No doubt you’ve read about it if you haven’t seen it. The Other Guys, the latest collaboration between masters of the sophomoric Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, concludes with an animated chart-and-graph sequence over its end credits detailing the inner workings of Ponzi schemes, the exponential disparity between the wages of corporate CEOs and their average worker, and the rather comical eventual release date of currently imprisoned white-collar criminal Bernie Madoff. It seems startling at first, for one of the most hilariously dumb comedies of the summer (I certainly don’t mean this as an insult, as true silliness is hard to come by and McKay/Ferrell routinely pull it off masterfully) to conclude with something of a visual lecture. It’s confounding for a film that asks the bare minimum of its viewer to conclude with what seems to be a message built from populist outrage, a message for which there seemed, on the surface, little if any buildup toward. The best course of action – for most critics, anyway – has been to read and enjoy The Other Guys wholly separate from its end credits (films, after all, are often misread as ending before their credits; we’re conditioned not to any pay attention to them). I find this reading of The Other Guys too selective, and its end credits – as didactic and ill-placed as they may seem at first to be – paint a rather different film in hindsight to the one we think we have been seeing.

If this Comic-Con teaser for Marvel’s The Avengers proves anything, it’s that you can’t successfully pull off the “voice-over only” teaser unless you have someone like Samuel Jackson narrating. The man makes everything sounds like it’s happening at the end of the world, right as humanity faces its greatest threats in its daring final hours. It’s appropriate in this situation, as Marvel would like us to see The Avengers as the ultimate moment in their cinematic landscape. It’s going to be big, gaudy and full of ripped muscles and even more flavorful egos. Whether it will all work out is still in question, as I explored in a recent editorial. But for now, at least we have the tantalizing voice-over teaser that you can watch just after the jump.

Three days ago, Marvel Studios assembled its team of Avengers. And right there on the stage in Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center, they lit fires in the hearts of 6,500 fans present and countless others as word began to ripple across the internet. I’m sure that it was a sight to see. And from a distance, even I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of anticipation for the superhero team-up — one that will put Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans) and The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) on screen together. The 2012 film will be a cinematic event unlike anything ever attempted before. There’s no doubt about that. Never has a studio embarked on a comic adaptation quite so ambitious. Then again, there’s never been a studio making comic adaptations quite the way young Marvel has done. It all seems as if planets are aligning, deities are smiling and harmony between the world of comics and the world of movies has finally come to pass. But when we wipe away all of the manufactured bliss created on stage by Marvel Studios on Saturday, we realize quickly that there are still plenty of questions on the road ahead. In fact, there are more than questions — for Marvel, there are giant speed-bumps in the form of two films yet to be finished and released, and an entire team-up film to be planned and executed. It’s no small task. And even though the

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr welcomes the summer movie season by handing out a grade to Iron Man 2.

Daniel Dae Kim will be headed to Louisiana with Samuel L. Jackson. Hopefully, they’ll do it road trip style and document the journey.

Without knowing anything else about The Other Guys other than seeing this trailer, you might very well think that it’s going to be just another dumb comedy. But there’s a reason why you should be optimistic about it…

It’s quite possible that we’ve found our generation’s Vanity. Sho’ Nuff!

Looks like my man Tommy Lee Jones just can’t stay away from the works of Cormac McCarthy, as he is slated to direct and star alongside Sam Jackon in an adaptation of McCarthy’s play Sunset Limited for HBO.

If that title didn’t get your blood boiling, try out my alternate title of “Samuel L. Jackson Continues to Get Work,” and see how that suits you. I don’t know much about this forthcoming flick, but I have a feeling that Detective Disaster Zondi is not going to be a fan of snakes.

It’s been a few days, sure, but you know that you can’t resist another wonderfully packed edition of the Early Edition…

The folks at People and On Location News have a few snaps for us today of some semi-interesting things happening on the set of Iron Man 2, including Robert Downey Jr. in a familiar red suit and Samuel L. Jackson in a familiar eye patch.

Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios have announced new release dates for their upcoming projects, culminating with The Avengers in 2012.

Jackson will be taking time out between the eleventy-billion Marvel films he needs to make in order to tackle an incredibly difficult subject matter.

After spending something like a minute and a half as Nick Fury after the credits of Iron Man, Sam Jackson was in. He probably didn’t know it at the time, but neither Marvel Studios or the fans would ever let that character go. It’s just how these things go.

Profanity is no longer a problem in today’s society. Instead of the censors clipping around real swear words, they’re on the look-out for the new seven dirty words, the heavy seven that will infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war on terror.

Now we know what happens when you attempt to shaft Shaft.

The Devil Wears Prada actress might be pulling double duty as the Russian bad ass we know and love as Black Widow.

Kevin and Neil bring on the fruitcake with their big, fat Christmas special. They question the correlation between Nazis and Christmas with the release of Valkyrie and The Spirit.

When you think of Christmas, what comes to mind? Is it visions of sugar plums dancing in your head? Is it the thought of your favorite holiday movie being aired 57 times on television? Apparently for Hollywood, Nazis come to mind when they think of Christmas.

Frank Miller’s latest directorial effort goes all-out for the camp and ends up in the toilet.