Samuel L. Jackson’s brief cameo at the end of Iron Man in 2008 forever changed the possibilities for superhero films. No longer did every franchise have to be a distinct entity – multiple movies could now take place in the same fictional universe, and the collective imagination of fans everywhere exploded at the potential for a massive crossover event bringing everyone together in one film.

With The Avengers, Marvel has achieved a seemingly impossible task: not only did they spend years building the foundation that supports this film by bringing together A-list stars from different franchises, but they managed to turn a project that could have collapsed under the pressure of its own ambition into one of the most crowd-pleasing superhero movies ever created.

Look no further than the 2002 series “Firefly” and its spinoff film Serenity for proof that Joss Whedon was the perfect choice to corral all of these monumental heroes into one storyline. Whedon is one of the best writers in the business, and he really excels at crafting meaningful relationships among ensemble casts and writing strong female characters, two things that were a requirement for a successful film adaptation of The Avengers. He was helped here by a terrific stable of actors, veterans of the industry who understand one of Marvel’s greatest strengths in these properties: the ability to keep the story critical to the film but allow enough humor that it won’t suffocate under its own seriousness.

The character work in The Avengers is fantastic, especially considering this particular team-up is jam-packed with characters that have already had entire films devoted to their singular adventures. Whedon gives each of them multiple moments to shine, and everything that we loved about them in previous films is on display here (and oftentimes it’s even improved). Even in scenes near the beginning of the film that contain massive amounts of setup and exposition, he manages to insert little “Whedonisms” to lighten the mood; there’s a gag with a $10 bet between Captain America and Nick Fury that’s a really small moment overall, but it brings a lot of humor to a sequence where people are just sitting around spouting information. Tony Stark has never been wittier, and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner actually has a personality outside of sulking in corners and fighting the beast inside him. (The Hulk is funny this time, too!) Natasha Romanoff is far better drawn than she was in the disastrous Iron Man 2, so ScarJo fans can rest easy.

The action sequences are spectacular and choreographed so that we know where our heroes are at all times. (That in itself is a pretty incredible feat because the sheer scope of this movie is so huge.) The climax is breathtakingly constructed, mixing spectacle and destruction with legitimate character moments and not letting the (admittedly awesome) visual effects take over the movie. There are memorable setpieces spaced throughout the movie, resulting in easily the most entertaining Marvel film so far.

Because there is so much ground to cover, I did feel a little like Loki’s villainous intentions were a bit unclear. He’s working with some sort of alien race, but we don’t ever find out why the destruction of Earth is so paramount to their greater mission. Also, how did Thor even arrive on Earth for this movie? At the end of Thor, they establish that the bifrost has been destroyed. I understand how things wrap up at the end of The Avengers, with the Tesseract from Captain America playing a key role in the travel element, but there was so much happening that they didn’t have time to get into the hows and whys of things like that. Granted, I’m not sure that I would have wanted them to if it meant cutting out anything from what we see in the final film; it’s easy to see how Whedon’s first cut was over three hours long, and I’d love to see that movie in its entirety at some point if it ever gets released.

But ultimately, the few tiny gripes I have are cancelled out by the sheer geeky thrills in this movie. Marvel is the new Babe Ruth: they called their shot, and freaking blasted it out of the park. At long last, The Avengers finally came together on screen and, thanks to the only man who could have made it succeed, it surpassed all the hype. I probably don’t need to tell you that this film deserves to be seen on the big screen to get the full impact, but I guess I just did (and you can skip the 3D – it’s passable, but not great). The Avengers is everything I wanted it to be and more, and I sincerely hope that a few years from now I’ll be writing about The Avengers 2 written and directed by Joss Whedon. But until then, we can thank him for giving audiences the most fun movie of 2012. Until next time…

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Joss Whedon’s The Avengers is unquestionably one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2012, and it might even have a legitimate shot at being one of the most anticipated films of all time. The way this movie came together is unprecedented, and now Marvel has teamed with Norton (not Edward, the antivirus company) to trace the origins of this superhero team-up film, featuring quick interviews with all of the major stars and even Whedon himself.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures “Marvel’s The Avengers”–the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when “Marvel’s The Avengers” assemble in summer 2012. In “Marvel’s The Avengers,” superheroes team up to pull the world back from the brink of disaster when an unexpected enemy threatens global security.

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The Counselor has the potential to be one of the best movies of 2013. Director Ridley Scott is reteaming with his Prometheus star, the increasingly awesome Michael Fassbender, for the first spec script written by the legendary Cormac McCarthy. Deadline has a list of actors being considered for the villain role, so read on to find out who they are.

Action superstar Jeremy Renner (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, The Bourne Legacy), Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), and Brad Pitt are all mentioned in the report, and though nothing is close to official, it’s still interesting to picture each of these guys taking on Fassbender in the drama. All of these actors are very busy, so it’ll be interesting to see which one can squeeze this one into his schedule; the film is set to start shooting this May.

The Counselor follows an admired lawyer (Fassbender) who is tempted by the drug business and ends up getting in over his head. No word yet on what the villainous role will be, but who would you like to see star opposite Fassbender here?

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The first trailer for Universal’s The Bourne Legacy has finally been released. There’s no doubt that skeptics surfaced once it was announced there would be another Bourne movie without Matt Damon, but the trailer definitely convinces you that Jeremy Renner is a force to be reckoned with. We’ve got the same vibe as the franchise is known for but there is a sense of a darker and brutal story with some new elements in the midst.

It’ll be interesting to see how Renner’s character interacts with some familiar Bourne characters, but the addition of Edward Norton as the villain looks to be a perfect match. So be sure to check the trailer out and see why you should definitely add this to your already overflowing list of summer blockbusters.

The narrative architect behind the Bourne film series, Tony Gilroy, takes the helm in the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise that has earned almost $1 billion at the global box office. The writer/director expands the Bourne universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero (Jeremy Renner) whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films.

For The Bourne Legacy, Renner joins fellow series newcomers Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac, while franchise veterans Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn reprise their roles.

The Bourne Legacy hits theatres on August 3, 2012.

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You may remember last month Paramount released the first image of Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters, which stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the fairy tale siblings who have evolved into vengeful bounty hunters dedicated to exterminating witches following a traumatic incident involving a gingerbread house.

There was promise of a trailer soon after but more than a month on we still haven’t got one, and now we know why. Paramount has pushed the release date back from March 2012 to January 2013.

The reason for the delay is apparently due to Jeremy Renner. This time next year he will have been seen in The Avengers and The Bourne Legacy, and the (potential) success of both may spur audiences to see Renner hunting witches. While Renner can currently be seen in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol which is doing great business, that’s a Tom Cruise movie, so waiting until Renner has appeared in two more big action films may be a wise move.

Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) is directing, and Anchorman director Adam McKay is producing. As well as Renner and Arterton the movie also stars Famke Janssen (Jean Grey from X-Men) as the leader of the witches.

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Earlier this month a German trailer for The Avengers hit the web and gave us some new snippets of footage. Now a Russian trailer has been released which is a mix of both the German and US trailers, but contains more shots Loki, the villain of the film once again played by Tom Hiddleston.

Watch below:

The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, will star Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Mark Ruffalo (The Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Chris Evans (Captain America), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and will be released May 4th, 2012.

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So all it took was a veteran animation director in Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant) to resurrect the Mission: Impossible franchise to greatness. Why couldn’t someone track him down two installments ago?

The 133 minute fourth edition, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is simply the best in the series. Tom Cruise is in top-form and the team he surrounds himself with (Paula Patton, Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner) are with him stride-for-stride. Michael Nyqvist is also one of the better antagonists the franchise has seen, despite barely saying a word (to be fair, Phillip Seymour Hoffman was not given enough to do in the third flick).

Our espionage foreign adventure (travels through Russia, Dubai and India) sees Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) once again being recruited for his most important mission to date. His intelligence agency that signs his pay check, IMF, believes someone is attempting to start a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. Although there’s a legitimate chance to prevent all of this from unfolding, the elusive villain, going under the name Cobalt (Michael Nyqvist), is able to trigger tragic events that forces the U.S. President to shut down the IMF agency; leaving Hunt and his team (mentioned above) on their own, using very limited resources to stop a nuclear war.

Trust me; the synopsis is a bit more in-depth than the paragraph above. What is great about having Bird at the helm is that he finds the perfect speed to pace this action-caper. And he knows the exact point to explain what’s going on as the plot thickens through a variety of techniques (action, dialogue, killer new gadgets, etc.) that everyone in the audience can comprehend.

And the action is captivating! Not only is Cruise pushing himself to unbelievable limits, the rest of his cohorts are all jumping in on the ass-kicking fun. Well, except for Simon Pegg; his weapon of choice is his brilliant timing of all his sarcastic/funny lines while serving as the group’s techie. Plus, the camera – IMAX camera – is positioned so the entire scope of where the action is taking place can be viewed by the audience. Whether its fisticuffs or an assortment of chase sequences (ranging from the prototypical car jaunts to on foot in a sandstorm) they’re all clean even though their chaotic. A novel way to describe this piece is it has intense classy action; and there’s always something new around the corner. Many of the things they do here have never been seen in these types of flicks.

Besides the obvious hook of big-budget action spots, the interlude of dialogue and emotion is just as engaging in this extended thrill ride. When Bird has to slow down to make the next turn on this journey, he does it in a manner that is relaxing and exciting all at once. He basically sets the table properly and then serves one of hell of a five-course meal. Surprisingly, this spy-mystery chase is more appealing, and told more concisely than the recent Sherlock Holmes release.

And while this is still Tom Cruise’s show, he finds the ideal compliments – his supporting cast – and allows them to take over at the wheel when appropriate.

Overall, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is scary good. Tom Cruise is in the zone once again and this is by far the best directed piece in the series. Not to mention, the best directed action piece since…dare I say it? The Dark Knight.

Put it this way, yours truly had to desperately use the bathroom about 45 minutes in…And let’s just say my bladder suffered until the closing credits.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5

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Next Thursday Paramount will be releasing the first trailer for Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters, which stars Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as the fairy tale siblings who have evolved into vengeful bounty hunters dedicated to exterminating witches following a traumatic incident involving a gingerbread house.

In the meantime the studio has released the first official image from the movie, giving us a look at their costumes, and Gemma Arterton has taken part in a new interview where she says the film has a “Quentin Tarantino feel” to it.

From Entertainment Weekly:

How does this movie incorporate the original Brothers Grimm tale? Is that story kind of a prologue?
Yes, it continues it. You see a series of flashbacks with their experience of killing that first witch, which is brilliant. I remember being on set for the final few days of that. The candy house, and the witches are really repulsive and quite frightening. The make-up is out of this world. It’s this bone-chilling scene. Very dark. The girl who plays my character is brilliant, with the horrified expression she has.

Folk-tales like this have been told over and over again, changing every time. What’s the constant that your movie picks up?
They resonate with your fears, that’s how these fairy tales worked. They scared you into behaving. This one in particular is about abandonment and being lost and parents leaving you. The heart of it is that these kids grow up to be bloodthirsty witch hunters. It’s a bit tongue in cheek, really. What would Hansel and Gretel be in 15 years time?

Though it’s comedic, deep down it’s about abused kids becoming kind of hyper-responsible?
But it’s also very, very dark, and bloodthirsty and there’s a lot of cursing. It’s kind of got a [Quentin] Tarantino feel, really.

What differentiates the brother and sister?
Gretel is much more in tune with her spiritual side. Hansel is a typical action hero, cheeky, funny, a womanizer. She’s much more of a thinker, intense, internal and bit more open-minded than he is.

You can read the full interview here.

Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) is directing, and Anchorman director Adam McKay is producing. Paramount has scheduled the release date for March 2, 2012, and as well as Renner and Arterton the movie also stars Famke Janssen (Jean Grey from X-Men) as the leader of the witches.

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Paramount have unveiled the second official trailer for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. No Eminem backing track this time, but we see plenty of well polished action scenes and special effects money-shots, along with some throwbacks to the previous films.

Watch below:

When a terrorist bombing destroys the Kremlin, the United States government activates “Ghost Protocol” and disavows the entire Impossible Mission Force. Ethan Hunt and his team are blamed for the attack, but are allowed to escape as part of a plan to enable them to operate outside their agency. Hunt is warned that if any member of his team is captured or compromised, they will be charged as terrorists planning a nuclear strike. He is forced to work with fellow IMF agent Brandt, who knows much more about Hunt and his past than Hunt himself.

The Incredibles helmer Brad Bird is making his live-action directorial debut with the fourth film and Tom Cruise is once again joined by Simon Pegg, along with newcomers Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton (Precious) and Josh Holloway (Lost). Michael Nyqvist (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire) and Lea Seydoux (Inglourious Basterds) will play villains.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol will be released December 16th, 2011.

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Just when it seemed as if Jeremy Renner was being bombarded with a overwhelming deluge of franchises, from suiting up as Hawkeye in the upcoming Avengers movie to taking on a new imagining within the iconic Bourne universe in The Bourne Legacy, Deadline has reported that Renner is signed on to take on banks and the law, a sense of familiarity for him since The Town, in The King of Heists.

The movie, which is an adaptation of J. North Conway’s novel of the same name, takes a look at the true account of a $3 million dollar bank robbery performed in 1878. Renner will ensue the role of the mastermind, George Leslie, who is described as “a well mannered gentleman.” Albeit a much milder version then the hotheaded tough guy Renner portrayed in The Town.

The film, which is currently in the process of finding a director, has Will Staples attached to pen the script and Renner in the producer’s seat, along with Teddy Schwarzman and Don Handfield. While the approach The King of Heists plans on taking with the bank heist genre is unknown, it’s safe to say it‘s a role Renner will easily make his own, with his break-out performance in The Hurt Locker being a signature example in how far this young star has come.

With a busy schedule of big name franchises coming to the foreground, it seems that Renner’s career isn’t losing steam anytime soon, and a chance to create a totally new character in The King Of Heists will further prove that potential.

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