Captain Jack Sparrow isn’t one for romance. After all, the man has bigger things on the mind, like chasing down cursed treasure chests and winning back his precious Black Pearl — or, in the case of “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” finding his way to the Fountain of Youth.

That doesn’t mean he can’t stop for a little squeeze on the side, of course, perhaps one that even gives him some deeply troubling “stirrings” in the depths of his heart. Indeed, Sparrow’s fiercest foe in this latest adventure is not the dreaded Blackbeard or the familiar Barbossa, but the seductive Angelica, the woman in his past who got away… or, to hear her tell it, he pushed away.

The chemistry between Sparrow and Angelica boils to a bubble from their very first scene together, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer credits that electric dynamic to the real-life friendship between Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz.

“Her performance was great and there is such great chemistry between Johnny and Penelope,” he told MTV News. “They actually really do like each other. They worked together 10 years ago [on 'Blow']. You see that chemistry onscreen.”

From Bruckheimer’s perspective, an actress like Cruz — who was pregnant during the shooting of “On Stranger Tides” — was absolutely essential to find if the “Pirates” team wanted to create a character that Jack could believably contend with and, yes, possibly fall for.

“You need someone like Penelope, who’s an Academy Award winner, to go up against Johnny Depp, because if they’re not as good as she is, you can see it right away,” said Bruckheimer. “You can’t spar with Johnny unless you’re brilliant.”

Tell us what you think in the comments section and on Twitter!

Filed under: Movie News, Video, Cinematical

Fans have been eagerly awaiting updates on the possibility of more live-action adventures set in the world of ‘Mortal Kombat,’ the infamous video game series of the 90s. It all started last summer, when a bloody, hard-hitting short film landed on the Web from filmmaker Kevin Tancharoen, and starring Michael Jai White (of ‘Black Dynamite’ fame) and Jeri ‘Seven of Nine’ Ryan. Video game fans were happy to see a film adaptation that actually tried to match the tone and impact of its video game predecessor.

Well to all those who were hoping that the short was the start of the something more, you’ll be happy to new that Tancharoen’s gritty depiction of ‘Mortal Kombat’ will continue in a new web series called ‘Mortal Kombat: Legacy’ — and we have the first trailer for it behind the jump.

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FROM NEXT MOVIE: Simon says… get the f**k to “Sucker Punch?”

Pharoahe Monch, the Queens rapper who brought us the infectious party track “Simon Says” in 1999 and continues to be one of the most respected lyricists in hip-hop today, is the latest artist to get on the mic for NextMovie and give us his take on a big flick.

We dispatched Monch to a midtown-Manhattan theater to check out “Sucker Punch,” the latest sex-tinged action thriller from “300″ and “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder.

Head over to Next Movie for the full scoop!

Making your big screen debut is, no doubt, a nerve-wracking experience. Doing it while playing a real-life person who just so happens to be hanging around the set would be enough to rattle even the most seasoned superstar.

That was exactly the case for Carrie Underwood, who, despite being the champ on her season of “American Idol” and making a cameo last season on “How I Met Your Mother,” had her trepidations about getting in front of the camera for her role in the upcoming inspirational biopic “Soul Surfer.”

In it, the Grammy-winning country singer plays Sarah Hill, a youth counselor who befriended and guided Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb), a teen surfer who tragically lost her arm during a shark attack in 2003.

In this EXCLUSIVE behind-the-scenes look at “Soul Surfer,” Underwood discusses how she prepared for her big-screen debut and why she and her co-stars wanted to do Hamilton’s story justice.

“I think the most challenging aspect of making this movie, for me, is just that I’ve never done it before,” Underwood reveals in the clip. “This is all very new to me. I know how to sing…This is something, I’m way out of my element.”

Still, with the help of her fellow cast mates (which includes Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid) and producer/director Sean McNamara, she made it work. “Everybody on the set has been so nice and so helpful and so patient with me….teaching me,” the 28-year-old star said, adding, “I feel really confident that they wouldn’t let me do anything I’d look bad doing. “

But they weren’t the only ones helping Underwood hone in on her craft, as the real-life Sarah Hill was on the “Soul Surfer” set to give some pointers: “Sarah is kind of walking around, helping me out. I’m trying to say things the way she would say them.” And while Underwood said that she “could never be the real Sarah Hill,” she found some similarities she could work with. “She’s really strong and I believe I can get that. We have a lot of things in our personality that are the same.”

According to Underwood, the cast and crew of “Soul Surfer” wanted to get every detail as right as they could. “Everybody’s doing things for the right reasons,” she said of those who worked on the film, which has been five-plus years in the making. “I think it’s impossible to not be impacted when you’re a part of this movie.”

“Soul Surfer” rides into theaters on April 8.

Are you interested to see how Carrie Underwood bodes on the big screen in “Soul Surfer”? Let us know in the comments section and on Twitter!

Music is an important aspect of any movie, but in “Sucker Punch,” it’s absolutely essential.

Director Zack Snyder sat down with MTV News to chat about his latest action epic, which lands in theaters today (March 25), and he discussed the integral role that music plays in the film. As you’re likely already aware, “Sucker Punch” deals in multiple levels of reality, and when our heroes slip into that combat space, they do so through a combination of music and Baby Doll’s mesmerizing dancing.

“I think the germ of the movie came from when we were talking about this sort of musical number I wanted to do,” Snyder explained of the music of “Sucker Punch.” “I thought it’d be cool to use this musical number as the spine of the movie, the spine of an action sequence, and then getting in and out of it would be, like, the music would start and that would draw us in. That would be the mechanism for the fantasy to begin, and when the music ended, that would be the mechanism for it ending.”

Indeed, while “Sucker Punch” is undoubtedly a divisive movie, the film’s soundtrack is hard to argue against. Emiliana Torrini’s balls-out rendition of “White Rabbit” draws viewers into the napalm-soaked trenches of World War I, for example, while Skunk Anansie’s cover of “Search and Destroy” brings an appropriately frenetic energy to the “Lord of the Rings”-inspired castle raid.

Snyder’s abilities as an action director rarely come into question, but if he has one other definitive strength, it’s his unique ear for music. Love it or hate it, you won’t forget the “Sucker Punch” soundtrack, not by a long-shot.

Tell us what you think of the “Sucker Punch” soundtrack in the comments section and on Twitter!

Filed under: Video, Sci-Fi, Cinematical

Those crazy folks behind all the ‘How It Should Have Ended’ animated videos have returned with a funny animated short that offers up a logical alternate ending for the sci-fi flick ‘District 9.‘ If you haven’t seen ‘District 9′ yet, then you might not want to watch this video since it pretty much spoils the ending of the 2009 film. Oh, and if you haven’t seen it, you probably shouldn’t read the rest of this post either.

You’ll remember how ‘District 9′ ended with Wikus transforming into a Prawn, while his Prawn buddies head back home after promising Wikus that they’d return one day with a little something special that should help him turn back into a human again. Meanwhile, Wikus is left hanging around with all the other nasty creatures, forced to give up his one true human love and assimilate into the alien race.

Well what if the film’s ending actually included the part where Wikus’ Prawn friends return to earth? And what if they returned with a little something more than a cure for Wikus? Check out the video after the jump …

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“Captain America” has thrown his mighty shield, and we’re very excited to catch it.

The star-spangled superhero makes his big-screen debut this summer — no, we’re not counting the 1990 film, thank you very much — and we couldn’t be more excited. We’re so excited, in fact, that we couldn’t stop ourselves from gushing about the new “Captain America” trailer with some of our colleagues here in the MTV newsroom.

To that end, your shield-slinging Movies Blog editor (that’s me, fyi!) and MTV Splash Page’s esteemed editor Rick Marshall sat down on camera to dissect the latest trailer from Marvel Studios. Check out our expert commentary track in the video above, and click past the jump for some of the highlights!

Skinny Steve
Pretty surreal to see the miniature Chris Evans toddling around as Steve Rogers, isn’t it? The expert movie magic that went into creating “Skinny Steve” helps to reinforce the idea that Cap’s origin as a weakling is what gives him such strength as a super-soldier.

(Bowler) Cap’s Fan Club
As much as I love Captain America, I have to admit my particular affinity for the crew he’s leading, the Howling Commandos. A lot of love goes out to Neal McDonough as the bowler cap wearing Dum Dum Dugan, and I’m very curious to see more from Bucky, Union Jack and the rest of the squad.

Heavy Artillery
Speaking of Dum Dum, there’s a moment early on in the trailer where we see him blasting away with a highly sophisticated hand cannon of some sort. Looks like our heroes are getting their hands on some of Hydra’s hi-tech equipment, which suits us just fine!

The “Hobbit” Connection
Richard Armitage makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance as one of Cap’s enemies, warning our hero that he represents “the voice of many.” I’m not sure he’ll have a huge role to play in the flick, but we’ll definitely be seeing a lot more of him when Armitage shows up in “The Hobbit” as Thorin Oakenshield, hero of the dwarves.

Shield-Slinger
Really, it’s impossible to discuss every single details of the trailer without boring you to tears, so let me just say this: watching Steve Rogers throw his shield at a room filled with bad guys has me very, very excited for the superhero’s July debut.

Tell us what you thought of the “Captain America” trailer commentary in the comments section and on Twitter!

Filed under: Movie News, Video, Cinematical

For years, geeks have wondered what really went on behind the masks of all those nameless, faceless Storm Troopers who belonged to the Galactic Empire. They had hopes, they had dreams – and as the latest webseries from CollegeHumor proves — they had love-lives (kind of).

‘Troopers’ features two unnamed guards who are stuck taking care of menial tasks like coffee runs. Imagine the most soul-crushing, never-ending aspects of your post-school job. Now imagine that going on in the midst of an intergalactic war, and you have ‘Troopers.’ The latest video ‘Interrogation’ stars rising comedy star Aubrey Plaza (of ‘Parks and Recreation’ and ‘Scott Pilgrim’) as a rebel princess held captive by Empire, who just also happens to be one trooper’s object of affection. Watching a nameless slacker trying to get vital information and score a phone number from someone as disarmingly aloof as Plaza goes about as well as you’d expect.

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Filed under: Trailers and Clips, Movie News, Video, Cinematical

A whole slew of trailers are popping up on the web this week. We got the full ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ trailer last night, and now three more.

First up: Ace Ventura found his penguins!

His name is now Mr. Popper, as part of the classic children’s book, and the animals have whittled down to a bunch of pesky penguins, but the goofiness remains. In this cinematic version of ‘Mr. Popper’s Penguins,’ the man doesn’t breed a whole bunch of them, but rather inherits some and watches them take over his life. This includes teaching them dance moves to the applicably chilly stylings of one Vanilla Ice.

Check it out for yourself after the jump, along with peeks into ‘Last Night’ and ‘The Big Bang.’

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Robert Pattinson is switching to Team Jacob, but it’s not because he’s turning his back on his “Twilight” loyalties — in that neck of the woods, he’s firmly and permanently on Edward’s side of the aisle — but rather because he’s assuming an all-new identity as Jacob Janowski in “Water for Elephants,” arriving in theaters on April 22.

Rob appeared on MTV and MTV.com tonight for “MTV First: Robert Pattinson,” a 30-minute interview between MTV’s Josh Horowitz and the “Twilight” hunk where he fielded questions from his fans and premiered an exclusive new clip from “Water for Elephants.” But if you missed the show, no worries — we’ve got that clip right here!

In this exclusive scene from “Water for Elephants,” Jacob Janowski (Pattinson) is rushed through a speeding train by the beautiful Marlena Rosenbluth (played by the equally stunning Reese Witherspoon), who is doing her best to get Jacob out of the train and off to safety. What he’s running from isn’t clear; what is clear, however, is that Jacob doesn’t want to leave without Marlena by his side.

“You think there’s nothing out there for you, but there is,” he tells her. “You just can’t see it.”

Jacob’s words move Marlena into action; although she’s initially resistant, she slips her hand into his as the two brace themselves to jump off the train. But before we can see the final outcome, the clip is over — guess we’ll have to wait until April to see if Rob’s charms are as successful with Marlena as they are with Bella Swan!

What did you think of the “Water for Elephants” clip? Let us know in the comments section and on Twitter!