Sad news today, as word comes that stand-up comedian-turned-actor Bernie Mac has died of complications due to pneumonia. The 50-year-old had been hospitalized last week but had been expected to recover.

Mac had been active in Hollywood for nearly two decades, with a slate of stand-out roles in such films as the “Ocean’s Eleven” trilogy, “Bad Santa” and last year’s “Transformers.” He was also well-known for his Peabody-winning television series “The Bernie Mac Show.” Most recently, he had been working on a variety of current projects, including Samuel L. Jackson’s “Soul Men” and the comedy “Old Dogs” alongside John Travolta and Robin Williams.

Did you have a favorite Bernie Mac role? Personally, I’d vote for the negotiation scene in “Bad Santa” which still ranks as a favorite of mine (and you can’t understate his hilarious part in “House Party 3” either). I also recall fanboys getting up in arms over his casting in “Transformers” and then universally changing their minds when they actually saw his performance (a true testament to him that he could win over that frenzied crowd). Remember the star below.

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

This tragic news was unexpected to say the least. Comedian and actor Bernie Mac has passed away apparently from complications arising from pneumonia. CNN gives us this:

Comic actor Bernie Mac died early Saturday of complications from pneumonia, according to a family member and his publicist. He was 50. Bernie Mac Bernie Mac, 50, had been hospitalized in his hometown, Chicago, with pneumonia. He had been hospitalized in Chicago, Illinois, for more than a week with the lung infection.

Danica Smith, the comedian’s publicist, had said Thursday that Mac’s condition was “stable,” The Associated Press reported. “When I got the call this morning, it was just devastating news,” said Chicago Sun-Times columnist Stella Foster. “Let’s face it: Bernie Mac was one of a kind. He was the best of the best in terms of giving you a good laugh.” Smith previously said the pneumonia wasn’t related to sarcoidosis, a lung disease Mac had, which had been in remission since 2005, according to AP.

What a sad day. Mac was never my favorite comedian in the world, nor my favorite actor, but from all accounts he was a genuinely good human being who brought a lot of smiles and a lot of laughs to a lot of people throughout his career. To me he’ll always be the used car salesman who got punked by Bumblebee (come on… he was hilarious in Transformers!). Damn, I wasn’t even aware he was sick. Sad day.

[Source : The Movie Blog]

Hey there folks! Welcome to the Friday installment of The Movie Blog: Uncut. This episode was originally recorded live on Friday August 8th 2008. I am once again joined by special guest Kristopher Tapley (Variety Magazine’s “Red Carpet District” and Senior Editor of InContention.Com). Take off your shoes, kick back, relax and listen in as we discuss:

1) Pineapple Express/Superbad combo Sequel

2) Lethal Weapon 5?

3) Zach And Miri Make Porno Rated R

4) Questions and Comments from the live chat board

You can WATCH the show here:

You can listen to or download the audio only version here:

Subscribe to the podcast feed with this link

Or subscribe to the podcast via iTunes

[Source : The Movie Blog]

By Sabrina Rojas Weiss

First, an announcement: This week, the “Twilight” universe welcomed a new member to its family, and we’re pretty sure this one isn’t going to be drinking blood or causing a major political rift in the immortal world anytime soon. Larry Carroll’s wife Carrie gave birth to their son Jack on Thursday evening, and mom and baby are doing fine! Everybody send in your congratulations to the happy family here. And relax, most of your “Twilight” news will still be coming from Mr. Awesome, though you’ll also have to put up with some coverage from me and the rest of the MTV News team for the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, over at MTV.com, we have Stephenie Meyer’s reaction to the apparent backlash to “Breaking Dawn.” Personally, I hate to see people hurt her feelings so much. But everyone’s entitled to express their opinions, so please continue to do so.

Whether you loved or hated “BD,” I’m sure many of you are struggling with the same thing I am now that I’ve finished it: What do we do now? Other than read it again and read every scrap of news related to the movie while counting down the hours to December 12, I mean. I’m kind of in a daze now, constantly replaying the events of the entire series in my head over and over, and I’d like to snap out of it soon!

So what are you doing, Twilighters? Writing fan fic? Creating new Spunk Ransom blogs? Reading (gasp!) other books? Staring into the eyes of your newborn child? Let us know how you’re coping here!

[Source : MTV Movies Blog]

It is quite often that we get similar movies based on the same property released. Especially when that property is in the public domain. It looks like Millennium Films will be producing a new Hercules movie, and then we hear that Russian Bodybuilder Alexander Nevskyto will not only finance the $12million film, but he will also star.

Comingsoon Offers:

In a move reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s role as mythical strongman Conan the Barbarian, Nevsky will play the classic Roman hero adopted from Greek legend (where he’s called Heracles).

The last time I heard of this happening, and independent studio was making a War of the Worlds movie at the same time as the version starring Tom Cruise. I never heard what happened to the independent one.

I think it’s funny that Coming Soon makes mention of Arnie’s role in Conan as a parallel to this Russian hulk’s new project when in fact it was a Hercules Movie that Arnold first made his appearance. Then barely able to speak English Arnold played Hercules transported to modern day New York (and by modern I mean 1970) in Hercules in New York. Schwarzenegger’s lines were dubbed in.

So do you think this independent Hercules film will offer any competition to Millennium Films’ efforts?

[Source : The Movie Blog]