Editor's Picks

We’re not spoiling anything by talking about who will die in ‘Avengers 2’. In fact, we have no knowledge that anyone will die. But, cmon, did you see that trailer. This movie looks so dark, even Christopher Nolan got jealous. And, we’re not the only ones. Both Scarlett Johansson and Mark Ruffalo have described the film as “dark.” We don’t know that someone is going to die in ‘Avengers 2’, but it sure feels like it.

In case you hadn’t heard, the new ‘Avengers 2’ trailer is here. If you haven’t yet, you should watch it—it’s quite entertaining. If you have already, good you’re in the right place. We’ve gone through this trailer a few times and pulled out some of the more interesting elements to dissect and discuss. We’re not literally going to screencap every single moment (no one needs to see a shot of Tony Stark walking with our commentary of, “Here’s Tony Stark walking…”), just the ones that need highlighting and could reveal some things about the secrets of ‘Avengers 2’. Ready? (Spoilers ahead, obviously.)

Speaking frankly, I must confess that got into this whole writing-about-movies business specifically so I could spend my life avoiding things like mathematics and using my brain. But with 2014 winding down, I’ve been taking a look back at the year that was, and considering some of its ups and downs. ScreenCrush has already spent a lot of time on the creative highs and lows of the year, but what about the financial ones? Even if it meant doing some math, New Year’s Eve seemed like an appropriate moment to bust out my calculator and use it to make sense of the box-office numbers of 2014.

Joss Whedon is tired. It’s just about halfway through the shoot for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ in London, and Whedon doesn’t as much sit down for our interview as he does collapse into a chair. It’s a bright and sunny day in London, but he looks like he hasn’t seen the sunshine in weeks. He’s completely wiped out—”raggedy” as he puts it—by his schedule, which he describes thusly: “I do this, I go home, I rewrite, I go to sleep. I do this, I go home, I rewrite, I go to sleep.”

We're here on the top secret set of 'The Avengers 2' searching for something, anything, to tell you about one of the most anticipated, and guarded, movies of 2015.

I'm deep in 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' country. 40 years ago, director Tobe Hooper, a skeleton crew and a ragtag cast of unknown actors made horror history in these parts. Cinema, and the great state of Texas, were never the same.

There was a post-”princess movie” moment where Disney chased the “boy demographic.” It didnt' work out so well; Films like 'Atlantis' and 'Treasure Planet' came and went. Under the current Disney brand, 'Big Hero 6' isn't as aggressively alternative — not with Marvel as an in-house entity — but but the competition raises questions of what the Mouse House can bring to the table. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was basically a cartoon. Guardians of the Galaxy's five-character team had two fully CG characters. The Transformers moves are basically the pixel equivalent of a Stan Brakhage film. And now there's 'Big Hero 6,' a fully animated feature competing with live-action bombast. How will it stand out from the crowd? The Walt Disney legacy, and the idiosyncratic creative process that comes with it.

Vincent D'Onofrio may be most widely recognized as the detective with some unorthodox techniques on 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent,' but he's ready to branch out into more sinister roles in playing the Kingpin in Marvel's 'Daredevil' Netflix series and, reportedly, a villain in 'Jurassic Park 4.' As the actor reminded me, he was known for his many bad-guy characters in his earlier career (for one, see 'Men in Black'), though newer generations will become acclimated with his darker side.

The Turtles' transformation from cult comic book characters to mega-popular cartoon superheroes began in 1987 and was overseen by writer David Wise. If you're a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, chances are strong that Wise is the man you want to thank. As a writer and story editor for the original animated series, Wise was present from the show's inception to its conclusion, writing and overseeing the vast majority of the series. To listen to his version of events is to understand where the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came from.

The 'Transformers' franchise is a cultural juggernaut with universal appeal. The three live action films released since 2007 have grossed nearly $3 billion. The fourth film, 'Transformers: Age of Extinction,' is on track to become one of 2014's biggest hits...