Who Doesn’t Love Dancing Robots?

Coming up with this week’s Fan Film Friday was actually pretty tough. There are plenty of fan stop-motion films out there in the webverse, but which one warrants more attention? It had to be the one that doesn’t acknowledge the new films, as Bay’s latest sequel ruins Transformers for any real fan, so we ultimately went with the easiest, a dancing Optimus Prime.

The original, done about 3 years ago by inspirational comedian Judson Laipply, goes down as one of the most viewed YouTube videos of all time, with over 100 million hits. Check out Optimus’s version after the jump, and here’s the original Evolution of Dance, in case you feel the need to compare.

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When the Witchblade was formed, it was created to represent the balance between the light and the dark. Created by both the Darkness and the Angelus, the universe’s two primal forces, the mythical weapon bonded with New York City Police Officer Sara Pezzini. Recently the Witchblade split in to its two sides, with Sara retaining its Darkness while the light side went to Danielle Baptiste.

The two battled it out in last month’s Witchblade #127 which culminated in Sara sending Danielle off the edge of the building they fought on, only for Sara to be surprised herself by Angelus’s forces when Sabine plunged her blade through Sara’s back. Recently, we were given a sneak peek at the first few pages of Witchblade #128 and simply put, they look beautiful.

Stjepan Sejic’s pages look more like a painting than simple pencils. The level of detail and the backgrounds are gorgeous. Picking up the moments after the end of Witchblade #127, the fate of Sara and her side of the Witchblade is revealed.

Even in the first few pages, a few surprises pop up keeping the excitement high after seeing the series’ main character take a seemingly fatal blow at the end of the previous issue. Coming July 1st, this is a book that is definitely worth taking a look at. In the meantime, check out the bigger preview pages after the jump.

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According to various sources including CNN, The LA Times and TMZ, the ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson has died from an apparent heart attack at an LA hospital. He was 50 years old. Jackson was rushed midday today from his home in Bel-Air to UCLA Medical Center, where he could not be revived.

Jackson, the seventh child of the Jackson family, started in the music business at the age of 11 as a member of the Jackson 5 with his brothers. The group had a number of hits on Motown in the 1970s.

Five of his solo albums are some of the top-selling albums of all time: “Off the Wall,” 1982′s “Thriller,” “Bad,” “Dangerous” and “HISstory.” He was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and had 13 Grammy awards and 13 number one singles. He has sold over 750 million albums worldwide. His total earnings have been estimated at $500 million dollars.

His music videos on MTV, such as “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” were some of the most influential early music videos, and his sound influenced numerous hip hop and R & B artists. He also had a tumultuous personal life and was tried and acquitted of sexual abuse allegations in 2005.

He married nurse Deborah Jeanne Rowe, with whom he fathered a son, Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., also known as Prince, and a daughter, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. After they divorced in 1999, he retained full custody of the children. In the early 1990s, he was briefly married to Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley.

To celebrate his 50th birthday, Sony BMG released a compilation album, “King of Pop,” in various countries, but it was not released in the U.S.

Are you a Spider-Man fan? Of course you are. Are you disappointed that you didn’t get a chance to pick up Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem #1 and feel there’s now something missing in your life? Of course you do.

But don’t worry, Marvel knows your pain and is doing something about it.

Here’s all the info from the official Marvel press release:

Marvel is pleased to announce that Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem #1 has sold out at Diamond (though copies may be available at the retail level) and will return with Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem #1 Second Printing Variant! The end of the Ultimate Universe is upon us! Spider-Man has vanished, presumed dead amongst the wreckage of Dr. Strange’s home. How will his closest of kin deal with his disappearance?

The Ultimate Spider-Man All Stars of award-winners Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley and Stuart Immonen deliver a powerful story of a city mourning its friendly neighborhood protector. Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem #1 Second Printing Variant features the interior art of Immonen on a new wraparound cover!

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Let’s be honest, Apple makes some pretty great stuff. From iPhones to iPods, MacBook Pros to MacBooks, the company’s products are innovative, stylish and fun to use. They’ve carved out a well- deserved reputation for making some of the best products around full of great and useful features.

Up until now, the usefulness and features of Apple’s latest MacBook computers have been pretty well documented. Fortunately, there’s one more awesome new feature that most people don’t know about that we can bring you today in this video taken by Mac lover COREANOMAC.

Trying to put into words just how awesome this new, previously undocumented feature of the MacBook is would be an exercise in futility. You’ll just have to watch the video after the break and see for yourself. Believe me, once you’ve seen it, you’ll never look at your plain, old laptop the same way again.

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Variety is reporting that from now on, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will now nominate ten films for Best Picture instead of five. According to the article, the change comes after some observations of the 2008 nominees and Oscars show by the Academy, critics and the public.

Perhaps after the exclusion of such films as Wall-E and The Dark Knight from the Best Picture category last year, much to the dismay of many film lovers, industry workers, and cinema critics, the Academy hopes to “widen the spectrum” of films nominated. The board hopes that this change will “make it more interesting and less cloistered” in the future, giving room for both small independent movies and big box office hits to win Best Picture.

This change will only affect the Best Picture category, and not any others. This also isn’t the first time the Academy has done this. The Best Picture category had ten nominees from 1931 to 1943.

This week was, to say the least, a BIG week in comics. My personal Pull List was 23 issues of all new books. Comic stores even said how expensive a week it was just by the sheer volume of books released. I’m just doing my best to keep you informed with the newest quality and best ongoing series from around the comics world. With that said, let’s get to the pulls.

Pull of the Week:

Dark Avengers / Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1 – Marvel – $3.99

Score: 8.5

The new superstar creative team of 2009 has finally arrived. Matt Fraction and Marc Silvestri may be the best combination of writer and artist to be placed on any series thus far this year. This one shot issue does a fantastic job of setting events in to motion for the Utopia crossover as well as the formation of the Dark X-Men team.

With anti-mutant tensions at an all time high following footage of the massacre in Alaska following the first mutant birth since M-Day coming to the public’s attention, Simon Trask and his Humanity Now organization march on San Francisco to support the enactment of a law regulating mutant breeding to prevent another incident like that in Alaska from occurring again.

They are met on the streets by another peaceful protest lead by Beast along with Northstar, Hellion, Rockslide and Pixie. Trask incites a riot to break out which ultimately results in his injury at the hands of Hellion and the incarceration of Beast. Playing off the anti-mutant sentiments, the media puts the blame on the X-Men for the riot which leads to further protests and violence around the city between the opposing groups for and against mutant rights, as well as the X-Men who put themselves in the roles of peacekeepers between the two.

The world looks on as these protests lead to further rioting to the point that the San Fran PD and the X-Men can no longer keep everything in control. Enter Norman Osborn, H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Dark Avengers. Split up and playing with kid gloves on, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Hawkeye and Ares take to the city to calm the riots.

Norman doesn’t put himself in the field but instead calls a meeting with one of his Cabal, Emma Frost. He had placed Emma in charge of making sure mutants were kept in control and promised not to intervene until she failed to uphold her side of the bargain. Norman hands Emma a folder with a large white X on it and lets her know that now is the time to think big.

As said before here on the Pull List, Fraction knows the X-Men. He can handle all of the characters expertly, much like Chris Clairemont was able to during his famous run on the series. Fraction also displays an understand of not just the major players like Cyclops, Emma and Beast. He also takes the supporting roles very seriously with his great representation of Mercury, Hellion and the Cuckoo triplets.

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For those of you who wanted more Watchmen the first time around or felt like something was missing from the film, you’re going to get your chance to see the movie the way director Zack Snyder intended. According to Variety, Warner Bros. has set a one-week theatrical release for Snyder’s director’s cut of Watchmen, which contains much of the additional footage excised from the initial theatrical release, starting July 17th at theaters in Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and New York.

Snyder made the announcement yesterday during an event at the studio to promote the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Watchmen: The Director’s Cut and 300: The Complete Experience on July 21st. The Watchmen director’s cut contains approximately 28 additional minutes of footage not seen before.

The theatrical run takes place during the week before Comic-Con in San Diego where Snyder is set to host a July 25th “BD Live” screening of Watchmen. Owners of the Blu-ray version of the film will be able to use the BD Live feature to watch the movie and discussion at Comic-Con simultaneously.

The DVD and Blu-Ray versions of Watchmen hit stores on July 21st.

If you’re one of the many Star Wars fans who can’t make the trip to San Diego for Comic-Con this year to see the fan-favorite Lucasfilm panel presentation, don’t worry because the G4 network has got you covered. This year, Lucasfilm is teaming up with G4 to present the first-ever live television broadcast of the event from the San Diego Comic-Con. Cool, right? But wait, that’s not all.

Lucasfilm also promises to screen never-before-seen footage, breaking news, surprise announcements, guest stars and more. The Star Wars Spectacular will air Saturday, July 25th at 2 p.m. ET/PT on G4 and is hosted by Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira. Joining them will be Lucasfilm’s own Steve Sansweet and guests from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Voice actors from the show will also be present to provide an insider look at the Star Wars universe and perform a live reading of a new Clone Wars script. Additionally, fans will be able to submit Clone Wars questions for the panel through a special G4 site. Now if we can just get Olivia and Megan Fox to wear a “Slave Leia” costume, we might really be onto something.

San Diego Comic-Con runs from July 23 – 26 and The Flickcast team will be there in force. So, be sure to check back right here for all your Comic-Con news and info.

Marvel has released a rather confusing image of a Terminator-esque Wolverine along with the criptic message “The End.” Of course, that alone has to fuel speculation as to what this message and image mean exactly. Could it be that Wolverine will finally succumb to some sort of damage or attack even he can’t regenerate from? Or, is it something else entirely?

Marvel is already doing three different stories featuring the future of Wolverine. In case you’re not familiar, they are Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Wolverine: The End and X-Men: The End. This image and message seems to suggest they may be bringing a fourth story to the table that may definitively establish the fate of one of their most popular characters.

Of course, even if it does end up meaning the death of Wolverine, that really doesn’t have to be the end, does it? Its not like characters in comics really stay dead forever these days.

Be sure to check out the much larger promo pic after the break.

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The Dark Knight was the big winner with five awards at the 35th annual Saturn Awards last night in Burbank, taking home awards for best action/adventure/thriller film, best writing (Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan), best supporting actor (Heath Ledger), best music (Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard) and best special effects.

Other multiple winners included The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Iron Man, with three each. Button won best fantasy film, best supporting actress (Tilda Swinton) and best makeup. Iron Man won best science fiction film, best actor (Robert Downey Jr.) and best director (Jon Favreau).

Other awards winners included Hellboy II: The Golden Army, which won for best horror film, Angelina Jolie for best actress in Changeling, Jaden Christopher Smith for best performance by a younger actor in The Day the Earth Stood Still, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for best costumes, Let the Right One In for best international film and WALL-E for best animated film.

Battlestar Galactica also won three awards in the TV catagories: best actor (Edward James Olmos), best actress (Mary McDonnell) and best syndicated/cable television series. Dexter won two acting awards, Jennifer Carpenter for best supporting actress and Jimmy Smits for a guest starring role.

Click through for a complete list of winners.

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Hey there, did you happen to catch the show Merlin on Sunday night? If not, then you missed the awesome extended Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince preview that ran during the show. However, fear not because we here at The Flickast have your back. How? We’ve got the extended preview to bring you right now, courtesy of NBC.

In this clip we’re given a further glimse into the world of this new film and how the gang has changed, and stayed the same, since the last movie. All your favorites are in attendance including Ron, Hermoine, Dumbledore, Snape, Voldemort and, of course, Harry himself. They’re just a bit older, wiser and slightly worse for wear.

We also get to see that this Harry Potter film is pretty dark and the stakes have risen quite high for our heroes. In fact, the fate of their world, and ours, hangs in the balance. It looks pretty good to me, I have to say.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens everywhere on July 15th. Click through to check out the extended trailer. Its worth a look.

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