I got a chance to watch the pilot for NBC’s new show The Philanthropist, which debuts tonight at 10PM/9C, and I have to say while I was quite entertained for most of it , I was also somewhat underwhelmed as well. Its not that the show is bad or anything, quite the contrary. It has great production value, lots of action, a mostly engaging cast and even a morale. I just prefer my morals slightly less “in your face.”

By way of backstory, The Philanthropist follows the adventures of Billionaire playboy Teddy Rist, the “99th-richest man in the world” and his search for the meaning of it all after his son dies tragically a year prior. Teddy is undergoing a “crisis of conscience” and realizes that just writing a check isn’t enough anymore, he needs to “do something” in order to make a difference in the world. While I applaud that sentiment, more people should really feel that way, I question what follows and how Teddy decides to satisfy this need.

During the course of the show, Teddy decideds that the only way he can help is by personally delivering a much needed vaccine to a village in Nigeria. The village, coincidentally, where a boy he thought he saved during an earlier flood but is now missing, lives. So, Teddy decides he will deliver the vaccine to the boy’s villiage and make sure the boy is alive and well in the process. You get it, right? He couldn’t save his own son and now he must save this child in order to be redeemed.

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In addition to the fantastic X-Force, one of my other personal favorite comics of late is Peter David’s excellent X-Factor. His take on some of the more peripheral X-Men characters is always interesting and he manages to put his own spin on them and take them in new and different direction. Plus, David is just a great writer, which help immensely.

Marvel hasn’t pushed the series as much as they maybe could have but now it appears they are going to give it some love as the series hits issue #45 today.

Here’s all the scoop directly from Marvel via an official press release:

One of Marvel’s most critically acclaimed series continues in X-Factor #45, on-sale today, and if you haven’t tried this series, now’s the time! Superstar Eisner Award winning writer Peter David, along with the fan favorite artistic team of Valentine De Landro and Marco Santucci, present the perfect jumping on point for new readers.

Doctor Doom and Madrox meet in the future! Shatterstar battles X-Factor! And just what is the Cortex? Now’s your chance to find out why X-Factor is so red hot with fans and critics alike!

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With the number of GPS owners in the country growing at a substantial rate, more and more people are trying to do cool things with their navigational devices, from downloading custom avatars to now custom turn-by-turn voices and points of interest.

P.I.G.Tones, The Politically Incorrect GPS, is, according to their website, “a software company that offers Garmin and Tom Tom users the ability to download cool, funny, and irreverent new voices to their devices, replacing the boring standard voices that come with the units.”

Voices range from Stewie and Peter from Family Guy, to “The Governator”, Sean Connery, Homer, Cartman, and a slew of hilarious others. Granted, these aren’t licensed, which means you won’t get Seth McFarlane doing the official voices of Stewie or Peter, but the impression is pretty spot-on.

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Sometimes, if you’ve been good, you get what you wish for. This is one of those times. Why do I say that? Well, read on. In an interview with Megan Fox the, shall we just say very attractive, star of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, she revealed some very interesting bits of info sure to delight fanboys (And girls too, we’re all equal here).

One such bit of info of particular interest to yours truly was that Fox really wants to go to Comic-Con in San Diego next month and, not only that, being the big Star Wars fan that she is, she would really like to go dressed in a “Slave Leia” costume. Oh boy. You hear that sound? That’s the sound of millions of fanboys (And yes, still girls as well) heads exploding.

I don’t know if Fox is really going to attend Comic-Con dressed that way but now any reluctance I had about going next month has miraculously disappeared. See you in San Diego!

Oh, by the way, Fox also talks about some other stuff in the video but really, she had me at “Slave Leia.”

Check out the full video after the jump.

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Oh to be in Amsterdam this week. No, not just for the friendly people, the Heineken beer brewery tour or the many other exotic attractions. There’s another reason Amsterdam was the place to be this week: James Cameron screened 24 minutes of his upcoming film Avatar at the Cinema Expo there. The Audiences reaction to the footage? The words “jaw-dropping”, for example, were used several times in the description over at Coming Soon.

Flanked by the films stars Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and Stephen Lang, Cameron himself introduced the footage declaring that the 3D renaissance had arrived. Also according to the tipster at Coming Soon, the footage “utilized the RealD XL Cinema System. The 3D presentation was on a 55-foot screen with nearly 10-foot Lamberts of light, delivering the largest and brightest 3D presentation at Cinema Expo.” Nice.

Cameron also released two more images from the film to help build the hype. Obviously, we’re eager to see the movie, which rumor says will be featured in a panel and possible screening of some of the footage at Comic-Con next month. We’ve also heard that Cameron is trying to get Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center rigged for 3-D projection to screen the footage. If so, I think you better start lining up now if you want to see it.

Avatar hits theaters in December. Check out the bigger images after the jump.

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Back in 2007, Michael Bay accomplished what seemed to be a miracle in the film community: he took a nearly dead property that was built off of a line of action figures, and made it into a highly successful–and one can even say decent–film for both old and new fans. Sadly, with Revenge of the Fallen, Bay and his team try to top themselves with a grandiose successor, and come up pretty short.

The plot follows Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), two years after the events of Transformers. Sam’s now off to college where he and blah blah blah…does any of this matter? Let’s face it, you’re going to see this movie for one reason, and one reason only: to see gigantic robots beat the crap out of each other. I’m happy to say, you get what you come for, but that’s about it. This movie is pretty much identical to it’s predecessor, now with 30% more character development, mass murder, and zany humor. Oh, don’t forget a brand new track by Linkin Park, which sounds exactly like the last track by Linkin Park.

There are some pretty embarrassing moments for a film of this caliber. One of which is the use of racism in the form of CGI robots. The racism isn’t very blatant, as it is overused stereotypes that are meant to be funny, but come out laughable, and not in a good way. Two characters, Mudflap and Skids, stand out above the rest. They are designated as the “urban” Autobots, donning two gold front teeth and illiteracy. There is also a Mexican ice cream truck at the beginning of the film that sets the bar pretty low. And those who say that Jazz in the original cartoon set a precedent for characters like Mudflap and Skids should know that Scatman Crothers, who originally voiced the character, transcends race.

A major downfall for the film, which seems to be a complaint across the board, is the massive 150 minutes of the film’s length. There is definitely a period where the audience, as a whole, glances at their collective watch. Without knowing the true story, I wouldn’t doubt that the film had a much darker first cut and the studio decided to amp it up with things like jive-talking sidekicks and robot balls (yes, there are robot testicles in the film). There’s definitely a dark film in those 2+ hours, and it would be interesting to see that cut someday.

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Oni Press, publishers of such outstanding comics and graphic novels such as Wasteland, Stephen Colbert’s Tek Jansen and Scott Pilgrim, has announced today something really special for you aspiring comic book artists out there who don’t know how to break into the business: A talent search.

Check out all the info in the official press release from Oni Press:

In past years the Oni Press Talent Search has been a terrific success, and this year we’re excited to continue our search for up and coming artists at Comic-Con International in San Diego, California July 22nd – 27th, and through the mail until August 15th.

THE GUIDELINES

In order to have your portfolio reviewed, you must illustrate at least one of the below stories. Realizing that different artists are geared towards different subject matter, three professional writers have each developed a five-page script, using a different genre and showcasing a different personal scripting style.

Supernatural comedy titled Our Hero by Philip Gelatt, writer of Labor Days, and Indiana Jones Adventures.

http://www.onipress.com/talent_search_2009/our_hero_by_Philip_Gelatt.pdf

Espionage thriller titled Cold City by Antony Johnson, writer of Wasteland and the Dead Space video game series.

http://www.onipress.com/talent_search_2009/cold_city_by_Antony_Johnston.pdf

Western drama titled Medicine Show by Frank Beaton, writer of various short stories appearing in This is a Souvenir, Outlaw Territory, 24/Seven and others.

http://www.onipress.com/talent_search_2009/medicine_show_by_Frank_Beaton.pdf

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Previously on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt had to go on without Christina but were joined by special guest Rick Marshall of MTV’s Splashpage and Movie’s Blog to talk comics, movies and all things geek. Some of the topics discussed included John Carter of Mars casting, the rebirth of Captain America, the power of Twitter in movie marketing and upcoming comic-book-to-film adaptations including Whiteout, Scott Pilgrim and Iron Man 2.

This week, Christina is back and the team is ready for action with new topics such as Megan Fox as Lara Croft, the new Conan and his similarity to the old Conan, Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, the sad performance of Year One, the return of Futurama and much more. And once again, the team made some interesting picks this week including one of Christina’s favorite video games, The Sims 3, Matt’s pick of Justice League Unlimited and Chris’ pick of the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks miniseries Band of Brothers.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

Last night on The Tonight Show, Conan O’ Brian aired a couple clips to pay his respects to the late, great Ed McMahon who died yesterday at the age of 86. Among the great moment he showcased were several clips of Mc Mahon and Carson together, a clip of McMahon visiting Conan and his co-host Andy Richter to play a little game of quarters and Conan and Andy talked a bit about McMahon’s great comic timing.

The clips showcase what a talented and consumate professional McMahon really was and how much Conan and Richter owe to the classic comedic duo of Carson and McMahon that came before them. Check out the clips after the jump.

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According to a recent TV Guide interview, one of my favorite characters from Lost who, sadly, got eaten by the smoke monster, would like to return to the show. Like most fans of Lost, I was pretty disappointed when Mr. Eko, played by the awesome Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (previously seen on Oz),  seemed to die in season three. Eko was a very interesting character who helped Locke discover new ways of looking at things. Plus, he was just cool.

Adewale, who will guest star in the Aug 7 episode of Monk and appears in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, now says, according to the interview, that he wants to go back to the island. The actor says he left the show after his parents died in 2006, but he’d like to return to give his character some closure.

“To be able to give that rich character some completion would be nice,” he told TV Guide.

Agreed. It would be great to see him return to Lost. The show is still going well and I’m enjoying it very much, but his character, of all the ones who’ve died so far, is the one I miss the most. If there’s a choice between bringing him, or one of the other characters like Charlie or Boone back, I hope Lost‘s producers decide on Eko. Let the rest stay dead. They weren’t that interesting anyway.

The good people at NBC have seen fit to send us some promos for three of their upcoming Fall tv series. The shows, Parenthood, Community and Trauma, each have recognizable and likeable casts, good production value and look to be worth checking out. Here’s a bit about each show.

Parenthood – From Imagine Entertainment’s Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, writer/executive producer Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights), and Emmy Award-winning director Thomas Schlamme (The West Wing) comes this contemporary re-imagining of the blockbuster film Parenthood, focusing on the everyday challenges that modern families face while raising children and starting over.

Community – From Emmy Award-winning directors Joe and Anthony Russo (Arrested Development) comes a smart comedy about higher education…and lower expectations. Community focuses on a band of misfits, at the center of which is a fast-talkin’ lawyer whose degree has been revoked (Joel McHale, The Soup). They form a study group and, in Breakfast Club fashion, end up learning a lot more about themselves than they do about their course work.

Trauma – From executive producer Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights), Trauma is the first high-octane medical franchise to live exclusively in the field, where the real action is. Trauma is an intense, action-packed look at one of the most dangerous medical professions in the world: first responder paramedics.

Be sure to check out all three promos after the break. For all the latest news on NBC’s upcoming Fall schedule, go here.

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David Fincher, director of such diverse and entertaining films as Fight Club, Seven, Zodiac and the recent The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is apparently about to add yet another film to his diverse roster of credits. According to Variety, Fincher is in what the showbiz folks refer to as “advanced talks” to take on the directing chores of Arron Sorkin’s latest writing project The Social Network.

The film, which will focus on the evolution of Facebook from its 2004 creation on the Harvard campus by sophomore Mark Zuckerberg to a juggernaut with more than 200 million members, is being produced by Scott Rudin, Michael De Luca and Trigger Street. Columbia Pictures is the studio. According to the article, the studio hopes to start production later this year.

If this turns out to be Fincher’s next film, I gotta say I’m now way more interested in the story of Facebook than I was before. Sure, its very interesting how the site went from obscurity to become what it is today. But I’m not sure I would want to see a movie about it.

Now, if Fincher ends up being in charge, I do. The next question is, who will play Zuckerberg? My vote? Topher Grace.