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Few events in recent history seem a more perfect fit for director Spike Lee than the racially-charged Los Angeles riots in 1992. Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment thought so too, agreeing in 2006 to move ahead with a drama about the situation. Then Lee’s ambitious aspirations met budgetary realities.

“We didn’t get the money that we needed to make the movie I wanted to make,” Lee told MTV News in an exclusive interview. “How can you scale back the LA riots?! That’s not the movie I want to make. The studio said, ‘Scale it back.’ What’s the point?” Read more...

Tags spike lee

Dev Patel is on his way to becoming a real millionaire. According to Variety, the "Slumdog Millionaire" star has just signed onto M. Night Shyamalan's live-action adaptation of "The Last Airbender." (Shyamalan has dropped "Avatar" from the title in order to avoid confusion with James Cameron's sci-fi film of the same name.) He'll be joined by Twilight's Jackson Rathbone, and newcomers Noah Ringer, Nicola Peltz, and Jessica Jade Andres.

Patel is playing Zuko, a member of the Fire Nation and one of the villains of the series' fantasy world. He's replacing pop star Jesse McCartney, whose tour dates left him unable to commit to the film or its boot camp. Read more...

Tags dev patel, jackson rathbone, slumdog millionaire, Twilight

Martin Scorsese is looking to someone other than Leonardo DiCaprio for his next project. According to Variety, the legendary director is in talks with Daniel Day-Lewis, Benicio del Toro, and Gael Garcia Bernal to star in "Silence."

This will be the third collaboration between Scorsese and Day-Lewis, who have had a happy director-actor relationship in both "The Age of Innocence" and "The Gangs of New York." (It must be extremely happy -- you might remember that Scorsese lured Day-Lewis away from being a cobbler in Italy and back to acting to be in "Gangs.") Read more...

Tags benicio del toro, daniel day-lewis, gael garcia, martin scorsese, silence

You've got to hand it to Michael Bay...if you're looking for action, the man knows how to deliver. Along with plenty of other commercials (like for "G.I. Joe"), the Super Bowl gave us our first glimpse at "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" footage, and the results are...well, kind of awesome.

From the opening salvo against an aircraft carrier to the giant Decepticon tearing through the highway at the end, the 30-second spot shows that Bay has picked up right where he left off. Watch it in full below or click here to see it in high-definition. And don't miss our shot-by-shot analysis of what's shown in the "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" TV spot. When you're through with all that, then click here to watch all the Super Bowl movie ads, including "Race to Witch Mountain," "Star Trek" and more.

Tags michael bay, transformers: revenge of the fallen

It's been nearly a year since we brought you the first image of Channing Tatum in "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra," and now we have another first...the very first footage from Hollywood's ode to the iconic 80's mega-franchise.

The Super Bowl spot gives us an early peek at what director Stephen Sommers is going for, which apparently is a balls to the wall action flick that brings to life some of our favorite characters. Below, watch the full "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" Super Bowl commercial (or click here to watch it in HD) and let us know what you think of it. We've done an exhaustive shot-by-shot of the new "G.I. Joe" spot here, so head over to MTV.com to read that too. And then click here to watch all of the movie spots from the Super Bowl, including "Land of the Lost," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," Pixar's "Up" and more.

Tags G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, gi joe, Stephen Sommers

I guess it's no surprise that a "Star Trek" ad during the Super Bowl was going to showcase wall to wall big monsters, space battles, and bloodied Kirk moments in favor of say the quieter contemplations between Spock and Jim. This 30-second ad doesn't reveal a ton of new footage, but at least we get to hear Karl Urban make a formal introduction for himself and see some cadets run for cover. "Star Trek" still ranks at or near the very top of my most anticipated in '09 list. Does this ad do it for you? Check it out below or watch "Trek" in all its high-definition glory right here.

What did you think? Did these 30 seconds tantalize or frustrate you? Let us know. And watch all of the big Super Bowl movie ads right here.

Tags star trek, super bowl

G.I. Joe, I don't know. Out of all the Super Bowl commercials, I was most interested in seeing the "G.I. Joe.: The Rise of Cobra" teaser. Growing up, I was a tremendous, tremendous fan of Joe. I had all the toys and all the episodes on VHS. "Knowing is half the battle." I'm still not sure if the "Joe" movie will live up to the decades of anticipation.

The preview seemed a little cartoonish. There's a great shot of Snake Eyes (everybody's favorite character) jumping over a tumbling car. However, I'm not convinced yet if "G.I. Joe" will be too kiddie for me to fully enjoy.

Take me back. Take me back to the '80s, when G.I. Joe was the baddest cartoon franchise of its day. "Thundercats," "Transformers," "He-Man" -- none of them could hang with the Joes and their myriad of characters (shout-out to Zartan and the evil twin brothers!). Or the story lines (Joes had a weather dominator, for goodness sakes!).

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Tags gi joe rise of cobra

Ah, man!!!!!! The "Transformers" sequel teaser looked excellent. I must admit, I was sleeping a little bit. Other films, such as "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" and even "Star Trek," were a little higher on my radar. Not sure why. But the "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" ad during the Super Bowl inserts it right back into my top-two most-anticipated summer films. The one shot that shows the monster robot changing into the sleek sports car was amazing.

Op Prime needs to catch more wreck, though. He looks a little soft. Besides "Wolvie," I think "Transformers Part Deux" will be the action vehicle to rip the fans out of their seats in the warm-weather months. The game is a little weak, BTW.

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Tags transformers: revenge of the fallen