Jason Segel, Paul Rudd Take Their Bromance To The Golf Course On 'I Love You, Man' Set

Jason Segel is having a good year. First came "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," which cemented the actor as one of comedy's newest talents. Then came word that he was the man chosen to resurrect the Muppets franchise by writing and starring in their newest adventure. Soon after, Segel was tapped for his second leading role, in the upcoming comedy "I Love You, Man" alongside Paul Rudd.

But with the movie industry proclaiming its love for Segel, when was the last time he had a chance to say those magic words to someone else?

"This morning, to Paul Rudd, when he was rubbing my crotch with a golf club," Segel laughed. "We've been doing it every five minutes or so."

MTV News caught up with Segel and Rudd at a Los Angeles golf course where the two were filming a scene for their upcoming bromance, the story of an about-to-be married guy who "finds out that he doesn't really have a close friend in his life to be a best man, so he sets out to find one," Segel explained. "That would be me."

In this particular scene, their budding friendship inspires the pair to play golf and subsequently slow up the whole course trying to teach Paul's fiancée how to play.

"Paul convinces me to go out on a double date with him and his fiancée [played by Rashida Jones] and her friend Hailey [Sarah Burns], but I don't like to golf with women in the movie," Segel said.

Which sounds easy enough on paper: a couple of swings, a couple of shots, a couple of takes, and they're out. But each time we watched a new take, it seemed to come from a different movie, thanks to radical improvisations from Segel and Rudd on everything from the Dalai Lama to short shorts.

Watching the pair endlessly riff off each other, it's easy to say that art imitates life in this film, where Segel's and Rudd's characters ultimately become the other's most supportive presence, but the cliché is true. Both actors, for instance, stayed in front of the camera at all times (even when they weren't in a particular shot) in order to throw ad-libbed lines to the other.

With no breaks, it becomes a hard way to make an easy living, joked Rudd.

So what has this collaborative movie taught them about what makes a best friend? Is it empathy? Similar interests? A shared history?

"You have to be caring, and you have to understanding," Segel opined, "[and it] helps to be British."

Directed by John Hamburg, "I Love You, Man" is targeting an early 2009 release.

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'Stuck': Crash Test, By Kurt Loder

Brian De Palma spent years trying to replicate (or rip off, your call) the classic effects of Alfred Hitchcock with, shall we say, varying degrees of success. Now, all of a sudden, here comes Stuart Gordon, a man whose career took shape in the dark pit of horror schlock ("Reanimator"), and he's actually pulled it off.

Gordon's new movie, "Stuck," is based on a true story. Late one night in October of 2001, a 25-year-old Texas woman named Chante Mallard, high on ecstasy and several hours' worth of drinks, ran into a homeless man with her car. The man's body went sailing into her windshield, right through the glass, leaving his upper torso hanging down into the vehicle and his lower body out on the hood. Mallard drove home and parked her car in the garage, with the man — 37-year-old Gregory Biggs — still embedded in it, moaning in pain. Mallard ignored him and went into her house, returning periodically to check on his progress in dying and making no attempt to call for medical help. At some point later that morning, she came back to the garage and found Biggs finally dead. She called two male friends, and that night they took Biggs' body away and dumped it in a local park.

A coroner later said that Gregory Biggs' life could have been saved, had he received medical attention. Four months later, a friend of Mallard's, to whom she'd blabbed about the incident, turned her in. In June of 2003, Mallard was quickly found guilty of murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

This is not a funny story, obviously. But in taking off from it in his movie, Gordon laces the picture with humor in a very Hitchcockian way. Mena Suvari, tricked out in a wildly unattractive cornrow hairstyle, plays Brandi, the Mallard character. This is a woman so self-centered that her biggest fear, after hitting the homeless guy (played with hangdog pathos by Stephen Rea), is that any legal repercussions from the accident might screw up a scheduled job promotion at the old-age home where she works as a nurse's assistant. So, as in the real-life incident, she does nothing. However, in the movie, unlike the real story, Rea's character, a down-and-outer named Tom, refuses to die. Trapped in the dark garage, hanging half in, half out of Brandi's shattered windshield, he confronts her on her every return with his continuing existence, like an undispersible ghost of her guilt. "Why are you doing this to me?" she whines.

While Tom writhes in agony in the garage, Brandi is in the house having sex with her drug-dealer boyfriend, Rashid (Russell Hornsby), and trying to inveigle him into helping her dispose of her problem. Rashid's response — a combination of street-thug bravado and wait-a-minute reservations — is amusing at first, and then, as the suspense mounts, absurdly funny. Gordon tightens the screws in ways that Hitchcock himself would surely have appreciated. Brandi has to keep an eye on Tom, but she also has to be at her job — how can she do both? And then there's her cell phone — she can't find it. Suddenly, while stuck at her job, she realizes she left it on the driver's seat in her car — and Gordon cuts away to show us Tom's bloody hand stretching out to grab it. This is a scene so redolent of the Hitchcock manner that you almost expect the master himself to slide in behind the wheel to make his usual cameo appearance.

"Stuck" is a small movie, but it's been cleverly thought-out and executed. It has no message to convey, about homelessness or anything else. Gordon only wants to wring us out. So few films have such simple, solid aims anymore, it's a pleasure just to go along.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of "Sex and the City" and "Savage Grace," also new in theaters this week.

‘Sex and the City’: Afterlife, By Kurt Loder
‘Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’: Neverland Revisited, By Kurt Loder

'Sex and the City': Afterlife, By Kurt Loder

Media attempts to whip up male hysteria around the release of the "Sex and the City" movie have been thoroughly peculiar. The assumption appears to be that any guy voluntarily going to see this picture — or, more likely, getting shanghaied into seeing it by the "Sex"-addicted woman in his life — would somehow be sullying his heterosexuality, and, who knows, might soon find himself mooning over a pair of $700 Jimmy Choo sandals, or something. In London, where the movie opened on Wednesday, a columnist for the Evening Standard warned, "If there ever was a time for men to avoid the cinema, this weekend is it."

This is truly stupid, and not just because the movie turns out to be so unexpectedly excellent. Granted, the "Sex and the City" series that ran on HBO for six seasons, from 1998 to 2004, was an urban-girly phenomenon, a window into a bright, chattery world in which women actually talked about things that women actually talk about, and in the earthy terms they actually use. (The show could only have flowered fully on cable; the censored reruns currently airing on TBS are a feeble facsimile of the original series.) The characters were, by most measures, deeply superficial — scene-makers, trend slaves and fashion victims of the most tragic sort. But they had real human complexities, out of which arose very human concerns. And the show was brilliantly written — the dialogue had a snap and bite that surely would have found favor with Howard Hawks or Preston Sturges or any of the other Hollywood screwball masters of yore. It was also beautifully shot — a visual valentine to the iconic delights of New York City (well, make that Manhattan).

So now, four years after the series wrapped up, we have the movie. It could have been a simple cash-in, a pointless brand-name regurgitation. The fact that it isn't — that it actually surpasses its source — is something of a wonder.

The founding four friends are still at the center of things, naturally: Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), the clothes-horse relationship columnist; Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), the sour-tongued corporate lawyer; Charlotte (Kristin Davis), the starry-eyed art dealer; and Samantha (Kim Cattrall), the man-eating PR exec. There's a lot to not want to give away about the story, so let's just say that Carrie — now working on a book, but continuing to write for Vogue magazine — is still tight with her longtime squeeze, Mr. Big (Chris Noth); in fact, they're finally moving in together, into a huge and blazingly sunny penthouse apartment. ("So this is where they keep the light," Big marvels.) Since the trailer already gives it away, we can also stipulate that they've suddenly become engaged, and that Carrie has burst into full, manic wedding-planner mode. (The guest list has already reached 200, and "Page Six" is on the story.)

Meanwhile, Miranda and her good-guy husband, Steve (David Eigenberg), are still living with their little boy in Brooklyn, and they're having problems — to the extent of not having had sex in six months. Charlotte, still happily married to the loving Harry (Evan Handler) and doting on their adopted Chinese daughter, remains the free-range sunbeam she's always been. (Davis' character is somewhat underserved by the exigencies of the plot.) And Samantha has moved to Los Angeles, if you can believe, where she's living with and managing her much younger (what else?) actor boyfriend, Smith (Jason Lewis). She is also beginning to chafe, however, under the constraints of true, monogamous love.

That'll do. This setup evolves into a rather grand comic examination of friendship and betrayal, love and forgiveness, and the inexorable social pressures of aging. At the beginning of the film we see the streets of Manhattan thronged with happy young women just starting out in the big city, and we hear Carrie saying, in voice-over, "Twenty years ago, I was one of them." This could've been a sappy line, but Parker delivers it in a matter-of-fact way, and it's unusually moving. (It's a small, recurring shock to keep realizing that the four main characters, who were in their lively 30s when the TV series started, are now embarked on their 40s — and that Samantha is about to turn 50.) To an even greater degree than you might expect, the picture has a lot of heart, and plenty of smart, pungent laughs. (Congratulated for finally snagging a man, Carrie is told by her Vogue editor that 40 is "the last age at which a woman can be photographed in a bridal dress without the unintended Diane Arbus subtext.")

The movie was written and directed by Michael Patrick King, who also worked in those capacities on the series, and here he's topped himself. Even more than before, the lines crackle with urban energy, and the picture sparkles with wonderful little dabs of character-illumination. (Stuck without her cell when she needs to make a call, Carrie is handed an iPhone — which she thrusts back as if it were some scary new breed of bug. "I can't operate that," she says, showing her age.) There are a few problems. A central jilting scenario is strained and unconvincing. There is some prolonged dog humor that could have been dispensed with. And a new character named Louise seems grafted onto the story for no especially interesting purpose. (Since she's played by the vibrantly appealing Jennifer Hudson, though, who cares?) On the other hand, fans, there are also trademark couture wallows — including a glittery Fashion Week runway show — that are, as I believe they still say, to die for.

But is "Sex in the City" a movie that men can relate to? Well, Judd Apatow has already softened up the male demographic with pictures like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up." And like those films, this one maintains a near-perfect balance between tender sentiment and carnal extroversion. (When was the last time you saw a naked woman turn herself into a living sushi platter?) It's a funny movie that also resonates emotionally — a rare-enough twofer — and it's great to see these familiar characters being taken someplace new and considerably more adventurous. What's not to like? I mean, guys, come on.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of "Stuck" and "Savage Grace," also new in theaters this week.

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'Savage Grace': Family Romance, By Kurt Loder

The Baekeland family had it all: money, murder, incest — a nightmare domestic trifecta. Barbara Baekeland was a beautiful one-time model and sort-of actress. She had married up from her modest Boston origins, securing a union with the brilliant and handsome Brooks Baekeland, heir to an enormous plastics fortune. Their son, Tony, was similarly brilliant, but troubled (in fact, schizophrenic, as it turned out). Rejected by his emotionally remote father, Tony bonded inseparably with his boozy, social-climbing mother, who took pictures of him naked in the bathtub and encouraged him to read passages from the Marquis de Sade to startled party guests.

Unburdened by any need to work, the Baekelands were dedicated expatriates, traipsing endlessly from London to Paris to various luxury accommodations in Italy, Spain and Switzerland, dragging their son along. Eventually, it became clear that Tony was gay, a fact that disgusted his father. Barbara attempted to reorient her son, bringing in young women to go to bed with him. When these efforts failed, she began having sex with Tony herself. One afternoon in November of 1972, at their home of the moment in London, Tony stabbed Barbara through the heart with a kitchen knife. When police arrived, he was on the phone ordering Chinese take-out.

This horrific narrative was recounted in numbing detail in 1985, in a nearly 500-page oral history called "Savage Grace: The True Story of a Doomed Family," by Natalie Robins and Steven M. L. Aronson. In adapting that book into a 97-minute movie, director Tom Kalin has discarded all but the most telling moments. We see Barbara (Julianne Moore) and Brooks (Stephen Dillane) in New York in 1946, dressing for dinner at the Stork Club. Barbara is drinking and chattering and clearly getting on her icy husband's nerves, as is their squalling infant son. We see them in the Spanish resort of Cadaques in 1967, where the now-teenaged Tony (Eddie Redmayne) is having a tentative heterosexual encounter with a girl named Blanca (Elena Anaya). When he brings Blanca home to meet his parents ("like a kitten that has killed his first mouse and laid it at your feet," Barbara says), his father immediately takes an interest in the girl, and soon runs off with her. Later, when Tony finds his mother in bed with a bisexual companion named Sam (Hugh Dancy), he climbs under the covers with them. In Paris the following year, Barbara — her loveless marriage now over — slashes her wrists in despair, and a short while afterward, in one of the film's eeriest images, we see Tony tenderly smoothing ointment over her stitches.

The movie ends in London, of course, where Barbara seduces her son for the first time, on a living-room sofa. The scene is shot with a cool, unblinking objectivity that's harrowing. Before long, during a furious argument over the missing collar of a long-dead pet dog, we see the murder, which is depicted in a virtuoso sequence of smothered emotional release.

Julianne Moore dives into her role with fearless abandon, unleashing gales of foul-mouthed rage and shameless erotic calculation in her portrayal of a woman who's both unusually intelligent and pathetic. And Eddie Redmayne, with his fleshy lips and carefully flat delivery, is a perfect foil — Barbara's helpless partner in a fatal family dance. Director Kalin, best-known for his only previous feature, the 1992 film "Swoon," bathes much of the picture in gorgeous Mediterranean light (it was partly shot on the Costa Brava), a ravishing visual strategy for a story of such dark struggle.

In the aftermath of Barbara's 1972 murder, the real Tony Baekeland was sent to Broadmoor, an English hospital-prison for the criminally insane. He was released in 1980, and returned to New York to live with his maternal grandmother, whom he soon also attacked and stabbed. (She survived.) He was then imprisoned on Rikers Island, where in March of 1981 he committed suicide by suffocating himself with a plastic bag. In reviewing "Savage Grace," the book, the late William F. Buckley, Jr., who moved in some of the same social circles as the Baekelands, called it, unsurprisingly, "a story of spectacular decadence." He also observed, more incisively, that "seldom has there been so devastating an exposure of the consequences, for the most sophisticated people, of failure in the simplest duties of love."

Don't miss Kurt Loder's reviews of "Sex and the City" and "Stuck," also new in theaters this week.

‘Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian’: Neverland Revisited, By Kurt Loder

Jean-Claude Van Damme Hopes Autobiographical Turn In 'J.C.V.D.' Will Earn Him Some Respect

As the star of some 30-plus martial arts films, Jean-Claude Van Damme has earned a place among the most kickass action heroes of the last 20 years, splitting and punching his way to many millions at the worldwide box office. But it wasn't until recently that the 47-year-old Belgian actor finally found something worth fighting for: respect.

"I'm a brand name. I'm not just a guy. [Now] I think I'm ready to be decent," Van Damme told MTV News at the Cannes Film Festival in France. "I'm hungry to make movies, but movies with deeper characters. I want respect. I want to believe in myself."

The long road from "Universal Soldier" to universally sought-after begins in earnest for Van Damme with "J.C.V.D.," a semiautobiographical story about a washed-up character who returns to Belgium, where he faces a myriad of personal problems. Van Damme playing what essentially amounts to Van Damme is more "Being John Malkovich" than it is "Rambo" or "Rocky Balboa," but it's nevertheless a movie he's been preparing for his whole life, the actor insisted.

"Acting is not acting if you act. You have to tell the truth, and I learned that in my career only at the end of my 37th movie," the former "Muscles From Brussels" said. "In a way, I rehearsed for years [for this project]. I have been in the situations [in the film]. It was painful in a way because it's kind of disgusting to see the aftermath of everything. [But] it brought me to the truth."

The film, which Van Damme premiered at Cannes, is his first step in making better choices, he said, after a decade of movies that he admitted were less than stellar.

"It's hard to lie," Van Damme said. "I f---ed up [in the past] because of the fast life. Those movies [where] I'm making, like, 20 kicks and I'm getting punched 30 times with ketchup coming down — that was my entrance to the States. I didn't come with choices. [I want the] responsibility of making an OK movie — that way I have my way back to the States."

It's a philosophy that has given Van Damme a new outlook on his professional career, he said, a sunnier, more contented feeling about his future.

"To feel like a completely new person is very rich," he said. "But when you're strong about something and you love a scenario, which now I will be very precise when I choose them, you love the persona."

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'Sarah Marshall' Actor Russell Brand's Stand-Up Show Isn't Forgettable At All

The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles is legendary for being host to wild parties, crazy celebrities and more than its fair share of debauchery. But enough about Russell Brand's stand-up performance there on Sunday.

"The Roxy has seen performances from the Sex Pistols, Bob Marley, Guns N' Roses," the English actor and comic told MTV News in his upstairs dressing room immediately following his set. "And in fact, there are pictures of these people screwed to the walls because the people that come here cannot be trusted not to steal pictures off the walls. I bet people steal paint," he continued, chuckling. "I bet people peel paint off with butter knives and then try to reapply it to the walls of their houses."

All joking aside, Brand is of course primarily known in America for petty theft: stealing scenes from co-stars Kristen Bell and Jason Segel as a supporting player in the recent "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

"Of course [Americans have] seen me in 'Sarah Marshall,' if they're alive!" Brand laughed. "If they've got lungs and kidneys, we can assume that [they've seen me]. It's a given. It's on the national curriculum: Breakfast, go watch 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall,' come home, remember scenes from 'Sarah Marshall.' "

It certainly seems that way to Brand, given how his profile has skyrocketed in America since the release of the film. "It's gotten a bit better since the popularity accumulation," he said. "I'm now able to use public transport for free."

But Brand, perhaps surprisingly, would like to be known mainly for his stand-up, he revealed, calling it — and not acting — his "first love."

"Stand-up and Stacy Boatman," he joked. "You never really get over that — your first love. I've treated stand-up comedy better because, Tracy Boatman, I did steal [from her]." (Editor's note: We suspect this Stacy/Tracy person may be fictional.)

We kid about the debauchery and partying mentioned earlier, by the way, but only because Brand does as well. An admitted former drug addict, Brand uses wild experiences from his own life (read more about that here) as a template for his comedy, a twist on the "confessionals" of most comics who tend to focus on the mundane and trivial.

"[My comedy is basically] a man talking about his life, about embarrassing incidents, in the vain hope that by opposing, ends them," he said — loosely quoting from "Hamlet" — of his routine, which features a reference to both heroin and Shakespeare in the same sentence. "It's the culmination of a lifetime of work if you do confessional, biographical stand-up comedy."

So how did Brand's act go over?

"It went really well as a matter of fact," he asserted. "People laughed when they were supposed to laugh, cheered when they were supposed to cheer and hurled missiles when pertinent."

Brand will return to the Roxy for stand-up performances the first three Sundays in June.

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Christian Siriano, Kim Stolz And Tim Kash Hit The Golden Carpet For 2008 MTV Movie Awards 'Coming Attractions' Preshow

Robert Downey Jr., Lindsay Lohan and Sarah Jessica Parker will have to wait their turn Sunday night. Before the 2008 MTV Movie Awards main event begins, film fans will get their movie treats early, when MTV News correspondents Tim Kash and Kim Stolz host the "Coming Attractions" preshow, live from the golden carpet June 1 at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Before the final votes are tallied in the race for the Golden Popcorns, Stolz will talk fashion with the arriving celebrities and unveil the audience's favorite and least-favorite looks. Fans will also get a chance to go online to submit questions for the stars. (Log on now to the MTV Movies Blog to help Kim choose what to wear and get other behind-the-scenes looks at preparations for the big event.) Meanwhile, on MovieAwards.MTV.com, "Project Runway" season-four winner Christian Siriano will weigh in on who looks fierce and who looks foolish, and talk to the celebrities you won't see on-air, in "The Red Carpet Report."

Kash will rock the MTV News home base, where he'll talk to the stars and roll out exclusive new clips from some of the most-anticipated upcoming films, including the superhero comedy "Hancock," the MTV television movie "American Mall" and the vampire teen sensation "Twilight."

This year's Movie Awards will be a classic Hollywood experience: The golden carpet will be decked out to feel like an old-time premiere, complete with costumed ushers and movie theater candy.

Not to be outshined by the extensive preshow, the always-irreverent MTV Movie Awards will be hosted this year by comic Mike Myers, and will include appearances by Will Ferrell, Ed Norton, Ben Stiller, Seth Rogen, Jennifer Hudson, Brendan Fraser and more.

Also rocking the stage will be Coldplay and the Pussycat Dolls, each performing a new song as part of the festivities.

Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Sarah Jessica Parker Sign On As MTV Movie Awards Presenters
Coldplay, Pussycat Dolls Set To Perform At MTV Movie Awards

Rainn Wilson Says He'd Trade Acting For Drumming 'In A Heartbeat' At Sneak Peek Week Screening Of 'The Rocker'

MTV's Sneak Peek Week began in style, continued with brute force and came to a rocking crescendo Tuesday night with a special screening of "The Rocker" and appearances by stars Rainn Wilson, Teddy Geiger and Emma Stone.

"What a handsome group of people you are!" Wilson proclaimed as audience members lined up for a post-screening Q&A. "Love gets made wherever I go!"

Tuesday night, all the love was directed toward the stars who joined MTV to showcase their new film. "The Rocker" tells the story of an over-the-hill drummer (Wilson), who gets hooked up to the rejuvenation machine thanks to a spot in his nephew's high school band.

(In addition to the rock talk, Wilson made an announcement about "Transformers 2" that you can check out on the MTV Movies Blog.)

In preparation for playing the hard-rocking Robert "Fish" Fishman, Wilson put himself though legitimate musical training to pound the drums like a pro. And he told the audience that he's looking to give up acting to continue his newfound love. No, seriously.

"The drum coach not only taught me how to keep the beat but everything a heavy-metal rocker does. The world of the heavy-metal drummer is a world unto itself," he laughed. "I would give up acting in a heartbeat. I'm a big fleshy rock presence. [Any band out there that needs a drummer], call me!"

Heck, Wilson joked with the audience, he's even got a kick-ass name, should any band in need of his services be without one.

"I have a good band name. I just thought of it today: Times New Roman! Fonts make good names," he chuckled, raising devil horns in tribute. "Helvetica!"

"Mr. Wilson & the Gang! Now there's a name," Geiger countered.

Geiger, of course, is a legitimate musician in his own right, a junior rocker about to put out his fourth album this September.

So, given that, one audience member wanted to know: Would Geiger ever invite Wilson to play with him?

"Of course," he responded. "He's a good drummer. He adds to the antics."

"Are you playing 50,000-seat arenas?" Wilson asked.

"Um, no."

"Then forget it!"

Wilson rocks the world when "The Rocker" opens August 1.

Will Ferrell, Danny McBride Answer Fans’ Questions About ‘The Foot Fist Way’ At Sneak Peek Week Screening
Adam Sandler Embraces Fans, Politics At Sneak Peek Week Screening Of ‘You Don’t Mess With The Zohan’

Will Ferrell, Danny McBride Answer Fans' Questions About 'The Foot Fist Way' At Sneak Peek Week Screening

LOS ANGELES — MTV's first-ever Sneak Peek Week continued on Monday with a special screening of "The Foot Fist Way" at Paramount Studios, an event that included appearances by star Danny McBride, writer/director Jody Hill and, Ron Burgundy himself, producer Will Ferrell.

So given his history as a verbose newscaster, why didn't Ferrell conduct the post-screening Q&A with more than 100 lucky audience members?

"I know, that would have been great," Ferrell quipped to emcee and MTV Movies Editor Josh Horowitz, "for you!"

What was great for some dozen fans was that they got to ask their own questions of the comedy trio after a showcase of their new film, the very funny story of Fred Simmons (McBride), an arrogant, somewhat clueless tae kwon do instructor and his adventures as "The King of the Demo." The film is finally getting a limited release this weekend after two years of being a viral hit, passed around on videocassette from friend to friend.

"And if you do have copies [of the movie] out there, hand them back!" Ferrell joked. "We will prosecute you."

For McBride and Hill, the film's release is the end of a long journey that began when they skipped the formalities of show business and made the film with their own money.

"I think they lied to us," McBride said when he was asked why they chose to make their own film rather than submit scripts through the proper channels. "I don't think you can work your way up."

Unlike tae kwon do (but somewhat like the type of tae kwon do taught by Simmons), there were no rules for the Q&A, and several audience members took full advantage, asking the trio everything from why mustaches are the new go-to punch line ("It's just hilarious. You can keep stuff in it," McBride explained) to who it's more fun to beat up, children or the elderly ("Depends on how fat the kids are," he said).

But with Ferrell on the panel, talk inevitably turned to some of his other famous characters. Given that, like his others, this film is so quotable, one audience member wanted to know what it's like to have someone parrot his own lines back at him.

"I'm sorry. What were you saying? Yeah, I said that," Ferrell responded. "It's strange."

"That hasn't happened [to me] ever," McBride added, laughing.

It will, no doubt, after "The Foot Fist Way" gets seen by a wider audience, as the crowd at Paramount Studios seemed to love the screening. In fact, there appeared to be only one upset audience member.

"Why didn't you guys tell me about the Q&A?" "Foot Fist" co-star Ben Best laughingly demanded as he made a surprise appearance at the mic, before storming off backstage. "F--- you!"

"The Foot Fist Way" opens in limited release May 30. It is an MTV Films production.

Adam Sandler Embraces Fans, Politics At Sneak Peek Week Screening Of ‘You Don’t Mess With The Zohan’

Adam Sandler Embraces Fans, Politics At Sneak Peek Week Screening Of 'You Don't Mess With The Zohan'

LOS ANGELES — Hollywood is home to movie studios, a thriving fashion industry and more beautiful people than seems reasonable, but Sunday night a few hundred lucky fans got a first look at what real style is all about, thanks to an Israeli hairdresser who aims to please (and then some!). Adam Sandler was on hand to inaugurate MTV's first ever Sneak Peek Week with a showing of "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" and an audience Q&A hosted by MTV Movies editor Josh Horowitz at the world famous Mann's Chinese Theater.

"I don't miss stand-up," Sandler quipped in answer to an audience question on whether or not he would ever go back to his roots. "This is close to it, and I don't like this too much!"

That didn't show when he appeared as the credits rolled on his newest film, the Judd Apatow-penned story of a top military commando who fakes his own death to follow his dream of making the world "silky and smooth" in an American salon. Sandler joked with questioner after questioner, explaining everything from what he wanted to be when he grew up ("A baseball player," he said, "but my father told me I was too slow!") to why he doesn't do more dramas in the mold of "Reign Over Me."

"The guys that do dramas, they're in a bad mood all the time," he laughed. "I like coming home and having fun with my family."

"I have a few questions," a gentlemen said when he got up to the mic.

"You get two," Sander replied.

"I'm a big fan of your films."

"OK, then," Sandler smiled. "You get four!"

Since the movie has a plot that centers on silly terrorists and the Middle Eastern conflict, a big question the audience wanted answered was whether or not Sandler ever felt pressure to portray the politics more realistically.

"Yeah," he answered. "Our hope was to balance it on both sides. There's a lot of poking fun at everybody. We just wanted to make the funniest movie possible."

But the serious quickly gave way to the jovial. When a 10-year-old boy named Ramsey told Sandler he wanted to be an actor, Sandler joked that he'd start him on the path by cutting his hair. "Do you want me to style it for you," he asked in his Zohan accent. When another 10-year-old, Gabrielle, came up to ask a question, Sandler tried to play matchmaker. "Have you met Ramsey yet?" he joked. "He's gonna be big someday!"

In the end, after nearly 20 minutes of questions, the opportunity to meet their favorite comic left more than a few people tongue-tied. "Can I shake your hand?" one man asked of Sandler.

"You bet!" Sandler answered, ending the evening as he began it, by welcoming and embracing his newest fans.

"You Don't Mess With the Zohan" opens June 6.


Will Ferrell, Danny McBride Answer Fans’ Questions About ‘The Foot Fist Way’ At Sneak Peek Week Screening

'Indiana Jones' Raids Box Office For #1 Holiday-Weekend Debut

The Box-Office Top Five
#1 "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" ($126 million)
#2 "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" ($28.6 million)
#3 "Iron Man" ($25.6 million)
#4 "What Happens in Vegas ..." ($11.2 million)
#5 "Speed Racer" ($5.2 million)

More tangible than the Holy Grail, longer-lasting than the Ark of the Covenant, more valuable even than those silly crystal skulls, renowned archaeologist Indiana Jones unearthed real treasure at the box office, whipping up $126 million over the four-day holiday weekend and $151 million since his debut last Wednesday night.

Nineteen years after he last rode off into the sunset, Jones' return to the saddle was a triumphant, if not universally hailed one. The four-day haul for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is the second-biggest Memorial Day total in history, behind only last year's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." (And while we're laboriously writing out these full titles, whatever happened to sequels with numbers?) Meanwhile, among all-time five-day openings, "Crystal Skull" ranks fifth, ahead of "At World's End" but behind "Dead Man's Chest," the second and third "Spider-Man" films and "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." Boy, that George Lucas guy must be breathing a sigh of relief that his record wasn't broken, eh?

In terms of pure gross (meaning not accounting for inflation), "Crystal Skull" should breeze past each of the three previous Indy films within its first two weeks. You know what that means: Bring on "Part V."

In second place, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" continued to disappoint, falling nearly 50 percent in its second weekend to earn just $28.6 million over the four days. While the fantasy film brought its overall gross to just south of $100, it's already running nearly 20 percent behind the first film in the series, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which had earned $116 million by week two of its run. Does this spell the end for sequels beyond "Dawn Treader"? Only Aslan knows for sure.

"Iron Man," meanwhile, continued to impress, inching its way ever closer to becoming the first $300 million film of 2008. The rich get richer, as Tony Stark added another $25.7 million to his war chest, for an overall total of $257 million in four weeks. A sequel has already been announced for 2010.

In fourth place, the Ashton Kutcher comedy "What Happens in Vegas ..." earned $11.2 million, while "Speed Racer" plummeted to fifth place with $5.2 million. Their three-week totals stand at $56.4 million and $37.4 million, respectively.

No numbers were made available for Uwe Boll's latest, "Postal," no doubt sparing us the cold, hard facts of another miserable debut.

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'Twilight' Stars Answer More Of Fans' Burning Questions: Robert Pattinson's Nickname, Kristen Stewart's Klutziness And More

PORTLAND, Oregon — Over the last several Twilight Tuesdays, fans have read about such important matters as Stephenie Meyer's movie cameo, Edward and Bella's tender moment in the meadow and the "Twilight" takeover of this weekend's MTV Movie Awards. But what kind of macaroni and cheese do the stars of the upcoming movie like to eat? And how many pairs of socks do they own?

These are just a few of the probing questions Twilighters sent to MTV News when we invited the die-hards to channel their inner Barbara Walters on our Movies Blog. Now, as a follow-up to the infamous video that had Robert Pattinson fielding your marriage proposals, we present "Twilight" Stars Answer Fans' Burning Questions — The Sequel!

Q: "Kristen: Are you as big a klutz as Bella in real life?" — Nazrine

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'Postal': Bad To The Bone, By Kurt Loder

German director Uwe Boll is customarily described as the world's worst filmmaker. I don't know if this is true — it's a big world, after all. But with the release of "Postal," he stakes a strong claim to being the world's most offensive. I mean that in a good way.

"Postal" is a foul and horrifying movie, a classic of its kind. I laughed pretty much non-stop through the first hour or so (unfortunately, the picture runs nearly two hours), cringing in shame and yet cackling helplessly nevertheless. The opening scene, already notorious, has two Muslim terrorists sitting at the controls of a plane they've just hijacked. They're piloting it toward a New York skyscraper, but seem more concerned about an upsetting story they've heard: It seems that there are now so many martyrs-for-Allah that each can no longer be guaranteed a hundred virgins when he reaches paradise — the number has been cut to 20. One of the terrorists whips out a cell phone and calls Osama Bin Laden, who confirms this. Angrily, the terrorists decide to change course and head for the Bahamas. Unfortunately, at this moment the plane's passengers storm the cockpit, and in the ensuing confusion, the aircraft reaches its original destination and crashes into the tower.

There's nothing funny about 9/11, obviously. But the joke here is about Islamic terrorists, so ... well, let me just say that at the screening I attended, I wasn't the only person laughing.

Amazingly, things get even worse. "Postal" is based on one of the video games of that name ("Postal 2," to be exact), which have been condemned for their mindless violence ever since being introduced in 1997. The plot concerns a luckless hick (Zack Ward) — a trailer-park Travis Bickle — who goes postal in response to the depravity of the modern world. After discovering his enormously fat wife having sex with another hick who lives nearby, this lead character (known only as "The Postal Dude" in the film's credits) goes to visit his Uncle Dave (Dave Foley) in search of support. Dave is a sleazy scammer who operates a hippie commune dedicated to "organic monotheism." The Dude finds Dave in bed with three naked women. There follows a bathroom scene that I will not describe. Dave's commune is deep in debt to the IRS; he needs money. In order to raise some, he wants the Dude to come in with him on a scheme to rip off a shipment of an enormously popular kiddy item called the Krotchy Doll. I will not describe the Krotchy Doll. (Do I need to?)

The story gets even more disgusting. A corrupt cop approaches a car that's holding up traffic and pulls a gun and blows away the woman driver. The Dude shoots a menacingly aggressive homeless guy (accidentally, though — even Boll has limits, apparently). Later, small children are mowed down in the most graphically bloody way, and a TV news chick arranges their little corpses around her feet to deliver a touching on-the-scene report.

The movie reaches its odious peak at the opening of an amusement park called Little Germany, which is run by Uwe Boll himself, in full Lederhosen drag. A "Hasselhoff Beer Garden" is the only one of the park's loathsome attractions I feel comfortable noting. Also on hand for the opening is a celebrity guest — tiny Verne Troyer. ("You know," Boll tells him, "all those rumors out there that my movies are financed with Nazi gold? It's true!") After much subsequent slaughter (also involving a gang of Islamic terrorists who operate a "Taliban TV" station in the back of a local convenience store), Troyer is raped by a roomful of chimpanzees. The movie ends — why not? — with George W. Bush and his friend Osama Bin Laden skipping off hand in hand through a field beneath a towering mushroom cloud.

The select group of people who might actually wish to see this movie — which makes the early work of John Waters seem like the family classics of Frank Capra — will have very little chance to do so. Boll is fearlessly releasing it on "Indiana Jones" weekend, in a nationwide total of 10 theaters, according to his latest count. (It was originally scheduled to play in about 1,500, until theater owners got a look at it.) Not to fret, though, fellow trolls — a picture like "Postal" is the reason the midnight-movie circuit was created. And of course it'll be available on DVD, too. Probably next week.

Don't miss Kurt Loder's review of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," also new in theaters this week.

‘Postal’ Director Uwe Boll Gets No Love From Theaters, Blames ‘Political Correctness’

'Sex And The City' Fun Facts: Chris Noth Got Lucky, Carrie Had No Tutu And More Revelations From Darren Star

Ten years ago, "Sex and the City" was an anthology of Candace Bushnell's columns from the New York Observer newspaper. When the rights were purchased for a mere $50,000 by the creator of "Beverly Hills, 90210," the concept was developed to run on a pay-cable channel whose biggest previous hit had been "The Larry Sanders Show." It would star an actress whose career had fallen to barely released flicks like "If Lucy Fell," another best remembered for the 1987 hit "Mannequin," an actress booted off "Melrose Place" after only one year and a struggling former child star.

Now, its unlikely journey has made "Sex and the City" a summer blockbuster competing with Hollywood's biggest heroes.

"Carrie Bradshaw is Indiana Jones for the female audience this summer," series creator Darren Star laughed, discussing "Sex and the City: The Movie," which opens on May 30.

"It's enormously flattering to know that people still care about the show," grinned 43-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker, whose career has gotten increasingly hotter every year since she first got Carrie-d away. "[When we were filming the movie] crowd-control was difficult to deal with. It's a wonderful problem to have that kind of interest; it was exciting to have that energy around us."

Bucking the box-office formula laid out by such films as "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" and the "X Files" movie, Star's sisterhood of the traveling designer pants is generating hope for a $60 million-plus opening weekend.

"When I put the show on TV, I wanted it to feel like people were watching a movie," Star said, speculating on why "SATC" might work better on the big screen than other adaptations of recent TV shows. "[I hoped] it wouldn't feel like they were watching a TV show. It would feel like a movie."

After six hit seasons on HBO, high-class DVD releases and thousands of hours of TBS reruns, the show has accumulated more fans than ever. Now, the studio hopes that they'll soon be dragging their boyfriends and husbands to the theater to see the latest drama in the lives of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda.

"I feel like the characters are friends to the audience, and they just want to spend time with their old friends," Star said. "When women watch the show, they like to identify with one of these women.

"Carrie is the observer. [Charlotte] is the rules girl," he summed up. "Miranda is the one who puts aside work for men, but she's focused on her career. Samantha is the one who can live life like a man, have sex without strings and gives this 1970s vibe, like the freedom of sexuality."

Believe it or not, there are still some "Sex and the City" trivia tidbits that even the most faithful flirtini drinkers don't know. So before you head out to the theater, here are a few fun facts to get you in the mood:

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Indiana Jones Is Our Professor Too: The 19 Things We've Learned From Indy

He's the world's most pre-eminent archaeologist, but for millions of fans worldwide, Indiana Jones isn't just a professor at Marshall College, he's our teacher as well. In the 19 years since "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" hit theaters, we've had a lot of time to absorb his lessons.

So in honor of the release of his latest adventure, "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," we present the 19 most important things we've learned from watching Indiana Jones.

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Notorious B.I.G. Biopic Stars Get Help From The Original Players, Including Diddy, Lil' Cease

If he messes this up, Gravy can never go home — at least not without getting heckled. Brooklyn native Jamal Woolard, known in the mixtape community as Gravy, will have a hard time returning to Brooklyn if he fails in his turn as one of BK's finest, the Notorious B.I.G., in the forthcoming movie "Notorious."

"He's still living, through me," Gravy said recently at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, where he was filming concert scenes for the Biggie biopic in full Big Poppa playa wardrobe. "Get Money," "Warning" and "Juicy" were sending the fans into a tizzy.

"I'm going to let y'all know: I'm not going to let y'all down," Gravy continued. "Put it down for the borough. This is for the borough. BK, stand up."

Gravy revealed that it is his and the filmmakers' objective to show all aspects of the MC giant's life.

"We're targeting every corner of it — from Christopher to Biggie Smalls to Notorious B.I.G," he said. "He's a funny dude. That's the part in the film that you'll see. He's a comedian all the time."

If you think Gravy is being scrutinized as Biggie, how do you think Derek Luke feels? He's playing Sean "Diddy" Combs.

"What kind of criticism [did] Puffy give me? Oh, man, I tried to stay away from him," the accomplished Luke explained. "You know, 'cause I just wanted to get a heart. I was inspired by who he is today but mostly how he started. But to be honest ... man. He just looked at me, and he was like, 'Yo, you do something wrong, trust me, I'll let you know.' So, I believe, that was good."

"It's rare that you get a movie made about you when you're still relevant, but [they] took on the challenge," Combs told MTV News recently in Los Angeles. "People asked me years ago who [I'd] want to play me, and I said Derek Luke ... so it was just destined. I got to see him do his thing, and it was scary for me. I had to leave, 'cause he was acting just like me."

"The preparation I took to play Puff was I was going to talk to Puff's mom," Luke said. "Puff opened the office to me, but I was like, 'Man, if I get to [meet] his mom, it's all good.' I went to his mom, and she kinda set me into the right place about who he was, how he started out as a child, who he is today."

Luke also reached out to another mother when researching the role: Big's mother, Voletta Wallace.

"Ms. Wallace, because [of] how she raised Biggie," Luke explained. "Every time I come on set, she never refuses to be a mom. If she needs to say something to me and pull me to the side, she's going to pull me to the side. I respect that."

Naturi Naughton, who was formerly in the group 3LW, takes on the role of the Queen B, Lil' Kim.

"Well, people have been critical," said Naughton, dressed seductively and fresh from performing "Get Money." "A lot of people don't expect me to be able to fill these shoes and play the role that's so different than what they've seen, because people know me. They think, 'Oh, she's sweet. She's little. She's a little girl from 3LW.' I'm a grown woman now, OK? Things have changed. It's a little challenging, but I'm willing to take this challenge and prove everybody wrong. All the naysayers, all the haters, I'm going to show them what I'm made of."

Naughton says that she unfortunately hasn't met Kim yet, but many of the Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s members, who were mentored by Smalls, have been working closely on the film. DJs Enuff and Mister Cee, who both played integral roles in Big's life, are also on the set. Derrick "D-Dot" Angeletti, who produced and guided Big in the studio, is the film's music supervisor, and Lil' Cease has been coaching Gravy as well as actor Marc John Jefferies (who plays Cease).

"I've had to show him how to roll blunts. That's important to the story," the real Cease said, standing next to his Hollywood counterpart. "You got a lot of 16-, 17-year-olds who probably hear their mother or siblings or something play Biggie all day and don't have background on him. This movie, you get to see his background. It's bigger than music. You see his personality. You get to see how he treated his kids, how he bonded with his moms, how he treated Junior M.A.F.I.A. It's something special, something good.

"The reason why I think this story is important to be told is because this is a story about two dreamers," Cease added, "and I love the fact that one is from Harlem, one is from Brooklyn, and [they] came in this world with nothing — only but a dream. So what I got from this story is that if you got a dream, you're rich. That's enough."

You can have the best acting and tell the greatest story, but if the music doesn't sound right, the film won't win. D-Dot says not to worry. We're going to hear nothing but authentic Biggie.

"The music is gonna be Notorious B.I.G. music," says D-Dot. "It's gonna be a lot of period music. Notorious B.I.G. loved hip-hop — we all did. So a lot of '80s hip-hop, '90s R&B. You'll possibly hear Wu-Tang [Clan] songs, Mobb Deep songs and M.O.P. songs. Leaders of the New School. Just period pieces. Things for the time."

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Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller, Sarah Jessica Parker Sign On As MTV Movie Awards Presenters

What do comic book superheroes, jungle warriors and Playboy playmates all have in common? This year, they'll be onstage at the MTV Movie Awards.

Well, sort of.

Previously announced Hollywood megastars like Jack Black, Lindsay Lohan and Steve Carell will be joined at this year's ceremony by a newly announced crop of presenters, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Presenter Robert Downey Jr. will be making a cameo appearance as Tony Stark in "The Incredible Hulk," but audiences needn't wait until then to see Iron Man and the Hulk together, as the "smashing" pair of Edward Norton and Liv Tyler have also confirmed that they'll present at the awards show, broadcast live this year on Sunday, June 1, from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.

Also joining the fun are Emma Stone and Katharine McPhee from "The House Bunny."

The new presenters can mingle on the red carpet with stars Mark Wahlberg, Seth Rogen, Megan Fox, Jennifer Hudson, Anne Hathaway, James Franco, Rumer Willis, Brendan Fraser and Danny McBride, all of whom will be handing out Golden Popcorns to the lucky winners.

This year, the top nominees include films like "Superbad" (five nominations), "Juno" (four noms), "Transformers," "Enchanted," "Knocked Up" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (three noms each).

The 17th annual MTV Movie Awards will be hosted for the second time by comic Mike Myers, and will include live performances from both Coldplay and the Pussycat Dolls.

Don't' forget to vote for you favorite nominees by visiting MovieAwards.MTV.com by May 23.

Lindsay Lohan, Steve Carell, Jack Black To Present At MTV Movie Awards

'Postal' Director Uwe Boll Gets No Love From Theaters, Blames 'Political Correctness'

Filmmaker Uwe Boll once challenged his online detractors to a boxing match, but it wasn't until now that the German director — often called the worst filmmaker of all time — finally became what he called "fighting mad."

Boll's new movie "Postal" — which features "shooting children, gags about September 11, a Nazi theme park, and Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush walking hand in hand into a mushroom cloud" — was slated to open this weekend against "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," in more than 1,000 theaters. But within the last month it was pulled from all but a handful.

Now the film, which Boll is distributing through his company, will only be shown "in around 15" theaters, he told MTV News (for an up-to-date list, check out the MTV Multiplayer Blog). And of the theaters showing it, "few are good," Boll insisted. "For instance, it would be nice to have it screen in Manhattan, but we are only in Brooklyn. If that's the only screen [on which it's playing] in New York, you can't perform how you would perform because it's just too far away [for people from Manhattan].

"It's not like they're so crowded, they don't have screens," Boll said of the sudden decision by exhibitors to dump his project. "Just yesterday, I was standing out in front of the Empire [Theater] in Times Square and they had 'Vantage Point' still running! 'Harold and Kumar' on two screens! 'Nim's Island!' Nobody should tell me 'Nim's Island' would do more business than 'Postal.' It makes no sense."

Despite his inflammatory remarks on the "Postal" Web site earlier this week, Boll doesn't think the disappearance of his film from multiplexes is a vast conspiracy or a personal attack, but rather a combination of what he calls overly sensitive "political correctness" coupled with a failure of his past movies to perform at the domestic box office. (Maybe Boll will have better luck with "Janjaweed," his improvised movie about the Darfur massacre, which he talks about in the MTV Movies Blog.)

"Postal," of course, will almost certainly tank as well. Forgetting for a moment that it's opening against what's sure to be the record-breaking "Indiana Jones," "Postal" is only playing once or twice a day at the theaters in which it's booked.

"We're running in Austin only at midnight at the Alamo. How are you going to do box office if you're not going to play five times a day?" Boll asked, pondering what are sure to be snide headlines come Tuesday morning. "[But] if we make $2,000 in an art-house screen in Denver, this is actually not a bad result."

Boll insists that the unavailability of "Postal" means the real losers in this situation will be the audience — not because he thinks "Postal" is any good (although he does call it his "best film ever"), but because he sees it as the final nail in the coffin for independent cinema. Seriously.

"I think it gets to a point where only certain types of movies come out," Boll said. "In the past, we had a few tent poles a year. Now it's every weekend. You go from 'Iron Man' to 'Speed Racer' to 'Narnia' to 'Indiana Jones.' It gets redundant and boring. I think there are movies like mine that aren't given a chance. They are never getting screens, and later you [wonder] how this movie could tank. It's because they don't promote these [types of] movies anymore. It's become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

"The mission of a multiplex theater should not be that you have 20 screens and only four movies playing," Boll added. "There is no space anymore for good independent movies. I don't know where independent filmmaking goes. The only way exhibitors can pick from a wide range of movies is if they support a wide range of movies, and they're not."

Boll thinks the problem arises when exhibitors confuse "good movies with important ones."

"Everybody says 'Iron Man' is important because you have Robert Downey Jr.," he complained. "The movie is not important. It's a good, entertaining movie, but it's not an important movie. 'Indy' is not important. It's never been important."

Buried not far beneath Boll's words is the subtext that "Postal" is an important movie — at least to the director himself. Boll alternately compared it to "Wedding Crashers" and "Naked Gun" in one breath, and "Life of Brian" and "Taxi Driver" in the next. (Again, seriously.)

This weekend you'll have a chance to find out for yourself ... that is, if you can find it in a theater near you.

‘Iron Man’ Clobbers ‘Speed Racer’ For Second Straight Box-Office #1

'Indiana Jones 4': 10 Things You Need To Know, From Real Crystal Skulls To Shia LaBeouf's Pulled Groin

For those who have kept themselves blissfully unaware of all "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" news, tread cautiously. There are light spoilers ahead.

Indiana Jones may go digging for the great lost treasures of the world, but if you really want to impress your friends, dig this: From George Lucas to Cate Blanchett to Harrison Ford to Ray Winstone, we went straight to the stars, writers and producers of the film to find out 10 things you should know before seeing "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

1. "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" is now officially canon
Ever since Indiana Jones went the way of "M.A.S.H." (which is to say, from the silver screen to the boob tube), fans have debated whether the series constituted "official" chapters in the life of the world's greatest archaeologist or whether, like some "Star Wars" novels, they existed outside of the series' established canon. Look for a brief mention of adventures with Pancho Villa when Dr. Jones is talking to Mutt as the pair travel through an old town in South America, firmly recalling the plot of the series' first episode, "The Curse of the Jackal."

2. Like Karen Allen's or John Hurt's appearances in the film? Thank Frank Darabont
Although ultimately rejected by George Lucas, "Shawshank Redemption" writer/director Frank Darabont was hired to write a draft of "Indy 4" some years before David Koepp. While he ultimately wasn't given credit for the story that wound up on the screen, which is why he anticipated a legal battle back in November, Darabont's two most important contributions might be some of the biggest. "[The return of] Marion! That was my idea," he told MTV News in August, referring to what made its way in from his script. "[And] I did suggest to Steven that he cast John Hurt in this movie. It's not entirely the role I suggested him for, but I did suggest him." Speaking of screenwriters ...

3. "Indiana Jones and the Quest Not to Be Awful"
He was the last man standing in an informal screenwriting contest that lasted 15 years, so what was Koepp's ultimate goal for "Indy 4"? "Just hope to God you don't screw up," he laughed when MTV News caught up with him in December.

4. Indiana Jones will continue ... without so much Indiana Jones
Following Lucas' recent proclamation that he already had an idea for a fifth "Indy," but with Shia LaBeouf in the main role, both Harrison Ford and LaBeouf told MTV News that they're more than game. "I just work here. I'm glad to work here," Ford told MTV News at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday. "Till they tell me otherwise, I will continue to be Indiana Jones." LaBeouf chimed in: "If ['Crystal Skull' is] received well, I don't imagine they would stop making them. I don't think a Mutt-spinoff would be as big as Indiana Jones. [But] fingers crossed!"

5. Harvard lecturer Marc Zender is a friggin' genius
For more than a year, Internet fans and journalists alike have been trying to divine the secrets of "Indy 4." Instead of hitting up various Web sites, maybe we should've spent more time in class. Nearly eight months ago, archaeologist Marc Zender told MTV News how the film would play out based on his knowledge of crystal skulls — and the result is eerily accurate. Is there a scene in which "people are able to gaze into the eyes of the crystal skull and ... either read the past with great clarity or predict the future"? Check! Was there confirmation that "this skull has stored all of the lost knowledge of the Mayans or Atlantians, or E.T."? Check! How about a climax that has someone "bringing them all together, [making] all those abilities available to everybody all at once"? Check! And a direct reference to the infamous real-life "discoverer" of a crystal skull Frederick Mitchell-Hedges? By now, you already know the answer, don't you?

6. The son wishes he was a daughter instead
Fedoras off to LaBeouf, the talented young actor put between a rock and a hard place, cast in the most-anticipated movie of the last decade — and unable to talk about it. But now that the cat's officially out of the bag and everybody knows he's Henry Jones III, would it surprise you to know he actually wishes there was a Henrietta instead? "As a fan, yeah, I thought it would have been cool to see Natalie Portman in this movie as the daughter, but that didn't happen," he told MTV News, being a bit coy about his own role. "But I was on that bandwagon. I was in the Natalie Portman fan club. I have a strange attraction to Natalie Portman."

7. The crystal skulls in the movie are props, but they didn't have to be
Unlike, say, the Holy Grail, crystal skulls are real artifacts. While they don't have the powers ascribed to them in the movie, you can see them for yourself at various museums and homes across the world. Producers Frank Marshall and George Lucas did. "The skulls themselves are real, and a lot of the stuff in the movie is real, just like in the other movies," Lucas said. "We don't base it on a lot of phony-baloney stuff." But did they transfer any of their powers to these superproducers to help make a better movie? "No," Marshall chuckled to MTV. "I don't feel any wiser after being in its presence." (If you live in London, check out a skull at the British Museum.)

8. Pain is temporary, Indiana Jones is forever
When word leaked out that 65-year-old star Harrison Ford was returning for another Indiana Jones film, some wondered whether he was too old. The answer, of course, is a resounding no. In fact, there was one major injury on set — and it happened to the 21-year-old LaBeouf. "I pulled a rotator cuff in my hip," LaBeouf told MTV News in April, gesturing to his waist. "It's the only time in my career I've ever been injured. What happened was, because the injury got worse and worse as the movie went on, I pulled my groin also. [The groin] is not a good thing to have anything happen to." It's actually pretty easy to surmise the exact scene in which the injury happens too. Look for Shia to put on a few moves during a thrilling jungle sword fight against Cate Blanchett, a scene Shia called his "favorite" in the whole movie.

9. There's more than one way to whip a Nazi
They all look the same to viewers, but Harrison Ford actually swings a total of 10 different whips throughout the films, each woven and sized differently for different kinds of stunts.

10. The stars themselves are Indy's biggest fans
"It's a film I never thought I'd ever be making. Then you get a little bit [more] excited, because it's something your kids are going to be able to watch. And working with Steven Spielberg and [George Lucas] — they're geniuses," Ray Winstone told MTV News in November. "I can remember ['Raiders'] was a big [movie] for me," Blanchett told us. "I thought, 'Ooh, gosh, when I grow up I'd like to marry a man like [Indy], even if he does fall asleep after I kiss him.' " LaBeouf was equally stoked: "Crazy! I don't know what else to say. It's crazy and unbelievable. It's almost like you're reflecting while you're in the middle of it, because you know you're gonna be telling your kids this, so you're in the middle of it going, 'Oh my God, let me get every detail. How many buttons are on that shirt?' "

‘Indiana Jones’ Sequels Starring Shia LaBeouf? ‘I Have No Cheeky Answer,’ Harrison Ford Says
‘Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull’ Reviews Are In … And Not Everyone Is Digging It

'Indiana Jones': Lost Kingdom, By Kurt Loder

So how is it? Not bad. Pretty good, actually — you definitely get your money's worth. And if this were a world into which no swashbuckling archaeologist had ever set dusty-booted foot before, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" might seem a more resonant cultural event than the very large box-office event it's about to become.

But the picture has a built-in disappointment factor. The first Indy film, "Raiders of the Lost Ark," which came out 27 years ago, has proved to be an unrepeatable adventure classic. "Temple of Doom," released in 1984, was a puzzling misstep into darkness and sadism (director Steven Spielberg later apologized for it). And by the time of the 1989 "Last Crusade," an attempted retrenchment, the series was clearly going soft. But those three films, all set amid the Deco and dangers of the 1930s, formed a vibrant pulp universe of heroism, humor, geographical exotica and occult intrigue. Each picture was baited with tantalizing historical arcana — the Ark of the Covenant, the Well of Souls, the Kali cult, the Holy Grail — and each one, in varying degrees, was stoked with colorful characters.

Now, 19 years after Indy's last expedition, we have what is essentially an action movie executed at a very high level by a famously gifted director. And while it will surely make record amounts of money, it doesn't feel as if it were made solely for that reason. (How much wealthier could Spielberg and co-producer George Lucas — weighing in on the story once again — wish to become?) The picture has a lively script, some great effects and exciting set-piece scenes, but there's no recapturing the raptures of the past, the old thrills that once were new. There are the expected allusions to Indy elements of yore — Professor Jones in his college classroom and hurrying home to pack for another expedition; the creeping red line that tracks his flight across a world map; the onslaughts of icky insects (scorpions and killer ants, in this case) and of course a hateful snake. But this tickling checklist can't help but remind us that "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" has no new components of the same memorable sort.

It has no Nazis, either, which is too bad — as Spielberg himself has noted, there's no more convenient cinematic shorthand for ultimate evil than a bunch of Nazis. "Kingdom" is set in 1957, a dozen years after the actual Nazis were crushed. Now we're in the atomic age (a billowing mushroom cloud is one of the movie's most ravishing CGI moments); there's a Cold War on, and Soviet Russia and the U.S. are facing off around the globe. The Soviets here are a duller bunch than the Hitler minions who tormented our hero in the past — although Cate Blanchett's Irina Spalko, the sword-wielding Soviet "psychic researcher" who dogs Indy's trail as he hunts down a legendary crystal skull through the Amazon jungle, is a lot more fun than Elsa Schneider, the blonde, bland Nazi groupie in "The Last Crusade." And while there's nothing in this movie as brilliantly constructed as the long opening nightclub bust-out in "Temple of Doom," there's nothing as tedious as the gabbling old Indian geezer in that one, either.

Both Indy and Harrison Ford, who once again plays him, are much older now, of course, and Ford is happy to go along with some good-natured jibes about his elder-adventurer status ("What're you, 80?"). But since he was a motivating force in getting this movie made, you have to assume that Ford wanted the wisecracks in, if for no other reason than to preempt critical carping. And it should be noted that he does most of his own stunts (you can tell when he doesn't), and he's still got the moves.

Ford's age and the return of Marion Ravenwood (still-spunky Karen Allen), his love interest in "Raiders," set up the possibility of a succession with the appearance of a young and rather Indy-like adventurer named Mutt (gamely played by Shia LaBeouf). Mutt enters the picture on a motorcycle, the very image, in his black leather jacket and tan cap, of the Marlon Brando of 1953 in "The Wild One"; and he quickly draws Indy into a search for the crystal skull (an actual artifact — well, hoax — of the 19th century). Soon the ever-game archaeologist is back in his fedora, bullwhip at his waist, and the whole group — along with Indy's shifty old colleague Mac (Ray Winstone) — is off to Peru, with Irina Spalko and her KGB thugs in furious pursuit.

There follow some remarkable scenes, among them a breathtakingly well-staged truck chase through the jungle, a hair-raising plunge down three separate waterfalls, and a swarming attack by the aforementioned killer ants. There are also some scary, mud-caked natives; a subterranean temple of gold; and a towering, Transformer-like mystical obelisk. Unfortunately, there is also another archaeologist on hand, a doddering burnout named Oxley (John Hurt), whose gibbering ever-presence soon becomes tiresome. And the vaunted crystal skull, when we finally see it, resembles an oversized version of the sort of plastic product one might purchase in an action-figure emporium.

This is certainly a movie that will gun the engines of anyone unfamiliar with the earlier Indiana Jones pictures. But in an age of DVDs and box sets, how many such people can there be? Veteran Indy enthusiasts may feel a little let down. The thrills are still here, but they're no longer fresh. And as well-done as the movie is — and as cute as the period sci-fi and rock-and-roll touches are — there's no shaking the wistful feeling that we've done quite a bit of it before.

‘Indiana Jones’ Sequels Starring Shia LaBeouf? ‘I Have No Cheeky Answer,’ Harrison Ford Says

'Twilight' Actor Taylor Lautner Is Eager To Deliver 'Naked' Line, Master Driving

PORTLAND, Oregon — Team Edward, Team Jacob or Team Switzerland? It's a preference that defines Twilighters far better than boxers or briefs, paper or plastic, and Democrat or Republican. Either you're one of the dazzled minions who long to become Robert Pattinson's personal spider monkey, a Swiss-like non-committer caught in the middle or one of those rebels who wish that Bella would look to a different side of her love triangle.

In "Twilight," Jacob Black is a handsome, wise-beyond-his-years teen who responds to Bella's flirtations by coughing up key information about the town's vampires. Sixteen-year-old Taylor Lautner is an equally handsome heartthrob who approached the MTV crew when we visited the set, eager to spill the beans on his new role. Days before the "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" child actor would begin his first grown-up performance, he made his case for Team Jacob conversions. (Head over to the MTV Movies Blog to find out how Lautner plans to buff up for "New Moon.")

‘Twilight’ Poster Revealed! Photographer Behind New Ad Talks About Stars’ Chemistry, Which Actor Was The Most Fun To Shoot

'Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull' Reviews Are In ... And Not Everyone Is Digging It

Critic screenings for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" happened simultaneously Sunday across the world, from Los Angeles to New York to Cannes, France.

For some, it's "our childhood dreams captured at 24 frames a second and projected for us to relive laughing, clapping, gasping and shouting enthusiastically for!" (Harry Knowles, Ain't It Cool News).

For others, the movie "bored [me] out of my mind" (A.O. Scott, The New York Times).

(Find out what a handful of MTV Newsers thought about "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" in the MTV Movies Blog.)

In fact, a lot of people don't seem to have time for love, Dr. Jones, despite the fact that the exploits of Indiana and his world-weary crew are currently rated favorably by 78 percent of critics at movie-review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com.

While nearly everybody found much to praise in the film, most also heavily tempered their thoughts with some disappointment.

" 'Indy 4' doesn't have the stuffings of a great adventure film. It's fine and appropriate that it stays in the good groove of an old-time action serial," wrote Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere. "But ... I only wish that Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, David Koepp and Jeff Nathanson had attempted at least a superficial injection of a little heart and soul. Just a stab, I mean."

The problem for most critics, it seems, isn't that "Crystal Skull" is a bad movie, but that it's an average "Indiana Jones" movie, a franchise for which fans demand nothing short of perfection.

"With Brendan Fraser in the lead, this would have been the very best 'Mummy' movie yet ... but not so much better than the others to make you re-evaluate that franchise as a whole. It would be just a really, really good 'Mummy' movie," wrote Devin Faraci of CHUD.com. "And from Spielberg, and from this franchise, that's just not acceptable."

"In spite of an over-reliance on CG, and one too many obvious moments of George Lucas-involved over-the-top tomfoolery, the latest "Indiana Jones" is a great piece of major studio-produced escapist entertainment," echoed Garth Franklin of DarkHorizons.com. "Unfortunately, that may not be enough."

In figuring out the main reason why the film failed to live up to expectations, most critics rest the blame not on Spielberg or stars Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf, but squarely on the shoulders of screenwriter David Koepp, whose script critic James Rocchi of Cinematical.com called "clumsy."

Christy Lemire of The Associated Press was also less-than-impressed: "Once you get past the initial reintroduction ... it's obvious that this fourth film in the 'Indy' series really has no idea where to go. Except for the opening — which literally starts the film off with a bang — and a couple of dazzling chase sequences, 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' is about as unfocused and meandering as the title itself."

"The 'but' that dangles in this instant reaction ... is that 'Crystal Skull' threatens at times to crumble under the weight of all the impersonal zigging and zagging loaded on for the sake of special effects," echoed Lisa Schwarzbaum of EW.com.

The final verdict, however, seems to be one for which there's no escaping. "I can say that if you liked the other 'Indiana Jones' movies, you will like this one," Roger Ebert writes for the Chicago Sun-Times. "And that if you did not, there is no talking to you."

‘Indiana Jones’ Sequels Starring Shia LaBeouf? ‘I Have No Cheeky Answer,’ Harrison Ford Says

Lindsay Lohan, Steve Carell, Jack Black To Present At MTV Movie Awards

You've read about them in magazines, seen them on TV and trekked to the movie theater to catch their latest work. We're talking about stars like Lindsay Lohan, Anne Hathaway, Jack Black, Steve Carell, Robert Downey Jr., Seth Rogen, Megan Fox and Jennifer Hudson — and you'll see them all at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards.

These big Hollywood names, along with others including Mark Wahlberg, James Franco, Rumer Willis, Brendan Fraser and Danny McBride, are the first wave of presenters to be announced for the show celebrating the year's yummiest popcorn flicks. They join previously revealed performers Coldplay and the Pussycat Dolls.

"Austin Powers" star Mike Myers will once again be slipping into the role of Movie Awards host. Broadcast live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, the show will honor nominees like "Superbad" (five noms), "Juno" (four) and such thrice-recognized flicks as "Enchanted," "Transformers," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Knocked Up."

This batch of presenters includes the stars of many of 2008's most-anticipated summer flicks: "Sex and the City" (Hudson), "Tropic Thunder" (Black, Downey), "Get Smart" (Carell, Hathaway), "Pineapple Express" (Rogen, Franco, McBride), "The Happening" (Wahlberg) and "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" (Fraser).

This year's event, which will air live June 1 at 8 p.m. ET, will be the 17th annual show to hand out the coveted Golden Popcorn awards. Powerhouse executive producer Mark Burnett ("Survivor," "The Apprentice," "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"), will oversee the show for the second year in a row.

Don't forget: The fate of the nominees lies in your hands. Visit MovieAwards.mtv.com by May 23 to support your favorites.

Coldplay, Pussycat Dolls Set To Perform At MTV Movie Awards