It's halfway through the summer movie season, and there's a lot of hand-wringing about the state of the Tentpole Film — yes, in spite of Avengers. This year has seen some huge high-profile flops, plus some massive films that underperformed Stateside. And meanwhile, some of the biggest films in the pipeline are having…

Right now, in the middle of summer movie season, it's easy to get sensory overload. Big-budget movies are coming thick and fast, each of them trying to overwhelm us into opening our wallets. And the more movies you go to see, the more hyperactive trailers you're going to see on the big screen.

Chances are, if you've seen a science fiction movie recently and been stunned to hear actual science mentioned, you have a scientific advisor to thank. A small cadre of science experts have started lending their expertise to movies like Thor, 2012, Tron Legacy and the upcoming Doctor Strange. Here's their story, via…

Play this trailer for Shark Night 3-D on top volume. At about 0:57, put your ear next to your PC speaker for about a minute. Congratulations! You are now deaf in one ear! (Note: Don't really do that.)

Can James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender make us believe they're playing the same characters as Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen, in X-Men: First Class? We have high hopes. But recasting iconic characters doesn't always work out that great.

The Marines vs. aliens war story that is Battle: Los Angeles may not be a modern classic, but it does do one thing that's unusual (even admirable) for action movies, particularly scifi action movies: it takes its premise absolutely seriously.

In space, nobody can hear you freestyle. But that hasn't stopped some of hip-hop's greatest legends from appearing in some classic science fiction and fantasy movies. From battling killer sharks to fighting off ghosts on Mars, some of our favorite rappers have also become some of our favorite SF heroes.

It's been 30 years since Gary Kurtz and George Lucas split because Lucas wanted toys to dictate the storytelling in Star Wars. Since then, toy-driven movie-making has gone way beyond Lucas' grubbiest dreams. Here are the hallmarks of toy-centric storytelling.

When you look through Miles Teves' online concept art portfolio, it's hard not to feel sad about how cool Terminator 3 and Terminator Salvation, plus a Dune movie, could have looked. And his design for Spider-Man's Goblin is clearly superior.