If nothing else, this really puts paycheck roles in perspective: “You have all these disparate egos, superheroes in this and that, and they refuse to give up some of their positions in order to make a more perfect union and to join the team. That’s really what the whole movie is about: subjugating your own best interest momentarily to further that of the whole. I didn’t know it a year ago that it was going to speak to so many of the issues we’re having here in the United States and throughout the world, the same kind of theme.” [ Speakeasy/WSJ via The Awl ]
Over at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, tonight’s double feature is a particularly inspired pairing of simian cinema from 2011: the cautionary thriller Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the equally harrowing doc Project Nim . What lessons can be taken from this matching of monkey movies? Rise of the Planet of the Apes , dir. Rupert Wyatt Premise: A chimpanzee raised by humans grows up to lead a simian revolt against humanity. Major players: Caesar the chimpanzee, his scientist guardian, a greedy biotech suit, the evil kid from Harry Potter Oscar hopes: Special effects, Best Actor (wearing mo-cap dots) Lessons learned: Animal testing is bad… very bad. Also: an angry revolutionary chimpanzee is a dangerous chimpanzee. (And let’s not forget the eternal question: Why Cookie Rocket?) Project Nim , dir. James Marsh Premise: A chimpanzee raised by humans to study language learning and behavior grows up to be a sad, sad monkey. Major players: Nim Chimpsky the chimpanzee, a Columbia University psychologist, warring foster mothers, and many other misguided humans Oscar hopes: Best Documentary Lessons learned: It’s hard out here for a chimpanzee caught between worlds, left to stew in his own loneliness and rage and confusion. Also: an angry, messed up chimpanzee is a dangerous chimpanzee. Inspired stuff in the midst of awards season from the good folks at the New Beverly, where the ROTPOTA / Nim double feature plays tonight at 7pm for just $8. Check out their full monthly slate here .
The NFL playoffs get underway this weekend, with four Divisional Round matchups across the AFC and the NFC. Which Wild Card teams might pull an upset? Forget listening to Vegas or ESPN experts. Over the next few days, THG will breakdown each game, giving readers the inside scoop on what’s what really important, along with which team has the edge in each showdown… 1. STARTING QUARTERBACK … Steelers: Accused rapist Ben Roethlisberger Broncos: Self-proclaimed virgin and man of God, Tim Tebow Edge: Broncos 2. FAMOUS FANS … Steelers: January Jones, Seth Meyers, Jake Gyllenhaal, Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, Bret Michaels, Verne Troyer Broncos: Scott Porter, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, Jesus Christ ( rumored ), Patrick Warburton (Puddy from Seinfeld) Edge: Steelers 3. CELEBRITY OWNERSHIP CONNECTION … Steelers: Rooney Mara, great-granddaughter of founder Art Rooney, Sr. Broncos: Homer Simpson, one-time owner Edge: Tie 4. LOCAL DELICACY … Steelers: Pierogies Broncos: Omelettes Edge: Broncos 5. TEAM RUSHING YARDS PER GAME … Steelers: 118.9 (14th in NFL) Broncos: 164.5 (1st in NFL) Edge: Broncos 6. WELL-KNOWN EX-PLAYERS … Steelers: Najeh Davenport, arrested in 2002 for defecating in an ex-girlfriend’s laundry basket; Terry Bradshaw, irritating Fox analyst Broncos: John Elway, two-time Super Bowl champion; Tom Jackson, informative ESPN analyst Edge: Broncos 7. TOTAL DEFENSE (Yards Per Game) … Steelers: 271.8 (1st in NFL) Broncos: 357.8 (20th in NFL) Edge: Steelers 8. IMPORTANT INJURY … Steelers: Rashard Mendenhall, torn ACL Broncos: The wheels on the Tebow bandwagon Edge: Tie 9. BEST WIDE RECEIVER … Steelers: Mike Wallace Broncos: Eric Decker Edge: Steelers 10. NUMBER OF EX-KARDASHIAN BOYFRIENDS ON ROSTER … Steelers: Zero Broncos: Zero Edge: Tie THE VERDICT : As close as it gets, but the Broncos take it by a final count of 4-3-3. The Steelers may be a 9-point favorite, but we wouldn’t bet against these Tale of the Tape results if we were you. Or Jesus. WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN THE MATCHUP?
The film might not hit theaters until next year, but casting announcements and exclusive interviews got fans worked up for March release. By Kara Warner Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games” Photo: Murray Close For the millions of fans who have been eagerly awaiting a film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ best-seller “The Hunger Games,” 2011 gave them even more to be eager about as details trickled out about the movie, which is due in March. We at MTV News have been as caught up in the frenzy as everyone else. And along the way, we’ve been able to speak with the major players involved in the “Games,” gleaning the juiciest details from the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson. Back in January, before casting was solidified, Hemsworth told MTV News he’d read the script and that he could actually see himself in the role of Peeta. After Hemsworth won the role of Gale instead, we chatted up his older brother and fellow actor Chris Hemsworth, who revealed that he helped Liam prep for his big audition by reading the role of Katniss. “I did. Swear to God,” he said. “I read that. Put my girly American accent on.” In May, we had our first “Hunger Games”-centric chat with Jennifer Lawrence . She discussed fans’ initial protests over her blond hair , which quieted after she dyed it, along with the intense hours of archery training she went through to become as convincingly handy with a bow and arrow as Katniss is. “It’s lots of training, but the training is actually really fun,” she said. “I’ve done archery for about six weeks, rock climbing, tree climbing and combat and running and vaulting,” she said. “Also yoga and things like that to stay cat-like.” We also caught up with some of the film’s supporting actors. Lenny Kravitz, who is ready to further prove his acting chops in the role of sympathetic District 12 stylist Cinna, said he’s doing his homework by immersing himself in all Collins’ books. Elizabeth Banks was a bit more cagey in revealing any details about her transformation into pink-haired, type-A Effie Trinket, but she did admit that she and co-star Woody Harrelson have chemistry. Harrelson, who plays alcoholic Hunger Games survivor Haymitch Abernathy, praised Lawrence’s portrayal of Katniss and revealed that his character’s hairstyle was inspired by his own brother. “I was like, ‘OK, let’s get a wig. Let’s do the Brett Harrelson hair,’ ” he said of the long and slightly shaggy style. “It’s kind of cool. I really liked the look. It’s a fun character, and I think it’s going to be a good movie.” Fellow supporting player Stanley Tucci , a.k.a. the blue-haired Caesar Flickerman, echoed Harrelson’s sentiments about Lawrence’s performance. “She was amazing,” he said. “They were all amazing. She’s just so good and so mature at such a young age. It was really fun. Really fun. And [director] Gary Ross, he’s great.” We didn’t have to take Tucci’s word for it, as we also sat down with Ross for an exclusive interview surrounding our debut of the “Games” teaser trailer back in August. The “Seabiscuit” and “Pleasantville” helmer took us through his detailed plans for the film and the challenges of filming. And we finally stole a few moments with Peeta Mellark himself, Josh Hutcherson . who took us through his grueling audition process and the anxious wait for the news of his casting, why he was “so right” for Peeta and his excitement for the fans to see the finished product. “It’s exciting to hear people are that interested in something you’re doing, so it’s a little nerve-racking, but I’m onboard,” he said. “The fans for ‘The Hunger Games,’ they’re die-hard. They’re the best fans in the world, so I’m really excited for them to see the movie.” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos ‘The Hunger Games’: 2011 In Review
The NBA finally started their delayed season this weekend. Kevin Garnett choked, failing to sink his last shot, then choked an opposing player on the court. CBS Sports reported: The Boston Celtics and New York Knicks played four quarters of … Continue reading → Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Gateway Pundit Discovery Date : 25/12/2011 20:54 Number of articles : 2
At THG, we love celebrity gossip. We also love sports. And we especially love when the world of celebrity gossip collides with the world of sports. Never is this more prevalent than on the NBA hardwood, and not solely due to the Kardashians! Therefore, with the season finally tipping off tomorrow, we present the definitive 2011-2012 season preview. Trust us, gossip lovers, there are more reasons why you should care than you may realize… BOSTON CELTICS
Playas gonna play, ballers gonna ball, and injured ballers gonna sue yo’ a$$!! Four former NFL players are suing the league over long-term injuries they say were caused by concussions they suffered as athletes. The suits were filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta on behalf of Jamal Lewis, Dorsey Levens, Fulton Kuykendall and Ryan E. Stewart. The men, all Fulton County residents, say they suffer from memory loss, headaches and sleeplessness as a result of multiple traumatic brain injuries during their careers. The suits allege that the NFL was negligent in its research of head injuries and concussions and downplayed the link between concussions and brain damage. The league also is accused of fraud for materially misrepresenting the risk to players, failing to warn them and not adequately protecting them. Here are a few details about the players involved Lewis, 32, a former running back for the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns, concluded a 10-season career in 2009. The 10,000-yard rusher was born in Atlanta and attended Douglass High. Levens, 41, also a former running back, played 11 seasons, ending in 2003. He had stints with the Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants after attending Georgia Tech. Former Falcons linebacker Kuykendall, 58, played with Atlanta from 1975 to ‘84 and spent the 1985 season with the San Francisco 49ers. Stewart, 38, played five seasons at safety for the Detroit Lions after his collegiate career at Georgia Tech. He is currently one half of the “Two Live Stews” sports talk radio team on Atlanta’s 790 the Zone. All of the former players are demanding a jury trial and seeking payment for medical expenses, past and future loss of earnings, general damages for pain and suffering, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. Do you think these players have a legit case? Should the NFL be doing more to protect the players that make them so much money? Source More On Bossip! Vanessa Vs. The World: How Does The Former Mrs. Bryant Stack Up Against His Alleged Mistresses It’s Downhill From Here: Men That Had To Say Goodbye To The Best Things They’ll Ever Have Twitter Files: RihRih Rants Again! Singer Goes Off After Being Targeted By Racist Hotel Guest In Portugal Bricks, All White Bricks: The Craziest Celebrity Drug Busts Of All Time
Dayum, we at least lil Kris Humphries is seeing some gain after the “Fairytale Divorce”… NBA sources confirmed the Nets were on the verge of re-signing Kris Humphries to a one-year deal between $7-8 million, and that the 6-foot-9 power forward would be available for Wednesday’s game at the Garden against the Knicks. Humphries was one of the NBA’s biggest surprises last season. After coming to the Nets in a trade for Eduardo Najera during the 2009-10 season, Humphries emerged as one of six players in the league to average a double-double last season, finishing with 10.0 points and 10.4 rebounds, as well as shooting a career-high 52.7 percent from the field. Humphries was acquired along with recently signed Shawne Williams in the same deal. Good for him. Now he can make some millions without having to attention slore his life away in the process. Source
Disney has updated their successful puzzler Where’s My Water? with 20 all new levels. The levels are part of a new “Stretched Thin” campaign that adds a new element to the game in the form of water balloons. Now players not only have to deal with guiding water to Swampy the Alligator, but they must Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Android Phone Fans Discovery Date : 20/12/2011 01:18 Number of articles : 2
Fincher, who says ‘I think there is a trilogy here,’ opens up to MTV News about ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,’ ‘Cleopatra’ and ‘Goon.’ By Josh Horowitz Rooney Mara in “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” Photo: Columbia Pictures If you’ve somehow missed the cultural phenomenon that is Stieg Larsson’s massively successful Millenium trilogy, it might be time to give in and see what all the fuss is about. MTV has already named David Fincher’s “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” the best movie of 2011, so you can bet we had plenty to discuss when we sat down with revered director of “The Social Network,” “Fight Club” and “Seven” on the eve of his much-hyped film’s opening. In a wide-ranging discussion, Fincher candidly addressed the microscope his latest project has been under, plus his plans to work with Angelina Jolie, the summer tent-pole movie he’s actually excited to helm and who the famously intimidating director actually fears pissing off. MTV : Congratulations on the film. You may have heard that MTV named it the best film of the year. David Fincher : I heard that! MTV : After a long debate, we came to a consensus. Fincher : Really? What possible debate could there be? [ laughs ] MTV : You’ve obviously had plenty of opportunities to helm a franchise and this, despite not being a happy-meal-friendly one, still is one. Fincher : There are a lot of those [franchise] expectations. I think there is a trilogy here, [but] I was looking it as a one off. I see a beginning, middle and an end in this first story. I would like for people to enjoy it. I would like for people to tell their friends. And I think it tees up two fascinating characters who I have really come to care about. There’s no doubt [Stieg Larsson] wrote it to be a rip-roaring yarn, but I don’t think he could have possibly imagined what it has become. There was no doubt that when we went to Stockholm that there were people asking, “Is this just a Hollywood land grab? Is this a co-opting of our cultural phenomenon?” I saw it as a ripping yarn and a partnership that I’d never seen before, and I like the idea of these two people who should never meet, much less sleep together, much less partner up. I had never seen that before and thought that’s kind of interesting. It was very Swedish and kind of sexy but also kind of oddly moving. Having no experience with the — I’m not saying these books are “Twilight” — but that message-board freak-out phenomenon that goes with it, I was unprepared for it, possibly because I’m just too insulated from the real world and because I’m kind of immune to that kind of sh–. MTV : The casting story became … Fincher : The casting story was blown out of proportion by a lot of people. I wasn’t prepared for that. The only way to win is to win on merit, and it’s the only satisfying way to win, and hopefully, that’s what we’ve done. In the end, I still work 14 hours a day whether or not people are doubting me. I doubt myself more, in much smarter and salient ways than people surfing the web. MTV : Your ending differs from the book’s. Was that a difficult choice? Fincher : It was an easy choice to make. I thought it was sleeker. I like the idea of someone who has been subjected to this kind of trauma learning to hide in plain sight. It’s a different choice than the one the book makes. Lisbeth manages to occupy in the shadows and margins. This is another way of doing that. And they are parallel stories. It’s silly not to think of them as that. MTV : Do you have the same affection for the other two books? Are they as cinematically interesting to you? Fincher : I think the second book is very cinematic. It suffers a little bit from a lack of Salander. I think it also ends in an odd way. I love the notion of really talking about sex trafficking. MTV : Rooney [Mara] was telling us she already has some ideas for her look the next time around. Fincher : We did a lot of exploring [the look]. We looked into the stitched, Sally from “Nightmare Before Christmas.” We’ve played around a lot. There are some things that we’ve learned. MTV : You’re not going to ask her to get implants, are you? Fincher : It’s interesting because when you go through the checklist of what Larsson did with [Salander], there were a lot of things [that seemed] like quasi-stripper Kardashian land. To me, that’s not who Lisbeth is. The guy created it. He’s not here to defend himself. I hold him in the highest esteem, but I don’t always agree with his choices. MTV : If he were around, what would you ask him? Fincher : I don’t know. Look, the person I wanted to impress the most on “Seven” was [screenwriter] Andy Walker. The person I wanted to impress most on “Fight Club” was [author] Chuck Palahniuk. I think my responsibility is first and foremost to the creator. MTV : Will Jules Verne be happy with what you do with “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”? Fincher : I think he would be. If we get to do what we’re planning on doing, it’s pretty interesting. MTV : Was that a book that was important to you as a young man? Fincher : No, not at all. I was alive when a man stepped on the moon. It was awe-inspiring, the notion of that much care that NASA took. I’m sure it was the same thing for the Manhattan Project. The idea of a post-Civil War version of science fiction and the notion of being able to breathe underwater was so radical in its thinking. That’s pretty cool. If you’re going to do big tent-pole teenage PG-13 summer movies, it’s kind of cool that it would be this. MTV : Is “Cleopatra” something you’re currently developing? Fincher : That’s something I would love to do with Angie [Jolie]. It’s something that was brought to me that you have to take seriously. [Producer] Scott [Rudin] has this wonderful book, and hopefully [screenwriter] Eric [Roth] can find a way in. I’m not interested in a giant sword-and-sandal epic. We’ve seen scope; everyone knows we can fake that. That stuff doesn’t impress in the way that it did even 10 years ago. We expect that from Starz [now]. So that’s not the reason to do that. What is it about this character that has purchased this place in our history and imagination that is relatable today? MTV : One film I’ve talked to you about in the past is “Rendezvous With Rama.” Should we keep talking about it, or should I drop it? Fincher : You should drop that. It’s great but it’s just a really expensive movie, and talk about the bones being picked by so many other stories … MTV : IMAX is something that filmmakers like Brad Bird and Christopher Nolan have lately been using. Does it interest you? Fincher : No. They’re going to have the digital equivalent of IMAX very shortly. I don’t like the idea of changing fidelity in the middle of a movie just to say, “Here comes some big sh–!” Whatever Brad Bird or Chris do is fine by me. I normally think in terms of homogenization. I want to be able to count on a kind of resolution and depth of field. I never saw “The Dark Knight” in IMAX. I could definitely see a difference in fidelity of the IMAX sequences. But to each his own. MTV : I saw you last at Comic-Con for “Goon.” How is that project looking? Fincher : We’re still trying. Eric [Powell] rewrote his script. He got away from the genesis story, and I feel like we need to go back to a little bit of what he had before. I don’t think you can tailor what Powell does to what Hollywood does. I think you have to allow for the disparity. I don’t think you can go into it saying, “We have to make it fit into this box.” Everything is a digression from what the main through line is. MTV : Is there anything else you’re looking to collaborate on with Trent Reznor? Fincher : We’ve talked about a lot of stuff. I would do anything for him. I feel so lucky to have had his attention for the year and a half that I’ve had it. I’m not going to push my luck. I’m walking on eggshells. I don’t want to piss that guy off. MTV : There’s always the “Fight Club” musical. Fincher : I keep trying! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos Best Movies Of 2011 Debate
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