First Look at 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron'

Entertainment Weekly's Upcoming Cover
For It's July 25th Issue

In 2012, writer/director Joss Whedon changed superhero films forever with Marvel's The Avengers. Not only was it the highest grossing movie of all-time but it was also highly critically acclaimed and loved by audiences everywhere. Fast forward two years later and mostly everyone is anticipating the sequel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron. The pieces are coming together for Age of Ultron as Disney's "Phase Two" for the Marvel is almost complete. So far audiences have gotten Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy comes out in less than a month on August 1, 2014, and then Phase Two will be completed with Age of Ultron on May 1, 2015. Disney has done a brilliant job with the Marvel Cinematic Universe if I do say so my self and I am very much looking forward to Age of Ultron like everyone else. Well, today was an extremely special day because we finally got our first look at the highly anticipated sequel.

That is right ladies and gentlemen, today we got our first official look at Age of Ultron as Entertainment Weekly released the cover for their upcoming Comic-Con issue along with a few photo stills for film and a summary of the plot. First, let me start off by showing you these sweet new stills!

From what I've gathered, the plot goes a little something like this (includes Iron Man 3 spoilers): At the end of Iron Man 3, Tony decides that he is done being Iron Man. It is time for him to settle down. Instead of protecting the world himself he decides to create "Ultron", an artificial intelligence program that is self-aware and is suppose to detect threats and neutralize those threats as Iron Man would. Tony also gives Ultron the power to control his Iron Legion of drones that he had built; that way they could help Ultron fight crime. All of this is suppose to help Tony and The Avengers as they would just have to sit back and let Ultron do all the heavy lifting. But of course there is a down side to all of this. Ultron realizes that all possibilities of crime could be eliminated if he just got rid of the human species. Robots eliminating the human species; isn't that the plot for the Terminator movies?

This is how director Joss Whedon describes Ultron:

 "Ultron sees the big picture and he goes, ‘Okay, we need radical change, which will be violent and appalling, in order to make everything better’; he’s not just going ‘Muhaha, soon I’ll rule!’ He’s on a mission. He wants to save us.”

So far everything looks and sounds awesome! The stills look incredible and the plot sounds pretty interesting. As of right now I am loving the designs for all the characters; especially Ultron. I have never read the comics so I don't know much about Ultron other than the fact that he was originally created by Hank Pym, but he looks like a total bad-ass on the cover of this magazine. I am really interested into seeing where the character of Ultron is going. At first I was a little skeptical when I heard that the plot was going to revolve around robots killing off humans, but after reading Whedon's comments on Ultron as a character my faith was restored. Other then Ultron everyone else looks pretty awesome. It's good to see Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) side by side again. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and The Captain (Chris Evans) looks so cool standing by each other. Scarlett Johansson still looks great as Black Widow. Then again, when doesn't Scarlett Johansson look great? Jeremy Renner looks so cool as Hawkeye. Even Don Cheadle is joining The Avengers on this adventure, and that is pretty cool to me! We also got to see the Wanda and Pietro Maximoff (AKA Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver) in these stills. Elizabeth Olsen looks fantastic as Scarlet Witch, but I still think Aaron Taylor-Johnson looks a little out of place as Quicksilver. Maybe it's just because of the silly blonde wig.

I know it's hard to judge a movie by a magazine cover and photo stills, but so far The Avengers: Age of Ultron looks like it's heading down the right track. But we already knew that because Disney has done an amazing job at crafting this universe. Every single one of these Marvel films have been successfully both critically and financially. These films may not be for everyone, but they certainly make the fan boys and fan girls (like myself) very happy. Marvel has shown that they care about their fan base and that they will do anything to make them happy. Right now we are about nine and a half months away from witnessing The Avenger: Age of Ultron. That may seem like a long time from now but trust me when I say that it'll be hear before you know it. Until then enjoy these stills! I'm sure we'll be getting a lot more Age of Ultron news next week because Comic-Con is next week and it has already been confirmed that the cast of the film will be there for an Avengers panel.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is set to come out on May 1, 2015. The film is directed by Joss Whedon and stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Samuel L. Jackson.

I do not own any of the photos used. Those belong to Entertainment Weekly.

'Goosebumps' Begins Filming and Releases Plot: Should I Care?

One of my favorite things to do in elementary school and the beginning of middle school was to sit down and read R.L. Stine's Goosebumps novels and watching the TV series that aired every October to celebrate Halloween. I still remember those late nights were I would stay up past my bed time to finish whatever story I was on, and then staying up even later because I was too afraid to fall asleep. I also remember sitting down in front of my TV screen and hearing the words, "Viewer beware, you are in for a scare". At the time I wasn't old enough to watch most horror movies, so Goosebumps was all I had when I was looking for a scare. Looking back on those stories the Stine had created, they don't seem too scary, but I will always love them just because of the nostalgia. Especially such classics like "Night of the Living Dummy", "The Haunted Mask", "Attack of the Mutant", and many others. I must have read them all, and if I didn't then I was pretty damn close. Such good memories.

And now Hollywood is making Goosbumps into a movie. I really don't know how I should feel about this. Should I be happy that I am going to see something I loved back on the big screen, or should I be worried that Hollywood is going ruin something I loved and held so close?

Anyway, Goosebumps began it's filming a few days ago and the official plot was released. The story will follow Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) who moves from a big city to a small town. Guess what, he's not too happy about it. Things eventually get better for Zach when he meets the beautiful girl next door, Hannah (Odeya Rush). Zach soon learns that Hannah's father is author R.L. Stine (Jack Black), who is actually very strange. The reason why he is so strange is because he is a prisoner of his own imagination. Those monsters he created in his books are real, and Stine holds them back by locking them up inside the books. And guess what, Zach unleashes all of the monsters, leaving it to him, Hannah, and Stine to stop them.

Okay, I will admit that I am somewhat intrigued. Most of the plot sounds clichéd, such as an upset teen moving into a small town, finding something interesting and then ends up causing a huge problem, but I love the fact that they are putting Stine in the mix and the fact that he has to lock up his creations inside his books. That idea alone fascinates me. I just hope that the studio doesn't make this movie a full blown comedy because a plot like this could easily be turned into a comedy. I'm not saying that this movie can't have humor, I just want the movie to be a fun ride that has plenty of scares that could scare kids and adults.

The only things that really make me skeptical about this movie is the fact that Rob Letterman is directing the film and that Jack Black is the star. Letterman has directed Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Gulliver's Travels. I'm not saying he's a bad director by saying I'm worried about him directing this movie, it's just I want this movie to be fun and creepy, and I'm worried because all he's done is kid movies. I know this movie is meant for a younger audiences, but this movie also needs to appeal to the original readers and viewers. Also, Jack Black as R.L. Stine is just an interesting choice. He has given some good performances in the past, and I think he good give a good performance in this movie. I just hope this isn't another goofy character for him to play like other characters he has played in the past. Right now I'm just hoping for the best. Maybe Letterman and Black will surprise me and do a terrific job. Or maybe I'll be extremely disappointed and wish that James Wan would have directed this movie.

So far I am on board to see this movie. Like I said, I am skeptical about Letterman and Black, but other then that everything sounds good so far. The story sounds really intriguing and is something that could appeal to new audiences and the original audience. And I do like actor Dylan Minnette who had a supporting role in last years Prisoners and was in a few episodes of Lost. This movie doesn't sound like a complete disaster yet, and I pray that it wont turn into one.

What are your thoughts about the upcoming Goosebumps movie? Let me know by commenting down below in the comment section.

Alex's Top 2013 films.

2013 had a shaky start with plenty of duds, but as the year progressed, and we've been been treated to several great films. Here I rounded out my top 25 favorite films of the year 2013.

25. Blackfish
24. Man of Steel
23. 42
22.Warm Bodies
21. Mud 
20. The World's End 
19. Catching Fire
18. Lone Survivor (released in 2013, nationwide, 2014)
17.  Inside Llewyn Davis
16. You're Next
15. Dallas Buyers Club
14. Elysium
13.Out of the Furnace
12. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
11. Prisoners
10. Fruitvale Station
9. Her
8. The Conjuring
7. American Hustle
6. Gravity
5. Rush
4. Captain Phillips
3. The Place Beyond the Pines
2. The Wolf of Wall Street
1. 12 Years a Slave


Guilty Pleasures

The Purge
Beautiful Creatures

Sam's Top 25 Films of 2013

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now finally time for one of my favorites things to do, and that is give everyone my top films of the year. Last year I saw about a hundred films whether it be in the theaters, on DVD, or on Netflix. Some of the movies I saw were absolutely dreadful (like Movie 43 and Texas Chainsaw), some were okay, some were very good, but only about a quarter of the films in 2013 were movies that I consider to be great. These twenty-five movies that I will be listing are the twenty-five movies that stood out the most to me. These are the movies that I'll be thinking of whenever someone mentions 2013. These are the movies that reminded me of how much I love cinema. Now, without further ado here are my twenty-five favorite films of 2013.

Oh, and remember that this is MY list and that we may not share the same opinions. But I would love to hear what your guy's top films of 2013 are, so comment down below.


25. Frances Ha

24. Rush

23. Frozen

22. Fast and Furious 6 

21. Captain Phillips

20. Star Trek Into Darkness

19. Inside Llewyn Davis

18. Catching Fire

17. The Spectacular Now

16. The Way Way Back

15. You're Next

14. Nebraska

13. The Conjuring

12. Only God Forgives

11. 12 Years a Slave

10. The World's End

9. American Hustle

8. Lone Survivor

7. Gravity

6. Prisoners

5. Short Term 12

4. Her

3. Mud

2. The Wolf of Wall Street

1. The Place Beyond the Pines

Side Note: Pines and Wolf of Wall Street are interchangeable, and are basically tied for the number one spot.