I feel bad being so late to this movie—granted this is the opening day, but it seems that for the past two weeks, everyone in the world has seen it already. And so, for the past two weeks, everyone’s been raving about it and saying that it’s the greatest superhero movie ever made; it’s the best movie of the summer; it’s better than a big sex sandwich, and so on.

The premise, if it weren’t already evident from the stingers Marvel’s added to the very end of every one of their movies for the past five years, is that a group of superheroes—Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)–need to recover the Tesseract, a glowing blue cube that generates unlimited energy and also, somehow, opens the portal to the realm of Asgard.

No sooner does S.H.I.E.L.D., a shadowy government agency overseen by a committee whose purpose in the film is somewhat tenuous, discover this than the Tesseract’s stolen by Thor’s adoptive brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who also hypnotizes Hawkeye and one of the scientists from Thor, Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) into doing his nefarious shenanigans, namely, opening a bigger portal to Asgard and invading earth.

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Much like myself, every fanboy and fangirl in the world is counting the days to May 4th when they have their childhood dreams realized on film as Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk join together in one amazing film by the man that made X-Men and a cheerleader who fights vampires cool, Joss Whedon.

Leading up to that, in typical Disney fashion, the genius marketing reps over there have managed to make every day leading up to the 4th like Christmas morning with tons of new clips and treats. First, they treated a special group of superfans to a screening across the country last weekend, and now they’re treating us all to an onslaught of clips.

Some of you have already seen the popular Black Widow clip from the film, but this new one, featuring an all-out brawl between Thor and Iron Man is probably the best one we’ve seen yet.

Take a look after the jump, and catch Avengers in theaters starting Midnight, May 4th.

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Now that we have Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games out of our system, I think it’s safe to say the next major release for the fan community is Disney and Marvel’s upcoming superfilm, The Avengers.

Set to bring just about a billion fans together for a solid 2 hours, the studio is hoping to shatter previous records (statistically speaking) and bring in the dawn of a new era of superhero franchise films. We’ve heard plenty of rumors as to who the main villain is in the film, what Avenger cameos we may be getting, and how much fun everyone had on set, but these images of Cap, Stark, and the rest of the crew really show why this film could be the biggest of the summer.

You get a little bit of everyone in the images after the jump, as well as the rarely seen Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill. And yes: for those who heard Whedon’s rant about how much he hates Iron Man’s triangular power supply, you’ll even see the newly designed circular one make an appearance.

Check them all out below and catch Avengers in theaters on May 4th.

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Just when you thought things couldn’t get much better than the awesome trailer fans got during this year’s SuperBowl for The Avengers, things just got a little bit better.

The newest trailer just hit the intertubes, and boy is it sexy. You’ve got everything you wanted before the May release: more Hawkeye, Hulk, Stark, and even a better glimpse at the threat that could be Kree, Skrull, or whoever. This may also be the first time we’re getting to see more of Robert Downey Jr. being the lovable jerk that he was in the first two Iron Man flicks.

The trailer just hit the interwebs now, so be sure to check out the full thing after the jump, alongside the brand new payoff poster with the whole gang looking epic and awesome in the streets of NYC.

So what are you waiting for? Behold the wonder after the jump, and catch Avengers in theaters on May 4th.

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Everyone is awaiting the upcoming May 4th release of Marvel’s The Avengers. With Joss Whedon at the helm and years of building a fan base through the individual movies, hype about the upcoming culmination is pretty strong.

This trailer comes in time to grab the attention of action flick enthusiasts looking forward to a summer of great cinematic experiences, Amazing Spider-man andThe Dark Night Rises also being unleashed this summer.

The culmination of the incredible heroes working together to save the planet from the forces of evil is just as exciting in German as I’m sure the English language trailer release will be very soon. Though the German trailer is not as cohesive as I expect the English one will be, a few blips of the action scenes are shown as well as one or three great shots of Scarlett Johansson to get everyone’s interest piqued.

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It is quite possible The Avengers is the most important superhero film of all time. It could singlehandedly set a bar for audience acceptance in multi-film, continuity heavy, comic book franchise.

Not to mention the fact that this is essentially the sequel to four different individual franchises. So yeah, people pay attention when things like two new banners are unveiled.

Yahoo! Movies and Moviefone both debuted one of the two new character banners for The Avengers. The first depicting the main four heroes from previous franchises, and the other showcasing supporting characters and the villain of the movie.

These are very standard looking character posters, but there are a few interesting things we are seeing here. For one, this is the first time I have seen Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and I see the character more so than the actor. Also, Captain America is the only one in mask and not showcasing a star of the film.

This might be some extreme over analyzation, but I think it really fits the character of Cap to stay in his mask, as opposed to the nigh celebrity in Tony Stark, who is on the poster sans helmet.

Compared to the Comic-Con connected character posters, these banners seem almost lazy. It is almost like they had a series of cool character posters and chained them together for the sake of creating something banner sized. It would have been much more exciting to see the comic style painted posters as a banner and these cut up into individual pieces.

Take a look at the full spread of posters after the jump.

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There has already been two high profile takes on the incredible Hulk, both with their own sets of problems, and neither quite getting it right. Joss Whedon’s The Avengers hopes that the third time will be the charm, as yet another skilled actor takes on the role of Bruce Banner.

Of course, all of this change leads to some very natural questions about what will set this Hulk apart, and luckily the chaps at LA Times Hero Complex talked to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to find out.

It will be as different as ”The Incredible Hulk” was from Ang Lee’s “Hulk” in terms of its look and design, but it is Hulk.” said Feige when asked how different the two Hulks will be. “Hulk is Hulk. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel.

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With Comic-Con set to start tomorrow, Marvel has taken this opportunity to release the barebones first teaser poster for their upcoming Avengers film. With not much to go on except a giant “A’ the poster is minimalism at its best.

Of course, the “A” stands for Avengers and we also have the obligatory tagline (or tag word as the case may be) “Assemble.” If you’re not a fan of this poster and were expecting a lot more, don’t worry – you’ll get more soon enough.

Until then, you can always hit the Marvel booth for the signings by Joss Whedon, Chris Evans and Clark Gregg. That is, if you happen to be at Comic-Con this week.

Either way, you can expect a lot of new marketing stuff to come out soon enough. Count on it.

The Avengers, which opens May 4, 2012, also stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. Check out the full sized poster after the jump.

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As we rapidly approach the release of Captain America: The First Avenger, which is the final Marvel film leading up to next year’s The Avengers, we expect to be getting a lot more coverage and peeks at images and stills from the new film while it shoots in New Mexico and Ohio.

While we haven’t gotten there just yet, a correspondent over at ESQ. magazine managed to snap a shot of the brand new promo poster that Marvel is using to sell the film at the recent International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.

Definitely digitally rendered, it’s not an exact depiction as to what we’re going to get from the film itself, but it gives a good idea at what we can look forward to when Joss Whedon brings everyone together for what will likely be an epic film.

The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Clark Gregg, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Tom Hiddleston, and Stellan Skarsgård and hits theaters May 4, 2012.

Check out the first poster after the jump and let us know what you think!

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This may be the biggest year for the Academy Awards, as some major Hollywood players are going up against some fresh newcomers. Eyeballs everywhere will be glued to ABC on Sunday, February 27th at 8PM E/5PM P when the awards show goes live. But before that, we decided to do some picking of our own with the staff’s predictions for each award.

For a full list of the nominees, check out our previous article on the subject. Now, on to the predictions.

Best Picture

Shannon Hood-The Social Network. It had early and consistent momentum all year, and the Academy appears to be trying to shake up their stodgy image. This would be the perfect film to put their money where their mouth is.

Matt Raub – True Grit. Not only are the Coens a regular in the “I Have an Oscar” club, but this testament to classic western films is definitely one for record books, between its all-star cast and gritty (no pun intended) visual style, this one definitely deserves the golden statue.

Chris Ullrich – True Grit. Even though this was a pretty great year for movies and there are many excellent choices in this category, True Grit stands on its own as my pick. As an example of pure movie storytelling, this Coen Brothers masterpiece excels on every level and delivers a pure entertainment experience you will want to revisit many more times in the future.

Cortney Zamm – The Social Network. There’s a lot of great films in this category, some of them from my favorite directors and starring my favorite people. But the one that combined all of the essential elements of filmmaking into a truly gorgeous, compelling, and memorable film was The Social Network.

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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the  nominees for the 83rd annual award ceremony this morning. The King’s Speech was the front-runner with 12 nominations. Overall, there weren’t too many surprises.

Many were disappointed  that Christopher Nolan did not receive a best director nod, but as a consolation prize, Inception was nominated as a contender for best picture.
True Grit did quite well, with Hailee Steinfeld nabbing a best supporting actress nod, and nominations for best picture, best director(s), best actor, and best adapted screenplay. Winter’s Bone was recognized for best actress, best picture, and best adapted screenplay. Dogtooth, Jackie Weaver, and Javier Bardem were nice surprises.

Here are the nominees in the order that they were announced.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld True Grit
Jackie Weaver Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale The Fighter
John Hawkes Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner The Town
Mark Ruffalo The Kids Are All Right
Jeffrey Rush The King’s Speech

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So yesterday, we ran part one of this post.  In case you missed it, here were my picks:

• Waiting for Superman
• Winter’s Bone
• The Company Men
• Rabbit Hole/Blue Valentine (tie)
• The Fighter

Now, without further ado, are the rest of my picks for best movies of the year.

5. The Kids Are All Right

This quirky drama won me over in no time. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a lesbian couple raising two children who were the product of an anonymous sperm donor. When the kids are old enough, they seek out and find their donor, who is played by Mark Ruffalo.

His character Paul is a perpetually laid-back restaurateur who drives a motorcycle and lives a bohemian lifestyle. The kids are instantly captivated, and develop a relationship with the guy, much to the chagrin of their uptight mom Nic (Bening).

I admire writer/director Lisa Cholodenko for her sensitive handling of the subject matter. A lesser director could have turned this into a slapstick farce, but ultimately the film is funny, touching, and wholly original.  It is also universally relatable.  Bening is a standout in the film for her performance.

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