Marvel’s Avengers Assemble Featurette

Check out an exclusive interview with Director Joss Whedon on Assembling ‘The Avengers’ at New York Times website.  Joss Whedon talks about how he backed out of directing Iron Man, how he won the Avengers Movie with a single email pitch to Marvel Studios, and his experience on directing stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson. The following is a brief excerpt from the interview:

Question:  And you can live with having all the plot points of the previous Marvel movies dictated to you when you walk in the door?

Answer:  Yeah, sure. And where all the other sequels are going to go. There was talk about, should we have this character? I’m like, you need to save that character for that other sequel. You can’t just throw that moment away. One of the biggest struggles for me was the end of “Iron Man 2″: “I’m in a semi-stable relationship.” “We approve of Iron Man but not Tony Stark.” They really made my job hard, in that respect. But you get all these pieces and it’s a puzzle. But it’s a puzzle that comes together. It’s not just a bunch of broken stuff — there is a way that it’s supposed to fit. And when it does, you find you’re being given as many gifts as you are problems.

Read my preview of Marvel’s Avengers Movie

Watch Marvel’s Avengers Movie Trailer in HD

Game of Thrones: Inside The Episode “The North Remembers” (S02E01)

“The North Remembers” lays the foundation to what promises to be an epic and riveting second season for the award winning medieval fantasy series Game of Thrones. The settings are incredibly diverse and spread over different continents from the desert of the Red Waste to the cold Haunted Forest beyond the Wall. As a red comet blazes overhead, each character’s journey and narrative, no matter where they are in the world are interconnected like strands on a spider web or ripples on a pond. The aftermath of King Robert’s death and Lord Ned Stark’s execution continues to unravel as Tyrion Lannister arrives in King’s Landing to assume the position of the new Hand of the King, Robb Stark sends him mother to forge an alliance with King Renly Baratheon and Stannis Baratheon declares his right to the Iron Throne after receiving Ned’s letter that King Joffrey is the inbred spawn of Queen Cersei and her brother, Jamie the Kingslayer.

Watch the Game of Thrones Season 2 – Inside The Episode with series executive producers providing insight on Robb Stark, Jon Snow and much more.

The fictional geography, religions, history, family lineage and cultures make Game of Thrones a richly complex, engrossing and fully realized world. Seven hells, I might even do the next review completely in Dothraki! (Just kidding). One of the challenges of adapting a 1000 page book into a 10 episode season is hiding the exposition usually disguised while characters are playing a drinking game, gutting a steer, taking a bath, shaving a chest or plainly having sex. It’s easy to be overwhelmed, gloss over a detail or forget what previously happened whether your new to the TV series or finished reading the book a long time ago. After watching the TV episode, check out some interesting tidbits and brief thoughts below to enrich your viewing experience. (These are intended to be spoiler-free up to the latest aired episode).

Game of Thrones: The North Remembers, Episode 1 Preview; New Characters of Season 2

If there’s one thing we learned from the first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones is that the quest for power is dangerous and unforgiving.  A simple error in judgement, strategy, or character flaw such as gluttony, impatience, arrogance, pride, or even nobility can be fatal.   So with the passing of King Robert Baratheon, Viserys Targaryen, Khal Drogo, Lord Eddard Stark and many more into the afterlife we welcome and introduce new characters of Season 2.  Know your enemies, know yourself, know you have no allies or die with your head upon a spike!  Minor Spoilers ahead:

Game of Thrones: You Win Or You Die – Inside the HBO Series

Watch the 22 minute special on HBO’s Game of Thrones featuring exclusive interviews with series executive producers and cast members including Kit Harrington (Jon Snow), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) & Emilia Clarke (Daenarys Targaryen) as they give insight on the hit television show, highlight key moments from Season 1 and give teasers for Season 2.

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.

My Top 5 Anticipated Movies of 2012

2012 promises to be a year of superhero summer blockbusters, sequels to favourite franchises and some potential hidden gems. James Bond’s Skyfall, the Amazing Spiderman, Safe House, The Hunger Games, The Cabin in the Woods, The Bourne Legacy, Life of Pi, and Resident Evil: Retribution are just some of the movies I’m excited about.

Here are the top 5 movies we’re looking forward to in 2012.

5. Promethesus

Release Date: June 8, 2012

Director: Ridley Scott

Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982) are a couple of the most revered scf-fi movies of all time, and almost 30 years later director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down) has finally returned to the genre he helped popularize. The Promethesus trailer is defintely an homage to the original Alien trailer with the movie title letters slowly being revealed and contains many Alien references which should clear any doubts whether the movies are set in the same world. The film will star Michael Fassbender (X-Men First Class, 300), Charlize Theron (Monster) and Noomi Rapace (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), who has an uncanny resemblance to Sigourney Weaver, as a “crew of humans making contact with an alien cilivization that may have a clue to the origin of mankind.” Although not a direct prequel and featuring entirely new characters and story, Promethesus “shares Alien’s DNA, so to speak” according to director Scott. The original Alien, which had the memorable tagline “In space, no one can hear you scream”, was a dark claustrophobic horror movie about an acid bleeding creature terrorizing a spaceship crew and become a blueprint for many sci-fi survival monster films.