Freitag, 27. Mai 2011
James McAvoy Was 'Worried' About 'X-Men: First Class'
New 'Green Lantern' TV Spot Has More Kilowog, Another Construct
In the new TV spot, we get a bit more footage of Hal Jordan's first meeting with Kilowog, the hulking drill instructor for the Green Lantern Corps. We [...]
Mark Bautista Bryan Cranston Katherine Kelly Lang Eleni Menegaki
'Twilight' Actress Bryce Dallas Howard Is Pregnant
The child will be the second for Howard, who played evil vampire Victoria in 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.'
By Eric Ditzian
Bryce Dallas Howard
Photo: Junko Kimura/ Getty Images
"The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" star Bryce Dallas Howard is pregnant with her second child, a rep for the actress has told Us Weekly.
Howard and actor husband Seth Gabel ("Fringe") had their first son, Theo, in 2007. Details about how far along she is in her pregnancy or the sex of the child were not disclosed.
The 30-year-old actress, the daughter of director Ron Howard, has starred in "The Village," "Spider-Man 3" and "Terminator Salvation," in which she played a pregnant woman not too long after giving birth to Theo. But Howard is perhaps best known for playing the vampire Victoria in "Eclipse" — and for the circumstances under which she took on the role.
In July 2009, Summit Entertainment made a sudden announcement that it had decided to replace Rachelle Lefevre, who originated the part of the evil vampire in "Twilight" and its first sequel, "New Moon." Howard then stepped in. "It was actually a really unfortunate circumstance where the actress who everyone really cared deeply about, who has done an amazing job in this role, was unavailable," Howard told MTV News that December. "They were looking for someone to fill that slot. It was right before production actually happened, so of course there was intimidation there and feeling a huge responsibility to do my best."
This summer Howard appears opposite Emma Stone in "The Help," an adaptation of the New York Times #1 best-seller about segregation in '60s-era Mississippi. MTV News will actually be talking with Howard and Stone on Thursday as part of our MTV Movie Awards Sneak Peek Week, a five-day extravaganza in which we'll be debuting footage on MTV from some of this summer's hottest films and then sitting down for extended conversations online. So if you've got any questions for Howard, just tweet @MTVNews using the hashtag #spw.
For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.
Rick Ross Explains Why He Took Maybach Music To Warner Music Group
'We needed a situation that understood that we could make music at a much quicker rate than a lot of people do,' Ross tells 'RapFix Live.'
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Wale, Rick Ross, Pill and Meek Mill
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/ Getty Images
They don't call Rick Ross the Boss for nothing! When it was time to secure distribution for his Maybach Music Group, instead of signing his label over at Def Jam, where he already has a solo artist deal, Rozay made an executive decision and took MMG over to Warner Music Group.
"You know, as a boss you gotta make certain things happen and that's what I was able to do. Me, as a solo artist, we're still at Def Jam Records, I have another album or two. But me being an executive, me being a boss, Maybach Music, I had an opportunity to sow my royal oats," Ross told Sway on Wednesday's "RapFix Live."
Rozay weighed his options and in the end needed a distributor that could keep up with his musical output. "We needed a situation that understood that we could make music at a much quicker rate than a lot of people do. And I wanted to put out music at that same rate," he said. "I think it's obviously, since we closed the deal, maybe a little more than two months later, here we are today, Self Made in stores.
"It's constant meetings and discussions and attorney hours. I got great relationships over at Def Jam, so I was pretty much getting my words across. It basically just came down to what was best for Maybach Music and Warner."
With label offers from Cash Money and Sean "Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy Records, the Teflon Don decided to take his imprint over to WMG in February. After getting new signees Wale, Meek Mill and Pill in place, the Boss put the label's first compilation, Self Made, on the fast track. Ross wasn't able to bring his group Triple Cs over to WMG, however. Due to a previously signed contract, the three-man group consisting of Gunplay, Torch and Young Bleed will remain over at Def Jam but will still rep MMG.
The MMG CEO finds inspiration in the speed in which he was able to secure the deal and release Self Made. He expects a busy future for Maybach Music and Warner. "Us executing this album the way we did and the way we have is a great example and something to build on as a company and something to look forward to," he said.
Related Videos Related ArtistsRick Ross Talks 'Great Relationship' With Lil Wayne, Cash Money
'It's really like me being at home with my brothers when it comes to Birdman and Lil Wayne,' Ross says.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Rick Ross
Photo: Sohyung Kang/ MTV News
Through the years, Rick Ross has developed a strong relationship with Cash Money and Lil Wayne. This year Ross toured with Wayne on the first leg of his I Am Still Music Tour, and he's already kicked around the idea of a joint album with Birdman and appeared on his fair share of songs with the YMCMB roster.
During this week's "RapFix Live," the Boss spoke to host Sway about his relationship with Wayne and his favorite memory from his I Am Still Music run. "The very first night the tour kicked off, just being backstage and me having a great relationship with Cash Money," he revealed. "So it's really like me being at home with my brothers when it comes to Birdman and Lil Wayne."
Rozay and Weezy currently appear together on DJ Khaled's brand-new "I'm On One," Ross' "9 Piece (Remix)" and, of course, Wayne's Tha Carter IV street single "John." For "John," Wayne found inspiration in "I'm Not a Star," the opening track from Ross' 2010 Teflon Don.
"When [Wayne] first came home [from jail] he was like, 'That '"I'm Not a Star," that's one of my favorite joints, let's do something in that vibe,' " Ross recalled. "I'm like, 'Easy.' He actually gave me the track and I was like, 'Wow, this is too easy.' "
With Tha Carter IV scheduled to drop on June 21 and the Colin Tilley-directed "John" clip in rotation and video outlets, Ross is excited for the future. "Sitting in the studio at the Hit factory in Miami, I remember him just playing joints off his album and us constantly going back to that joint and I was just like, 'It's gonna be a hot summer.' "
What's your favorite Ross and Weezy track? Tell us in the comments!
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Serge Gainsbourg Michael Imperioli Ken Watanabe Diether Ocampo
'Kung Fu Panda 2': The Reviews Are In!
One reviewer calls sequel 'both meditative and immensely entertaining.'
By Eric Ditzian
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
Photo: Paramount Pictures
Over at MTV Movies Blog, we've already laid out the five reasons you need to see "Kung Fu Panda 2." From Jack Black's manically hilarious turn as Po to some wickedly creative fight scenes, this sequel is a ton of fun.
But hey, don't just take our word for it. Reviewers are riding high on this animal adventure, a follow-up to DreamWorks' 2008 animated hit, celebrating the lush visuals and the top-notch voice performance Black delivers. Dissenters are few and far between, and their criticisms read more like nitpicking and fail to acknowledge that kids will undoubtedly get a kick out of this flick.
The Story
"Deepening the surprising maturity of its predecessor, the movie successfully takes story beats from classic kung fu stories and dials back on the humor without letting things get too dark and dramatic, creating a work that is both meditative and immensely entertaining. Picking up where the first film left off, Po (Jack Black) has eased into his position as the Dragon Warrior, when the world of kung fu is threatened by the return of Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), a villain who has built a weapon of mass destruction. What Po doesn't know, however, is that Lord Shen holds the key to his history and the knowledge of who he really is. Working with the kung fu masters known as the Furious Five (Angelina Jolie, David Cross, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen and Jackie Chan), Po is not only on a mission to save China, but on a journey of self-discovery." — Eric Eisenberg, Cinema Blend
The Performances
"Aside from crisp visuals and no-fat way with martial arts movie traditions, the biggest achievement of the 'Kung Fu Panda' movies is how they distill their star's very Jack Black-ness down to its most bearable form. Always the wildest guy in the room, Black has turned into a living 'Gulliver's Travels.' Yet here, as in the first 'KFP,' he gives a charmingly vulnerable but sly vocal performance, with plenty of sass and a decent side order of soul." — Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
The Visuals
"Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson's background in design and animation seems to have informed the best parts of 'Kung Fu Panda 2' — its splendid palette of color and detail, rich but crisp and balanced (Guillermo del Toro served as a creative consultant, and one of Po's murky, indelible nightmares bears his distinctive mark); and that palette's harmony with both the engaged use of 3-D and the witty and well-defined battle sequences." — Michelle Orange, Movieline
The Dissenters
"This one plays with some unusually dark and upsetting material. Its escalation of evil messes up the high-spirited sweetness that was the most winning feature of the first movie. Po's clumsy, goofy eagerness no longer seems quite as amusing now that he is a psychologically damaged warrior. And his action-team entourage, drawn from various species of animal and movie star — praying mantis, tiger, monkey, etc; Seth Rogen, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, etc. — do more to crowd the picture than to enliven it." — A.O. Scott, The New York Times
The Final Word
"There is a price to be paid for the visual razzle-dazzle — wonderful complexity against a simple story that could have benefited from some bulking up (layered, not longer). Still with Black shelving his usual snark for Po's self-deprecating charm, Jolie making Tigress terrifyingly overqualified for everything as only she can do, Rogen's Mantis showing the actor's growing facility for voicing animation and [Dustin] Hoffman, as ever, the guru everyone wants, they've brought this warrior's tale to kicking, spinning, bone-crunching, feather-flying life." — Betsey Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
Check out everything we've got on "Kung Fu Panda 2."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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