MTV Awards Defies Universal Blaze

An epic 'disaster movie' at Universal Studios on Sunday failed to halt this year's star-studded MTV Movie Awards - despite the studio's adjacent back-lot loosing an acre of its historic film stage backdrops to a huge - believed accidental - blaze on Sunday.
It was a night of big stars (Tom Cruise), big winners (Will Smith, Johnny Depp), big music numbers (Coldplay, Pussycat Dolls) and big egos.
The 17th annual MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night - despite the nearby 'three-alarm fire' close to the venue at the Gibson Amphitheatre - began with host Mike Myers striding to centre stage.
The night's first batch of Golden Popcorn, for Best Female Performance was Ellen Page of "Juno," while Best Fight went to Matt Damon's rooftop punch-fest in "The Bourne Ultimatum".
In Best Summer Movie So Far, "Iron Man" crushed the competition, which included some heavies, like the back-to-back blockbusters "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Sex and the City".
Box-office titan Smith cemented his legendary status by taking Best Male Performance for his work in "I Am Legend".
Johnny Depp did it again in the Best Villain category, beating Topher Grace, Denzel Washington, Javier Bardem and Angelina Jolie with his turn as the murderous, pancake-makeup-wearing barber in "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street".
The 2008 MTV Generation Award went to Adam Sandler, who was introduced lovingly by Tom Cruise.
The evening took a classy break when Coldplay performed the title track from their upcoming album, Viva la Vida, for the first time live on TV, reprising the street-urchins-in-a-marching-band costumes they sported in the "Violet Hill" video.
The night's other musical performers, the Pussycat Dolls, appeared to be taking Sandler's lead with their new self-loving single, "When I Grow Up," which had lyrics about wanting to be famous, wanting to be in magazines, on TV and specifically, MTV (thanks for the shout-out) and in movies. "Careful what you wish for because you just might get it," they sang over an electro beat.
(BMcC)