MTV Tagged Articles at Cinematical

From Horror Squad

I wouldn't blame you for rolling your eyes skyward at the mention of the phrase "MTV Slasher Movie," but since My Super Psycho Sweet 16 comes from Jake Gentry, I'm feeling just a little bit better about the project. Why? Because Jake is one of the three directors who delivered The Signal, plus I've had some serious horror geek discussions with this guy, and he's the real deal. Like, you could mention Blood Beach, Hell Night, and The Gate in the same sentence, and he'll raise you a Funhouse or something.

So hopefully my optimism is well-founded, and I suppose we'll able to find out on October 23, which is when My Super Pyscho Sweet 16 debuts on MTV. Me, I'll hold out for the DVD release, because commercial breaks make me cranky and irritable. According to the IMDb, MSPS16 focuses on a party held at a roller derby that once got closed down for ... basic '80s slasher flick reasons. Oh, and since I spent a full paragraph saying nice things about the director, I should be fair and also mention that the two guys who wrote Super Psycho? They also created that Paris Hilton BFF series. Yikes.

Check out the promo clip after the jump.

The last time that MTV let Russell Brand near a microphone, things got a little ugly between the British comedian and teen fans of Jordan Sparks and The Jonas Brothers. But I guess all is forgiven, because MTV has announced that Brand will be back hosting the 2009 MTV Video Awards.

During last year's telecast Brand cracked wise about The Jonas Brothers' display of Purity Rings and caused a bit of ruckus over his comments. But, if you are wondering if we are going to see a more 'traditional' Brand on this year's telecast, I wouldn't worry, Brand told MTV, "This year will be a controversy-free festival of love and discrete orgasms". I guess even when he's trying to play nice, the man is strange with a capital 'S', and I can only assume that MTV is praying that Brand's unpredictability when it comes to speaking his mind will add up to some big ratings for the show.

Considering that just a little over a year ago, most of us had never heard of the strangely funny comedian, you have to admire his ability to get his name out there. Since his breakthrough role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Brand has been piling on the projects. including remakes of Arthur and Drop Dead Fred. First up will be his reprisal of the great Aldous Snow in the Sarah Marshall follow-up, Get Him to The Greek, which will hit theaters in spring 2010, but an MTV gig will get him just that little extra bit of publicity.

After the jump; Brand's take on last years VMAs...

I think we all know there have been a few 'mishaps' on the path to stardom for Shia LaBeouf, but I'm convinced the man still has a pretty bright future ahead of him. It takes a fair amount of natural charm (and skill) to pull off some of the so-so films that pepper his resume (ahem, Eagle Eye), but somehow the guy manages to walk away from every crappy film with his dignity intact, and more importantly, with another project coming down the pipe. But, like every other actor who came before him, what LaBeouf really wants to do is direct ... a music video ... and now he's made his directorial debut in the form of a music video for Hip-Hop artist Cage, titled I Never Knew You.

The actor has been a long-time supporter of Cage, and back in 2007 he told Vanity Fair that he was going to be directing a feature film based on the rapper's life. According to Cage's bio, he was "Born to a heroin-addicted father and a distant mother, he battled drug addiction and was institutionalized for 18 months, where he became a test subject for Prozac and tried several times to end his life before discovering hip-hop as a vehicle to express his inner-torment." So while tough luck stories are all fine and dandy, you're probably wondering: but is the video any good? Well, the bad news is that it isn't mind-blowing – pretty standard MTV fare. But the good news is that it's definitely a start in proving LaBeouf can handle himself behind the camera -- not to mention that a celebrity director guarantees Cage a few more headlines.

Watch the video below and tell us what you think about LaBeouf as a director...

The Oscars may be the most prestigious show in town, but for the average moviegoer the MTV Movie Awards probably resonate with their tastes a heck of a lot more. Sure, they have stupid categories like 'Best WTF Moment' and 'Best Fight', but that's what sets them apart from the other award shows -- and just because it isn't necessarily the classiest show doesn't mean you won't have a good time. Looking to capitalize on a little reciprocal publicity for their new comedy, Year One, Michael Cera and Jack Black joined MTV's newly announced host Andy Samberg in a new commercial for the award show this May.

The ad is pretty much what you would expect from the minds of a member of The Lonely Island, the king of awkward delivery, and a merry prankster like Black. It's silly and kind of strange, but the same could be said for most of the comedy these three guys produce. Black and Cera fill in as proud parents in their rec room talking up their 'little boy' Andy -- it might be nonsensical, but more importantly, it's also kind of funny.

Even though some of us have reservations about Andy Samberg's hosting skills (I think he'll be a little awkward), I'm sure things will turn out just fine -- after all, the guy has lined up plenty of 'comedy connections' like Will Arnett and Rashida Jones to help him out. One thing's for sure: it couldn't get much worse than the year Jessica Alba hosted.

The MTV Movie Awards will air on Sunday, May 31st, and if your appetite has been whet for more Black and Cera, Year One hits theaters on June 19, 2009.

Art & Copy director Doug Pray offered during the film's Q&A at the Prospector Square theater that he didn't want to make a documentary that did nothing but re-play classic advertising, and he didn't want to make a talking-heads documentary. He achieved in both those aims, but there's also the uglier question of if he made a documentary at all. Backed by The One Club -- an organization, as the press notes observe, "dedicated to the craft of advertising" -- Art & Copy talks to some of the greatest names in the field and recounts their successes. Combining clips of ads with interviews with titans in the field like Dan Wieden (Nike's "Just do it"), Hal Riney (Ronald Reagan's "It's Morning in America") and George Lois ("I want my MTV!"), Art and Copy is meant as a celebration of creativity; it winds up being a circular tautology: Great advertising is great because it's great advertising. Art and Copy is, essentially, an ad for advertising -- all of the attractive features of the business are shown in a glorious and shining light, and any concerns or deeper questions are brought up briefly before being shoved away briskly, or, more often, simply left unasked.

It's unfortunate, really, because Pray's an inventive and quick-minded documentarian who can normally show the fullness and contradictions of a topic; Hype! chronicled the rise (and fall) of the Seattle music scene; Scratch captured the quicksilver world of turntablism and of DJ'ing; Big Rig showed the lives of America's truckers and their role in commerce. I was excited by the prospect of Art & Copy, if only because Big Rig did such a great job of showing how consumer goods get from point a to point b; I was hoping Art & Copy would examine exactly how the people at point a make the people at point b want their consumer goods. (And, yes, I was hoping for a little hint of Mad Men's bleak, chic look at the industry, as well; I'm not proud to say it, but it's still true.) Opening with the Oscar Mayer and Meow Mix jingles, Art & Copy then shows us ancient stone carvings, while one of the film's ad men notes that there's not much difference between modern advertisers and the ancients who painted "on the walls of caves." Well, actually, there is -- whoever painted the bison on the walls at Lascaux was not, in fact, attempting to sell bison at a tidy profit. Art tries to encourage you to think; advertising wants you to stop thinking and buy. (And trust me, I'm aware that as you read this, you scrolled past several ads telling you how you can lose weight fast and promoting Paul Blart: Mall Cop, so let me briefly mention that you can lose weight inexpensively and safely by eating less and exercising more, and that our own Nick Schager found Paul Blart: Mall Cop an uninspired mess of fat jokes.)

Over at MTV-land, Josh Horowitz has a rather clever short up in which he inserts himself into the nominees for the Best Picture Oscar. Horowitz gets verbally abused by Keira Knightley, finds out he got Juno pregnant, uses his hamburger phone to call Javier Bardem's serial killer to take care of his "little problem," has a chat by the fire with Daniel Plainview, and gets yelled at by George Clooney. The editing isn't seamless, but it looks quite good, and Horowitz, when he's not being annoying, can be funny.

It's pretty darn amusing (or at least, it was to me, but I've only had one cup of coffee this morning, so it's possible I'm just not awake yet), and just the kind of thing Jon Stewart might do for the Oscars. I wonder if Stewart had something similar planned, saw this online and said, "Damn that Horowitz! He stole our idea!"

What do you think about the video? Funny, or not?
[Hat tip: Hollywood Elsewhere]

Until they make Krush Groove: Redux, I guess this will have to do. The Hollywood Reported announced that Def Jam creator and Hip-Hop legend Russell Simmons is shopping around the life story of the Reverend Run (of Run-DMC fame) for the big-screen. Simmons was speaking at a New York conference on money and media when the subject of a feature film about the life of Reverend Run (born Joseph Ward Simmons) first came up.

For those of you out there who aren't that familiar with the awesomeness that is Run-DMC now is your chance to find out. Not only were they the pioneers of mainstream rap and hip-hop, they were the first group (for better or for worse) to cross over to the pop charts with their collaboration with Aerosmith on a remake of Walk this Way. Plus no-one could wear a fedora and Adidas like Run-DMC. After the murder of founding member Jam Master Jay in 2002, the group parted ways and Run was quoted as saying, "No one will want to see Run-DMC without Jam Master Jay. Run-DMC is officially retired." Over the years the surviving members have recorded solo albums and with each other and Run has recently had success with his Osborne-style reality show on MTV, Run's House.

It's a shame that in the flood of musician biopics over the last few years that hip-hop artists have been virtually ignored -- I mean, how long has it taken to get a Notorious B.I.G film into production? Since Simmons is still on the hunt for funding and a studio to produce the picture, it could take awhile before the production gets rolling. But ever the self-promoter, Simmons doesn't seem too worried about the bottom line, telling those in attendance at the conference, "It's gonna make a lot of money". If anyone knows how to make money, it's Simmons. So what other music legends do you think have been overlooked on the big screen?

I just love the word metabolism. Some people wish they had a good one, so they could eat whatever they wanted to. Others think it will explain away eating disorders: "My bones naturally stick out of my skin like this. I have a high metabolism!" This is especially prevalent in Hollywood, which leads me to believe that those high-price plastic surgeons have a high metabolism shot that they offer with routine botox. But I'm getting off-track. This new pic isn't about super-thin actresses, but is rather the latest deal for graphic novelist Scott Christian Sava.

Disney has the Pet Robots, but MTV has got the rights to Hyperactive, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The upcoming graphic novel is about a teen "whose overactive metabolism grants him incredible speed and enhanced agility." See, this makes me wonder: if a metabolism can make you super-skinny, just how much would you have to eat to not only have the normal energy, but the juice to fuel the speed and agility? Or, is that just a side effect? Anyhow, THR also says: "In the story, teen Joey Caram must constantly stay one step ahead of a pharmaceutical company who is chasing him to extract his DNA. Caram must evade capture and rescue his kidnapped family." That last bit seems a bit out of left field. For reasons unknown, his family has been taken, and he has to escape the urgent needles chasing him to save them. Well, at the very least, it should be interesting. There's no writer attached yet, so it'll be a while before we see what MTV makes of it.

Who would have thought four little words on a banner would have caused such a commotion. Variety reports that Paramount and MTV films are hoping to cash in on some of the 'righteous indignation' over a young student whose high school suspension became a national free-speech debate. The deal was struck with Joseph Frederick (the student in question), his father Frank, and Doug Mertz, the local attorney who took his case. All three made life rights deals for the film.

In 2002, Frederick (along with several friends) held up a banner with the words 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' during the Winter Olympics torch relay, passing through his home town of Juneau, Alaska. Even though he was not on school property at the time, his principal ordered that he be suspended from school for 10 days for supposedly violating their drug policy (c'mon, he wasn't even doing said 'bong hits' at the time!) Supported by family and friends, Frederick took his suit to the Supreme Court. The court ultimately ruled that "a school principal may, consistent with the First Amendment, restrict student speech at a school event when that speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use".

Mark Poirier (Smart People) will write the script, but there is no word on a cast or director yet. Producer Michael Shamberg (who has already worked on true-life dramas like Erin Brockovich and World Trade Center) tells Variety, "The tone is 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,' about a young man standing up for his rights." He adds, "The heart of this story is the relationship between a father and son. Frank Frederick was an insurance adjuster facing the loss of his job if his son didn't back down" So even though they might have lost the case, no one is making a feature film about Frederick's principal, so I guess Frederick and family will get the last laugh after all. So, do you think the title will stand? And what in the world does 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' have to do with the Winter Olympics?

Part of me thinks this is a really great thing for the undiscovered talent out there, but then another part of me is a tad worried that MTV is looking to YouTube for their feature film ideas. Whatever you make of it, the deal is done -- and Variety reports that MTV plans to bring the comedy duo (and YouTube stars) Million Dollar Strong to the big screen, with Todd Phillips (Old School) onboard to produce. But before you go and say to your friend: "Holy crap, MTV is turning a couple of YouTube schmucks into stars!," comedians Mike O'Connell and Ken Jeong (aka Million Dollar Strong) have been around the block once or twice already. Which is to say these guys aren't going from mom's basement to movie stardom in just one hop, skip and jump.

The film, like O'Connell and Jeong's ultra popular YouTube music video What's It Gonna Be, will follow the two "playas" while they attempt to take on the hip-hop world. Essentially, it's like extending what amounts to be a hilarious SNL sketch to an hour and a half -- which, as we all know, has worked (Wayne's World) and, well, not so much (A Night at the Roxbury, Stuart Saves His Family, The Ladies Man, etc ...). O'Connell, who's been a standup comedian and recently shot a pilot for Fox, will pen the script, with Jeong (Knocked Up, All About Steve) co-starring. Since I'm a nice guy like that, here's the music video they shot (though keep in mind it does feature some foul language). No director is assigned yet, but I imagine MTV will try to shovel this one out pre-strike.