“Iron Man 3” is well on its way to becoming one of the biggest movies of all time, so I jumped at the chance to chat with Marvel Studios’ Vice President of Visual Effects, Victoria Alonso, about some of the cool sequences in the movie last week. Now that most of the world has already seen it, the chance of spoiling anything is minimal s- so we were free to discuss one of my favorite scenes in the film: the attack on Tony Stark’s home.

Here’s an excerpt from the article I wrote about my chat with Alonso:

The scene, which features multiple heavily armed helicopters unleashing their fury on Stark’s mansion overlooking the ocean, combines all of the crisp, polished FX the franchise is known for with its new director’s preference for slick, explosive action that doesn’t skimp on bullets.

“The house attack was one of the sequences I was most proud of,” Alonso said. “It took a lot of our time, because 95% of the sequence is digital, but it has to look photo-real and had to be done in such a way that you feel Tony Stark is in peril.”

You can read the rest of the article at DigitalTrends.com.

And if you haven’t seen “Iron Man 3″ yet, what are you waiting for? Go! Now!

“Star Trek Into Darkness” arrived in theaters this weekend, and I reviewed it last week for IFC.

Here’s an excerpt from my review:

In some ways, “Into Darkness” is an improvement on its predecessor, taking the outer-space action and ambitious effects sequences of “Star Trek” to the next level and upping the visual ante. The spaceship battles are more intense, the stunts are more fantastic, and even the villain gets an upgrade with Sherlock star Cumberbatch.

Eric Bana’s villainous Romulan miner Nero served as a nice foil for Kirk and the Enterprise crew in the previous film, but his character never managed to stand out from the events unfolding around him. The opposite is true for Cumberbatch’s turn as Harrison, who commands your attention every moment he’s on the screen and also provides a nice distraction from some of the flaws in the film. In fact, the “Sherlock” actor is such a powerful presence in the film that it does him a disservice when his character’s true identity – a classic character from the original television series – is finally revealed.

Rather than letting the audience sit back and enjoy the fascinating character that Cumberbatch is crafting, the film’s big “surprise” removes any uncertainty regarding his motives and what his future holds. It’s all too bad, really, because in the run-up to the big reveal, Cumberbatch manages to give the rebooted “Star Trek” universe an original, memorable villain that differentiates it from everything that came before – much like The Borg did for “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

You can read the rest of my review at IFC.com. As you’ll probably get from my appraisal of the film, I enjoyed it, but it was definitely a very flawed movie – both technically and narratively. I liked the previous film quite a bit, and felt like J.J. Abrams had really done something magical with the franchise after seeing 2009′s “Star Trek.”

Sadly, “Into Darkness” made me think “Star Trek” was a bit of a fluke, and made me significantly less excited about the next installment of the franchise than I was for this one.

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This week has been all about “Star Trek Into Darkness” for me, with lots of articles about J.J. Abrams’ much-anticipated sequel to “Star Trek,” his 2009 reboot of the popular sci-fi franchise.

I confess that I’m not a big fan of the “Star Trek” franchise (or “Star Wars,” for that matter), though I did grow up watching the original “Star Trek” television series in syndication. I’ve seen all the movies, as well as the full run of the original series and Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Things get a little spotty when it comes to “Deep Space Nine” and “Voyager,” and I don’t think I’ve seen any episodes of “Star Trek: Enterprise” (though I had the “surprise” of the final episode spoiled for me).

I do have find memories of the original series, though – especially some of the crazy creatures and colorful characters that show introduced.

Over at Movies.com, I put together a list of 15 characters from “Star Trek: The Original Series” that I’d like to see in the new, rebooted universe. If nothing else, I’m curious what sort of redesign they’d get from J.J. Abrams’ team.

Here’s an excerpt from the article, featuring one of my all-time favorite “Star Trek” creatures:

Mugato

A white-haired gorilla with a long horn on its head and a venomous bite, the mugato is a fan-favorite alien predator from the original series that could certainly do with a smart redesign for the new universe that gets away from the actor-in-a-furry-suit motif. Fun fact: Ben Stiller reportedly named Will Ferrell’s villain in Zoolander after this crazy creature (hence Mugatu’s white hair).

You can read the rest of the article at Movies.com – but keep in mind that this was written before seeing “Star Trek Into Darkness,” so some of these characters and creatures may indeed appear in the new movie.

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For one of my recent Mental Floss articles, I compiled a list of movies that underwent significant changes at some point in development (or production) and became very different films.

While that happens to a lot of projects, I put the spotlight on six particularly notable change-ups that involved well-known films or their potential sequels. For example, did you know that Jean-Claude Van Damme’s “Cyborg” (admittedly, a guilty pleasure of mine) was originally intended to be the sequel to “Masters of the Universe” (with a little bit of “Spider-Man” thrown in)?

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

CYBORG

This violent, post-apocalyptic 1989 film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as a mercenary with the musical moniker “Gibson Rickenbacker” began its production cycle as a sequel to 1987′s live-action He-Man adventure Masters of the Universe. After studio Cannon Films was forced to cancel its deal with toy company Mattel for the He-Man license (as well as a deal with Marvel for a live-action Spider-Man movie), it was left with more than $2 million in costumes and sets for the project. In an effort to recoup its expenses, the studio repurposed the props and sets for a new film, and cast up-and-coming actor Van Damme as the lead. This is the reason that the movie is still occasionally labeled Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg in television listings.

You can read the full article at MentalFloss.com.