Dork Shelf readers, assemble! We have a wonderful contest for all of you true believers out there from the awesome folks over at Marvel Studios to herald the arrival of THE AVENGERS, out in theatres tomorrow.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The fine folks at Marvel Studios want to reward you fans that have been waiting so anxiously for the long anticipated, Joss Whedon directed epic that once and for all brings together Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders, and Clark Gregg) as they team up to do battle against the evil demigod Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and an intergalactic army bent on wiping the human race off the face of the planet.

To commemorate the biggest assortment of superheroes of all time, Marvel Studios and your friends at Dork Shelf are giving away an amazing prize pack to one lucky winner!

In the prize pack are an Avengers’ T-Shirt, a set of collector cups, a set of buttons, a copy of the film’s soundtrack (from Universal Music Canada), a set of all four limited edition pairs of character themed Real-D 3D glasses, and a poster signed by Mark Ruffalo and Cobie Smulders!

For your chance to win this fan’s dream come true, simply email your name to contest@dorkshelf.com with AVENGERS PRIZE PACK in the subject line. Please only one entry per person. For an additional chance to win, like the contest announcement on our Facebook page or re-Tweet the announcement from our Twitter page. Deadline for entries is 10am on Monday, May 7th.

Good luck! And as always, stay tuned for more awesome contests and giveaways from your friends here at Dork Shelf. Excelsior!

In the role of serious ass kicking taskmaster Agent Maria Hill, the actress best known for her comedic work on the hit television show How I Met Your Mother, is one of the people charged with the unenviable task of reigning in the egos and talents of some of the comic world’s greatest superheroes, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a not-hulking-out Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), and Captain America (Chris Evans). In addition, she also has to butt heads with her boss – played by the recently crowned highest grossing box office draw of all time – and the rest of a wary American government.

The actress sat down with Dork Shelf during a promotional stop in Toronto to talk about breaking away from her more comedic day job to fire off some guns, and how the set of The Avengers really did have a team like vibe thanks in part to some great actors and a great director.

Dork Shelf: What’s it like joining up with a cast this huge and being one of the new additions to a team that has never officially been together but has always been around?

Cobie Smulders: It was extremely intimidating. Like you said, it’s about getting this team together. So to come in and be intimidated and also be one of the most commanding presences in the film was… challenging. But I just tried to not fall about in front of Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlet and Chris and Chris and Mark.

DS: Because you have to boss them around…

CS: Yeah, I have to boss them around, and Maria doesn’t really agree with what’s going on, so she’s kind of the naysayer in the group. But you know, Joss Whedon made me feel so comfortable. Just the fact that Joss chose me was comforting. Do you know what I mean? He’s a man who knows what he’s doing. He’s a fanboy and I don’t think he would have chosen me to play Maria Hill if he didn’t believe in himself. So I took a lot of solace in that.

DS: Was there any actor who you were really worried about having to boss around on screen?

CS: Robert Downey Jr. I had one line with him and I just thought that I don’t know how I’m going to say it, but I’m just going to try and move my mouth, breath out at the same time, and hopefully form a sentence.

First of all, he’s the nicest man, but I’ve watched him throughout his career even going back to the 80s. Less Than Zero was one of my favorites. And also, I felt that coming into this Avengers world, he’s already done two Iron Man films and is one of the major reasons why were doing The Avengers. So it was sort of a Godfather thing and then he was also extremely handsome and charismatic. So it was a deadly combination. I felt very intimidated around him, but there was nothing to be afraid of.

A lot of times we get questions like, “Who has the biggest ego?” or “Who freaked out on set the most?” I understand why we’re asked those questions, but really everyone came together on this movie and really stepped up. Again, I think that all came back to Joss Whedon who wrote a script that was this good and gave everyone of the characters moments where they felt like their characters were served and they were served as actors. So there was no, “why did he get to do this?” Everyone had their scenes and were happy with what they did. I don’t know how he did it, but he did it.

Smulders with co-star Mark Ruffalo at the Toronto premiere of The Avengers

DS: Do you have any idea of where your character will go in subsequent films? Because without giving anything away, it seems like you’re being set up to replace a specific character.

CS: I know what you’re saying, but I don’t think I will replace anyone. It’s hard because if you look back at the comic series you see so many stories. Maria takes off from S.H.I.E.L.D. at one point, she goes off with Tony Stark as a spy in another one, she’s a life model decoy, she’s a Skrull. There are a lot of different ways to go. I don’t know. I know that they thought this was going to be successful. I don’t know if they realized how successful. And that makes it hard because this movie is such a good one that it’s going to be tough to follow. I know that they are doing another Iron Man then they are doing another Thor and another Captain America. If S.H.I.E.L.D. has a presence in any of those movies, I’d love to be a part of it.

But beyond that, I don’t know. I really honestly don’t know much. I didn’t even read the script when I got this part. I got it as soon as I signed the contract. They were like, “and here’s your part. This is who you are and what you’re doing in this film.”

DS: Did they give you much backstory in terms of the character and who she was in the comic books?

CS: No, not at all. I was abandoned. (laughs) It’s funny we were doing press in London and I was paired up with Clarke Gregg [Agent Phil Coulson] and he was like, “Oh yeah, I called up (producer) Jeremy Latcham and he sent over this massive book on my character and the history of the Marvel Universe.” I was like, “Um…where’s my book?” I was literally scouring the internet and contacting comic book venders to see if they had any of the series with Maria Hill involved. So, I really just did all of the research myself.

And then I did a lot of the training myself. I had a day in Albuquerque with the stunt coordinator, but the day after I got the part I hit the gym, hired a personal trainer, and started boxing. He had trained S.W.A.T. teams and helped me familiarize myself with weapons and how to load them and how to shoot them and how to roll and all these things so that I could do as much as possible myself. They were very helpful on set, but they had much bigger fish to fry than me on this film.

DS: You worked very closely with Samuel L. Jackson. What was that experience like because he’s a bit of a persona?

CS: I thought he was going to be very closed off and non-conversational and just kind of come in and do his thing. But he was so nice. The thing about him is that he’s been in every film ever made. He’s something like the highest grossing actor of all time. When I think of Sam I think of Pulp Fiction, but he’s done so much more.

I remember there was one day when we were on the helicarrier set messing around. We were standing in front of this huge window – and I should mention the helicarrier was a giant set the size of a sound stage. You could enter from one of three stairways and once you were in it, you were suddenly in the middle of this huge set with hundreds of extras and at times, you didn’t even notice where the camera was. So, we were on the front standing by the window joking about what would happen when we fell off and he was like, “You know, I could bring out my lightsaber.” And I was like, “Ok Sam, that’s a weird non sequitur.” And then I was like, “Oh no, wait. You’re a fucking Jedi. Shit!” I didn’t even think of that because I only ever saw the first prequel, so I’d forgotten he was a Jedi. Then I had to step back and admire his career. It’s just astounding.

DS: In terms of your career, is this the start of a shift into action films?

CS: I was always open to action films. You get to do incredible things. Not only physically, it’s just a whole other medium of working. I was excited to go in a different direction from How I Met Your Mother. It’s funny because whenever we get a hiatus from the show there’s this rush from everyone to get out there and challenge ourselves with new things. Not that How I Met Your Mother isn’t challenging, and I’m so lucky because other shows would be so much more monotonous and I get to do amazing things that are fun and interesting. But I just wanted to play a different character, so when this came around I was just like, “This is the best possible thing that I could get!” So it was just cool to run around and shake off the sitcom and get really grounded into something. I really liked the severity of Maria Hill’s character.

DS: The Avengers is a surprisingly funny movie and even though you have a comedy background, you essentially play the straight role. Were you ever tempted to push things a little farther into the comedy?

CS: No I actually didn’t want to have any zippy one-liners or anything. I was really happy just giving out protocol and doing shoulder rolls and shooting people. Because like I said, it was such a cool change for me. There was a giant scene that got cut out that used to bookend the movie with Maria being interrogated about what happened. It was emotional and I couldn’t help, but really exaggerate the emotions with Joss and be like, (hysterically, like Ron Burgundy in a phone booth) “Oh god! There were all these guys coming and nothing that we could do about it!” The idea of starting this huge fucking movie freaking out like that just made me laugh. So I would be joking around about things like that off camera, but on camera I was very serious and very happy about that.

The biggest problem with making any movie about the Marvel Universe’s core team of superheroes known as The Avengers is that on screen it’s hard to strike a balance between the disparate personalities of the main characters. It’s a much easier task across a series of 5 to 20 comics, but when you start to think about combining some of the biggest film franchises of the past decade into one package, it’s hard not to fear that someone would get the short end of the stick.

Fanboy icon Joss Whedon has the unenviable task of co-writing and directing the filmed adaptation of The Avengers; bringing together Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Cobie Smulders, and Clark Gregg) for the first time in a film that no matter how hard he tries will still find small nitpicking complaints from fans who have often spent years learning the interactions of these huge powers and egos.

On a filmmaking level, I have some similarly small complaints, but for what it’s worth (and in the end all that really matters) Whedon delivers unequivocally what would be the best possible scenario for an Avengers film. Strengthening some of the weaknesses of previous Marvel Studios entries, Whedon crafts a 149 minute superhero epic that feels about half the length without sacrificing the merits of one character over another.

Watching Thor and Captain America are highly suggested prerequisites before diving head long into the plot of this one. After being banished from Asgard, Thor’s fallen demigod brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has gained the power to coerce people into doing his bidding in hopes of unlocking the full potential of a cosmic cube known as the Tesseract, a naturally occurring energy source from space that S.H.I.E.L.D. and the government have been trying to harness the power of for quite some time. Pissed off that the human race refuses to kneel to him, Loki begins amassing an army of hostile aliens to help him wipe the population off the face of the Earth.

Much to the chagrin of the American government who would prefer a nuclear solution to Loki’s menace, Agent Nick Fury (Jackson) calls into action the risky proposition of activating The Avengers, an abandoned last line of defense against such a global threat. Steve Rogers has been living in a world he’s completely out of touch with. Tony Stark is still seething over not being seen as much of a team player. Bruce Banner is still on the run and prefers being left alone because it helps to control the beast inside him. Thor, who wasn’t ever really suggested for the team, was stuck on Asgard, but he resurfaces when he gets wind that Loki has returned to Earth. As for S.H.I.E.L.D., without giving too much away since there’s a twist that occurs mere minutes into the film, they have their own problems. There’s a lot of finger pointing and shouting and ego involved, but ultimately they all have to band together to protect the world from a potential extinction level event.

Whedon and co-writer Zak Penn definitely do well by the characters, and for the most part they get the balance right, which would admittedly be pretty hard to pull off outside of a six hour, two part film. It never turns into the Robert Downey Jr. show, which feels refreshing since without his take on billionaire playboy Tony Stark, this film probably never would have seen the light of day. But with each beloved character at the heart of the film, they all get their chance to shine in some way.

Downey’s Stark and Hemsworth’s Thor actually take their sweet time even showing up in the film, accounting for the former’s ego and the fact that the other is out in space somewhere. The film starts off strong with Fury turning to Cap for most of his help, but then once everyone else starts getting involved, Evans, who still turns in a great performance here, gets pushed somewhat into the background as he becomes a generic sort of de facto leader and voice of reason on the team.

Mark Ruffalo, taking over as the third actor to play Bruce Banner in ten years, brings an even quieter intensity than Edward Norton or Eric Bana did. If anything, Banner hasn’t become less angry, he’s just developed a sort of ironic detachment to everything that he’s been through. Whedon and Penn do a great job bringing the character back into the fold, and Banner’s relationship to Stark adds some dramatic interest, but when it comes time for the stakes to get raised and Hulk needs to be called upon, Whedon and Penn know its time to pretty much forget about Banner and let the effects department take over.

Dramatically, Hemsworth’s Thor has suffered the most, with the romantic subplot from his previous solo outing dismissed pretty flatly in order to pay lip service to his relationship to the film’s main villain. Whedon makes up for Thor’s flat character, by giving Hemsworth arguably the best fight sequences in the film, so at least his God-like abilities and his trusty hammer are given adequate chance to shine.

Watching a wit like Whedon write for a character like Tony Stark and an actor like Robert Downey Jr. yields quite a bit of joy because Downey’s almost effortless charm and ability to play a smart ass makes Whedon and Penn’s dialog seem natural and unforced. Although, quite oddly, much like with Thor, his romantic relationship to Pepper Potts (a returning Gwyneth Paltrow) seems to have become a plot device only getting trotted out to elicit a reaction or heighten tension. Still, Whedon gives Stark some of the most pleasingly silly pop culture references without making them feel ridiculous.

The biggest and most welcome advancement over the previous films in the Avengers canon comes in the form of Hiddleston’s Loki. Nothing more than a whiny, petulant brat in Thor, Hiddleston and Whedon work quite well together to make Loki an actually credible threat. There’s a ruthless edge that was sorely missing from Hiddleston’s last outing in the role that he bites into with great aplomb here, probably because the script was wise enough to turn the character into someone who has stopped crying and has simply become fully consumed with vengeance.

As for the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s nice to see Jackson finally be able to run with the Nick Fury character outside of his previous cameo appearances, but he still doesn’t really do much. Smulders and Johansson fare somewhat better thanks to Whedon’s talent and insistence on including strong female characters in this mainly male dominated action fantasy. The biggest ball drop in the movie, however, probably goes to Renner’s Hawkeye, who Whedon seems to think the audience already knows everything about despite only a 2 minute cameo in Thor. Hawkeye’s character has a hole dug for him early that Renner, despite being very good, can’t fully recover from.

Previously never seen as a director known for big budgeted spectacle filmmaking (unless one counts the modestly budgeted Serenity), Whedon asserts himself quite well as an action director with a stunning final 30 minutes that makes Michael Bay’s Transformers films look like the shoddy pieces of crass commercialism that they are. Even through scenes of dialogue and exposition, Whedon finds innovative ways to keep a lengthy movie moving at a great pace. He knows what he needs from his actors and from everyone in the technical department from the composers to the stunt department to some of the best cinematography in a film this year.

But most importantly of all, The Avengers is a lot of fun. This isn’t a film crafted and designed to win awards, but it’s firmly rooted in the Spielbergian tradition of making the audience feel like they’re kids again. Aside from a few somewhat forced and unsubtle political asides about nuclear proliferation and the current quagmire the U.S. military finds itself in, Whedon and company band together for a true team effort that sets the bar for the summer movie season almost unreasonably high right out of the gate. Funny, exciting, and not entirely disposable as entertainment, The Avengers lives up to the early hype that it might be the film to beat for this year’s box office crown.

Although he’s probably best known for his roles in intricate character based ensemble pieces like Margaret, Zodiac, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Avengers marks a different kind of ensemble cast for actor Mark Ruffalo. Stepping into the role of Bruce Banner (once held by Eric Bana and Edward Norton across two moderately canonical films since the start of the cinematic superhero boom), Ruffalo dives headlong into blockbuster filmmaking for what will probably turn out to be the highest grossing film of his already esteemed career.

Joining the famed, illustrious dream team of superheroes from the Marvel Comics universe, Ruffalo plays the heart and soul behind the dangerous and volatile Incredible Hulk alongside Iron Man Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the demigod Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), and the agents of the secret government organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner) as they band together to fight Thor’s fallen brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who seeks to use the power of an energy source known as the Tesseract to unleash a cosmic army bent on destroying the human race.

It might seem like a stretch for the classically trained actor, part-time screenwriter and director, and one fraught with sometimes impossible to please fanboy backlash, but Ruffalo approaches The Avengers with the same desire for variety in his work that’s driven his career up to this point. In a demeanor befitting of the role he plays in the film, he bounds into the room like a force of nature and talks proudly in the most animated of fashions about his first big foray into comic book action cinema.

Dork Shelf got a chance to sit down with Mark Ruffalo this afternoon to talk about working with fanboy icon Joss Whedon, his adventures in motion capture, and his feelings about film criticism.

Dork Shelf: You’ve done a lot of ensemble films in your time, and this is a bigger sort of ensemble film…

Mark Ruffalo: The ULTIMATE ensemble film

DS: Does the dynamic change when you are working on something with this big of a budget and with this much franchise potential riding on it?

MR: I think it depends on your director, really, and Joss is really a small movie director. With him it’s all about character, and writing. It’s having everything sort of add up and not making too big of leaps from here to there. It’s all very well realized, and because of that it’s like a little indie movie, but with a lot bigger craft service and huge special effects. (laughs) But the stuff that he’s working with, all the dramatic stuff, it’s really easy. It’s all really relatable and very human, oddly enough. He really does humanize the characters. And he’s an actor’s director. You know, people wouldn’t necessarily think that about him, but I’ve worked with a lot of actor’s directors and he rates tops with me, as far as that goes.

What I loved about working with him was how much he had to say about Banner, and how he really understood his back story and some really cool places to go dramatically with him.

DS: The film is already getting great reviews across the board…

MR: Yeah, it’s crazy.

DS: I wondered how important that is to you having coming from a sometimes smaller background in film…

MR: Some of which haven’t been well reviewed.

DS: Now you are making a movie on this scale, how important is that to you?

MR: You know, for a long time that sort of thing was more important to me, but that was just heartbreaking, and it almost helped me lose sight of why I love doing this. A few years ago, I kind of promised myself that for me the experience of making the movie was what I was going to be how I judged the final product. I have so little control over the final product, but that being said, when someone read Peter Travers’ review of this movie to me out loud, I was just, like, “Okay. That’s dope.” (laughs) That feels nice, you know. I tell you, it makes doing this process a hell of a lot easier to be doing press for a movie where you come into a room where everyone likes it instead of trying to convince them for 20 minutes to like a movie that they hate, and sometimes you just can’t do it no matter how hard you try. You just can’t sell it. So it’s the icing on the cake when you have a good experience, but I’ve long forgotten hanging too much importance on it.

DS: You’re now playing the third Hulk in the Marvel franchise. What did you do to sort of differentiate your take on Hulk and Banner from the other films?

MR: Well, the only advantage that I had, really, was that the technology brought us to a place where the actor could actually play The Hulk. The other actors didn’t get to play The Hulk. We all got to play, Banner, though. We all worked really hard to make The Hulk feel real and make him seem like an actual human being getting pissed off. He’s tender, he’s funny. We worked really hard to make him human, and that’s ILM as much as it is me, or anything else, and Joss Whedon of course.

Joss and I talked a lot about that and I signed on before there was even a script, but we talked about what we both wanted to see. Whedon was incredibly sensitive to the fact that me and Cobie (Smulders) are really the only new additions that he brings to this game. So, he’s, like, “Buddy, I really want you to score. You’re the only thing I’m really adding to the mix here.” But we definitely saw this as a continuation of the past movies, and I loved those movies and I loved those actors. I thought they were great Banners.

This is just an older version of him, a more mature version. He’s been on the run longer. He’s gotten to a place where he’s ready to deal with this and face it, and he has an almost ironic sense of humour about the situation he finds himself in. All of those things we’re just a continuation of where we last saw him, and the idea that maybe I could control this thing. Maybe I finally have some sense of control over it. But, you know, we were really going back to Bixby’s Hulk with Banner who really had this kind of world weary charm about him where he was trying to live his life even though he’s on the run. We really wanted to engage in that life and that’s what we were always going for.

DS: Throughout the film we actually get to see a lot of Bruce, which is nice. Did you have any favourite scenes with the other cast?

MR: My favourite scenes were generally the ones where I get to talk to people. (laughs) Or, you know, get to do some acting in them. It was just thrilling to see all those people assembled together. But for me that introductory scene with Bruce is so cool. It’s such a cool bridge from the past to here. And I really loved the scenes with Robert Downey Jr. As far as acting, those are exciting and fun and you never know what you’re going to get from him. Their relationship is really a cool one.

But then, you know, the stuff with The Hulk is just dope. Getting to do all that stuff. I have a little rubber version of people that I get to fling back and forth. But the one improvised moment that I had was my first day on set in my Chinese Checkerboard, man cancelling leotard, and it’s when I grab Downey while he’s falling and I have to throw him off. So we’re shooting and I’m just standing over his body and I just get up and I just ROARED, Which wasn’t scripted, (laughs) and Downey just opens his eyes and was like, “Really?” That was my first day on set and my sphincter muscle just clamped up. Yeah, that was pretty much it. (laughs)

DS: How did you find working in all those motion capture suits as The Hulk. Is that footage that you hope never gets out?

MR: My closest moment of turning into The Hulk in the whole movie was when they were rolling B-Camera on me and I was in that thing, and I was hot and sweaty and totally embarrassed and all the places that you want to look big look small and all of the places you want to look small look big, and I was just, like, “TURN THAT FUCKING THING OFF!” (laughs) “I’m sorry… I’m sorry. I don’t want to be rude. I don’t usually get angry, but there IS something called MOVIE MAGIC that HAS to be MAINTAINED HERE! Let’s keep the mystery alive!” (pauses, drolly) So yeah, it’s not my favourite thing.

DS: This is your first real foray not just into comic book films, but also to big scale action. Did you develop any sort of a taste for that kind of film or is it something you would prefer only coming back to every once in a while?

MR: Honestly, I don’t have a plan. The big misconception about actors is that we actually get to choose the things we do. It was fun and I really liked this, and I just got done doing a movie with Louis Leterrier – who did the last Hulk movie – which had a lot of action in it, which was a lot of fun for me. I’m getting to the place in life where I’m almost too old for it, but I still have a lot of fun doing it. I don’t know, it’s just kind of about going along with the program a little bit, and if something interests me and I decide to go there I do. I don’t really know why something interests me sometimes in the moment it does, but that’s been the deciding factor in what I do.

DS: And when you sign up for one of these movies, don’t you have to sign up for about six movies?

MR: Yeah, and they WANTED nine!

DS: Really? Was there any trepidation about that?

MR: Yeah, but once I sat down and I did the math, I knew that they had another Thor, then another Captain America, and another Iron Man, and they’ll probably do another Avengers at some point. It takes two years to make a movie and I signed on for six. It will probably take three years for each one that I’m in. (pauses) Are they really going to want a 70-year old Hulk? (laughs) So they’ll probably get three out of me before they get tired of me. I’m down with that ride. That can be fun.

DS: If you had to trade places with any other character or actor in the movie to play a different hero, who would it be?

MR: Um… Black Widow. (laughs) Can I be a woman? Seriously, everything that Scarlett (Johansson) did, all the physical stuff and all the hand to hand combat. That was just awesome. I would have loved to do that. Other that that? Loki, because really, that’s just SUCH a great fucking character.

Apple.com has the first concrete look at Joss Whedon’s Marvel ensemble, The Avengers. Fans no longer have to grasp at 30 second preview snippets or shaky phone cam location footage. The trailer hits audiences with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and finally the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in action, being led by S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). The trailer also contains some serious scenes of destruction along with shots of Thor’s villainous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) wreaking havoc on New York City.

Nothing more to say about the reveal other than that I believe it justifies my anticipation. Whedon looks to have done a commendable job so far.

The Avengers hits theaters May 4, 2012.

Gavin and Jeff return with Thor highlights, a discussion on events in comicdom, and highlight some recent events that happened in Toronto.

Gavin then takes some time to address the emails he received in response to his Fortress of Baller-tude Steampunk video.

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I realize I’m about a week late for the start of the month, but I just bought a baby bulldog, so when you have your own poop factory to take care of, feel free to criticize. Lots to like here: a summer tentpole, a B-movie starring Roy Batty; even a Terrence Malick sighting. Perhaps even more incredible is that someone hired Mel Gibson for something.

May 6

The Beaver
Those in major cities gets first crack at Jodie Foster’s dark comedy about a man who has a mental breakdown and begins to wear a beaver hand puppet to speak for him. Foster directs Anton Yelchin (Like Crazy), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) and lead Mel Gibson who himself has had a decades long mental breakdown. But instead of wearing a piece of decorated fabric, Gibson thought best to rant against homosexuals, Jews, African Americans, then threaten to kill his girlfriend and mother of one of his children. Tough to decide which one sounds crazier.

Hobo with a Shotgun
Anyone familiar with 1986′s The Hitcher know what kind of monster Rutger Hauer can portray. Just say his name outloud. Rutger Hauer. Gives me chills. Here, he’s a homeless guy carrying heat, but what’s even cooler is that this film stemmed from a trailer (and a public outcry) shown in between Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s grossly underrated Grindhouse. The trailer below is red-band, which should be a requirement for all R-rated works. Note: Hobo with a Shotgun was released in Canada on March 25.

Thor
Marvel’s Norse God gets his crack on the silver screen, in what’s to be the first of many comic book adaptations seen this summer. It already made 25 million on Friday alone, proving that there’s an apparent audience for mythology. Thor, along with Iron Man and Captain America: The First Avenger (July 22), serve as a precursor to the much ballyhooed Avengers film which will land in just under a year (May 4, 2012). Note: You can read our reviews of Thor here and here.

May 13

Bridesmaids
Kristen Wiig gets a crack at headlining a film for the first time, and from the look of the trailers she’s hit it out of the park. Early buzz from festivals has been extremely favourable, and not for nothing, but I’ll never think of the word ‘undercarriage’ the same way again.

May 20

Midnight in Paris
I’ll watch any new Woody Allen film, even though he may have peaked in the late 70s. He’s had way more misses than hits in his later years with the exception of Match Point (great story with Scarlett Johansson) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (decent story with Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz). Paris is a romantic comedy, and Allen’s first foray into the city of light/love. As usual, the cast is stellar: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams (!), Marion Cotillard (!!), Adrien Brody, Michael Sheen, and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy – rhe first lady of France.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Even though Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley have shoved off, the Pirates gravy train will continue to roll as long as Johnny Depp remains as Captain Jack Sparrow. Depp is joined by series newcomers Ian McShane and Penelope Cruz as various parties search for the location of the Fountain of Youth. In my book, the only good film in the series so far was the original. Is it any coincidence that it’s the only one that featured Zoë Saldaña? I’m just saying.

May 26

The Hangover II
My buddy Zed remains the only person in the western world who still hasn’t seen the 2009 comedy about a dentist, a school teacher, and a halfwit who black out and must find the groom-to-be before his impending nuptials. The original struck a chord with audiences to the tune of a $460 plus million gross. Not too shabby on a budget of only $35 mill. That being said, the looks we’ve seen for this one seem to be an exact clone of what worked the first time. Most definitely a smart move, but not the bravest.

Kung-Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom
A surprise Dreamworks animated hit; one that somewhat halted the mammoth entity that is Pixar. Jack Black voiced the titular bear in the film that mixed a perfect blend of comedy and ridiculous martial arts. All of the voice talents are back (Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, Dustin Hoffman), while Dennis Haysbert (Far from Heaven), Michelle Yeoh (Super Cop), and Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD) join to try to recapture that spark.

May 27

The Tree of Life
Easily one of the most anticipated releases of this or any recent year. Terrence Malick is notorious for taking his time between films – his last being 2005′s The New World. Brad Pitt is the father (who plays an asshole) of a nuclear family in suburbia, whose grown up son ends up being Sean Penn (supposedly a real life asshole). There are some truly beautiful celestial images mixed into the familial drama. The less I know of this going in the better. Note: The Tree of Life will not be released in Canada until June 10.

You can read more of Adam’s film musings over at his blog: Cinema High.

I should preface this review with one caveat: I’ve never read or watched — or heard of Thor at all, really — before seeing the film. As you can probably guess from the preceding sentence, I don’t even know what format of text or media from which its story originates. Was Thor a comic book? Was it a television show? Cartoon? Movie from the 1980s? Colour me uneducated and largely incurious. Instead of attempting to hide this gaping hole in my nerd credentials, I’m sure that highlighting my lack of Thor knowledge will make for a pretty interesting review.

Spoilers ahead.

After watching Shakespearean-stalwart Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptation, I have come to understand that the character of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is a “God of Thunder” who lives in the “Realm Eternal”, otherwise known as Asgard. The people who live there — Asgardians? — are unimportant in the long-run, assuming importance correlates with the amount of screen-time the average Asgardian citizen is provided. There are maybe three or four scenes with larger groups or crowds and almost all of them are scenes of war. I’m sure these scenes were filmed during those short moments when Branagh remembered he wasn’t directing a play and could have more people in a scene than just the essential cast.

Thor, the aforementioned God of Thunder, has a father named Odin (Anthony Hopkins) who appears to be dying, despite the Asgardian’s apparent claim to immortality. Because of this — never quite explained — confusion about supposed immortality, Thor’s father decides to abdicate the throne of Asgard, naturally choosing to give his crown to his smug first-born, Thor. Thor’s younger brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), is rebuffed by this decision but appears to accept being overlooked by his father well enough. However, Thor has blonde hair and wears red; Loki has dark hair and wears green. Any costume designer (or reader of any fantasy novel series) could tell you that, yeah, Loki is probably the villain of this piece.

Rounding off the Asgardians that you actually get to see in the movie are the all-seeing, all-hearing sentry Heimdall, Thor’s mother and his gang of ruffian warriors. These warriors include “the female one”, “the Asian one”, “the one who looks like Thor but isn’t Thor — wait, no, he’s just blonde” and “the fat one” (Ray Stevenson, in a role that made me weep for this wasted Rome talent). They fight and are loyal to their friend Thor. That’s basically it.

Because Thor isn’t content with the universal admiration of his people, his chiseled abs, (questionable) immortality, upcoming coronation and overall blondness, he decides to confront Asgard’s greatest enemies, the Frost Giants, defying both his father and logic in the process. Unsurprisingly, these Frost Giants are very large people who wield ice powers. They are a very literal people, apparently, and they live their lives on a planet of ice, spending most of their time being blue — both in colour and temperament — while hating on Asgard and its king.

The aftermath of Thor’s decision doesn’t go so well and, after some hammer-throwing and war-provoking, Thor’s father banishes him from Asgard. Thor is then teleported from their planet — and ends up on ours. Branagh, much to the audience’s probable content, decided to spend as little screen-time as possible on Earth. The film’s greatest moments — from its fantastical origins to its inevitable fight to the death — are set on Asgard. While on Earth, the banished Thor meets astrophysicist Jane (Natalie Portman) and the members of her research team, played by the horrifically underused Stellan Skarsgard and Kat Dennings. With the exception of some “stanger in a strange land” physical humour, most of the Earth scenes are largely forgettable. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy some of the Earth scenes, but after a battle with insanely-blue, gigantic aliens, immortal gods and rainbow bridges, it’s more than a little funny to see see Thor incapacitated by an undergraduate with a taser. There is also a very memorable barbecue featuring a cameo appearance from the father of Marvel comics, Stan Lee.

Halfway through the film, Thor’s brother Loki discovers something about himself that reshapes his worldview, adding numerous layers to a character already overshadowing everyone else in regard to development and personality. This new development should have been the lynchpin of the entire narrative arc of the film, but the screenwriters pass on this opportunity. Instead, they revert the character of Loki into a caricature of the jealous usurper, depriving the audience of more screen-time with the stellar Tom Hiddleston in order to add more Natalie Portman. Sad to say it, but Hemsworth and Portman have absolutely no chemistry and share only a handful of scenes together. Thus, it appears that Thor and Jane fell in love after a trip to the hospital, a cup of coffee and a rooftop conversation about constellations. If you’re sensitive to this underdeveloped relationship, you’ll be questioning Thor’s behaviour at the end of the film much like I did.

Overall, I felt that Thor was an enjoyable and much better film than expected. It benefited from an ambitious depiction of Asgard, both in terms of scope and visuals. Unfortunately, Natalie Portman’s character and the use of 3D are largely superfluous. The film also suffers from a bland, unforgettable protagonist, Thor; as well as a deformed development of its antagonist, Loki.

For those unfamiliar with the Thor universe — like me — there will be a few moments which will pull you out of the film, as the script does a poor job establishing the rules of the universe. Examples of this include:

• How can you be immortal and potentially die?
• How can Loki duplicate himself?
• How can Loki teleport to Earth and appear suddenly invisible?
• Wait, Thor can fly?

Despite these flaws and questions, Thor is an admirable installment in the Marvel universe of films, and I would be ecstatic to see Tom Hiddleston return as Loki. Also, the bonus scene at the end of Thor with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is worth the excruciating wait through the very, very poor end-credit song choice.

I didn’t know it until I saw it, but I have been waiting for a summer movie like Thor for a long time. It is fun, far more fun than any comic adaptation I have seen in years. Admittedly, I say that as someone who does not read a lot of comics and is not familiar with the source material. And to me, that is the beauty of this film. This movie knows its material is not as invested in a legion of fans such as follow Batman or Superman, and its British director brings to it a distantiation that allows for investment in the fun of it all: the outrageous narration, exaggerated and impossible action sequences, and actors who can just let go and enjoy the ride without any pressure while still maintaining their integrity and talent. This, my friends, is what a summer movie should be: exciting, clever, comedic, and a joyride.

Kenneth Branagh has been much maligned in the press in recent years, to my mind unfairly. Yes, he has had some duds (Frankenstein comes immediately to mind), but his good films (Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Dead Again, Sleuth) far outweigh the bad, And even with their faults, Branagh is willing to take risks where very few other (i.e. Hollywood) directors are not; sometimes it doesn’t work, but more often than not it does. At first he might have seemed like an odd choice for this film, but actually he is perfect. Thor is not Batman; he does not have the following or the pressure. So it takes a director from outside the genre to make this kind of film, who can look at the source material with a less interested eye and find the key, transferable elements.

Thor is the son of Odin, King of Asgard, central of the nine worlds (of which Earth is one.) Odin has managed to maintain peace with the Frost Giants after a great battle many years ago, but Thor feels the kingdom is threatened. In a fit of youthful egoism, he and his band of followers, including his brother Loki, go to the Frost Giant’s kingdom and almost start a war. As punishment, Odin casts Thor down to earth until he can prove he is worthy of being King. And as write this, it sounds laugh-out-loud absurd, but you have to get into the rhythm of the film.

There are two worlds the film inhabits: Earth and Asgard. Asgard is gorgeously rendered in golds and reds, exactly what one would expect of such a kingdom in the sky, where everything is taller, brighter, and more formal. Earth (in the setting of New Mexico) is dirty, dusty, and laid-back. In the opening scenes of the film, the two worlds and their characters are separated. The collision that takes place once Thor falls to earth is nothing short of brilliant; classic fish-out-of-water comedy that borders slightly on predictability and yet is just clever enough to elicit great laughter. The action sequences, through both real acting and CGI, are exciting and not drawn out as too many film try to do these days.

Branagh’s directorial strengths lie in two areas: text and actors. The man knows words. And it is through the dialogue that Asgard and Earth are differentiated. Asgard is the Shakespearean side: everyone speaks in rather lofty tones, which a first seems a little strange, but again, just get into the rhythm and it seems perfectly natural. Earth is, well, Earth, and colloquial. The trailer gives away some of the jokes in Thor’s first encounters with earthly communication, and yet this did not stop me from laughing when I saw the film. The Asgardian characters never seem untrue in their dialogue, nor do they waver in its delivery. I have a feeling that this dialogue, in script form, might be a little less than impressive, but the actors pull it off. They know this is not actual Shakespeare, nor is it meant to be delivered as such; but they do understand how to say the words without making them seem trivial or incomprehensible or silly.

Of course, if you’re going to have a king of Asgard, you’d do no better than Anthony Hopkins. I was also surprised to discover that Canadian actor Colm Feore was the King of the Frost Giants (though his performance is vocal, as it is a computer generated character; not that that is a problem with Feore.) The film needs strong older actors such as these, as well as Stellan Skarsgård as an Earth scientist, to helm the film for the younger actors. Chris Hemsworth is perfect as Thor (and he certainly isn’t hard on the eyes either.) I never once failed to take him seriously or believe anything coming out of his mouth. His transformation from arrogant boy to wise adult doesn’t happen in one fell swoop, it happens with every smashed cup and every kick of a bodyguard. Tom Hiddleston is the perfect foil as Loki, and it is a credit to him that, although one knows that in Norse mythology he is the trickster, I was still surprised by each further trick he pulled. And will someone please give Kat Dennings more films roles! She is horribly underused in this one, providing most of the earthly comic relief, and I wonder why she wasn’t cast as the lead female, Jane Foster. I continue to be baffled by the popularity of Natalie Portman. I’m sorry to be harsh, but she is as dull as dishwater, and I could see no reason why Thor would have any interest in Jane. And for those very few racists out there who insisted that a black man shouldn’t play Heimdall, all I can say is just watch the damn movie. Idris Elba is a force of gravity, and in his scenes he draws everyone into him.

In other hands, this film would have been terrible. With Branagh at the helm, I have no doubt it’s going to be one of my top films this summer, and likely the year. He picked the right actors (well, mostly), he directed them well, and he paced the movie perfectly, weaving together its strange and frenetic generic, geographical, and linguistic distinctions seamlessly. My only regret is that due to the few locations where 2D viewing was available, I had to watch it in 3D. It is not necessary, and in fact I would have enjoyed it more in 2D. It looks glorious, it sounds glorious, and I haven’t had so much fun at a film in a long, long time. Bravo, Branagh.

A new trailer for Kenneth Branagh’s live action adaptation of the Marvel’s Thor has hit the web. The action epic stars Chris Hemsworth as the titular Norse god, robbed of his power and cast down to Earth by his father Odin. The film also stars Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and Natalie Portman as his love interest, Jane Foster. See the trailer below.

This new trailer features quite a bit of material not covered in the previous trailers, TV spots or sizzle reels. We’re still a little skeptical about the whole venture, but this trailer has sold us a little more on the idea. Let’s just hope that Thor doesn’t suffer from Iron Man 2-itis, and become nothing more than a setup for Marvel’s mega tentpole Avengers film.

Thor thunders into theatres May 6, 2011.

Superbowl viewers were treated to a quick glimpse of the God of Thunder tonight in the new TV spot for Thor. The Kenneth Branagh directed action epic stars Chris Hemsworth as the titular Norse god, robbed of his power and cast down to Earth by his father Odin. The film also stars Anthony Hopkins as Odin, and Natalie Portman as his love interest, Jane Foster. See the trailer below.

Entertainment Weekly has posted two brand-new photos of Captain America and Thor. Both characters are part of the upcoming Avengers film and have respective movies coming out this year.

Click to enlarge.

Captain America: The First Avenger is directed by Joe Johnston (The Wolfman, The Rocketeer) and stars Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, Sebastian Stan and Dominic Cooper. This is the first official shot we have of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in full Captain America regalia (although the film is said to have a few costume switch-ups throughout). A teaser trailer for the film is expected to arrive soon.

Click to enlarge.

Thor is being helmed by veteran actor/director Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet, Sleuth) directing another solid cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston and Idris Elba. You can view the trailer for Thor here.

Click to enlarge.

In a recent interview, director Johnston commented that it was very important to have the Captain America costume feel real, while remaining faithful to the comic – aside from just using the colours and shield. For example, Captain America needs the wings on his mask; having them painted on his helmet is much cooler and less campy than having actual pieces attached. Branagh has gone on record with similar feeling towards the look and feel of everything in Thor.

These two films are Marvel Studios’ buildup to the eventual Avengers film, and things look to be shaping up nicely. There looks to be something here for newcomers as well as old-school fans.

Thor hits theatres on May 6, 2011, followed by Captain America: The First Avenger on July 22, 2011.