British boy banders prove they know ‘NSYNC from the Jonas Brothers. By Jocelyn Vena The Wanted Photo: Steve Thorne/ Redferns The Wanted are taking over America. Their single “Glad You Came” is a certified hit, and they’ve even amassed enough U.S. exposure to get covered on “Glee” and tour with Justin Bieber . The British fivesome (along with fellow Brit boy banders One Direction , who are also getting love Stateside) are proving that the new millennium is ready for a new crop of boy bands. When the Wanted stopped by MTV News while they were in the U.S. for their tour, they played a little Boy Band Pop Quiz with us, and they did surprisingly well! See for yourselves … What boy band featured Justin Timberlake? The Wanted : ‘NSYNC Did they get it right? : Yes What boy band released the song “I Want It That Way”? The Wanted : Backstreet Boys Did they get it right? : Yes What band launched the career of Robbie Williams? The Wanted : Take That Did they get it right? : Yes What group from Boston formed a supergroup with the Backstreet Boys? The Wanted : New Kids on the Block Did they get it right? : Yes What band’s name is actually a temperature? The Wanted : 98 Degrees Did they get it right? : Yes, eventually, with some hints from us! What band’s brothers are also the stars of “Camp Rock”? The Wanted : The Jonas Brothers Did they get it right? : Yes Having gotten high marks on our Boy Band Pop Quiz, the guys will come back our way later this month to be part of mtvU’s Spring Break festivities . They will head to Sin City to chill with rapper Young Jeezy and MTV Artist to Watch 2012 Dev at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. It’ll all go down March 20 to 22! How would you have done on the Boy Band Pop Quiz? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists The Wanted
‘The Voice’ judge will headline ‘Cee Lo Green Presents Loberace’ at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino starting in August. By Kara Warner Cee Lo Green Photo: Getty Images As if Grammy-nominated recording artist and “Voice” judge Cee Lo Green Cee Lo Green didn’t already have enough on his plate, the man is taking his act to Las Vegas, where he will headline “Cee Lo Green Presents Loberace,” at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino beginning August 29. The “F— You” singer announced via his website Friday (March 2) that his show will “take you on a ride through the colorful decades of music, stopping at legendary moments in time, from Prince to Blue Magic to The Rolling Stones, new wave to disco and beyond,” according to the news announcement on the site. “Visually, the production will combine Cee Lo’s flamboyant sense of style & over-the-top creativity, magnified and intensified, with his soulful voice covering some of his favorite music, as well as original songs. Part dance party, part live intimate concert, this energetic, exotic show will be as inspired and visually alive as Cee Lo Green. There will be mind-twisting magic and sexified showgirls, and the larger-than-life wardrobe and impressive stage design will out-glam and out-clever anything you’ve seen from this Muppet-ized, sequin-styled international Lady Killer to date.” Cee Lo’s “alter ego” is a nod to legendary and flamboyant showman Liberace, a world-renowned vocalist and pianist famous for both his talent and his outlandish fashion. The Goodie Mob rapper and Gnarls Barkley singer has been front and center in the world of music and pop culture over the past couple of years thanks to the success of his hit single “F— You” and the subsequent duet with Gwyneth Paltrow that was born on “Glee” and received special “Muppet-ized” treatment at the Grammys last year. And don’t forget the success of “The Voice” and Cee Lo’s recent involvement in the Super Bowl halftime show with Madonna . “Cee Lo Green Presents Loberace,” begins its first of 28 shows on Wednesday, August 29, and goes through December 9. Will you check out Cee Lo’s Vegas show? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Cee Lo Green
Matthew Morrison was spotted leaving a dinner date at Bagatelle Los Angeles restaurant and the famous GLEE star decided to joke with the paparazzi as he waited for the valet! “Like” us on Facebook @ facebook.com
He is the Lorax, he speaks for the trees – or at least he would, if he could get a word in edgewise. Because Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax , as directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda, is so cluttered — with extra narrative, extra characters, extra everything — that its famously mossy and bossy central figure barely figures into the plot. More a bowdlerization than an adaptation of the great Theodor Geisel’s somber plea for environmental preservation, The Lorax is so big, flashy and redundant that it courts precisely the kind of blind consumerism it’s supposed to be condemning. It doesn’t trust kids to sit still and pay attention for even a minute. In the book, a young boy approaches the dark lair of the Once-ler, situated in the middle of a bare wasteland. The Once-ler spins a tale about what this godforsaken patch of land used to be like: It was dotted lavishly with Truffula Trees, their tufty heads looking like psychedelic dandelions and smelling of “butterfly milk.” This was a land populated by humming fish and bearlike creatures known as Bar-ba-Loots (“frisking about in their Bar-ba-Loot suits”), and guarded over by the stern, if noodgy, Lorax, who is especially protective of the area’s chief natural resource, those Truffula Trees. The Once-ler begins cutting down the trees for his own gain, initiating a destructive spiral that the book resolves only tentatively – with a single Truffula seed held out as a symbol of hope for the future. Those simple but potent ingredients aren’t enough for this Lorax, which was adapted – maybe “mauled” is the better word – by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul. The boy who sets the whole story in motion is a pre-teener named Ted (voiced by Zac Efron), who lives in Thneedville, a town that’s completely made of plastic – air is pumped in by an evil and very short entrepreneur named Mr. O’Hare (Rob Riggle). Ted takes an interest in trees because the girl on whom he has a crush, Audrey (Taylor Swift), thinks they’re neat and wishes they weren’t all gone. So he approaches the lair of the reclusive Once-ler (Ed Helms), who spins the sad and sorry tale of the long-lost Truffula Trees, and of his encounter with the Lorax (Danny DeVito), who tried to stop their destruction before it was too late. But wait, there’s more – much, much more. Ted has a mother who tries to convince him that the artificial trees of Thneedville are perfectly adequate, as well as a grandmother who secretly advises him otherwise. The Once-ler has a family of social-climbing boobs who persuade him to ax the Truffula forest, a touch that’s designed, maybe, to make the Once-ler more sympathetic, but what’s the point? The Once-ler wriggles his way into the good graces of the Bar-ba-Loots (who aren’t referred to by their right and proper name but who are treated as if they were simply garden-variety bears) by showering them with marshmallows. And so forth. The great marvel of Dr. Seuss’ work – in addition to his noodly characters, silly-brilliant drawings and captivating rhyme schemes — was its economy: Dr. Seuss’ books tell fairly complex and imaginative stories in a remarkably simple way. (Even One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish has a narrative, albeit one with a streak of Dada madness.) These books are never overpopulated – Seuss never, for example, threw in extra parental characters just to give his characters something to rebel against. Adolescent boys trying to impress girls? Please. But the story Seuss tells in The Lorax is almost completely obscured here, buried beneath needless extra details. The look of the film nods adequately to certain Seussisms – the tops of those Truffula Trees do look pretty luxurious, like Troll-doll hair in unbelievable shades of magenta and citrus orange. Yet there’s so much to look at that almost nothing registers. The town of Thneedville is elaborate and plasticky-looking, populated largely by fat, lazy people. The Truffula wonderland is much prettier to look at, but it’s almost too much of a good thing. The creatures who populate it – like those humming fish, who spend a great deal of time bouncing around dry land on their flexible tails – may be cute, but they also seem like afterthoughts; there’s just too much business happening all around them. Even the Lorax himself – despite DeVito’s singular vocal charms – comes through as a blur in the midst of a hyperactive muddle. When it comes to this mess, who’s left holding the Truffula-stuffed bag? Renaud was one of the directors (with Pierre Coffin) of what was, for my money, the best and most gleefully disreputable animated film of 2010, Despicable Me . That picture was relaxed and loopy; The Lorax is stiff and junked-up. The casual details that Seuss would drop so effortlessly are belabored here. For example, when the butterfly-milk scent of those Truffula tufts comes up in conversation, Ted and Audrey can’t let this magical true-fact pass without comment: “What does that even mean?” “I know, right?” they counter, compelled to show how hip they are to the idea that, you know, butterflies can’t actually produce milk. Thanks for that, masterminds behind Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax . It saves me a lot of time feeling around for those really tiny butterfly nipples. I should have known Theodor Geisel made it all up. Follow Stephanie Zacharek on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
MTV News looks back the awards shows that deserved standing ovations and those that left us falling asleep in our chair. By MTV News staff Photo: Getty Images With the end of Oscars season, we say goodbye to awards shows for a few months. The spectacles honored the best in television, music and movies, and each handed out a good amount of hardware. But who put on the best show? Not all awards shows were created equal, and some get the benefit of live performances while some have to rest on the laurels of acceptance speeches. As the 2011-2012 awards season comes to a close, the MTV News staff has taken a look back at the year that was to give you the breakdown on which shows earned standing ovations and which were just seat fillers. The Academy Awards “Another year, another reminder that the Oscars are no longer the can’t-miss movie event they once were. Barring a surprise win for Meryl Streep and a fleeting hour where you thought that maybe, just maybe, ‘Hugo’ would topple ‘The Artist,’ the 2012 Oscars ceremony was a total dud. Yes, it was nice to see Billy Crystal back onstage; no, no one will complain about a cameo from Christopher Guest and friends; and sure, there is nothing that sucks about watching Sacha Baron Cohen spill ‘Kim Jong Il’s ashes’ all over Ryan Seacrest. But those moments are why the Internet exists. As a whole and on its own, the 84th Annual Academy Awards were a giant, predictable snooze fest.” C — Josh Wigler The Grammys “The Grammys are kind of like the Pu Pu Platter at the hip Chinese joint at the local strip mall: There’s a bunch of the golden oldies your granny and mom love scattered among a bunch of weird new stuff that the grandkids can’t get enough of. In other words, it tries to be all things to all people while typically turning off most of them. Except this year. The show drew near-record ratings thanks to a well-deserved sweep by Adele , a touching homage to just passed R&B superstar Whitney Houston and a grab bag of performances from the Foo Fighters, Chris Brown, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt and that now-infamous messy EDM mashup thing. If that, along with two meh sets from ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and a mystifying one from Nicki Minaj sounds like the weirdest, least appealing festival lineup ever, well… And yet, host LL Cool J set an appropriately somber, not morbid tone for the show while keeping it moving, Jennifer Hudson absolutely nailed her Houston tribute and Adele simultaneously dragged the Recording Academy into the present while serving up just enough throw-back flavor to keep several generations happy.” B+ — Gil Kaufman The Golden Globes “There are many things to love about the Golden Globe Awards. First and foremost, it combines the best and brightest from the worlds of television and film, an interesting occurrence because for some strange reason the stars of TV and cinema don’t regularly interact in the awards-show wilds. Second, there is a decidedly more laid-back air to the affair, made possible by the bottles and bottles of champagne that are handed out to attendees from the moment they arrive on the red carpet to the moment they depart. Third, the nominating body for the Globes is the mysterious Hollywood Foreign Press, the membership and qualifications about which no one really knows that much. This year’s award show wasn’t especially full of shocking surprises, but it definitely delivered on the fun factor. Ricky Gervais returned to host and managed to not offend too many celebs in attendance, save for one jab at Madonna that she playfully tossed back in his face; George Clooney and Seth Rogen both made penis jokes and on a more sincere note, deserving Best Actor winner and ‘Game of Thrones’ star Peter Dinklage used his acceptance speech to call attention to an injustice.” B — Kara Warner Screen Actors Guild Awards “The SAGs get a lot of credit for their ability to predict the Oscar winners a month or so in advance. While the SAG Awards have rightfully earned their reputation as accurate fortune tellers, actually watching the show will make you wish you’d just Googled the results that next morning. With onstage union talk and no host to keep the show moving, the ceremony this year took its name too literally and sagged.” B- — Kevin Sullivan American Music Awards ” The AMAs kicked it off with Nicki Minaj/David Guetta performing and wrapped it up with Justin Bieber and David Hasselhoff shufflin’ alongside LMFAO. Squeezed in between were performances and awards handed out to stars like Minaj and Taylor Swift, among others. For a show that feels like it’s Cinderella to its Grammys step sister, the AMAs proved that sometimes it’s more fun to have fun.” B — Jocelyn Vena Critics’ Choice Movie Awards “Hosts Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer might have dubbed this show ‘the ninth most exciting night in Hollywood,’ and it might have delivered long stretches of snooze-worthy TV, but the CCAs also have us some great, ‘Human Giant’-esque video bits, a live performance from Bob Dylan and Best Supporting Actor winner Christopher Plummer’s onstage confession, ‘I’m completely turned on.’ It was the night’s introductions and speeches, in fact, that made the show an overall winner. Judd Apatow dropped f-bombs, Sean Penn spoke via satellite about the continuing hardships in Haiti, and Patton Oswalt said, ‘There are plenty of nuanced roles for schlubby actors out there. And the ones that Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman don’t take are all mine!’ ” B+ — Eric Ditzian People’s Choice Awards “For anyone who was wondering if hiring the girl from the ‘Big Bang Theory’ to host an award show was like a bang-up good idea, well then they should watch the 2012 PCAs , again and again and again. (Spoiler: it’s not.) Also, when the biggest headline of the night is the fact that Robert Pattinson presented with a shaved head, well then you might have a dull show on your hands, folks. Seriously, what else even happened at that show?” D — Vena What awards show deserves the best grade this year? Leave your comment below! Related Videos Oscars 2012: Show Highlights Oscars 2012: Red Carpet Highlights Related Photos MTV Style | 2012 Golden Globes Red Carpet Photos MTV Style | 2012 Oscars Red Carpet Photos Oscars 2012: The Main Show
Backstage at the Film Independent Spirit Awards , Christopher Plummer (who vies for the Oscar tomorrow) celebrated his Best Supporting Actor win for Beginners and gleefully stoked the fires of a pup vs. pup beef between his own co-star in the film, Cosmo, and The Artist ‘s award season favorite Uggie . “We had a little private talk,” he explained of scene-stealer Cosmo. “Now that you mention it, I think our Cosmo was much more human than Uggie. Uggie was just a trickster. Our dog had soul .” Fighting words!
‘We just wanted to make sure that they had … resources to tell that story properly,’ Trevor Project interim CEO tells MTV News. By John Mitchell Daniel Roebuck and Max Adler in the “On My Way” episode of “Glee” Photo: FOX Tuesday night’s winter finale of “Glee” tackled the difficult topic of teen bullying and suicide. David Karofsky (Max Adler) — who bullied Kurt (Chris Colfer) because of his sexuality only to be revealed later as gay himself — tried to kill himself after teammates at his new school discovered the football player was gay and viciously harassed him verbally and online. Karofsky’s attempt was unsuccessful but it brought the subject to the forefront for all of the characters. And while the show’s decision to take on the topic was bold, the portrayal has inspired a mixed reaction. Among the viewers who felt the topic was handled deftly and with great care is David McFarland, the interim executive director and CEO of the Trevor Project , a national organization that provides crisis and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. The group aired a much-discussed PSA featuring “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe during the episode. “It’s clear after last night’s episode that Ryan Murphy and his team did an excellent job of doing their research to tell a tough story and we were very proud to be involved and have the opportunity to air Trevor’s PSA with Daniel Radcliffe,” McFarland told MTV News on Wednesday (February 22). Others, however, complained that the episode had too many additional story lines — a teen wedding, the Regionals’ singing competition and a major incident for one of the principal characters that we won’t spoil here — which ultimately served to oversimplify and trivialize an important topic. MTV News’ own “Glee” re-capper, Kevin Sullivan, took particular offense to a comment made by Mr. Schuester, who revealed that his own suicide attempt was prompted by being caught cheating on a math test. “Suicide has so many aspects to consider that it cannot be glossed over in the same hour that features a regional show choir competition and a fictional wedding,” Sullivan said. McFarland disagreed, however, saying he thought the episode was an example of responsible storytelling. “[The Trevor Project wasn’t] told in advance … what the episode was going to be, we weren’t on-set advisors to the episode,” McFarland added. “We’ve been involved to the extent that if they were going to tell the story about suicide, we just wanted to make sure that they had access to resources to tell that story properly.” What seemed to be sloppy product placement also raised some eyebrows given the subject matter. After a member of McKinley’s Christian student club (a.k.a. the “God Squad”) mentions that they’re sending Karofsky an Edible Arrangement, we later spot the fruit bouquet when Kurt visits the hospital. And when Warbler Sebastian announces that his team will be taking donations for Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation at Regionals, some couldn’t help but cringe. While the Born This Way Foundation’s anti-bullying mission aligns well with the episode’s message, some fans questioned the wisdom of plugging the yet-to-launch organization of a major pop star when other, less-visible organizations have demonstrated their work on the matter. Still, McFarland thinks the show did a great service by putting the topic of LGBT teen suicide on a large national platform; he’s happy the subject is getting the national attention it deserves. “It’s being discussed on many platforms and levels throughout this country, including on the radar screen of the president and first lady of the United States,” McFarland said. “And a story like this reinforces the important attention that this country needs to give to what is truly a health crisis in America. “We really need to provide safe spaces and environments for our youth and that episode told that story beautifully,” he continued. “More of these stories need to be told, more work needs to be done. Overall, we need to do a much better job for our young people in providing safe environments and they need to feel socially, emotionally and physically safe and supported at home, in their communities and their schools.” Share your thoughts on Tuesday’s episode of “Glee” in the comments below.
Jane Lynch Host the 14th Annual Costume Designer Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton. Jane talks about her Three Stooges co-star Kate Upton’s sexy Sports Illustrated Cover. She also talks about Glee spoilers! “Like” us on Facebook @ facebook.com
This is the best I’ve seen Lea Michele post on Twitter for her bikini vacation…you know a little leg and a lot of booze for the kids to get inspired to drink like her….hopefully deciding to drive and ending up in horrible accidents that elimate the Glee fan base so we can all go on with our lives….while exciting me cuz alcohol is my only real friend…. I guess, since I have a few drinks in me already, I can admit this dude from Glee is not horrible looking in these pictures that we area lucky enough to not see her face…this is like when you’re in the car behind a motorcycle and the driver has long flowing hair in the wind and an ass in tight jeans you don’t mind staring at until you drive past her playfully to find out she’s a homie…You get what I’m saying here…and that is that this face that is worse than a Tisdale when hidden makes her body less irritating in pictures when half naked, even if she normally has the sex appeal of a dude…. TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICS FOLLOW THIS LINK
Cast may instead put on a charity concert later this year to support its Give a Note campaign. By Jocelyn Vena Darren Criss in “Glee” Photo: FOX After two successful runs in the past, “Glee” won’t hit the road this summer. Despite earlier reports that the show would kick off another tour this year, a rep tells The Hollywood Reporter , “We currently have no plans of touring the cast this summer.” However, there are plans to hold a charity concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles later this year. Proceeds from the show would benefit the “Glee” Give a Note campaign, which supports music education programs in schools. Sources told Billboard.com that dates have already been discussed, but the show or shows are only in the planning stages. September seems to be the target date for the charity concert. Although a concert tour had been discussed, the focus now seems to be on the charity gig. “We have been talking about continuing our work on a next phase of ‘Glee’ Give a Note,” said Jane Balek, Give a Note’s COO and assistant executive director of the National Association for Music Education. “But no definite projects were discussed.” She added that “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy and Fox are “truly supportive of the mission of NAfME and its Give a Note Foundation.” Last year’s tour was later made into a 3-D film , “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie.” The film opened last August, and despite the show’s TV success, it failed to ignite the box office, profiting only $5.7 million in its opening weekend and landing at #11 that week. Were you planning to see “Glee” on tour this summer? Leave your comment below. Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Glee: The 3D Concert Movie’
