There’ve been updates about The Paperboy ‘s casting for awhile, but only now do I realize the gravity of what’s occurring. Um, wow: Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron are sharing a screen! And John Cusack! And Matthew McConaughey, for the hell of it! And — what now? — Lee Daniels is directing! They should call this quaint tale Extra Precious: Based on the Cutie ‘Zac’ by Efron . Synopsis and impressive poster after the jump. Downright old-fashioned and sharp. Reminds me of Young Adult ‘s evocative cover in coloring and detail. From a distance, Mr. Efron’s cheeks look a tad more pregnant than they usually do. I know what you’re thinking, and let me assure you: I’m the father. The Paperboy concerns a reporter who returns to his hometown to save a man on death row, though he’s derailed by the romance he strikes up with the inmate’s lady friend. I have the feeling we won’t get a juicy character study worthy of Nicole Kidman’s involvement in this movie, and that sucks because I’m still reeling from Rabbit Hole . Still, I’m in for Zac Efron’s sacred facial architecture. He’s like a cathedral of tawny hotness. Paperboy Poster [GossipCop]
Forty years ago this Friday, United Artists released Diamonds Are Forever — the seventh entry in the James Bond series, and one that dragged founding franchise star Sean Connery out of 007 retirement in the hopes of rinsing the bad taste that his replacement, George Lazenby, left in moviegoers’ mouths in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service . Connery succeeded, but only by making what remains arguably the silliest Bond film to date. Enfolding globetrotting jewel smugglers, reclusive Las Vegas casino barons, effete hit men, bikinied enforcers named after cartoons, lunar-landing conspiracy bait, cosmetically enhanced villain-doppelgangers, and more one-liners than a decade’s worth of White House Correspondents Dinners, Diamonds Are Forever is campier than a dome tent and almost as vacant. I vividly remember watching it on TV as a kid, figuring its geopolitical space-race intrigues and bedhopping exploits were over my 8-year-old head. Today, after recently catching up with it for the first time in nearly 30 years, I realize that it’s basically Tinker Tailor Soldier Why? — that there is no making sense of the plot, the characters, the gays, the straights, the overlapping interests or why any of it is worth so much subterfuge and many people dying in so many gruesome ways. There is only the luxuriant enjoyment of a quintessential Bad Movie We Love. It all starts with the vengeful Bond — whose new bride was killed at the end of OHMSS — tormenting a diverse array of associates who can lead him to his murderous archnemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. That much is clear. Note to self: Bikini-top strangulation is a hugely tasteful way to extract information from lithe, defenseless sunbathers. Actual line: “Speak up darling, I can’t hear you!” And Bond catches him just in time, what with all the plastic surgery Blofeld’s arranging for numbers of hapless decoys. You just know this is where Saddam Hussein got the idea for lookalike bodyguards. I hesitate to include the video below, if only because the dude in the mud bath deserves every penny of royalties he earned for what looks like a hugely unpleasant bit part. Or at least his kin does, if they even deign to acknowledge, “Yup — that’s paw, awright, gettin’ all mud-shit on and hosed off and re-drowned. Hold yer nose, paw!” Or how about the guy who gets the scalpel in the heart? Whatever. Let’s just be thankful that modern cosmetic surgery has moved out of the dank, bubbling tar-pit lairs of Diamonds Are Forever . Duchess of Alba Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart knows exactly what I’m talking about. From there Commander Bond is back to Britain, where payback is brushed aside for the moment and the details of his latest mission are laid out. Sort of: There are diamond mines in South Africa! And workers are smuggling jewels out! In their mouths! To dentists! Who in turn wind up exchanging the rocks during desert rendezvous with… these guys: That would be Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint, played with stone-like conviction by Putter Smith and Bruce “Father of Crispin” Glover, respectively. They identify themselves only by name at first, but creep back into the action wherever diamonds are found. Are they sophisticated high-class criminals proving the British Intelligence theory that someone’s hoarding diamonds to create a depression? Not so much: They’re dry, they’re wry, they’re cold-blooded… but mostly they are just creepy lovers whose homosexuality and psychopathology appear to be conflated in the film’s only truly irredeemable streak of bad taste. It’s not just that Mr. Wint can’t abide Mr. Kidd paying pretty woman a compliment, as happens later in the film (“I must say, Miss Case seems quite attractive — for a lady!”). I mean, holy Christ , check out how they celebrate a double homicide: After that, it’s anybody’s guess. Sort of, anyway: There is the selflessly, thanklessly composed Wikipedia summary for the film, which lays out a succession of convolutions that track Bond from Amsterdam — where he poses as diamond smuggler Peter Franks and encounters Franks’s clothes-allergic peer Tiffany Case (Jill St. John, always my favorite Bond Girl after Eva Green. Well, and Maryam D’Abo, of course ) — to Los Angeles to Las Vegas. But only after Bond kills the real Peter Franks in a three-minute elevator fight and fatal fire-extinguisher blow — but not the way you might think. The diamonds are hidden inside Franks’s body, leading to Kidd and Wint’s attempt to cremate Bond, who is then saved by the wizened Sin City comic Shady Tree, who is in cahoots with the CIA, who meets his own regrettable demise at the hands of our gay assassins. Following? With comebacks like this, does it matter? Originally scripted by Richard Maibaum, Diamonds Are Forever received a near-total rewrite by Tom Mankiewicz — the son of Oscar-winner Joseph L. Mankiewicz — who was brought on to soup up a screenplay that would entice Connery to return as Bond. The results were not only a six-month stay on the project and a nearly 10-year stint with the Bond franchise, but a film with its tongue embedded so deep in its cheek it left a bruise. While steering the 007 franchise to the outer limits of levity, it also resulted in such extraordinary interludes as this one with craps maiden Plenty O’Toole: Let’s hear it for Lana “Sister of Natalie” Wood! She only solidifies her finest screen performance moments later with a topless defenestration into a pool from Bond’s hotel suite (“I’ve got friends in this toowwwwnnnn…”), but still: This is Connery and St John’s film. And it still makes no sense: Something about a reclusive billionaire hotel owner (Bond producer Albert Broccoli was inspired to include Willard Whyte after a dream in which his close friend Howard Hughes had a deadly double) with a top secret lab out in the desert, where Bond and Case achieve basically zero plot mobility but initiate consecutive car chases featuring both a lunar-stage moon buggy… … and and a ’71 Mustang, which… I mean… You really must watch it once and then play it back just to hear those vintage sound FX harmonize. It’s not like director Guy Hamilton purposely left off the score — that is the score: And you know what? For all the fancy driving throughout, I’m ultimately much fonder of the Clark County Sheriff, whose extraordinary perception (“There goes that son of a bitch and saboteur!”) and fearsome law-enforcement prowess deserve a nice long still-frame appreciation: And while there remains an hour more to this movie , you find yourself envisioning a glorious world where this head-cramping gaudiness and camp endure forever — where Bond scales all of the towers in Vegas, and where, inside those towers, he meets all of the cosmetically altered carbon copies of the douche who killed his wife, and that all of those baddies may disguise their voices as Blofeld does, and that you, too, may someday match his acumen after miraculously escaping from a tube buried in the Nevada desert: And, of course, where all the watchdogs in the world have been replaced by comely, backhanded commentaries on the Equal Rights Movement. Ahem . I’m no more certain of what happens in the rest of Diamonds Are Forever than I was decades ago — something about Blofeld stockpiling diamonds to build a killer satellite, which apparently doubles as an excuse for Bond to blow the shit out of a SPECTRE base disguised as an oil well off the coast of Mexico. But there is no mistaking what’s going on in the climactic showdown between Bond and Messrs. Wint and Kidd, which is to say: Beating Airplane! at its own sight-gag-and-sound-effect game nearly 10 years ahead of time. Happy anniversary, Diamonds Are Forever ! Bombe surprise for everyone! Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Glee has scored another Oscar-winning guest star. Nearly eight months after Gwyneth Paltrow’s last episode, the Fox musical series has cast Helen Mirren in a role that was written explicitly for the British actress. Mirren’s episode “Yes/No” will air on January 17 and feature the Academy Award winner as the “inner voice” of one of the cast members — meaning that Mirren will not be seen. The actress has already recorded her part, which according to Movieline’s sister site TVline , will feature “several long and hilarious monologues.” The episode, which was directed by Eric Stoltz, also features Real Housewives of Atlanta cast member NeNe Leakes and one “spectacular” marriage proposal. Mirren is no stranger to television voice work — the actress played a caller on a 2004 episode of Frasier . Most recently, the actress was reported to be in discussions to play Alfred Hitchcock’s wife Alma in Fox Searchlight’s upcoming Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho .
Young Money MC’s latest Roman Reloaded track, ‘Stupid H–,’ teases a halftime performance. By Nadeska Alexis Nicki Minaj Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images At the beginning of December, Nicki Minaj teased her sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, with the zany track “Roman in Moscow.” And early Tuesday morning (December 20), her latest single “Stupid H–” hit the Internet, showcasing her unrestrained, oddball flows and hinting that Minaj might be performing at the 2012 Super Bowl. The Young Money rapper spits one particular line that teases she may take the stage at halftime: “Put ya cape on, you a super h–/ 2012, I’m at the Super Bowl.” There has been speculation that Nicki and M.I.A. may perform with Madonna at Super Bowl XLVI , since both rappers are featured on her upcoming album. Super Bowl news aside, Nicki’s second single of the month taps into her multiple personalities and employs her off-the-wall flow. She spits verses in different pitches, slowing down and speeding up her bars and stretching out some syllables like she did on the remix of Big Sean’s single “Dance (A$$).” The track ends with the declaration “I am the Female Weezy,” and after one listen, it’s easy to understand why. The Young Money rapper handles the song’s chorus herself, repeating the title of the track in her quirky voice. For her final verse, she spits a few lines directed at an unnamed enemy (speculation has already pointed to rival Lil’ Kim) who she says should have befriended her instead. Nicki’s sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, is scheduled for release on Valentine’s Day 2012. Related Artists Nicki Minaj
As July 20, 2012, release inches closer, how to keep some mystery. By Kara Warner Marion Cotillard and Christian Bale in “The Dark Knight Rises” Photo: Warner Bros. Gone are the days when moviegoers could arrive at a theater on opening day knowing almost nothing about what would unfold onscreen. Too much technology and the big, bad advertising/promotional machine have made it nearly impossible to avoid finding out about key plot points ahead of time. I don’t like it. Take all this crazy hullabaloo surrounding next year’s surefire crowd-pleaser “The Dark Knight Rises,” for example. Don’t get me wrong: I am as psyched about this movie as anyone; I just don’t want to know everything about it. So, in an effort to keep myself from stumbling across something I don’t want to, here is a handy guide for avoiding “The Dark Knight Rises” spoilers from now until the film’s July 20, 2012, release. 1. Take a Stand/Tell Your Friends I don’t know about you, but my film-obsessed friends are the worst offenders when it comes to spoilers. They’ll start conversations with, “Did you see [spoiler] in that teaser for [movie]?!?” Be proactive, and politely inform your nearest and dearest that you really and truly wish to remain as spoiler-free as possible — and that the future of your relationship depends upon it. 2. Stay Away From Social-Networking Sites This is tough one, living in this overly connected day and age of ours, but very important if you’re committed to the cause. If you have to be on Twitter and Facebook, try to limit your use on days when there is news or new videos announced or leaked about the flick. Be on the lookout for “spoiler-free” reportage, because as nice as it is to come across a “Spoiler Alert!” it’s often right in front of or next to the spoiler in question. Also, if you’ve followed through with item #1 on this list, your friends might do you a solid and avoid drawing your attention to their overly descriptive, excited reactions and remarks in their tweets and status updates. 3. Don’t Watch Trailers Once upon a time, watching the previews before a movie used to be as paramount to my film-going experience as seeing the full-length feature that followed them. That was up until a few years ago when studios started churning out five-minute reveal-all opuses that give away the best gags, lines, action sequences and cameos. I know that the new “Dark Knight Rises” trailer is amazing without watching it, and I’ll be following the protocol set with Nolan’s previous Batman films wherein I’ll watch the trailers after I see the film. Caveat: I will watch a trailer if I’ve read the source material, i.e. the book, graphic novel, self-help book upon which the film is based. Or if I’m forced to write about it, which leads to the next item … 4. Don’t Have a Job Covering Entertainment News Make no mistake, I love my job. Live for it, most days. The only thing worth complaining about is the state of being constantly over-informed. We journalists should go after and keep up with any and all pertinent information as it relates to our audience, but in doing so, we’re confronted with the proverbial double-edged sword in being too in-the-know. Plus, sometimes we’re invited to very special events and presentations with preview footage and conversations with filmmakers that cannot be ignored, as was the case with the early press screening of the “Dark Knight Rises” prologue I attended. 5. Be Realistic, or Move to El Paso Let’s face it: It’s nearly impossible to avoid all spoilers. You never know when a new TV spot will air, a photo will leak or your friends will strike up a conversation about Bane’s mumblings or Catwoman’s costume. Just as it seems ridiculous to obsess over uncovering spoilers, it’s probably equally unhealthy to rearrange your life to avoid them. But in making people aware of your wishes, limiting your social networking on certain newsy days and not watching trailers, it’s possible to walk into the theater on July 20 without having been exposed to the entire plot and future of the franchise. Or you can move to El Paso, Texas, which was recently named the least socially networked city in the United States and where you’re more likely to have a conversation about BBQ than Batman. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Dark Knight Rises.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Trailer Decoded!
What type of punishment do you think they are going to give this crazy person?? A man who allegedly fired shots at the White House in attempt to kill President Barack Obama in November is due back in court. The Idaho native, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, is due back in court for a hearing on Wednesday. The evening of Nov. 11, when Obama was out of town, Ortega allegedly fired an assault rifle at the White House. Ballistic glass stopped one of the bullets from smashing through a window of the living quarters of the executive mansion. People who know Ortega said he acted strangely in the months before the incident. They suggested he believed he was Jesus and used to call Obama “the devil.” Preliminary psychiatric screening found him competent to stand trial but federal prosecutors are asking for further extensive tests. Source More On Bossip! Crimes Of Fashion: Guess Who Smells Like Stink And Who Returns Her Red Bottoms After Wearing Them? This Means War!!! Jennifer Williams And Evelyn Lozada Scrap It Up At Shaunie’s Bday Party Still Got It: Ladies That Could Get The Business…Even Though Their Careers Fell Wayyyy Off #Winning Pt. 2: Women With Impressive Chop Down Resumes Of Their Own
‘I was trying to destroy myself physically,’ McElhenney says of gaining 50 pounds to play Fat Mac, one of MTV News’ Top 50 TV Characters of 2011. By James Montgomery Rob McElhenney as Fat Mac in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” Photo: Joey L./ FX Gregor Samsa became an insect. Hulk Hogan dyed his beard black and joined the nWo. Metallica used to be awesome. Transformations are as much a part of life as eating, breathing and making fun of Lulu, yet rarely are they as unexpected as the grand, grotesque metamorphosis Rob McElhenney pulled off on the seventh season of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” when he turned the formerly fitness-obsessed Mac into a bulbous, bloated buffoon … mostly because he thought it would be funny. But McElhenney was also making a deeper point, too. By gaining 50 pounds of solid fat, he took a not-too-subtle jab at one of TV’s oldest tropes: Namely, that as shows go on, characters don’t age and they seemingly get better-looking. It’s the kind of deconstructionist slant that has made “Sunny” a cult favorite and made Fat Mac one of the year’s best characters. Because while, sure, it was funny to watch him inject insulin into his ginormous gut, you couldn’t help but ask yourself why there aren’t more characters like him on network shows. So, in celebration of Fat Mac’s inclusion in MTV News’ Top 50 TV Characters of 2011 , we spoke to McElhenney about piling on the pounds, the silky comfort of Tommy Bahama shirts, and how, someday, he hopes to be considered “the De Niro of basic-cable comedy.” MTV News : First off, congratulations on making our list of the Top 50 TV Characters of 2011. Fat Mac actually came in at #8 on the list. Rob McElhenney : I made the top 10? F— yeah! That’s really awesome. Who was ahead of me? [We start reading McElhenney the list, but he makes us stop when we reveal that Snooki came in at #3.] What? Are you f—ing kidding me? I refuse to hear anything else. Jesus Christ. MTV : Mac’s transformation was one of the television highlights of the year, and not just because it’s funny to see him, you know, lug around a garbage bag filled with chimichangas. You just don’t see characters put on that kind of weight on sitcoms now, or really ever before. McElhenney : Yeah. Vanity is such a huge part of television, and if you watch any average sitcom, you notice that the actors get better-looking as the years go by. And I caught myself sitting in the editing room last year, looking at myself, and I said, “Man, I don’t look very good in this scene; I should try to find a different shirt or something next time.” And I realized, “Wow, that is the first time I’d ever really thought that.” So I realized I needed to go in the extreme opposite direction. It’s always been our goal to do the opposite of what any sitcom on network television would do, so that’s what I did. MTV : So it went beyond, just, “It would be funny to see Mac gain an obscene amount of weight …” McElhenney : It wasn’t just a stunt. I thought, if we were being true to the characters, and we were really showing what these people would look like if they lived the way that they claimed to live, this is what we would look like. All we do is sit around and drink and eat terrible food, and there’s certainly no exercise going on, and we don’t seem to really care about our health. So when you hit a certain early-30s, mid-30s range, it’s going to start to fall apart. So, to me, it was less of a stunt or a gag and more of an actual representation of what Mac really might look like at this point in his life. MTV : So once you decided you were going to gain the weight, how’d you go about doing it without, you know, totally destroying your body? McElhenney : Oh, I was basically trying to destroy myself physically as much as I possibly could. I was trying to eat around 5,000 calories a day, and at first I was doing it as healthy as possible, but after like the 3,000th calorie of grilled chicken breast and rice, you realize you literally have to consume twice as much volume as opposed to just eating a cheeseburger. So after a while, I started eating a lot, a lot of doughnuts. It was really hard, man. The key to it was force-feeding myself this milkshake that I made every day that had weight gainer, chocolate milk, chocolate ice cream, and creatine, which creates bloating, and force-feeding myself two of those every day, and those were about 1,000 calories a piece, and that’s what really put it over the edge. MTV : You know, it’s funny, because you hear about all these actors gaining or losing weight for roles, and they’re almost always lauded for doing so. Does it bother you that, after going through so much, people only see Fat Mac as this sort of stunt? McElhenney : Well, I’d like to enter that conversation. You know, “the De Niro of basic-cable comedy.” [ He laughs. ] Nah, it doesn’t bother me. We’re not that kind of show. But I don’t think people understand how hard it was to just gain all this weight. I started at 162 and I got up to 212 … and I was also working out, just doing, like, powerlifting, because I noticed that most of my weight was just going to my gut, and it wasn’t filling out everywhere else and it wasn’t really playing, so to create that sort of non-defined, smooth look, I had to lift weights, and then the fat just sort of sat on top of the muscle. I was trying to create David, and as we all know, Michelangelo had to start with a slab of marble and then whittle it down. So I was just creating the slab. MTV : Another great thing about the character this season is that he introduced the Tommy Bahama shirt into the national conversation. McElhenney : [ He laughs. ] I see a lot of people wearing them. And I think middle-aged guys wear them because they think it hides their gut, and it doesn’t. In a bizarre way, it makes them look bigger, and originally I was wearing these super-tight T-shirts, and since my fat was kind of rolling out from underneath it, you would think that you would look bigger onscreen that way, as opposed to this big, flowing shirt. But for whatever reason, they actually accentuate the size. They’re like a muumuu. And the truth is, once you slip one of those bad boys on, they’re unbelievably comfortable. They’re made out of silk, and they really just flow and they breathe, and I was like, “Goddamn, I kind of really love these shirts.” I took some home, but my wife [“Sunny” co-star Kaitlin Olson] wasn’t having it. MTV : One of the key episodes this season was “How Mac Got Fat,” which, as the title implies, explained why he put on all the weight. There are scenes of you in flashback when you were skinny. Can you explain the backstory of that episode? McElhenney : We shot it last season, and it was a completely different episode and we were going to air it this year, because we had one less slot last year. So that was always the intention, and then as we started the season, and I went through this endeavor, we realized we couldn’t just air this episode because it wouldn’t make sense anymore. So we sort of broke down the episode and said, “How can we tell this as a flashback, and create this as being the reason why Mac did this in the first place?” So we rewrote it, based on the cut and based on the footage we had, and then we went back and created this completely different episode. It was literally the last thing we shot this season. MTV : So, finally, we know you’ve dropped most of the Fat Mac weight now. Looking back, how do you feel about the entire endeavor? McElhenney : Yeah, I’ve dropped almost all of it. I think the remaining 10 to 12 pounds are probably just going to stay. I’m OK with that. [ He laughs. ] And, you know, I’m really happy I did it. It was hard, but it was worth it. I can tell you right now that this never would’ve happened on network television. Because when I would’ve gone in to pitch it to the network executives, they would’ve said, “Absolutely not.” Because the glamour is such an important part of how they sell their shows, so trying to make the actors look as good as they possibly can is an important part of the process. And our show has never been about that. MTV will reveal the best artists, songs and movies of the year. Come to MTV News each day to see more big reveals and check out more of MTV’s Best of 2011 music, TV, movies and news coverage.
We relive the best moments of the year as production on Tim Burton’s 2012 adaptation finally kicked off. By John Mitchell Tim Burton and Johnny Depp in production for “Dark Shadows” Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures This year, filming finally began on director Tim Burton’s long -in-the-works big-screen adaptation of “Dark Shadows,” a campy, late-1960s soap opera about vampires, witches and time travel. Burton is a lifelong fan of the series and, as his partner Helena Bonham Carter told MTV News this month, “This was a thing that he raced home to see when he was about age 10.” With its atmospheric New England setting and myriad mysterious characters, “Shadows” has the feel of a classic Burton film, more akin to his “Sleepy Hollow” and “Batman” flicks than his more candy-colored efforts like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” And Burton at his dark and spooky best, working on a passion project, is something to get excited about. Production began on “Shadows” at Pinewood Studios outside of London in May. The director lined up a dream cast — from Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer to Chloe Moretz and Jackie Earle Haley, not a single part appears miscast. And while Burton has kept the film under lock and key, paparazzi did catch a fleeting glimpse of Depp during production, which briefly became cause for worry among some fans of the series. The shot of Depp in character as Barnabus Collins, wearing heavy white makeup walking down a seaside hill, found its way online in mid-September and was derided by fans as being too cartoonish, too reminiscent of Depp’s styling in Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Based on those initial images, the world Burton looked to be creating seemed to have little in common with the Gothic aesthetic established in the soap. Concerns were alleviated, however, when just a week later, Entertainment Weekly debuted the first official image from the film. Through Burton’s lens (and some creepy filters), Depp’s makeup took on the undead-but-oddly alluring look you’d expect from a traditional vampire movie. The rest of the cast captured the feel of their TV counterparts too: Pfeiffer looked regal and sullen as family matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard; Johnny Lee Miller’s smarm as Roger Collins was apparent; and Bonham Carter looked every bit the orange-haired, eccentric “alcoholic psychiatrist,” Dr. Julia Hoffman. Of the film, Moretz, who plays Carolyn Stoddard, had this to say when talking to MTV News last month: “It straddles the typical Burton line: camp and drama. It’s an amazing movie. Going in and working on this movie with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter — it really does get back to Tim’s roots. It gets back to ‘Beetlejuice,’ ‘Edward Scissorhands,’ back to true Burton . So working on this movie was epic for me because he’s always been my dream director to work with because, god, he’s so iconic.” Moretz’s “Shadows” co-stars share the love for Burton. Pfeiffer , who worked with the director on 1992’s”Batman Returns,” described work on the new film as a “dream job.” “[It is] such a fun cast and we had so much fun. I just love working with Tim [Burton], I love watching him direct. [There’s] nobody like him,” she told MTV News. “I loved meeting Helena and getting to know her. I hope it’s successful so that we can do a bunch of them because it was such a fantastic, creative group of people.” Hopefully, that on-set camaraderie and excitement will help “Shadows” fulfill fans’ high expectations. The original soap spanned some 1,225 episodes, so there’s plenty of plot for sequels if Pfeiffer gets her wish. While we’re still waiting for a trailer for the May 11, 2012, release (come on, Tim, give us something!), what we’ve seen so far gives us faith that Burton and Co. are getting it all exactly right! Are you looking forward to seeing what Tim Burton and co. cook up for “Dark Shadows”? Sound off in the comments below and tweet me at @JohnMitchell83 with your thoughts and suggestions for future columns! Check out everything we’ve got on “Dark Shadows.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
First look and Robert Kirkman’s subsequent commentary top our list of the greatest Marvel moments of the year. By Josh Wigler Samuel L. Jackson in “The Avengers” Photo: Marvel / MTV News With “The Avengers” finally assembling in just a few months and other properties like “Spider-Man” and “Ghost Rider” swinging back into theaters as well, it’s looking like a very bright 2012 for the Marvel brand. But don’t discount the power of 2011: From Captain America throwing his mighty shield to Thor striking lightning at the box office, it was an awesome year for the House of Ideas. From new releases and trailers to casting and crew announcements, these are our 10 favorite Marvel movie moments of 2011. 10. “First Class” Trailer Does Not Suck The “First Class” production horror stories were quite troubling to read about during the latest “X-Men” movie’s development, but that very first trailer more than cooled our fears. Matthew Vaughn’s exploration of mutant-kind in the psychedelic ’60s looked way up our alley based on that one trailer — and thankfully, we weren’t disappointed when the movie arrived a few months later. 9. “Wolverine” Director Drama We’re still nursing our wounds over losing director Darren Aronofsky from “The Wolverine,” but we won’t deny that the drama was interesting to observe. Thankfully, the story has a happy ending: Though Aronofsky won’t sink his claws into the Hugh Jackman superhero flick, “3:10 to Yuma” director James Mangold is coming aboard to save the day. We can’t wait to see what the newly minted “Wolverine” director has up his sleeve. 8. David Slade Finds “Daredevil” Likewise, we’re thoroughly psyched about “Eclipse” and “30 Days of Night” filmmaker David Slade heading to Hell’s Kitchen for Fox’s planned “Daredevil” reboot. Even though we don’t know who he has in mind to play the Man Without Fear, Slade’s plans to adapt Frank Miller’s classic “Born” story line are appealing enough all on their own. 7. “Avengers” Gets Conned We weren’t exactly thrilled about the lack of “Avengers” at San Diego Comic-Con this past summer, but the team at Marvel more than made up for that absence by attending the D-23 Expo and New York Comic Con a few months later. Featuring several of the film’s castmembers and presenting never-before-seen footage to an incredibly lucky crowd, both of the year’s major “Avengers” convention appearances proved to be valuable sources of information for fans of the upcoming superhero epic. 6. Spidey-Vision The “Amazing Spider-Man” teaser trailer released in July got our spider-senses tingling, and not necessarily for the right reasons. The trailer-ending POV sequence was a divisive creative decision, and the darker tone the reboot seems to be striving for didn’t sit well with everybody. That said, our curiosity about Andrew Garfield’s take on Peter Parker has never been higher, and it’s all thanks to that trailer’s existence. 5. Ghost Rider Pees Fire ‘Nuff said. 4. “Thor” and “Captain America” Arrive Finally, after years of waiting for the other core members of the Avengers squad to make their big-screen arrivals, we finally got our wish with this summer’s “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Chrises Hemsworth and Evans absolutely nailed it as the Asgardian warrior and super-soldier, respectively, and their return to theaters in next summer’s “Avengers” can’t possibly come soon enough. 3. “X-Men” Is “First Class” If the “First Class” trailer hadn’t already sold us on the Professor X and Magneto origin story, the movie itself sold us twice. “X-Men” was the surprise comic book hit of the year, if not commercially, then at least creatively. Brimming with phenomenal performances from Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Kevin Bacon, packed with outstanding action (Azazel FTW!) and clever connections to the pre-existing “X-Men” movie universe, “First Class” is my personal pick for best comic book movie of 2011. It’s that good. 2. Earth’s Mightiest Trailer Ever since Nick Fury uttered the words “Avengers initiative” at the end of “Iron Man,” we’ve been waiting for this trailer to drop. Finally, it did, and Joss Whedon’s take on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes looks even more awesome than it did in our dreams. May 4 cannot come soon enough. 1. Earth’s Mightiest Trailer Commentary OK, the only thing better than the “Avengers” trailer? “Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman’s “Avengers” trailer commentary. If you haven’t seen it yet, behold the hilarity for yourself in the video above. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Avengers.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos Top Marvel Movie Moments Of 2011
Radio personality Egypt Sherrod held her second annual “Egypt’s Give Back Tour” in the New York/New Jersey area last week. And among the assortment of people who came out to show Egypt some love and support a great cause was none other than Mama Jones. Who knew she could take a break from being “physichotic”?? (That’s the word she made up on last night’s episode of “Love & Hip-Hop,” in case you missed it. It describes the mind set one is in right before they become psychotic. And yes, it was inspired by a typo.) “Egypt’s Give Back Tour” provides coats and toys to families in need for the holidays. More pics from this year’s “Tour” below.
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