors. MTV News recently caught up with first-time feature director Joe Cornish to find out how he accomplished so much with so little, and why he thinks his alien-invasion action movie is the best of the summer. “You’re right to observe that this movie cost probably the amount that one of Bruce Willis’ shoes cost,” Cornish joked when asked about the challenges of working on a limited film budget. “Like I say, that was something that excited me; I wanted to do ambitious stuff in an inventive way.” Cornish explained that he and his crew took a unique approach to their aliens, drawing inspiration from a couple of unexpected cult favorites like “Starship Troopers” and “Gremlins.” “We have an alien design we’re proud of. It’s unusual. It’s very different. It’s unlike anything you’ve seen before,” he promised. “I like when movies withhold the monster, but I also like — ‘Starship Troopers’ is one of my favorite films, and there comes a point in that movie or in ‘Gremlins,’ where they just show the monster and it becomes about quantity,” he said. “We designed our monster in such a way that we could do that. So we don’t hide it for the whole movie, we expose it and you see them in numbers and in force.” Newcomer actor John Boyega said the film is a thrill ride full of unexpected surprises … and warm hugs? “We were put at ease by [co-star] Nick Frost’s constant hugs and his words of advice and Joe Cornish’s enthusiasm on set,” Boyega said. “It was great to work on that project, it was a great experience,” he added. “It just felt like a fun ride.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Attack the Block.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
‘I wanted to take everybody back,’ Jeezy tells MTV news of staging album-anniversary concerts in NYC and ATL. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Rahman Dukes Young Jeezy Photo: MTV News Young Jeezy sure knows how to throw a birthday bash. To celebrate the six-year anniversary of the release of his 2005 debut album, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, Jeezy staged a pair of concerts , one in New York City on Monday, and a second on Tuesday, which was actually the anniversary of the album, in Atlanta. “It felt good to see the city out, givin’ everybody something to dress up for, get out have a good time,” the Snowman told MTV News on Tuesday while backstage at his ATL show. “It was definitely a lot of thug motivatin’ going on. Everybody was there for one reason: We were celebrating. It was a celebration. “I just wanted to put somethin’ together that was special,” he said of the tribute shows. “Music is so different nowadays from when I came out. An album would last two or three years, especially when you have a classic like I do,” he added with a chuckle. In NYC, Jeezy thrilled concertgoers as he ran through the TM 101 track list, bringing out special guests like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Bun B, Fabolous and the LOX during the 80-minute show. And for Atlanta, Jizzle brought out Yo Gotti and Lil Scrappy. “I got a lot of what I call family in this industry. It’s a lot of cats that came from the same walk of life that I came from and we really rock like that,” Jeezy said about his star-studded guest list. “We just show that support for each other. I’ve been on tour with a lot of these cats and kick it on the phone with them daily, so it’s phone calls, two, three phone calls,” he said of getting his rap-star friends to participate. When it was released in 2005, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 helped usher in a brand of drug-related, trap rap that has become prevalent in hip-hop in the past six years. Things have definitely changed since Jeezy made his first splash, but he believes his album represents a specific time in hip-hop that may never return. ” ’05 was a beautiful year — for the economy, for the people, for the hood, just working-class, even if you were a street hustler,” Young Jeezy said of his rookie year in rap. “The world is a different place now, so I wanted to take everybody back and give them that feeling, because it’s hard out here. At the same time, just that in the back of your head, knowing when this music was playing what you were doing, help you get through your day again, still motivation.” During his set in NY, Jeezy announced that his long awaited TM 103 will be released on September 20, and on Tuesday, he announced a 26-ctiy tour that will begin in New Orleans on July 31, concluding in Seattle on September 2. Share your memories of Jeezy’s TM 101 in the comments below! Related Artists Young Jeezy
‘I wanted to take everybody back,’ Jeezy tells MTV news of staging album-anniversary concerts in NYC and ATL. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Rahman Dukes Young Jeezy Photo: MTV News Young Jeezy sure knows how to throw a birthday bash. To celebrate the six-year anniversary of the release of his 2005 debut album, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, Jeezy staged a pair of concerts , one in New York City on Monday, and a second on Tuesday, which was actually the anniversary of the album, in Atlanta. “It felt good to see the city out, givin’ everybody something to dress up for, get out have a good time,” the Snowman told MTV News on Tuesday while backstage at his ATL show. “It was definitely a lot of thug motivatin’ going on. Everybody was there for one reason: We were celebrating. It was a celebration. “I just wanted to put somethin’ together that was special,” he said of the tribute shows. “Music is so different nowadays from when I came out. An album would last two or three years, especially when you have a classic like I do,” he added with a chuckle. In NYC, Jeezy thrilled concertgoers as he ran through the TM 101 track list, bringing out special guests like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Bun B, Fabolous and the LOX during the 80-minute show. And for Atlanta, Jizzle brought out Yo Gotti and Lil Scrappy. “I got a lot of what I call family in this industry. It’s a lot of cats that came from the same walk of life that I came from and we really rock like that,” Jeezy said about his star-studded guest list. “We just show that support for each other. I’ve been on tour with a lot of these cats and kick it on the phone with them daily, so it’s phone calls, two, three phone calls,” he said of getting his rap-star friends to participate. When it was released in 2005, Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 helped usher in a brand of drug-related, trap rap that has become prevalent in hip-hop in the past six years. Things have definitely changed since Jeezy made his first splash, but he believes his album represents a specific time in hip-hop that may never return. ” ’05 was a beautiful year — for the economy, for the people, for the hood, just working-class, even if you were a street hustler,” Young Jeezy said of his rookie year in rap. “The world is a different place now, so I wanted to take everybody back and give them that feeling, because it’s hard out here. At the same time, just that in the back of your head, knowing when this music was playing what you were doing, help you get through your day again, still motivation.” During his set in NY, Jeezy announced that his long awaited TM 103 will be released on September 20, and on Tuesday, he announced a 26-ctiy tour that will begin in New Orleans on July 31, concluding in Seattle on September 2. Share your memories of Jeezy’s TM 101 in the comments below! Related Artists Young Jeezy
Co-star Daniel Craig had to ‘look me up and down,’ actress explains. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Eric Ditzian Olivia Wilde in “Cowboys & Aliens” Photo: Universal Pictures Olivia Wilde might have been covered in dust and dirt while shooting “Cowboys & Aliens,” but that didn’t make shooting a mostly nude scene in front of her co-star Daniel Craig any less awkward. “It was kind of strange because I was half-naked in front of a bunch of people, including the crew, a bunch of Apache warriors, a bunch of cowboys, and Daniel Craig, who I had to stand in front of basically naked,” Wilde explained to MTV News. “He had to take a moment to sort of look me up and down before covering me in a blanket. And I was like, this is crazy.” It didn’t help that after the long night of shooting, Wilde and the rest of the “Cowboys & Aliens” cast had to take an overnight flight to San Diego Comic-Con to make their Hall H presentation . So if fans remember her being a little frazzled, it probably has something to do with the fact Wilde had no sleep after filming a scene in which she was partially nude for the majority of it. As fans will find out come Friday’s release of “Cowboys & Aliens,” the scene Wilde is talking about — which has been teased in the film’s many trailers — happens at the climax. She said filming the sequence was an “honor” because it is such an important moment in the movie. “It was really exciting because we knew we were creating something kind of spectacular in that scene,” Wilde said. “It was a really cool effect happening, as people will see.” The actress said she didn’t wear much make-up and required little hairstyling while filming because the style of the flick was “very bare.” She said it was a very dirty shoot, and not just because she was almost naked. “We were literally dirty because we were riding all day long out in the desert, and you get very dirty. But the dirtier everybody looked, the hotter they looked. It was a really good look, I think,” she said. “The people in the Old West were very dirty. The thing that’s unrealistic about our movie is all our teeth: We have good teeth; they didn’t have good teeth. So, logic police will call BS on that.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Cowboys & Aliens.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ Related Photos ‘Cowboys & Aliens’
Co-star Daniel Craig had to ‘look me up and down,’ actress explains. By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Eric Ditzian Olivia Wilde in “Cowboys & Aliens” Photo: Universal Pictures Olivia Wilde might have been covered in dust and dirt while shooting “Cowboys & Aliens,” but that didn’t make shooting a mostly nude scene in front of her co-star Daniel Craig any less awkward. “It was kind of strange because I was half-naked in front of a bunch of people, including the crew, a bunch of Apache warriors, a bunch of cowboys, and Daniel Craig, who I had to stand in front of basically naked,” Wilde explained to MTV News. “He had to take a moment to sort of look me up and down before covering me in a blanket. And I was like, this is crazy.” It didn’t help that after the long night of shooting, Wilde and the rest of the “Cowboys & Aliens” cast had to take an overnight flight to San Diego Comic-Con to make their Hall H presentation . So if fans remember her being a little frazzled, it probably has something to do with the fact Wilde had no sleep after filming a scene in which she was partially nude for the majority of it. As fans will find out come Friday’s release of “Cowboys & Aliens,” the scene Wilde is talking about — which has been teased in the film’s many trailers — happens at the climax. She said filming the sequence was an “honor” because it is such an important moment in the movie. “It was really exciting because we knew we were creating something kind of spectacular in that scene,” Wilde said. “It was a really cool effect happening, as people will see.” The actress said she didn’t wear much make-up and required little hairstyling while filming because the style of the flick was “very bare.” She said it was a very dirty shoot, and not just because she was almost naked. “We were literally dirty because we were riding all day long out in the desert, and you get very dirty. But the dirtier everybody looked, the hotter they looked. It was a really good look, I think,” she said. “The people in the Old West were very dirty. The thing that’s unrealistic about our movie is all our teeth: We have good teeth; they didn’t have good teeth. So, logic police will call BS on that.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Cowboys & Aliens.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Cowboys and Aliens’ Related Photos ‘Cowboys & Aliens’
Olivia Wilde’ s been on a skinterview spree for her new movie Cowboys & Aliens , and she’s been spreading the nudes that her seat meat makes an appearance in the sci-fi/Western hybrid. Well, you can take those rumors and spread ’em on your vegetable garden, because turns out they’re nothing more than bull dooky. Mr. Skin’s Skin Skout has seen a sneak preview of Cowboys & Aliens, and it turns out the much-hyped butt scene is less than Wilde. 1 hour and 11 minutes into the movie, Olivia walks through a fire naked and miraculously unharmed. Olivia may be fine, but Skin Central is still feeling burnt, because CGI flames cover Olivia’s seat meat in the rear view shot, exposing only naked back, and from the front we only see her from the shoulders up. Not to mention as soon as she walks out of the fire, Daniel Craig rushes in to cover Olivia’s gorgeous naked body with a blanket. That wasn’t exactly what we meant when we said Olivia Wilde’ s butt really lights our fire, guys. Cowboys & Aliens might be a tease, but members can see Olivia delivering the topless goods in Alpha Dog (2006) on our Olivia Wilde page!
Tomorrow will see the nationwide release of one of this summer’s most anticipated movies – J.J. Abrams’ alleged homage to Steven Spielberg of old, Super 8 . The film centers on a group of white kids in a small Ohio town in the 1970s whose adventures into film-making with their Super 8mm camera are interrupted by a train crash carrying an alien life form. Naturally, chaos reigns in the aftermath. But there’s another “alien attacks” movie also centered on a group of kids coming soon to a theater near you (hopefully) that you may not yet be aware of, but really should be. And this one is of special importance because its story features that rare onscreen occurrence in which the alien, or aliens in this case, invade a predominantly urban (read: black) neighborhood. The film’s tag line, which you can read on the poster above, says it all: “ INNER CITY VS OUTER SPACE. ” Or, as I like to refer to it: the “ Aliens attack da hood ” project. For once, right? They almost never do! And the often vilified, bureaucratically-victimized young black boys and girls who live in “da hood” actually save the day for a change! It all sounds quite revolutionary, doesn’t it? Sarcasm aside, the film I’m talking about is a British-produced horror movie titled Attack The Block , brought to you by the producers of the hilarious zombie spoof Shaun Of The Dead , and the not-so hilarious graphic novel adaption of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World . The movie, in brief, pits a group of mostly black kids against an invasion of alien monsters, turning a an inner city London tower block into a fortress under siege, and a ragtag group of armed teenagers into heroes. Since its North American debut at the South by Southwest Film Festival this past March in Austin, Texas the critical and commercial buzz around the movie has been near-deafening. It was released in the UK last month and although it has a North American distributor, an official release date for those of us on this side of the Atlantic has yet to be announced. Given all that I’ve heard and read about the movie (from film critics and general audiences) it sounds like perfect summer fare – an exceptional combination of spectacle and story. You’ll get the thrills and chills, but also plenty of heart. Here’s a small sample: From Variety : “… enormously appealing debut feature, “Attack the Block”… Pitched as “inner city vs. outer space,” pic sees a quintet of teen street hoodlums defend their tower-block home in the projects from an invasion of shaggy-haired aliens with Day-Glo teeth. Set over one wild night in South London, this zero-to-hero tale will play gangbusters in its native Blighty before a rich ancillary career.” From Cinemablend : “Attack The Block Could Be The Best Action Movie Of The Year… finds a balance in scope to keep the action moving while showcasing the brilliant, hilarious and realistic teen actors. There’s a surprising amount of smaller-scale, alien attack action in Attack the Block and Cornish’s crack team of make-up and visual effects artists pull out all the stops. The film is quickly paced and never lets up… The result: an alien invasion where you actually give a damn about the folks being invaded.” And from IndieWire : “The violence is frenetic and visceral, but Cornish shoots these sequences with clarity and intensity, suggesting he’s an action director ready to bloom. And if you live by the adage that 90% of directing is casting, then Cornish’s job was fairly easy, as a group of total unknowns completely carry this picture. Credit must be given to the young John Boyega, a possible future star, who plays Moses, the de-facto leader of the pack. Boyega has a face that reveals both anger and strength in regular doses, the type of attitude that just cannot be taught in acting classes. As such, our designated hero, Boyega, with an expressive upper brow that reflects the character’s intelligence beyond these circumstances, is believable as both a defiant tough guy and as a teen who theorizes that the aliens are a government program meant to eliminate lower-class citizens. He’s compellingly watchable.” As the last snippet notes, the cast of Attack The Block comprises of mostly unknown actors who bring a realism to the film, ensuring that, despite its fantastical tale, remains fairly grounded. And the last line about the aliens being government inventions meant to wipe out the working class, indicates some political and allegorical subtext, speaking to a universal and warranted paranoia amongst black people that’s rooted in a mistrust of government, and people in positions of power in general. History is littered with incidents that instruct those fears. Taking all of the above into consideration, Attack The Block is a film we should all be watching for down the road. There has even been excited talk of an American studio purchasing the film’s remake rights and producing a Hollywood version of it! Let’s hope Sony Pictures does release the original first, and soon, rather than shelve it in favor of an Americanized version of the movie. So, after you’re done devouring popcorn and smoothies at the theater this weekend, watching a group of white kids take on a nasty extraterrestrial in Super 8 , get ready to “Attack The Block” sometime later this year… we hope. The film’s trailer follows below for those who’ve yet to see it: Tambay Obenson is editor of Shadow And Act on the indieWIRE Network , which can be found at http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact . FACT OF THE DAY: Ashanti Was Once A Bad Girl Remember Snoop’s Perm & Curls? THEN & NOW: 1990s Music Icons CLASS OF 2001: Was G-Dep The Last Bad “Boy” Standing?
