The 2012 MTV Movie Awards Preview

May 30, 2012

jmunney Awards Shows, Cinema, MTV Movie Awards, Television Leave a comment

The 2012 MTV Movie Awards are airing on Sunday, June 3, at 9 PM (8 Central!), and guess what?  Twilight ain’t gonna dominate this year.  It’s simple math: even if it wins every category it’s nominated in, that will result in a grand total of two wins.  So, we’ve got a one-year reprieve from the Twilight awards, as this year the moonmen look to be dominated by the new based-on-a-YA-novel-series in town.  Katniss has taken her aim on the MTV generation, so here is a will win/should win breakdown of the 2012 Hunger Games awards.

Best Movie
Bridesmaids
The Hunger Games
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
The Help
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Will Win: Don’t let Twilight‘s general lack of nominations fool you – Twihards are still insane, so it may yet still pull out four in a row.  But most signs point to the newer and more unanimously beloved Hunger Games.
Should Win: Bridesmaids was seriously funny, and seriously meaningful.

Best Male Performance
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Drive
Josh Hutcherson, The Hunger Games
Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Channing Tatum, The Vow
Will Win: Josh Hutcherson – he was in The Hunger Games.
Should Win: An actor like Ryan Gosling only comes around once – if at all – a generation.

Best Female Performance
Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Emma Stone, Crazy, Stupid, Love
Emma Watson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Will Win: Jennifer Lawrence is more beloved than Kristen Stewart ever was.
Should Win: Kristen Wiig wasn’t afraid to go to unflattering places.

Breakthrough Performance
Elle Fanning, Super 8
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Liam Hemsworth, The Hunger Games
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
Will and Should Win: This category is not determined by viewer voting, so the award may just go to the most deserving nom – Melissa McCarthy, the name we couldn’t stop talking about in 2011, after not talking about her very much in 2010 or before.

Best Comedic Performance
Oliver Cooper, Project X
Zach Galifiankis, The Hangover Part II
Jonah Hill, 21 Jump Street
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Will and Should Win: MTV voters may or may not recognize Melissa McCarthy as the breakout act that she was, but I’m pretty sure they will recognize how funny she was.

Best Music
“Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO, 21 Jump St
“A Real Hero” by College with Electric Youth, Drive
“The Devil is in the Details” by The Chemical Brothers, Hanna
“IMpossible” by Figurine, Like Crazy
“Pursuit of Happiness” by Kid Cudi (Steve Aoki remix), Project X
Will Win: “Party Rock Anthem” wins by default, as the most popular of these songs, in the most popular of the movies in this category, despite not being featured very prominently.
Should Win: “A Real Hero” – the synth-heavy, atmospheric soundtrack was the best part of Drive.

Best On-Screen Transformation
Elizabeth Banks, The Hunger Games
Johnny Depp, 21 Jump Street
Colin Farrell, Horrible Bosses
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Will and Should Win: Elizabeth Banks was hardly recognizable – and she was in The Hunger Games.

Best Gut-Wrenching Performance
Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Ellie Kemper, Bridesmaids
Ryan Gosling, Drive
Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Bryce Dallas Howard, The Help
Jonah Hill and Rob Riggle, 21 Jump Street
Will and Should Win: If voters saw Bridesmaids, that moment was etched upon their memories forever.

Best Kiss
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, Crazy, Stupid, Love
Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, The Hunger Games
Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1
Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams, The Vow
Will Win: In any other year, Gosling-Stone would be the easy favorite.  The long-awaited Watson-Grint kiss can’t be counted out either.  Lawrence-Hutcherson must be considered because it’s The Hunger Games and all.  But, of course, RPatz-KStew have won the last three years running.  But I’m going to go a bit out on a limb and say that Tatum-McAdams may pull this one off, having kissed in the love story to end all love stories.
Should Win: Gosling and Stone were very cute together.

Best Fight
Daniel Radcliffe vs. Ralph Fiennes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson vs. Alexander Ludwig, The Hunger Games
Tom Cruise vs. Michael Nyqvist, Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill vs. the Kid Gang, 21 Jump Street
Joel Edgerton vs. Tom Hardy, Warrior
Will Win: The ultimate Harry Potter-Voldemort showdown may have a chance, as I’m not sure The Hunger Games will dominate completely, but let’s stick with the final tributes.
Should Win: You usually don’t feel for both combatants in fighting movies the way you did for Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy.

Best Cast
Bridesmaids
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
The Help
The Hunger Games
21 Jump Street
Will Win: No way this doesn’t go to The Hunger Games.
Should Win: 2011 was the year of the woman, and Bridesmaids was no small contributor.

Best On-Screen Dirt Bag
Jennifer Aniston, Horrible Bosses
Oliver Cooper, Project X
Colin Farrell, Horrible Bosses
Jon Hamm, Bridesmaids
Bryce Dallas Howard, The Help
Will Win: Anna Kendrick won Breakthrough Performance a couple years back for Up in the Air, but it was really essentially for Twilight.  Bryce Dallas Howard might benefit from Twihards, but she may have been good enough on her own anyway.
Should Win: Considering the context, Colin Farrell was unbelievably psychotic, and also entertaining.

Best Hero
Chris Evans, Captain America: The First Avenger
Chris Hemsworth, Thor
Jonah Hill, 21 Jump St.
Jennifer Lawrence, The Hunger Games
Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Will Win: Voting in this category is done by tweeting.  I can’t tell you how that will affect the results, but I can tell you that Harry Potter currently has nearly twice as many votes as Katniss.
Should Win: Captain America, Thor, Katniss Everdeen, and Harry Potter are all iconic; Jenko – not so much. Chris Hemsworth as Thor gets my vote for being perfect for that role, while the others weren’t quite perfect.

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 5/29/12

May 30, 2012

jmunney Fuse Top 20 Countdown, Music, Television Leave a comment

Okay … so “Payphone” is going to make an impact on the countdown.

Original Version
1. Gotye – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
2. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
3. Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa – “Payphone”
4. Flo Rida ft. Sia – “Wild Ones”
5. fun. ft. Janelle Monáe – “We Are Young”
6. Jay Sean ft. Pitbull – “I’m All Yours”
7. One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful”
8. Justin Bieber – “Boyfriend”
9. Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull – “Dance Again”
10. Nicki Minaj – “Starships”
11. Rita Ora – “How We Do (Party)”
12. Train – “Drive By”
13. Pitbull – “Back in Time”
14. Rihanna – “Where Have You Been”
15. The Wanted – “Glad You Came”
16. Jason Mraz – “I Won’t Give Up”
17. Ellie Goulding – “Lights”
18. Nicki Minaj ft. Chris Brown – “Right By My Side”
19. Calvin Harris – “Feel So Close”
20. David Guetta ft. Sia – “Titanium”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Somebody That I Used to Know
2. Feel So Close
3. Starships
4. Titanium
5. Lights
6. We Are Young
7. Where Have You Been
8. Call Me Maybe
9. Wild Ones
10. Back in Time
11. How We Do (Party)
12. Boyfriend
13. Right By My Side
14. Payphone
15. What Makes You Beautiful
16. Glad You Came
17. Dance Again
18. Drive By
19. I’m All Yours
20. I Won’t Give Up

Best Episodes of the 2011-2012 Television Season: Prologue

May 29, 2012

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The 2011-2012 televsion season has officially ended, and I know you have all been waiting with bated breath for my selections of the best episodes of the year for each particular show.  Rest assured, you will be sated soon.

On tap this year, in alphabetical order, are: American Dad!, Archer, Awake, Beavis and Butt-head, The Big Bang Theory, Bob’s Burgers, The Cleveland Show, Community, Desperate Housewives, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, Family Guy, Fringe, Futurama, Glee, Gossip Girl, Happy Endings, How I Met Your Mother, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Key & Peele, The Middle, Modern Family, Napoleon Dynamite, New Girl, The Office, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, Raising Hope, Saturday Night Live, The Secret Circle, The Simpsons, Suburgatory, 30 Rock, Up All Night, and The Walking Dead.  And if I can manage to watch every episode of Girls (HBOOOOOO!!!) by its season finale date of June 17, you can add Lena Dunham and Co. to the mix.

For the record, I was a regular viewer of 2 Broke Girls, but I gave up on it about halfway through the season, and I also watched all 7 episodes of the entire series of Allen Gregory, but I will not be covering that show, as it was horrible.

Accompanying the best episode write-ups this year will be brief overall season analyses.

As per usual, I will post in chronological order, according to when each show aired its season finale, so Futurama is up first.

Jmunney’s Saturday Night Live Season 37 Host and Musical Guest Predictions – Results

May 28, 2012

jmunney Saturday Night Live, Television Leave a comment

For SNL 2011-2012, I correctly predicted half of the season’s 22 hosts and slightly more than a third – 8 – of the year’s musical guests.  I fared much better in the first half of the season as I was right on for 8 of the 10 hosts through December and 7 of those first 10 MG’s.  With the musical guests especially, it was particularly a limp along to the finish, as Bon Iver was the only act who performed in 2012 who I targeted with my crystal ball.  (In fairness, I had never heard of Lana Del Rey, Karmin, One Direction, or Gotye until well after I made my predictions in September.)  Despite that weak sauce finish, I am satisfied with a 43% success rate and that particularly strong first half.  I was most disappointed in my missing Zooey Deschanel and Maya Rudolph, and most enthused about being right on with Lindsay Lohan.  A breakdown of my makes and misses follows.

Hosts I Predicted:
Alec Baldwin
Melissa McCarthy
Ben Stiller
Anna Faris
Emma Stone
Jason Segel
Katy Perry
Jimmy Fallon
Daniel Radcliffe
Lindsay Lohan
Sofia Vergara
Musical Guests I Predicted:
Radiohead
Lady Antebellum
Foster the People
Drake
Coldplay
The Black Keys
Michael Bublé
Bon Iver

Hosts I Missed:
Charlie Day
Steve Buscemi
Charles Barkley
Channing Tatum
Zooey Deschanel
Maya Rudolph
Jonah Hill
Josh Brolin
Eli Manning
Will Ferrell
Mick Jagger
Musical Guests I Missed:
Maroon 5
Florence + the Machine
Robyn
Kelly Clarkson
Lana Del Rey
Karmin
Sleigh Bells
Jack White
The Shins
One Direction
Gotye
Rihanna
Usher
Mick Jagger

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 5/26/12

May 26, 2012

jmunney Music, Television, VH1 Top 20 Countdown Leave a comment

Is Ed Sheeran a Muppet?

Original Version
1. Gotye ft. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
2. Train – “Drive By”
3. fun. ft. Janelle Monáe – “We Are Young”
4. Jason Mraz – “I Won’t Give Up”
5. Calvin Harris – “Feel So Close”
6. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
7. Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull – “Dance Again”
8. Andy Grammer – “Fine By Me”
9. Karmin – “Brokenhearted”
10. Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa – “Payphone”
11. Katy Perry – “Part of Me”
12. Daughtry – “Outta My Head”
13. Ellie Goulding – “Lights”
14. Neon Trees – “Everybody Talks”
15. Nickelback – “Lullaby”
16. Nicki Minaj – “Starships”
17. John Mayer – “Shadow Days”
18. Gavin DeGraw – “Sweeter”
19. Ed Sheeran – “The A Team”
20. Carrie Underwood – “Good Girl”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Somebody That I Used to Know
2. Feel So Close
3. Starships
4. Lights
5. Good Girl
6. We Are Young
7. Brokenhearted
8. Call Me Maybe
9. Part of Me
10. Sweeter
11. Everybody Talks
12. Payphone
13. Dance Again
14. Shadow Days
15. The A Team
16. Drive By
17. Outta My Head
18. Fine By Me
19. Lullaby
20. I Won’t Give Up

Fuse Top 20 Countdown – 5/22/12

May 23, 2012

jmunney Fuse Top 20 Countdown, Music, Television Leave a comment

Why did “Payphone” premiere-then-disappear?

Original Version
1. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
2. Flo Rida ft. Sia – “Wild Ones”
3. Gotye ft. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
4. One Direction – “What Makes You Beautiful”
5. Nicki Minaj – “Starships”
6. The Wanted – “Glad You Came”
7. fun. ft. Janelle Monáe – “We Are Young”
8. Train – “Drive By”
9. Calvin Harris – “Feel So Close”
10. Pitbull – “Back in Time”
11. Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull – “Dance Again”
12. Karmin – “Brokenhearted”
13. B.o.B – “So Good”
14. Katy Perry – “Part of Me”
15. Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
16. Rihanna – “Where Have You Been”
17. Neon Trees – “Everybody Talks”
18. Jason Mraz – “I Won’t Give Up”
19. Drake ft. Rihanna – “Take Care”
20. Ellie Goulding – “Lights”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Somebody That I Used to Know
2. Feel So Close
3. Take Care
4. Starships
5. Lights
6. We Are Young
7. Where Have You Been
8. Wild Ones
9. Back in Time
10. Brokenhearted
11. Call Me Maybe
12. Part of Me
13. Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)
14. So Good
15. Everybody Talks
16. What Makes You Beautiful
17. Glad You Came
18. Dance Again
19. Drive By
20. I Won’t Give Up

SNL Season Finale Video Recap May 19, 2012: Mick Jagger

May 22, 2012

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SNL Season Finale Recap May 19, 2012: Mick Jagger

May 20, 2012

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Cold Opening – The Lawrence Welk Show
I will usually make note – if not outright criticize – a recurring sketch when we know exactly where it is going, but I will often concede that there may be audience members who are seeing this sketch for the first time and will find it perfectly amusing, having no idea about the repetition. But the Lawrence Welk Show sketches are so popular by now that I think most viewers knew what was coming. Luckily, Jon Hamm was fully committed to his unusual character, and Wiig went even further than she usually does, getting a little too close for comfort with Hamm and that statue fountain. And it actually ended with Dooneese hooking up with the male singer, so that was different. B

Mick Jagger’s Monologue
It looks like Mick Jagger. Let’s not kick him to the curb. Simply put, Mick seemed to just be himself for the monologue.  His answers to those FAQ’s weren’t hilarious, but they felt like a fun conversation. It’s nice to know that Mick’s cognitive faculties are still intact, as that has not always been clear during his performances the last few years. B+

More

VH1 Top 20 Countdown – 5/19/12

May 19, 2012

jmunney Music, Television, VH1 Top 20 Countdown Leave a comment

FUSE and VH1 had the same #1’s this week. Whatever that means.

Original Version
1. Gotye ft. Kimbra – “Somebody That I Used to Know”
2. fun. ft. Janelle Monáe – “We Are Young”
3. Calvin Harris – “Feel So Close”
4. Jennifer Lopez ft. Pitbull – “Dance Again”
5. Train – “Drive By”
6. Andy Grammer – “Fine By Me”
7. Jason Mraz – “I Won’t Give Up”
8. Karmin – “Brokenhearted”
9. Katy Perry – “Part of Me”
10. Nickelback – “Lullaby”
11. B.o.B – “So Good”
12. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”
13. Daughtry – “Outta My Head”
14. Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa – “Payphone”
15. Gavin DeGraw – “Sweeter”
16. Neon Trees – “Everybody Talks”
17. Ellie Goulding – “Lights”
18. Nicki Minaj – “Starships”
19. John Mayer – “Shadow Days”
20. Ed Sheeran – “The A Team”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Somebody That I Used to Know
2. Feel So Close
3. Starships
4. Lights
5. We Are Young
6. Brokenhearted
7. Call Me Maybe
8. Part of Me
9. Sweeter
10. Everybody Talks
11. So Good
12. Payphone
13. Dance Again
14. The A Team
15. Shadow Days
16. Drive By
17. Outta My Head
18. Fine By Me
19. Lullaby
20. I Won’t Give Up

SNL Video Recap May 12, 2012: Will Ferrell/Usher

May 16, 2012

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Leave a comment

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