Avengers

Finally, a studio gets it right. "Avengers" producer Jerry Weintraub has kept "the quintessentially English background and characters of the TV show" intact, and that's precisely what made the original series so successful ("A Decidedly British Accent," by David Gritten, Nov. 23). I can hear a collective sigh of relief from the legions of fans worldwide. Like them, I can hardly wait to see the upcoming feature film version. And having Patrick Macnee appear in it is icing on the cake.

Grab your blankets and beach chairs, Oscar is going casual. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday the slate of movies for its first outdoor screening series, to be held at its new Oscars Outdoors venue in Hollywood. The lineup, which kicks off June 15 with a screening of "Casablanca," is a mixture of classics and contemporary films designed to appeal to a broad swath of the moviegoing public. Screenings will take place Friday and Saturday evenings through Aug. 18, with Saturday evenings devoted to family-friendly fare, such as "The Princess Bride" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

After kicking around the festival circuit for a few years, "Ingenious" finally sees release thanks in no small part to the risen fortunes of Jeremy Renner. Now, of course, Renner is a star in the Jason Bourne and "Avengers" action franchises, but before his Oscar-nominated turn in "The Hurt Locker," he was more or less a less a largely unknown working actor. Directed by Jeff Balsmeyer from a script by Mike Cram and based on a true story, the film is the tale of two friends, one an inventor (Dallas Roberts, himself a capable, underrated talent)

Is Hollywood having a blowout year or a dismal one? The confounding answer: both. This weekend, "The Dark Knight Rises"is expected to dominate the box office, joining "The Avengers"and "The Hunger Games"in a small, elite group of high-profit 2012 blockbusters. Buoyed by strong reviews and an eager fan base, director Christopher Nolan's final Batman movie will probably debut with around $190 million in ticket sales, and has a shot at surpassing the three-day "Avengers" record of $207 million.

Ticket-buyers for "Re: LAX--Stories From an Airport," a stage production set in an LAX departure area, will feel as if they're going on a flight themselves. "When you buy a ticket for our play, it'll be inside an airline ticket jacket," said G. Bruce Smith, one of five authors who contributed to the production at the 2100 Square Feet Theater in midtown L.A. "We're going to have someone in the lobby begging people for money, just like at the airport.

For some Anglophiles, the Advent season is not complete without gray skies, Gothic architecture and the hearing of Lessons-and-Carols. Any Angelenos who fit that description but hadn't already left for London were in luck Sunday as the Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary's College's Chamber Music in Historic Sites series (with the help of Mother Nature) presented an afternoon of all three.

"This is music for shootin' people in the face," jokes Jake Duzsik, lead singer of the experimental L.A.-based rock band Health as he listens to the single "Tears," which the band recorded as part of the soundtrack it created for the recently released video game Max Payne 3. "It's for the ladies. " The third installment of the Max Payne video game series, which sold 3 million copies during its initial launch May 15, is this year's blockbuster offering from the influential and profitable Rockstar Games.