Captain America

In keeping with the Ministry's rich tradition of covering beefcake, congratulations may be in order for Anthony Mackie.  The 32-year-old actor is reportedly in talks to play Falcon, a super pal of Chris Evans' Captain America in Marvel's sequel "Captain America: The Winter Soldier. " While there's no official word on the deal, Falcon boasts talents such as telepathically communicating with birds and taking flight with the help of a special suit,  according to the Hollywood Reporter.  Mackie broke out alongside Jeremy Renner in 2008's "The Hurt Locker," and turned heads with the 2011 cover of Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue.  He's got "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" in theaters, but Mackie's next turn will likely generate just as much heat as his potential induction into the Marvel universe: He'll be flexing guns alongside Mark Wahlberg in "Pain and Gain.

May 4 The Avengers A team of superheroes including Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and Thor unite to save the world. With Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth. Written and directed by Joss Whedon. In Imax 3-D. WaltDisney Pictures The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel A group of British retirees travel to India to spend their golden years at a newly restored hotel but find the accommodations to be less than palatial. With Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel and Tom Wilkinson.

The New York Philharmonic has named a new executive director to tackle huge financial shortfalls at the nation's oldest orchestra. Orchestra officials announced Wednesday that Matthew VanBesien will succeed Zarin Mehta as the Philharmonic's top administrator. Mehta, brother of conductor Zubin Mehta, is retiring. VanBesien, a 42-year-old Missouri native, is currently the managing director of Australia's Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He started his music career as a French horn player for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

Joe Simon, a comic book industry pioneer whose defining career moment came in the dark days of March 1941 when he delivered a star-spangled superhero named Captain America, has died. He was 98. Simon died Wednesday night in New York City after a brief illness, according to a statement from his family, and his death adds a solemn final note to the 70th anniversary of his greatest creation, Captain America, who leaped across the big screen this summer with the Marvel Studios film "Captain America: The First Avenger.

Captain America: The First Avenger Paramount, $29.99; Blu-ray, $42.99/$54.99 After the disappointing comic book films "Green Lantern" and "Thor," it's refreshing to see a superhero movie as enjoyably can-do as "Captain America: The First Avenger. " Chris Evans plays the iconic patriot, a former weakling named Steve Rogers who undergoes a "super soldier" treatment and then is set loose to fight the Nazis' own powerhouse, Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). Director Joe Johnston, who made the similarly appealing "The Rocketeer," doesn't try anything too psychologically deep, postmodern, mythopoetic or tongue-in-cheek here.

Millions of us will gather in just a few days to observe a ritual that some have been anticipating all year. We'll spend our savings, experience a sugar rush and garb ourselves in garments inspired by our favorite characters. We'll dress up like Angry Birds or march around in tracksuits in an attempt to channel Sue Sylvester or we'll don a winged helmet à la Captain America. We are, of course, talking about Halloween, a holiday that will be celebrated by more than 160 million Americans, according to the National Retail Federation, which also predicts that we'll spend almost $7 billion on merchandise, $1.2 billion of that for costumes.

The moody legal thriller "Puncture" stars Chris Evans ("Captain America: The First Avenger") as scrappy Houston lawyer Mike Weiss, a guy with a sharp mind, persuasive patter and reckless addiction to coke and prostitutes. But before we're introduced to Weiss as a tattooed motel denizen who likes to practice his trial arguments shirtless, high and surrounded by sketchy types, directors Adam & Mark Kassen offer up a brief prologue with an equally ominous needle scenario: a young ER nurse (Vinessa Shaw)

The story of the Chilean miners who were trapped underground for more than two months is on its way to the big screen. The 33 miners have sold the rights to their story to producer Mike Medavoy, the producer and the miners' representatives announced Monday. The planned film will recount the remarkable plight of the miners who were trapped for 69 days after the San Jose mine they were working in collapsed near Copiapo, Chile. "Motorcycle Diaries" screenwriter Jose Rivera is set to write the script.

"Captain America: The First Avenger" outmuscled its competition at the box office this weekend, including Harry Potter, and had the most forceful opening of any big-budget superhero movie released this summer. The 3-D film, which stars Chris Evans as a puny military reject transformed into a superhero via a secret government program, grossed a solid $65.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to an estimate from distributor Paramount Pictures. That was over $10 million more than both "X-Men: First Class" and "Green Lantern" collected upon their debuts in June and just a tad above the $65.7-million opening weekend for "Thor" in May. "Captain America" was also able to take down Warner Bros.' mighty box office wizard.