With some truly commendable stand-out performances in films like The Green Mile, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Matchstick Men, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”and of course Galaxy Quest — Sam Rockwell is definitely one of the best in the business.

He came by the MTV studios here in Times Square this week, to talk to us about his latest film Joshua. A horror/thriller film about a young Manhattan family who are torn apart by the increasingly psychotic behavior of their mentally disturbed son Joshua…and when I say psychotic — I mean PSYCHOTIC.

Yes we’ve seen Damien from The Omen, Henry from The Good Son and Rhoda from The Bad Seed — but now there’s an even more realistic and disturbing kid: Joshua, a 9-year-old child prodigy. prodigy. And a prodigy he is. I mean, how many of us can play Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on the piano and murder human beings before reaching adolescence? If you can — don’t answer that question!

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I’ve been trying to figure something out. What does it take for a UK band to break the US? Is there a secret formula?

There’s no doubt about it. Some of the world’s greatest musicians and bands have hailed from that little island called England. From the days of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, British music has come a long way over the years and has come to produce the likes of Oasis, Coldplay, James Blunt, Corinne Bailey-Rae, Lily Allen, Radiohead and of course, most recently the girl-of-the-moment Amy Winehouse. On one hand, hindsight is a wonderful thing but no one can honestly tell me that they 100% believed that Amy would come to the US and find more success here than she does back home. After all, even Amy had her doubts. On the other hand, when Robbie Williams (the UK’s golden-boy) signed his record-breaking $80 million record deal to ‘conquer America’- he came, he saw, and got sent back packing!

So what’s the secret to success in the US? In my mind- there is no one thing that guarantees you success out here. Instead, it is more to do with having the perfect mix. Just the right amount of everything. Quality counts and attitude sells but having just one of the two is not enough. You need both. Like any simple math equation, the more you have of each - then the bigger the result. It works too. Look at Winehouse, she has both quality and attitude in abundance and she’s the biggest artist in the US right now (currently staring at me from the covers of Rolling Stone and SPIN Magazine). Simple as that! Right now, the jury is still out on a whole bunch of artists including Paolo Nutini, M.I.A, Dizzee Rascal, Arctic Monkeys, Razorlight and Bloc Party. All these musicians have massive profiles in the UK regularly playing to audiences of over 30,000. They have massive fan bases. They sell tens of thousands of records and are hailed by some of the most respected magazines and publications the world over. However, one thing that all the acts, I just mentioned, have in common is that they are all still trying to kick the door even slightly ajar here in the US of A.

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Saw two films last week- “Sunshine” and “Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer” … Two very different films but one common denominator - Chris Evans (”Cellular,” “The Perfect Score,” “Fantastic Four”). In “Sunshine,” Chris plays the character of Mace- an astronaut who is part of a team sent to the Sun to reignite it using the largest bomb ever created. A cool story-line that director Danny Boyle brings vividly to life. I’ve enjoyed a lot of his films from “Shallow Grave” to “Trainspotting,” “The Beach,” “28 Days Later” and now “Sunshine” - so I guess that makes him one of my personal favourite directors (plus he’s British). It seems to me that he gets better with each film and “Sunshine” fits in with that theory. I’m not here to do a film review (you can go to the mtvmoviesblog.com for that) - but I will say, it’s definitely worth watching. Even though it does take a long time to really get anywhere, the story-line is unique, the actors have been very well cast, the special effects are awesome and there’s a pretty good twist at the end.

For Chris, the choice of this movie was obviously a no-brainer. Not only do you have Danny Boyle at the helm alongside a very talented cast (Hiroyuki Sanada, Cillian Murphy, Mark Strong) but Chris also got the role of one of the films heroes and stand-out characters, Mace. Mace is one of those parts that comes along only every now and then. He’s not a good guy but at the same time he’s not a bad guy. He’s on the good guys side, but is someone with no moral ambiguity whatsoever (a trait all good guys have). Without giving too much way, Mace has a couple of great scenes when he makes calls for the overall good of the mission but at the sacrifice of his closest friends on the spaceship. Leaving people behind, to get burned alive by the sun or to freeze to death in the cold of space- is never a nice thing to do. But in the mind of Mace- you got to do what you got to do. A complex character that gives the actor a rare opportunity to redefine critics pre-conceptions and stereotypes- and hopefully get the eye of more Hollywood producers and directors.And then there’s “Fantastic Four : Rise of blah blah blah.” It’s obviously a family / kids movie so I went in there expecting the worst - after all, it only carried a PG rating. I won’t lie, it’s not a great film. The characters still need more depth and the storyline is only slightly less flaky than before- slightly. But all this is nothing compared to the monster let down of the film - Galactus. There I was expecting some CGI brilliance and insane special effects, but instead what I got was a cloud of gas. There really is no excuse for this! Spend all that money on creating the Silver Surfer and that ridiculous Fantastic Four car- and nothing on Galactus. That makes no sense to me. Did the studio bosses spend all the budget on girls, drinks and drugs when it came time to design Galactus and bring him to life? A massive disappointment. But regardless, there are some super-cool scenes in the film, that the kid in most of us will appreciate, especially the scenes with The Silver Surfer (voiced by Lawrence Fishburne) and The Human Torch…and did I forget to mention, my future ex-wife Jessica Alba is in it. Enough said.

So, with a truly commendable performance in “Sunshine” and with The Human Torch saving the day in the end (sorry for spoiling it, but whatever), Chris Evans was an obvious choice as an actor to throw some of the MTV spotlight on. Apart from the you-know-what-incident with the giant lightbulb - the interview flew by. After all, Chris is as real as they come and a stand-up guy to go with it. With a genuine passion for his work, he was honest with his opinions- sometimes brutally honest. He gave his real thoughts on the Fantastic Four movies so far, his suggestion as to how FF could improve, and a hint as to who the next villain could be. Then we spoke about “Sunshine.” This is obviously a film that Chris is proud to have starred in. Obviously one of the more challenging acting roles he has undertaken to-date, Chris was under pressure to deliver with his performance in this film. He spoke on his character of Mace, working with Danny Boyle and the intense and extensive training the team had to go through for their roles. He actually got to meet an astronaut. He gave us invaluable insight into the way Danny Boyle creates these unique and awe-inspiring special effects using a combination of both real-life set and CGI. Boyle re-created the entire ship (with an incredible attention to detail) across 8 massive soundstages and actually had the cast live together throughout the duration of the film in a dorm-like environment to instil the sense of companionship and give the actors a feeling of what it is like to live in close quarters in a very claustrophobic environment. With five new movies coming out where he stars alongside an array of talent including Forest Whitaker, Brian Cox, Keanu Reeves and Scarlett Johansson - it’s clear Chris Evans has the eye of Hollywood. Here’s some of the best bits but look out for the MTV Rough Cut coming soon to screens near you…

I’ve finally done it!

It may have taken a good 4 years and a whole load of hard-work, determination and perseverance- but today, Friday 15th June 2007, I, Tim Kash experienced that magical moment that every TV host, news correspondent and VJ around the world strive to one-day achieve.

It does not happen to everyone…only a select few but today- it happened to me.

It goes by many names and is known in many different languages- but in the end, two words describe it best…TV Gold!

Words alone cannot describe what it is that makes ‘TV Gold.’
Sometimes it takes millions of dollars and hours of preparation…
but on this occasion- all it took was me, Chris Evans and a giant light bulb!

You may have seen MTV News’ SuChin Pak on the red carpet for the MTV Movie Awards, where she interviewed the best and brightest of Hollywood stardom. Now safely back in New York City, she writes about her personal experience covering the big night.

It’s taken me a little longer to recover this year; in fact, I’m writing this from bed on my Blackberry. Either I’m getting old or feeling prison sympathy blues from Paris (more on that later).

View SuChin’s photo album here.

Every awards show, I take the same date: my best friend, Blaire. I took my boyfriend once to the VMAs, and I never made that mistake again. Boyfriends don’t tell you when you have lipstick on your teeth, they don’t ever remember that they have to check the back of your dress after you leave the bathroom so you don’t have it tucked into your underwear and, of course, you can’t talk to your boyfriend about how hot Justin Timberlake is or if he thinks Shia LaBeouf is too young to hit on, or whether or not it’s obvious that you’re flirting with the hot bartenders they always get at these things. You get the drift.

Blaire does all those things, plus she knows everyone’s business because she lives and breathes useless pop culture facts, rumors and heresays. So, when I turn to her and ask who the hell that is walking down the carpet, she doesn’t even have to stop typing on her Sidekick to tell me that it’s Three 6 Mafia and all the latest happenings in “Hollyhood” (didn’t even know that was on the channel).

And with our first, commercial-free, live pre-show — meaning no time in-between to fix your hair or prepare for the random celeb walking towards you — it was like the Indy 500. Right out of the gate, I get Jay-Z (the day before he supposedly proposed to Beyonce…I’m wearing black to mourn the loss), and there’s not a single celebrity I get nervous interviewing (maybe Gwen), more so than the HOV. Blaire once burst into tears at the sight of him at a party (sorry Blaire, but it’s true).

But I lost the biggest bet of the night, I swore that Paris Hilton was not going to attend and sure enough, she steps onto our carpet and I knew it was on. I think I got her last TV interview before the lock-down, and when she walked on to home base, it’s like the entire carpet went silent, for just a second. I could literally hear the pause in the control room…and then the screaming and scrambling. I have to say, it’s the most poised and calm I had ever seen her and she was…gasp…genuinely humble and contrite.

But, as you can imagine, when you get two best friends together and the best seat in the house, you’re bound to have stories. I’m not talking about just the interviews and the red carpet drama, I’m talking about why every year, Blaire is strangely attracted to the porn stars that make it to the Movie Awards. This year was no different (pictured below).

We’ll see you at the next awards…VMAs in VEGAS! I’m already laughing.

So, on Sunday I hit the MTV Movie Awards in LA. I’ve been to award shows before — I’ve even hosted a couple — but this was something else altogether.

At 7:29pm, the first of our A-list guests strolled down the pink-carpet (yes, pink!), but by 7:31pm on the dot, stars were literally pouring down the walkway, stopping only to have their pictures taken, then spending a few minutes with the world’s press, and finally joining Suchin and myself on the LIVE pre-show…my first ever LIVE show for the US! Los Angeles was a blast. A great city and home to the MTV Movie Awards.

For now, here’s just some of the people we caught up with on this adventure…

ABOVE: Hawaiian shirt and shades to the MTV Movie Awards…that’s Bruce Willis. Casual. Softly spoken. Man of a few words. Loves Amy Winehouse almost as much as he loves his own daughters.

ABOVE: Brave girl. Came out to the MTV Movie Awards. Hours later turned herself in and checked into the Hotel Jail (Samuel L’s words not mine). Very poised. All eyes were on Paris. Handles it graciously. Liked her. Wish her luck!

ABOVE: Me and Eva Mendes

Want to see more? Check out Tim Kash’s 2007 MTV Movie Awards Photo Album!

Today was one of those days that reminded me how much I love to do what I do!

I remember the very day that my esteemed producer Robert told me that we had been invited to visit the set of a film that I have been excited about since the day the movie was announced. I’ve had a smile on my face from ear to ear ever since!

I’ve been a huge comic book fan since I was young and therefore I have loved the past decade in film. We have seen both Batman and Superman reborn, The X Men brought to life, 2 out of 3 quality Spider-Man movies and of course Blade 1 and 2 (lets just not talk about the third one). Its no secret that when it comes to comic-to-film translations we’ve had a rough ride. The Hulk, Ghost Rider, DareDevil, The Fantastic Four, Electra, The Punisher all failed to impress (and that in some cases is putting it nicely) but there is still a part of me that is extremely happy that I have had the chance to see these iconic heroes in action on the silver screen.

There are only a few great superheroes left that have yet to be touched by the movie studios…and now, the time has come for one of my favourites.

His name is Iron Man and today I got to meet him.

When the film was first announced, there were a lot of rumours as to who was going to direct the film and in turn, take on the role of Iron Man. So when Jon Favreau (a diehard fan of Iron Man since his childhood) was chosen as director – it was a decision that made me happy. However, when Jon Favreau announced in January his leading man, I must admit I was a little unsure with his decision.

I’ve always admired Robert Downey Jr. as an actor. I believe him to be one of America’s finest actors alive, but for some reason I could never quite picture him as Tony Stark, let alone Iron Man. Downey doesn’t have a superhero build like Christian Bale, nor the chiselled features of Christopher Reeve. But I guess that’s just it! Iron Man isn’t by definition a superhero- he has no superpowers. Tony Stark is just a normal guy who builds one hell of an iron suit.

Iron Man is basically the Marvel equivalent to DC’s Batman. Both Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark lost their parents when they were young and both have their fair share of inner demons. And so it becomes clearer that I should never have doubted Jon Favreau’s decision in the first place.

We arrived at the massive movie set in Hollywood- a huge aircraft hanger situated at the bottom of a cliff. A bit of trivia. This is the very same aircraft hanger that the late great aviator Howard Hughes first built the Spruce Goose and what makes this tiny bit of trivia ever more relevant is that Marvel creator Stan Lee based the character of Tony Stark on Howard Hughes himself- both were billionaire industrialists with a taste for danger and troubled minds who’s greatest enemy was ultimately themselves.

As we were led to the set, we walked through the Iron Man production head-quarters and I managed a get a sneaky glance through the door of one room that had pictures of various stages of the Iron Man suit in action plastered across the wall. From the larger more bulky Mach 1 suit to the more refined and now iconic Mach 3 suit. It looked good. I salivated slightly.

Then we entered the set. There really is nothing like it. Seeing a set up close and personal. Witnessing movie magic first hand. Seeing the entire production team literally freeze when the cameras start rolling and then magically come to life when the director yells CUT! It truly is an immensely great feeling. There are huge artificial boulders and one giant cave to my left (the cave that Tony Stark is captured and imprisoned). In front of us and at the end of the hanger is a giant construction made of wood the size of a small house. This is the set for Tony Starks office. Inside, the attention to detail is impeccable. From Virginia ‘Pepper Pot’ Potts (Tony Starks secretary played by Gwyneth Paltrow) business cards, to an old computer generated picture of a young Tony Stark meeting Bill Gates surrounded by 80’s style computers- they really have covered all bases. Even the paperwork on the desks of Tony Starks secretary reads a to-do list that includes apples, paper towels, sweets, pens, 9mm rounds, and an Uzi. I love it. All the loose papers lying on the desk are all printed on official Stark paper with receipts for bullet-proof armour and machine gun rounds. Love it!

Gwyneth Paltrow is filming a scene with a bald Jeff Bridges (Obidiah Stane – Tony Starks mentor and later nemesis). Chris Martin is one lucky man. Jeff Bridges wife unfortunately isn’t.

Once they wrap that scene, we set up our cameras awaiting the immediate arrival of Robert Downey Jnr who’s actually come in on his day off just for MTV.
This is the first time I’ve met him- and he was definitely not what I had expected.

Accompanied by quite possibly one of the nicest men Jon Favreau – Iron Man is in the building!

Seeing him enter the room, post-jail-Downey looks like he’s been lifting and complete with his fitted purple (yes, purple!) suit and triangular beard and definite steely gaze– Iron Man is officially here!