The Avengers: Age of Ultron: SPOILER POST

WARNING!!!

The following Post contains spoilers for ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’. If you have not yet seen the film, then stop what you’re doing right now and go see this amazing film first because I will be discussing the key points of the film in great detail. If you don’t want to have the film spoiled (and hopefully the always spoiler-y internet hasn’t already done that yet for you), please refer to my Spoiler-Free review of the film, whose link will be provided below.

Also I apologize in advance for the low quality of some of these pictures as they were rather hard to find given the fact that the film has just recently been released.

(http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-avengers-age-of-ultron-2015-review.html)

I didn’t do a Spoiler Post for the first ‘Avengers’ film simply because that was when I was first starting out on this blog back in May 2012. And even with that said, looking back on the film I probably wouldn’t have even done one as I feel that Coulson’s death was the only real ‘spoiler-ish’ moment in the film. So instead, my first one was for ‘Iron Man 3’ and since then, I’ve done a Spoiler Post for every major superhero film save for ‘Thor: The Dark World’, because I felt that there also wasn’t much spoiler-heavy material to talk about in regards to that film, and ‘Man of Steel’, because I… forgot to do it. But now we come to the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’. It’s the true definition of a sequel that expands upon its predecessor. More awesome characters, more amazing action sequences, and another unforgettable main villain. And of course, like always, there were certain things in the film that I just couldn’t talk about in a non-spoiler review. I mean, unlike most of the internet nowadays, I for one prefer not to spoil things in my reviews unless it’s a spoiler post. So with that said, let’s delve into some of the biggest moments in Marvel Studios’ latest superhero epic, ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’.

BEST MOMENTS

One thing that can’t be denied about both ‘Avengers’ films, and MCU films in general, is that they’re always going to be full of funny and memorable moments/dialogue. But while, for some strange reason, I’m starting to find that some people are actually starting to get annoyed by that, I’m not one of those people as nowadays I much prefer a fun, light-hearted superhero film over a dark and brooding one (I’m looking at you ‘Batman v. Superman’… and basically almost all of DC’s upcoming films). And while these films have primarily been light-hearted affairs, it’s not like they haven’t done any legitimately serious moments. Take for example in this film when Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are talking with Ultron about when their home was destroyed. Or how about the death of Peter Quill’s mom in the beginning of ‘Guardians’? Or Frigga’s death in ‘Thor: The Dark World’? Or Groot’s sacrifice in ‘Guardians’ (and no, I don’t care about the fact that he’s resurrected at the end of it. That wasn’t my point.)? In my opinion, the MCU has done a great job of balancing serious moments with moments of levity. And of course, Joss Whedon in particular has really shined in capturing that perfect balance, while also giving us plenty of memorable moments due to his great writing. Here are a select few of my personal favorite moments from his latest foray into the MCU…

*The running gag involving Cap’s opposition towards the use of language (Tony: “For gosh sakes watch your language!” Fury: “Woah ho ho, you kiss your mother with that mouth?”)

*The whole scene where the other Avengers try to lift Thor’s Hammer but to no avail. Cap almost lifts it, causing Thor to make a very concerned face, but of course he doesn’t manage to lift it either.

*During the Hulk-Iron Man fight, Tony, in the Hulkbuster suit, smashes an elevator on Hulk. Hulk then proceeds to spit out a tooth, causing Tony to quickly say “I’m sorry!”

*When Quicksilver tries to grab Thor’s hammer but it ends up taking him with it.

*“You didn’t see that coming?”- Said by Quicksilver twice to Hawkeye and once by Hawkeye to Quicksilver

*Multiple funny moments from Hawkeye (more on his expanded role later)

            *The first being when his mind is nearly taken over by Scarlet Witch; “Already tried the mind-control thing. Not a fan.”

            *The second being when he’s with Scarlet Witch during the final battle; “The city is flying and we’re fighting an army of robots. And I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense.”

            *Finally, when Hawkeye’s all by himself after Quicksilver has run off with Scarlet Witch; “No one would know, no one would know… “Last I saw, Ultron was sitting on him, the bastard will be dearly missed. I miss him already!”

I can go on and on, but you get my point. Once again, the master of dialogue delivers when it comes to great superhero film dialogue and ‘Age of Ultron’ takes its place among the top 3 funniest films in the MCU, the other two of course being the first ‘Avengers’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. And that, ladies and gentlemen is why I love the MCU because it knows how to have fun.

BLACK WIDOW AND HULK- SPECIFICALLY BLACK WIDOW

Oh boy, in all my years of doing these spoiler posts, I’ve never thought that I would delve into a subject as controversial as this one… but here we go. Many of you have probably heard by now of the controversy surrounding Joss Whedon and this film for its portrayal of Black Widow. You can clearly see that just from some of the reactions on Twitter, as Whedon, who’s always been known for his feminist views and for giving us plenty of great female leads like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has been getting a lot of flak from feminists for the whole Black Widow situation, with some even calling him a ‘hypocrite’ (really?). There’s even been some people who have been sending Whedon death threats, no joke. Whedon recently quit Twitter a few days ago but while he says that it’s primarily so that he won’t be ‘too distracted by it’, the backlash against him is still there. And it’s sad really that it’s led to this. I mean seriously, if you didn’t like the film that’s fine but for god’s sakes that doesn’t mean you should send the guy death threats. This just highlights the sad truth of the internet; a lot of times it’s negative and also harsh as f***.  

So anyway, what’s all the hubbub around Black Widow? Well, it hasn’t just been all about her role in the film. There’s also been the controversy surrounding the lack of Black Widow in the film’s merchandise in some stores. But as for what happens in the actual film, the controversy surrounding the character mainly stems from the burgeoning romantic relationship between her and Bruce Banner. Some people feel that this romance comes out of nowhere but I disagree as I feel that there was ‘some’ development of a ‘relationship’ between them in the first ‘Avengers’. After all, who was it who first approached Bruce to recruit him to the team? And who was it who was with him when he first transformed into the Hulk? That’s right, it was Black Widow in both cases. I mean, sure, if you were to really look at it, there wasn’t necessarily any ‘romantic’ development between the two in the first film, per se, but it’s not like this new romance was completely out of left field as some have claimed. I’m guessing most people were suspecting that she would instead be more romantically involved with either Cap or Hawkeye. But considering the fact that Hawkeye was revealed in this film to be married and that Cap will probably hook up with someone else, hell a running gag in ‘Winter Soldier’ was Black Widow’s repeated attempts at trying to hook up Steve with potential dates, I think it’s safe to say that those two options are no longer valid.

But there’s more to this controversy than just her relationship with Hulk, though obviously that has played a major part in the backlash. There’s also the fact that, at one point, she is captured by Ultron after the Avengers steal Ultron’s new synthetic body from him. The ‘damsel in distress’ argument has been brought out for this scene but in all seriousness, it’s not like she acts like your typical ‘damsel in distress’ during this part, which is seriously over in like five minutes. She transmits her location to the rest of the team and when Bruce comes to help her get out, she rebukes him telling her to get away and has him turn into the Hulk (“I adore you… but I need the other guy.”). After that, she goes right back to kicking ass with the rest of the team. But then there’s the number one thing that’s been really pissing a lot of people off and this occurs when the team is hiding out at Barton’s home. Bruce and Natasha have a romantic moment together but then they start talking about how ‘neither of them’ can have children. In Bruce’s case, it’s due to the whole ‘him being the Hulk’ thing but Natasha tells him that she can’t because she was ‘sterilized’ by those who trained her in the Black Widow program. Because of this, she tells him that ‘he’s not the only monster on the team’. And that, folks, is what causing all of this controversy online… the fact that she uses the term ‘monster’.

Now, let me be very clear on this matter; I’m all for gender equality, I really am. Quite frankly it is BS that Black Widow has been generally left out of a sizable chunk of the promotional material for the film. And I do want to see a Black Widow film. But as for what happens in the film itself, I disagree with the idea that Black Widow was, quote on quote, ‘ruined’ by Whedon’s writing. After she more than proved herself to be a badass female lead in previous MCU films, namely the first ‘Avengers’ and ‘Winter Soldier’, I don’t see why it’s such a bad thing for her to start to yearn for a normal life and a family, which we see from her relationship with Clint’s family as ‘Aunt Natasha’. Contrary to popular belief, not all badass lead characters, female or male, have to be completely ‘cold’ and ‘unfeeling’. No one’s perfect, so it’s perfectly fine for Black Widow to show signs of vulnerability. In fact, this isn’t the only time this has happened before in the MCU. What about when Loki started to taunt about her relationship with Barton in the first ‘Avengers’? Or how about in ‘Winter Soldier’ when it seemed like Nick Fury had died? Like how there were signs of her relationship with Hulk in the first film, it’s not like this was a completely new thing for her.

I concur with recent comments made by Mark Ruffalo on two major arguments. First off, that the relationship between Hulk and Widow was more a case of her saving him than the other way around. But also, I agree with what he said in a recent AMA on Reddit in that I feel that has been the big deal that it is because we haven’t really seen a lot of female leads in these films save of course for Black Widow. And yes, that is disappointing and we’re still a few years away from the first major female superhero film of this current age of the genre. But even with that said, it’s not like Marvel Studios hasn’t been giving us awesome female leads; they have. Just look at May, Skye, Simmons, and Bobbi in ‘Agents of SHIELD’ or Peggy Carter in, of course, ‘Agent Carter’. All of those characters are awesome and then this film adds in another badass female lead in Scarlet Witch. At the end of the day, I’ll say this; yes it’d be really nice to see more female superheroes in these films, and if you got mad at this scene in the film, I’m not holding that against you. But as is, Marvel is still doing a really great job with their MCU heroines both in film and TV. And the whole thing with Black Widow and Hulk’s new relationship? I like it; I think it’s rather sweet and I’m interested in seeing how it all plays out. Why this is such a big problem with many people, however, is beyond me.

“Hey big guy… sun’s getting awful low.”

A BIGGER ROLE FOR HAWKEYE

While I don’t entirely agree with this, it’s safe to say that Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) sort of got the short end of the stick in terms of his role in the first ‘Avengers’. Most of his screen-time in the film was spent under the control of Loki. In other words, until the final act when he was finally broken free of Loki’s spell, he spent quite a lot of time away from the other Avengers. With that said, though, he still had his own chance to shine during the final battle and if you ask me I think he did, like when he took out a Chitauri with a behind-the-back shot (I always love that part) or when he fired an arrow at Loki, who caught it but was completely unaware that it was an explosive arrow. But thankfully ‘Age of Ultron’ did give him more to do this time around, namely due to the fact that he wasn’t separated from the other Avengers for a good chunk of the movie. And as noted earlier, he contributed to some of the best moments of the entire film like when he avoided getting hypnotized by Scarlet Witch, commenting that he ‘experienced it before’ and is ‘not a fan’, or when he commented on the fact that they’re fighting an army of robots and he only has a bow and arrow (“Nothing makes sense!”). His role in the film also gets expanded through the introduction of his wife Laura (Linda Cardellini) and their kids.

After the whole incident with the Hulk’s rampage in South Africa, brought on by the mind-control powers of Scarlet Witch, the Avengers are forced to go into hiding so Hawkeye brings them to his home where the other members of the team finally learn that he’s married and has a few kids. This was hinted at a couple of times before in the film but at the time Hawkeye kept claiming that he was talking to his ‘girlfriend’. I liked this whole part of the film as I felt that it did work in making Hawkeye a more interesting character. Similar to the characters in ‘Agents of SHIELD’ and Peggy Carter in ‘Agent Carter’, this helps ground the MCU by high-lighting characters who aren’t given fancy superpowers; people like us. Technically speaking, Hawkeye is one of us; a regular guy that just so happens to possess a high-skill set living in a world of gods, super soldiers, and gamma-engineered monsters. And that’s one of the reasons why I love the MCU; because it takes time to focus on the little people. After all, the first major tagline for ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ was ‘Not all Heroes are Super’ and this scene in particular helps give some genuine non-superhero related emotion to this big-budget MCU film. I was already a fan of Hawkeye before this film, despite his rather limited role in the first ‘Avengers’, but thanks to ‘Age of Ultron’, quite frankly he’s become one of my new favorite characters in the entire franchise.

“If you step out that door… you’re an Avenger!”

SCARLET WITCH AND QUICKSILVER

The two biggest new additions to the cast for this film were Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and Aaron-Taylor Johnson as Quicksilver. Johnson of course became the second actor in two years to play the character in a Marvel movie following his ‘Kick-Ass’ co-star Evan Peters’ turn as Quicksilver in Fox’s ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’. Now right off the bat, I’m going to lay this out there; I’m not going to compare these two Quicksilvers. I think both Peters and Johnson did excellent jobs in the role in their respective films, especially because they both handled the character very differently. In ‘Age of Ultron’, because Marvel Studios can’t use the term ‘mutant’ because they don’t own the rights to X-Men, the Twins are volunteers for a HYDRA experiment that gives them their special powers. They’re referred to as ‘Enhanced’, which is perfectly fine given the whole ‘don’t own X-Men’ situation. I also liked that these two had some nice depth to them in terms of their backstory which also sets up why, at first, they’re actually adversaries for the Avengers. They explain to Ultron that, when they were younger, their home was destroyed by a shell and that they were almost killed by a second shell that ultimately didn’t go off. And whose company was responsible for developing these weapons? Stark Industries, hence their initial resentment of the Avengers. I also want to add that this is a nice call-back to how, in the first ‘Iron Man’, Tony came to realize how much harm his company’s weapons were causing. And now, the past has come back to haunt him yet again.

Scarlet Witch is another badass female lead in the MCU, joining among the ranks of Black Widow, Maria Hill, and the female leads of both ‘Agents of SHIELD’ and ‘Agent Carter’. Her powers are a great new addition to the MCU and the visions that she inflicts upon the Avengers are pretty darn awesome in how they’re executed. Of course, the whole plot of the film gets into motion when she takes over Tony’s mind, causing him to see a vision of the rest of the Avengers defeated and a bunch of aliens about to invade Earth. This of course leads him to create Ultron as a means of better handling any future threats. Later on in the film, when the Avengers come across Ultron and the Twins in South Africa, where they are acquiring vibranium from arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis, who may or may not return in ‘Black Panther’, which would make sense given that in the comics ‘Klaw’ is a regular adversary of Black Panther), Scarlet Witch subdues Thor, Cap, and Black Widow with her powers, causing them all to have visions. Cap envisions himself back in his original time after the war finally having that dance with Peggy (the feels, bro), Black Widow flashes back to her days in the Black Widow program, and Thor, who initially claims to be ‘mighty’ enough to not be overtaken by Scarlet Witch’s powers, sees visions of Asgard under peril, which are obviously meant to be a set-up for what’s to come to in ‘Thor: Ragnarok’.

As with Quicksilver, as I noted earlier, I liked that Johnson and the filmmakers took a different approach to the character compared to what we saw before in ‘Days of Future Past’. His running ability is portrayed as making him look like a blur which is a nice contrast to the 3,600 fps style utilized by Bryan Singer for ‘X-Men’. This Quicksilver is also more serious and angry, which makes sense given him and his sister’s tragic backstory. You also did feel a genuine connection between the two characters; I mean, it does help that Johnson and Olsen had worked together just last year in ‘Godzilla’, where it was clear that they did have good chemistry with each other. I also liked the general rivalry between him and Hawkeye early on. All of this helped make the crucial moment during the finale as effective as it was; I’m of course talking about when Quicksilver sacrifices his own life to save Hawkeye and a kid he was trying to protect. I think this scene was well-done, mainly thanks to the solid development of the relationships between both Quicksilver and his sister and also him and Hawkeye. And I’m fine with Quicksilver being the one who died in this film. Part of me thinks that maybe Marvel realized that it would be confusing to have two different Quicksilvers in their films so they [Marvel Studios] let Fox keep using Quicksilver in the X-Men films. It also helps that the ‘X-Men’ films haven’t actually introduced Scarlet Witch yet. I also liked the sweet little touch at the end of the film where we learn that Hawkeye’s new son has been given the middle name of Pietro, obviously a touching tribute to his fallen ally.

THE VISION

Though the award for best new character in the film is easily Paul Bettany, in his second major MCU role, as the Vision. Part of Ultron’s plan has him forcing a friend of the Avengers, geneticist Dr. Helen Cho (Claudia Kim), to build him a brand new body made out of the vibranium that he acquires from Ulysses Klaue. Once the Avengers find out about this, they take the body and Tony completes it by uploading Jarvis, who for most of the film was presumed to be destroyed by Ultron, into it. With the help of Thor’s lightning and the Mind Gem (AKA Infinity Stone) from Loki’s scepter, Vision is born. And how does Vision make his grand entrance into the MCU? By showing that he’s capable of lifting Thor’s hammer… that alone is worth it. Bettany has been a mainstay of the MCU since the beginning as Jarvis so it’ll be interesting to see how he’ll factor in the MCU now that he’s in the role of Vision, which he jokes about as ‘a role where he doesn’t just have to record some voice-over work in just a few days’ time’. Of course I’m also aware of the fact that, in the comics, Scarlet Witch and Vision had a relationship. And you know what? A certain moment in this film when Vision rescues Scarlet Witch could potentially be a hint as to what’s coming in the future for these two.

Ultron: “You’re unbearably naïve.” Vision: “Well… I was born yesterday.”

ULTRON

Ultron was definitely hyped up as a villain and the fact that he was being played by the badass James Spader didn’t hurt either. And as I noted in the review, overall I’d say Ultron was an excellent adversary for ‘The Avengers’. Spader’s ‘cool’ voice helped to give Ultron a very intimidating persona but something I didn’t expect was that Ultron was also going to be a really funny villain as well. Ultimately, you can thank both Whedon for his masterful work with the dialogue and Spader’s ability to make Ultron’s lines funny while maintaining the character’s generally serious persona. It’s sort of like with Drax in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’; his overall persona was very serious in nature given the fact that he was out for revenge for the murder of his family. But because he was ‘too serious’, that actually resulted in some of the film’s most humorous moments from his misunderstanding of what a metaphor is to him literally calling Ronan to come to him and the other Guardians so that he can get his revenge on Ronan for killing his wife and daughter. As I’ve noted about a week ago, I’m not one of those people who holds the MCU villains to the high standards of the internet that were set by Loki. So because of that, I’d say that Ultron is the second-best MCU villain to date.

Tony: “What’s the vibranium for?” Ultron: “I’m glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan… (Proceeds to blast Stark)”

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

Black Widow says it perfectly in the film; ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’, and that is very much true in regards to how the film ends with us getting a first look at the new ‘Avengers’ team. Four of the main members of the team depart at the end of the film for various reasons. Hulk, immediately after the final battle is over, takes off in a Quinjet as he doesn’t want to endanger anyone else any further, especially Black Widow given their developing relationship. Hawkeye returns home to his family after promising his wife that this was going to be his ‘last mission’. Thor returns to Asgard in order to try and figure out the meaning behind what he saw in his vision induced by Scarlet Witch. And finally Tony leaves as well, leaving only Cap and Black Widow to prep the new ‘Avengers’ team; Falcon, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, and Vision. It’ll be interesting to see what the full lineup is going to be like for the next ‘Avengers’ film, which will hit theaters in 2018. Given the lineup of films that are set to make up Phase 3 of the MCU, other new additions may include, among others, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel. But this doesn’t mean that this is technically the last we’ll be seeing from the other members of the Avengers. Of course Iron Man will be back for ‘Civil War’ along with Hawkeye and in an interview, Chris Hemsworth stated that the last three films on his Marvel contract were ‘Thor 3’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2’. But for now, to quote the classic song from Bob Dylan, ‘the times they are a-changing’.

FINAL SUM-UP

11. Iron Man 2

10. The Incredible Hulk

9. Thor: The Dark World

8. Thor

7. Iron Man

6. Iron Man 3

5. Captain America: The First Avenger

4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

3. THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

2. The Avengers

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

At the end of the day, I can’t really say that ‘Age of Ultron’ is ‘better’ than the first film. If I did have any complaints with this film, it is that there’s a very slight issue with pacing. The whole sequence in Seoul where the Avengers steal Vision’s body form Ultron could’ve easily been a part of the finale but when it’s over, we still have the final battle in Sokovia. But like with how the first ‘Avengers’ sort of had a slow opening, it doesn’t bother me that much. In the end, ‘Age of Ultron’ is yet another awesome entry in the MCU. The action sequences/visuals are incredible, the writing is spot-on and full of funny and memorable dialogue, and the ensemble cast is fantastic once again, reuniting us with our favorite returning heroes while also giving us a few new badass heroes and another unforgettable main villain in the form of James Spader’s Ultron. I did not go into this film expecting it to be ‘better’ than ‘The Avengers’; instead, I went into it expecting a fun-as-hell Marvel Cinematic Universe film and at this point, Marvel Studios has yet to let me down in that regard. I’ve said it before in my original review and I’ll say it again; why this film only has a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes is beyond me. It deserves a FAR better rating than that.

STAR WARS MONTH: Post #2: Special Edition Changes

Despite the fact that ‘Star Wars’ is one of the most iconic franchises of all time, one could say that its fan-base has had it rough for quite a few years. And for the record no, I’m not referring to the prequels at the moment. I’m actually referring to probably the most controversial aspect of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise; the numerous changes that series creator George Lucas has made to the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy. Now there have been some cases where films have been altered in subsequent home video releases, usually to fix a mistake or two within the film. But in the case of ‘Star Wars’, that’s not the reasoning for these changes. Instead, it’s because Lucas, who in 2004 claimed that the original trilogy of films only represented about 20-35% of his original vision, made these changes in order to make the films look the way he wanted them. To do this, he utilized new technology that he didn’t have back when the films were first being made due to the limitations at the time in regards to visual effects. However, pretty much all of these changes have been universally criticized by ‘Star Wars’ fans who believe that the films were great as they originally are. But at this time, despite rumors that Disney is planning to release the unedited cuts of the films on Blu-Ray, it’s unclear whether or not we’ll ever see those original cuts of the films again. Today, on Rhode Island Movie Corner, I’ll be looking at some of these changes. For the record I won’t be discussing every single change made and will instead be focusing on the most controversial of changes. Basically that is because each major home video release of the films since 1997 have had one extremely controversial change. So let’s get started… 

1997- SPECIAL EDITION: ‘HAN SHOT FIRST’

It all began in 1997, two years before the release of ‘Episode I’, when it was announced that the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy would be re-released in theaters in honor of the first film’s 20^th Anniversary. Little did fans know that this would be the start of what would cause them nothing but frustration for years to come. Lucas spent about $10 million, $3 million to work on the audio, $2 million to work on ‘A New Hope’, and $2.5 million each for ‘Empire’ and ‘Jedi’, on editing the films, adding in some new scenes and most notably a whole bunch of new CGI visuals, including some replacements of the original special-effects work done for the film. But the one change that attracted the most controversy, one that is arguably still the most infamous change in franchise history, occurs in ‘A New Hope’ during the scene where Han Solo is approached by the bounty hunter Greedo, who is looking for him on orders from crime lord Jabba the Hutt, who put a bounty of Solo’s head after an incident where he had to drop some cargo that he had been smuggling for Jabba in order to avoid being captured by the Empire. Ultimately though, Han ends up shooting Greedo before he gets a chance to kill him. You all know the controversy surrounding this scene, which has resulted in the iconic phrase; ‘Han Shot First’.

The original cut of ‘Star Wars’ made it very clear that Han was the one who shot first and was also the only one of the two who fired any shots. However, the ‘Special Edition’ changed it up so that it was now Greedo who shot first. A shot was inserted where Greedo is shown firing at Han, who ‘avoids’ it by moving his head (this is done via CGI, by the way) to the right. He then fires at Greedo, and the scene of course ends the same way it did before. Looking at the shot in slow-motion, you can definitely notice the rather laughable work done to make Han ‘avoid’ the shot. Thankfully, subsequent releases have altered up this scene some more so that it doesn’t look as bad as it did the first time it was edited. Still though, these altered cuts to the scene still have Greedo fire a shot at Han. The only major difference is that in the 2004 DVD release, the timing of the shots was altered to make it look like Han and Greedo were firing at the same time, still maintaining that Greedo fired a shot which Han avoids. The 2011 Blu-Ray release shortened up the shot by a few more frames.

Harrison Ford's response to a question on Reddit asking him about the whole 'Who Shot First?' debate

So why did George Lucas do this? According to him, it was because he felt that having Han shoot first would make him out to be a cold-blooded killer. But really, I think it’s safe to say we all know that this wasn’t necessary. Despite being the only one who fired a shot in that scene originally, Han of course became a highly beloved character in the franchise. So clearly the fact that he fired first didn’t result in him becoming a completely unlikable character. And really, can you blame him for shooting Greedo in that scene? I mean otherwise Greedo was going to kill him; he didn’t really have a choice. Recently, Lucas revised his original statement on the scene by asserting that Greedo DID shoot first but because of the fact that the scene had primarily been done in close-ups, it was confusing as to what really happened. That reasoning does make a little more sense, though it’s worth noting that he also stated that it was the audience who wanted Han to be a ‘cold-blooded killer’ and drafts of the original script don’t mention Greedo shooting at Han in the scene. Needless to say, this edit attracted a lot of attention… but it was only the beginning.

2004- DVD RELEASE- ANAKIN’S GHOST

Two years after the initial release of the ‘Star Wars’ trilogy on DVD, another DVD release came out with a special bonus; a bonus disc for each film that had the ‘original’ versions of the films. However, this came at a price because the original cuts of the films were of fairly low quality. They were produced from the transfers used for the 1993 Laserdisc releases; as a result, the video transfers were in letterbox format and there were plenty of video errors such as low contrast and motion smearing. Needless to say, it was clear that there wasn’t really that much effort put into bringing the original cuts of the films to DVD, the one thing that fans were yearning for since 1997. But as for the main DVD versions of the films, they were given the re-mastering treatment… and once again more changes were made to the films. Along with the aforementioned editing of the ‘Han/Greedo’ scene, there were also some additions to keep the films closer to the then currently running prequel trilogy in terms of continuity. In the scene where Vader talks to the Emperor, Ian McDiarmid replaces the original ‘actor’ who played the Emperor (who was actually makeup Rick Baker’s wife Elaine with chimp eyes superimposed on her face with voice dubbing from Clive Revill). And Boba Fett is now voiced by Temuera Morrison, who played Boba’s father Jango Fett in ‘Attack of the Clones’.

And then you have the addition of young Anakin Skywalker, Hayden Christensen, in ‘Return of the Jedi’. This occurs during the final scene of the film when Luke sees the force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and his father. Originally, Anakin was portrayed, when he was unmasked, by Sebastian Shaw, who again appeared as a Force Ghost. But then, in the 2004 DVD release, his image was replaced with Christensen’s. Apparently the reason for this was because this was supposed to represent the last time that Anakin was a good guy before he became Darth Vader. However, in reality, it would make much more sense to have him look the way he did when he died. Plus, as some have already pointed out, the fact that Christensen obviously looks much different than Shaw should cause some confusion in regards to the scene because Luke shouldn’t recognize who the person standing with Obi-Wan and Yoda is, even if he’s his father. But the big problem with this scene is that it’s just insulting to Sebastian Shaw, who passed away a decade earlier. Just another bone-headed decision on Lucas’ part which, like with the ‘Han/Greedo’ scene, has a really flimsy excuse for being done.

2011- BLU-RAY RELEASE- DARTH VADER ‘NO!!!’

And now we come to the change that quite frankly pissed me off the most. For the most part, I’m not too upset about the changes made to the original ‘Star Wars’ films. Yes a lot of them are rather stupid and make no sense in terms of why Lucas made these changes. But because I’m not really a die-hard ‘Star Wars’ fan, they don’t bother me that much. But then came the 2011 Blu-Ray release of the ‘Star Wars’ saga. Of course there were more changes to the original films, like a weird addition of rocks in front of R2-D2 when he’s hiding in an cave from the Tusken Raiders (seriously from the way it looks you’ll wonder how he even got in there in the first place) and the addition of eyelids for the Jawas in ‘Return of the Jedi’ so that they now blink, which from what I hear was supposed to be a part of the overall design for the creatures but was abandoned for looking unsatisfactory. But the one change made that drives me crazy, and I’m sure the same can be said for the rest of you folks as well, occurs during the climactic sequence in the Death Star II when Vader sacrifices himself to save Luke by throwing the Emperor down the pit. Originally, Vader said nothing during the scene but now he first says ‘no’ while watching the Emperor torture Luke and then yells ‘No!’ as he grabs the Emperor.

Where do I begin with this? First of all, more so than any of the other changes, this ruins the emotional impact of this scene. Vader may not have originally said anything during the scene but he didn’t need to. We could see it perfectly well through the way he watched this whole situation unfold that he was about to sacrifice his own life to save the life of his son. Second of all, now we unfortunately had to relive the infamous moment in ‘Episode III’ when Vader, after learning from the Emperor that Padme died in childbirth, screams “NOOOO!!!” For the record, I’m not really as bothered by that scene as others may be but now that it’s been brought into one of the best scenes of the film series, I have to admit now I’m a little annoyed at it because it led to this frigging change. Like I said, all of the other changes made to the films… they don’t really bother me that much. But this one is inexcusable. I’m pretty certain that Lucas has not made any comment on why he made this change but even if he ever does, that excuse does nothing to hide the fact that this is, without a doubt, the absolute worse of the ‘Star Wars’ Special Edition Changes. Yep, it’s worse than ‘Han Shot First’ and it’s worse than ‘Young Anakin’ in ‘Return of the Jedi’.  

As I conclude this post, I want to talk about the main reason as to why these changes bug me. It’s not really about what the changes were. Aside from the aforementioned ‘No!’ scene in ‘Return of the Jedi’, I’m not really that bothered by things like ‘Greedo Shot First’ or the CGI additions. It’s more because of one simple fact. And that is George Lucas’ insistence that these newer cuts of the original trilogy are the ‘correct’ versions of the films. The last time the original, unaltered cuts of the films was properly released to home video… was in 1995, back when VHS was still relevant (Hell, I still have them). But since 1997, we’ve had to deal with these newer cuts of the films every time the series moves to a new media format. They did re-release the original cuts of the films back in 2006 but as I noted earlier, it seems like minimal effort was made to bring them to DVD as shown by their poor quality. And while I hear that some people did make bootleg copies of the films in their original form, I’m not really looking to watch them ‘that way’. So why do I bring all of this up? Well, guess which franchise allows its fans to re-watch its content the way it was originally made, even when it too made some modern updates?

That’s right, it’s the other big space-themed franchise with ‘Star’ in the title, ‘Star Trek’. In 2006, ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’ made its official debut in HD along with updated CGI visuals. But when the series was released to Blu-Ray starting in 2009, ‘Trek’ fans were allowed to do something that, at this time, ‘Wars’ fans can’t. They could view all of the episodes in either the original or updated format. CBS didn’t restrict them from watching the original cuts of the episode if they didn’t want to watch the updated version, unlike ‘Star Wars’. And that’s my problem with this whole ‘Special Edition’ nonsense. Despite the fact that a lot of people grew up with ‘Star Wars’ via the original cuts of the original trilogy, for almost two decades now they’ve had to see their beloved films get modern updates that they didn’t want with no real way of seeing the original cuts of the films in a proper release. Seriously, why is it so hard to just re-master the old cuts of the films and polish them up, not Lucas’ way of ‘polishing it up’ for the record, so that they could be put on Blu-Ray? That way, ‘Star Wars’ fans all over the world can finally be reunited with their beloved trilogy the way it was originally presented and quite frankly how it should be.

Check back next week for Part 3 of this Month-long ‘Star Wars’ celebration as I get a bit controversial as I discuss the ‘Star Wars’ prequel trilogy.

STAR WARS MONTH: Post #1 Original Trilogy (1977-1983)

The year was 1977; 33-year old California born filmmaker George Lucas, who had just recently set up his own production company Lucasfilm Ltd. due to his frustration with the studio system, was set to release his newest film, a sci-fi space opera by the name of ‘Star Wars’, on May 25, 1977. The film’s production faced a series of problems ranging from technical issues to poor weather conditions, making it seem quite doubtful that the film was going to be anything but a disaster. But of course, as we all know, that wasn’t what happened. At the time of its release, it became the highest-grossing film of all time until ‘E.T.’ in 1982. But nowadays, when adjusted for inflation, it’s currently the second-highest grossing film of all time domestically and the third-highest grossing worldwide. It’s led to the creation of one of the most iconic media franchises in all of pop culture, immediately spawning two equally successful sequels in 1980 and 1983. And today on May 4^th (or, as we ‘Star Wars’ fans like to honor it as, ‘Star Wars Day’), as Rhode Island Movie Corner begins its celebration of ‘Star Wars Month’ in anticipation for the upcoming ‘Episode VII: The Force Awakens’ this December, we’ll be looking back upon this highly revered film trilogy. It’s a trilogy that’s easily one of the best film trilogies of all time as all three films are truly excellent, a rarity when it comes to film trilogies.

STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE (1977)

Honestly, I don’t know what else can be said about this film that hasn’t been said before. What started out as just a small-budget sci-fi film plagued by numerous production problems ended up becoming arguably the most beloved sci-fi film of all time. And even today, nearly four decades since its release, it still holds up incredibly well. That’s probably because of how Lucas took inspiration from both classic sci-fi stories like ‘Flash Gordon’ and ‘Buck Rogers’ and the mythological writing of Joseph Campbell. The characters were based around the common archetypes of the genre; the young hero, the rogue, the damsel, the wise old wizard, etc. And even with all of the films that have come out in the years since ‘Star Wars’ that have utilized these same archetypes, the main characters in this film; Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, Obi-Wan ‘Ben’ Kenobi, Darth Vader, and so on and so on, still stand as some of the most iconic film characters of all time thanks to Lucas’ solid writing. Despite all of the changes that George Lucas has made to this film, namely numerous CGI additions, a lot of the film’s non-modern CGI effects are still very impressive for the time, resulting in a number of memorable action sequences from the Battle of Yavin at the end to the fight between the Millennium Falcon and a group of TIE Fighters. The bottom line is that ‘A New Hope’ is just a great movie anyway you look at it. There’s a reason why this franchise is still running strong today and ‘A New Hope’ is the one to thank for that. Quite simply it’s one of the best sci-fi films of all time and a hard one to top…

Rating: 5/5!

STAR WARS EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)

…But that’s exactly what its sequel did. Yes, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, this entry directed by Lucas’ former film professor at USC, Irvin Kershner, ultimately stands as not only the best entry in the ‘Star Wars’ film franchise but also one of the best, if not the best, sequels ever made. And it’s one of those cases where that esteem grew over time because it actually received mixed reviews when it first came out. Of course, like all good sequels, ‘Empire’ does a great job of continuing the story from where ‘A New Hope’ left out while also upping the scale in just the right ways. But at the same time, it also goes one step further by also going a much darker route than its predecessor. Now by ‘dark’ I don’t mean dark in tone and atmosphere; this is still a ‘Star Wars’ movie after all and there’s still a whole lot of fun action sequences and light-hearted humor. It’s more a case of a darker story, namely the fact that this one actually doesn’t end on a ‘happy’ ending. Seriously, in this one the Empire ends up winning the day. They defeat the Rebel Alliance on Hoth, Luke, Han, Leia and the rest of the gang stumble into a trap in Cloud City, and Han ends up frozen in carbonite and sent off to Jabba the Hutt. In fact, in regards to the latter, they were even considering the possibility of permanently killing off Han and Harrison Ford was in favor of it; but of course, that wasn’t what happened. But suffice it to say, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ is the current high mark of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. The original ‘Star Wars’ is still a classic, but this one just takes it one step further.

Rating: 5/5!

STAR WARS EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)

British director Richard Marquand (Eye of the Needle) was chosen to direct the final entry in the trilogy, ‘Return of the Jedi’, after Lucas was unable to get his friend Steven Spielberg to direct the film. This was because of a controversy involving the Writers and Directors Guilds of America over ‘Empire’ due to the decision to have the credits play at the end of the film rather than the beginning. For the record, end credits weren’t very common at the time and Lucas was only allowed to do it for ‘A New Hope’ because he was directing it and his production company bears his name. It even got to the point where the Guilds threatened to pull ‘Empire’ from theaters, but Lucas paid the fines, ultimately dropping out of both guilds as well as the MPAA. David Lynch and David Cronenberg were also approached as well but both declined the offer due to scheduling conflicts with other projects. It would’ve been very, very interesting to see what each of these three directors would’ve brought to the table but as is, ‘Return of the Jedi’ still delivers the same great ‘Star Wars’ that we’ve come to expect from the last two films. But ‘Return of the Jedi’ is also something else… incredibly underrated. I guess you can say that the film keeps up with the tradition of ‘the threequel curse’ as ‘Return of the Jedi’ is the least successful film in the trilogy in terms of critical reception. In fact, ‘Episode III’, one of the prequels, has a better RT score than ‘Return of the Jedi’. Let that sink in for a moment… Despite this, I still really enjoy ‘Return of the Jedi’ and think that it is, if not exactly better than either Episode IV or V, is at least ‘as good’ as those two films.

So why is this one not as popular as the previous two? Well, the main reason for that seems to be due to the Ewoks, the teddy bear-like creatures that Luke and co. meet while on the Forest Moon of Endor. More specifically, the backlash towards them comes from the fact that during the final battle, this primitive race is able to defeat the armed ‘best troops’ of the Empire. Personally, I’m not too bothered by any of this, though I recognize that this might’ve been a case of Lucas thinking more about merchandising than the actual story, which may very well explain the downgrade in quality of the prequels (more on those later this month). However, I still think ‘Return of the Jedi’ succeeds in closing out this trilogy. After the darker turns of ‘Empire’, this film lightens things up (in some cases, maybe a little too much (e.g. Ewoks) but that’s beside the point) while also effectively tying up the loose ends of the trilogy, namely in the wake of the big reveal in ‘Empire’ that Darth Vader is Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker. The finale sequence involving Luke, Vader, and the latter’s master, Emperor Palpatine, is one of the best finales that I’ve ever seen in film. The emotions are running high throughout, with Luke nearly turned to the Dark Side by the Emperor and Vader making the heroic sacrifice to save his son. For now, we’ll ignore the fact that in the Blu-Ray this sacrifice was basically ruined by one of Lucas’ ‘changes’. Still, despite that and the whole thing with the Ewoks, I still love ‘Return of the Jedi’; in fact, for a while it was my personal favorite film of the series. While nowadays I concur that ‘Empire’ is the best of the trilogy, I still think ‘Return of the Jedi’ is pretty great as well.

Rating: 5/5!

‘Star Wars Month’ is just beginning; Check back Next Friday for Post #2 in which I discuss some of the controversial changes made to the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy.

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

2015 Preview: May

It is here; the summer movie season has begun and boy there are quite a lot of exciting movies hitting theaters these next three to four months. Welcome back to Rhode Island Movie Corner’s year-long preview of the films that are coming out in 2015. This is Part 5 of 12 and today we’ll be looking at the films that will be hitting theaters in May, the first official month of the summer movie season (even though technically May is a spring month but when it comes to movies, we ignore that). So let’s not waste any time and get started with this month’s film preview.

MAY 1- It’s the first week of May! You know what that means… That’s right, it’s the week of Marvel.

*Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are back, once again under the direction of Joss Whedon, for the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’. In this film, the Avengers reunite to stop their latest threat, Ultron (James Spader), an A.I. created by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) meant to be part of a new peacekeeping program but goes bad once it gains a god complex. The main cast of ‘The Avengers’; Downey Jr., Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), among others, return for the sequel. They’re joined by Spader, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver), and Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), among others.

MAY 8- Another single release this week, this one a comedy.

*In ‘Hot Pursuit’, Reese Witherspoon stars as an inept cop who has to protect the widow of a drug dealer (Sofia Vergara) from criminals while transporting her to a court case in Dallas.

MAY 15- Two sequels come out this weekend; one a sequel to one of 2012’s surprise hits and the other being the first major installment of its franchise in three decades.

*2012’s ‘Pitch Perfect’ was a surprise hit with both critics and audiences, grossing over $110 million worldwide and attracting a massive fan following. This year, the Barden Bellas are back in ‘Pitch Perfect 2’, this one directed by Elizabeth Banks, who produced and co-starred in the first film. In this film, the Bellas enter into a worldwide competition where no American a-Capella group has ever won before. Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson, and the main cast of the first film all return for this new film.

*Tom Hardy takes over for Mel Gibson in the role of Max Rockatansky in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’, the fourth entry in the post-apocalyptic action franchise directed by George Miller. In this film, Max joins forces with Furiosa (Charlize Theron) as they try to cross the desert in order to escape from the clutches of gang leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne, who starred as another gang leader named Toecutter in the original ‘Mad Max’). The film also stars Nicholas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

MAY 22- A remake of a classic horror film comes out alongside the latest from visionary director Brad Bird.

*Brad Bird (‘The Iron Giant’, ‘The Incredibles’, ‘Ratatouille’, ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’) brings us his latest film, ‘Tomorrowland’, co-written by Bird and Damon Lindelof. George Clooney and Britt Robertson star as a grizzled inventor and young optimistic teenager, respectively, who travel to the futuristic world of Tomorrowland, a place ‘where nothing is impossible’ and your actions will actually change the world. The film is inspired by both a mysterious box of items from the archives of Walt Disney Imagineering and the Disney Park land of the same name and also stars Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, and Kathryn Hahn.

*Sam Raimi produces the remake of the Steven Spielberg-produced horror classic ‘Poltergeist’. Similar to the original film, this film focuses on a family whose house is invaded by spirits. The film stars Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Jared Harris.

MAY 29- Finally, to close out the month, we have a Dwayne Johnson-led action film and a Bradley Cooper-led comedy.

*Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson re-teams with ‘Journey 2’ director Brad Peyton for a much bigger project, ‘San Andreas’. Not based off of the hit GTA game of the same name, ‘San Andreas’ actually revolves around an earthquake that occurs in California along the titular San Andreas Fault. Johnson stars as a rescue helicopter pilot who, along with his ex-wife (Carla Gugino), heads to San Francisco in order to rescue his daughter (Alexandra Daddario).

*Bradley Cooper stars in director Cameron Crowe’s ‘Aloha’. In it, he plays a defense contractor assigned to oversee the launch of a new weapons satellite in Hawaii. While there, he falls for an Air Force pilot (Emma Stone). The film’s ensemble cast also includes Rachel McAdams, John Krasinski, Danny McBride, and Alec Baldwin.

And those are the films that will be hitting theaters in May 2015. Check back next month for Part 6 as we continue the Summer Movie Season with the films of June.