The male central character in Nicholas Sparks’ books that make it to the big screen have a certain self aware, yet they are aloof to the love capturing their world. They have swagger, yet stammer. In The Lucky One, Zac Efron is a Marine who after an Iraqi firefight, he finds himself surviving to witness the lull of daylight. A reflecting light in the sand catches his eye and he walks towards it. After picking it up, an explosion is set off -- exactly where he was standing previously. He thinks that the girl in the photo, she must be an angel.

Upon returning home, Efron’s Logan sets out to thank her. His family cannot relate to what he’s going through. He probably has PTSD, but doesn’t seem willing to deal with it. The only thing he wants to do is find the woman in the picture. He matches the lighthouse in the background to one in Louisiana and he walks there with his dog Zeus, camping along the way until he can meet his guardian.

As anyone who has seen any of The Lucky One's trailers knows, he finds her and winds up working with her at her grandmother’s (Blythe Danner) dog care facility.

When it comes to breaking out of his High School Musical/musical-comedy persona, Efron has taken a good role in The Lucky One. His soldier feels true. Where his previous Charlie St. Cloud was murky in message, having Sparks’ prose as your story’s spine is clearly a leap in protagonist progress.

Director Scott Hicks and screenwriter Will Fetters converge well with their portrayal of the southern lifestyle. There’s a tad of local politics, flair and feel that adds weight to the story.

The Lucky One Trailer

Taylor Schilling is Beth, the woman who Efron has his sights set on. She proves to be a promising up-and-coming actress and is also a good fit opposite Efron. Showing audiences why she is a legend is Danner as Beth’s grandmother. The actress is as good as ever and frankly, there is nothing we wouldn’t see her in.

The Lucky One is a classic Sparks film. Those who adore his work will find this film fall right below The Notebook. It is the author’s best page to screen effort in years. For audiences who are unblindingly romantic, Hicks has created a gem.

After all the speculation, and a Movie Fanatic poll, it appears that Lionsgate is offering the job of director of Catching Fire to Francis Lawrence. The helmer of I Am Legend, Constantine and most recently Water for Elephants is an interesting choice. With his grasp of drama, romance and sci-fi… this could be a very good call for the franchise. Many have felt that Alfonso Cuaron was the best choice, but with so little time to get organized before filming begins this fall, looks like the studio had to bust a move.

What do you think of the choice of Francis Lawrence to direct Catching Fire?

Marvel has released a new The Avengers behind-the-scenes video that features writer-director Joss Whedon talking about his most awesome of films. In anticipation for the flick’s May 4 debut, Marvel Studios and Walt Disney have pulled out all the stops, taking audiences inside the making of a masterpiece.

Behind the Scenes of The Avengers with Joss Whedon

Stay with Movie Fanatic as we begin to publish our interviews with the cast and filmmakers of the blockbuster April 23.

DisneyNature has done it again with their Earth Day 2012 release Chimpanzee. After last year’s African Cats, we head back to Africa for an incredible story of Oscar… the cutest baby chimp you will ever meet. Filmmakers Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield have proven that if you have both luck and talent, brilliance follows.

Disney’s nature documentary wing has been progressively nailing it, after their features Earth, Oceans and African Cats. What sets Chimpanzee apart is the emotional attachment the audience feels to the “star” of this feature. Oscar could be almost human in his mannerisms and who cannot identify with the story of an orphaned soul seeking to be raised by someone who cares? In this case, what happened to Oscar has never been documented in the history of studying chimps and is truly a natural miracle.

Chimpanzee is narrated by Tim Allen with just the right amount of seriousness, humor and flair. The Last Man Standing star could not have been a more perfect of a choice, which is interesting. At the outset, we thought a nature documentary narrated by the Home Improvement guy was an interesting selection. Yet, he rises to the challenge and impeccably moves the story along with his words. His inflection and vocal control is astounding.

Beyond the unbelievably cute Oscar, the real star of the documentary is its filmmakers. How they managed to get in with this “pack” of chimps is incredible. Their sacrifice of living in the African jungle for months on end is for our benefit. You leave the theater not only with an increased knowledge and feel for the species, but also a further passion for the entire continent where they reside.

Chimpanzee Trailer

DisneyNature may be releasing a new film each Earth Day, but what is shown with Chimpanzee is that this is not simply a movie to cherish when the world gathers to support Mother Nature each year -- this is a picture that works on any given day. When it comes home on video, Linfield and Fothergill’s film will be a must own to be able to treasure the majesty, beauty, kinship and brilliance that are the beings at the heart of the story of Chimpanzee.

You heard it here, ladies and gentlemen: The Hunger Games will be coming to over 100 IMAX theaters for a limited one-week run beginning April 27. Movie Fanatic has your chance to win a pair of tickets to witness the triumph of Katniss Everdeen on the biggest screens known to humankind!

Here's how to enter and win:

All you have to do is...

1. LOG IN or register with Movie Fanatic.

2. "LIKE" Movie Fanatic on Facebook.

3. ANSWER this question in the comments section below: "If you were forced to compete in The Hunger Games, what real-life movie star would you want as your mentor and why?"

The winner will be selected at random from all valid entries April 25. We'll email you if you're the lucky winner and the tickets will be available at the IMAX theater nearest you!

If you're on Twitter, you can also check out the #HungerGamesIMAX hashtag to share in the excitement for the record-breaking film's biggest screen debut.

And, as always, may the odds be forever in your favor.

In the Lawrence Kasdan directed Darling Companion, Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline are a Colorado husband and wife who go from not having a dog, to having a canine completely consume their life. And that is a very good thing, because as anyone who has a dog can attest, they become family. The film begins with Keaton driving down the highway with her daughter (Elizabeth Moss). She sees something on the side of the road and quickly pulls over. Surprised, she discovers it’s a dog who is injured and in need of help.

They name the dog Freeway, adopt him and things seem peachy. The film picks up a year later and now the animal is ingrained into their lives. While the entire clan is away for their daughter’s wedding (you’ll never guess who she married) in rural Colorado, Freeway takes off while Kline is out with him on a walk. He is simply gone. Our film then spends a majority of its storytelling time making a familial character study through the massive search for their best friend.

In this capacity, co-writers Lawrence Kasdan and his wife Meg Kasdan have crafted the type of character driven drama and comedy that they perfected with The Big Chill and Grand Canyon. In fact, the Kasdans see Darling Companion as the third in a trilogy of those first two films. It’s not quite as completely moving as those two films, but it does work on many levels.

First and foremost, Keaton and Kline are a match made in heaven. We could watch them walk through the woods talking about their marriage, kids, dreams, disappointments and drama all day. Those two actors, who came up in Hollywood together but have never played husband and wife, are impeccably cast. Kline’s uptight spine surgeon has drifted mentally from the marriage and Keaton does her best to reel him back in. He wants to become a better husband, and through Kline’s performance we see the man slowly peel away the layers of stoic nature to reveal a warmth.

The supporting cast delivers as well, especially Richard Jenkins and Dianne Wiest as Kline’s sister and her boyfriend. The pairing of Wiest as Kline’s sister is a stroke of genius. Jeff, Who Lives at Home filmmaker Mark Duplass and Ayelet Zurer are also stand outs. Duplass and Zurer have a flirty attraction that often sparks the search for Freeway.

Darling Companion Trailer

As the six people spend days on end searching for the lost animal, the interconnectedness of the character dynamics is something only the Kasdans can achieve successfully over a two hour film.

Like so many other of Kasdan’s films, the people are all too real, their problems and triumphs are palpable and in the end -- audiences have been treated to an adult drama with humor that sticks with you.

There’s romance in the air this weekend at the nation’s movie houses. Between the Nicholas Sparks page to screen The Lucky One, the Steve Harvey relationship self-help book that makes a leap to the silver screen and the love of humankind’s best friend in Darling Companion. There’s also a whole lot of affection for our planet as two Earth Day timed releases come to theaters: DisneyNature’s Chimpanzee and Warner Bros.’ To the Arctic.

The Lucky One: Zac Efron steps into the male role in a Sparks film that has previously been filled by Ryan Gosling and Channing Tatum. Does he succeed? As a matter of fact he does. Fans of the author will adore this film. How could they not with lines like, “You deserve to be kissed every day, every hour, every minute and every second.” The supporting cast is solid from Efron’s love interest (Taylor Schilling) to the grand dame of cinema -- Blythe Danner -- who plays her grandmother. Check out our The Lucky One review for more.

The Lucky One Trailer

Think Like a Man: Comedian Steve Harvey could never have thought when he penned the relationship self-help book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man that it would become a delightful romantic comedy. But that is what it has become. Director Tim Story has assembled a stellar ensemble cast, led by Kevin Hart in a side-splitting turn, and produced a funny and touching film that both men and women will appreciate. As we state in our Think Like a Man review, all walks of life will appreciate this flick.

Think Like a Man Trailer

Darling Companion: Kevin Kline and Diane Keaton headline the latest from screenwriting team Lawrence and Meg Kasdan. Lawrence does the directing, his fourth film with Kline after The Big Chill, Grand Canyon and Silverado. The story follows Keaton and Kline as they adopt a stray dog, only to loose him on one fateful walk through the Colorado woods. The missing dog galvanizes the entire family. The film works on so many levels, as we evidence in our Darling Companion review.

Darling Companion Trailer

Chimpanzee: DisneyNature scores once again. The earthly wing of Walt Disney this time points its cameras on a baby chimp, who when orphaned, finds parental guidance from the most unlikely of sources. For Earth Day and beyond, this is a film to treasure. To learn more, read our Chimpanzee review.

Chimpanzee Trailer

To the Arctic: Meryl Streep narrates and Paul McCartney provides the score for this 40-minute doc that looks at how greenhouse gases and the melting of the Arctic ice is affecting the species who call the region home. The most compelling part of the film is the story of a polar bear mother and her twin seven-month-old cubs. As I say in my To the Arctic review, after exiting the movie, you will want to swing into action to help in any way you can.

To the Arctic Trailer

Kevin Kline has delighted us for years. From his Oscar-winning turn in A Fish Called Wanda, to playing the president in one of the best presidential movies of all time -- Dave -- the actor is easily one of our favorites. He’s back on screen in Darling Companion and has reunited with director Lawrence Kasdan after turns in his The Big Chill, Grand Canyon and Silverado. Kline is visiting with Movie Fanatic for an exclusive video interview to talk about his latest film, but also what it is about the magic of Kasdan that keeps him coming back.

Kevin Kline Exclusive Interview

Think Like a Man did what four weekends' worth of films could not do: Knock The Hunger Games off the top of the box office charts. The film, based on the book by Steve Harvey, was joined in the defeat of the four-time box office champ by Nicholas Sparks and Zac Efron with their The Lucky One, which knocked Suzanne Collins page-to-screen effort to third.

Think Like a Man led all films over the weekend with $33 million. The Lucky One was just over $10 million behind in second place with $22.8 million. The Goliath that was -- The Hunger Games -- continued to impress in third with $14.5 million. It’s total domestic gross is a whopping $356.9 million.

Fourth place was the adorable DisneyNature film Chimpanzee. The film capitalized on the Earth Day weekend by banking $10.2 million. Last week's box office challenger, The Three Stooges, closed out the top five with another $9.2 million to add to its first week $17 million.

Box office top 10:

1. Think Like a Man, $33 million
2. The Lucky One, $22.8 million
3. The Hunger Games, $14.5 million
4. Chimpanzee, $10.2 million
5. The Three Stooges, $9.2 million
6. The Cabin in the Woods, $7.8 million
7. American Reunion, $5.2 million
8. Titanic 3D, $5 million
9. 21 Jump Street, $4.6 million
10. Mirror Mirror, $4.1 million

There are two solid trailers out there right now for Dark Shadows, and a new Chinese international teaser for the film has landed. It combines them both and tosses in a little new footage as well. This film has us buzzing. Star Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton grew up huge fans of the cult classic soap. The duo also has a knack for working pretty well together (Alice in Wonderland, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood). Combine that passion for the project with the duo’s penchant for powerful collaboration and Dark Shadows is one of our most anticipated movies of the summer.

Dark Shadows International Trailer

It's a The Avengers image explosion! We've got 12 new stills from the Joss Whedon-written and -directed instant classic. We cannot tell you more about the film until the May 2 embargo is lifted. But, we can tell you this: Marvel fans will rejoice! To mark the mastery that is the new film from the Marvel canon, we have more stills to premiere at one time than at any time in Movie Fanatic history. Enjoy!

Adam McKay, co-writer and director of Anchorman and its upcoming sequel -- appropriately called Anchorman 2 -- hasn’t given us too much to go on yet except teases about a “custody battle” and “bowling for dollars.” We’re thinking the former is about his relationship with Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) and the latter is Ron Burgundy’s (Will Ferrell) participation in the famous 1970s game show. But McKay was talking to the UK publication Empire and has given fans additional information about their long-hoped-for film.

“We’re holing up writing for the next three months,” McKay said. Mirroring the conflict Burgundy had in the first film with the arrival of female newscasters and the revolutionary change that represented, the Anchorman 2 plot will have him facing another onslaught of change.

“It’s right when all the news started changing with the 24-hours news cycle in '78 or '79. All of a sudden, local news stations diversified and had Latino anchors and African-American anchors, and any time you’re talking about diversity and the Action News team, that’s always fun to deal with.”

Considering how well the scenes shot in IMAX for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol blew us away, the news arriving today that over an hour of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises has been shot in IMAX, is music to our ears.

Nolan was chatting with The Wall Street Journal and spoke about his use of the cameras that bring a depth and power to shots unattainable with standard issue shooters. The director was continually advised against using IMAX cameras shooting his final chapter in the Dark Knight series. He thought that preposterous. Like we mentioned earlier, Brad Bird took to the highest building in the world with an IMAX camera and captured the pinnacle shot of his entire Ghost Protocol film.

“There was a huge irony that we were told it would be too difficult to shoot a Hollywood movie on IMAX when we had this gigantic camera department, grips, electric, hundreds of people working for us. These were cameras that had been to the top of Mount Everest, to the bottom of the ocean and into outer space, but people thought we couldn’t make a feature film. It was absurd.”

Imagine over an hour of a two-hour epic with scenes that required the scope that IMAX brings! Even more excited for July 20 and the film to arrive? Us too.

Movie Fanatic is sitting for an exclusive interview with writer-director Lawrence Kasdan and his wife and co-screenwriter for Darling Companion, Meg. The Kasdans have been combining forces on films as astounding as The Big Chill and Grand Canyon. But, you have to excuse us if we’re a little star-struck given Lawrence’s work as writer of The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Return of the Jedi and one of our faves: Silverado. His current work is a labor of love. When Kevin Kline and Diane Keaton’s couple lose their beloved dog, i.e. Darling Companion, it mirrors what happened in real life to the couple behind the movie magic.

Meg and Lawrence Kasdan Exclusive Interview

Adrien Brody gives the craziest --in a good way -- performance in High School. Movie Fanatic saw the film last week and can say that the actor has outdone himself as a pot dealer hot on the heels of two high school kids who have ripped him off. The film’s red band trailer is here and shows off just a glimpse of the manic brilliance Brody brings to the comedy. The film, arriving June 1, follows a couple of seniors who discover that they have to take a mandatory school-wide drug test and figure by lacing the school’s bake sale products with pot, if everyone fails… the test will be rendered void.

High School Red Band Trailer

Emily Blunt and Jason Segel star as two lovebirds who just can’t seem to find their way to the altar. Their The Five Year Engagement is the stuff of humor, heart and the endearingly romantic yet silly, qualities of Segel and co-writer Nick Stoller’s first effort, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Universal has released a behind-the-scenes video of the stars and filmmaker taking us inside the making of their new sure-to-be hit.

A Look Inside Five Year Engagement

The film lands April 27 and stay with Movie Fanatic all week for our exclusive interviews with the cast and Stoller!

It’s a double dose of Scarlett Johansson and Black Widow with the latest clips to come out of The Avengers. The first is a scene from the film where Black Widow tries to recruit Bruce Banner to join the Avengers. Banner (aka the Hulk) is on a medical mission in the most remote part of the Earth.

The Avengers: Black Widow Recruits Bruce Banner

The second clip is a more personal look by Johansson talking about her role in The Avengers and her passion for the character of Black Widow.

The Avengers: Black Widow Featurette

A week from Friday… Avengers assemble! Can you believe that the movie you’ve been waiting for is merely days away?

Something is just not right with the House at the end of the Street. The film’s first poster has arrived and it has The Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence looking quite spooked.

Relativity Media has also released the synopsis for the film that lands in theaters September 21. Lawrence has quite the busy schedule. As this thriller arrives in the fall, she goes off to North Carolina to film Catching Fire through the end of the year. Then, she jets to London to film the follow-up to X-Men: First Class.

House at the End of the Street Synopsis: Seeking a fresh start, newly divorced Sarah (Oscar-nominee Elisabeth Shue; Leaving Las Vegas) and her daughter Elissa (Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence; Winter’s Bone) find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret. Years earlier, in the house next door, a daughter killed her parents in their beds, and disappeared -- leaving only a brother, Ryan (Max Thieriot, My Soul to Take), as the sole survivor. Against Sarah's wishes, Elissa begins a relationship with the reclusive Ryan -- and the closer they get, the deeper they're all pulled into a mystery more dangerous than they ever imagined.

Matthew McConaughey is back in Bernie, out April 27, and it is another chance for the native Texan to portray a character also from the Lone Star State. More on Bernie to come this week -- we just thought it was a good time to look back at the career of the man who busted onto the cinema scene by extolling his passion for redheads. Here are the Movie Fanatic Top 10 Matthew McConaughey movies.

10. We Are Marshall
2006’s We Are Marshall was so much more than an opportunity for McConaughey to portray a coach of the sport that is his absolute favorite. The college football lexicon has few tragedies as devastating as when the 1970 Marshall University football team perished in an airplane crash. The actor gives an incredible portrayal of Coach Jack Lengyel and his astounding effort to not only pull a football program out of the ashes, but to reinvigorate a community yearning for some joy after terrible sorrow.

9. Reign of Fire
Reign of Fire may seem like an odd choice for our Top 10. But there is something about the story of dragons destroying modern day Earth and the band of survivors seeking to reclaim our planet -- led by McConaughey and Christian Bale -- which we find unbelievably compelling. McConaughey channels a military character so seeped in revenge for a race that is all but wiped out. It is powerful.

8. Bernie
Out April 27, fans of the Texas native get a chance to delight in a role he was born to play. The film itself is a sharp-as-a-tack portrayal of the real life Bernie, a Texas man who could not have been better liked in his small town -- even after he shot dead the town’s nastiest citizen. McConaughey is the DA charged with bringing this man to justice. It is astounding to watch his inability to find anyone in his hometown that could fill a jury and return a guilty verdict, despite having a confession!

Bernie Trailer

7. A Time to Kill
John Grisham’s prose and Matthew McConaughey's characterization of a Southern lawyer seeking to find justice when it seems there is none to be found, and A Time to Kill kills us every time we see it.

6. Tropic Thunder
His role in Tropic Thunder was minimal, but by providing the yin to Tom Cruise’s yang in the Ben Stiller film, McConaughey captured the spirit of a movie man grasping at straws. The fact that he gets to show some comic chops in this film has us wondering why he doesn’t do more smart comedies.

5. U-571
Telling a story of World War II that in effect showcases how the tide of the war was turned, U-571 is a thriller of the sub variety that ranks with the best of that genre. McConaughey plays a leader by situation and not by career elevation, who must rally his soldiers to accomplish the impossible.

4. Contact
Perhaps it’s us, but Contact is one underrated film. One of the great joys of this Robert Zemeckis-directed movie is the repartee between Jodie Foster and McConaughey. The fact that it was based on a Carl Sagan book takes the stakes even higher. The cast, led by the two leads, brings it and captures a story of alien life unlike any we’ve seen since.

3. Lone Star
John Sayles is a visionary storyteller and having the combination of Texans Sayles and McConaughey on Lone Star’s riveting murder mystery is the stuff of movie magic. If this film has missed your radar, run… don’t walk to rent it.

2. Dazed and Confused
So many of the fantastic Dazed and Confused quotes come from McConaughey’s David Wooderson. This Richard Linklater film (he also directed Bernie!) was a little Texas movie that could. It also gave us the career that is McConaughey’s. At the time of making Dazed and Confused, he was a struggling actor and also attending the University of Texas. The summer he made the film changed his life and moviegoers' as well.

1. Amistad
When McConaughey made the move from Texas to Hollywood, he probably would have laughed if someone had told him he’d be working with Academy Award winners Steven Spielberg, Morgan Freeman and Anthony Hopkins. That is exactly what he achieved in 1997 with Amistad. The story of the 1839 mutiny aboard the titular slave ship is illustrated through a courtroom trial, led by the man who adores playing attorneys, Mr. McConaughey.

Movie Fanatic is in Las Vegas for the annual festival of movies, aka CinemaCon, and we’ve got a front row seat to several of the summer’s top films. One that we were treated to scenes and interviews with the cast was Paramount’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation. We were there when Dwayne Johnson accepted his award for Action Hero of the Decade (more on that to come including an exclusive chat with the superstar) and are proud to present the film’s latest trailer.

GI Joe Retaliation Trailer 2

Look for the G.I. Joe sequel to arrive in late June.