With Disney and Marvel's Avengers movie less than two months from release, it's no surprise that the studio and Joss Whedon have been screening the film for selected folks.  The fact is, every movie gets screened early; it's how a director learns what needs additional photography and what scenes need to be tightened up or removed.  Usually a director will show his first cut to a selected group of friends, and the group will give honest notes about what needs work.  Then, down the road, the movie will be shown to preview audiences, studio execs, and tons of other people involved in the marketing of the film.  This happens on every single movie unless you're David Fincher or Steven Spielberg and want to keep everything under wraps.

Anyway, over the past few weeks I've spoken to a few people that have seen The Avengers, and I've also overheard a few people talking about it when they didn't realize I was listening (sorry, I was).  The consensus seems to be it's a fantastic film and the best Marvel movie thus far, which is awesome to hear.  When I sat down the other day with writer-director Drew Goddard for Cabin in the Woods (which Joss Whedon co-wrote) I asked if he had seen an early cut of The Avengers.  He has.  More after the jump.

As I said in the headline, Goddard told me, "as a life-long Avengers fan and as a Joss fan, I couldn't be happier."

Before going any further, obviously Goddard is friends with Whedon and isn't going to say anything negative on camera.  But based on what I'm hearing about the movie and the smile on his face, I really believe what he's saying is from his heart.

But enough of my preamble, here's the portion of the interview on The Avengers.  Look for my full conversation with Goddard closer to the release of his awesome movie Cabin in the Woods.

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