I wanted to like this film. I really wanted to like this film… but…

This film had all the makings, the trappings of a good fantasy film. But it uses those good elements it has to very bad effect. It plays a bit too much like a parody of the fantasy genre — ineptly moving from story beat to story beat without ever drawing the audience in or making us feel a real connection to the film.

It’s no wonder that this book series, and now subsequently, this film series is being made. Look at the success of the Harry Potter franchise in both book and film form. And truth be told, there is definitely…

Kevin Feige may be done making big announcements until 2014, but that doesn’t mean he can’t drop a few hints between now and then. The Marvel Studios head reportedly has things planned out (albeit tentatively) through about 2021, and during an interview at D23 he offered some clues about what he has in store.

Among other things, Feige promises we’ll see more of the Hulk and Hawkeye.

All good as far as I’m concerned! I like both characters from The Avengers very much. I also loved the The Incredible Hulk from 2008 staring Edward Norton, but I was one of the few apparently. And it would be…

And in case it isn’t obvious already, the trade also notes that Affleck is “signed for multiple movies,” which means he’ll be wearing that cape and cowl for a while. And more importantly, as many folks have already been pondering, THR says that this whole deal “potentially lines Affleck up to star in (and direct?)” in the eventual “Justice League” movie. It doesn’t seem to be much more than guesswork now, but you have to remember Affleck was previously offered “Man Of Steel” and “Justice League” to direct, turning them both down. Could starring as Batman be a way for him to test the…

Right now, Marvel has the world’s attention — certainly, they have my attention as they are producing some of the best cinematic entertainment right now. Maybe to some this comes as a surprise that a comic book company and comic book stories could make such good cinema. I’m not surprised per se, although I am surprised that I myself am into it so much. I don’t really like comic books all that much, but the stories here are adapting themselves very well to the big screen.

I also have to say that Thor 2 looks like it will be far better than Thor was. Thor may have been my least favoriate of…

We’ve got a new SHIELD trailer here, and it’s looking good. Although I have to say that I’m not super impressed with that music, it’s dreadful. When analyzing and thinking about a Joss Whedon TV series, I always go back to Buffy, because a). that was his first, and b). it was arguably his best (and certainly his longest running show). So, going back to Buffy, yes there was times when he used pop music, or not scored music, but I don’t ever remember hating it. This music, I pretty much hate. But, this is a promo, and not the show, that song, that music may never be in the show and may not even…

I don’t know that we can say there are any clear box office winners this past weekend. When your highest grossing film only makes $17 Million, I would call the box office a bit anemic myself. However, it is clear that, overall, general audiences consider The Butler to be the best choice of film in theaters. But the phenomenon of the lackluster overall box office is somewhat intriguing and I have no idea what is causing it for sure. It may just be that we as audiences are more and more better informed about what is in theaters, and instead of just heading out to the local cinemaplex to catch…

After discussing how the various films did at the box office last weekend, TJ ponders the deep questions, like, should Ewan McGregor get a character film for Obi-Wan? It’s a tough question actually, because on the one hand he was one of the few good things about the prequels, but on the other, what story is there to tell? Speaking of ‘Star Wars’, David Prowse does not like those prequels much. There’s also the hilarious and awesome ‘Star Trek Into Darkness Honest Trailer’! You’ll want to catch that! TJ also wrote a review of the biopic ‘JOBS’, and discussed it with Joe Darnell on this week’s MovieByte Podcast. There’s also a live action ‘Cinderella’ underway, and Haley Atwell is invovled in some capacity. Big news this week: Ben Affleck is going to be playing Batman in the ‘Man of Steel’ sequel. TJ is not at all sure what to think about this news. And of course, you won’t want to miss out on what you might want to see this weekend!

Briefly: Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp are prepping the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, with Kon Tiki directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg taking the helm. Jeff Nathanson is scripting, and while we don’t know any story details at this point, now we’ve got a title. The series will finally get around to using a classic pirate phrase, as the film is reportedly titled Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

I love the title a lot, but I still couldn’t care less about this film. Simply do not care at all.

Cinematographer Dan Mindel ASC, BSC will be reteaming with JJ Abrams to shoot Star Wars Episode VII. That comes as no surprise as Mindel worked with Abrams on the Star Trek films and Mission: Impossible III. The big news is that Mindel says that Episode 7 will be shot on Kodak film stock 5219 film, NOT digital cameras like the last couple prequel movies. The Phantom Menace was the last Star Wars film to be shot with film cameras (although some trivia fanatics will note, the movie did include a digitally photographed shot).

This is really, really, extremely good news. Shooting on film…