What's the Best Film to Launch Its Summer Movie Season This Century?

I provide my rankings here.

On Joss Whedon and Our Need for Heroes

Like a lot of people, I read Vulture's in-depth profile of disgraced filmmaker Joss Whedon today. And I had a lot of thoughts, which I share over at MEL.

Fifteen Years Ago, 'Serenity' Failed to Turn 'Firefly' Into a Franchise

Joss Whedon's short-lived, much beloved sci-fi/Western series got turned into a movie. But it wasn't in the cards for it to become another Star Trek. Over at SyFy, I looked back at Serenity.

What's the Best Marvel Movie?

For the latest Debate Club, Will and I select two MCU films as our candidates for best Marvel movie. The Avengers battles it out against Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Our winner is here.

What Happened With 'Justice League'?

For MEL, I tried to figure out what went wrong with the latest DC offering -- and if there's anything Warner Bros. can do to right the ship. You can read my thoughts here.

The Grierson & Leitch Podcast: Superheroes, 'Jim & Andy' and 'Slap Shot'

On this week's podcast, Will and I lament how bad Justice League is. Then, we focus our energies on two Netflix films: the Sundance favorite Mudbound and the rather remarkable Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. Finally, in our Reboot segment, I finally get around to watching Paul Newman's Slap Shot. (It's about hockey.) You can hear the whole thing down below.

Marvel's Secret Superheroes: The Films' Directors

For Rolling Stone, I wrote a longer essay about the secret to Marvel's success. For nearly a decade now, the studio has been on a critical and commercial hit streak, continuing with this past weekend's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. My theory: It's their directors, many of whom were oddball choices to helm major blockbusters. In the process, some of these filmmakers have ended up producing the best work of their careers. How exactly did that happen? Read on.

Debating 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'

This weekend, I went on Mousterpiece Cinema to speak with Josh Spiegel and Gabe Bucsko about Avengers: Age of Ultron. And, boy, did we talk: We chatted for 90 minutes about the film, the franchise, Joss Whedon, Marvel, feminism, comic-book movies, and why Ant-Man could be the studio's Cars 2. (I think I scared Josh with that last point.) You can hear the whole thing here.

'Avengers: Age of Ultron' Review

In the two weeks since I've seen Avengers: Age of Ultron, I've spoken to no one about the film, so I have no idea what folks think of this supersized sequel to the 2012 mega-hit. (I'll look at other people's reviews after posting this.) For my part, I think Ultron lacks the novelty and charm of the first installment. But it's sufficiently, if unevenly, entertaining. And who would have guessed that Hawkeye would turn out to be the Jerry Gergich of the franchise? My review is up at Screen International.

Pretty Soon, Everybody's Going to Know Who Joss Whedon Is

For most of his career, writer-director Joss Whedon has been a favorite of the Comic-Con crowd. He's the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly and other shows that that one geeky friend in your life really, really likes. But even if you've been able to dismiss the guy up to this point, it'll be hard to ignore him much longer: He wrote and directed The Avengers, which will make a ton of money. For Deadspin, I wrote about the rocky road Whedon walked to get to where he is now. As someone who doesn't consider himself a fanboy, I tried to write this piece from the perspective of a non-apostle, essentially explaining what's special about Whedon to those who may have a knee-jerk reaction to such an article. Hope you enjoy.

'The Avengers' Review

Marvel's The Avengers (or, as it's known in the U.K., Marvel's Avengers Assemble) is a lot of fun. It's also a bit of a mess. But, mostly, it's a lot of fun. I reviewed the film for Screen International.

'The Cabin in the Woods' Review

One of the toughest things about writing a review of The Cabin in the Woods is ... writing a review of The Cabin in the Woods. Loathe as I am to reveal plot spoilers, it's pretty darn hard to discuss this horror-comedy without delving into story specifics. (Wired put it best when they called it "The Coolest Movie No One Should Be Talking About.") But I found a way around such problems for my spoiler-free Gawker review. But, seriously: Avoid all trailers and commercials. As DJ Shadow once said, the less you know, the better.

dollhouse: vows

Along with Fringe, I'll also be doing recaps of Dollhouse this season for the fine folks at Vulture. My first Dollhouse breakdown is up now.