Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon And More 2011 Movie Pairs

Brad Pitt & Jonah Hill and Johnny Depp & Penelope Cruz also will team up onscreen this year.
By Eric Ditzian


Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon in "Water for Elephants"
Photo: 20th Century Fox

As frigid temperatures and frozen banks of filthy snow have taken hold outside the MTV News offices in Times Square, we've been warming ourselves with thoughts of what's to come at the multiplex in 2011, where heavy doses of buttered popcorn and Sno-caps will keep us content all year round.

In the months to come, we'll take in a series of films featuring highly anticipated twosomes, some romantic and others platonic, some heavy on explosive laughs, and others featuring heavy explosions. Here are our picks for the big-screen pairings we're most looking forward to checking out this year:

Robert Pattinson & Reese Witherspoon in "Water for Elephants"
Sure, RPattz will once again share the screen opposite Kristen Stewart in 2011, but he's been mining the same limited "Twilight" material for a while now, and we're keen to see how he manages when his character has more emotional motivation than simply protecting his beloved.

While we enjoyed his turn in last year's romantic drama "Remember Me," a performance opposite the Oscar-winning Witherspoon in "Elephants" will mark Pattinson's biggest opportunity yet to establish himself as a formidable talent.

The first trailer mostly showcased RPattz in smoldering default mode. Can the 24-year-old Brit step it up? Can his chemistry with Witherspoon begin to compare, in fan's eyes, with the Bella-Edward-Jacob love triangle? Answers will arrive with the film's release in April.

Brad Pitt & Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
At first glance, we'll admit, this seems like an odd match. But consider: Hill is just beginning to scratch the surface of his acting range, as his deeply strange and strangely affecting turn in "Cyrus" made clear. Pitt, meanwhile, is a proven comedic talent.

The two play fast-talking, ego-heavy execs for the Oakland A's. With a dramatic, real-life story line about the hard-scrabble, small-market ball club and a script that got a makeover from dialogue whiz Aaron Sorkin, "Moneyball" has the perfect framework for a memorable dynamic between Pitt and Hill.

Shia LaBeouf & Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
One can hardly call what LaBeouf and Megan Fox shared onscreen in two "Transformers" flicks "magical," so LaBeouf and Huntington-Whiteley's pairing in "Dark of the Moon" won't be a case of recapturing cinematic gold. Yet the comparisons will be inevitable, even if Michael Bay's directing for his leading "Transformers" ladies seems to begin and end with, "Look hot!"

We look forward to seeing how LaBeouf and Huntington-Whiteley play off each other, one a savvy vet of Spielberg and Stone movies, the other a Victoria's Secret model making her big-screen debut.

Johnny Depp & Penelope Cruz in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"
Jack Sparrow's adventures on the high seas have usually taken precedence over his adventures in the bedroom. "On Stranger Tides" could well change all that.

With Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley out of the picture, the head-butting between Depp's Captain Jack and Cruz's swashbuckling beauty will take center stage. Are we ready to see the softer side of the dreadlocked pirate?

Simon Pegg & Nick Frost in "Paul"
Has it really been almost four years since these comedic pals were onscreen together in "Hot Fuzz"? Any time the British funnymen get together, we'll be first in line for a ticket. This year will bring them back for a third cinematic turn, following "Fuzz" and 2004's "Shaun of the Dead."

"Paul" is a sci-fi comedy in which Pegg and Frost play conspiracy-minded friends on a road trip to a purported alien-landing sight, where — much to their surprise — they actually discover an alien. Frost and Pegg excel when challenging themselves with such high-concept comedic obstacles, and if the film's trailers are any indication, they've got another winner on their hands.

Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo"
The role of troubled hacker Lisbeth Salander was one of the most coveted in Hollywood last year until Mara, a relative unknown, won the part. She'll star opposite Craig, who plays journalist (and Salander's love interest) Mikael Blomkvist.

The "Tattoo" stars have a lot to live up to: The book on which the film is based was a best-seller across the globe, and the Swedish adaptation has garnered plaudits from critics and audiences alike. But we've got high hopes: David Fincher is in the director's chair, and the story line sizzles with emotional stakes and high-tension plot twists.

Which onscreen pairing are you most looking forward to in 2011? Tell us your pick in the comments below!

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Dear Wendy: "I Got Dumped. Should I MOA?"

Dear Wendy Logo

My boyfriend of seven months broke up with me last week. He made it clear that no part of the breakup was my fault, that he still loved me, but did not think he was capable of being in a relationship. He is in the process of getting divorced. His wife of one year, whom he had dated for nearly a decade, left him for a man 10 years her junior during a rough period of my guy's life. He had just lost two people very close to him. We started dating fairly early in his separation and he thinks he didn't have time to properly heal. When breaking up, he told me he sees a real chance for us in the future and isn't planning on dating anyone else right now, though he knows it's unfair to expect the same from me. He said the pressure of a relationship is holding him back from getting past certain problems in his life and completely healing from the divorce. (Also, there is no chance he is having second thoughts about his divorce.) He insists he wants to remain close and since the breakup, we still talk daily and have made plans to hang out tomorrow (I refuse to be intimate with him while broken up). I want to believe him but the people around me (who haven't met him) seem to think this is just a thing guys say when they want out or to date other people but still keep a woman in tow. A part of me feels like if I was really worth it to him, he would have fought more. Am I being too naive? Is this a MOA situation? — Cautiously Optimistic

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The Simpson Sisters Hit The Streets Of NYC With Their Significant Others

Jessica Simpson and her new beau, Eric Johnson, were spotted as they left their hotel in NYC this afternoon. Another day, another outfit for Jessica. What do you think of this one? My only thought is that maybe she could of went with a solid color for her bag. The animal print sorta clashes with the floral print of her blouse. Those boots are HOT!Also caught leaving the same hotel were Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and her hubby Pete Wentz, along with their son, Bronx Mowgli. These shots of Ashlee were taken at different times today because in one shot she's wearing flip flops and a fedora, but in the other pics she has on some animal print shoes and a leather jacket. What do you think of Ashlee's casual style?Photos by INF Continue reading

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Usher, Ke$ha And More Help Dance Music Go Pop In 2010

But is it here to stay? Our music-industry experts weigh in.
By Akshay Bhansali


Ke$ha
Photo: Andreas Rentz/ Getty Images

In 2010, pop princesses, R&B icons and chart-dominating newcomers all danced to the same beat. Not only did dance music go pop, but pop music caught the club-music bug.

Between Katy Perry's "Firework," Ke$ha's "We R Who We R," Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)," Enrique Iglesias' "I Like It," Usher's "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" and "OMG" and countless other singles, established artists definitely looked to dance beats for surefire hits. And two of this year's biggest success stories in music were Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz; could there be a soul left in this country who hasn't heard "Dynamite" or "In My Head"?

The love went both ways, with dance music's biggest stars finding mainstream success this year. Dance-music maestro deadmau5 took up house-artist duties at this year's VMAs, and Swedish House Mafia and Usher teamed up for a medley of their gems at the American Music Awards.

So how did this happen? We caught up with some music-industry experts to get their takes.

"You definitely saw tempos go up this year," Jon Caramanica of The New York Times told MTV News. "And I think what you had are a lot of producers who are really familiar with nightclub stuff. They are familiar with Europe. Things are happening on a more global scale now."

"I think everything from Europe, and sometimes even Asia, it comes to America, and we just adopt things a little bit slower," said Jared Eng of JustJared.com. "I think it was just a change. People like different types of music at different times. And dance was of this moment."

Noah Callahan of Complex magazine added: "I think 2010 saw the merging of the pop and dance genres. Pop artists realized that there were best practices that could be borrowed from dance music. And, ultimately, [all] pop music that has been made in the past 20 years had ended up being remixed for the club by dance artists. I think they basically just cut out the middleman and went straight there."

Dance music being introduced into the hip-hop and R&B realms was particularly notable this year.

"I think David Guetta kind of at the end of last year and the beginning of this year spearheaded it," said freelance writer Julianne Escobedo Shepherd. "He produced a lot of tracks. I think as trends go, people revile 'unst-unst.' But it's just coming back around. Big-room techno was a way for people to get decadent in a year that no one could get decadent."

"You have someone like will.i.am, who's like, 'Well, I spent all this time in Ibiza, and this is what they are doing,' and he wants to find a way to bring that into his music," Caramanica said of the Black Eyed Peas mastermind. "R&B especially became dance music. And especially with your Jason Derülos, Taio Cruzes. Guys like that would have literally been blocked at the border two years ago. That would not have made it through customs. And now all of a sudden they have #1 songs. I think will.i.am had a lot to do with that last year."

Elliott Wilson of RapRadar.com added: "It's actually even affected hip-hop. I was talking to Q-Tip, and his next record, I feel like that's gonna kind of go in that vein. I know that was also Jay-Z's thought process with Blueprint 3 at first, that he wanted to make a little bit more of a world music [vibe], a little more dancey. I think the kids today want to go to the clubs. They wanna have a good time. They wanna dance. So I think the artists of today are trying to kind of feed that audience."

"I think it's caught on this year because the people who've done it have been successful," offered Clover Hope of Vibe magazine. "Like 'OMG,' with usher, he didn't have success until he made a dance record. He had 'There Goes My Baby' and these really, like, adult-contemporary records that didn't really catch on. And then once you see that everybody is doing it and that people are liking it, they are like, 'OK, let me just try this out.' It's like Auto-Tune. Like, 'Let me see what I sound like on a record by David Guetta.' They end up liking it and doing more of it."

So does the club-music trend have staying power. According to our tastemakers, not so much.

"I do think it's a blip," Caramanica said. "I don't think that's gonna be something that lasts in America. I think this is gonna be a moment we'll all look back on and go, 'Wasn't that weird when Jason Derülo and Taio Cruz had #1 records?"

"At some point, these R&B artists will get kind of sick of it and be like, 'Let me go back to my soul background,' " Hope said. "When you actually have to say something, dance doesn't really lend itself to substance. And I think that R&B artists, they really want to talk about love and in a deep way, and to do that, you need to do, like, a soul or a traditional R&B record. I want to say that it's kind of a fad."

"I think music is very cyclical," Eng offered. "So I think dance music might be here for a little bit, but I'm sure it will phase out at some point."

Wilson called dance music "the sound of today. I think that people want more aggressive, faster beats, and I think that that probably has legs until at least next summer."

What do you think? Is dance music here to stay? Let us know in the comments!

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'The Bachelor' Recap: You Give Love a Brad Name

'The Bachelor' Recap: You Give Love a Brad Name

This season is only starting this very second but Chris Harrison tells us this is already one of the most shocking seasons in Bachelor history, because Brad Womack once upon a time told a couple of women that he didn't want to marry them. And then this Brad Womack guy tells us that after he sent the women off in the limousine, everything came crashing down like a ton of bricks, because he was alone.

And then he went back to his home in Hell or wherever he is from, and says that he only blames himself for being alone, and he watched the finale and says he looked like a jerk. And he tells us he has panic attacks, and he read all the blogs that called him "self-righteous" and "immature" and all sorts of other things that I guess we're all supposed to feel bad about nailing. "It solidified all of those doubts, and I hit rock bottom," he tells us. "Rock bottom" in this instance means sitting by a waterfall and staring soulfully into the middle distance.

CLICK TO READ THE FULL RECAP

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Golden Globes Tap Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Lopez As Presenters

Matt Damon will present the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime-achievement award to Robert De Niro during the January 16 awards show.
By Kara Warner


Robert Pattinson
Photo: Soul Brother/ FilmMagic

With the 68th annual Golden Globes a little more than a week away, it's time to find out what famous faces we'll be seeing onstage January 16 from the Beverly Hilton Hotel — in addition to the nominees, of course.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Tuesday (January 4) via Twitter the names of three presenters. The lucky lady and gentlemen are: new "American Idol" judge Jennifer Lopez, "Twilight" superstar Robert Pattinson and "True Grit" actor Matt Damon. It was not announced for which categories Lopez and Pattinson will present, but Damon will present the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime-achievement award to Robert De Niro.

The annual event, which is one of the few awards shows to recognize achievements in both television and film, is always a star-studded affair. Katie Holmes, Blair Underwood and Josh Duhamel announced the nominations back in December, which singled out "The King's Speech," starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter, with seven nods in categories including Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director. "Black Swan" and "The Social Network" were the next most-nominated films, with four nods each. Many critics agreed that the most surprising nominations went to Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie for the "The Tourist," which received lukewarm reviews.

In the world of television, "Glee" was once again the most-nominated TV series, followed by critical darlings and award favorites "30 Rock" and "Mad Men."

The 68th annual Golden Globe Awards will air live Sunday, January 16, at 8 p.m. ET, hosted by awards-show scene stealer and "Office" creator Ricky Gervais.

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Justin Bieber's 2011 Wish List Includes Grammy Win, Haircut

'If I win a Grammy that would be awesome,' the teen pop sensation tells MTV News.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Mawuse Ziegbe


Justin Bieber
Photo: Chris McKay/ Getty Images

Justin Bieber had a huge 2010, and the well-coifed teen star seems poised to have an even bigger 2011. Along with his "Never Say Never" movie set for a February release, an album in the works, more touring and perhaps more canoodling with Selena Gomez, Bieber has a big goal on his docket: to take home one of the biggest prizes in the music industry — a Grammy.

"This year, I mean, I hope that I win a Grammy, 'cause I'm up for two," he told MTV News. "So if I win a Grammy that would be awesome."

Of course, Bieber isn't expecting anything at the big awards show this February. Like most nominees, he says he's just honored to have been recognized for his work. "Even if I didn't win anything, I would still be happy because I was nominated, and that's pretty big in itself," he explained. "It's gonna be big. The Grammys are definitely something I've looked forward to, so this year's going to be definitely really big."

So, what other big plans does Bieber have in store for the recently launched New Year? Brace yourselves, Beliebers. It has something to do with his hair. "I think after my movie I might cut my hair a little shorter," he admitted.

Last week, as the year came to a close, Bieber tweeted about his action-packed 2010. "Chillin and happy. Its been a fun year with a lot of blessings," he wrote. "Some crazy rumors but so much love and memories. We r just gettin started!! So enjoy the holidays. Get crazy and have some laughs. Life is too short. At least that is what they tell me. #newyearsIsComin"

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