Justice League (2017) review

For the past decade, Marvel Studios has dominated the superhero film genre thanks to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which was an unprecedented success story as nothing like it had ever been done before in the context of live-action films. After starting out strong with a series of solo outings that slowly but surely began to lay down the foundation for a larger universe, the MCU truly hit it big in 2012 when it brought all of its main heroes together in what ultimately became one of the landmark entries of the genre, The Avengers. But while the Avengers have undoubtedly become one of the most famous squads in the world of film, there is another superhero team that is arguably more iconic than them. I’m, of course, referring to DC Comics’ own legendary superhero group, the Justice League. Ever since the group’s initial creation in 1960 as a revamp of DC’s Justice Society of America, the Justice League, made up of several of the company’s most legendary heroes including the Holy Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, has become a staple of the DC universe. Aside from their various runs in the comics, the team has also left its mark on other facets of pop culture, including several video games (e.g. the Injustice fighting games) and a bunch of hit TV shows, most notably the Justice League cartoons from the early 2000’s that were created by the team behind the iconic Batman: The Animated Series. And now almost six decades after their initial comic debut, the Justice League has finally hit the big-screen in DC’s highly-anticipated crossover event.

However, the journey that this film has gone on to make it to this point has been rather rocky, to say the least. A full decade prior to its release, a different iteration of Justice League was in the works under the direction of Mad Max creator George Miller. Ultimately, though, this version ended up falling by the wayside due in large part to the 2007-08 Writers’ Strike. It wouldn’t be until after Warner Bros and DC managed to successfully resurrect the Superman franchise in 2013 with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel that the idea of a Justice League film was once again put into motion. And thus, the DC Extended Universe, DC and Warner Bros.’ answer to the MCU, was born; but again, things haven’t exactly gone smoothly for this franchise since its inception. While both Man of Steel and its 2016 follow-up Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (which introduced Ben Affleck’s rendition of the titular Dark Knight) did perform solidly at the box-office, they also yielded an extremely polarizing response from both critics and audiences. Simply put, these films have had as many extremely devoted fans as they’ve had their extremely vocal critics. Thankfully, though, the franchise did manage to rebound a bit this year thanks to the long-awaited solo outing for DC’s legendary heroine, Wonder Woman, a well-deserved success story for everyone involved on that production, especially director Patty Jenkins and lead actress Gal Gadot. But now we turn our attention to director Zack Snyder’s third entry in the DCEU, Justice League, which… is once again proving to be quite controversial amongst critics. And to be perfectly blunt… this time I can see exactly where they’re coming from when it comes to this film’s biggest issues.

At the end of Batman v. Superman, Bruce Wayne AKA the Gotham City vigilante Batman (Ben Affleck) saw his faith in humanity restored following the noble sacrifice of his ‘nemesis’ turned ally Superman (Henry Cavill) against the monstrous creature known as Doomsday. Despite this, however, the world finds itself plunging into greater chaos following Superman’s death, effectively leaving it open for an invasion by the god-like being known as Steppenwolf (portrayed by Ciaran Hinds via motion-capture). Backed by his army of extraterrestrial creatures known as Parademons, Steppenwolf seeks to reclaim the three mysterious devices hidden on Earth known as ‘Mother Boxes’ that grant unparalleled power to those that use them. To deal with the invasion, Bruce and Diana Prince AKA the Amazonian warrior Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) begin to recruit those who are just like them (referred to in the DC universe as ‘metahumans’) in order to form a team that’s powerful enough to take on Steppenwolf and his army in light of Superman’s absence. In the process, the two end up recruiting Arthur Curry AKA Aquaman, the ruler of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis (Jason Momoa), college student Barry Allen AKA the speedster known as ‘the Flash’ (Ezra Miller), and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), a former football star who was turned into a cyborg after a near-fatal car accident.

Simply put, when this film focuses on what audiences came to see (namely, the Justice League in action), it does deliver on that front. There are tons of great character moments here and there to satisfy the DC Comics faithful who have been waiting to see these characters together onscreen for years. However... that doesn’t mean that this film is devoid of some major flaws. For one thing, it’s all over the place when it comes to its tone. This aspect of the DCEU has been a primary source of contention amongst critics as both Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman were heavily criticized for being too dour. Thankfully with this film, an attempt was at least made for it to be more light-hearted compared to its predecessors; and yet, despite this, its attempts at humor are hit and miss at best. It also tries to balance said humor with some of the more serious aspects of the plot, something that it doesn’t necessarily succeed at doing. Overall, it seems as if a lot of this film’s tonal issues were a direct result of the biggest moment that occurred during its production, when Snyder was forced to step away from the film due to the death of his daughter and Joss Whedon (who, of course, is no stranger to this genre) was brought in to oversee rewrites and reshoots. However, while watching this film, it becomes abundantly clear that Whedon was forcibly rushed when it came to the process of finishing it, resulting in not only those aforementioned tonal issues but also some dodgy CGI as well (e.g. the now-infamous attempts that were made to digitally remove the mustache that Henry Cavill had grown prior to reshoots that he had to keep for the upcoming Mission Impossible 6).

Among other things, this film is primarily tasked with serving as the proper ‘introduction’ of three new main characters to the DCEU; Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Although the three of them had already technically been introduced in Batman v Superman via a series of brief cameos, this film serves as the first instance where they were each given a lead role. And overall, the film does do a decent job of establishing the DCEU’s iterations of these classic characters, as each main protagonist (both new and returning) does manage to get his or her own standout moment. Despite what I said before about the film’s humor being rather spotty, Ezra Miller’s Flash does get a lot of the best lines in the film as the inexperienced rookie who’s brought in to help deal with a daunting ‘save the world’ scenario. As for Aquaman, while it seems like a lot of his character development is being saved for his upcoming solo film next year, Jason Momoa does, at least, make a good first impression as DC’s often mocked aquatic-based superhero. Finally, with Cyborg, Ray Fisher does a good job of conveying the character’s inner turmoil given his tragic backstory. As for the returning heroes, both Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck are solid once again as Wonder Woman and Batman, respectively. Gadot continues to shine as the DCEU’s best protagonist, even amidst all of this film’s shortcomings, and Affleck still stands strong as the DCEU’s grizzled interpretation of the Dark Knight. And for those who weren’t too big on how Batman was portrayed in BvS, namely via his tendency to kill bad guys, you’ll be pleased to know that they do dial back on that characterization here.

Now, at the risk of delving into spoiler territory (though, really, everyone basically knew this already going in)… yes, Superman returns in this film after the character’s death in BvS. I won’t be getting into the exact specifics of how he’s brought back but I will say that, with this film, Henry Cavill has thankfully been given the chance to, shall we say, ‘act’ like Superman. Granted, I did think that he did a solid job in the previous two films that he appeared in but, at the same time, those films didn’t exactly give him the best material to work with, either. With Justice League, though, we finally get a Superman reminiscent of Christopher Reeve’s iconic iteration of the character from the original Superman films. But while all of the main leads get a solid amount of material to work with in this film, the same can’t be said for its supporting characters as they are all basically limited to ‘cameo’ appearances a la Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg in BvS. This applies to not only returning DCEU players like Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Connie Nielsen as Diana’s mother Queen Hippolyta but also newcomers like Mera, Queen of Atlantis (Amber Heard), and J.K. Simmons’ version of Commissioner Jim Gordon, characters that are clearly being intended to have more substantial roles in future films. And as for the main villain, Steppenwolf… he’s practically a non-existent threat. Despite Ciaran Hinds’ best efforts in the role, the character gets nothing of value to work with here; no backstory, no sense of what he’s trying to accomplish, no indication of his relationship to another famous DC comics antagonist (and future big bad of the DCEU) Darkseid, etc.  In other words, he’s one of the genre’s weakest villains ever.

So before any of the hardcore DCEU fans out there get on my case because of what I’ve said in this review, let me be perfectly clear; I didn’t outright ‘dislike’ Justice League. As I said before, when it focuses on its titular squad of superheroes, it does lead to some great character moments between them. At the same time, though, the overall execution is quite sloppy. While I do appreciate the efforts that were made by Zack Snyder and company to avoid delving into the dour tone that many felt plagued Batman v Superman, the film still suffers from having a rather inconsistent tone. And while the main leads are all solid in their respective roles, the plot is basic, the humor is hit or miss, and the main villain is pathetically weak. In short, a lot of this feels rushed, which arguably isn’t that surprising seeing how this came out only one year after Batman v Superman. And while both Snyder and Joss Whedon tried their best to fix some of the most glaring issues that people have had with previous DCEU installments (save for Wonder Woman), it just wasn’t enough to overcome the immense time crunch that they were both clearly under. With that said, though, if you’re a long-time fan of DC and these characters, I bet that you’ll probably be satisfied with this long-awaited live-action adaptation of arguably the most famous superhero team in all of pop culture… who, quite frankly, deserved a hell of a lot better than what is practically the DC equivalent of Fan4stic. I wish I was kidding about that comparison, but I’m not; granted, it’s nowhere near as bad as Fan4stic, but it too is a case of a studio trying to salvage a reportedly disastrous cut of their tent-pole release only to make things worse in the process.

Rating: 2.5/5 (So yeah, my streak of giving every major superhero film this year a 5/5 rating officially ends here. Still, despite my issues with Justice League, this has been one of the genre’s greatest years ever, which is something that will certainly be emphasized in my impending ‘Best Films of the Year’ list. But as for this film… well, as much as I hate to say it, it is most likely going to end up appearing on… the other list…)

The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) review

Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been a… interesting run to say the least. I say interesting because in some ways it didn’t exactly start out on the greatest note. Immediately after ‘The Avengers’ in 2013 came ‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘Thor: The Dark World’. While both films did fine with critics and were solid successes at the box office, with ‘Iron Man 3’ becoming the second MCU film to break the billion dollar mark, they received a far more polarizing response from fans. Of course, as we all know, with ‘Iron Man 3’ it was due to the infamous Mandarin fake-out. As for ‘Thor: The Dark World’, basically many consider it to be the weakest MCU film to date. Not only that but the MCU’s first major TV series, ‘Agents of SHIELD’, had a really rough start in regards to attracting an audience. Thankfully, 2014 was a much more successful year for Marvel Studios as they gave us two of their greatest films to date. Those two films were ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, which made a huge impact on the future of the MCU with its big ‘HYDRA’ twist, and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’, which showed that Marvel Studios wasn’t afraid to go outside the box when it came to their films as this one centered around a much more obscure team of superheroes. To make things even better, ‘Agents of SHIELD’ benefitted greatly from the ‘Winter Soldier’ twist, allowing it to get the buzz and attention that it finally deserved. Then to top it all off, then we got two more awesome Marvel shows in the form of ‘Agent Carter’ and ‘Daredevil’.

And now, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are back again, once again under the direction of Joss Whedon, for the second Avengers film; ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’. This time, they’re joined by not only some new allies but also a brand new threat in the form of Ultron. Simply put, the stakes are much higher than they were back in 2012. And does ‘Age of Ultron’ succeed in being another Grade-A effort from Marvel? You bet your ass it is (“Hey! Language!” “I’m Sorry!” (You’ll understand these references when you see the film)). Despite the fact that the film currently only has a 75% RT score, believe me when I say that it is much better than that rating suggests. Now with that said, does that mean that it is better than the first film? Well… at the time I am writing this, I wouldn’t necessarily go ‘that far’ yet. But at the same time, I’m not going to hold that against this film. Instead, I can safely say that ‘Age of Ultron’ is yet another extremely entertaining foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And that is because, like its primary predecessor ‘The Avengers’, it benefits from many things; great direction from Joss Whedon, a phenomenal ensemble cast, a highly memorable main villain, and a great script that provides us with loads of both hilarious dialogue and insanely epic action set-pieces. What more can you ask for?

After receiving a troubling hallucination from Wanda Maximoff AKA Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in which all of the Avengers have been defeated and the Earth is being invaded by aliens, Tony Stark AKA Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), fearing that The Avengers aren’t powerful enough to combat all of their adversaries, begins to develop a new and more powerful line of defense with his friend Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). With the help of a special A.I. system found within the gem of the scepter owned by Loki in ‘The Avengers’, they develop a new sentient A.I. defense program which they name ‘Ultron’. However soon after he is created, Ultron (James Spader) turns against his creators and the Avengers, believing that the only way to achieve peace on Earth is to eradicate all of humanity. Enlisting the aid of Scarlet Witch and her twin brother Pietro AKA Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Ultron starts to carry out his plan of destroying the world, which includes attempting to tear the Avengers apart with the help of Scarlet Witch’s mind-control powers. With the odds stacked against them, the Avengers; Tony, Bruce, Steve Rogers AKA Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) must team up yet again to stop this mad robot’s plans from succeeding.

The stakes are no doubt higher in ‘Age of Ultron’ than they have ever been in any MCU film that has come before this. From the multiple locations that the film goes to, from South Africa to Eastern Europe, to the amazing action sequences, including the duel between Iron Man (in the Hulkbuster suit) and the Hulk and the truly epic final battle, this is easily the biggest film that Marvel Studios has done to date in terms of overall scale. So obviously that does mean that there’s a risk of the film being too overstuffed giving all of the characters in the film. But personally I never found the film to be overcrowded at all as, like with the last ‘Avengers’ film, every major character in the film had their own chance to shine. Ultimately ‘Age of Ultron’ provides us with yet another fun adventure following our favorite superhero team. And really it’s because of Joss Whedon’s direction that the film manages to stay cohesive even with all that is going on. Whedon’s screenplay is well-constructed and full of hilarious dialogue, just like it was with the first film. This hilarious dialogue helps liven up the mood, which is good considering that this film’s story is a bit more serious in tone than we’re used to seeing from the MCU. But even with that in mind, never does the film veer too far into being dark and serious that it ends up being a total downer of a superhero flick (I’m looking at you, DC!). If I’ve said it a million times before, I’ll say it again; Marvel knows when to lighten things up.

Of course we all know how great the main cast of these films have been as proven by all of the previous MCU films. Obviously the same applies here as well, as all returning members of the cast; Downey Jr., Evans, Hemsworth, Ruffalo, Johansson, Renner (who thankfully gets a much more substantial role in this film compared to the first ‘Avengers’), and so on all are great once again. The newcomers to the cast are pretty damn excellent too; Elizabeth Olsen shines as yet another great female MCU lead in Scarlet Witch while Aaron Taylor-Johnson brings his own unique spin to the character of Quicksilver, who we previously saw in last years’ ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’. And then to top it all off, the third act brings in the incredibly badass Vision, played by Paul Bettany, who becomes the first major actor to play two different characters in the MCU. Bettany of course has been providing the voice of Tony Stark’s A.I. Jarvis since the beginning. Like how the Hulk was effectively used in ‘The Avengers’ in a limited time span, Vision really stands out even though he doesn’t show up until the finale. And finally, there’s James Spader, who gives the Marvel Cinematic Universe another fantastic villain in the form of Ultron. Not only does Spader succeed in giving the character quite the intimidating/villainous presence, but he surprisingly also brings a lot of humor to the role as well, which I wasn’t expecting.

I’m not going to compare ‘Age of Ultron’ to the first ‘Avengers’. I mean, at the moment, I can’t really say that this is the ‘better’ film. But even with that said, I did not go into ‘Age of Ultron’ expecting that because you’re not always going to get that with sequels… and that’s perfectly fine. Instead, I went into this hoping that it would be a fun and entertaining superhero flick and folks if you’ve been following me these last few years on this blog and on Twitter, I’ve very much made it clear that Marvel Studios has yet to let me down in that regard. I highly disagree with the fact that this film is only at 75% on Rotten Tomatoes. This film deserves a better score than that. ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ gives us exactly what we want to see; our favorite Marvel superheroes, portrayed by a fantastic ensemble cast with even greater camaraderie, in a kick-ass superhero flick with phenomenal action sequences, a great villain in James Spader’s Ultron, and most importantly the great sense of fun that has defined the Marvel Cinematic Universe from the very beginning. For what looks to be his last foray in the MCU (‘Winter Soldier’ directors Anthony and Joe Russo will be helming ‘Avengers: Infinity War’), Joss Whedon goes out on a high note with yet another top-of-the-line superhero film that once again proves why Marvel is the current king of superhero films.

Rating: 4.5/5

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Pilot Review)

I know I’ve probably said this many times already but the following statement is undeniably true. Marvel has been on quite a run the last few years. Ever since the original ‘Iron Man’ film debuted back in 2008, Marvel has created an impressive ‘Cinematic Universe’, successfully connecting all of their main franchises together into one world. All of these superheroes would eventually unite for the ultimate superhero team-up film, ‘The Avengers’, which ended up with rave reviews and over a billion at the box office. Now Marvel is in the middle of ‘Phase Two’ as they continue to expand their universe even more, with the next team-up film, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, slated to hit theaters in 2015. While Marvel has made an effort to connect these films together through references present in each film, the major force that keeps this universe connected is the government agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D. (the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division). Usually just a minor part in most of the films, S.H.I.E.L.D. is now the headliner of Joss Whedon’s newest show, ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’

The pilot episode takes place after the events of ‘The Avengers’, as the world now knows that superheroes are real in the wake of the Chitauri invasion of New York. When Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton) is briefed by Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders, reprising her role from ‘The Avengers’) and told to ‘talk to Agent Coulson’, he tells her that he knows that Coulson was killed before the Battle of New York. To his surprise, Coulson (Clark Gregg) suddenly appears, very much alive. How did he survive being stabbed by Loki in the film? Well, I won’t spoil the explanation they give in this episode, but something tells me there’s more to it than what they initially tell us. Anyway, Coulson puts together a team of agents, including Ward, pilot Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen), weapons tech expert Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), and bio-chemistry expert Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) to investigate a mysterious group known as the Rising Tide. In the process, they enlist the aid of the mysterious Skye (Chloe Bennet), a hacker connected with the group, and come across a man named Mike Peterson (J. August Richards), a single father that has somehow acquired superpowers.

Going in, I really didn’t know what to expect from this show but after watching the pilot, I can safely say that I like the route they are taking. Instead of focusing on a single superhero or a whole team of heroes, the focus is on S.H.I.E.L.D., more specifically the team that Agent Coulson forms to deal with the strange developments that occur in the post ‘Avengers’ world. This gives the show a more humanistic feel, which is a nice change of pace from the films, while still maintaining the fact that its characters live in a world full of heroes and gods, with plenty of references to the films. Will we see someone like Iron Man or the Hulk in future episodes? For the record, none of these heroes appear in the pilot (aside from some brief glimpses in the beginning, directly taken from ‘The Avengers’) but with a show like this, it’s very likely that this will happen in the future. I’m also interested to see how this show might tie in to one of the upcoming ‘Avengers’ films, the next possible one being ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’.

One thing that is certain about this show is that the cast is terrific, as it usually is in a Joss Whedon show. At its center is Clark Gregg’s Agent Phil Coulson, whose dry humor is a perfect match with Whedon’s writing. The explanation for how he survived his ‘death’ is a little questionable, but it seems like there’s more to it than what we’re initially told, as evident from a scene between Agent Hill and a S.H.I.E.L.D. doctor (played by Firefly’s Ron Glass). The rest of the members on Coulson’s team all do great jobs as well and have great camaraderie amongst each other. But in regards to this pilot, the one who steals the show would have to be Chloe Bennet as Skye. Like Gregg, she works well with Whedon’s dialogue and I’m interested in finding out the mystery surrounding her. At one point in the episode, she’s helping Mike Peterson clear his records and mentions that ‘she’s done it before’, indicating that there’s more to her character that we’re not getting at the moment. There are quite a few mysteries surrounding the cast, from an apparent incident that happened in Agent Ward’s past to the reason why Agent May doesn’t want to go back into the field, that are sure to be uncovered as time goes on.

The pilot episode for ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ has easily been one of the most talked about pilots in the history of television and ultimately it is a pilot that doesn’t disappoint. Joss Whedon makes a triumphant return to the world of television after his shows ‘Firefly’ and ‘Dollhouse’ were both cancelled prematurely (hopefully this show lasts longer than those last two). Of course, comic book fans will certainly love this show but it will also appeal to non-fans because of its terrific cast, its spot-on continuity with the Cinematic Universe, and for having a more humanistic feel to it by focusing on S.H.I.E.L.D. instead of a superhero. This show certainly has quite a lot of potential and I look forward to seeing what they do next.

Pilot Episode Rating: 4.5/5

2013 Preview: June

We’re nearly halfway through 2013, with one film (‘Iron Man 3’) having already gone past one billion at the box office. Will another film (or films) follow? Considering how many films have reached ‘the Billion Dollar Club’ in recent years, it seems very likely. After all, the Summer Blockbuster season has just begun. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films of 2013. This is Part 6 of 12 and today we’ll be looking at the June lineup.



*A trio of films will open up the month on June 7^th. The first, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, is the latest adaptation of William Shakespeare’s famous play of the same name. This new modern version of the story is helmed by Joss Whedon (‘The Avengers’), who filmed this over a period of 12 days at his home in Santa Monica during production of ‘The Avengers’. The cast consists of many frequent Whedon collaborators, including Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, and Nathan Fillion.



*’The Internship’ reunites Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, who last worked together on the hit comedy ‘Wedding Crashers’ back in 2005. In this new film, directed by Shawn Levy (‘Night at the Museum’, ‘Real Steel’), they star as two watch salesmen who lose their jobs amidst the rise of digital media. They end up getting internships at Google, where they have to compete with a younger and more tech-savvy group of interns for jobs at the company.



*The final major release on June 7^th is a sci-fi thriller called ‘The Purge’. This film takes place in the year 2022, where the U.S. prospers from low unemployment and crime rates. In order to maintain this prosperity, the government holds an annual 12-hour period where all criminal activity becomes legal; even murder. Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey star as a couple who try to survive during this event, even when a complete stranger comes to their house.



*The first of two new films coming out June 14^th is ‘Man of Steel’, the highly anticipated reboot of the Superman franchise, although this is actually the second attempt by Warner Bros to revive the Superman franchise after 2006’s ‘Superman Returns’ did not perform as well as they hoped. This new take on Superman is directed by Zack Snyder (‘300’, ‘Watchmen’) and is produced by Christopher Nolan (‘The Dark Knight’ trilogy). Henry Cavill stars as Superman alongside Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe as Superman’s biological father Jor-El, and Kevin Costner as his adoptive father Jonathan Kent.



*’This is the End’ is an Apocalypse themed comedy that is written and directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, based on their 2007 short film ‘Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse’. The film revolves around fictionalized versions of real actors (primarily James Franco, Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride) who attempt to survive when Los Angeles is ravaged by the end of the world. Other actors portraying themselves include Aziz Ansari, Jason Segel, Emma Watson, and Michael Cera.



*Pixar’s major release of the year, ‘Monsters University’, hits theaters on June 21^st. The film is a prequel to 2001’s ‘Monsters’ Inc’ and focuses on the college years of Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan (AKA Sulley) as the two try to get along during their freshman year in college. Billy Crystal and John Goodman reprise their roles of Mike and Sulley, respectively, alongside newcomers like Charlie Day, Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, and Nathan Fillion.

*The other new release that week is ‘World War Z’, based off of the Max Brooks novel of the same name. It is also perhaps the most controversial out of all the ‘delayed’ films of 2013. It was pushed back from a December 2012 release date and had to go through reshoots and even rewrites for the film’s final act. Brad Pitt stars as a UN worker who travels the world looking to find a solution for a zombie pandemic that’s affecting the whole world.



*The month ends with two films hitting theaters on June 28^th. The first is a comedy, ‘The Heat’, which reunites Bridesmaids director Paul Feig with his film’s breakout star, Melissa McCarthy. McCarthy stars alongside Sandra Bullock as a pair of cops (Bullock’s character an FBI agent, McCarthy’s a Detective) who must work together to take down a Russian mobster.



*The final release of the month is ‘White House Down’, the second film this year to be based around a takeover of the White House. This is following in the footsteps of ‘Olympus Has Fallen’, which hit theaters back in March. This film is directed by Roland Emmerich (‘Independence Day’, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’) and stars Channing Tatum as a police officers who must rescue the President (played by Jamie Foxx) and his daughter (played by Joey King) when a paramilitary group take over the White House.

And that’s what is to come this month and by the end of June, we will be halfway through 2013. Stay tuned for Part 7 next month.

Marvel's 'Phase 2': Part 2: Other Projects

(This is Part 2 of a look into Marvel's upcoming plans to expand their Cinematic Universe. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, I suggest you read that first. Also, like before, this is just based on what has been given so far.)



We've taken care of the next few films for Marvel's lead members of The Avengers, so the question now is what else does Marvel have planned up their sleeves? After all, now that Marvel has confirmed that 'Avengers 2' is in the works and that Joss Whedon will return to write and direct the film, fans are certainly anticipating to see what new characters will be introduced into this cinematic universe that Marvel has created. The following entry will mainly revolve around the two films that Marvel has confirmed recently to be in the works. However, there are certainly many more characters who might join the team for the sequel. Who could those heroes be? Let's not waste any more time and get the ball rolling...



At this year's San Diego Comic Con, Marvel revealed some of their plans for upcoming movies now that Avengers has come and gone with a bang (over 1 billion, to be exact). First, they showed off footage from 'Iron Man 3' and then they revealed the titles for the then-unnamed sequels to Thor and Captain America with 'The Dark World' and 'The Winter Soldier', respectively. But those weren't the only films that Marvel showed off at the event as they also revealed two other movies that were confirmed to be in production. One of these films was a solo film that had already been in the works for a long time while the other film will be about a superhero team that most people might not even know about.





The solo project was 'Ant-Man', a project that has been in development since about 2007. The film will be directed by Edgar Wright and the script will be written by both Wright and his partner Joe Cornish. According to Wright, this new film will include some humorous moments, but it will not be a comedy or a spoof, something Wright has been generally known for having directed 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Hot Fuzz', and 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'. This new movie will feature two incarnations of the character. The first will be the original 'Ant-Man' Henry Pym, who will be Ant-Man during the 1960's. The present version of Ant-Man will be the character Scott Lang, who will take up the mantle of Pym as Ant-Man. Wright has had to alter his script a couple of times in order to fit the chronology of Marvel's universe. Wright has directed test footage at this point and reports say that he will be directing the post-credits scene for 'Iron Man 3' which will feature Ant-Man. At this point, there is no confirmed release date for Edgar Wright's 'Ant-Man'.



The other film that Marvel announced, though, has a confirmed date of August 1, 2014. The characters in question are members of another Marvel superhero team, the Guardians of the Galaxy. This team of intergalactic superheroes first got its start in 1969, but the new film will be based around the 2008 version of the team. It has also been reported that this film will serve as the introduction for the character of Thanos, AKA the big-grinning purple alien from the end credits of 'The Avengers'. So far, there's been no confirmation as to the director of this project but it is likely Marvel will hire someone soon.





Like with the other big name Marvel films that are coming out in the future, we have yet to see any footage from either of these two movies to have any opinion on how they will turn out. In terms of Ant-Man, I'm certainly behind having a director like Edgar Wright helm the project. Wright has certainly proven that he's a talented director and as shown by his filmography he can do some really creative things behind the camera. But the Guardians movie is a different story. I'll be honest, when this project was first confirmed, I had no idea who the **** these guys where and I'm certain a lot of you don't know either. That's not a good sign for a new film when not a lot of people probably don't know a single thing about the characters in it. Plus, is this really the best place to introduce Thanos? I'd much rather wait until 'Avengers 2' if you ask me.



But enough of those two films. There's still the issue of what other characters Marvel might introduce into the team... Well, not being a huge comic book reader, I can't really give my opinion on what characters could join the team. That's more suited for people who have read the comics. All in all, I'm just a guy who's pumped to see what's next for our heroes and I'm eagerly awaiting 'Iron Man 3', 'Thor: The Dark World', 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' and of course, 'Avengers 2'. Sure, I'll even include 'Ant-Man' at this point. Joss Whedon certainly proved that he could deliver an awesome superhero movie with the first Avengers, so I have full faith in him that he can deliver again with the sequel. So that's about all I have to say about this. This has been a look at what Marvel has planned for their Universe now that they have successfully made it all come together. Thanks for reading.