Opening in theaters on May 4th is the highly anticipated and soon-to-be summer blockbuster The Avengers, which was produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film marks the culmination of a promise that began in 2008 with Iron Man and continued in the years to follow with Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger, introducing new Marvel characters that all exist in one unifying cinematic Marvel universe. Marvel Studios has succeeded in the impossible, bridging together several different film franchises to create one world where all of Marvel Studio's on-screen characters can coexist and form the popular superhero-team The Avengers, based on the classic comic book co-created by the legendary Stan "The Man" Lee.

The Avengers was written and directed by fanboy favorite Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Cabin in the Woods) and truly stars an all-star cast that includes Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2) as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Evans (Captain America: The First Avenger) as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Mark Ruffalo (Shutter Island) as Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) as Thor, Scarlett Johansson (Iron Man 2) as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Jeremy Renner (Thor) as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Samuel L. Jackson (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger) as Nick Fury, Tom Hiddleston (Thor) as Loki, Cobie Smulders (TV's How I Met Your Mother) as Maria Hill, Clark Gregg (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor) as Phil Coulson, Stellan Skarsgard (Thor) as Erik Slevig, and Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man, Iron Man 2) as Pepper Potts. 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with actor Clark Gregg to discuss his work on The Avengers. The actor talked about the new film, being a central part of the Marvel on-screen universe, having doubts early on that The Avengers would even get made, the emotional depth of the film, watching the original character her created become part of the Marvel comic book world and the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, his character's fear, working with writer/director Joss Whedon; his terrific script, and whether or not we will see Agent Phil Coulson in future Marvel Studio films. 

The childhood dreams of millions of fanboys will finally come true on May 4^th when Disney and Marvel Studios releases the highly anticipated soon-to-be summer blockbuster The Avengers. The film marks the culmination of a promise that began when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) first appeared in Iron Man, thus creating the cinematic Marvel universe, bridging together several different film franchises to create one world where all of Marvel’s on-screen characters would exist. This trend continued with Iron Man 2, which introduced Black Widow (Scralett Johansson), followed by Thor, which introduced the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), and inevitably Captain America: The Fist Avenger, introducing Steve Rogers (Chris Evans).

In honor of The Avengers finally assembling on the big screen, Epix is sponsoring an event called Marvel Heroes Weekend April 27^th – 29^th, which will be hosted by none other than comic book legend and Marvel Comics godfather Stan “The Man” Lee. The three day marathon will feature Iron Man 2, Thor, the television premiere of Captain America: The First Avenger, as well as the world premiere of With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story, a documentary about the man behind the “House of Ideas.” As all “true believers” know, Lee is responsible for creating some of the most beloved comic book characters of all time including Spider-Man, The X-Men, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Silver Surfer, Daredevil, and The Avengers, as well as changing the comic book landscape and impacting the industry he practically invented.

I must be on a roll because I recently spoke to the great Adam West (Batman), and to follow that up just a few weeks later by meeting the legendary Stan Lee … well, I think I’ve died and gone to geek heaven! I caught up with the iconic Lee earlier this week in Los Angeles at a luncheon thrown by the Epix Network to promote their upcoming Marvel Heroes Weekend. I had the rare pleasure and complete honor of sitting down with Stan Lee and chatting with him for a few minutes about comic books, movies, his new documentary, Marvel Heroes Weekend, Epix, The Avengers, what heroes he’d like to see appear in the sequel, what Marvel characters he thinks should have their own film, what Marvel characters should get film reboots, The Amazing Spider-Man, his famous movie cameos, the success of the Marvel films, and his all-time favorite character that he created.

Marvel superhero overload continues unabated as Disney promotes The Avengers with all due hugeness.  There are mere weeks between now and the films domestic release, but if you're still looking to whet your appetite and have not yet been saturated by spoily bits, Marvel Studios has unveiled yet another official clip from The Avengers, the fifth so far.

Opening in theaters on March 23rd is a new British drama from director Terence Davies (The House of Mirth) called The Deep Blue Sea. The film stars Academy Award-winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardner), Tom Hiddleston (Thor), and Simon Russell Beale (Hamlet). 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently sat down with director Terence Davies to discuss his work on The Deep Blue Sea. The director talked about the new movie, adapting the play into a screenplay, the period, the lighting and look of the film, cinematical influences, casting Weisz and Hiddleston, the relationship between their two characters, finding important moments in the rehearsal process, and the film's implied hope.

So the Oscars are over and with them, awards season has finally come to a close.  The Artist dominated those high-falutin' Academy Awards, but with months of stuffiness and pomp out of the way, a different academy, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films is looking to acknowledge excellence in genre films with the 38th Annual Saturn Awards.  The official list of nominations in film and television were announced today, so take a look.

Apparently, when filming last summer's Thor, star Chris Hemsworth kept putting on so much muscle that his costumes had to be modified to accommodate his rippedness.  In this summer's The Avengers, one of the thunder god's new outfits features no sleeves, allowing us all to bask more fully in the sight of Hemsworth's physicality. 

A new image from Marvel's big team-up shows Thor and Agent Coulson, once again played by Clark Gregg, chilling at SHIELD headquarters, with two elements most prominent: Thor's right arm and Thor's left arm.

The awards given out by professional guilds certainly add to the undeniable and ongoing hoopla of awards season, but they don't necessarily have that teleprompter-reading, what-are-you-wearing public spectacle of the Oscars or the Golden Globes.  Instead, they often provide an opportunity for the sort of work that doesn't get recognized at the big ceremonies to feel special.

The freshly-announced nominees for excellence in wardrobe as chosen by the Costume Designers Guild are good examples.  The nominations are divided into three categories separating period, fantasy, and contemporary films.  While the nominees include movies that are sure to be on the list for Best Picture, such as The Artist and The Descendants, there's also room for the outstanding work of Sammy Sheldon on X-Men: First Class, Jany Temime on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Erin Benach on Drive. 

Back in May, when the summer movie season was about to get feverish, Eric Roth, the executive director of the Visual Effects Society, made waves with an open letter decrying increasingly burdensome post-production schedules that put the burden on visual effects artists.  It's awards season now, though, so now it's time to put politics aside in favor of straight-up accolades.  The Visual Effects Society, also known conveniently as VES, has announced the nominees for the 10th annual VES Awards.

Since we're all about stills from hyped 2012 blockbusters today, we'd be remiss if we didn't include a morsel or two from The Avengers, the first superhero movie to combine disparate franchises into one mega-crossover.  First up we have yet another image of Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans as Thor and Captain America, respectively.  This is the third official The Avengers image to feature these two particular heroes striking poses on the battle-ravaged streets of Manhattan (shot on location in Cleveland, Ohio, doubling for New York).  Since that's sort of familiar, there's also another bit of eye-Brawndo to visually get your eye-electrolytes going: concept art for the Quinjet, the all-purpose flying SHIELD people mover.

We're now in 2012, and the last several weeks have, as always, included a plethora of movie-related lists summing up the year.  There are, of course, many a critical list, such as IAR's Top Ten of 2011, and there is also the year-end roundup of the top-ten movies at the domestic box office.  But what of the online black market?  Aren't we curious to see which films amassed the most illegal downloads over the course of the year we just left behind?  This is not be misconstrued as an endorsement of illegal movie torrenting, as it is instead a point of curiosity, a brief look at the most popular titles in this  ubiquitous practice.