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It looks like Zach Braff must've rubbed off on James Franco when they were making "Oz: The Great and Powerful."

Roughly a month after Braff raised $3.1 million from fans to fund a new movie, Franco has taken to Kickstarter rival Indiegogo to generate cash for a series of three films based on his 2010 book of short stories, "Palo Alto: Stories." The book is named after the California town where the super talented actor/writer/college student/avid reader/whateverelsethisweek grew up. (A pretty cool band named themselves after the town, too). Franco enlisted directors Nina Ljeti, Vladimir Bourdeau, Bruce Thierry Cheung and Gabriel Demestree to work on the "trilogy" of sorts. He's trying to raise a half million dollars, with some fun incentives for fans, of course.

Ten bucks will get you regular updates from the sets and PDFs of each scripts. If you've got $10,000 laying around, you can be an Executive Producer and grab some dinner with Franco and his production pals (sadly, Seth Rogen doesn't seem to be included, but maybe James' brother Dave will be there... Hopefully they won't be serving spaghetti). $5,000 gets you in one of the movies. $7,000 gets you a painting (yep, he's a painter too).

There's a greater incentive than the tangible prizes, though: Charity. The proceeds from the three films will go to a non-profit group called the Art of Elysium. The group coordinates working artists to volunteer their time to work with seriously ill children to introduce them to the arts. Franco, who has worked with the group in the past, wrote on his IndieGogo page, "These children have inspired me and pushed me as an artist in ways that are truly indescribable."

"Over the past 3 years I have directed and produced 6 feature films," Franco wrote on the Indiegogo campaign page. "I've also begun dedicating much of my time to teaching. Giving new filmmakers the opportunity to direct and produce films has become one of my greatest passions." He also writes about the challenges in finding funding. "Because of who I am, people often believe that it is easy to find investors and distributors for my films.  Unfortunately, things aren't that easy. More times than not, I have put in my own money to produce my films and my student’s films."

"However, this time it's different; We need more funding, I will still fund part of it but I need of your help, filming three feature films back-to-back requires more funding than I can give."

If all goes according to plan, the films should start shooting by August.

But don't take our word for it. Here's Franco himself:

Miramax

Generally, screenwriting is reserved for a thankless group of nerds who spend most of their waking hours making "Star Wars" references and lamenting their low position on the Hollywood totem pole.

But once in a while, the ladies and gentlemen behind the scripts end up becoming household name ... or move on from other successful careers to take a stab at screenwriting. And whether it's to make a buck, help out a buddy or take on a new challenge, these scribes sometimes end up scoring some pretty unexpected gigs.

So, upon the revelation that titan of twist M. Night Shyamalan was allegedly though perhaps wasn't after all involved in writing "She's All That" (1999), a movie about how beautiful women become even more beautiful when they take off their glasses and wear their hair down, we've assembled a list of some other well-known writers whose names are attached to some surprising projects.

1. Quentin Tarantino, 'It's Pat' (1994)

Touchstone Pictures

Yep, you read that right. The guy known as probably the best and most innovative screenwriter of the past 20 years is also (partially) responsible for the most forgettable one-joke SNL spin-off this side of "Stuart Saves His Family." We'll chalk this rare misstep up to Tarantino being buds with star Julia Sweeney, who along with Phil Lamarr and Kathy Griffin was part of an oddball trio of quasi-famous comedians that popped up in "Pulp Fiction."

2. J.J. Abrams, 'Gone Fishin'' (1997)

Hollywood Pictures

Prior to hitting it big with "Alias," bigger with "Lost," and bigger still with "Star Trek" and "Star Wars," J.J. Abrams was establishing himself as a young Hollywood screenwriter, which unfortunately included working on some of the schlockiest and schmaltziest films of the '90s — notably, the James Belushi vehicle "Taking Care of Business," Best Use of Animal Crackers in a Love Scene award winner "Armageddon" and "Gone Fishin'," a buddy comedy so terrible it made Joe Pesci spend the next ten years of his life reevaluating his decision to become an actor. It's okay, J.J. ... as long as you don't screw up "Star Wars," we'll still love you.

3. Joss Whedon, 'Waterworld' (1995)

Universal

Before being a "Whedonite" was a thing and after a mangled film version of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" hit theaters with a thud, Joss Whedon was making hay working on projects that almost certainly didn't spring from his own imagination, including "Speed," "Twister" and Kevin Costner's ludicrously over-budgeted vanity project "Waterworld," the story of one half-man, half-fish, half-balding-egomaniac's quest to save humanity from living on floating Disney World attractions.

4. Alexander Payne, 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry' (2007)

Universal

If you've ever seen a movie where a famous actor goes through a kind of hilarious, kind of horribly depressing midlife crisis ("Election," "Sideways," "The Descendants"), you've probably seen an Alexander Payne movie. Surprisingly, Payne is also credited with a re-write of the gay buddy comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry." Apparently, before the Happy Madison crew transformed the movie into an excuse for Adam Sandler to touch Jessica Biel's boobs and Kevin James to fall down, Payne's script — originally titled "Flamers" — was about two middle-aged men falling in love, and included a big ol' sloppy kiss between the two leads.

5. Roald Dahl, 'You Only Live Twice' (1967)

MGM

Roald Dahl is best known for writing every book you read between the ages of 8 and 13, just after you'd completed Dr. Seuss' canon and just before you moved on to J. K. Rowling's. In addition to being one of the greatest children's authors of all time, Dahl also did several other equally awesome things during his life, including co-inventing a valve used on brain-injury patients, serving as an espionage agent during WWII ... and writing a screenplay based on a book by an old war buddy named Ian Flaming. "You Only Live Twice" was one of the weaker early Bond movies, but considering Dahl described the book as "Ian Fleming’s worst ... with no plot in it which would even make a movie," Dahl probably wasn't to blame here.

6. Mario Puzo, 'Superman' (1978), 'Superman II' (1981)

Warner Bros.

No matter what else he did in his career, Mario Puzo was always going to be associated with his novel-turned-film masterwork that transformed movies forever. (It's "The Godfather." Did you not know it was "The Godfather"? C'mon, try to keep up here.) Less well-remembered is his involvement developing the first two Christopher Reeve "Superman" films, as well as something called "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery" (1992), starring Tom Selleck as King Ferdinand and a sea creature that had recently consumed Marlon Brando as friar Tomas de Torquemada.

7. John Hughes, 'Flubber' (1997)

Disney

Somewhere around 1990, John Hughes decided to move on from ridiculously profitable young adult fare ("The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and oh so much more) to ridiculously profitable kid fare ("Home Alone," "Beethoven" and "101 Dalmatians"). Hughes most shameful credit, however, remains the Robin Williams-led remake of "Flubber," about a silly man who invents a silly substance that bounces around a lot. We're still not entirely sure what Hughes was thinking here, but we'll assume he was trying to ride the coattails of the gelatinous substance craze of the mid-'90s, which included such quality products as Gak and Floam.

8. Carrie Fisher, 'The Wedding Singer' (1998)

New Line Cinema

If you've ever seen Fisher's book-turned-one-woman-show "Wishful Drinking," you know that she's better at more than looking sexy in a metal bikini next to a slug creature. During the late '80s and early '90s, while also acting, writing novels and nursing a prodigious drinking habit, Fisher spent time script doctoring some highly successful movies, including "The River Wild," "Hook," "Lethal Weapon 3" and one of Adam Sandler's better vehicles, "The Wedding Singer."

9. Roger Ebert, 'Beyond the Valley of the Dolls' (1970)

Fox

When searching for a writer to work on what was supposed to be a sequel to the camp classic "Valley of the Dolls," noted bosom-enthusiast Russ Meyer enlisted the help of a young Chicago Sun-Times film critic by the name of Roger Ebert. Instead of a sequel, Ebert and Meyer doubled down on the nudity, violence and melodramatic excess of the original and emerged with "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," an X-rated send-up of all things Hollywood. Ebert later referred to the movie as "an essay on our generic expectations" and "an anthology of stock situations, characters, dialogue, clichés and stereotypes," but let's be honest ... the main attraction here was boobs. And lots of them.

Dimension

In an announcement that should surprise no one, mostly because nobody bothered to care in the first place, Dimension Films has quietly pushed back Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's blood-soaked sequel "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For," back nearly a year. Gone is its original October 3rd slot, and it will instead bow on August 22nd, 2014. For those of you really looking forward to a lot of shitty green screen and film noir-y dialogue more mumbled than spoken, this must come as a crushing blow.

Production of the film, which has been endlessly discussed since the original "Sin City" came out way back in 2005, only officially got underway earlier this year. Rodriguez posted a photo of himself working with Josh Brolin on the set of the movie (and by "set" I mean "giant green warehouse where the only prop is a steering wheel") back in February. Since then, things have been pretty quiet — if the movie was coming out in October as planned, woudln't we have seen a trailer by now? At least there's an explanation: it's not coming out for another year, bro.

The sequel will star Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson (meow!), Jaime King, Powers Boothe, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Eva Green (as the titular dame), Jamie Chung, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Haysbert, Julia Garner, Juno Temple, Ray Liotta, Christopher Meloni and Jeremy Piven. Most of these actors Rodriguez ropes in by telling that there will be minimal costumes and make-up and that they will be out in a few days, thanks to the wonders of digital technology.

While waiting for the "Sin City" sequel to come out, you can always watch Miller's solo directorial debut "The Spirit." Just kidding. That was terrible.

That's why it's so surprising that the following nine superheroes don't already have movie deals, just by virtue of dawning their respective costumes. I'm sorry, I thought this was 'Merica! Someone get these people to a movie studio, stat!

9. Banana Man

With the glasses, you know already that Banana Man has superhuman vision abilities, so that's an easy check mark. You better believe those are glasses for near-sighted people. But it doesn't stop there: Banana Man dishes out empty banana peels like they're going out of style right at his enemies. You think that s**t is just in Mario Kart? Please. Finally, if there is a Banana Man movie made, I'm going to insist that this gentleman is cast as the title character. He clearly has the charisma to carry the role for as many movies as the studio allows. This may as well be Robert Downey III, who hangs at graveyards sometimes because why not.

[WikiMedia]

8. Cow Boy

Okay, so Cow Boy got in a little trouble with the law recently. Sometimes fighting crime takes you where the po-po don't want you to go-go. No one knows that more than Cow Boy, shown here after being arrested for something called "public lewdness." Okay, society, even the prudest CCD student has seen more than their fair share of udders. Relax. (Though props to Cow Boy for spiting the man and displaying those things front and center in the mugshot. Good for you.) As for Cow Boy's superpowers, let's just say he knows a thing or two around a pasture. What does that mean? That's the thing: No one knows. Yeah. Mind blown, right? Everyone get ready for Cow Boy.

[College Humor]

7. The LegoTroopers

Couple of obvious things about the LegoTroopers to point out immediately: 1) The regular Stormtroopers from the "Star Wars" franchise didn't get much of a back story, did they? George Lucas had six movies to say something about where these dudes came from, and nothing. Just there to get blownz up by our heroes. And speaking of, 2) What's the point of wearing all of that armor if it doesn't stop s**t? Seriously, it didn't even stop the slingshots from the Ewoks in "Return of the Jedi." Sweet uniforms. Quick fix: How about some Legos? Done and done. Like Banana Man, we already have our two stars pictured here: two modest, seemingly confused humans from the suburbs. Boom.

[Amazonaws.com]

6. The ... Uh ... Justice, Federation?

Say this about the Justice Federation: What they lack in clothing, they make up for in enthusiasm. You won't have to tell them to go anywhere that crime is, or have a "Justice Federation" symbol to shoot to the sky (so many jokes on what that could possibly be), they'll probably just be there, and they'll be ready. To do what exactly, who knows? But they'll be there, and judging by this picture, they'll be versatile enough to handle any situation, however sticky. And yes, if I were a criminal, I'd definitely be most afraid of Spider-Man in the front. Good luck, bad guys.

[WorldofWonder.net]

5. The Hot Dog Champion

Yes, it's "The Hot Dog Champion" and not simply "Hot Dog Man" or "The Boy Hot Dog" or some other form of sacrilege. This guy is a champion. He's a champion mustache grower. He's a champion of taking embarrassing pictures in the 1980s. And most importantly, he's a champion of life. Think about how much of a role model the Hot Dog Champion will be to your kids. This is the first un-ironically mustached man that you'd not only let touch your kids, you'd encourage to touch your kids. Because maybe that Hot Dog Champion sauce rolls off on ol' Junior. As for his superpower? Killer hot dogs. If you're against that, you're against fun.

[JohnToomeyCo.com]

4. MetroCard Man

The merits of MetroCard Man are the most obvious on this list. Who among you (in New York City, so the people who matter, basically) haven't been at a turnstile that has so coldly refused your entrance with an all-caps "INSUFFICIENT FARE"? Or, worse, a "PLEASE SWIPE YOUR CARD AGAIN AT THIS TURNSTILE" over and over as you watch your train pull up, empty, fill up and depart while you frantically try to swipe an unreadable old card? Enter MetroCard Man, there at the drop of a "F**K!" when your card won't work any more. And is that not the friendliest human face you've ever seen? He just wants to help! And he will. Oh, he will.

[Tumblr]

3. This Guy

First of all, I want to be clear that I don't mean the name "This Guy" ironically; I really insist that this character, who, yes, would be perfect for his own movie franchise (and fine, it would have to be R-rated, I guess), be called "This Guy." "This Guy" fits the character like a, um, bucket on a man boob. Think about it — if the person in the above photo showed up when you were getting mugged in an alley, tell me you and the criminal wouldn't both stop what you're doing, look at each other and say with all the skepticism in the world, "Who the hell is this guy?" Everyone would be so confused that This Guy would be able to pick off his prey in the resulting mess. It's almost too perfect. I already can't wait for "This Guy 2: Back in the Banana Hammock."

[Blogspot]

2. The Walking Exorcism

Listen, I'm with Joss Whedon: The dearth of female superhero movies in this country is saddening and reprehensible. The good news is, I know the perfect solution. Ladies and gentlemen, meet The Walking Exorcism, who will show up when you least expect it — in your nightmares, at your workplace, at your dinner table — and simply stare at you until you cry and run away. Skeptical? Do me a favor and take a good look at that face one more time. How long can you stare at it before scrolling away or clicking on another tab? Three seconds? Is she pregnant? There's no way of even knowing! I present the first horror/ superhero movie in cinema history, "The Walking Exorcism," starring Rebel Wilson.

[Bajiroo.com]

1. The Human Salad

The Human Salad needed 16 movies made about him seven years ago. He's the most modern superhero imaginable. With advancing research over the last several decades regarding diet and how it relates to health, The Human Salad would be an incredible role model for Americans trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain. He could travel around the country with Michelle Obama and poke babies' faces with his carrot fingers. More importantly, however, The Human Salad is contemplative, as you can see from the photo. He doesn't rush to judgment; he analyzes a situation and proceeds carefully. He broods over the smallest life choices. Yes, he is absolutely made for Christopher Nolan. Chris, meet the Human Salad. Best enjoyed with an Oscar.

[Kelowna.com]

Columbia Pics

How do you end a comedy movie about the apocalypse? Hilariously, of course, but if Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen had their initial drothers for the end to "This is the End" — you know, back when Daniel Radcliffe was wand-swatting away the then-atrocious script — it would've been an even more heavenly affair.

Obviously, there are spoilers abound here, so look away now if you haven't seen the movie...

Still with us? Okay, splendid.

So, as you hopefully already know by now, there were gobs of celebrity cameos in "End," ranging everywhere from the ax-swinging Emma Watson to Danny McBride's surprise sex slave Channing Tatum. But behind door number three (a.k.a. Heaven's Gate) awaited none other than the Backstreet Boys, sending things off on a high note, literally, with a performance of their big hit "Everybody."

"We were trying to figure out a way to spruce up the end, to make it better," Goldberg told Vulture. "It actually was an off-handed suggestion of our wives, and then Seth just kept bringing it up and then it kind of snowballed into something we didn't think could happen, and it did."

Evidently, the oh-so-dreamy '90s boybanders were totally game for the semi-self-deprecating showing because, as Rogen recounted, they "were like 'Yeah! Of course we would be in heaven. Why wouldn't we be? We bring joy to the world.'" That they do.

But they almost didn't get a shot to wriggle those scream-winning tushes on-screen for "This is the End" because the original offer went out to Morgan Freeman, who had the heavenly edge of having portrayed God twice before already.

But the esteemed nap-lover apparently wanted no part of what the tag-team had cooked up for him.

"The whole joke was, he shows up and he's like 'I'm God,' and they're like 'You're God?' And Jay [Baruchel] goes, 'Wait, so when we were in 'Million Dollar Baby' together, you were God then? I don't get it.' And then God shows up and he's like 'We're just f***ing with you. This is Morgan Freeman," Goldberg explained of the bit, which Freeman passed on "for some crazy reason."

Too easy, maybe?

A close cousin of "I'd like that" is "We're not so different, you and I," and the latter is arguably more egregious, if only because the line is only said by the antagonist to the protagonist as a way to either empathize with or justify himself to him or her. Always. For proof, embedded above is a long overdue supercut of instances that the line has been used, appropriately starting with Dr. Evil to Austin Powers.

Yes, breaking news, screenwriters can sometimes be pretty damn lazy. And don't think I won't be expecting an "I'd like that" supercut sometime in the coming months. Indeed, I would like that.

NextMovie

Pixar is about once again show other animation studios how it's done with this weekend's release of "Monsters University," which chronicles the college years of Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sullivan (John Goodman) as they hone their scary skills in the haunted halls of academia.

Speaking of monsters, what if Pixar expanded its creepy-crawly curriculum and invited Universal Studios to study with them for a semester? Sure, that would mean that Halloween Horror Nights probably wouldn't feature girls in slave bikinis trapped in cages any more, but it would also mean that the studio behind your favorite animated films would now count the classic Universal monsters as alumni.

You're probably now imagining what the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man might look like if they were Pixar-ized. Well, snap out of that daydream and let us take care of those terrifying yet oddly cute visions for you. There are even a couple of more modern, non-Universal creatures in there for good measure.

They were always tragic creatures. Now they're kind of adorable, too.

Frankenstein's Monster

Bride of Frankenstein

The Wolf Man

Dracula

Pinhead

Pennywise the Clown

Originally published on Mon., Dec. 17, 2012.

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Fox

They say that if you play with fire, you're going to get burned. Just ask the Greek god Prometheus. He played with fire and got burned to the tune of an eternity of birds eating his innards. Some might say there's an object lesson in that.

But Ridley Scott is apparently not one of those people, because according to Variety, the legendary director is proceeding full speed ahead with "Prometheus 2" despite widespread critical derision and fan disappointment with last year's "Prometheus."

At least he'll be doing it with a new writer.

That's because, as we reported last month, "Lost" creator and "Prometheus" writer Damon Lindelof has decided not to return for another go-round. Instead, it seems that Scott and the suits and Fox have targeted screenwriter Jack Paglen (who is responsible for the upcoming Johnny Depp sci-fi epic "Transcendence") to pen the next installment.

Just what "Prometheus 2" will actually be about, of course, is still anyone's guess. Scott is on record as saying it will contain far less "Alien" stuff, which is probably for the best after what happened in "Prometheus." We do know that Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are going to be back on board, though Fassbender may need to get a new body considering he finished the last film as a severed head.

Still, who knows. There's every possibility "Prometheus 2" could be better than "Prometheus," especially considering the "Alien" references often seemed forced and shoehorned in to what otherwise might have been an interesting meditation on the origins of mankind. And since meditating is one of the best ways to reach "Transcendence," this hire could end up being a match made in heaven.

At least, it had damn well better be.

Even unto its 53rd animated feature film, Disney's not changing the formula — that is, oh-so-loosely basing its cartoon film fare upon the eldest and grimmest of fairy tales and then putting a slappy-happy spin on what might otherwise be considered a pretty dark story.

Such is the case with "Frozen," as this first teaser trailer for the film makes clear.

The movie features Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell), a "fearless optimist" setting off to find her cold-hearted sister Elsa (Idina Menzel) and put an end to the cursed endless winter of the kingdom of Arendelle with the help of a mountain fellow named Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his little reindeer pal, Sven. Sound familiar?

Well, it's a sorta-kinda redux of Han Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," but you wouldn't know it from this first-glimpse, which is totally centered around a goofy little snowman named Olaf (Josh Gad)... you know, sort of like how the squirrel always got the nut in the similarly snowy "Ice Age" teasers. The scene is cute, though, and that's probably just the point.

Meanwhile, the studio has also released a few teaser images from the film which thankfully show a bit more substance.

"Frozen," co-directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, hits theaters in 3D just before winter, on Nov. 27.

Warner Bros.

Every movie has a rumor mill, but when your main character is Superman, it naturally becomes a super rumor mill. As anyone who has been following Zack Snyder's film over the past couple of years knows, rarely has there been a film with so many completely random, crazy and unsubstantiated rumors as "Man of Steel."

Which, of course, just made us even more curious to see the movie, if only to find out: Would all of those rumors turn out to be true? Would any of them turn out to be true?

With that in mind, we've taken a close look at "Man of Steel" to finally confirm or debunk some of the biggest rumors that have been driving fans crazy. So if you don't mind some SUPER SPOILERS, then check it out — because the truth will set you free.

Warner Bros.

1. Batman Is In the Movie!

This was one of the most persistent rumors going, thanks mainly to the fact that "The Dark Knight" mastermind Christopher Nolan was a producer on "Man of Steel." First it was said that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be appearing as a new Batman, but once he denied that rumor, word came that Christian Bale would actually be reprising his role as Bruce Wayne. Obviously, he didn't. In fact, while there was a brief Wayne Enterprises Easter egg in the film, Batman himself was absolutely nowhere to be seen.

Verdict: False

2. Krypton Doesn't Blow Up!

Seemingly based solely on the trailers, the big rumor over the last couple of months has been that in "Man of Steel," Krypton doesn't blow up at all. Instead, Kal-El is simply sent to Earth because he's viewed as a freak of nature — or possibly as a political refugee. Turns out that while both of those things are also kind of true, Krypton does indeed blow right the hell up.

Verdict: False

Warner Bros.

3. No Phantom Zone!

The idea that Krypton didn't blow up also led to a different but related rumor: that there was no Phantom Zone. You may recall that in "Superman II," General Zod and his fellow criminals escaped from the extra-dimensional Phantom Zone to wreak havoc on Earth. This time, rumor had it that General Zod and his army simply followed Kal-El to Earth in their big spaceship. Well, not exactly. They actually were sentenced to the Phantom Zone, but when Krypton blew up, their sentence came to a very abrupt end as the Phantom Zone spat them back out. Close. But still ...

Verdict: False

4. There's a 'Justice League' Post-Credits Teaser!

This one kind of goes hand-in-hand with the Batman rumors, but word on the street was that Nolan and director Zack Snyder were planning to pull a Marvel-style stunt and introduce the idea of the Justice League in a post-credits teaser scene. The only result of this rumor so far has been to trick hundreds of thousands of people into watching ten minutes of tiny print scroll on the big screen. There's no teaser.

Verdict: False

Warner Bros.

5. Jimmy Olsen Is a Girl!

When the IMDb page for "Man of Steel" started getting populated, an interesting coinky-dink was noted: There was no listing for Jimmy Olsen, but there was a listing for a character named Jenny. Played by Rebecca Buller, Jenny was also revealed in still photos from the set to be one of Perry White's assistants. Therefore, logic dictated that this must be a new, gender-reversed version of the character, i.e. Jenny Olsen. Alas, super freeze-frame closeups of the character's ID badge in the film have revealed that Jenny's last name is actually Jurwich. No dice.

Verdict: False

6. Bradley Cooper Plays Lex Luthor!

This was a juicy one, as multiple sources reported earlier this year that Bradley Cooper would be filming a secret cameo in "Man of Steel" as Superman's archenemy Lex Luthor. But despite fans dreaming of the most ab-tastic Lex in world history, Cooper is actually nowhere to be seen in "Man of Steel," as Luthor or as anyone else. Dammit, Internet, stop toying with us!

Verdict: False

Warner Bros.

7. Mackenzie Gray Plays Lex Luthor!

When it comes to Lex Luthor rumors, though, the one involving Mackenzie Gray was even juicier. No less an authority than Ain't It Cool News reported that Gray would be playing Luthor and they had some good evidence to back them up, including a video where Gray confirmed he was in the movie as well as the fact that Gray actually played a Luthor clone on "Smallville." Well, he's in "Man of Steel" all right, but he actually plays evil Kryptonian scientist Jax-Ur. So close!

Verdict: False

8. The Villain Is Black Zero

Courtesy of toy tie-ins, the code-breakers who parse every possible bit of spoilery information seemed to have found a real gem when they discovered numerous toys referencing Black Zero. In the comics, Black Zero is actually the name of a bunch of different things, but one is a supervillain who secretly helped destroy Krypton. That led not only to speculation that Black Zero would be in the movie but that General Zod himself would actually be called Black Zero. Instead, nothing in the movie was called Black Zero, though apparently the toy companies use that name to describe Zod's spaceship. Whoop-de-doo.

Verdict: False

Warner Bros.

9. Superman Fights Faola-Ul and Tor-An!

Finally, those same toy references also mentioned a LEGO playset that included Superman villains Faora-Ul and Tor-An. Sure enough, in the Smallville battle sequence, Superman does indeed fight both of these Kryptonian killers, though Tor-An is never actually mentioned by name in the movie. Of course, this is the rumor people cared about least, since almost nobody has ever heard of either of those characters. Still, one out of nine ain't bad. Or ... actually, it is.

Verdict: True

• This is why it's almost impossible to make Superman a dramatically interesting character. [Film.com]

• Speaking of Superman, if Superman comics were as sad as 'Man of Steel' looks, they'd look like this. [Funny or Die]

• Rumor Control: new 'Catching Fire' trailer will not debut at Comic-Con. [Hypable]

• Here's 5 ways to know you're watching a Sofia Coppola film. [BuzzSugar]

• Betcha didn't know these 10 things about 'Monster's Inc.' [ScreenCrush]

• These are 18 Disney movies that never got made. [Mental_Floss]

• What if Pixar remade 'Flash Gordon' and other pulp hits? [io9]

• Did you ever notice these superhero movie mistakes? [Moviefone]

• Who knew that these 15 stars turned down career-changing roles? [The Wrap]

Columbia Pictures

We don't call this site NextMovie for nothing. We've got news on release dates for two more sequels to "The Amazing Spider-Man."

Sony Pictures is smartly making sure those Spidey rights don't default and slip back to Marvel anytime soon (a la "Daredevil" and sorta with "Ghost Rider," for example). They've got release dates on the schedule for "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," of course, plus a second sequel and another one beyond that, running all the way into 2018.

We've long had our calendars marked for May 2, 2014, when director Marc Webb's followup to last year's reboot is set to premiere with Andrew Garfield back under the mask. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" will introduce Paul Giamatti as The Rhino, Jamie Foxx as Electro and is rumored to setup the introduction of The Green Goblin, either in this film, or the next.

So about those next movies. We'd heard about the rebooted version being a trilogy, similar to Sam Raimi's trio of films (though to be fair, he did plan a fourth...), but now we know Sony/Colombia plans to extend the franchise at least one more outing beyond that.

The followup to "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" will arrive June 10, 2016, with another to follow on May 4, 2018. We may have flying cars by the time Spidey swings into theaters then. We also may have a new Spider-Man, since as Deadline pointed out, it's unclear which cast members are signed up and for how long. (Donald Glover, this may be your chance!).

And sorry James Bond, it looks like Peter Parker is getting more love from your distributor. "Spider-Man is our most important, most successful, and most beloved franchise, so we're thrilled we are in a position to lock in these prime release dates over the next five years," Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing and Distribution Chairman Jeff Blake said in a press release.

Watch Donald Glover talk about not becoming Spidey:

The internet is no stranger to pictures of Henry Cavill lookin' all heroic (and pensive, and happy, and scared, and courageous, for that matter…)

But how does the actor himself feel about going shirtless and donning the iconic Superman suit in "Man of Steel"?

Cavill, along with director Zack Snyder and co-stars Amy Adams and Michael Shannon, recently sat down with MTV News' Josh Horowitz to discuss what it was like to wear the super-famous, super-tight costume.

"The suit was amazing," Cavill said. "When I put it on for the first time, I didn't see me wearing an outfit, I felt like we were creating Superman in the room. And every time I was on set, people treated me differently when I was in the Superman outfit, and every time I was in it, I felt differently."

However, Cavill wasn't the only one who had strong opinions about his wardrobe. Michael Shannon, who plays General Zod, was also required to wear skintight suit — but he didn't find it as flattering. Movie-goers will see the villain decked out in metal armor, which was all designed and created in post-production. On set, Shannon had to wear a multi-colored unitard that revealed everything. "I was like, great — I'm General Zod! Watch out!" he joked.

And about those shirtless scenes? Cavill explained, "It involved an enormous amount of work, and you've got to do respect to the character, you've got to make the character look like he's invulnerable. It's just grueling stuff, and you want to make sure that you do justice to it."

And do justice, he did. Catch the entire interview here.

(P.S. Want more Henry? Check him out in our gallery of "Hot People Looking Hot". You're welcome.)

It seems like just yesterday Chris D'Amico and  David "Dave" Lizewski were duking it out in 2010's "Kick-Ass," clad in pastel spandex and armed with vicious, vicious words.

Three years later, round two is right in audiences' reach. Yes, "Kick-Ass 2"  is prepared to kick some major box office ass when it hits theaters Aug. 16.  Dave (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Chris (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and  Mindy Macready/Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) all return in the sequel, which is sure to provide eager fans with the same cuckoo bananas action and laughs as its predecessor. Dave, with freshly sharpened skills à la Hit-Girl, has joined the crime-fighting troupe known as Justice Forever. Meanwhile, Chris has his own villainous gang known as  The Toxic Mega C**ts. What a visual!

However, MTV couldn't wait until August. The cast of "Kick-Ass 2" let MTV News explore the set in October, and the findings were pretty...well, kick ass.

Moviegoers can expect sexy man candy, belly laughs and a 6'5" German woman manhandling Moretz. In other words, this is the ideal trip to the cinema.

Check out this exclusive MTV clip and mark your calendar's for "Kick-Ass 2's" nationwide release Aug. 16.

Warner Bros.

WARNING: SPOILERS GALORE.

By not simply rolling to "The End," "They all lived happily ever after," etc. after Frodo made a three-pointer chucking The One Ring into Mount Doom, Peter Jackson set a pretty bad precedent in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Every time it seemed like all was well and we were fading to credits, another five-minute scene would roll in. Toss in a few Oscars and you've got a bunch of blockbuster directors wanting to add 20 endings to their genre films, too.

With "Man of Steel" currently keeping people from validating their parking for way longer than they should, let's take a look at five recent flicks that just kept going and going and going ...

'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' (2011)

Sony

Ending #1: Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) discovers the killer was Martin (Stellan Skarsgård), goes to his house and is almost murderized by the dude, but Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) saves the day. Salander chases Martin on her motorcycle, but his Swedish SUV winds up engulfed in flames like so much IKEA furniture. *Crowd Cheers*
Ending #2: Blomkvist deduces that the murdered Harriet's cousin Anita (Joely Richardson) is actually Harriet herself, long-hidden after she murdered her molester father. Harriet tearfully reunites with her Uncle Henrik (Christopher Plummer) after 40 years. All right.
Ending #3: Salander digs up dirt on Blomkvist's enemy Wennerström (Ulf Friberg), who flees the country, then she goes to Switzerland to get all the dude's money and (probably) kills him. She returns to Blomkvist only to find him shacked up with his girlfriend, and she rides away on her bike all pissed. Yay?
Was That Really Necessary? No, straight up no way. Stieg Larsson's story overstays its welcome by wrapping up every loose end in extensive detail long after we stopped caring. The original Swedish adaptation with Noomi Rapace went on even longer, something like 40 more minutes after the killer is done away with.

'Captain America: The First Avenger' (2011)

Marvel

Ending #1: After defeating Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) pilots the massive HYDRA ship into the drink. Heartbroken, Peggy (Hayley Atwell) files him as MIA, and his legend lives on in the hearts of all freedom-loving Americans.
Ending #2: Rogers wakes up in a hospital room made to look like the '40s but is actually present day. He realizes something's up, punches his way through a few walls and winds up in the middle of modern-day Times Square. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) quickly briefs him about his long coma, and Rogers realizes despondently that he missed his date with Carter by about 70 years.
Ending #3: In a post-credits sequence Fury approaches Rogers with a new mission, a scene which quickly turns into a montage trailer for "The Avengers."
Was That Really Necessary? In terms of the corporate synergy involved in making a Marvel movie it was, but narratively all these other endings do is set up the next entry in the franchise long after the story at hand had been wrapped up tidily. There were rumors that Joe Johnston didn't even direct the final scene with Fury and Rogers, and if they were just making one satisfying stand-alone movie it could have ended right after the V-E Day celebrations.

'The Dark Knight Rises' (2012)

Warner Bros.

Ending #1: With only minutes left on the ticking clock, Batman (Christian Bale) pilots the megabomb in his Bat-Copter, or whatever that thing was called, over the ocean where it detonates in a giant mushroom cloud. Whoa, Batman is freakin' dead, dude! AWESOME!
Ending #2: We see a statue erected in Batman's memory in Gotham City Hall, with Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) giving a moving eulogy to his dead friend. At the private funeral of Bruce Wayne, only Gordon, John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Alfred (Michael Caine) mourn him, especially his faithful butler who tried to keep him from harm.
Ending #3: LuciusFox (Morgan Freeman) discovers that Wayne had actually fixed the autopilot on his Bat-plane-thingy, so he could have ejected (although how he escaped the nuclear fallout in time is beyond us). Gordon finds the Bat-Signal restored. We see Alfred in Italy where he spots an alive-and-happy Bruce Wayne enjoying the sweet life with former cat-lady Selena Kyle (Anne Hathaway). Turns out Blake has inherited some of Wayne's property, specifically the Bat Cave, and he will (probably) take up the mantle and start crusading with a cape.
Was That Really Necessary? Yes. For all the weird lapses in logic this sequel lazily resorted to (you can fix a broken back by punching it?), it was all worth it to get to this incredibly satisfying finale that enforces the notion of Batman as an ideal more than a single person.

'Iron Man Three' (2013)

Marvel

Ending #1: With the help of Rhodey, an army of autonomous suits and Super Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) saves the President and defeats genetically-enhanced Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who is revealed to be The Mandarin and perhaps the mastermind behind all of Stark's troubles these last three movies. Hooray!!! … wait, what?
Ending #2: Okay … (*deep breath*) JARVIS destroys all of Tony's suits as an act of good will towards Pepper, then she gets surgery to stabilize her Extremis enhancements, then Tony gets surgery to remove the shrapnel from his heart, throws his chest arc reactor into the ocean and moves out of his wrecked Malibu Point mansion, summing all that up by saying "I am Iron Man" again.
Ending #3: In another Merry Marvel post-credits scene we discover that Stark was telling this whole story to Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), who had been asleep the whole time.
Was That Really Necessary? Yikes. Here we have director Shane Black (and undoubtedly a legion of other cooks in the kitchen including Robert Downey Jr.) force-feeding us a ton of really important events in Tony's life via something like a minute of screen time. Did we need to dwell on these things longer to get the point? Hell no. Did they need to happen right after the elation of the final battle? Probably not. The stinger with Ruffalo is a piece of utter fan wankery, but a welcome one … Science Bros 4-EV-R!!!

'Man of Steel' (2013)

Warner Bros.

Ending #1: After Superman's lengthy attempt to put a cork in the World Engine's tailpipe on the other side of the planet, Lois Lane and company fire the super missile at Zod's ship, sending all its inhabitants back to the Phantom Zone. Now Metropolis can finally heal from all this senseless destruction.
Ending #2: No time for healing! Superman and the left-on-Earth-for-some-reason Zod go at it mano-a-mano in an epic high-flying brawl that knocks down skyscrapers and murders tons of innocent people. When Zod directly threatens a family of four innocent white people, Superman suddenly grows a conscience and offs Zod, something he could have probably done ten minutes before.
Ending #3: Changing tones completely, we cut to a whimsical scene involving Superman destroying an expensive government spy satellite, irking General Swanwick (Henry Lennix), who doesn't seem that bothered by all the buildings Superman knocked down. We then see Supes in his new identity as Clark Kent, stringer reporter for the Daily Planet.
Was That Really Necessary? This is a strange case of their actually being NOT ENOUGH to the ending. The cut from Zod's death to the satellite scene feels jarring, like we're missing a reel that explores the aftermath of the Metropolis devastation. Superman has saved the world, no doubt, but the dude has a lot of explainin' to do. Guess we'll have to wait until they release the bonus fourth ending called "Man of Steel 2."

Warner Bros. spent an estimated $225 million to get "Man of Steel" off the ground. For all of the work that went into casting, special effects, storytelling and marketing, it's important not to overlook one crucial element: Henry Cavill's work in the gym!

A couple of decades ago, The Joker famously asked, "Where does he get all of those wonderful toys?" Cavill's first turn wearing Superman's cape has people asking, "How did he get those wonderful pecs?" In a brand new video from The National Guard (of all places), Cavill can be seen sweating it out with big heavy weights. It's a great lesson in hard work, a great instructional on getting into superhero shape and — let's face it — wonderful eye candy for folks who'd prefer to just admire the results of someone else's hard work.

The "Soldier of Steel" video series offers up exactly what you'd expect: real-life heroes getting into shape to do what they do best. Superman has always stood for truth, justice and the American Way (except in "Superman Returns" where that was changed to "truth, justice, all that stuff" much to the chagrin of right-wing bloggers everywhere) and so it makes sense that The National Guard, who stand for the same things, would incorporate the "Man of Steel" hype into their recruiting campaigns.

Henry Cavill of course helped muscle "Man of Steel" into smashing some June box office records, so that physique certainly paid off. Now he's gonna have to maintain it for "Man of Steel 2" and "Justice League," am I right?

Warner Bros.

This week: Bryan Singer adapts the British fairy tale of "Jack and the Beanstalk" into the underappreciated action-adventure "Jack the Giant Slayer," starring Nicholas Hoult, Eleanor Tomlinson and Ewan McGregor.

Also new this week is the coming-of-age comedy "21 & Over," the psychosexual drama "Stoker" with Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska, the quirky morality play "The Brass Teapot" with Juno Temple and the celebrity-riddled anthology film "Movie 43" starring, well, half of Hollywood.

'Jack the Giant Slayer'

Warner Bros.

Box Office: $65 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 52% Rotten
Storyline: Bryan Singer's update on the classic fairy tale has the titular farmhand (Nicholas Hoult) unwittingly reigniting an ancient war between humans and giants when his magical beanstalk bridges their two worlds. As the giants try to reclaim the land they once lost, Jack is forced to fight for his kingdom and the love of a princess (Eleanor Tomlinson) as he comes face-to-face with towering warriors he thought only existed in legend. Stanley Tucci, Ian McShane, Ewan McGregor and Bill Nighy are also on board for the adventure.
Extras!: Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain a gag reel and deleted scenes; BD exclusives include the "Become a Giant Slayer" interactive experience. A Blu-ray 3D combo pack is also available and is recommended for those that want to come closer to the theatrical experience.
We Say: "Jack the Giant Slayer" took a hit at the box office in part because of some watered-down trailers prior to release that unfortunately made it look like a kiddie flick. In truth, this PG-13 adventure has some exciting battle sequences, especially when the giants land on earth. Whether he's playing an emo zombie in "Warm Bodies" or the Jack of folklore, Nicholas Hoult always charms; only Ewan McGregor seems less than enthused about this fantastical journey, which is worth exploring at home.

'21 & Over'

Fox

Box Office: $26 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 27% Rotten
Storyline: Straight-A college student Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) gets a surprise visit from his two best buds (Skylar Astin and Miles Teller) for his 21st birthday, which happens to be the day before Jeff's important medical school interview. What was supposed to be "one beer" turns into a night of chaos and debauchery in this R-rated comedy from the writers of "The Hangover."
Extras!: Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain "Levels of Intoxication," "Tower of Power" and a gag reel.
We Say: This coming-of-age boozing comedy isn't consistently funny or outrageous enough to drink "The Hangover" under the table. In fact, it's not even as fun as "Project X," in which Teller also starred. The movie could find a second life on video as a convincing birth control incentive, but not as a cult comedy.

'Stoker'

Fox Searchlight

Box Office: $1.7 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 67% Fresh
Storyline: After India's (Mia Wasikowska) father dies in an auto accident, the uncle (Matthew Goode) she never knew she had comes to live with her and her emotionally frazzled mother (Nicole Kidman). India suspects her mysterious, charming uncle has ulterior motives, but she nevertheless becomes increasingly infatuated with him in this dark drama directed by Park Chan-wook.
Extras!: Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain several behind-the-scenes featurettes, Emily Wells' performance of "Become the Color" and a free song download, an images gallery and more.
We Say: This complex psychosexual drama is unconventionally shot and unlike any other movie in recent memory. You never know where Chan-wook is going to take the audience next, but the three leads are more than willing to help their director mess with our heads. You'll be thinking about this stylish boilerplate film long after the end credits roll.

'The Brass Teapot'

Magnolia

Box Office: $6,997
Rotten Tomatoes: 26% Rotten
Storyline: A financially struggling couple (Juno Temple and Michael Angarano) discover a magic teapot that literally makes money out of thin air whenever they hurt themselves, but the teapot requires more and more pain the more they use it as their personal ATM machine. How far will they be willing to go?
Extras!: Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain an audio commentary, interviews, AXS TV: "A Look at 'The Brass Teapot'" and the movie's trailer.
We Say: Although Temple and Angarano make a convincing on-screen couple, it's hard to swallow the implausible premise. Even if you do, it's even more unbelievable to think that a sweet couple would turn into a sadomasochistic duo for cash. Money changes everything, we suppose, but it would have been more fun watching these two figure out a way to ingeniously circumvent the rules of the brass teapot and keep getting cash instead of the script's all-or-nothing approach to the titular metaphor for greed.

'Movie 43'

Fox

Box Office: $8.8 million
Rotten Tomatoes: 4% Rotten
Storyline: From producers Peter Farrelly and Charles Wessler comes this outrageous ensemble comedy featuring big stars (Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Anna Faris and many more) unleashed and uncensored in different skits by 13 credited directors, including Farrelly, Elizabeth Banks, Brett Ratner and more.
Extras!: Both the DVD and Blu-ray contain the "Find Our Daughter" featurette and the movie's trailer.
We Say: This crude, scatological joke cannon features stars that deserve better slumming it for laughs … that rarely come. Whether it's Jackman with testicles growing out of his neck or Berry lopping her breasts in guacamole in a restaurant, you'll end up feeling sorry for the wasted talent instead of chuckling at the lowest of lowbrow humor.

Also New This Week:

"The Last Exorcism Part II"
"Saving Lincoln"
"Lifeforce" Blu-ray
"The Howling" Blu-ray
"Quartet"
"American Mary"

Warner Bros.

You may remember Brandon Routh as the gentleman cast as the title character in Bryan Singer's attempted revival of the Superman franchise, "Superman Returns." Or, you may not.

One person who does remember Brandon Routh as Superman once upon a time? Brandon Routh. In a NextMovie exclusive — meaning, in a thoroughly fictional, ridiculously dramatized original piece from a snarky writer — we tracked down Routh and asked him to record a running diary as he watched "Man of Steel," the Superman movie starring Henry Cavill, over a few adult beverages.

Here are the results, completely unedited:

(5 minutes before the movie): Barely anyone here, like I thought. Just ol B-Routh and this handy dandy bottle of Glenlivet, and maybe a few sadistic Batman fans getting ready for a "Man of Steel" train wreck on a Friday night. They're cool. We'll all be laughing together soon in our Christian Bale Batman voices. Batman's the best, except for the Brandon Routh version of Superman.

(2 minutes before the movie): S**t, this theater got full pretty quickly. I mean the name alone is bound to make it a few bucks, right? So lame. I bet they're all here to see Michael Shannon anyway. "Boardwalk Empire" rules.

Warner Bros.

(:01 minute in): Ugh, child birth? Gross! Just from that scene, this is already worse than "Superman Returns," but we knew that already.

(:07 minutes in): Wife just bailed. It was definitely because this movie blows and not because I just accidentally spilled Glenlivet in her lap and she "doesn't even know why I agreed to do this." Don't even blame her, this is so weak. The movie, I mean.

(:09 minutes in): Oh cool, baby dick. Sweet idea, Zack Snyder. Everyone loves baby dick. Good move. Crowd pleaser. God this sucks.

(:16 minutes in): Awwww, lil itty bitty Clarky's getting bullied. Wahhh. This kid's such a pussy. I would absolutely kick his ass. What? Yeah, I know, he's like ten or something. I'm supposed to care?

(:19 minutes in): #Routh Superman would have let the bus drown. He's got principles, unlike this new beeeyatcchhh.

(:25 minutes in): Ughhh Amy Adams is sooo much bettttttter than Kate Bosworth this is such bulllllls**t.

(:28 minutes in): Just told an usher to suck it. He took it because he knew he was talking to the REAL Superman.  #RealSuperman #Routh #RouthOwns #CavillMoreLikeGayvill

Warner Bros.

(:34 minutes in): This movie has so many cool people in it. Costner. Crowe. Why wasn't Diane Lane my mom? Then I'd be like, "I get it, Freud!" LOL. Not many people know I'm funny but I am. Note to self: Text Singer when this is over with a "WTF dude??" Actually f**k it doing it now.

(:39 minutes in): "Brandon, please stop texting this number." Okay bro. Singer's hilarious sometimes.

(:49 minutes in): Real talk, I actually respect the hell out of Costner. "Bull Durham" is sick. He's kind of killing this "Hey on another note you're an alien" scene, too. Ughhhh ol' B-Routh's getting sad, you guys. Gonna be strong.

(:54 minutes in): Morpheus too? Come onnnnnnnn mannn so weak!

(1:02 minutes in): Sooo bored so just Google imaged "Brandon Routh" on my phone (Google finishes it after you type "Brandon R"). LOOK AT THIS PICTURE. You're telling me this dude isn't good enough to be Superman more than once? I'm not staring at you, I'm staring THROUGH you.

Bring it Cavill. You wish you had these eyes.

(1:11 minutes in): We haven't talked about this yet — um, whose idea was it to make Superman British? Last time I checked this was 'Merica and ... s**t how am I already running out of Glenlivet?

(1:17 minutes in): Oh okay sure Zod and his army can just access every television around the world and speak in every language. Ok Zack. Yeah, NBD, just Zod speaking Farsi. And what's with "You are not alone"? What's the point of that? They're looking for one dude — why the "And BTW we're aliens yep I know super cool." Ugh where's Spacey when you need him, am I right? Don't answer that, I'm right. #Routh

(1:22 minutes in): Uh okay this isn't gay or anything but I will say this: Cavill is like a really good looking dude I mean damn that jawline have to admit I'm starting to get it you guys NO NO he still sucks ...

(1:23 minutes in): Might be pretty drunk now.

(1:33 minutes in): Okay but seriously does anyone know what happens in the scene where Gayvill and Adams are in Zod's ship together? Russell Crowe just, shows up? Ooooook then, ha.

(1:38 minutes in): Guy next to me just asked if I was crying. Crying! It's like, uh, dude, I'm made of steel, I don't cry. LOL. #Routh (Editor's Note: This line was noticeably smudged.)

(1:45 minutes in): Yeah cool "Man of Steel" sweet movie oh whoops who put this here? (To editor: please put that sick scene from SR where I save the plane plz it's on utube w/like a billion likes thx.) (Editor's Note: Okay, Brandon.)

(1:51 minutes in): Way more of a D'onofrio guy than a Meloni guy, always was, always will be #Law&OrderCriminalIntent4Lyfe

(1:55 minutes in): Def. rooting for the chick w/ the short blk hair to beat the bag out of Cavill here I bet she's at least American ... k sry cheap shot ugh what have i become ...

(2:02 minutes in): IIIIII wouldn't have torched all of Metropolis to take out oneee guy even if it's Michael Shannon the whole place is in flames but of course all the citizens are still just like "mehhh Superman saved us we're soooo appreciative mehhhhh" just SHUT UP and SHUT UP. Sry to yell.

(2:10 minutes in): OVERACTING ALERT OVERACTING ALERT we get it Gayvill you had to kill a guy relax with a chill pill. Who taught u how to act, Shouty McShouterson ... or, yeah?

(2:13 minutes in): F**k it what do i have to lose Im just gonna say this about Henry. He's (Editor's Note: Three lines were furiously scribbled out after "He's," followed by) a REALLY NICE GUY PROBably uggggh...

(2:20 minutes in): Oh sweet sequel nice who saw that coming #allofus #notcrying

(2:28 minutes in - end of movie): ok WHY are the lights so bright we can all see if were blind wouldn't b here thx

Editor's note: Thanks, Brandon! And good luck!

A24

By this point, everybody and their former lingerie model mother knows that Sofia Coppola's "The Bling Ring" is based on a true story. What they may not know, however, is that the truer true story, told in journalist Nancy Jo Sales' reportorial book "The Bling Ring" (expanded from her original Vanity Fair article "The Suspects Wore Louboutins") is even wilder than the drug-fueled, celebrity-obsessed months depicted in Coppola's film.

You know how they say you can't make this s**t up? Yeah, that. Like alleged Bling Ring leading lady Rachel Lee leaving a stinky something in Rachel Bilson's house, or the self-obsessed monologues alleged accomplice-turned-reality TV star Alexis Neiers (oh yeah: She got a reality TV show, not that you'll see that hubbub on the big screen) delivered: All real.

Ahead, 16 crazy but realer-than-botox things you may not have known about the real story behind "The Bling Ring."

1. "Like Angelina Jolie but even stronger"

Remember way back when, in late April when the second trailer for "The Bling Ring" went live, and Emma Watson, playing Nicki, gave that LOLarious "I'm a firm believer in karma" speech outside the courthouse? (She wants to lead a country one day, for all she knows!)

Yep, super real.

Alexis Neiers (and her lawyers, who tried to shut her up but couldn't) sat down with Sales in Neiers' home, where she insisted that she had a "good statement to say." In the book, Sales recounted that she delivered the following monologue in her "baby voice":

"I'm a firm believer in Karma and I think that this situation was attracted in my life because it was supposed to be a huge learning lesson for me to grow and expand as a human being. I don't think the universe could have really chosen a better person than me because for this — it's not just affecting me, it's affecting the media, it's affecting everyone — and I think that I'm meant to bring truth to all this.

"I think that my journey on this planet is to be a leader. I see myself being like Angelina Jolie but even stronger, pushing even harder for the universe and for peace and for the health of our planet.

"God didn't give me these talents and what I look like to be sitting around and just being a model or be famous or whatever path I want. I want to do something that people notice, so that's why I'm studying business because eventually I want to be a leader. I want to lead a huge charity organization. I want to lead a country, for all I know. I don't know where I'm going just yet, but eventually I can see myself taking a stand for people."

Holy wow. Ten points for Gryffindor.

2. The keys to Paris

The Bling Ring didn't just allegedly rob their targets, they hit some of them over and over again. Between October and December of 2008, according to Sales' reporting, Nick Prugo (fictionalized in the film as "Marc" and played by Israel Broussard) and Rachel Lee ("Rebecca," played by Katie Chang) robbed Paris Hilton's home four times, using a key they found under the mat. Eventually, Rachel allegedly put the key to Hilton's house on her keychain, and Paris simply replaced the key under the mat.

A24

3. Whose coke is it anyway?

In Sofia Coppola's "The Bling Ring," Marc and Rebecca find a baggie of cocaine while pursuing their hobby of checking cars — a.k.a. wandering around rich neighborhoods to see what wonders may have been left in unlocked fancy vehicles.

Nick and Rachel, the real Marc and Rebecca, allegedly found that baggie somewhere decidedly more rhinestone-encrusted, namely Paris Hilton's house.

"We found about, like, five grams of coke in Paris' house, or Rachel did," Nick Prugo told Sales. After snorting it in her house, he said, "we drove around Mulholland having the best time of our lives."

Due to legal reasons (such as Hilton's rep blowing off the allegations made by Prugo and, uh, possibly Coppola's friendship with Hilton, who allowed the crew to film in her home), the film's leads find the drugs elsewhere.

4. Take a dress, leave a deuce

According to Nick Prugo, the dastardly duo didn't just take things during their housecalls — Rachel Lee left a little something of her own in Rachel Bilson's house, before she allegedly walked out with perfume, jewelry, underwear, makeup, handbags and more belonging to the "The O.C." star.

"We were in Rachel [Bilson's] bathroom and Rachel just had to go, so she just ...yeah. I remember the incident so well," Prugo told Sales, as she recounted in her book. "I can recall the smell, which is really nasty, disgusting. I know I would never, like ... while you're in there [robbing a house] you have to rush, like I've had to pee when I've been in there, but I would never use their bathroom, just in fear of that maybe some type of evidence would be left there. I think that's weird, personally. But yeah, she did."

5. Life is but a (parody) song

Real-life alleged Bling Ringer Courtney Ames is the basis "The Bling Ring" character Chloe (Claire Julien), mostly memorable for her terrifyingly husky party girl voice, mad rap skillz and love of leopard print. Ames, whose style transformed from tomboy-baggy to tight and sexy after the burglaries began, had a laughable penchant for prints, according to Sales' book. Once, she was photographed out wearing both leopard and zebra prints at the same time. The horror. Her habit of trying too hard led to her so-called friends making up a song about her to the tune of Ray Jay's "Sexy Can I," whose lyrics describe a man desperate to sleep with a hot chick, Prugo told Sales.

"Basically me, Alexis and Tess made it into a song about Courtney ... It was like, 'Courtney, can I?'... and she would get upset about it," Prugo said.

6. Keep it classy

Amid all the coke-snorting and crack-smoking (mhmm) present in the film, the kids actually come off looking kind of cool and composed, like cigarette ads before the Surgeon General's warning was the law. The reality, according to Johnny Ajar, a bouncer and older Bling Ring suspect who allegedly acted as a middleman to sell the goods the kids stole from the celebs, wasn't quite so suave.

"I didn't want to be involved," he told Sales. "They were spending all their money from the crimes on bottle service at the clubs. It wasn't just my club; it was every hot club in the city. And they drink horribly. Courtney, I tried to tell her, 'You can't act like that.' Nick would blow chunks all over the place."

7. Too hot for TV

It may seem an unbelievable coincidence, but filming on Alexis Neiers' reality show, which eventually aired as "Pretty Wild," actually began the very morning that she was arrested in connection with the Bling Ring's antics.

"It was supposed to be a show about two party girls on the Hollywood scene, but then Alexis got arrested the first morning of filming, and we were like, okay," a producer told Sales.

The show, a sort of Kardashian-lite family saga, ended up as a nine-episode chronicle of Alexis and her "sister" (not her sister legally or biologically) Tess Taylor trying to stay out of jail for their crimes. The show doesn't appear in Coppola's movie but did affect many facets of the real-life situation: Nick Prugo reportedly angled to be a character on the show, and Sales suspects in her book that Alexis' speedy trial was on account of the cameras following her into the court. If Alexis was tried alongside the others, not only would she be in danger of having the spotlight taken off of her, but if her fellow suspects didn't sign releases, the footage could have been unusable.

Even Alexis' lawyer, Jeffrey Rubenstein, had a stake in the show working out: Sales writes that he at one point asked if he needed makeup, then confided that, "The only way I'll get paid is if the reality show gets picked up."

8. High-speed drama

Though Coppola's movie alleges that the burglaries and backstabbing stopped when Rachel skipped town to her father's house in Las Vegas, taking Orlando Bloom's rug with her (yep, that's real), it didn't. Sometime after Rachel decamped to Sin City, Nick and Courtney allegedly went on a post-bender joyride, ending in a dramatic accident.

"She makes a left-hand turn into a car, crashes into this van," Nick told Sales. "Airbags go off ...There were four people in the backseat of her car. Courtney got taken to the hospital." She broke her collarbone and was charged with a DUI.

9. Actually mine

When the police came to Nick Prugo's house, guns drawn, to search for stolen property and arrest him, a darkly hilarious moment: They seized a few items, not finding much suspect since Nick, on a hunch, had moved most of the stolen goods to his grandmother's basement. One thing they did take from Nick's room was a pair of sunglasses that they thought were Orlando Bloom's. Not so, said Nick: "I may have bought them with stolen money, but I didn't steal them," he told Sales.

10. Something fishy

Here's a stinker: Courtney Ames didn't have a sense of smell, a fact that her bratty cohorts took advantage of after the arrests started and things turned ugly between the former friends. A cop on the LAPD told Sales as much: "[Courtney] said that [one of the other girls in the burglary crew] knew about this and took a can of tuna and put it in her car so it would rot so everything would end up smelling like rotten fish." Everything, in this case, including the car's driver, Courtney.

11. Showered with love

Nick, who described his feelings for Rachel as loving her "like a sister," was apparently even closer with her than a brother would be: One of the suspects' lawyers told Sales that his client claimed that Nick and Rachel used to shower together.

12. Textual harassment

Though Alexis Neiers' infamous voicemail message to Sales after the publication of the Vanity Fair article didn't make it into Coppola's film, there's still a little more to the story: Sales reveals that not only did she receive four separate messages -- one for each time Alexis "stopped recording" to scream at her mother ("Twenty-nine dollars!") — she also got a text from Alexis' mother's phone: "What r u u r not even human."

13. Too dumb to heist

Despite Prugo's claims that Rachel Lee was the (bling) ringleader of the group's alleged hesists, prison coach (real thing!) Wendy Feldman, who counseled Lee prior to her incarceration, said that Lee is simply not capable. Feldman revealed on Fox News online:

"To be honest, Rachel has a learning disability. She doesn't have a particularly high I.Q. and I find it hard to think she could have been the one to instigate the whole thing."

14. Alexis the addict

On Nik Richie Radio after her incarceration (and subsequent probation violation for possession of black tar heroin), Alexis Neiers admitted that she had had a substance abuse problem for years, admitting to "drinking, drinking, drinking," "I.V. heroin, I.V. cocaine, major Valium, major Adderall," and Oxycontin.

15. Tess the playmate

Not only were Alexis Neiers and her BFF Tess Taylor "Pretty Wild," having appeared in a topless makeout scene together in the straight-to-DVD flick "Frat Party," Tess apparently fully embraced the pantsless-for-pay lifestyle, appearing as a Playboy Cybergirl in July 2009. The week of the Orlando Bloom robbery, Tess was named "Cybergirl of the Week." She also won "Cybergirl of the Year" for 2010. An honor, to be sure.

16. Good cop, movie cop

Perhaps the most surreal behind-the-scenes fact related to the whole mess has to do with Brett Goodkin, the lead LAPD investigator on the Bling Ring case. He signed on as a consultant for Coppola's version of the story, to keep it real. The day that Coppola filmed the scene where the Alexis Neiers character, Nicki, is arrested, it occurred to the director that she had an actual cop present, so why not use him? Goodkin is the one who gets to pull the signature cop move on Emma Watson, shoving her into the backseat of a squad car with his hand on top of her head.

In retrospect, appearing in the film adaptation of the in-progress case he was leading was not the smartest thing Goodkin could have done.

Though a request that all charges be dropped due to Goodkin's involvement in the screen version was dropped, the misstep did result in lighter punishments from the District Attorney's office.

"You got a break because of what's happened with this case," Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler, told one defendant at sentencing.

WARNING: SPOILERS, SPOILERS, EVERYWHERE...AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK.

Theater-goers who checked out "This Is the End" this weekend were not surprised to find a gaggle of  comedy's finest playing themselves in a post-apocalyptic fight for survival — with Milky Ways. Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Danny McBride form the end of the world version of *NSYNC and try to maneuver through their sea of troubles with unity in tact. When McBride is banished from the group, he emerges later with his own army. A cannibal army. An angry cannibal army.  S**t just got real.

But the craziness doesn't end there. McBride has casually kidnapped himself a sex slave that he keeps on a leash close to his leg. Donning an S&M-esque mask at first, McBride eventually unveils his captive. He is no other than Magic Mike himself: Yes, Channing Tatum is Danny McBride's sex slave in "This Is the End."

A movie cameo hasn't been this epic since...actually, there is no comparison. This is a secret of massive proportions, and it managed to stay pretty under wraps until the film's release on June 14.

MTV News' Josh Horowitz  sat down with Rogen to discuss the inception of this scandalous cameo, and we learn Mr. Tatum felt right at home crawling on all fours. Get those minds out of the gutter! Or, you know, leave them where they are and watch this interview.

I point all this out to say that no one either of us have ever met likes movies more than the guy in the above video, who dresses as Thor and travels for fun to AMC movie theaters with a camera crew following, which subsequently films him giving a brief review of a movie he's just scene using his best Chris Hemsworthian Thor impersonation. (Embedded is his review of "Man of Steel," which, good news Zack Snyder — he gives "five lightning strikes out of five"!)

Also credit where it's due to this fellow's opportunism: In between cuts of him reviewing the movie (and, kind of stunningly, making valid points about it), he's placed clips of strangers pulling his hair in awe of his Thor-do or laughing at (with?) his costume. Maybe Hemsworth needs a professional body double from time to time? You never know. I guess.

Regardless, we tip our caps to you, Thor guy. Can't wait for your review of "Before Midnight."

Warner Bros.

"Man of Steel" had a terrific opening weekend, but since it's never too early to put the cart before Comet the Super-Horse, director Zack Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan were already hard at work on a sequel even before the film opened. Which begs one major question: Who should be the villain?

After all, if there's any genre in movies that truly lives or dies on the strength of the villain, its superhero films. The good ones all have great villains (the Joker in "The Dark Knight," "The Avengers" foe Loki, Magneto from "X2") while the bad ones. .. don't (sorry, Venom in "Spider-Man 3" and cloud form Galactus in "4: Rise of the Silver Surfer").

So with that in mind, we've scoured our comic book archive to determine which villain would be the best match for Superman in "Man of Steel 2." Because a hero is only as good as his enemy is bad — and when you've got the world's greatest hero, you need to have a villain that's very, very bad indeed.

Brainiac

Over the past three decades, Warner Bros. has tired again and again to use Brainiac as the bad guy in a Superman movie. And every time, the movie that would've featured Brainiac ended up getting scrapped before it saw the light of day. Now, though, his time may finally have come. As a super-advanced sentient robot bent on dominating or destroying humanity, Brainiac has every bit of Lex Luthor's genius with the added benefit of being a physical threat to Superman as well.

Black Adam

He may not be the most obvious choice, but there's just about no villain we'd rather see Superman face off against than Black Adam. When he intones the magic word "Shazam!," Black Adam becomes the world's mightiest mortal, infused with mystical powers that make him more than a match for Superman, who counts magic as his only weakness other than Kryptonite. Black Adam also happens to have a complex moral code, which would make him an intriguing foe, not to mention that fact that it could allow "Man of Steel 2" to be a backdoor pilot for a possible Captain Marvel movie. That's a win-win.

Lex Luthor

Sure, good ol' Lex Luthor kind of has a "been there, done that" feel to him at this point, but there's a reason he's Superman's most famous and tenacious foe: because he's awesome. Lex is a perfect counterpoint to Superman: he's human, with no powers whatsoever except his own intellect and drive. And yet despite being at such a huge disadvantage against Superman's godly might, Lex always manages to more than hold his own. We'd love to see Lex redone as a serious foe instead of the campy Gene Hackman/ Kevin Spacey versions from the previous films. Done right, we think Lex still has a few tricks up his sleeve. He always does.

Metallo

A fellow journalist and occasional stringer at the Daily Planet, John Corben was involved in a serious accident and had his body rebuilt into a cyborg killing machine, his artificial heart powered by the rarest element on Earth: Kryptonite. With his ties to both Lois and Clark's personal life as well as his deadly powers, Metallo is a perfect foil for Superman. But more importantly, does that description remind you of anyone? Anyone named, say, Tony Stark? While a DC vs. Marvel crossover isn't in the cards any time soon, Superman vs. Metallo would be the next best thing, especially if they played up Metallo's similarities to Iron Man. Heck yeah!

Mongul

He might not be as well-known as some of these other villains to non-comics fans, but Mongul has been involved in some of the darkest and most vicious storylines in Superman's long history. Like Superman, Mongul is an alien who possesses incredible strength and toughness, allowing him to go toe-to-toe with Superman. But unlike Kal-El, Mongul is also a colossal dickweed: he drives around a moon-sized spaceship designed solely to blow up planets and takes sadistic glee in psychologically tormenting Superman. He's a dark horse candidate, but he'd be pretty cool.

Bizarro

We love Bizarro. Everyone loves Bizarro, actually, to the point where the word "bizarro" has even entered the English language despite what spellcheck might say. Using Bizarro as the villain in "Man of Steel 2," though, would cause certain problems. For instance, Bizarro isn't necessarily a bad guy, he's just a little, you know, backwards in his thinking. As a result, he's hard to use as the centerpiece of a storyline, as it's doubtful Bizarro could ever pull off any kind of plot or plan. It's possible we could see Bizarro as a minion or dupe of Lex Luthor, but otherwise, it's unlikely we'll ever see him taking center stage on the big screen.

Mister Mxyzptlk

If Bizarro would cause some plot problems, the idea of using Superman's longtime nemesis Mister Mxyzptlk in "Man of Steel 2" would probably give the execs at Warner Bros. a collective coronary. Usually used as comic relief, Mister Mxyzptlk is an imp from another dimension who plays tricks and gags on Superman until Supes can somehow get Mister Mxyzptlk to say his own name backwards. It can lead to some rather funny hijinks, but that seems about as far from Zack Snyder's gritty reboot as possible. Still, there's a slim chance Mister Mxyzptlk could rear his head in a future installment if Warner Bros. decides to adapt the classic story "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?," which features a much darker version of Mister Mxyzptlk. Just don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

Doomsday

Finally, there's Doomsday. Though he remains extremely popular with a segment of the Superman fanbase, Doomsday suffers from a major problem: He was designed for one specific story: namely, the "Death of Superman" saga. If Snyder and Nolan decide to adapt that story, then Doomsday is a must. Otherwise, though, he's just too much of a one-trick pony: all he does is get angry, hit really hard and get hit back. He's basically the DC version of the Hulk, only he's a bad guy. It makes for an interesting fight scene, but not an interesting story — and since WB just finished rebooting the franchise, we doubt they'll want to kill off Superman any time soon. Looks like we'll have to turn the Doomsday clock back for now.

Marvel

Another hit for the Hiddlestoners: it looks like Loki won't be back to his badboy antics in time for "The Avengers 2."

Director Joss Whedon spoke to Empire Magazine about some of his plans for the second "Avengers" installment, and it was not good news for Tom Hiddleston, who also recently lost out on leading up that reimagination of "The Crow" despite some over-the-top effort on his part.

Whedon spoke on what's to come of the movie, saying "everyone else is going to be looking for this sort of Loki-Hulk smash moment ... No. First of all, imitating what I did before is the surest way to do it not as well. Second of all, Loki's not there to say those terrible things. Although I do think we should bring the word ["quim"] back, not as an insult, it's just a nice word."

So, basically, no more of this. Pity.

As for who will step in to wreak havoc on Team Good Guys, well, Whedon also quipped about the recent addition of Evan Peters as Quicksilver and what'll come with his sister, The Scarlet Witch.

"All I can say is that [Quicksilver] is going to be in our movie, and it is going to be dope," he explained. "Quicksilver and Scarlet are very close to my heart because they were Avengers the whole time I was reading the book as a kid. Sometimes they were evil, sometimes they were good. They were very textured. They were very different than everybody else in the mix."

"They’re not there to make things easier on the Avengers," Whedon added, "but yeah, what do we do with the group once we’ve got them is sort of just squeeze ... the fun that I’m having doing that is probably unseemly." Dun dun dun!

Per Whedon, while he's only turned in a first script draft so far, "the story is very set" and "everybody's very much on board" with the "exact movie" he had in mind for it. Mostly all that's left at this stage, really, is some fine-tuning of the science-y lingo involved in the dialogue.

Check out Whedon's full chat on "Avengers," "S.H.I.E.L.D." and "Much Ado About Nothing," starting at the 19 minute mark.

"Avengers 2" will fly into theaters on May 1, 2015.

Gatsby who? Here's your real man on top of the money mountain.

Presenting the first trailer for "The Wolf of Wall Street," the latest chapter in the Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration chronicle, and any angry 99 percenters in the crowd might just wanna look the other way.

From the very first line — "the year I turned 26, I made 49 million dollars, which really pissed me off because it was 3 shy of a million a week" — it's crystal clear these filthy, stinking rich fatcats are exactly the kinda shady dealers who ultimately catapulted this market into a recession.

First, you've got Leonardo DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort, a guy who likes getting baby-talked by high-dollar hookers (a la Jaime King) and carrying around a monkey for some reason ...

... then there's Matthew McConaughey's equally sordid Mark Hanna, who seems to just make a buncha weird noises when he's not babbling on about pillaging the economy.

Meanwhile, Jonah Hill seems to be doing his best Jonah Hill greedy a**hole impersonation ...

... and, finally, Kyle Chandler's there as the poor FBI agent tasked with tailing the trio through all their yachting and obvious, unabashed extorting. (Coach!!)

Ultimately, the rooster's probably gonna come to crow for these corporate crooks, but their corruption runs so deep here that they're not the slightest bit concerned.

"The Wolf of Wall Street" prowls its way into theaters on Nov. 15.

Warner Bros.

WARNING: SPOILERS, YO.

Different movies take different approaches to presenting Easter eggs. "Iron Man Three," for instance, played things coy, while "Star Trek Into Darkness" was so blatant about its references that the entire film could be seen as an Easter egg.

For "Man of Steel," though, director Zack Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan took a different approach: They hid their Easter eggs in plain sight and simply counted on sensory overload to distract you from what was right in front of your face. With corporate logos jamming seemingly every scene and Z-list characters getting name-dropped like celebrities on a TMZ blotter, picking up on all the Easter eggs is harder than dominating Pokemon: You can't possibly catch them all.

So with that in mind, here's a look at Ten Things You May Have Missed the First Time Around — and there are probably plenty more where these came from as well. Because unlike Superman, not everyone has super vision.

Warner Bros.

1. Bruce Wayne

For months, rumors swirled that Nolan had roped one of his "The Dark Knight" stars into appearing in "Man of Steel." That didn't happen, but Bruce Wayne did actually have a presence in the film. During the climactic fight between Superman and General Zod, they head up into space and crash straight into a satellite — one that conspicuously bears the Wayne Enterprises logo. Hopefully for Bruce, that was the satellite that ran Brother Eye, because that would save everyone a lot of headaches down the road.

2. Lex Luthor

Speaking of corporate logos, the Superman-Zod throwdown also managed to drag in Kal-El's usual arch-enemy, Lex Luthor, thanks to an awkwardly situated tanker parked in the middle of the battle zone. It wasn't the only LexCorp logo in the film, but it certainly was the most blatant. Hey, criminal masterminds aren't known for their subtlety. Neither is Zack Snyder.

3. Booster Gold

On the other hand, we're going to take that back right now, because Snyder was so subtle about his Booster Gold reference that fans actually needed to freeze-frame the trailer to see it. Booster Gold, for those who don't know, is a time-traveling athlete from the 25th century who comes to present-day Metropolis and uses stolen technology to become a superhero. He also got his own line of comics published in Metropolis by a company called Blaze Comics ... whose logo can be seen in the background during, you guessed it, the Superman-Zod fight. How meta!

Warner Bros.

4. Supergirl

Want something that isn't just fake product placement shoved into the background of the final fight scene? Well, how about Supergirl? This is a tricky one, but try and follow along: Before the film came out, DC Comics published a prequel comic explaining how that Kryptonian seed ship ended up trapped in the Arctic ice floe for the past 20,000 years. It turns out that Superman's distant cousin (ancestor?) Kara Zor-El, better known as Supergirl, piloted that ship. Unfortunately, a rogue killer murdered the rest of the crew in their stasis pods, but Supergirl herself apparently survived the attack — as hinted at by the one empty and open stasis chamber Clark finds when he enters the ship. So did Supergirl die 20,000 years ago? Or did she get back in her pod and emerge much more recently? Or was the lone survivor of the crash actually the Kryptonian serial killer? Looks like we'll have to wait for the sequel to find out.

5. How to Speak Kryptonian

Speaking of those Kryptonian spaceships, the computer displays in Zod's ship and the crashed seed ship display what appears to be gibberish in Kryptonian lettering. However, "Man of Steel" producer Deborah Snyder revealed recently in an interview with Crave that they actually had linguists create a Kryptonian language so they could hide messages in Kryptonian. So what secrets do those messages hold? Well, Snyder claims she can't remember, meaning you'll have to decode the alien language yourself to find out. Thanks for nothing, guys!

Warner Bros.

6. Faora-Ul

Fans of "Superman II" were probably pretty stoked to see that General Zod's female companion got much more face time — and butt-kicking time — in "Man of Steel." However, this time around, Zod's right hand woman actually isn't Ursa, the character from "Superman II," but rather Faora-Ul, an even more dangerous character from the comics. First appearing in 1977, the comic book version of Faora was both an expert in Kryptonian martial arts and a serial killer who sadistically hunted down and tortured men for her enjoyment. So if you happen to run into someone named Faora on Match.com, take the hint and keep looking.

7. 'Superman II'

Don't be too disappointed in the loss of Ursa, though, because Snyder did throw a bone to fans of "Superman II" — namely, the epic throwdown in Smallville. During that sequence, Faora shows up once again to battle Superman, but this time around she's joined by an enormous, hulking male companion who remains eerily silent throughout the entire sequence. This is an obvious nod to the similarly huge and silent Non, the third Phantom Zone criminal from "Superman II." We would have liked to see more of this man-monster, but for fans of the original series this might have been the coolest moment in the movie.

Warner Bros.

8. Dr. Hamilton

Fans of "The West Wing" were probably pretty stoked to see Richard Schiff make an appearance as the government's resident big brain, Dr. Hamilton. But comic book fans were pretty excited, too, as Dr. Hamilton has an interesting role in the funnybooks. A former top dog at S.T.A.R. Labs, Dr. Hamilton became Superman's go-to guy for super technology, getting involved in some of Superman's most famous storylines. And his connections to S.T.A.R. Labs make for some interesting possibilities down the road — for instance, Justice League and Teen Titans member Cyborg is a S.T.A.R. Labs product. Hmm ...

9. Lana Lang

Speaking of Smallville, fans of the CW TV series of the same name probably picked up on the many references to characters from Superman's hometown, but one character who only got the briefest mention was Clark's first girlfriend, Lana Lang. While Clark's nerdy buddy Pete Ross seemed to appear in every single scene, Lana had only two brief shots as a girl on the school bus making eyes at Clark and who was later identified in passing as "Lana." Hey, at least they acknowledged the show's existence, right?

Getty Images

10. Steve Lombard

And finally, speaking of random nods to the Superman fan base, consider the curious case of Steve Lombard. That's Lois Lane's squirrely d-bag co-worker who tries to hit on her at the end of the film with a pair of courtside seats, played by Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" pal, Michael Kelly. In the comics, Lombard is the Daily Planet sports editor — as a man's man, he's everything Clark Kent seemingly isn't. Of course, given that Clark looks like a slab of 100% USDA choice beef in "Man of Steel," that comparison doesn't really work, but it's interesting that Snyder and company decided to go with the fairly obscure Lombard for comic relief rather than the much more famous Jimmy Olsen. Hey, it wouldn't be an Easter egg if everybody knew his name.

Some movies are touching. Some movies, on the other hand, are about touching — you know, touching people, touching skin, touching lives. All of that sort of thing.

Case in point: The new Apple Trailers clip for the Sundance hit "Touchy Feely," in which everybody touches everybody else, either literally or metaphorically and sometimes inappropriately.

Consider it the "Snakes On A Plane" of quirky indie character pieces.

What is "Touchy Feely" about exactly, you ask? Well, Rosemarie Dewitt plays a super massage therapist who is all that and a bag of chips right up until the moment when she suddenly and inexplicably gets sensory overload and can no longer abide the touch of human flesh. Meanwhile, Josh Pais plays her schlubby dentist brother, who simultaneously undergoes his own complete reversal of fortune when he develops a magic healing touch.

So is that just a weird coincidence? Or is this like the "Freaky Friday" of fingertips?

Check out the new trailer, which also features standouts Ellen Page, Allison Janney and Ron Livingston — and see if this clip doesn't touch you as well.

Warner Bros.

It's official: Superman is back.

According to Film.com, the first and still greatest superhero set an all-time record for the biggest June debut in box office history, raking in a whopping $113 million to easily dominate the box office.

That was far more than the $20.5 million brought in by fellow new release "This Is The End." Not that Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and the rest of the comedy ensemble are complaining; with Wednesday and Thursday figures factored in, the apocalyptic farce earned $32.6 million overall, meaning it's already in the black.

For a full run down of the weekend's box office, including numbers for returning hits "Fast & Furious 6," "Star Trek Into Darkness" and "Iron Man 3," head to Film.com.

The Great Debate: 'Man of Steel' vs. 'The Avengers.' [Film.com]

Is there a 'Man of Steel' post-credits scene? [ScreenCrush]

Rumor control: Is 'Star Wars Land' headed to Walt Disney World in 2018? [/Film]

Here's 10 lesser known summer movies that you absolutely can't miss. [Hypable]

Feeling beachy? These are the 15 greatest beach scenes on film. [Flavorwire]

In honor of Father's Day tomorrow, these are 9 superlatives for memorable on-screen dads. [Moviefone]

The good, the bad and the bogus: actors who have played themselves. [Movies.com]

Superhot superhero eye candy. If you're into that sorta thing. [BuzzSugar]

If Joss Whedon can take a break from big budget, why can't Disney do the same? [The Disney Blog]

It's John Travolta's experimental facial hair and accent against Robert De Niro's flannel shirts and shotguns in "Killing Season," an action thriller set in the Appalachian Mountains.

Both of these guys are obviously screen legends, but they've both also seemingly had problems saying "no" to bad movies on occasion. Where this one will fall is anyone's guess until it hits on-demand outlets and theaters on July 12, but for now, it's fun watching them square off in this brand new trailer. De Niro plays a military vet sequestering himself away in the mountains who reluctantly becomes buddies with a European tourist (!) played by Travolta. Of course, as that beard should have signaled, Mr. Euro Tourist is up to no good.

Battling it out in rough mountain terrain, the two guys must go out it all Rambo/"Red Dawn" (the real one) style faster than one can yell "Wolverines!" Will Travis Bickle whip Vincent Vega? Probably not in a dance off, but maybe in a mountain gun battle.

"Killing Season" was directed by Mark Steven Johnson, who "Daredevil" and "Ghost Rider" and wrote "Grumpy Old Men" (there's a Travolta/De Niro joke in there somewhere, but we ain't making it).