September 16, 2024

Review Category : TMZ Music News

Ryan Reynolds Hunts The Dead In New ‘R.I.P.D.’ Trailer

There's a new breed of comic-book flick heading to theaters this summer, and it's arriving in the form of "Jeff Bridges.

The trailer packs in a lot of information in a briskly paced three minutes, so here's a bullet-point guide to this summer's freakiest crime-fighting force.

High Concept
The trailer does a solid job of compressing the source material's out-there concept enough to not overwhelm the trailer. Mary-Louise Parker does the heavy-lifting as Proctor, injecting a bit of charm into the explanation of Reynolds' grim new occupation. "You have skills that we want," she explains. She represents the R.I.P.D., the afterlife's police division charged with arresting the soul's that escape judgment. This concept is unlike anything else in theaters this summer, making the film's originality stand out from the crowd of sequels.

Heavy on Humor
For a film focused on death, Bridges and Reynolds sure do bring the funny. Sure, it's a dark style of humor, but Bridges is clearly enjoying his turn as a character that seems a bit like the bombastic cousin of "True Grit" character Rooster Cogburn. Reynolds employs his should-be-trademarked incredulous stare well here, casting a suspicious eye to all of the over-the-top proceedings. The trailer has as many sight gags and witty one-liners as it does escaped souls.

Effects Extravaganza
The film's likely to draw comparisons to "Men in Black," another film focused on an unknown peace-keeping unit. But whereas the men in black hunted rogue aliens with inhuman features, the R.I.P.D. come face to face with fugitives who just look a bit left of human. With elongated mouths, hulking forearms ...

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Wiz Khalifa, Curren$y Give <i>Live In Concert</i> A Smoking 4/20 Release Day

Rap's Cheech and Chong is ready for a reunion. Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y hopped online on Wednesday and announced that their long-awaited, collaborative project Live in Concert will be released for free online on April 20, the unofficial stoner holiday.

"We've been talking about Live in Concert for a year now," Curren$y said while on a live YouTube stream. The tape that was originally supposed to drop on August 9, 2012, but has been delayed due to sample clearance issues. "There were some hurdles, a little red tape we had to cut through in the music business that happens to keep us from getting sued."

Staying true to form, the duo, who released their first collabo tape How Fly in 2009, smoked weed throughout the 16-minute broadcast and even treated fans to a tag-team rendition of Max B's "Porno Music."

After their expletive-filled rap, Spitta joked about losing sponsorship dollars, an obvious poke at the Rick Ross/Reebok ordeal. "I'm probably gonna lose my Sea World endorsement. I just signed a $20 million deal with them," he said in jest.

Last July, Curren$y visited and told show host Sway Calloway that the seven-song project was completed over the course of two days and they got as creative as they wanted to be.

"When me and [Wiz] work, there is never a structure to it," he said. "So, some stuff might be 11 minutes, some songs might be 30 seconds. But in that 30 seconds, you would've got like two hours' worth of game."

What is your favorite Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y ...

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Justin Timberlake Will ‘Create More Music’ For <i>20/20 Experience</i> Sequel

Considering all the fervor over part one of Justin Timberlake's million-plus-seller The 20/20 Experience, fans are surely counting down the days until they get another new album from him.

While this current release has only been out for a month, producer and Timbaland protégé J-Roc is offering up some key details about what's next for the former boy bander. The album will borrow some from Timberlake's 20/20 recording sessions, but spankin' new music is also definitely in the works.

"Before we came to the 10 [songs] that he wanted and the two bonus tracks, we had over 30, 40 tracks," he opened up to Billboard about the release, slated to hit retailers in November. "So I think he's going to go in, and we're going to take some of the stuff that we've already done, and of course create more music at the same time."

In fact, not all of this current set of 20/20 tunes are from recording sessions designated for the album. Timberlake's current single, "Mirrors," was already in the works back in 2009, eventually making its way onto 20/20, but with a new feel to it. "We segued each piece to go into another song, so if you were to break it up, that second part of 'Mirrors' is like a song by itself," he revealed. "Once we got all the songs that [Timberlake] knew he wanted on this album, then that's when we began to tie everything together, and the second part just fell in order."

Timberlake is set to hit the road with his ...

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‘American Idol’ Report Card: Candice Glover Holds Strong, Angie Miller Moves Up

Another week of double duty on as the remaining five females performed a song from the year they were born and a tune from the diva of their choice. This, of course, made for a night that had us feeling unspeakably old (seriously, people born in 1994 are doing things now?!?) and left us with a serious Mariah Carey hangover, as a full 40 percent of the performers chose a song of hers to sing.

Still, Wednesday also gave us a few memorable moments ... and we're not just talking about the Nicki/Mariah meltdown, either. The usual favorites delivered the goods, but there was a rather dramatic reshuffling atop the leaderboard, and, as we head into the home stretch of season 12, the pressure is starting to build.

So, with just weeks left in the competition, who continued their march to the title? And whose "Idol" journey may be coming to a close? Here's our "American Idol" Report Card.

Candice Glover: We learned from her father that she's apparently "a great wrestler," which is fitting, considering she's basically had this competition in a Camel Clutch for weeks now. Last night, she put a jazzy, coffee-house spin on Paula Abdul's "Straight Up," which was solid in spots — not to mention as controlled and effortless as ever — but didn't really seem to go anywhere, an opinion I apparently share only with Jimmy Iovine (so take that for what it's worth). Of course, she more than rebounded with her second performance, positively slaying the Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston duet "When You ...

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Jay-Z Praised By New York Mayor Bloomberg In <i>Time</i> Cover Story

It's politics as usual for Jay-Z. In a week where the rap icon and celebrity mogul indirectly drew a response from President Barack Obama, Hov was saluted by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a Time cover story.

Hov was one of seven celebrities to cover Time for its Most Influential People in the World issue.

"Jay-Z embodies so much of what makes New York New York," Bloomberg opened, toasting Jigga's rise from Marcy Housing Projects in Brooklyn. "When no one would sign him to a record contract, he created his own label and built a music empire — before going on to design clothing lines, open sports bars and, most recently, represent professional athletes."

The 2013 incarnation of Time's annual list is marked by seven different covers. Paul Rand, Aamir Khan, Jennifer Lawrence, Malala Yousafzai, Elon Musk, Li Na all share the honor alongside Hov.

This isn't the first time Jay made the list. Back in 2005 he was profiled in the mag's section alongside Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs. Hov even went on to rap about it in his Hot 97 "Grammy Family Freestyle." "Time's most influential was impressive/ 'Specially since I wasn't in the artist section/ Had me with the builders and the titans, had me right with Rupert Murdoch/ Billionaire boys and some dudes you never heard of," he rapped.

In an interview earlier this week with the "Today" show that quickly went viral, President Obama fielded a question about Jay and Beyoncé's recent trip to Cuba. On his recent track "Open Letter," Jigga claimed ...

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Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ Gets Very Specific Release Date

Daft Punk's phabulous, Pharrell-assisted "Get Lucky" has leaked roughly a thousand times over the past week, with fans taking it upon themselves to stitch together snippets from the dynamic duo's Coachella album teaser, myriad of "Saturday Night Live" spots, and "Creators Project" interviews, then attempted to pass the end result off as the real deal.

Of course, most folks haven't been fooled ... though things reached a head on Wednesday, when a radio edit of the song — supposedly broadcast by a Dutch radio station — began making the rounds, and, with its added lyrics, and improved audio quality (Nile Rodgers's guitars sound awesome), well, it certainly seemed legit.

MTV News attempted to verify the leak with a spokesperson for Daft Punk's label, Columbia Records, but received a firm "no comment," though, a second source confirmed it was, in fact, the genuine radio edit of the single (and yes, things are so super-secretive when it comes to Daft Punk's Random Access Memories album that we're relying on anonymous sources).

However, that same spokesperson for Columbia did confirm one bit of conjecture: "Get Lucky" will be made available for download at exactly 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday (April 19), meaning that, in less than 14 hours, you'll finally know if that version you've been listening to is legit.

Meanwhile, Random Access Memories is due on May 21, which is still like five weeks away. Pace yourself, kids.

Do you love Daft Punk's "Get Lucky?" Let us know in the comments below.

...

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Jonas Brothers Live Tour: Coming To A Theater Near You?

After a three-year hiatus, the Jonas Brothers are officially back! Still reeling off their peppy new single, "Pom Poms," Nick, Kevin and Joe are looking ahead to their upcoming 25-city North American tour, kicking off in July.

Flanked by their biggest fans and Columbia University's cheerleading squad, the trio stopped by MTV News on Wednesday for where they opened up about the upcoming Jonas Brothers Live Tour.

"We always try to make each show a little bit different," Joe said. "If you want to get a van and trailer and follow us, then I hope you have gas money. It's going to be really fun. We are going to do something different every night and if you've seen any of our concerts before, we like to do a lot of cool visual stuff; whether it's a video content or just the staging, we've come up with a lot of ideas."

JoBro fans are in for a treat since they are hitting the road a few months before their yet-untitled fifth album hits stores, meaning they'll testing out "a lot of new music."

"It's one of those things that right when you write a song you want to perform it in front of people," Joe said. "So you can see the reaction and watch them hopefully fall in love with the song like that you did and then you learn what song is their favorite or maybe that they hate."

The brothers went on to describe their onstage reunion as "natural" and are now even toying with the idea of turning their tour ...

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Kristen Stewart Drops Out Of ‘Focus;’ Will Smith May Step In

Kristen Stewart is no longer in The actress has dropped out of the con-man project months after her leading man, Ben Affleck, abandoned the movie.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stewart had exited it weeks ago. With her and Affleck both out, Will Smith is now reportedly in talks to step in to play the film's seasoned con man.

The film, the latest from "Crazy, Stupid, Love" directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, revolves around a veteran grifter who falls for his rookie con woman. When they head to Buenos Aires to pull off a scam, he's greeted by a former flame. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" duo Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were originally intended for the leading roles, but also couldn't make it happen.

MTV News spoke to Stewart last December, while she was out promoting "On the Road," and she shared that she wanted to try to fit a project in before but wasn't sure she could make it happen. She added, "I mean, it's a really good story. I know the other day, the only thing I've said about it is that it's a comedy. It's like, 'OK, expect to laugh [and] expect [it] to be so funny,' but I find it so funny."

Weeks later, Affleck opened up to us about his decision to leave the project, opting for another film, "Live by Night." But, he had high praise for Stewart, "I was really excited to work with her. I think the movie is going to be fabulous. I'm sure they'll find a great ...

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