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New Photos of The Avengers Looking At Things

Damon Houx — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:22:28 +0000

Marvel wants to get you excited about their upcoming film The Avengers. Really excited, as much of the future of their cinematic empire rests on its success, and so prepare to be inundated with ads and trailers and such until it hits theaters on May 4. Until then, Marvel.com has issued five new pictures that show stars Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, and Scarlet Johansson looking at things. But, you know, looking intently. Take a look…

As you can see from this gallery, much of the movie involves looking at things. Some of those things include files and paperwork, while others include cast members. They talk, they stare at the camera, and perhaps perform unnecessary surgeries on unsuspecting patients. This was always a concern when Joss Whedon was hired, as he’s known for his gab-fests and elective surgery bent.

In case you forgot, the film is in 3-D. It’s interesting to note that this is rarely a selling point any more, and sometimes you have to study a poster to know for sure if what you’re seeing is going to be offered in more dimensions than two. Such should make the film’s intense “looking at things” moments all that more realistic and engaging.

If you see The Avengers, will opt for 2-D or 3-D?

Margaret: Movie Review

Damon Houx — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 23:00:18 +0000

The story of how 2011′s Margaret was made and eventually released may make a more compelling tale than the theatrical version. The film was shot in 2005 (as evinced by the theater marquees), but then entered into a lengthy editing process to which director Kenneth Lonergan found it nearly impossible to get the film into manageable shape. He could have his cut up to 150 minutes, but reports have the film running as long as (and possibly over) four hours. In the process, two of the film’s producers (Sydney Pollack, Anthony Minghella) passed away, and film has been stamped with a 2008 copyright, and it now runs a choppy 149 minutes. In this version it’s a mess, but a fascinating one. Perhaps if the longer cut emerges we’ll know for sure if it just needed to be long, or if the film got away from Lonergan in a classic example of a “sophomore slump.”

The Players:

Writer and Director:Kenneth Lonergan
Starring: Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Jeannie Berlin, J. Smith-Cameron, Jean Reno
Original Music by: Nico Muhly
Cinematography by: Ryszard Lenczewski

The Plot:

Paquin stars as Lisa Cohen, a young girl whose distracting behavior unintentionally kills a passerby (Alison Janney). Her mother (Smith-Cameron) is divorced and a successful stage actress, her father (Lonergan) lives in Santa Monica with his new wife. After the accident the film is divided by Lisa’s involvement with the dead woman’s best friend Emily (Berlin), and her growing pains as an adolescent. She looks to lose her virginity with playboy Paul (Kieran Culkin) and eventually targets a young teacher (Damon) with her affections. But her guilt about the incident forces her to try to punish the bus driver (Ruffalo).

The Bad:

The Editing: It’s hard to say if whole scenes are lifted or if the film was shortened by a thousand little cuts. In its current form, Margaret features the sort of editing choices that are usually the results of poor film-making. From sequences that end abruptly to non-existent transitions into the next scene to cutaways to exteriors that are usually done to bridge takes (with no coverage), it’s hard to watch some sections and not feel like the pacing is askew, and these choices reflect poorly on the filmmaker. Whether they were done to get the film to manageable length or because of poor execution it’s hard to say, but in the released cut it looks like amateur hour.
The Pacing: The film is divided into two narratives as it goes further, Lisa’s home and sex life, and her inserting herself into the life of Emily as she tries to revise the story she told to the cops at the time of the accident. Both narratives are compelling and both have great scenes – Berlin gets a great moment to dress down Lisa for her childish poetic reading of a death – but the connective tissue between the two seems non-existent. It’s like flipping between two TV shows and trying to watch both at the same time. Perhaps that’s why when the film wraps up it feels like there’s no energy to that conclusion. You can see how the pieces are there to make some of those moments powerful or meaningful, but when Lisa finally explodes it doesn’t seem to have the weight of its intentions. Margaret is filled with highs, but the air is missing to make it whole.
Anna Paquin: The actress has a number of great moments, but in the current version, she misses her mark every once in a while.

The Good:

What Lonergan’s After: At the time, writer/director Kenneth Lonergan was making a film about New York, and obviously a post-9/11 New York. From classroom discussion (all great scenes) to the themes of the film, it’s definitely about denial and wrongheadedness in the face of great tragedy, along with a youth’s desire to insert themselves into a drama to feel. On top of that Lonergan is one of the great writers of dialogue, and so sequence after sequence has great moments and writing (even for the director himself). And he gets the fractured nature of Margaret herself, drawn to do bad things, not turned on by the nice guy, hating her mother for a myriad of reasons, and oh does he nail the sort of pretentious intellectualism of a young well educated person.
When the film digresses: J. Smith-Cameron’s character Joan is romanced by Jean Reno’s Ramon, and she gets a great moment in the bathroom, and there’s a great scene where Ramon has dinner with a table full of women and gets into a huge fight about Palestine. There are lots of great character moments, but often they feel isolated. All of the classroom scenes are also excellent, and Lonergan gets the voices of the children and their verbal fights pitch perfect.

Overall:

It’s hard to hurdle some of the faults of the movie, and it’s hard to know if the film never came together, or if it was ruined by the need to get the film down to a manageable length. Regardless, Margaret is a fascinating experience filled with great scenes next to bad ones, and great moments that are sometimes hurt by horrible editing decisions. That may not be satisfying for the casual filmgoer, but for the cineaste it’s a must-see. The film is hitting two screens in New York and Los Angeles September 29, and it’s unknown if it will expand after that.

Rating: 7/10

Trailer:

The Avengers Are Assembled (Via Photoshop)

Damon Houx — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:25:45 +0000

Marvel studios has been building to Joss Whedon‘s The Avengers since 2008, when Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson had an end credit scene that laid out the possibility of Tony Stark working with a team. Since then we’ve seen Chris Hemsworth cast as Thor, Scarlett Johansson cast as Black Widow, Chris Evans cast as Captain America, Jeremy Renner cast as Hawkeye, and Edward Norton cast as the Hulk. Six out of seven isn’t bad. All of The Avengers save Jackson grace the latest Entertainment weekly cover, and features the new Hulk Mark Ruffalo. Check out the cover….

The Avengers has a teaser poster out, and we’ve been hearing word that an official trailer may hit as soon as next week on Real Steel. Which means shooting is about done, and post is already under way for the film, which opens May 4, 2012. AND THIS is the best they can come up with? What the heck is that look on Mark Ruffalo’s face?

The Entertainment Weekly story has more pictures of the shooting and suggests that the shoot went well-ish (though Robert Downey Jr. asked for lots of rewrites) which may get people excited. Bottom line is that the fanbase is pre-sold, so though this may be putting the wrong foot forward, it does get across what to expect from the film. An ensemble. Hopefully they work together better than this cover suggests.

There’s no way this would dissuade you from seeing The Avengers, right?

Matt Damon’s Latest Film is Also One of His Oldest

Damon Houx — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:58:16 +0000

Matt Damon and Anna Paquin are as hot as they’ve ever been, and Mark Ruffalo (now an Avenger) is coming close to being a full blown star. So what’s so fascinating about Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret is that the film has been mired in controversy for six years. They finished shooting in 2005. Supposedly the hold up was that Lonergran had final cut but he couldn’t get it down to a manageable shape (it was declared a masterpiece by Martin Scorsese in one of those longer cuts), which led to two lengthy lawsuits. During this prolonged post-production two of its producers (Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack) have passed away. And now, finally, there’s a trailer. Check it out….

Thematically the script was about New York and September 11, though it’s hard to say what the movie is now. There was some hope the film would hit the festival circuit, and though this could be a two screen “get it off the books” release – there doesn’t seem to be a lot of confidence if you’re releasing a trailer four weeks before your film comes out – perhaps Fox Searchlight is going to see if critics love it before going for any academy attention.

Lonergan’s last film – You Can Count On Me – was hailed as a masterpiece, and made many best of lists for the last decade. Lonergan cut his teeth in theater, and was plucked to help work in Hollywood on such diverse projects as The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Gangs of New York, so he covers the spectrum. Just from the production history alone, this is one of most fascinating releases of 2011.

Had you heard of Margaret before this?

Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner Discuss The Avengers

Krystal Clark — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:56:38 +0000

Two stars of the upcoming Marvel superhero movie The Avengers were in attendance at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. Not only were they at the ceremony, but they were both nominated, and in the same category! We’re talking about Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner who both lost the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to Christian Bale. The actors weren’t too sad because their careers are still flourishing with the impending Avengers project. Over at MTV, they opened up about their alter egos Bruce Banner and Clint Barton aka The Incredible Hulk and Hawkeye…

Ruffalo on The Hulk’s appearance in The Avengers:

“There’s some great Bruce Banner stuff [in 'Avengers'], kind of a slant on him that we haven’t seen before,” said Ruffalo. “He’s introduced in a really great way.” “All the great Hulk stuff, which I’ll be doing too,” he said. “I’ll be the first actor to do them both.”

Renner on the other hand was less forthcoming about his appearance in the film:

“Yes, I have [read the 'Avengers' script],” Renner said. “It’s tremendous. I can’t tell you anything about it.”

He also teased at his [possible] cameo in this summer’s Thor.”I might [have a cameo in 'Thor'],” he teased. “Go see it. Check it out.”

On an interesting side note, Renner revealed that he has yet to see his Hawkeye costume, which means his appearance in Thor may be as a civilian prior to his induction into S.H.I.E.L.D. Who knows?!

Are you excited to see their takes on Hawkeye and Hulk in The Avengers?

Ray Liotta, Casey Affleck, Mark Ruffalo Confirmed for Cogan’s Trade

Krystal Clark — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:03:41 +0000

Ray Liotta is doing legitimate film work again. The Goodfellas star has been cast in Andrew Dominik’s upcoming feature Cogan’s Trade. The drama is headlined by Brad Pitt and several other actors who are more than a little familiar with the director. We’re talking about Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell (who’ve both been confirmed).

THR reports that Liotta will join Pitt, Affleck, Rockwell, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, and Vincent Curatola. There’s been no word on who will play what role, but we’re pretty sure all their characters will be shady. Cogan’s Trade is based on a novel by George V. Higgins, which was published in 1974.

Here’s the official synopsis for the book below:

Crackling dialogue, mordant humor, and unremitting tension drive the suspenseful stakes of the game higher in Boston’s precarious underworld of small-time mobsters, crooked lawyers, and political gofers as George V. Higgins, the writer who boiled crime fiction harder, tracks Jackie Cogan’s career in a gangland version of law and order. For Cogan is an enforcer; and when the Mob’s rules get broken, he gets hired to ply his trade—murder. In the gritty, tough-talking pages of Higgins’s 1974 national best-seller, Cogan is called in when a high-stake card game under the protection of the Mob is heisted. Expertly, with a ruthless businessman’s efficiency, a shrewd sense of other people’s weaknesses, and a style as cold as his stare, Cogan moves with reliable precision to restore the status quo as ill-conceived capers and double-dealing shenanigans erupt into high-voltage violence.

What do you think of Liotta joining the cast?

Mark Ruffalo Put on Terrorist Watch List

Krystal Clark — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 17:44:27 +0000

The U.S. government is constantly fighting the war against terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and of course here in the U.S. That’s why they’re cracking down on individuals who support terrorist activities and apparently a new person has found themselves on their watch list — Mark Ruffalo. We don’t know about you but when we think about threats to this country the talented The Kids Are All Right actor immediately comes to mind (sarcasm).

According to The Guardian, Ruffalo has been put on the U.S. terrorist watch list after openly supporting a film called Gasland. It’s a documentary that exposes the alleged dangers of natural gas drilling. The actor got on their radar when he organized screenings of the Josh Fox film and stated his concern regarding “the impact of drilling on water supplies.”

Ruffalo also spoke about the drilling in GQ magazine where he opened up about his new terrorist name tag. He described it as “pretty f–kin’ funny.” If you think about it, he’s absolutely right. Instead of going after murderers and rapists, we’re going after Ruffalo because he encouraged people to see a film about gas drilling. Are they afraid that viewers might be able to come to a sensible conclusion about the practice and dare we say, do something about it?

What do you think of Ruffalo being put on the terrorist watch list? Is it overboard?

Mark Ruffalo on Preparing for The Hulk and The Avengers

Krystal Clark — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:09:00 +0000

With Thor is post-production, and Captain America almost in the can, there’s only one Marvel movie that fans have their eyes on: The Avengers. The film is scheduled to begin shooting next year and it will be an unprecedented superhero event. The Avengers will feature two new actors playing two familiar characters in the form of Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo recently spoke to the folks over at IGN, and revealed what he’s doing to prepare for his big Hulk debut…

When he was hired to replace Edward Norton as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Ruffalo’s first order of business was to re-familiarize himself with the material.

I think you go right back to the beginning and dust off your first issue of Avengers and I’ve been doing that. I’ve been watching the 100 hours of Bill Bixby’s Hulk. And I’ve been really thinking about the inception, the original motivation of that character and why they came up with that character.

He’s a cross between Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein. I’m finding a lot of stuff there. And I’m actually going to be physically playing the Hulk. No other actor’s ever done that. So I’ve been getting into Tai Chi and Pilates and doing a lot of movement stuff. I don’t know what I want to do with it exactly, but I’ve been working physically to bring the leviathan alive.

So he’s going to be “physically” playing the Hulk? All the other incarnations of the character have been CGI, and we can’t imagine them doing the Ben Grimm/The Thing technique from Fantastic Four on him. He’s too big. Maybe he’s referring to something else?

He also went on to say that he starts shooting The Avengers in April, which will have him coming in two months after cameras begin rolling. We were told by his co-star Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) that production officially begins in February.

What do you think of Ruffalo’s techniques for preparing for the Hulk? Are you excited to see his take?

Mark Ruffalo Hints At More Hulk Sequels

Krystal Clark — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:20:17 +0000

The Hulk franchise has turned into the red, haired step child of the Marvel universe. The only other character who’s been given the shaft more is Deadpool, but he’s over at Fox so what do you expect? In the past decade there have been two Hulk films with two different actors, Eric Bana and Edward Norton. Mark Ruffalo is the latest to tackle the beast making his first appearance in 2012′s The Avengers, and according to him, more Hulk movies are on the way.

Empire recently spoke to Ruffalo about his new superhero duties and he revealed that we’ll see a lot more of him and the Hulk beyond The Avengers.

“They set up several pictures over a couple of years and possibly there will be a Hulk movie. There’ll probably be a couple more Avengers too, which would be fun.”

A couple more Avengers movies? Do they plan on switching up the roster like they do in the comics? Perhaps by adding Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and for the love of God Wasp! It would get kind of boring with the same group over and over again. As for the Hulk, Ruffalo doesn’t feel that nervous about picking up where Norton left off because he thinks there’s more story to tell.

“The way I see it, Edward Norton has bequeathed this role to me. I reckon the part is my generation’s Hamlet, and there’s still some room for interpreting who The Hulk is.”

Judging by the lukewarm response he received at Comic-Con, I hope he realizes that he has a lot of work to do. He’s a talented actor but when fans are set in their ways you can’t convert them overnight.

What do you think of more Hulk and Avengers movies?

Glee’s Ryan Murphy to Direct Mark Ruffalo in The Normal Heart

Krystal Clark — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:18:02 +0000

A lot of people are still angry at Mark Ruffalo because he landed the part of Bruce Banner/The Hulk in Marvel’s The Avengers. Yes, the absence of Edward Norton sucks, but Ruffalo is a really talented actor who deserves a break. According to MTV, he’ll have the opportunity to flex his leading man muscle in the drama, The Normal Heart. “Glee“ creator and Eat, Pray, Love helmer Ryan Murphy confirmed that he’ll direct the film that centers on the early AIDS crisis that took place in the mid-eighties.

The Normal Heart has a screenplay written by Larry Kramer who also wrote the semi-autobiographical play from which it’s based.

The story focuses on the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay Jewish founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group. Ned prefers loud public confrontations to the calmer, more private strategies favored by his associates, friends, and closeted lover Felix Turner, none of whom are prepared to throw themselves into the media spotlight. Their differences of opinion lead to frequent arguments that threaten to undermine their mutual goal.

Ruffalo will play the lead character, who is similar to Kramer in a lot of ways. Murphy stated, “I think it’s an important story and I think Mark Ruffalo is just beyond brilliant so I’m very excited to be directing him.”

Even though Ruffalo is stepping into the limelight with his new Marvel connection, it’s nice to see that his “heart” is still rooted in character driven material with good stories. Not to say that comic book movies can’t be character driven (Christopher Nolan proved that), but they aren’t his bread and butter. He does his best work when there’s less flash and gloss.

What do you think of Murphy and Ruffalo working on The Normal Heart?

Mark Ruffalo On Taking Over the Hulk, Replacing Norton

Krystal Clark — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:21:26 +0000

Marvel decided to make the big announcement that Mark Ruffalo would be their new Hulk after their Thor panel at San Diego Comic-Con. The reveal was done in a major way with an introduction by Tony Stark himself, Robert Downey Jr (watch video of his big entrance). Ruffalo will be the third actor to take on the role since 2003 following Eric Bana and most recently Edward Norton. Entertainment Weekly caught up with the star after all the hoopla died down to get some official words from the man who’ll be “hulking out” in 2012.

Ruffalo claims that he grew up with “The Hulk” TV series, and The Avengers comics so he’s very familiar with the material. He knows how dedicated fans are to these characters and he felt very nervous while making his first appearance at Comic-Con. Even though the fans got under his skin, nothing could prepare him for the weirdness he experienced when he found out he landed the role of The Hulk.

I’m a friend of Ed’s, and yeah, that wasn’t a great way for all that to go down. But the way I see it is that Ed has bequeathed this part to me. I look at it as my generation’s Hamlet.

As for what attracted him to the part:

He’s a guy struggling with two sides of himself — the dark and the light — and everything he does in his life is filtered through issues of control. I grew up on the Bill Bixby TV series, which I thought was a really nuanced and real human way to look at The Hulk. I like that the part has those qualities.

He’s not sure when The Avengers will begin shooting but he said sometime this winter. When we spoke to Samuel L. Jackson earlier this summer at a press junket for Mother and Child, he told us February. Therefore, Ruffalo and the rest of the gang have plenty of time to get prepared.

What do you think of Ruffalo taking over as The Hulk? Are you still a little bitter?

Comic-Con 2010: The Avengers Assemble Video!

Brendan Walsh — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 01:53:58 +0000

“Then there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes and heroines united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born.” Check out ScreenCrave’s video footage of the entire cast of Marvel’s The Avengers coming out on stage at this year’s Comic-Con! It was epic and we caught it all on tape! Take a look…

With that much muscle, charisma, and hair gel in the same place at the same time, you’d think the stage would explode. Samuel L. Jackson came out as the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury (but without his eye patch). He was followed by second in command Agent Phil Coulson as played by Clark Gregg, then the First Lady of The Avengers, super-spy and assassin Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).

The two Chris’ soon followed, Hemsworth as Thor and Evans as Captain America. After that it was time to bring out the really big guns. That’s right, Tony Stark himself, the character who started it all as played by Robert Downey Jr. Being the originator they felt it was only right for him to introduce the new crew, which included Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton aka Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner aka The Hulk .

The presentation was capped off with director Joss Whedon and a special photo op for all the photographers and fans in attendance. And yeah, they all went wild!

Further Reading:

What do you think of the Avengers line up? Do you miss Edward Norton?

Like what you read? For more fun, check out our top stories from Comic-Con…

ScreenCrave.com » Mark Ruffalo

New Photos of The Avengers Looking At Things

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Rating: 7/10

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