Yesterday, the teaser trailer for Godzilla was released online, and judging by the reaction of the people I follow on Twitter, response was positive.  It’s a well-made trailer, and more importantly, the response shows that people are eager to see the giant monster get a second chance at an American adaptation.   Today, an international trailer and TV spot have gone online, and the tone is the same, but they contain brief new bits of footage.  If yesterday left you with a need for more Godzilla (or a need for actors who will be in Godzilla, since there’s not much of the titular monster at this point), it’s a quick fix.

Hit the jump for the trailer and TV spot.  The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, Ken Watanabe, and Sally Hawkins.  Godzilla opens in 3D on May 16, 2014.

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have released the first trailer for director Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla along with a new poster  If you want to see the titular kaiju, you’re going to be in for a bit of a disappointment, but you should be encouraged by the style Edwards is bringing to the movie.  There are some great-looking shots, especially the opening halo jump and the red smoke clouds following the paratroopers.  And when Godzilla is finally “revealed”, it’s in a stunning, smokey silhouette.  It’s an effective teaser trailer, and I don’t mind waiting to see more while the special effects team attempts to recreate one of cinema’s most memorable monsters.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and check out the new poster.  The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, Ken Watanabe, and Sally Hawkins.  Godzilla opens in 3D on May 16, 2014.

After a big push at Comic-Con, two viral videos released today signal the next wave of marketing for Godzilla.  The first trailer drops tomorrow afternoon, but you can get a taste tonight with the first official images featuring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston, and a relatively clear look at the monster himself.  The reboot “pits the world’s most famous monster against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.”

Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe, and David Strathairn also star.  Godzilla opens May 16, 2014.  Check out the new images along with a few quotes from director Gareth Edwards after the jump. [Update: Warner Bros. has released high-resolution versions of two of the images, which are now included after the jump.]

We’ve pretty much known that Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were going to play Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, respectively, in Joss Whedon‘s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and now Marvel has provided official confirmation.  For those unfamiliar with the comics, Quicksilver (who, because Marvel and Fox both own the rights, will also be in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but played by Evan Peters in X-Men) can run really fast.  Scarlet Witch is more complicated.  She can manipulate probability, alter reality, and has “Chaos Magic”, so it will be interesting to see how Whedon will interpret her powers for the movie.  The siblings are Magneto’s children, but since Magneto is fully owned by Fox, their father won’t be mentioned (at least by name).  They’re also of Eastern European origin in the comics, so presumably they’ll have accents for the film.

Hit the jump for the press release.  The film also stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L. Jackson, and James Spader.  The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens May 1, 2015.

Though the actor made no secret of the fact that he was in ongoing negotiations to join the ensemble of Joss Whedon’s Marvel sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Aaron Taylor-Johnson had thus far yet to be officially announced as one of the film’s castmembers.  Now it appears that scheduling issues have all been worked out, as The Wrap reports that Taylor-Johnson has closed his deal to play Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver in The Avengers sequel.  There was concern over whether the filming schedule of Age of Ultron would conflict with Taylor-Johnson’s promotional duties on Godzilla, which opens next May.  All is well, though, and the actor will be fighting alongside Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth and Co. when The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in theaters on May 1, 2015.

Taylor-Johnson is one of three new castmembers to be added to the Marvel universe, as Elizabeth Olsen is onboard to play Quicksilver’s sister Scarlet Witch and James Spader will be playing the pic’s baddie, the titular evil robot Ultron.

I hate to wish my life away, but with both The World’s End and You’re Next hitting theaters I really can’t help but look ahead to next weekend. That’s to say nothing of the pics opening this week (I plan on checking out Kick-Ass 2 next Wednesday), rather that the aforementioned two are a pair of my most anticipated of the soon-to-end summer movie season. In fact, You’re Next has been on my must-see list since Matt reviewed it at TIFF 2011 nearly two full years ago. In addition to the excitement associated with finally seeing the movie, my latent resentment of Goldberg for having seen it a lifetime ago will finally come to a close which is nice because I could use the sleep.

But enough about next weekend. Let’s focus on the here and now. This week’s Top 5 includes a slew of Kick-Ass 2 interviews, rare footage from Jerry Lewis‘s unreleased film The Day the Clown Cried, Vin Diesel all but confirming that he’s voicing Groot in Marvel’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy, Paranoia interviews with Harrison Ford and more, and a recap of our coverage from Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim. As you might expect, a brief recap and link to each of the above can be found after the jump.

We make excuses when we’ve done something wrong, and Kick-Ass 2 is full of excuses.  It thinks it can excuse its misogyny because it has Hit-Girl.  It thinks it can excuse its misguided notion of heroism because the costumed characters occasionally do a non-violent good deed.  It thinks it can excuse the juvenile antics because it’s occasionally morose and “serious”.  And the action is a poor excuse for what director/co-writer Matthew Vaughn provided in the first movie.  Kick-Ass 2 writer-director Jeff Wadlow is all too happy to seize upon the violence and quirks of Vaughn’s film and discards anything that played up the joy of playing a superhero.

With director Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2 opening this weekend, I recently got to speak with some of the cast in New York City.  The sequel takes place a few years after the first film and finds Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick-Ass and Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl inspiring a new wave of masked superheroes to join in the fight against a league of villains led by the Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).  For more on the film, watch five clips, a red-band featurette, video interviews with Wadlow and Mark Millar, or click here for all our previous coverage.

During the interview, Taylor-Johnson talked about making the sequel, what it was like to run around the streets of Toronto in costume with people watching, how much fun he had making Godzilla, and if he has signed on to Joss Whedon‘s The Avengers: Age of Ultron?  Hit the jump to watch.

Universal Pictures has released a new red-band featurette for director Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2, providing a no-holds-barred look at the very R-rated sequel.  The story finds Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick-Ass and Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl inspiring a new wave of masked superheroes to join in the fight against a league of villains led by the Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).  If you were on the fence as to whether this follow-up could capture the same dark humor and violence of the first film, this new featurette should put your mind at ease.  In addition to previewing new footage, we see the aforementioned actors, Wadlow, and producer/Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn discuss the new film as well.

Hit the jump to watch the red-band featurette.  The film also stars The film also stars Jim Carrey, John Leguizamo, Lindy Booth, Clark Duke, Donald Faison, and Morris Chestnut.  Kick-Ass 2 opens on August 16th. 

As filming is set to get underway on The Avengers: Age of Ultron early next year, writer/director Joss Whedon and the folks at Marvel are starting to make logistical preparations for the follow-up, including filling out the cast.  Whedon revealed early on that he was including the characters Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in the film, and we learned a couple of months ago that Aaron Taylor-Johnson was the frontrunner to play the incredibly fast Quicksilver in the superhero sequel.

Steve recently sat down with Taylor-Johnson in anticipation of the release of Kick-Ass 2, and the actor confirmed that he has indeed had meetings with both Whedon and the people at Marvel about possibly playing Quicksilver, and it certainly sounds like negotiations are ongoing.  In addition, Taylor-Johnson spoke a bit about director Gareth Edwards’ vision for Godzilla.  Hit the jump to read on.

Universal Pictures has released five clips from director Jeff Wadlow’s action sequel Kick-Ass 2.  The story finds Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick-Ass and Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl inspiring a new wave of masked superheroes to join in the fight against a league of villains led by the Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).  The footage that we saw at Comic-Con promised another great blend of dark humor and no-holds-barred action sequences, and these clips highlight the same.  If you missed Steve’s interview with comics creator Mark Millar, click here to check it out.

Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The film also stars Jim Carrey, John Leguizamo, Lindy Booth, Clark Duke, Donald Faison, and Morris Chestnut.  Kick-Ass 2 opens on August 16th.

We’ve got a collection of new images from the following films:

• Kick-Ass 2 – From director Jeff Wadlow comes this sequel to Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 original.  Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jim Carrey, John Leguizamo, Lindy Booth, Clark Duke, Donald Faison and Morris Chestnut, Kick-Ass 2 opens August 16th.
• 2 Guns – The Baltasar Kormákur-directed action crime comedy based on the Steven Grant and Mateus Santolouco graphic novels stars Mark Wahlberg, Denzel Washington, Paula Patton, Bill Paxton, Fred Ward, James Marsden and Edward James Olmos. 2 Guns opens August 2nd.

Hit the jump to see the new images from both movies.

Universal has released a new clip from Jeff Wadlow’s Kick-Ass 2.   The story finds Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick-Ass and Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl inspiring a new wave of masked superheroes to join in the fight against a league of villains led by the Motherfucker (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).  In the clip, Kick-Ass pleads with Hit Girl to help him go pro in becoming a superhero, and we get a hint of what could be an incredibly entertaining training montage.

Hit the jump to check out a clip.  The film also stars The film also stars Clark Duke, Donald Faison, John Leguizamo, Olga Kurkulina, and Jim Carrey.  Kick-Ass 2 opens August 16th.

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures are bringing the classic monster Godzilla back to the screen next year, and the pic comes with some fairly lofty expectations from longtime fans of the character.  The studios surprised last year at Comic-Con by showing a reel of test footage shot by Gareth Edwards, teasing his take on the monster.  Godzilla returned to Hall H again this year, but this time it came with some actual footage from Edwards’ filming, revealing that Godzilla will indeed fight other monsters in the new movie.  Edwards took the Hall H stage with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Cranston to talk about Edwards’ intimate take on the story, filming in Canada, balancing the monster aspect of the film with the human element, and much more.

Hit the jump for my full recap of the Comic-Con panel for Godzilla.

Director Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of the comic Kick-Ass was pleasant surprise when it first opened in theaters, and now director Jeff Wadlow takes the helm of the incredibly R-rated sequel Kick-Ass 2. Again based on the comics by Mark Millar, the follow-up picks up with Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kick Ass and Chloë Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl years after the first film, as they must once again team up to take on Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s supervillain The Motherfucker and his team of badass antagonists. A new trailer for the pic has been unveiled, and at the Comic-Con panel for the film earlier today, Wadlow and his cast teased jam-packed arcs for all of the principal characters, a considerably dark tone, brutal fight sequences, new cast additions, and much more.

Hit the jump to read my full recap of the Comic-Con panel for Kick-Ass 2.