Considering how unabashedly Quentin Tarantino wears his cinephilia on his sleeve, it’s always fascinating to get a peek inside that movie geek brain of his to see what’s swimming around. And thanks to The Quentin Tarantino Archives, the world now knows which 11 films of last year topped QT’s best-of list, which just missed the cut, and which movies, interestingly enough, earned his “Nice Try” award. Last year Tarantino named Toy Story 3 the best of the year while also praising Animal Kingdom , I Am Love , and Enter the Void in his choice cuts. This time around he seems to have stuck with mainstream cineplex offerings — no Melancholia , for example, and only one foreign language movie in the entire list! Browse his picks and see if you agree: Quentin Tarantino’s official Top Eleven of 2011 1. Midnight In Paris 2. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes 3. Moneyball 4. The Skin I Live In 5. X-Men: First Class 6. Young Adult 7. Attack The Block 8. Red State 9. Warrior 10. The Artist / Our Idiot Brother (tie) 11. The Three Musketeers Others he liked (no particular order) 50/50 Beginners Hugo The Iron Lady Carnage Green Hornet Green Lantern Captain America The Descendants My Week With Marilyn Fast Five Tree Of Life The Hangover Part II Mission Impossible 4 The Beaver Contagion The Sitter War Horse Nice Try Award Drive Hanna Drive Angry Real Steel Maybe in 2011, while prepping Django Unchained , Tarantino didn’t get out much. It’s possible he watches more older movies than new ones. Perhaps genre exercises Drive , Drive Angry , and Hanna hewed too close to QT’s own wheelhouse to impress. But seriously, Quentin — the mess that was Green Lantern over the ubercool stylings of Nicholas Winding Refn? Explain thyself! Midnight in Paris , meanwhile, is such a solid #1 pick that I forgive any other oversights; after all, we all have gaps in our viewing habits, and no list is perfect. (I’m guessing/hoping Tarantino simply missed out on Shame , for example.) Eh, it’s Woody Allen’s best work in years. It won Best Screenplay at the Globes . I love the thought of Tarantino giving into the romance of it all, since he of all filmmakers gets the allure of nostalgia, clearly. Head over to The Quentin Tarantino Archives for the full list, including Tarantino’s picks for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay. [ The Quentin Tarantino Archives ]
‘I don’t date men in relationships; I don’t do that to other women,’ Rose says on ‘RapFix Live.’ By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway Amber Rose Photo: Natasha Chandel/ MTV News Maybe “home wrecker” wasn’t the best way to describe Kim Kardashian, but Amber Rose contends that she was defending herself when she recently told Star magazine that Kimmy and her former beau, Kanye West, were carrying on an affair behind Rose’s back. “I don’t like to call women names, because I’m about women empowerment. I spoke on my emotions that day — I was just so frustrated,” Rose told MTV News’ Sway when she appeared on “RapFix Live” on Wednesday. The rumor mill has been buzzing that it was Rose who caused the breakup between Kardashian and NFL star Reggie Bush. Amber does admit to dating Reggie, but she insists that it was after his relationship with Kim and after her romance with Kanye had ended. It’s all very accusatory, yet Amber maintains that Kardashian sent pictures of herself to West while he was still in a relationship with Rose. When Sway asked about the pictures, the “Fame” singer didn’t want to comment any further, but she stood behind her original comments. “The story, it’s true,” she said. What Amber couldn’t stand behind was the name-calling. She says she called Kim a home wrecker out of frustration. “I hear that all the time, Sway, and I’m like, that’s not true,” Rose said of the rumor that she came between Bush and Kardashian. Rose went on to reenact her Star interview, paraphrasing what she told the reporter. “Kim is the home wrecker, I’m not the home wrecker. I don’t date men in relationships; I don’t do that to other women,” Amber said. “I got frustrated and I said it.” Part of the frustration came from the media-savvy Kardashian family, Amber said. “I feel like Kim and her family, they manipulate the media and they want people to believe what they want them to believe,” she said. “I just had to put the truth out there and I had to get it off my chest.” The stately model, who is now dating Wiz Khalifa (and seems very happy, we must say), explained that she and Bush dated briefly in a rebound relationship after she split with ‘Ye and he split with Kim, but there was no affair between them. “We were both kind of, like, hurt,” she said. “We were each other’s rebounds, basically. It was nothing serious. We didn’t love each other. We just became good friends, basically.” Related Videos ‘RapFix Live’ With Amber Rose And Yo Gotti Related Artists Amber Rose
A few months ago, while on the coattails of summer’s craziness, I lived through a strange experience of friendship that left me to the tendency of some friends to take, take, take… and take. Call them what you may, I like to think of these types of relationships as “convenience friendships.” This particular story involves a man – a player – that came between a sister and me. It all began when a series of events led me to introduce two single friends, each from a separate corner of the lonely-hearts club. She, a dynamic sister with a bright future glazing in her horizon, sociable, a people-pleaser, ever-so insecure, met him, an attractive, slightly pretentious man, whose confidence, self-righteousness and charm could blow anyone’s pants off. I went along with the venture, trying my best to facilitate what was an unlikely combination. She had returned from abroad at the beginning of the year and was detached from the life she left behind. But I, like others in our friendship group, was excited to hear about her stories, supposing that her brilliant mind was ticking over with exciting plans and was full of stories about new people and far-away lands. On the other side of the equation, he and I had begun seeing each other quite often on the weekends, having a crazy time between us and with other frivolous friends. He spoke about his desire to calm down a little, to find someone with the prospect of longevity. So, when circumstances led them to meet, there was clear and open interest on both sides. As the weeks went by I stood on the sidelines answering the questions of one about the other and tried my best to bridge some of the obvious differences between them. But it appeared that nothing was going to work between them. He had told me that he had been sleeping around, and even took another sister home on an evening in which she had called me to chase information about where he was. This came in his relationship disclaimer, that so as long as there was no future between them, and the attempts to make something work had reached an expiry date, he was free to do as he wished and with whomever he pleased. She on the other hand was reappearing in my life quite sporadically to gain information about what he was doing, where he was and what I knew about him. It was strange because, aside from staying at my place when she first returned from abroad, I would only hear from her when she wanted something. It reached the point where I gathered that even she was aware of this, telling me one day “Let’s catch up soon, girl. I feel like I haven’t seen you at all.” I was not too concerned at this point; I was busy. But, it was all to boil over after one wild evening when he and I shared a kiss at a club. Having been told that nothing was going on between them, I fell to his charms and was one of two women to be swooned that evening with his kiss. I realized that what I had done was foul when I turned to see him with that another sister. Indignant, I left the club. The next day I spoke with him to clear the air, only to discover that he and my friend, she, were seeing each other that evening for round two. At this point my anger about having been used as a go-between-girl between two unmatched people had reached its climax. After months of being there for both of them, I was eventually pushed to redundancy, the friendships began to end and my interactions with both faded. I also can’t overlook the notion that I was slightly jealous. Two friends, who I had known for 2 years on separate grounds, had run off together and were leaving me behind. So one evening, I directed a comment to him, amongst friends, that questioned the worth of his friendship. Given how proactive he was in broadcasting to the world a sense of moral superiority and excellence in friendship, he took my criticism poorly and defensively. I considered him a dirty rat, so I didn’t care about how he reacted. But then, the following day, I received a phone call from her questioning me about the evening in which he and I had kissed. He had obviously told her to spite me and I imagined this was accompanied with the usual dialogue of “she must love me,” which he regularly uses to justify burnt bridges with women (those he burns with men are because they are jealous of his style and charm.) Cornered, I asked to meet with her the next day during my lunch break. She accepted but brought along a mutual friend so to avoid any conversation about what had happened. This was a clear indication she was not interested in hearing what I knew. I told her anyway. A week later, having boiled over in self-reflection, I sent her an SMS with a stern warning her to watch her mouth with other people. She had fragrantly spread the word amongst mutual friends that I was the saboteur between them as they went about sewing the seeds of their rock-sold connection. I doubted, at this point, that she believed me when I told her about him sleeping around. This sickened me in my self-righteousness because I knew they were having unprotected sex, for which he would take no responsibility. A typical player – selfish and irresponsible. The entire scenario left me feeling foolish and ashamed. Aside from considering him a friend of mine – an arrogant man with little no consideration of other people’s dignity – I had also fallen victim to subtle ways of a sister’s convenience friendship. In all of this, I did things I was not at all proud of. I was very wrong to have kissed him without appreciating fully that she still may have had feelings for him by virtue of not knowing he was sleeping around and meeting new women. Her interaction with me was so sporadic, and always so focused on her needs with him, that I was never given the opportunity to know that she was still pursuing him at that point. But, as they began seeing each other again, with talk of them moving in together, a common enemy for them both has been the best method to cover up their obvious differences. Ultimately, my former sister got what she wanted – to fill a void in her life with a charming man. My services to her have dried up and so too has the friendship. I scratch my head occasionally and wonder whether or not I should still care about her. But then I realize that it was a lesson learned for me and that so too will it be a lesson for her when she finally gets burned. And that is how one friendship of convenience reached its inevitable end. “I Love My Husband, But I Want His Friend & I’m Thinking Of Leaving With This Guy” Is It Possible To Re-Do Romance?
From Jennifer Lopez joining ‘American Idol’ to Charlie Sheen’s meltdown, some of the year’s biggest news stories seem like distant memories. By John Mitchell Rebecca Black in her “Friday” video Photo: Ark Music Factory Every major entertainment news story has a life cycle. First it breaks and is inescapable as every detail of the event takes on an aura of significance (think the carat count on Britney Spears’ engagement ring ). With interest still high but new information scarce, the analysis begins. We reporters look to experts to see what it all means and to fans to find out what they think and how they feel about what’s gone down. There are follow-ups and roundups as bright and shiny fresh news bits come together with what we already know to tell the whole story. Then the whole thing kind of dies as interest wanes and everybody moves on to the next big thing. Most major stories end up feeling like little time capsules and we never forget when they happened. Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” is as tied to 2011 as Beyonc
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A lot of people may not want to accept this, but Houston rappers really are the trillest in the game. Because they were on their independent grind long before many of us found out about them, Houston rappers have this sense of self that allows them to say and do whatever the hell crosses their mind, without giving two thoughts to what the rest of us might have to say. They are also very much about their money, and very aware of how to make, save and enjoy their bread. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. But Slim Thug isn’t that exception. If anything he’s the textbook example. And while some of you may wonder what he’s been up to, he has a legion of loyal online and off-line followers who keep up with every joke, every lyric and every bit of advice. So when he jokingly said in a song that he wanted to write a book offering advice on How To Survive In A Recession, the fans held him to it. BOSSIP chopped it up with Slim Thug on Twitter last week about his new role as an author, the realness (and fakeness of Hip-Hop) and, of course, his love life. Peep the tweets on the flip.
‘It is my personal way of seeing things. I am the artist of my own life,’ Gaga says of her self-directed video. By Jocelyn Vena Lady Gaga in her “Marry the Night” music video Photo: Interscope/ VEVO Lady Gaga exorcises her demons in her nearly 14-minute-long clip for “Marry the Night,” which premiered Thursday night. Depicting Gaga’s journey from an early career trauma to her reinvention as a successful pop star, she intended for art to imitate life in the clip. For those wondering what left Gaga so traumatized, she explained it all to E! News preceding the video’s premiere. The video is a metaphor for how she felt when she was dropped from her first record label, Island Def Jam, before landing at her current home at Interscope. “It was one of the worst days of my life and it happened quite quickly. But in my mind, when I think back on that period of my life, it all happened very slow,” she explained. “It is my personal way of seeing things. I am the artist of my own life. I choose to tell you what happened,” she continued. “If you give up after something like that, you were never destined to be an entertainer.” In the video , after hearing from her ballet director that she should quit, she restructures her goal and plots her rise to pop stardom. “In order to be great writing music or at fishing or at being a mechanic or designing buildings, you have to acknowledge what is wrong with your work, or what is dishonest about it,” she said. “What have I not been really great at?” Those obstacles, she says, are a big part of what makes her who she is now. “I love the obstacles,” she said. “To marry your obstacles means I, the artist, wholeheartedly accept everything you throw at me. I am destined to struggle, I am destined to write music about the struggle and I accept it willingly.” There are several scenes where Gaga is naked and experiencing a mental breakdown in her apartment. “Well, I was naked in real life when it happened,” she said, referring to the moment she found out she’d been dropped. “That’s probably the most honest moment in that video of everything I’ve ever done. My directorial decision was for them to just f—ing roll the cameras, because I couldn’t go in and out of the moment. I wonder if I will actually release that scene in its entirety — it’s about 30 minutes long.” “It was intensely important to me that it was not too beautiful,” she added. “It was an incredible experience. It was amazing. It was absolutely amazing.” This marks the first time that Gaga has directed a video all on her own. She recently split from her longtime creative director Laurieann Gibson , however, she clarified how the Haus works during the interview. “I have always been the creative director, and the Haus of Gaga has always been the creative force behind what we’ve done. There really aren’t many tremendous changes. “I know it’s my directorial debut, but I’ve really created everything I’ve ever done in my career,” she continued. “I really didn’t do anything differently on this video that I didn’t do on the ‘Telephone’ video or the ‘Paparazzi’ video or the ‘Bad Romance’ video. I hope my fans will take from this the progression that you have to trust yourself to make mistakes.” While the subject matter of the video is dark, there are also some tongue-in-cheek moments. “I always believe that you walk the line of humor if you’re being so incredibly serious,” she explained. “There’s something quite comical about the opening of the video, even though it’s quite sinister and dark,” she said. “It’s meant to be comical.” So, how would Gaga sum it all up? “In essence, it’s insight into my entire creative process and the way that I view things,” she said. Related Artists Lady Gaga
On Thanksgiving we gave spanks for the nude stars who made 2011 great, but now that the turkey’s been carved and the dust has settled (along with all that food in our stomachs), we’re feeling a little less generous. So put on your hiking boots and cock your triggers, gentlemen, because we’re going on a turkey shoot! What’s a turkey shoot, you ask? A turkey shoot is when you count down the most disappointing nude releases of the year- not necessarily stars at their most covered up, but the movies that led us to believe that they would be full of hot, mouth-watering girl flesh but instead were nothing more than cold, bland turkey: #5 Straw Dogs The original Straw Dogs (1971) contained nudity from star Susan George , and the trailer for the 2011 remake promised an experience as intense and brutal as the original. The R rating raised our hopes, as did the MPAA’s warning about “sexual content”in the film, but in the end all we got was man-ass from Alexander Skarsgaard blocking our view of star Kate Bosworth (left). Of course if man-ass is your thing, that’s cool, but you’re on the wrong blog, fella. #4 One Day Anne Hathaway set the bar very, very high with her fantastically nude perv-formance in Love and Other Drugs (2010) (left), so we were expecting this Disney princess turned “serious”(ie, nude) actress to blow us away with the romance One Day . We were disappointed to learn the movie was PG-13, but the final blow was discovering that Anne comes within spitting distance of nudity in a scene where she skinny-dips with one hand covering her good parts. Turns out Anne is a lot like a drug dealer- once she’s got you hooked, she just leaves you jonesin’ for more. What are Mr. Skin’s top three turkeys of 2011? You’ll find a hint in the image at the top of the post, but for the full fowl affair, check out this week’s Mr. Skin Minute , right here at MrSkin.com!
‘I was very flattered I was asked to do it,’ designer Carolina Herrera tells MTV News of Stephenie Meyer’s personal request. By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in “Breaking Dawn – Part 1” Photo: Summit Of all the big reveals in “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” that don’t involve the words “sex” and “scene,” fans are dying to see Bella’s wedding dress. It’s been one of the most closely guarded film secrets in recent memory, and rightly so, according to author Stephenie Meyer , who told us the key ingredient to the wedding scene was Kristen Stewart looking “gorgeous” and “unbelievable” in that dress. Thankfully, come Friday, the secret will officially be out. MTV News was lucky enough to get a few details about said dress from legendary fashion designer Carolina Herrera at the film’s premiere Monday night, as she led us through the process for how she ended up with the coveted task. “I was called by Stephenie Meyer. We had to discuss a lot, but I was very inspired by her book and the description of the wedding,” Herrera said. “I was very flattered I was asked to do it; it’s a big scene for me.” Herrera said she loves the romance and the idea of true love as depicted in the book and that she was happy to be a part of such a magical scene. She also spoke to the importance and delicacy in designing wedding dresses in general. “Wedding dresses are different, because you have to know that it’s the most important day in the life of a woman,” she said. “You have to please the bride first of all, and it has to be a secret. I cannot talk about the dress before the groom sees it. I treated [Kristen Stewart’s Bella] like every other bride,” she admitted. “I think [Stewart] was very moved when she tried it on. And that means a lot, because she felt that it was the right one.” Given her pleasant experience with the film’s wedding dress, might Herrera consider designing something for Stewart in real life? “Why not? If she asked me, absolutely,” Herrera said with a smile, but added that Stewart doesn’t need to by styled by anyone. “She knows exactly what she wants to wear. … You can wear anything at21. You don’t need any advice. When you are Kristen Stewart, you can wear whatever you want.” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ Live From The ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ Red Carpet Related Photos ‘Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1’ Premiere ‘Breaking Dawn’ Premieres Around The World
Karina Smirnoff and Brad Penny have decided to wait on wedding planning. Rest assured, though, the DWTS pro and MLB pitcher are still together. Nearly a year after their engagement, “the wedding has been postponed ,” a source close to couple says. “They are still together, but have conflicting schedules.” With the Tigers out of the playoffs, what does Brad Penny have to do for the next four-plus months besides eat a few more salads and do sit-ups? Just asking. The couple, both 33, went public with their romance back in 2009, after she and fellow Dancing With the Stars stalwart Maksim Chmerkovskiy called it quits. “I believe a wedding is a celebration of a future together,” Karina Smirnoff mused. “It doesn’t matter how it’s going to be. Whatever we decide it’ll be great.” For the moment however, the couple simply “wants to spend more time with one another,” the source explains. “Especially while planning their wedding.” Here’s hoping Penny doesn’t strike out and lose this keeper. [Photo: WENN.com]
