After the record-breaking success of "Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire" over the weekend, I'm more hopeful for films starting out in limited release. This week's recommendations may not have the distinction of being championed by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry, so if you find any of them worth seeing based on my recommendation, it may be more necessary for you to make the effort to get them to play near you.

"The Messenger"

What it is: A skewed romantic drama about a young Iraq War vet (Ben Foster) who is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service, where he's partnered with a captain played by Woody Harrelson. While delivering the bad news, he falls for one of the notified widows (Samantha Morton). Read more...

Next up in our 2009 VMA director spotlight is Marc Webb, who is also up for a Moonman in the Best Direction category. Webb has been in the game since the late '90s, though he only recently made the jump into feature film directing. His "(500) Days of Summer," starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, scored a lot of buzz at Sundance earlier this year and has continued to score well with critics since its August 7 release.

For Sunday night's 2009 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, Webb hopes to pick up a statue for his work directing the video for Green Day's "21 Guns." Check out that video below and hit the jump to compare it with some footage for "(500) Days."

Read more...

Chris Nolan, also known as the man who gave Batman a new lease on life in celluloid, is busy now with his super-secret next project, "Inception." We've asked stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard -- who both have roles in the movie -- for details, but neither would say anything. Jerks.

I don't mean that Joe and Marion. Really! Why don't you give me a call... we'll talk about the weather, the local sports teams, maybe even little about "Inception"? No? Drat.

Well the movie isn't out until summer 2010 according to the teaser, so the curious among us have plenty of time to concoct our own crazy theories. Like everyone in the world is actually playing out a cleverly created virtual reality routine while machine masters toil in the real world, using human beings as their power source. What do you mean 'that's been done before'? Fine! What are your theories. Check out the "Inception" teaser Stop Motion image gallery by clicking the pic below.

Why don't you take a look at the teaser first. We'll discuss afterwards. Here are the important points, the ones that'll make you click play: "Inception" is director Chris Nolan's follow-up to "The Dark Knight." He also directed "Memento" and "The Prestige." "Inception" stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Why haven't you clicked play yet?

I've got to say, I get a very "Matrix" vibe off of this trailer. I mean that in a good way; "Inception" doesn't look like "The Matrix," it just makes me recall the initial sense of wonderment I felt at seeing the first teaser. Read more...

It’s been five years since Green Day’s multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album “American Idiot” came out, but work on the material is still very alive. A musical adaptation is set to debut at California’s Berkeley Repertory Theater in September and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong continues to push for developing the disc’s post-9/11 stories for the big screen. And he wants to do it in an unexpected way.

"I thought 'American Idiot' had a lot in common with something like 'Rocky Horror Picture Show,'" Billie Joe told The Associated Press. "It would great to see a film made out of it someday too." Read more...

Having scored considerable praise during its run at Sundance, "500 Days of Summer" is coming to theaters and we've got an exclusive first look at the quirky romantic comedy. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young professional who falls for co-worker, Zooey Deschanel, and chronicles the journey through their relationship.

Watch the clip below to see how they first meet, and how it was love at first sight.

Everything sounds better with a French accent. That’s just a fact, and it’s something Movies Editor Josh Horowitz learned anew while chatting with Marion Cotillard about her upcoming Christopher Nolan film, “Inception.”

No matter that the Parisian actress wouldn’t give up the juicy inside facts—partly because she didn’t know, partly because declined to say—about the secretive film that we crave here at MTV News. No matter that all she’d tell us about the plot is that it’s “about the mind.” No matter that she teased Josh at one point, “You so want to have information—I can see you!”

Read more...

"G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" star Joseph Gordon-Levitt took some time out of his busy schedule last week to speak with MTV's Josh Horowitz. The focus of the chat was the actor's next project, Spencer Susser's family drama "Hesher." Gordon-Levitt also spoke up a little bit on what he's doing after "Hesher," with "Batman Begins"/"The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan. It was really more of a non-comment, but we'll take what we can get!

"Here's the thing," Gordon-Levitt told MTV. "I cant wait to talk to you about ["Inception"] but I've been very specifically asked not to talk about it. I want to respect [director Chris Nolan's wishes] because I love his movies and I'm so honored and grateful to be working with him." Very mysterious, eh? But wait! There's more! Read more...

Late yesterday, a rumor hit the wires that "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" director Stephen Sommers had been fired. The word originated with a user on the Don Murphy message boards, who claimed that the firing came as a result of abysmal test screenings. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has since spoken with Latino Review, adamantly stating that the rumor is completely untrue.

Now you know the backstory. Today, MTV's Josh Horowitz had a chat with "G.I. Joe"'s Cobra Commander, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and asked him to comment. "I just heard about it. I've been shooting," Gordon-Levitt said. "What can you say? People like to do that [gossip]."

He capped off his comments with some good advice for fans: "'G.I. Joe' is like playing with toys. It's very simple and its really fun and that’s all." Read more...

“500 Days of Summer” is one of those indie gems that has been building momentum since Sundance and, in the clip below, you’ll catch a glimpse at why; On beyond a great script and no small amount of style, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel share a chemistry that would make you believe that they’ve been working together for years. Doubly surprising is finding out that they have.

“We’ve known each other for almost ten years,” Zooey told MTV News, citing a little-known project called “Manic” in 2001 that brought the pair together. They became fast friends, just as Joseph was leaving acting for awhile to go back to school and Zooey was leaving school to go back to acting.

Read more...