Mads Mikkelsen becomes a rising commodity

Last year seemed to be the year of bombastic new talent, or at least the full realization of existing talent. I mean, Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender certainly existed long before 2011, but they really came into their own stardom this past year. So there's an obvious question of who is left to come into their own this year? I could make a strong bid for Rachel Weisz, who has already proved quite shiveringly powerful in "The Deep Blue Sea", and she still has "The Bourne Legacy" and Terrence Malick's "To the Wonder" coming up. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, too, is in a position of really defining himself, split between films like "The Dark Knight Rises", "Looper", "Premium Rush", and Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln".

On the horizon, however, I can sense that people are just on the edge of singing someone else's praises, and that man is Mads Mikkelsen. It's true that he's surely not new to the game, having appeared as a Bond villain in "Casino Royale", and worked with Nicolas Winding Refn numerous times on films like "Pusher", "Bleeder", and "Valhalla Rising". He's not quite a household name, though that could change rather soon given quite a few opportunistic projects opening up for the skilled actor. The man has recently taken the Best Actor award at this year's Cannes Film Festival for "The Hunt", and that seems to be the catapult for this recent surge of activity.

Marvel Studios: Season Two?

There are several things that rummage through a studio's mind after a colossal debut like the one "The Avengers" just had. Immediately after "The Dark Knight" came out, there was heated speculation as to whether there would ever be another "Batman" film from Christopher Nolan. What does working on a film like that do to you after your featured star dies? But here we are four years later, with another go on the way. The "Transformers" series isn't at all likely to die down anytime soon. I'm surprised Warner Bros. hasn't pushed for further "Harry Potter" iterations wherever they can find them. So the question is worth raising, even if it's already answered, where do "The Avengers" go from here?

Marvel Studios already has its three primary sub-franchises renewed for further adventures. "Iron Man 3" has long been in pre-production, and will soon begin official photography. There's quite a bit of news and buzz surrounding that enterprise, with Ben Kingsley in talks to play a sort of villain for the film. Guy Pearce is pretty much a shoo-in at this point for a role. It's really advocating for a wide palette of stars in every Marvel film to come. They can't make excuses for not having people of high caliber anymore. Shane Black of "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" is set to direct the film after writing it, but what gets me most excited for the film is cinematographer John Toll. Tapping the man who shot "The Thin Red Line" for your film will get you that kind of attention.