You could count on one hand the number of people who have watched the top-secret “Star Trek” that will be unveiled next month; even fewer fingers, most likely, would be needed to take stock of those who’ve seen dailies from the December ‘08 release. Writer/director Matt Reeves, however, is one of the chosen few.

“Way back, J.J. was like ‘When ‘Cloverfield’ comes out, ‘Star Trek’ will be on it,’” Reeves said of his mysterious monster flick, which will hit theaters on 1.18.08 with the “Trek” trailer attached. “I was like ‘That’s a terrific idea; that’s exciting’. So, I’ve known for a long, long, time that was their plan, and I’ve just recently seen bits of the teaser. I think it’s amazing, and it looks pretty incredible.” Read more…

We’re early yet in the awards season, but one name has emerged out of the many would be contenders as the closest thing to a sure thing. Forget Daniel Day-Lewis and Cate Blanchett and even Javier Bardem. If you’re looking an early Oscar front-runner, it’s Amy Ryan.

Yes, thanks to a scene-stealing turn as a mother of questionable skills in Ben Affleck’s directing debut, “Gone Baby Gone,” the New Yorker has earned prizes from the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics Associations, the National Board of Review, and just last week, a Golden Globe nomination.

I met up with Ryan at a West Village coffee shop recently to talk about the part of a lifetime for the actress and why she’s filled with excitement and terror all at once.

MTV: Can you take me back to the audition for “Gone Baby Gone”? Read more…

Ok, so here’s the deal: we can’t explain it, but the presence of our reporters seems to cause celebrities to break out in spontaneous song. I know, crazy, right? Some chalk it up to the potent pheromones of staffers Larry Carroll and Shawn Adler, while others place the blame on the rockish vibes emitted by the history-laden MTV logo. Whatever the reason, watch below to see Ben Stiller, John Travolta, The Rock, John C. Reilly and more stars break into song during our interviews.

We’ve seen a couple posters out there, but now Universal has released the first official stills from the upcoming superhero flick directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Edward Norton and Liv Tyler. See one below, and then click here to see the second. After the jump, read the film’s official synopsis and then tell us what you think in the comments section.

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Four hijackers overtake a NYC subway car, override the “dead-man’s switch” – a fail-safe which is supposed to ensure a human driver – manage to extort a $1 million ransom, and then escape off the train before sending it hurtling around the bowels of Manhattan, ensuring that police all head the wrong way.

To call the plan at the center of 1974’s “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” genius is an understatement. But how in the world would it work today – with passengers all carrying cell phones, with GPS, with laptop computers and thermo-imaging? That’s the big dilemma for screenwriter David Koepp, who recently adapted the novel for director Tony Scott and star Denzel Washington. Read more…

Sweeney Todd’s a serial killer, and you know what that means — serial movies! The younger cast members of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” all have dream sequels on the brain, each starring themselves as the latest revenge-seeker in the cycle.

For instance, Jamie Bowers, who plays the love-struck sailor Anthony, proposes that his character and his lady love Johanna (played by Jayne Wisener) end up running away together — to start a new killing rampage. “We’re the killers this time,” he proposed, “but you can’t tell anyone yet.” Read more…

The film version of Marjane Satrapi’s acclaimed graphic novel puts viewers in the middle of the Islamic Revolution. In the video below, we speak to the cast and crew of “Persepolis” to get the inside scoop on the buzzed-about pic.

Yesterday we brought you the first batch of top 10 lists from colleagues around the MTV offices. Today we bring you two more, including from fellow blogger Larry Carroll. Dig them below, and be sure to give us your own top 10 list in the comments.

LARRY CARROLL (Reporter):

1. “No Country for Old Men” - Perfect in every single way, and a triumphant return to form by the world’s best director(s). If Javier Bardem doesn’t win an Oscar, the entire Academy needs to be dis-assembled and rebuilt from scratch. Read more…

Sure the reviews have been a bit harsh, but for some of us the chance to see a new take on the facehugging franchise is a good enough reason to drop 15 bucks for a ticket (and come 6:30 this evening, that’s what I’ll be doing). But first, get a sneak peak in the exclusive scene below where a petty fight turns into a life-threatening situation.

Like you, MTV staffers enjoy the cineplex as much as the next guy, and since 2007 has been quite the year for movies, we’ve asked some of our colleagues to give us their picks for their top 10 favorite cinematic offerings. Read the first two responses below, and then click here to read what made our own Kurt Loder’s year-end wrap-up.

RACHEL JOSUE (Producer):

1. “The Bourne Ultimatum” - I am a sucker for this franchise. Read more…

Ladies and gentlemen, the next huge sci-fi franchise has a director. During an interview with “The Kingdom” director Peter Berg, he confirmed the rumor that “Dune” is coming and that he’s the one that will helm it. Calling the plans for him to direct “a done deal,” Berg told me that “if it weren’t for the writer’s strike, we’d be in it right now.”

Berg says that while there’s no script yet, they have a list of writers they plan to go out to once the strike settles. The helmer called himself “a huge fan of the book” and when asked about the scale of the film, he simply replied, “big big big.”

As any fan of the Frank Herbert classic knows, “Dune” received the big screen treatment once before in a divisive David Lynch film. Berg said that while he’s “a big fan of Lynch,” he believes “that interpretation has left the door wide open for a remake.” Read more…

In case you haven’t been able to tell from the omnipresent marketing campaign there’s a biopic out now as much in the vein of “Knocked Up” as “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” The movie of course is “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” and it should be no surprise that it sprang in part from the mind behind “Knocked Up,” the great Judd Apatow.

Judd’s written for us a bunch before and he’s back now with a cool little column all about the making of “Walk Hard” and formative concert experiences that shaped him.

Here’s Judd on his first concert, “the Doobie Brothers. I was in eighth grade. I could not have loved it more. The Minute by Minute tour hit the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York. I had such a good time that I went to see another concert just a few months later. It was the Doobie Brothers returning to the Nassau Coliseum.”

Don’t forget to check out the rest of Judd Apatow’s “Walk Hard” column here.

“The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” himself arrives in theaters today as Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman bring this dark twist on the Hollywood musical to audiences in the form of “Sweeney Todd.” Watch our report on the film below and then read about our chat with Carter here. And if you wind up seeing the film this weekend, chime in below and tell us what you thought of it.

With the recent news that Peter Jackson has signed on to produce two films based on “The Hobbit,” we decided to run through our casting choices for roles up for grabs in “The Hobbit” (which you can read here), but we’ve saved the biggest choice for our blog.

Read below who we think should play Bilbo, then sound off on your choices for the Ring Bearer, Smaug, Beorn, and all the characters in the world’s most eagerly anticipated film. Read more…

What do you do when your funniest partner-in-crime also just happens to be the Haley’s Comet of actors, and people keep asking whether you’ll ever reunite for a true “Friday” sequel? According to Ice Cube, you wait.

“I think if [Chris Tucker] don’t come back, we shouldn’t do another one,” Cube revealed to us this week, breaking news about the future of his signature series. “And if he comes back? We should.” Read more…