Avengers: Age of Ultron is now quite firmly the most anticipated superhero movie of 2015 (with apologies to Edgar Wright's Ant-Man movie and 20th Century Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot). The sequel to the most successful superhero movie of all-time (and one of the highest grossing films ever) will arrive on May 1st, 2015, and will see the return of most of the original cast, director/writer Joss Whedon, and include a host of new characters. So what do we know for certain?

THE VILLAINS

As the title suggests, the primary villain of Avengers: Age of Ultron is...Ultron! Who is Ultron? He’s a malevolent artificial intelligence (created with the best of intentions) that wants to see biological life eliminated. For anyone who has never read an Ultron story, we can refer you to some of our favorites. Recently, Joss Whedon had some interesting things to say about Ultron's characterization in the film, describing him as "a robot who's genuinely disturbed."

Basically, imagine something far worse than Skynet, able to produce a limitless number of drones for the Avengers to clobber. And who is going to play Ultron? None other than Red Reddington himself, James Spader, who will not only provide the voice of Ultron, but actually portray the malevolent robot via motion capture.

Ultron's origins will be altered slightly for the film. In the comics, Ultron was created by Hank Pym/Ant-Man. Pym will be played by Michael Douglas in the Ant-Man movie but won't be showing up in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The teaser (which you can watch below) implies that it will be Tony Stark who accidentally creates the technological terror.

But there will be at least one other bad guy joining the proceedings, in the form of Thomas Kretschmann as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Baron Strucker is the head of HYDRA, and is generally known as a Captain America and SHIELD antagonists. Thanks to recent events on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD television series, HYDRA is once again a force in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's unlikely they will be central to the plot of a movie called Age of Ultron, We can expect that Baron Strucker will be a quickly dispatched secondary threat.

There's also the possibility, however slight, that we'll see Thanos make another appearance. The Mad Titan, famously teased at the end of the first Avengers movie, will make a brief appearance in this summer's Guardians of the Galaxy film and is the logical antagonist for Avengers 3. Kevin Feige's recent remarks that Thanos has already been cast make us wonder if he might even utter a few menacing words during an Avengers 2 post-credits sequence.

In addition to the return of the original team, the Avengers are getting some reinforcements in the form of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Elizabeth Olsen is Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch, while Aaron Taylor-Johnson will play Quicksilver. It looks like their mutant roots will be downplayed considerably, since the issue of their parentage (namely, Magneto) is tied up at another studio. They recently had a brief appearance at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, along with secondary baddie Baron Strucker.

We don't yet know exactly how large their roles will be, or even if they'll be full-blown Avengers allies, but these are two characters with deep roots in Avengers lore, so it's safe to say they'll be quite visible. Producer Kevin Feige, speaking to Empire Magazine, promised that "They're not very happy with the Avengers, their powers are not insignificant and they're quite different from what the Avengers have faced before." 

And then there's the matter of whether or not The Vision will make an appearance. Vision was famously created by Ultron in an attempt to infiltrate and destroy the team from within. Persistent rumors have indicated that Paul Bettany would make the jump from providing the disembodied voice of the JARVIS program into a physical body as the Vision, rumors which Bettany himself appeared to confirm during a television interview.

Mr. Feige has also promised larger roles for both Hulk and Hawkeye in Avengers: Age of Ultron. For Hulk, we do have at least one piece of evidence for this. Concept art released for the film prominently features what is known as "Hulkbuster" Iron Man armor, complete with Hulk wrestling with Iron Man. What this means for the film or their relationship is unclear, although it's probably not central to the plot. The good news is that Lou Ferrigno will once again provide the voice of the Hulk. The even better news is that Andy Serkis is helping Mark Ruffalo with the motion capture aspects of the performance!

Scarlett Johansson has let slip that "you'll see some pretty strong female characters in Avengers 2." The key word here is characters, plural. In addition to Black Widow and Scarlet Witch, we know that Cobie Smulders will make an appearance as Agent Maria Hill. But what about all those rumors of a Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel movie? Surely, setting up Carol Danvers in Avengers 2would help pave the way for a solo film. Sadly, Katee Sackhoff told us that there have been no talks with her and Marvel about the role.  

THE REST

Avengers: Age of Ultron opens on May 1st, 2015

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In the multitude of Marvel cinematic universes (there are three out there as we speak), producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad are the guardians of Spider-Man’s particular corner of the cosmos. With The Amazing Spider-Man and now The Amazing Spider-Man 2, they have launched an ambitious reboot of the world inhabited by Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) and others, with plans to expand Spidey’s saga into multiple movie spin-offs.

Arad is no stranger to Marvel, of course: he and partner Isaac Perlmutter took over the company in the mid-‘90s, guiding it out of bankruptcy and re-establishing the brand while ambitiously launching Marvel Studios in 2006. Arad left shortly thereafter, but continues to oversee Spider-Man movies with producing partner Tolmach.

The duo, along with director Marc Webb, have set a formidable task for themselves with The Amazing Spider-Man 2: they’re telling one of Peter Parker’s most emotionally powerful stories (indeed, one of the most important tales in comic book history), while introducing villains like Electro (Jamie Foxx), Rhino (Paul Giamatti) and Green Goblin (DeHaan) plus laying the groundwork for the eventual appearance of the Sinister Six. Den of Geek got them on the phone to talk it all over.

Den Of Geek: What did you want to see and what story did you want to tell in this film?

Matt Tolmach: Two things: one is we knew when we introduced Gwen Stacy in the last movie and made her the focus of the love story, we knew where we were headed with that story. So that was always sitting out there as a challenge and something we were excited about. So there’s that. The second thing I would say sort of more broadly is the last movie we felt the need, the obligation to tell the origin story. With that comes certain sacred ideas and tropes or whatever, things you have to do. We were liberated in this movie to just go and invent a big Spider-Man movie. With it, we really wanted to have fun. We wanted to go back to Peter Parker in the comics who was funny and loving his job. So we felt we were free to play and to go bigger and make people laugh in a way that we just hadn’t been able to before.

Did you know what villains you wanted? Did you pre-select them?

Avi Arad: As we were developing the story, we knew that we wanted to get into Electro. We thought there was an interesting story about how the biggest fan of Spider-Man becomes his biggest foe. He also served another purpose for us, which is that this is one villain that could clearly damage the population as a whole, which sometimes is hard to find. Here, all he has to do is shut the power and then all those people will get hurt. The way to fight him -- Peter has to rely, both Peter and Gwen have to rely on their science education. They have to be really smart to know how to stop something like that. The second villain, obviously, we wanted to get to Harry, and it's all part of this decision to have Oscorp as the tower of evil, if you will. Everybody’s life was touched by Oscorp one way or another, from Peter and his father to Harry and his father, Electro...when Harry says, "This is the future,” we know a lot of bad things are going to emanate out of Oscorp. Bad things already happened to both boys because of Oscorp.

So it was really about the structure of who were the villains and the fact that they needed each other in order to accomplish what they had in mind. Then obviously you have Paul Giamatti (as Rhino), who is actually showing the results of the new mechanized world built around the human being. So each one had a purpose and I know that there is always speculation about too many villains. But the movie didn’t feel like it had too many villains.

There are a lot of seeds planted in this movie. We see some characters like Alistair Smythe and we met a woman named Felicia, whose last name we never hear but fans can certainly guess who she is. Are they there just as Easter eggs or cameos, or are they there because you want to slot them into later stories?

Tolmach: They’re there because it’s fun. When you see these movies and you know -- for people that don’t know, they’re obviously not going to know. We just hire great actors who would be good in the part. But for people who do know, it gives it a whole other layer that’s fun to watch. The truth is, we’re creating options for ourselves. When something pops and it works, and people respond to it, we’re inclined to kind of chase that down. You know who Felicia is and what we’re incubating there. That’s a character we love. So what we’re doing is expanding this universe. We’re creating opportunities for ourselves to tell a bunch of different stories. There’s so many great characters in the universe that we’re kind of bringing them all to play and some of them are going to get put in the game next time and some are going to wait a couple movies, but they’re all there in potential to be used.

The strongest seed you planted is for the Sinister Six and we’ve also got the announcement of a Sinister Six movie down the line. Is The Amazing Spider-Man 3 going to be developing them to the point where they can be spun off to their own movie?

Arad: Could be.

Tolmach: Yeah, we’re making a Sinister Six movie and we’re going to make a Venom movie and we’re going to make a Spider-Man movie. The big idea is that all of them will -- there will be overlap inthe universe because they all --

Arad: They all have the common element which is Spider-Man.

Tolmach: They all come out of Spider-Man. Whether one literally leads to the next, we just haven’t said it out loud yet, but they’re all very much in play right now.

Was looking at the Marvel Studios template and the way they created the shared universe -- not that you wanted to copy them, but was that something to show the studio and say, look, this can be done and here’s how we can do it with this portion of the Marvel Universe that we’ve got?

Arad: Well, I’ve been involved in both universes for a long time and actually we discussed Sinister Six years ago because I think moviegoers will be fascinated with the study of what makes a villain, especially a villain in the Spider-Man universe. When we started making our own movies at Marvel, The Avengers was an obvious choice and the building blocks were already in place. You already had Hulk and Iron Man and Thor and so on. We had to get to the new Spider-Man and we had to get him to a point that, as Matt was saying, we had more freedom to let Andrew own the character and delve into things that are important to us, like humor and introducing Oscorp and technology. That lends itself so beautifully to the Sinister Six, and just the whole idea is to make Peter's life miserable. If he can take it, tough guy.

Andrew has put such a stamp on the role already. When he eventually runs his course or his contract, can the role be "James Bonded" and can you keep going without necessarily telling the origin story again somewhere down the line?

Tolmach: Of course. I mean, we’re far from that. We have so much more to do with this Spider-Man and with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker. But that is kind of the beauty of this character is that he is never going to be owned by one actor or one generation just as he never was in the comics. So, Andrew inhabits it now and down the road it will be somebody else, for sure. It’s just not something we’re even close to talking about or envisioning.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is out in theaters this Friday, May 2.

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Batman: Assault on Arkhamis the next DC Universe animated movie. It has a few interesting things going for it. It features the return of Kevin Conroy as Batman, which is always a good thing. It's set in the continuity of the Batman: Arkham series of games, which is also pretty unique, as most DC Universe animated flicks are adaptations of existing comic book stories. That's not all...

From the looks of things, this is about as close to a Suicide Squad animated movie as we're likely to see anytime soon. No release date has been set, but it looks like we'll see this one sometime in August. To hold you over, here's the just released box art for Batman: Assault on Arkham.

We expect more details soon!

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Never one to let a pretentious mainstream trend go unpunished (especially when you can potentially double your profits in the process), Lloyd Kaufman joined the ranks of Quentin Tarantino, Peter Jackson, and Lars von Trier by breaking Troma’s latest splatter comedy epic, Return to Nuke ‘Em High into two films. In fact he guaranteed himself an audience for the follow-up by ending Vol. 1 almost in mid-sentence.

At the moment Kaufman’s taking Vol. 1 on a worldwide promo tour, and in his absence Troma has released the first trailer for the forthcoming Vol. 2.

The sort-of sequel, sort-of reboot of 1987’s Class of Nuke ‘Em High, complete with the requisite squashed heads and boobs aplenty, replaces the nuclear power plant located next door to Tromaville High in the original with the Tromorganic food corporation, but the effects are pretty much the same. There’s something sinister and icky going on at Tromorganic, and not only has it infiltrated the school cafeteria, it’s even snuck its way into the town’s pot supply.  

The Glee Club’s turned into a gang of violent cretins, while other students begin hallucinating or just plain exploding. Beneath the filthy sex jokes and endlessly slimy visual gags (Troma’s fx people keep getting better, and keep pushing things way out of bounds), this time around there’s actually a plot beneath the splatter and the endless take-no-prisoners satire. Well, at least as close to something resembling a plot as you’re likely to find in a Troma picture.

In a cast that includes Lemmy as the President and Ron Jeremy as God (doesn’t that sound like a perfect world?), the film stars Asta Paredes as an angry socially conscious blogger (and closeted lesbian) and  Catherine Corcoran as a rich girl (and closeted lesbian) who’s very nice despite being a rich girl. Amid all the mayhem and mutant babies and giant dicks and flying puke, the two girls finally put two and two together and decide to bring down Tromorganic. Plus they get naked a lot. But that’s where we were left, just hanging there all tense and wondering at the end of Vol. 1. To get a sense of what lay in store down the road watch the trailer here:

One thing’s for certain, it’ll be a hell of a lot funnier than that Nymphomaniac Vol. 2, I’ll tell you that.

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Twentieth Century Fox has obviously been pleased with its social media marketing campaign of promoting X-Men: Days of Future Past trailers, because Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is getting the same, fan-teasing and curiosity-raising treatment. As just released on their Facebook page for the movie, fans can get their first 14-second tease for Dawn before the Apes rise again in a full trailer on May 8.

In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, superb character actors Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, and Gary Oldman are getting to lead an ensemble that still sports Andy Serkis as benevolent ape king, Caesar, in a world where the apes truly rule. And with Matt Reeves at the helm, director of the vastly underrated Let Me In, Fox again has a mystery box of a franchise film that we cannot wait to unwrap.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes begins July 11, 2014.

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Mutants are said to the be next stage of human evolution, and they appear to be the next stage in the hotly anticipated blockbuster season of Summer 2014! While a certain other superhero franchise is bowing big this weekend, X-Men: Days of Future Past is ramping up its marketing into full overdrive for the full homestretch of May.

And in our newest clip, Xavier and Magneto exchange sharp words on an airplane flight that also happens to reveal a long pondered fan question—how is Charles Xavier walking again?

And for those who missed yesterday's clip of Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique terrorizing Peter Dinklage and friends, enjoy:

X-Men: Days of Future Past opens on May 23, 2014. Directed by Bryan Singer, the man who launched the cinematic X-franchise, it will not only reunite the all-important X-Men trinity of Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Ian McKellen, but it will also team them up with their younger X-Men: First Class counterparts like Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy. And that's just the start! Plenty of old X-Men favorites, including Shawn Ashmore's Iceman and Ellen Page’s Kitty Pryde are back for this one, too. Whatever X-Men: Days of Future Past may turn out to be, it won't be dull!

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As we approach May the 4th, Star Warsnews has been nothing short of eventful. Not only do we know that the Expanded Universe as we knew it is no more, but the cast for Episode 7, the new, canon version of the story of what happened after Return of the Jedi, has also been announced. The cast is nothing short of fantastic, with film accolades to boot. And they're all set to play brand-new characters in the series. These original characters should not be confused with their Expanded Universe counterparts, as the former will not be influenced by the latter. 

But still, we ask what if? What if J.J. Abrams were taking a page out of the Thrawn Trilogy or The New Jedi Order series? Or maybe, if he were a fan of the video games, he'd give Kyle Katarn a chance. Well, in true geek tradition, we fantasize about who the new cast would play if the new film were following the rules of the Expanded Universe. Remember, this is a fictitious list, primarily for nerd purposes.

Adam Driver as Darth Caedus/Jacen Solo

It's no secret that Driver looks like a villain. Sure, we know him as the weirdly cute boyfriend in HBO's Girls, but don't forget that when the show began, he was a little skeevy and menacing. The guy is always sort of a tense force on the screen. Oh, and he's peculiar looking enough to play the villain. We'd love to see him play Jacen Solo, the eldest son of Han and Leia, on the verge of turning to the Dark Side and continuing the ancient tradition of the Sith. Jacen Solo has been forced to look down at wartorn planets his entire life, death shrouded the galaxy during his time with Uncle Luke's New Jedi Order. Like a particular Jedi turned Sith before him, Jacen decides to take matters into his own hands. He will use the extent of his Force powers, accessing the darkness hiding behind the light to bring justice to the Republic! Sound familiar? If you haven't read the Legacy of the Force book series, now is about that time.

Oscar Isaac as Grand Admiral Thrawn

Grand Admiral Thrawn needs no introduction. Not only is he a master strategist, the leader of the Imperial Remnant after the death of the Emperor, he's also the first big bad to hit the pages of the Expanded Universe after Return of the Jedi. Thrawn led the Remnant in an effort to re-instate the Empire, using force as his greatest weapon. He battled it out with Luke Skywalker and the rest of heroes of the Rebellion in one final effort to retake the galaxy far, far away in Timothy Zahn's famous Thrawn Trilogy. Of course, we know this wasn't the end of the matter. The red-eyed Chiss Imperial grand admiral lived on for another two books after the initial trilogy, to terrorize Luke and friends once again.

After Darth Vader and the Emperor, Thrawn is probably the most popular villain in the EU. I can see no one better to play the Grand Admiral than the cunning Oscar Isaac, who can play suave and violent almost at the same time, as we've seen in films such as Robin Hood, Drive, and Inside LLewyn Davis. Plus, I'd love to watch the scene where Thrawn's fleet has fallen, and he's stuck on Hoth without a winter coat, carrying a space cat.

Max von Sydow as Joruus C'baoth

No, not the legendary Jedi Master that led Outbound Flight during the days of the Galactic Republic. We mean the crazed Dark Jedi clone C'baoth, who was created by Emperor Palpatine to guard the Imperial storehouse (a secret high-tech weapons cache) on Wayland. C'baoth was the first Force user introduced after the Return of the Jedi, famously represented on the cover of Heir to the Empire, the first book in the Thrawn Trilogy. Joruus C'baoth was mad with power, unable to control his Force abilities, driven mad by them. After the Emperor fell, Admiral Thrawn tried to tame the Dark Jedi and make him a part of his cause against Skywalker and friends, but it was too late.

C'baoth was a lunatic, leaking Force energy everywhere he went. He had to be put down. Now, if this isn't a role von Sydow, frequent Ingmar Bergman star, was born to play, then we don't know what. Just think about his performance in Bergman's Hour of the Wolf, and then get back to us.

Daisy Ridley as Jaina Solo

By the end of this list, the original three Solo kids will represented. Why? Because the Solo kids have been so instrumental in the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe that it's hard to think of a storyline without them. Especially the Yuuzhan Vong War in The New Jedi Order series, where all of their lives irrevocably change, sent surging towards their fates in later books. That sounds cataclysmic, but that's pretty much how it happened. None of the Solo kids really get happy endings (that's not a spoiler anymore, is it?). Maybe it's the nature of the galaxy they live in, where the dark has so often beat out the light. Jaina probably has the best ending, if that includes surviving a duel against his Sith brother, and outliving his baby brother. She's a survivor, though. Not only is she a Jedi, but she's also a pretty awesome fighter pilot. Time and time again, she's been thrust into galactic conflict, into situations that will undoubtedly end in her doom.

Yet, the Expanded Universe looks kindly on young Jaina. She's the Solo that lives. Not much to say about Daisy Ridley in this role except that she's about the right age, and looks the part. Abrams would probably want an unknown actress to play the unspoken hero the Sequel Trilogy.

Domhnall Gleeson as Corran Horn

One of the best parts of the Expanded Universe is that there's a New Jedi Order, led by Luke Skywalker. That means tons of adventures, lightsaber duels, superpowers, and, of course, the occasional fall to the dark side. Some of the big names that come to mind from Skywalker's Jedi are Kyp Durron, Ganner Rhysode, Kyle Katarn, and Corran Horn. The latter was once a great X-Wing pilot, a vital part of Rogue Squadron, the legendary wing led by Wedge Antilles in name of the Rebellion, and later, the New Republic. Horn soon embraces his Force sensitivity, and learned the ways of the Jedi. Fighting through countless conflicts, Horn is one of those supporting characters (very rarely the protagonist) that the EU can't let go of. Probably because he's one of those overall good guys, never really succumbing to the dark side. Instead, he lives a virtuous life with his family (Luke Skywalker's Jedi can have those) and on the Jedi Council.

Time and time again, the Jedi are challenged by a new, deadly enemy, but Corran Horn's faith in the Force never really falters (unlike most Force users in the EU). Why Domhnall Gleeson? Probably because they kind of look alike. The main point is that we definitely want to see one guy that resembles Yoda as a strong force for good.

John Boyega as Anakin Solo

Before you point out the obvious, we'll retort: the Star Wars universe is more clever than that. It can come up with a million ways to unspool an origin story, and so can J. J. Abrams. We're not going to say this isn't one of the most far-fetched castings on the list, but where there are two Solo kids, there should be the third. Anakin Solo is one of the best characters in the EU, perhaps due to the mystery surrounding him. Throughout the books, you get that sense that Anakin Solo is bigger than what's happening on the page, the events in his life, and the people around him.

He's often the most spiritual of the characters in the stories, on par with Simon from Lord of the Flies. While his siblings are busy fighting wars, adventuring, or being tortured, Anakin is questioning (maybe something he inherited from Grandpa?) the nature of the Force. In true martyr fashion (and we introduce the Simon comparison once again), a character as good as Anakin can't live. For all his goodness, he has the one thing that made his grandfather a unique Jedi: a sense of duty on the verge of recklessness. And he pays for it, but all to save his comrades during the Yuuzhan Vong War. John Boyega is a young, charismatic actor that could absolutely play Anakin Solo. If you've seen Attack the Block, then you know Boyega has the presence to pull off the role. 

Andy Serkis as Nom Anor/Droma/Desann

Serkis is going to play a motion capture role, right? That's an assumption, but it's a fairly good one. It's a good opportunity to get some more aliens in the cast. There really weren't any in past movies that played pivotal roles...I can only really think of Chewbacca, Yoda, and Jar Jar Binks. Oh, and there's Ewoks, if you want it that way. Why not add another alien character that's as meaningful to the series as Chewbacca and Yoda? Nom Anor and Droma are both from The New Jedi Order series, but fought on opposite sides of the conflict. Nom Anor is a scheming Yuuzhan Vong secret agent that turns his back on his own people by series' end. Although the guy seems loyal to the cause, he's really watching his own hide. And all those years of secret agent work have really paid off. Oh, and Nom Anor looks vicious as hell, so it would be cool to see Andy Serkis bring some life to this capable villain. Droma the Ryn, on the other hand, becomes Han Solo's #2 during the Yuuzhan Vong War after the death of...Well, you get the picture.

Droma is observant, insightful, and loyal. He helps fill the giant space left behind by Solo's lovable fury companion. It would be nice to see Serkis play a good guy every once in a while. Finally, the one-off villain Desann, the main antagonist from Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, the beloved action-adventure game. Desann is a Chistori (which pretty much looks like a civilized dinosaur) Dark Jedi that was once Luke Skywalker's apprentice before falling to the dark side and joining the Empire Reborn movement, a scheme to bring back the Empire with an army of Force users. Desann's main quest is to hone the power of the Valley of the Jedi, a place full of immense Force energy, and destroy the New Jedi Order. He gets pretty damn close, too, until Kyle Katarn, mercenary turned Jedi, kicks his butt in the Jedi Temple on Yavin 4. Serkis as a Dark Jedi purple reptile? Yes.

What do you think? Are these castings crazy? Tell us in the comments section!

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One thing is certain about The Amazing Spider-Man 2...it isn't boring or unambitious. In fact, Sony's rebooted Spider-Man franchise finally takes that much-needed step out of Sam Raimi's long shadow this time around. While the results are (at best) uneven, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is anchored by great performances from Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, shines in its more lighthearted moments, and does its very best to establish a wider Spider-Man universe for future films.

There's an awful lot of Marvel mythology that The Amazing Spider-Man 2wants to address, and it often feels like the screenplay by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, and James Vanderbilt is trying to simply hit as many Spidey beats as possible, for fear that they may not get another chance. On the one hand, this results in what is a more complete Spider-Man/Peter Parker performance from Andrew Garfield (if not the most complete by any actor to wear the webs), and some unabashedly fun action sequences set on the streets of New York City. On the other hand, the movie is often in danger of collapsing under its own weight, and might have done better trying to tell one story rather than approximately four.

Picking up with Peter and Gwen Stacy's high school graduation, the movie follows the expected ups and downs of any Spider-Man screen romance, before introducing not one, not two, but THREE villains (four or more if you count various Oscorp heavies) who serve (or don't serve) the story in assorted capacities. There are issues held over from the previous film, particularly the mysterious fate of Peter Parker's parents, and the film kicks off with a nearly identical flashback that promptly turns into a strangely out of place action sequence on a private jet before launching into villain origins, easter egg hunts for future Spider-Man films, and more.

Through it all, whenever Garfield and Stone are on screen together, there are genuine sparks. What seemed like a rather rushed relationship in the first Amazing Spider-Man film now feels quite natural, no doubt aided by their own off-screen romance. Stone's Gwen Stacy is a delight, smart, funny, strong, and by far the most charismatic character in the franchise, and quite possibly the strongest "civilian" character in all of superhero cinema.

The problems, however, manifest early and plague the film right up until the closing credits. A hero is only as good as his villains, and Spider-Man has a rogues' gallery as memorable and grotesque as Batman's. But the presence of three baddies, even when one is a throwaway (the less said about Paul Giamatti's painfully broad Rhino the better), often makes for difficult storytelling. When one of those villains is the single greatest villain in Spider-Man history, one whose entire conflict is based on his and his family's long relationship with the character, it's extraordinarily difficult to make that work in the context of a single film, especially when he has to share screen time with other, less interesting characters. It just doesn't work.

Electro is particularly difficult to take, and like most of this movie's villains, he feels like a holdover from an earlier era of superhero films. In his civilian identity he's played for creepy comedy, and his character arc (an obsessional hero worship of Spider-Man) owes far too much to Jim Carrey's forgettable, irritating turn as the Riddler in Batman Forever. Let's be honest, it's not like Max Dillon has ever been the most well-rounded character in the Spidey-verse, but here he's saddled with unfortunate supervillain-by-numbers dialogue and is neither menacing nor sympathetic enough to leave much of an impression. I'm not saying that Max Dillon deserves better, but Jamie Foxx certainly does. On the other hand, Electro is an impressive visual, and considering all the superhero movies out there, there's a surprising lack of energy projecting heroes and villains on the scene. 

Dane DeHaan makes for a more than serviceable Harry Osborn, intentionally less likeable than James Franco's interpretation, but he's shortchanged by his introduction midway through the film and obligatory heel turn in the final act. Once again, one of Spider-Man's greatest rivalries is botched by overambitious filmmakers. Harry goes from amicable (if intense) long-lost buddy of Peter's to driven, hard-drinking jerk to full-blown supervillain in about as much time as it takes to read these words. None of these facets of Harry's personality get a chance to shine, making his eventual emergence as a costumed metahuman more confusing than cathartic or scary, and his villainous deeds far less weighty than they need to be. It's hard not to feel like we're getting a little cheated out of seeing Chris Cooper's appropriately icky Norman Osborn in action, as well.

Other than the Peter/Gwen relationship, there is one thing that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 does absolutely right, and given the ever-increasing levels of violence in superhero films, it's refreshing. Throughout the movie, great pains are taken to show Spider-Man's concern for the people in the path of the fights. Spider-Man not only saves civilians, he takes the time to talk to them. While previous Spider-Man films went out of their way to show Spidey as a "hero of the people" it always felt artificial. Less so here. His willingness to talk to and engage with everyone, from a kid on the street to police and firefighters (in one very funny and endearing moment) to the very villains who are trying to kill him is so pure, and so very in keeping with the everyman spirit of the character, that it deserves applause. No live-action incarnation of Spider-Man has quite nailed it the way we see here, and it makes Spidey's later failures hit that much harder.

In fact, this is the most active, vocal, jocular Spider-Man we've ever seen. There's plenty of physical comedy, an appropriate amount of Spider-Man wisecracks and banter, and in those moments when it is almost certainly Garfield in the suit and not a stand-in or CGI model, it's hard not to feel like this is as true an interpretation of the character as we'll ever see in live-action. Getting Spidey so right elevates what might otherwise be a pretty dismal affair. It's that Woody Allen/Groucho Marx/Bugs Bunny sensibility that makes Spidey unique, and getting these character beats right is something that no special effects budget can buy. When not in the red-and-blue, Peter is aided ably by Sally Field as Aunt May, who (other than a rather exposition-heavy speech) is great fun and seems to be enjoying her scenes with Mr. Garfield.

But ultimately, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is weighed down by its own need to throw as much at the audience as possible. Whether it's the (rather unnecessary) backstory involving the secret science project of the elder Parkers, the overabundance of villains, or Sony's desire to seed an expanded Spider-Man movie universe to rival Marvel's...it's all just too much. It's a miracle that this movie is as coherent as it is, and Marc Webb deserves praise for keeping as many plates spinning as he does. It's a better film than its predecessor, but I hope future installments in the franchise are less concerned with rushing headlong through iconic moments in Spidey's history and more interested in celebrating what makes these characters endure.

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David S. Goyer does more than DC superhero movies, although lately, it's been tough to keep track of everything he's involved in. Now, Mr. Goyer is trading in capes and masks for something more inward looking. Literally. We can only be talking about Fantastic Voyage, which Mr. Goyer is now writing a treatment for.

Fantastic Voyage was a 1966 20th Century Fox film about a team of scientists who shrink down to enter a human body and save a life from within. It won Oscars that year for Best Special Effects (now Visual Effects) and Best Art Direction (now Production Design), two awards that I'm sure James Cameron (who is producing the remake) would love to chase should this one make it to the screen. Perhaps this is a smokescreen for Mr. Goyer's burning desire to write DC Comics superhero The Atom for Warner Bros.? Probably not.

Fantastic Voyageis at Fox under James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment banner. We imagine this will be in 3D.

We just hope it's as much fun as Innerspace.

Source:THR

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X-Men: Days of Future Past is a pretty weighty story...well, at least the comic it takes its name from is. We imagine the film is similar. The future that the team is trying to prevent is the culmination of all the horrible persecution and prejudice that mutants are subjected to, so it's serious stuff.

With that in mind, it's nice to see that the film version of X-Men: Days of Future past isn't afraid to lighten things up a little bit. Here, watch Wolverine (Hugh Jackman...as if he needs any introduction) and Hank "Beast" McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) have a little first meeting misunderstanding at the X-Mansion.

Watch it here:

X-Men: Days of Futurepast arrives on May 23rd. It stars nearly everyone you can associate with an X-Men film.

Source:CBM (with a hat-tip to ScreenCrush)

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In case you were wondering how Matt Smith would spend his time now that he's done with Doctor Who, that appears to have been solved. According to Deadline, the Eleventh Doctor is joining the new Terminatortrilogy that Deadline are describing as "a major role that will grow in the second and third films." In other words, he won't be cannon fodder.

The fifth Terminator film, alternately referred to as Terminator: Genesisand simply, Terminator, already includes Emilia Clarke (as Sarah Connor), Jason Clarke (as John Connor), Jai Courtney (as Kyle Reese), Day Okeniyi (as Danny Dyson) and an unknown gentleman named Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's an awful lot of potentially heroic types in this movie. Could Matt Smith be making the leap to villainy to distinguish himself from his time on Doctor Who?

Skydance productions confirmed the news via Twitter:

We don't have a TARDIS, but we do have a Time Lord: we're pleased to welcome Matt Smith to the cast of #Terminator.

— Skydance Productions (@Skydance) May 2, 2014

The first film of the new Terminatortrilogy is schedules for July 1st, 2015.

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What sandwiches does Rob Ford like to eat when he's out on a crack-induced bender? Find out what the Toronto mayor likes to chow down on when he's fucking out of his mind - wasted. Also, did you know Google now can find your parked car That's great news- just remember to keep off the NSA's watchlist. 

We gather links around the Web - your job is to click on them. Go! 

Google Now Remembers Where You Parked Your Car
The Google Search App has a new feature to remember where you parked your car and then give you directions on how to go back to that location. And now, so does the NSA..

The Rob Ford Bender Guide to Toronto’s Best Sandwiches
Rob’s decided to check himself into rehab after getting caught smoking crack—again. See what sandwiches he likes to eat when fucked up.

Bottles Opened with a Chainsaw in Slow Motion

Taras Kulakov (a.k.a. “Crazy Russian Hacker“) of Slow Mo Lab recently got so thirsty that he decided to open hard cider and Coke bottles with a chainsaw in slow motion. This was filmed using Phantom v2010 high-speed camera.

Eerie Animation Brings Paintings by Dutch Masters Brought to Life Digital studio CS Digital Media brought eight paintings by Dutch masters to life in this eerie animation. The paintings are from the collection located at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Please Use This Song For Your Commercial
Comedian Jon Lajoie begs advertisers to use his song in a commercial in the hilarious music video “Please Use This Song.”

Fresh off his success in Her, Joaquin Phoenix has lined up his next movie as the, of course, untitled 2015 project from filmmaker Woody Allen. The film begins production in July.

Phoenix’s deal comes at a time when the director’s films are back in the mainstream consciousness with a series of praise, accolades, and box office success. The 2011 romantic comedy Midnight in Paris was Allen’s most financially lucrative movie to date, earning $151 million worldwide, and gaining him another Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. And last year’s Blue Jasmine netted star Cate Blanchett her second Oscar, this time for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Currently, Allen is getting ready to unveil his newest film at Cannes, Magic in the Moonlight, which stars Emma Stone and Colin Firth in a story about high class mingling with the Jazz Age in 1920s Southern France.

This will be Phoenix’s first collaboration with Allen.

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The web-slinger has started his newest box office swing Thursday night with $8.7 million.

As announced by Sony Pictures, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 played late Thursday night and into midnight shows for a number projected as just shy of $9 million. Deadline has reported that this was less than industry tracking had previously projected, but the wall-crawler should be in line to earn $85 to $90 million over the three-day weekend, depending upon family turnout during Saturday and Sunday matinees.

This number while respectable on its own, and ahead of 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man weekend debut of $62 million, should still likely be taken with trepidation at Sony. That total is well below all three box office weekend debuts of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, including Spider-Man 2, which opened on a Wednesday, and none of the three enjoyed 3D surcharges. Further, it only surpassed the numbers of the 2012 reboot, because The Amazing Spider-Man opened on a Tuesday. Comparably, the newest web-spinning opus will likely open less than Marvel Studios and Disney’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which bowed with $95 million. It might appear that two years and two films later, audiences have yet to fully warm to Sony’s reboot of the franchise.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is in theaters now.

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