AMC Mail Bag - What Makes A Movie An Indie Film? Is James Spader Ultron Just For The Money?

In this edition of AMC Mail Bag (Saturday September 20th 2014) we take the following viewer emails:
Garry Hasara writes: Been watching since Man of Steel review. Great show. My question is what constitutes an "independent film". I recently saw a list of top grossing independent films of 2014 and at #1 was The Grand Budapest Hotel released by Fox Searchlight. Now Fox is obviously a major studio, so what makes TGBH Independent?
Steven Pierre writes: Hey AMC, love the show, love you guys. Daily watcher since the Man of Steel review. My question is regarding the Winter Soldier's potential connection to the new Ultron. Spoilers, in the Jersey Bonker scene with Zola, we learn through him that HYDRA has found a way to transfer a man's consciousness to a computer. I think this scene was there to provide a bridge to the creation of Ultron, who in the book is a computer modeled after Hank Pym's brain pattern/consciousness. Could it be how Stark creates Ultron? on top of HYDRA's tech?
Brian Lynden Johnston writes: Hi, Great shows this week! With the Man From Uncle release date moving from January 2015 to August 2015, does this show the studio has more confidence in it? I remember a few weeks ago January was referred to as "the place where movies go to die". Do you have any other Man From Uncle news? Am I the only one looking forward to it?
Ahmad Bakour writes: Hercules (2014) has made a modest $210,000,000 at the box office with a $100,000,000 production budget. Factoring in marketing, etc the movie barely broke even! Dwayne "rock" Johnson was the focal point of the movie and it didn't really do all that well. Why do you think this movie didn't really do all that well and should we be concerned for the upcoming Shazam movie Thanks and bring on the filthy!
Douglas Trueman writes: I only recently found your show online and have gone back almost a years worth to watch. Completely addicting! Since watching the comic-con panel for Age of Ultron, something has continued to irk me. I got the impression that James Spader doesn't care about this world and was only there because he had to be. My question is... With comic book movies getting as big as they are and making as much money as they are do you think that actors will want to start getting into them for the money and eventually lead to actors phoning in their performances, maybe hurting the genre that took so long becoming viable?
Derek Laswell writes: Hello friends of AMC. I love the show and I keep up to date with all my movie news straight from you guys. Who do you think will win at the box office: John Wick or The Equalizer? Both cliched movies included some hard boiled, badass assassin coming out of retirement for revenge. But, The Equalizer has Denzel Washington. And Denzel is Denzel. Come on. And Keanu Reeves is Keanu Reeves. And HE'S BACK. I pick John Wick. Your thoughts?
G Man writes: Hey guys I've become a huge amc movie talk fan over the past year and I always look forward to watching the show. I was wondering about the two Terrence Malick films that were shot a couple years ago. They have my favorite actors attached (i.e. Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender and Ryan Gosling). These two films have flown completely under the radar considering the notable talent involved. I don't understand how some movies get shot but remain in limbo for years after filming/post are "done". Terrence Malick films take forever to come together, sure, but isn't there some obligation to the people who financed the movies for a release deadline? Have you guys heard of any movement on these projects? Thanks and keep growing the show!
Dr Dane writes: I have been hearing information about the Joe Cornish directed film about skull island for legendary pictures and got a little confused because I remember reading a while ago that Neil Marshall, director of the awesome movie "the descent" was also attached to a skull island movie titled "skull island: blood of the king". I say bring on the Neil Marshall movie instead.
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