Well, folks, it’s time to pack up our canned goods and bottled water, inflate our rafts, and row row row our boats gently down the middle of the street to the safe haven of Movieline’s Week in Review. Our West Coast bureau will be back with you in the days ahead with box-office news and other happenings from the cinema front; the East Coast bureau will be back with you from wherever Hurricane Irene chooses to drop us. Hopefully there are movies there! More to come then — have a very safe and dry weekend!
After scoring a critical and commercial hit with his directorial debut, 2009’s Zombieland , director Ruben Fleischer decided to make the relatively humble crime comedy 30 Minutes or Less (in theaters Friday) as his follow-up, rather than take on some huge Hollywood work-for-hire gig like Mission: Impossible 4 , which he was once in the running to direct. And as he tells Cinema Blend, when he watched the first trailer for the Brad Bird-helmed spy sequel, he knew he’d made the right decision.
Hey San Franciscans! Do you like smut? Of course you do, you’re reading the Mr. Skin blog. Well, you’re in luck, because the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is giving the art of skinema some artsy-fartsy “credibility” with its new nude series, Smut Capital of America: San Francisco’s Sex Cinema Revolution . The series celebrates San Francisco’s role as the first city in the United States to effectively legalize pornography in the late 60’s, as documented in filmmaker Michael Stabile ‘s as-yet unfinished documentary Smut Capital of America . San Francisco being San Francisco, there are some sausage-on-sausage skinema screenings that most Mr. Skin fans will probably want to skip, but for the connoisseur of cooch there’s still a variety of vaginal delights to be had: On July 21 at 7:30, Yerba Buena will be screening Pornography in Denmark , a 1969 film that sexplores the then-taboo topic of pornography by showing dozens of Danish girls (Denmark was the first country to decriminalize pornography) doinking dudes and snacking on each others’ Scandinavian snatches. Then on August 25 at 7:30, Yerba Buena will be screening Resurrection of Eve (1973), a classic sexample of ’70s smut starring Behind the Green Door ‘s Marilyn Chambers as a woman who discovers the joy of orgies after a serious car accident. Marilyn is xxx-plosive in this film, considered one of the best by legendary porn purveyors The Mitchell Brothers. So if you find yourself in the City by the Bay this summer, stroll on down to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and slap your sausage in style with these all-time classics of the skinema. Just wait until after the screening, wouldja?
Before signing up for Cameron Diaz’s class, study up with our fun facts. By Eric Ditzian Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake in “Bad Teacher” Photo: Sony It’s been more than a month since “Bridesmaids” slayed us at the cinema. We’re desperately in need of some hard-R laughs, a few gross-out moments that make us cringe, and the reminder that as crazy as we might be, we’re not nearly as loco as the folks we’re watching onscreen. Thus, we say thanks to “Bad Teacher” as it floats, on a comedic cloud of profanity and penis jokes, into theaters. Cameron Diaz stars as Elizabeth Halsey, an educator less concerned with math lessons than she is in smoking pot and calculating her way into marriage with any filthy-rich doofus. She meets the perfect mark in Justin Timberlake’s Scott Delacorte, a substitute teacher and a guy so freaking nice there’s got be something wrong with him. And then we have Jason Segel’s sly gym teacher; even though he’s got the hots for Halsey, his paycheck doesn’t have nearly enough digits to entice the leggy blonde. But all this is just the setup. The punch comes in a series of outlandish events that, if we were to reveal them here, would just spoil the fun. What we can do is tell you everything you need to know about “Bad Teacher” before hitting the multiplex this weekend. That’s where our cheat sheet comes into play. Getting Ready for Class News of the film, penned by “Office” scribes Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, broke in December of 2009. Diaz had signed on , but the rest of the cast had yet to be filled out. That changed a few months later, when Timberlake and Segel hopped aboard . Though Diaz had formerly dated JT, the actress had no qualms about stepping in front of the camera with him. “He’s the best person for the job. He’s going to be hilarious,” she said. “He’s clearly a very talented comedian; look at his ‘Saturday Night Live’ [skits]. He’s fantastic. He’s going to be so great.” School’s in Session Filming kicked off in March. Nearly a year later, a truly filthy red-band trailer popped up online, giving us a very clear idea of how truly terrible a teacher Diaz would be: “Are you f—ing kidding me?” she writes on a student’s test. While the comedy’s raunchiness was no surprise, Timberlake’s weirdo of a sub certainly was. As Diaz later explained to us , “He gives us a character that you have not seen yet before — not just him, but pretty much anyone. It’s just a very interesting character and a lot of fun to watch. By the end of it, you’re like, ‘What is up with that dude?’ It’s hilarious.” The Final Exam As part of our Summer Movie Preview Week, we debuted an exclusive photo of Diaz getting ready for a fundraising car wash unlike any that you might recall from your school days and also sat down for a chat with the woman herself. “She’s miserable. She’s not happy with her world, and she doesn’t pretend that she is,” Diaz said of her character. “Her pain is real. She’s living a very painful existence, so there’s no humor to her in this.” Sure, she’s a woman in pain. But there’s also something liberating about the way she just doesn’t give a hoot about anything. “I think that’s why people love Elizabeth,” Diaz told us at the film’s premiere in New York City. “It’s because everyone wants to be her, even for an hour, maybe a day. If you get away with a week — oh my gosh! I got to play her for six weeks. So yeah, it was a lot of fun.” “The first 30 pages, I’m like, ‘I am not playing this. There is no way I can play this character. There [are] no redeeming qualities to this character,’ ” she recalled of the script in an earlier chat. “And by the end of it, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this is genius! There’s no redeeming qualities to this character!’ We got to the end of the script, and we’re not apologizing for anything she said. It’s a very modest arc.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Bad Teacher.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Bad Teacher’ Related Photos ‘Bad Teacher’ Premieres In New York
Martin Freeman’s eagerly anticipated prequel Bilbo Baggins turns up in character, complete with hairy feet and pointy ears. By Eric Ditzian Martin Freeman in “The Hobbit” Photo: New Line Cinema via Entertainment Weekly Although he’s busy once again creating a Middle Earth-like world in the wilds of New Zealand, “Hobbit” director Peter Jackson has done an excellent job keeping fans of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantastical creations looped into the production. He’s been posting photos, videos and updates on his Facebook page for months — including a few pics of himself in what appears to be Bilbo Baggins’ home . But what we haven’t seen until now are official photos of the stars in character and on set. That’s all changing, thanks to three pics posted by Entertainment Weekly . One image features Martin Freeman as Bilbo, another focuses on Ian McKellan as Gandalf, and the last captures both Freeman and Jackson in that familiar home. The first photo is the one fans have been waiting years to see: a real-life representation of Bilbo himself. After all the production delays, the speculation and the rumors about the casting of the central character (James McAvoy? Daniel Radcliffe?), we finally are getting a look at Freeman (perhaps best known from the British version of “The Office”) in character, complete with hairy feet, pointy ears and shaggy hair. ”He fits the ears and he’s got some very nice feet,” Jackson told EW about Freeman’s portrayal of Bilbo. ”I think he’s got the biggest hobbit feet we’ve had so far. They’re a little bit hard to walk in, but he’s managed to figure out the perfect hobbit gait.” The second pic captures, in Gandalf, someone we’re very familiar with from the “Lord of the Rings” series but who will be surrounded by a new cast of characters in this prequel story, the first part of which hits theaters in December 2012. ”He’s in fantastic form,” Jackson said of McKellan. ”In a way, his role in ‘The Hobbit’ has more technical difficulties than ‘Lord of the Rings’ did, because he has scenes with 14 smaller characters — obviously the dwarves and the hobbit are shorter. … I remember saying to him [ laughs ], ‘Look, this isn’t “Waiting for Godot” or “King Lear.” This is “The Hobbit.” This is the real thing. ‘ ” The final photo takes us inside an on-set conversation with Jackson and Freeman, one of roughly a zillion the two are likely to have, considering how long the shoot will last. ”There’s no way you can pace yourself for shoots like these,” the director said. ”When we were going through the schedule for ‘The Hobbit,’ I felt a terrible drop in my stomach when I saw that we’d be shooting for 254 days. We’re only 12 days short of ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ even though we’re only doing two movies. When I saw that, I had to sort of pick myself up off the floor and carry on.” Tell us what you think of the new “Hobbit” photos in the comments section! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
Relive the superhero’s journey to the big screen with our handy guide! By Eric Ditzian Ryan Reynolds in “Green Lantern” Photo: Warner Bros. Comic book adaptations often weave a circuitous and amusing path toward the big screen. Remember when Cher was rumored to be up for the role of Catwoman in “The Dark Knight Rises”? But few superhero flicks can compete with the epically bizarre twists and turns that tripped up “Green Lantern” for years. Jack Black was once tapped to play the ring-bearing protector of the universe. When the rotund comedian’s version collapsed, everyone from Brian Austin Green to Justin Timberlake were rumored to be circling the green-suited superhero . Can you imagine Quentin Tarantino helming a “Green Lantern” flick starring one of these dudes? Well, the “Inglourious Basterds” director turned down the chance to take control of the project. And now, here we are. “Green Lantern” opened in theaters Friday (June 16) with Ryan Reynolds as test pilot-turned-superhero Hal Jordan, Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”) in the director’s chair, and the film, we’d say, is all the better for it. But how did we arrive at this moment? To answer that question, let’s slip on our power rings and take a trip back into the cinematic past with another MTV News cheat sheet. That’s the only way to discover everything there is to know about “Green Lantern”: Recharging the Lantern After years in development hell, the project seemed finally to be moving forward in August 2008, when the DC Comics property moved back into active development with a script by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green . There was even talk that the movie would begin filming the next spring and that Ryan Gosling would take on the lead role . While Campbell eventually began to eye the film, production didn’t move forward, even though Warner Bros. announced a December 17, 2010, release date. Would filming begin in September ? Would Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”) become Hal Jordan? What about fellow “Trek” star Chris Pine ? Rumors, rumors, everywhere! Unsurprisingly, the release date was moved back to June 17, 2011. Finally, in July ’09, the ring chose its man: Ryan Reynolds officially landed the role of Hal Jordan . Greeting the Corps “I fell in love with the character when I met with Martin Campbell,” Reynolds told us a few months later. “When I sat down with him, I really got what it is that this guy is all about. When you have a guy like Martin Campbell, part of his charm is that he has balls of titanium, and the other part is that he’s slightly crazy, and you have to be to take on something with the scope of ‘Green Lantern.’ ” No joke. The 3-D film journeys from the shores of America to the most distant planets of the universe. There are aliens galore, a villain who thrives on fear and power rings that harness willpower into fantastical manifestations, like giant machine guns and supercharged fists. Jordan finds himself at the center of it all, after he’s chosen to join the Green Lantern Corps, an army of fighters chosen to protect the universe from all evils. The baddies they must confront in the film are Dr. Hector Hammond, a scientist turned lumpy-headed villain, and Parallax, a smoky enemy capable of engulfing planets and who threatens to snuff out all life forms. Into this mess steps Jordan with two quests: stop the bad guys and get the girl — a lovely test pilot named Carol Ferris, played by Blake Lively. Lively nabbed the part in January 2010, and the rest of the cast soon followed: Mark Strong as the Lantern named Sinestro, Peter Sarsgaard as Hammond and Tim Robbins as his father, Senator Hammond. We got our first peek at Reynolds in his motion-capture gear in May. It’d be another two months until we peeped the actor in glowing-green character . Not everyone was pleased with what they saw. “There has to be a little healthy debate about it,” Reynolds told us later . “I mean, that’s important. If it were just slanted one way or the other, I don’t think it would be that satisfying. And truthfully, we’ve only seen a tiny glimpse of the suit, you know, we haven’t seen it in motion. And we haven’t seen the full suit as well.” Green Lantern’s Light The first trailer popped up in November, and once again fans were less than impressed. But Reynolds didn’t sweat it . “I’m not worried about it,” he told us in April. “We’ve never been worried about it, because we saw the early concepts and we saw how well they worked. Unfortunately, that was stuff you can’t just release and show to people, because it needs to be perfected and all that stuff. I’m not worried about it at all.” Public opinion started to change this summer at WonderCon and CinemaCon, as fans got their eyes on fresh “Green Lantern” footage . “The first time I saw it was just breathtaking,” Reynolds told us recently. “I think the first time it hit me that we really did it right was in WonderCon,” he told us recently. “I’d been shooting in Africa at the time, so I flew back just to be there, and I was exhausted, and they put up this 10 or 11 minutes of footage, and you could feel it going like a wave through the audience.” Breathtaking was exactly our opinion of an eye-popping poster we debuted in April — one that featured a slew of Corps aliens like Tomar-Re, Abin Sur and Kilowog. Another trailer arrived in May: more aliens, more action and more of Reynolds’ sometimes goofy, sometimes badass superhero. It was more than enough to get us pumped about the movie to come. “For me, what attracted me to it most was the space-epic nature of it,” Reynolds told us at the MTV Movie Awards in early June. “I just loved that you had this film that was an origin story, that’s not really starting in the third act like a lot of them do. I grew up with movies like that. I love movies like that. So just to be part of it was mind-boggling.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Green Lantern.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Green Lantern’ Related Photos ‘Green Lantern’ Trailer: Five Key Scenes
Relive the superhero’s journey to the big screen with our handy guide! By Eric Ditzian Ryan Reynolds in “Green Lantern” Photo: Warner Bros. Comic book adaptations often weave a circuitous and amusing path toward the big screen. Remember when Cher was rumored to be up for the role of Catwoman in “The Dark Knight Rises”? But few superhero flicks can compete with the epically bizarre twists and turns that tripped up “Green Lantern” for years. Jack Black was once tapped to play the ring-bearing protector of the universe. When the rotund comedian’s version collapsed, everyone from Brian Austin Green to Justin Timberlake were rumored to be circling the green-suited superhero . Can you imagine Quentin Tarantino helming a “Green Lantern” flick starring one of these dudes? Well, the “Inglourious Basterds” director turned down the chance to take control of the project. And now, here we are. “Green Lantern” opened in theaters Friday (June 16) with Ryan Reynolds as test pilot-turned-superhero Hal Jordan, Martin Campbell (“Casino Royale”) in the director’s chair, and the film, we’d say, is all the better for it. But how did we arrive at this moment? To answer that question, let’s slip on our power rings and take a trip back into the cinematic past with another MTV News cheat sheet. That’s the only way to discover everything there is to know about “Green Lantern”: Recharging the Lantern After years in development hell, the project seemed finally to be moving forward in August 2008, when the DC Comics property moved back into active development with a script by Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green . There was even talk that the movie would begin filming the next spring and that Ryan Gosling would take on the lead role . While Campbell eventually began to eye the film, production didn’t move forward, even though Warner Bros. announced a December 17, 2010, release date. Would filming begin in September ? Would Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”) become Hal Jordan? What about fellow “Trek” star Chris Pine ? Rumors, rumors, everywhere! Unsurprisingly, the release date was moved back to June 17, 2011. Finally, in July ’09, the ring chose its man: Ryan Reynolds officially landed the role of Hal Jordan . Greeting the Corps “I fell in love with the character when I met with Martin Campbell,” Reynolds told us a few months later. “When I sat down with him, I really got what it is that this guy is all about. When you have a guy like Martin Campbell, part of his charm is that he has balls of titanium, and the other part is that he’s slightly crazy, and you have to be to take on something with the scope of ‘Green Lantern.’ ” No joke. The 3-D film journeys from the shores of America to the most distant planets of the universe. There are aliens galore, a villain who thrives on fear and power rings that harness willpower into fantastical manifestations, like giant machine guns and supercharged fists. Jordan finds himself at the center of it all, after he’s chosen to join the Green Lantern Corps, an army of fighters chosen to protect the universe from all evils. The baddies they must confront in the film are Dr. Hector Hammond, a scientist turned lumpy-headed villain, and Parallax, a smoky enemy capable of engulfing planets and who threatens to snuff out all life forms. Into this mess steps Jordan with two quests: stop the bad guys and get the girl — a lovely test pilot named Carol Ferris, played by Blake Lively. Lively nabbed the part in January 2010, and the rest of the cast soon followed: Mark Strong as the Lantern named Sinestro, Peter Sarsgaard as Hammond and Tim Robbins as his father, Senator Hammond. We got our first peek at Reynolds in his motion-capture gear in May. It’d be another two months until we peeped the actor in glowing-green character . Not everyone was pleased with what they saw. “There has to be a little healthy debate about it,” Reynolds told us later . “I mean, that’s important. If it were just slanted one way or the other, I don’t think it would be that satisfying. And truthfully, we’ve only seen a tiny glimpse of the suit, you know, we haven’t seen it in motion. And we haven’t seen the full suit as well.” Green Lantern’s Light The first trailer popped up in November, and once again fans were less than impressed. But Reynolds didn’t sweat it . “I’m not worried about it,” he told us in April. “We’ve never been worried about it, because we saw the early concepts and we saw how well they worked. Unfortunately, that was stuff you can’t just release and show to people, because it needs to be perfected and all that stuff. I’m not worried about it at all.” Public opinion started to change this summer at WonderCon and CinemaCon, as fans got their eyes on fresh “Green Lantern” footage . “The first time I saw it was just breathtaking,” Reynolds told us recently. “I think the first time it hit me that we really did it right was in WonderCon,” he told us recently. “I’d been shooting in Africa at the time, so I flew back just to be there, and I was exhausted, and they put up this 10 or 11 minutes of footage, and you could feel it going like a wave through the audience.” Breathtaking was exactly our opinion of an eye-popping poster we debuted in April — one that featured a slew of Corps aliens like Tomar-Re, Abin Sur and Kilowog. Another trailer arrived in May: more aliens, more action and more of Reynolds’ sometimes goofy, sometimes badass superhero. It was more than enough to get us pumped about the movie to come. “For me, what attracted me to it most was the space-epic nature of it,” Reynolds told us at the MTV Movie Awards in early June. “I just loved that you had this film that was an origin story, that’s not really starting in the third act like a lot of them do. I grew up with movies like that. I love movies like that. So just to be part of it was mind-boggling.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Green Lantern.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Green Lantern’ Related Photos ‘Green Lantern’ Trailer: Five Key Scenes
This is not a meet and greet experience, this is a NEVER SAY NEVER experience. It was the day of the Never Say Never premiere in the UK and my sister, her friend and I were ready on our journey to see our idol when my mom said, “You ready for this?” We looked at each other smiled and screamed YES! We made our way to the Q and we sat down for hours and hours. Everyone was singing Justin’s songs and we joined in. A private jet flew over the arena and I got extremely excited. It looked like Justin’s private jet, I noticed and pointed thinking if that was Justin, maybe he had seen me. We walked near the arena by the gates and found a space right at the front. We waited for roughly 3 hours, they played all of Justin’s songs and all of a sudden the big screen came on and a big black van pulled up and Justin Bieber came out the car with Kenny! My heart stopped beating and already tears were exiting my eyes. We watched Kenny walking side by side with Justin who was tweeting or something. The arena was rumbling and Justin made his was into the arena. As he was being interviewed, he turned his face and blew a kiss. Before I knew it, Justin was making his way around to see and us and thank us. He was coming towards me and I stopped crying. I handed him my book and to my suprise he autographed it for me, then he looked at me and smiled. I was just staring at him for what felt like minutes. My sister didn’t get his autograph and was upset with me. Justin made his way to Cineworld where he would watch his movie. I noticed that Scooter was heading towards me and I asked to take a photo with him, he took my camera and had taken 2 photos. Everyone started to make their way of the arena arena and I was extremely happy that he had noticed me. As we were leaving, someone tapped my sister on her shoulder. We turned around and a women was standing there. She said, “Who are you with?”, so my sister had told her. We noticed she put her hand in her pocket and pulled out Never Say Never tickets to go and watch his movie! My jaw dropped and she said, “but you have to have an adult with you”. This was the best day of my life. All of a sudden, Jon M Chu walked in, followed by Scooter. They both said their speech and said thank you for making this possible and a voice said NEVER SAY NEVER. I reconized that voice and started to cry, it was Justin’s. He walked into the cinema and he was talking to us all for about 5 minutes. He thanked us all for coming and I was jumping up and down. My mum wasn’t a fan of Justin and after watching his movie, she loves him and has so much respect for him. This is a memory that would last a life time and someday it ill be a story to tell my kids. Read more from the original source: This is not a meet and greet experience, this is a NEVER SAY…
(YouTube link) The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema enforces old-fashioned theater etiquette. They have two rules: no talking during a movie, and no phone usage. After a woman was ejected from the theater for texting during a film, she left an angry voice mail. The theater promptly turned her message into a public service announcement. In discussions at Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Neatorama Discovery Date : 07/06/2011 03:21 Number of articles : 2
Linked since the fall, Michael Sheen, 42, and Rachel McAdams, 32, hit the red carpet arm in arm in Cannes last week to promote the Woody Allen film. “I don#39;t think it was planned one way or the other,” McAdams said Tuesday of their going public with the romance. Michael Sheen and Rachel McAdams have finally confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood – that they are indeed a couple. “Yeah, we are together,” the actor told us Tuesday at the Cinema Society Thierry Mugler screening
