Jimmy Carter on Argo

Former US President Jimmy Carter, who served when the events that inspired Argo occurred, gives his 2 cents on the Oscar winner (note: best to see this only if you've seen the film).

2013 Oscars Wrap-Up...in GIFS

In case you missed the ceremony...

More here at MTV Movies Blog.

Roasting the Nominees

With the Oscars a few days away and media and industry buzz going off the charts, sometimes a fresh perspective is necessary to balance out all the noise. Especially if it's coming from the inside, like this voter - an anonymous veteran director - who's shared his views on the nominees with The Hollywood Reporter. I really enjoyed his no-holds-barred cutting-through-the-bullshit tone; he isn't afraid to get nasty (Django Unchained is described as "Quentin Tarantino almost masturbating for three hours"), but mostly I found his thoughts fairly on the nose - he clearly knows what he's talking about. Or maybe like him, I just really want Zero Dark Thirty to win big...

Anatomy of a Trailer

By now moviegoers should be familiar with the generally hyperbolic audio-visual sensation offered by modern Hollywood trailers (i.e. increasingly fast-cutting of money shots set to loud booming music). But if you really want to get into the details of trailer analysis, New York Times have taken it a step further by breaking down the trailers for 5 of this year's 9 Best Picture Nominees into cleverly devised interactive graphs that show shot length and exactly where in the movie the clips are taken from. You can see some fascinating patterns emerging from the different approaches. Click here to read more. Very cool stuff.

Trailer: Mud

2012 was a fantastic year for Matthew McConaughey, having bounced back from a string of flops to something resembling credibility with memorable roles in films like Killer Joe, Magic Mike and Bernie. Jeff Nichols' Southern-set coming-of-age/crime-drama Mud seems to see him continuing on the up, playing an escaped con who gets involved with two teenagers. I'm getting strong A Perfect World vibes from this, which can be a good thing if played well. Nichols' Take Shelter was one of my favourite films of 2011, so I'm down for this, even if it's evidently more straightforward. Get a load of some Mud here:

Random Stuff #32

For the Star Wars Fan with Everything #25

An opportunity not missed.

Short Film: The Centrifuge Brain Project

This hysterical short film is best seen cold. I won't say anything except..."Gravity is a mistake". Totally safe for work so don't worry about your boss looking over your shoulder.

Fatso's Top 20 Most Popular Romance Movies

Time for another special occasion list... to mark Valentine's Day, here's our Top 20 most-rented films in the "Romance" genre (both Drama and Comedy included). I would've pegged The Notebook to be #1 but no, Michel Gondry's quirky Eternal Sunshine seems to be the romantic flick that's flown off our shelves the most!

1. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
2. The Notebook
3. Brokeback Mountain
4. The Holiday
5. Amelie
6. The 40 Year Old Virgin
7. Knocked Up
8. Music And Lyrics
9. Wedding Crashers
10. Closer
11. Atonement
12. The Lake House
13. Cold Mountain
14. Stranger Than Fiction
15. Love Actually
16. Failure To Launch
17. Hitch
18. Prime
19. The Break-Up
20. Second Hand Wedding

Breaking Out the TV Baby

It's a hard life for us TV fans. Deciding what to watch, when to watch, and who to watch it with. Sometime it's just too daunting to dive into a massive series - it's a HUGE commitment, and you gotta find the right time. If you know what I'm talking about, then this funny, well-acted sketch from College Humor, which smartly uses Breaking Bad as an example, will play like the gospel for you:

Meanwhile, because the Internet is great here's a cat dressed as Walter White:

Oh, also: Breaking Bad - Season 4 has just been confirmed for release on DVD and Blu-ray on 3rd April!

Trailer: Fast & Furious 6

Never thought I'd be getting all amped for another Fast and Furious movie, but after the unexpected delirious surprise that was Fast Five (best action movie of 2011 imho), I'm definitely eager to see what kind of mayhem returning director Justin Lin has in store for us. The minute-long trailer that premiered at the Super Bowl earlier this week definitely promises "bigger" and "more": planes, tanks (!) and The Rock telling us, "We've graduated to a whole new level". I might be alone in thinking this but the franchise is shaping up to be like the live-action, testosterone-pumped, petrol-head version of Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines. Ogle at some vehicular warfare here:

Animated Short: Paperman

If you caught Wreck It-Ralph at the movies, you would've probably been charmed by Paperman, a gorgeous animated short from John Kahrs and Walt Disney Animation Studios that harks back to the era of silent storytelling. But for those who missed it, it's now available to view on Youtube and totally worth six minutes of your day. The music swells a bit too much at the end for me, but that doesn't take away from the fact this is one of the most beautiful things Disney has produced lately and I hope to see more of this exquisite blend of hand-drawn and CGI animation from them in the future.