By Jeff LeBlanc
When I heard that one of Marvel's tent-pole films for their Cinematic Universe: Phase 2 was going to be Guardians of The Galaxy, my first response was "Get the fuck outta here! How are they ever going to pull that off?!" After all, it does have an anthropomorphic tree and a talking, fighting raccoon. I've been such a fan of Marvel's business model, it's like they could do no wrong. They remind me of the position Pixar was in a few years ago: riding high on numerous Oscar wins, near-perfect critical response across the board and Cars 2, Brave and Planes were far into their future. If not done well, GOTG could be Marvels' Cars 2. Then we started seeing images of props and concept art (like the piece above) and it started to not seem as risky. The other day it was announced that Vin Diesel would be doing the voice of Groot, the aforementioned Tree and the project started to actually seem cool. Today, a leaked copy of the first trailer has made its way online, along with an animated gif of Rocket Raccoon going ballistic and now all I can think is holy shit. They did it. THEY DID IT!
Check out the animated gif and the leaked trailer after the jump (before it gets taken down).
 By Jeff LeBlanc
With the beginning of the fall season upon us, I thought I’d go back and do a recap of the summer of 2013, or at least the movies I managed to see (it's been a busy few months). How do you think the summer of 2013 stacked up? Is it one of the best in memory? One of the worst? Just another average summer for movies? Personally, I found it to be a letdown. The months leading up to the summer had me eagerly anticipating giant robots, a zombie apocalypse (and a pothead apocalypse), not to mention the return of Iron Man, Superman and the crew of the USS Enterprise. Unfortunately, while many of this summer's movies could have been great, many of them were just OK.
After the jump I'll go through all the big summer movies I managed to catch and see how this summer played out overall!
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
The Trailer Park is a collection of recent trailers and previews for upcoming flicks. Will they be worth your time and money? Take a look and decide for yourself!
 By Jeff LeBlanc
This week in The Trailer Park we've got Tom Hanks being abducted by pirates, a bunch of soldiers playing Ocean's 11 in World War II and the return of Thor's magnificent head of hair.
All that plus previews for the return of The Muppets, plus new movies from two of the best filmmakers working today: Spike Jonze and Ridley Scott!
Hit the jump to see all the latest trailers!
ODD MAN OUT is a new series where I attempt to defend the indefensible. Each article will focus on a movie loved by me, but hated by so many more.  By Jeff LeBlanc
I knew there'd be no better movie to begin the ODD MAN OUT series than Indy 4. Hours of my life have been lost defending this movie. I've debated and argued with fellow film geeks until my throat was hoarse; trying with all my might to get people to see that, believe it or not, it is not a terrible film. Go ahead and judge me, but not only is Kingdom of The Crystal Skull not a terrible movie, but it's actually a pretty good one.
Rating: 3.5 Out Of 4  By Jeff LeBlanc
Nicolas Winding Refn is one of the pure cinematic artists we have left. After the critical success of Drive he could have gone in many directions; the big studio system being one of them. Instead, what does he do? He hooks up with Ryan Gosling, the DeNiro to his Scorsese, and they go to Thailand to make a crazy art film. Few could get away with it, but Refn pulls it off.
Note: If your only exposure to Refn's work is Drive, do not go into Only God Forgives expecting the same thing. It's very different and will be very inaccessible for many viewers, especially those new to his work.
Rating: 3 Out Of 4  By Jeff LeBlanc
Sometimes it feels like being good isn't good enough. In this modern age, every new horror movie needs a hook, and there seems to be more emphasis on that hook than whether or not the actual movie is any good. Remember the shots from the Paranormal Activity trailer that showed nothing but audience reactions? Or the ads for The Blair Witch Project that swore it was a newly discovered film reel. The reputation that precedes The Conjuring is that the MPAA was forced to give it an R rating due to it simply being 'too scary'. They couldn't really give notes other than that: too scary. I've seen the film, and while I did jump out of my seat more than once, it wasn't that scary. I doubt it needed to be rated R. I'm not saying the story couldn't be true, but I smell the hype machine at work.
 I've always joked about certain movies being the worst I'd ever seen. Depending on your company, it's funny to say that The Notebook is the worst movie you've ever seen. For a long time I said that Spice World was the worst movie I'd ever seen, simply because I really couldn't think of a better answer. But I know these movies are nowhere near the worst movie I have ever seen. They each have their merits. Even Spice World had me laughing a few times thanks to a well-placed Meatloaf cameo.
Then I found this little gem on Netflix. You never know what you're going to find on Netflix. Like Wikipedia, one thing leads you to another, leads to another, until you're falling down the rabbit hole and you can't even remember where you started. Moreover, there are times when you seriously cannot comprehend what you're watching, or what Netflix would choose to add to their roster.
During one such recent decent into the Netflix abyss, I made a discovery that rocked my cinephile brain, possibly forever: I may have finally found the Worst Movie I Have Ever Seen.
WARNING: THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD!
The Trailer Park is a collection of recent trailers and previews for upcoming flicks. Will they be worth your time and money? Take a look and decide for yourself!  This week in The Trailer Park we've got Robert Redford stranded at sea, another transformation from Christian Bale, Sophia Vergara with machine-gun boobs and Johnny Knoxville doing his version of Borat with his classic Grandpa character.
All that plus previews for new movies from Robert Rodriguez, Ben Stiller and the first feature film directed by Billy Bob Thornton in over a decade!
Hit the jump to see all the latest trailers!
The Hold-Up is a series where I go back and revisit a movie, compare it to my original notes and see how it has aged. Does it hold up? Let's find out.
 By Jeff LeBlanc
I'll never forget the first time I saw the teaser trailer for Cloverfield. We're thrown first-person into a party set in a trendy New York apartment. All we know is that some guy is leaving for a new job. At first it almost feels like a drinking and driving PSA. I half-expected the newly promoted guy to be killed after having one too many and getting behind the wheel or something. Suddenly, the apartment shakes and the characters run up to the roof just in time to see an explosion on the horizon and the Statue of Liberty's head go flying!
Audiences were hooked from the get-go. Not me. I was wholly convinced that this would be an impressive feat of the hype machine and nothing more. I was very impressed to find that Cloverfield was not only captivating, but genuinely thrilling.
But does it still come across that way after five years? Find out after the jump.
 By Jeff LeBlanc
I've been a movie geek my entire life. I love all genres and though there's nothing like getting wrapped up in a wonderful character drama, the little kid in me will always go back to genre movies, particularly science fiction. I love all the fantastical things that sci-fi offers and I can get behind most of it. One genre that I've never been able to get attached to, no matter how hard I try, is Fantasy. This has been a never-ending issue between my friends and I, as they feel by not liking fantasy, I'm missing out on some amazing stories. Maybe they're right.
As a movie geek, you develop a strong sense of suspension of disbelief. I can wholeheartedly believe that a T-Rex can attack a jeep in Jurassic Park or that a futuristic cyborg can be sent back in time to assassinate a woman in The Terminator, I can even believe a black hole opening in the ocean and unleashing giant monsters that destroy cities, as this summer's Pacific Rim put on full display. However, there's one storyteling element that I cannot buy into no matter how hard I try: magic.
I hate fucking magic.
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