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Happy Shakespeare Day: Five Big-Screen Bard Gems

Posted 4/23/12 1:00 pm EST by in Commentary


On this day way back in 1564, William Shakespeare was born... or not, because apparently his exact birth date isn’t known. But today's the day we celebrate the man!.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Bard, here’s the briefest of introductions: Ol’ Will gave us a lot of pretty poetry as well as some fine plays that are the inspiration for countless TV and movie adaptations. If you’re like me, you may have supplemented your high school English class reading assignments with a few of those filmed adaptations (notice I wrote “supplemented” and not “replaced.” I never did that).

So to celebrate the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth (and death, which was definitely on April 23rd), here are my five favorite films based on or inspired by works of the Bard.

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The 501st Legion: Taking The World By Storm

Posted 4/19/12 4:52 pm EST by in Commentary


Last week, 21-year-old Aussie Jacob French completed a grueling trek across his home country. He started last summer and walked 3,000 miles from Perth to Sydney to raise funds for Australia’s Starlight Children's Foundation.

And he did it wearing a stormtrooper costume.

French is a member of the 501st Legion, an international group of costumed Star Wars fans who regularly gather to raise money and awareness for various charities. “Jacob is a great example of the unique characters we get in the Legion,” says Scott Allen, who serves as Charity Officer for the 501st (his current preferred costume is an ESB-era Darth Vader).

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The 'Magic Mike' Trailer And The Curious Case Of Alex Pettyfer

Posted 4/19/12 12:54 pm EST by in Commentary, Trailers


Much to the delight of women and gay men everywhere, the first trailer for Channing Tatum's semi-autobiographical stripper movie "Magic Mike" has hit the web, giving eager squeers their first eyeful of Tatum's sick stripper moves. (I'd definitely keep a few extra twenties in my purse if I knew Tatum was coming over...) But one thing we didn't see a whole lot of was co-star Alex Pettyfer.

To be fair, Tatum does play the film's titular character, but when news of Pettyfer's casting made the rounds last year, it sounded as though his protege character, The Kid — loosely based on Tatum — would be the focus of the film.

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Five Reasons To See 'Cabin In The Woods'

Posted 4/13/12 1:55 pm EST by in Commentary, Five Reasons


Cabin in the Woods

It's here! It's here! It's finally here! After years of collecting dust on a shelf, "The Cabin in the Woods" is finally getting the wide theatrical release it deserved ever since the idea sprung into Joss Whedon's wonderfully twisted mind.

Hopefully you won't need any additional convincing to go check it out this weekend, but if you do, here are our Five Reasons to see "The Cabin in the Woods" this weekend.

The Secrets
Oh, the spoilers! Everyone's talking about the spoilers. "Read nothing." "Watch nothing." "Talk to no one." It all seems a little ridiculous at this point, but there is a reason for it all. When it comes to "The Cabin in the Woods" the old adage applies. It's not about the destination. It's about the journey. Yes, there is a "final" secret to "Cabin in the Woods," but the way each secret is carefully parsed out by the screenplay makes the movie as great as it is. The world of the film becomes clearer and clearer with each scene and eventually you see the big picture, but the whole thing is one hell of a ride.

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Guy Pearce's Five Most Badass Movie Roles

Posted 4/13/12 1:00 pm EST by in Commentary, Top Five


by Ryan Rigley

Despite the fact that Guy Pearce has appeared in several Oscar-winning films, including "The King's Speech" and "The Hurt Locker," it seems like the vast majority of people still have a hard time recognizing him. But hopefully, with this summer's "Lockout" and "Prometheus," the Australian actor will finally gain the recognition that he deserves.

In "Lockout," which comes out this weekend, Guy Pearce plays a man known as Snow, who is wrongfully accused of conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States. Luckily for Snow, all charges will be dropped if he can manage to rescue the president's daughter from a prison located in outer space. Oh, and the space prison has been taken over by the world's most dangerous inmates.

This isn't the first time Pearce has been put up against nearly impossible odds. Throughout his career, Pearce has played a number of memorable badasses. Here's a list of the five most badass roles that Guy Pearce has played so far.

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'Cabin In The Woods': How To Avoid Spoilers

Posted 4/12/12 1:56 pm EST by in Commentary


Cabin in the Woods

The anti-spoiler talk around "The Cabin in the Woods" has almost reached self-parody at this point. Twitter user @williambgoss summed it up perfectly when he wrote "You guys probably shouldn't see The Cabin in the Woods this weekend. It's FULL of Cabin in the Woods spoilers."

But all this talk of spoilers is there for a reason. Rarely has the effect of a film relied so heavily on discovering its secrets as the writers intended. Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard pieced together a brilliantly twisted story that deserves the level of secrecy it has.

So if you're looking to avoid spoilers before checking out "The Cabin in the Woods" this weekend, we've put together a helpful guide.

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'Cabin In The Woods' Playlist: Five Films To Watch First

Posted 4/11/12 4:08 pm EST by in Commentary, Sick Day Stash


Cabin in the Woods

Part of what makes "Cabin in the Woods" so great is the clear love of movies on display by director Drew Goddard and his co-writer Joss Whedon. Every inch of the celluloid is an ode to the horror movie genre, but if you're going to get the full effect of what "Cabin in the Woods" wants to get across, there's some watching you'll have to do.

We've pull together a playlist of five films that you might want to consider checking out or rewatching before heading to the theaters this weekend.

"Cloverfield"
Before Drew Goddard got his chance to make his directorial debut with "Cabin in the Woods," he cut his cinematic teeth by writing "Cloverfield" for director Matt Reeves and producer J.J. Abrams. Four years after the frenzy of the viral campaign and the secrecy around the title, "Cloverfield" is often maligned for setting off the latest wave of found footage movies. What it isn't praised for was the way it played with the conventions of the monster movie genre. With so much of the focus on the monster most of the time, putting the camera literally at its feet with someone on the ground was a creative take on a tired premise.

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Five Things We Can Tell You About 'Cabin In The Woods'

Posted 4/10/12 4:18 pm EST by in Commentary


Cabin in the Woods

We here at MTV Movies Blog love "The Cabin in the Woods." There is no way around it. We love it so much, in fact, that it's really important to us that you love it too. So in the lead-up to this Friday's release of "Cabin," we're going to tell you everything you need to know about the film from Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard.

But here's the thing. You're not supposed to know that much. We respect that as much as anyone else who has seen "Cabin," so here are the five things we can actually safely say about "The Cabin in the Woods."

The Story
The official production notes for "The Cabin in the Woods" tell you everything you'll need to know about the film before heading into the theater. "Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen." That's the official plot summary for a reason, so before you think, "Oh, that's a really boring premise," check yourself. That's the humor of the movie, so if you don't get it, maybe this isn't the movie for you.

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Five More '90s Movies Ready For A Sequel

Posted 4/10/12 11:00 am EST by in Commentary, Top Five


Nine years after the last sequel and 13 years after the original was released, Jason Biggs, Tara Reid and the rest of the gang had an “American Reunion” this weekend, as they looked back on their high school years with wistful nostalgia.

Yes, it may be shocking to some, but the '90s are now a good decade and some past us. Given Hollywood’s love for remakes and sequels, it’s already started turning towards the '90s well — the 80’s have already been well-plundered, after all. Besides “American Reunion,” there was, of course, the announcement that Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels will reunite for a sequel to 1994’s uproarious “Dumb & Dumber.” Clearly, we’re in for an avalanche of '90s nostalgia for the next decade!

So, which '90s movies are ripe for a sequel? Here are five that we think would be great.

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Hey, 'Star Wars' Gamers: Lighten Up!

Posted 4/10/12 7:47 am EST by in Commentary


I have a confession to make: I’m not a gamer. Never have been. You won’t find a review of “LEGO Star Wars” or notices about the latest patch for “The Old Republic” in this space. I don’t pay that much attention to the gaming galaxies of the Expanded Universe, but I just couldn’t escape the furor over the newly released “Kinect Star Wars.”

You probably know what I’m referring to; last week millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror about the Xbox game, specifically its “Galactic Dance Off” feature where, according to the game’s website, you can “dance for Jabba the Hutt and take on other favorite ‘Star Wars’ characters in 4 different locations.”

What seems to be getting most folks in a tizzy is the sight of Han Solo boogieing down to a remake of Jason Derulo's "Ridin' Solo" (called "I'm Han Solo") inside the very room in which Movie Han gets carbon-frozen in “The Empire Strikes Back.” Once again, charges of childhood rape are being thrown around: at Microsoft, Lucasfilm and, of course, George Lucas himself.

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