'Iron Man 3' Kicks Off Summer Complete with Energy and Laughs

Iron Man returns with more suits of armor than ever before, including Mark XLII.

Last year this time, Marvel embarked on its most ambitious outing ever with The Avengers. For the legions of rabid Marvel fanboys out there, witnessing its larger-than-life superhero dream team (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America) joining forces for the very first time onscreen sparked a higher demand for more superior superhero flicks. That's all fine, except there's even greater pressure on Iron Man 3 to deliver the goods, more so than any previous installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Since the life-altering events of The Avengers, billionaire genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has found himself suffering from PTSD, unable to sleep and consumed in the bowels of his Malibu home lab with constructing newer variations of Iron Man armor. But those are just the start of his problems when Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin begins to terrorize the American people and its government. After an attack on his long-time friend Happy, Tony's war with the Mandarian gets real personal.

'Avengers' is Marvel's Newest Definition of Super

Marvel's superhero "dream team" defend New York from the villainous forces of  Loki.

Very few films have been able to come close, let alone match the hype factor that’s been gradually brewing throughout the past four years for Marvel’s superhero dream team to assemble onscreen. Since 2008’s Iron Man, Marvel has systematically been laying their cards down one by one, revealing subtle clues about what Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury describes as the Avengers Initiative. Die-hard comic book fans know exactly what’s about to happen and if you’ve seen Iron Man or Thor or any of Marvel’s other recent superhero movies in the theaters and you’ve seen moviegoers glued to their seats during the credits, they’re just anxious for the next little piece of the greater picture.

In The Avengers, the world is threatened by the devious Loki (Tom Hiddleston), the exiled prince of Asgard who’s driven to redeem his defeat in last year’s Thor by conquering Earth once and for all. Loki isn’t alone in this conquest; this time he commands an army of Chitauri, a formidable alien force with its own agenda. Being that this is humanity’s largest threat to date, Fury assembles the Avengers composed of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to defend Earth.

'Grey' Dominates as Gritty, Action Loaded Alpha

Jedi Master, Greek god, Gotham rogue - Liam Neeson always ends up with the most manly roles. 

The trailer for The Grey presented audiences with a captivating yet ambiguous account of Liam Neeson pitted against a pack of hungry wolves. But despite what appeared to be a straightforward premise; there always seemed to be something lurking in the background, a plot twist that we just couldn’t converge our attention on away from the overall theme of survival. Nothing of the sort exists and The Grey transcends that initial belief with a gritty metaphor about survival. 

The Grey trails the remaining members of an oil drilling team led by a take-charge hunter (Neeson), who survived a plane crash and trek across the remote Alaskan wilderness. Before these men can reach safety, they are pursued by a pack of territorial wolves and battle the brutality of life-threatening weather conditions. The Grey is directed by Joe Carnahan (Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane, Narc, The A-Team), who has a tendency to not hold back in any of his previous films and this is no exception to that rule.

Fourth 'Underworld' is Abomination, Not 'Awakening'

After being frozen for over a decade, Selene's back and ready to finish what she started.  

Vampires and werewolves are still battling one another and believe it or not it’s not Twilight. Sorry to get your hopes up Team Edward and Team Jacob. In fact, that other vampire and werewolf franchise is back in what seems to be the recent trend of every third year in January.  

Underworld: Awakening reintroduces the former Death Dealer, leather-clad Selene (Kate Beckinsale), who has been cryogenically frozen for the past twelve years since the events of “The Purge.” Selene finds herself in a world quite differently than one she remembers, most particularly one where an enigmatic hybrid could turn the tide in the ageless battle between vampires and lycans. Despite some chronological shifts in Rise of the Lycans, Awakening remains the fourth film in the series.

Spielberg's 'War Horse' Journeys Towards Epic Proportions

Steven Spielberg gives audiences not just one, but two movies over the holiday stretch.

If The Adventures of Tintin wasn’t enough Steven Spielberg over the long holiday season, there remains yet one more sprawling epic from the iconic director with the release of War Horse. 2011 isn’t this first instance that Spielberg has released two of his films in the same year. Back in 2005, Spielberg released his vision of War of the Worlds in the midst of summer and Munich, later in the year attracting attention from many critics. 

War Horse comes at the perfect time of the year, fitting the shape of an awards bait film with its epic scale and emotional tension. Though everything points to War Horse being a film that is here to only collect a potential pile of awards, there is so much more that Spielberg delivers in divulging a tale that simply comes down to one about a boy and his horse. And that’s exactly how War Horse begins. An Irish farm boy named Albert (Jeremy Irvine) begins a bond with a recently purchased horse, but when his father is behind on the rent, the horse is thrown into the midst of World War I and continuously changes owners.

'Game of Shadows' Contributes to the Web of Sherlock's Success

Back again, Sherlock and Watson find themselves on the brink of global catastrophe.

There is always that incredible sense of satisfaction when a re-imagination of a classic just doesn’t break out from the pack, but more importantly deserves to.  Back in 2009, Guy Ritchie did exactly that in tackling Sherlock Holmes, which has been interpreted more times than one can count, and the start of new adventures for the legendary detective and his dear, dear Watson. 

Elementary you might say, but without the chemistry of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law with Ritchie helming this project, Sherlock could have easily been a thrown together cash-in on the century-plus-old brand name. Far from it. Fast forward two years later; Ritchie, Downey Jr. and Law team up once more for the anticipated sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. In this sequel, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves in the midst of the plot of a mastermind, which could ignite a world war.

Retro-Futuristic 'In Time' Clocks Forward to Immortality

Will (Justin Timberlake) and Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried) steal from the rich and give to the poor.

The future is never as brighter as it today. Technology might create a simpler lifestyle and immortality may be closer in reach than before, but fate will deal that dystrophic future seen countless times before. Director Andrew Niccol (Gattaca), examines the near future from In Time where the rich live forever and the poor die young. 

Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) lives in that particular future where wealth segments society. People physically age until twenty-five and are branded with a time clock on the arm. The rich squander decades and centuries in casinos and other luxuries; the poor struggle to their final seconds in the ghetto before timing out. Time is everything. It can be earned, gifted or stolen. Whether it be a simple cup of coffee, a wager on the betting table or the monthly mortgage payment, everything has a mortal price worth a particular amount of time.