‘The Avengers’ Concept Art, ‘Men in Black III’ and Nerdist Cosplay — Check It or Chuck It

There’s a lot to watch, play, read and stream out there. Some of it is good, and some of it is bad. Every week, pop culture junkie Mike Moody will help you navigate through the week’s glut of entertainment and pop culture offerings with ‘Check It or Chuck It’: A list of five things to enjoy and five things to avoid for the week.

‘The Avengers’ concept art, ‘Men in Black III’ and John Mayer are just some of the things to “check” and “chuck” this week.

Awesome ‘Avengers’ Concept Art

People of Earth! Come here. I want to give all of you a great big bear hug! You chose awesome over awful this weekend by ignoring the vapid volleys of ‘Battleship’ and treating yourself to another screening of Joss Whedon’s fun, inspired take on Marvel’s ‘Avengers.’ You’re good people!

‘Avengers’ blew newcomer ‘Battleship’ out of the water (Hey, now!) at the box-office, remaining number one for a third straight week and earning enough to make it the fourth highest grossing movie of all time. Why not celebrate the reigning champ of the current summer movie season by ogling Comic Book Movie’s not-so-secret stash of awesome ‘Avengers’ concept art? Check out this animatic storyboard of the movie’s final battle sequence:

The Hulk on Joss Whedon and ‘The Avengers’

And speaking of ‘The Avengers,’ we agree with Film Crit Hulk of Badass Digest when he shouts, “THE AVENGERS IS ABSOLUTELY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY A JOSS WHEDON FILM.” Check out Hulk’s epic 12-point list explaining why ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ creator Joss Whedon was without a doubt the right man to direct the movie.

The Cool Retro Aliens in ‘Men in Black III’

Look, we’re not saying ‘Men in Black III’ is going to be a good movie or anything. We clear on that? OK, good. Here’s what we’re saying: We’re willing to sit through two hours of Will Smith spouting bangin’ slang from 2004 (“It’s the shiznit!”) to see brilliant make-up artist Rick Baker’s amazing alien creations on the big screen. The ‘60s-set movie mostly eschews CGI creatures (Hooray!) in favor of showcasing Baker’s original, finely detailed, retro-looking space invaders. ‘Men in Black III’ opens Friday.

‘Moonrise Kingdom’

This fanciful ‘60s period piece looks like a return to form for indie director Wes Anderson, who gave us the singular coming-of-age comedy ‘Rushmore’ and the whimsical, star-studded charmer ‘The Royal Tenenbaums.’ ‘Moonrise Kingdom,’ which centers on a young scout and his cute crush going on an unsanctioned wilderness adventure, boasts an excellent cast, including Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel and, naturally, frequent Anderson collaborator Jason Schwartzman. The film opens Friday.

‘Just Cos’

The cuddly Internet beastie that is Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist Industries has just released this new web series that centers on the world of Cosplay. Nerdy hotties Chloe Dykstra and Linda Le join comedian Seth Herzog in the first episode, which highlights some of the best Cosplay offerings at the New York Comic-Con.

‘Game of Thrones’ The … er… Game?

‘Game of Thrones’ is one of the most complex and engrossing fantasy TV shows ever made. And now it’s one of most poorly reviewed video games ever made. The recently released RPG, available for Xbox 360, PC and Sony Playstation 3, has been widely panned as a rushed attempt to cash in on the popularity of the HBO show and the George R.R. Martin novels on which it’s based. The game lacks the show’s lush, high-quality presentation as well as any contributions from fan favorite cast members like Peter Dinklage and Maisie Williams.

The Hour-Long Season Premiere of ‘Melissa & Joey’

Hey, ya’ll! Remember the ‘90s? Oh man, the ‘90s were, like, so awesome. You know what I remember most about the ‘90s? I’ll give you a hint – It wasn’t watching Joey Lawrence bumble around like a lost mental patient on ‘Blossom’ or Melissa Joan Hart whine for hours on end on ‘Clarissa Explains It All.’ Oh, ABC Family, why couldn’t you just air reruns of ‘The Adventures of Pete & Pete?’

John Mayer backtracking, singing … or doing anything, really

Remember when John Mayer said all those “racy” and “controversial” things about his affairs with Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Aniston? Well now he’s calling those comments a “miscalculation” and asking us to forgive him and rock out to his new album and accept him as a solid dude who only wants to sport bad facial hair and play some seriously rad tunes, bro. No. No thank you, John Mayer.

‘Mrs. Eastwood & Company’

What happens when a third-tier cable network runs out of halfway decent reality show ideas? They make a reality show about Clint Eastwood’s wife and daughters. Apparently. Because that’s what happened. It’s airing this week on E! in case you hate yourself.

Everything on NBC

It’s time to send a message to the morally bankrupt, bottom-lined obsessed creativity killers that run the major TV networks. Just days after NBC entertainment chief Bob Grenblatt suggested that ‘Community’ creator Dan Harmon’s status as showrunner on the series was shaky at best, Sony, the company that produces the show, saw fit to fire Harmon as showrunner and replace him with two other writers. And they didn’t even give him (or us) an explanation for the shakeup, as Harmon wrote on his Tumblr.

‘Community’ is one of the boldest, funniest, and most original shows on TV because Harmon worked to make it just that. Without Harmon on board, it’s likely that ‘Community’ could become a tamer, unfunny version of its former self in its upcoming fourth season. Sony may have fired Harmon, but NBC refused to do anything about it, continuing its history of bonehead moves that have sunk the network to the bottom of the heap over the years. So, yeah, don’t watch NBC. They suck.