Rewind: The Week In Movies, April 24-May 1st

This week, we celebrated the latest from prolific filmmaker Werner Herzog, while bemoaning Jeremy Renner‘s new busy work and talking hot teen material like Zac Efron, “Twilight” and “Atlas Shrugged“!

– Make sure to check out our extensive retrospective on the collected works of Werner Herzog. Remember that we may not agree on some of the critiques, but any opportunity you might have to learn a little more about the films of Herzog should be seized.

– The summer movie season started very early this year, and Drew Taylor has our glimpse at the first blockbuster of the season. His review of “Fast Five” drew the attention of several excited for 2011’s first genuine big-ticket attraction.

– New photos surfaced from the making of “Melancholia,” Lars Von Trier’s latest troublemaking release. The snaps, courtesy of the film’s website, promise something pretty strange and ethereal, and for many, it’s appropriately looking like one of the big movie events of the year.

– The buzzed-about action script “Die In A Gunfight” has a director. First-timer Anthony Mandle will be working with star Zac Efron, beginning his transition to adult fare. Our comments section seemed to be ready and willing to defend Efron against detractors that simply weren’t present.

– The most damning retirement in recent cinematic history just got postponed, as Steven Soderbergh announced a new project on his plate. “Magic Mike” is the long-in-development autobiographical story of a male stripper that Channing Tatum has been trying to get in front of cameras, and it appears his “Haywire” director will be the man for the job. Before his final two pictures, Soderbergh seems eager to shoot “Magic Mike” this fall.

– Photos! Kevin Jagernauth brought us new snapshots from Entertainment Weekly on the shooting of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One,” particularly a post-coital moment over eggs. Excitement! Look out for the most hilarious comments section of the month.

– The zombie project “World War Z” lurched back to life this week with the news that Mireille Enos, she of the hit AMC series “The Killing,” will be joining Brad Pitt in the zombie epic. The line for the Enos Fanclub starts here.

– Our own Oliver Lyttleton felt the need to address the growing ubiquity of Jeremy Renner as he offered his vocal chords to “Ice Age: Continental Drift” (now THAT’S a subtitle that gets kids excited!). From December to the summer of 2012, Renner will be seen in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,” “The Avengers,” ‘Ice Age’ and “The Bourne Legacy.” Man obviously hates taking vacations.

– Do you hate movies, art, coherence, and in general, people? Congratulations, because this week was the debut of the new trailer for “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” Hope you like your crap supersized.

– Our plan has worked. Together, joining with the majority of mainstream critics, we have killed plans for the second and third parts of “Atlas Shrugged.” Producer John Aglialoro, who self-financed ‘Part One’ to a minor theatrical release and suitably muted numbers, seems to think that the critics were the problem, though he also claims a proper I’ll-show-you solution would be to retire. Gee, don’t go.