The films of Marvel Studios have come full circle, and not a moment too soon. What began with a flurry of excitement over Iron Man, their opening salvo into the world of being an independent studio, has lately been listless in its Avenger-assembling agenda. In their last two outings — Iron Man 2 and Thor — they’ve spent more time focused on the future of the heroes than the heroes themselves. With Captain America: The First Avenger, they take full advantage of the ability to leave all the distractions out of it, allowing them to deliver their most confidently crafted, complete film yet. Sure, the story of Captain America feels bookended by his role in Marvel’s forthcoming team-up movie, and from what we’ve been told, The Avengers is your reason for sticking around after the credits. But in between all that, director Joe Johnston has set out to tell the simple story of a hero named Steve Rogers. The year is 1942, and after five unsuccessful attempts to join the fight against Adolf Hitler, a scrawny Rogers isn’t ready to give up. Luckily his heart and determination catches the eye of a government scientist whose work includes making a Super Soldier serum that will turn an ordinary man into a super-human fighting machine. Desperate to get in on the action, the young patriot from Brooklyn signs on the dotted line. A few doses of steroids later and this scrawny little dude, created with brilliant CG-enhanced, Benjamin Button style effect that [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

If you’ve  followed our coverage of Marvel Junkets in the past (Iron Man 2, Thor) then you know that those press events and I have a long and useless history. Generally speaking, everyone spends a lot of time learning very little, and sometimes things break and fall down. It seems as though Marvel may be on the upswing in terms of getting these junkets really pumping out information – or maybe we journalists are asking better questions – who the heck really knows why it happened, but somehow the Captain America junket was interesting and had stuff to learn you might actually care about. So much so, in fact, that I’ve got 15 cool tidbits right here.

We’re not usually ones for publishing every last clip from an upcoming movie. We believe that obsessing over every last millisecond of marketing material, in many instances, ruins the final experience. But Captain America is special and you’re all grown-ups, so you can make your own decisions. This week, Paramount Pictures revealed five new clips from Captain America: The First Avenger, including one “Meet Captain America” featurette that provides a little insight into who this hero really is, deep down. You know, right below those massive pecs. They’ve also unleashed one killer clip of Cap using his “vibranium” shield to beat some bad guy ass. Spend a few moments with Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, his lovely dame Peggy Carter (Hayley Hatwell) and his buddy Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper). It’s all worth a look, if you’re into being excited about things.

With the release of the full theatrical trailer, which you’re about to watch after the jump, the marketing for Captain America: The First Avenger continues its preoccupation with how many broads Steve Rogers is going to get while simultaneously embracing a celebration of the “America” part of his fighting name they seem to have been ignoring up to this point. Heroes are made in America. That’s a fact, Jack. And our heroes have big muscles, guts by the truck loads, and as many chicks as they damn-well please. With one hand full of apple pie and the other holding that star-spangled shield, this new Captain America trailer is ready to whoop your ass with the might of the American war machine. If it fails to tickle your spine, well then there’s something wrong with you, my terrorist friend.

There’s nothing like seeing a super hero fire a gun. It breaks all the rules but still makes sense, especially if that hero is firing a weapon against Nazi(-like) scum. There are a few things that stand out in this first trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger, but you should watch it for yourself first:

Late last week, as rumored swirled about who would play the damsel to the hero Captain America, many pundits seemed fixated on Alice Eve, the star of the recent Paramount release She’s Out of My League. She was the bigger name of the candidates remaining after the likes of Emily Blunt and Keira Knightley dropped out. But she wasn’t alone — there was one other name on that list: Hayley Atwell.

Last week our secret phone line upon which we receive news tips and order pizza was ringing off the hook about Captain America. This week we’re hearing not about Chris Evans, or Sebastian Stan, but about the lady who may join them on-screen.

With Cassandra’s Dream, Woody Allen, still in his self-imposed London exile, forgets the diversion of his previous film, Scoop, and returns to the serious matters of murder, morality and the English class system.