Following in the footsteps of movies like "Straw Dogs" and "The Strangers," chronicles a family coming to terms with its own animalistic nature in a hypothetical future where the government legalizes all crime — including murder — for one 12-hour period annually. Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey star as wealthy parents trying to protect themselves and their children when masked intruders break into their home to kill a fugitive to whom they offer asylum.

The scenario has a ripped-from-the-headlines sort of energy, and, at the same time, it's a classic foundation for drama: What would you do to protect your family if it was threatened? But what do critics think of the thriller? Is it an astute commentary on America's predisposition for violence or an exploitative celebration of brutality? MTV News rounded up some opinions from the Web's top voices to give viewers a glimpse at what they might see — when they're not covering their eyes, that is — when they go see "The Purge" this weekend.

How Well Does It Set Up Its Core Concept?
"[James] DeMonaco, who wrote another Hawke siege movie, 2005's 'Assault on Precinct 13,' loads his satire with more political baggage than it can bear. And it dissolves into a typical home-invasion thriller whose big ideas about race, class, and social violence get trumped by its desire to hit genre beats. 'The Purge' clearly has a lot on its mind, but it never really manages to express it." — Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly

Does It Follow Through On Any Interesting Ideas?
"If this almost incoherently ...

Nicki Minaj has proven to be both a hip-hop and pop threat, but her versatility doesn't stop there. Through the years, the Trinidad-born hitmaker has dabbled in dancehall, showing off her Caribbean swag, making her most recent splash with labelmate Busta Rhymes on the remix to his new reggae-drenched single,

The Dungeon Dragon first released his Pharrell-produced island thump last month, and Thursday night, he gave the track new life by adding the queen of Queens, New York. This time out, rather than employing her alter-ego Roman or her sometimes London accent, Nicki leans on her West Indian roots and lets loose a deep Patois. "Dutty gal, when ya see mi and what yu fi do/ Bow down, big chain and it heavy too," she raps in a slow and measured pace.

Keeping with the vibe, Nicki goes on to shout out dancehall influencers like Vybz Kartel, Beenie Man and Bounty Killer, before repping for her birthplace, spitting: "Trinidad an no Jame$ mi no chat 'bout."

Busta Rhymes, who is Jamaican-American, has always dabbled in reggae. On his 2009 album, Back On My B.S., he and Pharrell created a similar vibe with

This isn't the first time Nicki has embraced dancehall, either. Back in 2010, she hopped on a remix of Jamaican reggae singer Gyptian's hit "Hold You," and earlier this year, she contributed to French Montana's Lil Vicious-sampling single Though Montana's single is technically a rap song, Nicki's verse was drenched with island slang. "I feel like this song brings back the essence of ...

Randy Blythe's long road to redemption finally ended this week. The Lamb of singer was found not guilty by an appeals court panel in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, ending his two-year battle to clear his name in a manslaughter case
 tied to a fan's death in 2010 at one of the band's shows.

"He handled this in a very mature and grown up manner. A lesson we all could learn from," wrote fan Francis Balliet on the Loudwire site in reaction to the news of the appeals court verdict, which is final.

"A heavy weight off his shoulders, now he can continue his life and his respect towards the victim's family was well-received," wrote another. "Good to hear the news now it's all over and done with," said a fellow commenter, while Chicago fan Raven A. Knight posted, "Thank God it's over! Glad with the results, Randy can go on with his life. Maybe we can learn from this story. Randy has my respect for what he has been through!"

Fans were equally excited about the verdict on the Metalsucks site, where one wrote, "Cheers & Congrats, classy metal dude."

Blythe was acquitted
 in March in the death of 19-year-old fan Daniel Nosek, who he was accused of pushing from the stage during a LOG show in Prague on March 24, 2010. Nosek fell and hit his head on the concrete floor and later died of his injuries. The singer was arrested at the Prague airport in the summer of 2012 and spent five weeks in ...

It's been almost a decade since Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson teamed up for "Wedding Crashers," but the duo is finally back with a follow-up, "The Internship." Chronicling the misadventures of two watch salesmen who attempt to catch up to the Internet age by applying for jobs at Google, the movie follows Vaughn and Wilson as they try to recapture the anarchic energy of their previous collaboration. But have they succeeded in doing more than making a feature-length advertisement for the search-engine company?

MTV News rounded up a cross section of reviews of the film, many of which suggest that "The Internship" isn't good enough for long-term entertainment.

How Good Is It At Using Google To Tell A Great Story?
"This is not so much product placement in a movie as movie placement in a product. For two hours, viewers are treated to a series of bright, high-energy sales pitches for the San Francisco search engine and its vast array of products and services... plus, occasional attempts at comedy from Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson while they stand in front of giant Google logos. Shameless? Absolutely. But that wouldn't be such a problem if 'The Internship' wasn't so mirthless, as well." — Matt Singer, Screencrush

How Are Vaughn And Wilson?
"For whatever reason, it's taken the raucous duo eight years to reunite, and for whatever reason, they've agreed to do so in a Google commercial disguised as every other campus comedy ever made, albeit with party-hearty nonsense and fish-out-of-water antics tempered down to PG-13 levels for maximum mediocrity." — William Goss,

Guns N' Roses played a bowling alley in Brooklyn last night.

That sentence says all you need to know. Was the Gunners' pre-Governors' Ball gig at Brooklyn Bowl particularly revelatory? No. Were there moments when the throngs of diehards who shelled out $150 to witness the spectacle looked bored? Absolutely (mostly during the Chinese Democracy songs). Did Axl Rose — who wore a fedora that made him look like Van Helsing, and didn't take his sunglasses off once — seem to care? Have you been paying attention for the past two decades?

So, yes, GNR tore through Brooklyn on Thursday, shutting down the lanes for the night (bowling is not permitted when Axl is doing his thing) and powering their way through a set meant for stages far larger that this one. The hits came fast and furious — "Welcome to the Jungle" was the second song they played, and they made sure to do "Mr. Brownstone," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Paradise City" too — and there were showcase solos for all three of the guitarists (former Replacements man Tommy Stinson even got to do a couple of tunes). But the most fascinating thing about their set was how resolute Axl was. Simply put, he wasn't going to let a tiny room stand in the way of delivering an arena-sized set.

That's not exactly surprising. But once the initial thrill of seeing a band so huge in a venue so small wore off, well, there wasn't much left to get excited about. Every instrument on the stage — and there ...

There's still one more week before arrives, so things should be relatively low-key at the box office.

Low-budget horror flick "The Purge" is likely to steal the #1 spot away from "The Internship," which boasts not only a bigger budget but bigger stars, as well. The new comedy might even have to settle for #3 behind two-time champ

Last weekend, it was big-name stars Will Smith and his son Jaden that flamed out at the box office, despite their status in Hollywood. This weekend, the "Wedding Crashers" team of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson are poised to follow suit. Despite its R rating, "Wedding Crashers" cleared nearly $210 million back in 2005, thanks to a clever premise and great reviews. "Marley & Me" was a hit for Wilson, and Vaughn scored as part of "The Break-Up," "Four Christmases" and "Couple's Retreat."

However, "The Dilemma" and "The Watch" — both starring Vaughn — and "Hall Pass" and "The Big Year" — featuring Wilson — all bombed. Wilson was part of the critical and commercial hit "Midnight in Paris" as well as a critical misfire but $191 million hit. As BoxOfficeMojo.com pointed out, the stars in those cases were really Woody Allen and Pixar, respectively. Fox has predicted a $12 million opening for about a pair of middle-aged interns stuck in a sea of youth at Google.

Despite being less raunchy than the comedic pair's big collaboration from eight years ago, the PG-13 romp Vaughn described to MTV News as having a lot of "optimism" and ...

Just one night after turning the 2013 CMT Music Awards with a dramatic performance, Taylor Swift headlined the first night of Nashville's CMA Music Festival and shared the stage with a pair of country giants.

Swift's five-song set at LP Field stadium on Thursday night included her hits "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," "Mean," "Love Story" and "Red." But for her encore she brought out some extra firepower in the form of Tim McGraw and Keith Urban for a cover of McGraw's "Highway Don't Care."

Pulling off her red acoustic guitar, Swift invited McGraw out on stage to perform the song from McGraw's Two Lanes of Freedom album. As he sang the first verse, Swift shimmied in place, swinging her hips and coming in with her refrain, "I can't live without you baby."

By the second verse, the pair gave a longing look and then separated, going to either end of he stage and singing across the expanse before Swift swung her hips back toward McGraw and stood beside him as Keith Urban ripped off the song's guitar solo. The energetic performance ended with all three stars hugging it out center stage as the audience hollered their approval.

Check out Taylor Swift's outfits from the CMT Music Awards red carpet and performance!

The brief set during the fan-focused CMA's was just a teaser for Swift's diehard followers, as she told USA Today that she's already working on her next album. "It's starting," she said backstage at the CMA gig. "All the anxiety is starting. When the ...

From "Bug" to "The Runaways" to "Premium Rush," Michael Shannon has made a successful career for himself playing larger-than-life characters. But in taking on his biggest role to date, the villainous General Zod in "Man of Steel," Shannon said that he always felt like he was working seriously and quietly on a very real and believable character.

"It never really felt like a comic-book movie to me," Shannon told MTV News. "Because of the approach, it was so serious. And I don't mean that to make it sound like it's not [fun]; I mean, at the end of the day, it's meant to be an entertaining movie and I think it is. But from the beginning where they're on Krypton, there's some real serious issues being discussed, and real dire circumstances. And just the scope of it kind of took me by surprise — I think it's unusual."

In "Man of Steel," Zod is a complexly rendered adversary for Superman and the hero's last vestige of contact with his home world. He's an opponent who wants to rebuild Krypton at the expense of humankind, which Superman has sworn to protect. Shannon said that he enjoyed the opportunity to play a role where the character's motivations were well-established and even sympathetic.

"Even though people think I'm really good at being evil or something, if the job was just to show up and be mean to people, I would get confused, I think," he said. "It was nice to have a very clear objective."

Shannon is also well-known for his portrayals of bad ...

These days, Khloe Kardashian is satisfied being an aunt to her big sisters' kids. But with Kim only weeks away from giving birth to her daughter, viewers might be wondering when Khloe plans to start her own little brood with her basketball player hubby, Lamar Odom.

The short answer: she has no intentions at the moment to become a mom herself. So that means, for now, Kourtney and Kim will be the main moms in the bunch.

"I don't think anyone's ever really 100 percent ready. I definitely want to have kids, but I think, and I don't regret doing anything; I don't regret exposing anything about my life or my personal wishes for babies. I just think people really took that and spun with it. And [they] wanted to say I'm desperate to have a baby," she told MTV News about letting fans into her life on her many E! reality shows, on which she sometimes struggles with the decision to start a family with Odom.

The reality starlet married Odom in September 2009, after dating for only a month. So, given how quickly they moved to walk down the aisle, fans just assumed they'd work just as quickly to add kids to the Kardashian-Odom clan.

She continued, "I'm 28 years old [and] I've been married almost four years now. I'm still in my newlywed phase is what I call it, so whenever it's time for me to have a baby, that's when it's gonna be time."

She's feeling relaxed about it, even as the eighth season of "Keeping Up" ...