Things are starting to get a bit heated between everyone’s favorite fruit-flavored technology company, Apple, and what is pretty much acknowledged as the best wireless network, Verizon. Recently, Apple filed a lawsuit against rival Verizon for, among other things, its use of the “There’s an app for that” slogan during its commercials.

In response, Verizon dropped a few new holiday-themed ads poking fun at Apple’s iPhone and sending it to the classic “Island of Misfit Toys” where unwanted presents go do die. With all the back-and-forth, I certainly hope this doesn’t stop the iPhone from coming to Verizon’s network sometime while I’m still young enough to read the screen.

With rumors circulating that this blessed event may happen sometime in 2010, I guess there’s still a bit of time for Apple and Verizon to get all this snark out of their systems. At least I hope so. Check out the very amusing commercial after the break.

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Among its many virtues (and believe me, there were many) Battlestar Galactica had a terrific bunch of actors in it. Because of their high quality, its should really be no surprise that many of them, including Katee Sackhoff and Tricia Helfer to name a few, have gone on to do more work in TV and look to have long careers ahead of them. To that list we can add one more name: Michael Trucco.

Trucco, along with How I Met Your Mother co-star Virginia Williams, are set to star opposite Sarah Shahi (last seen on of one of my favorite recent shows Life) in the upcoming USA drama pilot Facing Kate. The show, in case you’re not familiar, concerns a divorced San Francisco woman (Shahi) who leaves her job as a lawyer to become a mediator following the death of her father, who headed a law firm.

Trucco will play Kate’s ex-husband, who’s also an attorney, a charmer, and who, surprise surprise, still has feelings for her. Williams will play Kate’s “obsessive and controlling younger stepmother who is determined to keep her husband’s firm.” Could be interesting. And really, who doesn’t want to see Anders in more shows? I know I do. He’s cool.

Sure, technically Jim Carrey and company won the weekend with the 3D animated adventure A Christmas Carol, but the real reason everyone’s talking about this weekend’s box office is because of another movie’s totals.

Remember a few weeks ago when I was talking about how unbelievable it was that Paranormal Activity had a per screen average of $44,000? Well a little indie called Precious came in and mopped the floor with those totals. Precious played in just 18 theaters and grossed $1.8 million. Folks, that’s a $100,000 per screen average. To put that in perspective, if A Christmas Carol had the same per screen average, it would have grossed over $360 million (instead of $31 million).

This indicates a high degree of interest in the movie, and this weekend’s total will only add to that. Additionally, some people have been throwing around the “O” word, as in Oscar.  It received a standing ovation at Cannes, and an audience award at Sundance. It will slowly be rolling out over the next few weeks, and is definitely one to keep an eye on.

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About a week ago a colleague of mine asked why in the world I wanted to go see The Box. I explained that I found the premise fascinating. What if you were told that if you pushed a certain button, you would get a million dollars, but there is a catch. When you push the button, somebody you do not know will die. What would you do?

Therein lies the premise of The Box. This is the third film by Richard Kelly, who garnered cult-like status with Donnie Darko (2001), then wide ridicule for his follow up Southland Tales (2006). Lots of movie types were looking toward this movie to determine whether Kelly is a gifted director, or a one hit wonder. I’m sorry to tell you after viewing this convoluted mess, it seems like a case of the director having no clothes. It’s one thing to be a little avant-garde  with your vision, another entirely to just throw weird crap in your movie and hope that it sticks.

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A few months ago we were treated to a mysterious teaser for a new film titled Despicable Me, which had a cornucopia of comedic names attached to it like Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Will Arnett, Kristin Wiig, Russel Brand, and Danny McBride. We’re finally getting a bit more of the puzzle solved as the second trailer for the film has hit the web.

The film focuses on Gru (Carell), the world’s #2 super villain, who is constantly at the throat of #1, his competition and enemy, Vector (Segel). The film takes a few interesting turns, which force Gru to rethink his evil ways.

The film comes from the studio and animation department that brought us Ice Age, Robots, and Horton Hears a Who! and the writing team who brough us Bubble Boy and The Santa Clause 2. Check out the second teaser after the jump, which focuses on the rivalry between Gru and Vector.

Despicable Me hits theaters on July 9th, 2010.

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Marvel has a long list of comic-to-film projects that didn’t pan out so well. Ghost Rider is one of them. That may be the most diplomatic way I’ve ever put that. Ordinarily anything having to do with Ghost Rider has elicited a rage in me that leaves me angry. . . Hulk angry. So why am I so calm this time?

Well, as we’ve already covered here at The Flickcast, Ghost Rider is getting a sequel which could have been as craptastic as the first film. However, the script for the new movie is from one of my favorite writers David Goyer (Batman Begins, FlashForward).  Recently, MTV caught up with Goyer and asked him about the Ghost Rider sequel:

“It’s not exactly a reboot,” said Goyer, “I hate to say it’s more realistic, because he’s got a flaming skull for a head, but it’s a bit more stripped down and darker. It’s definitely changing tone. What ‘Casino Royale’ was to the Bond movies, hopefully this will be to ‘Ghost Rider.’”

I’m not sure Casino Royale is the best comparison to make, but I understand what Goyer is trying to say. Dropping all the baggage like Mephistopheles and his minions and focus on Johnny Blaze and his curse.  That’s definitely the way to go as there was way to much attention paid to peripheral nonsense in the first movie.

There was one other thing I found interesting about the interview.  Goyer states Ghost Rider 2 isn’t really a reboot but then says: “You don’t have to have seen the first film. It doesn’t contradict anything that happened in the first film, but we’re pretending that our audience hasn’t seen the first film.”

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“More of this is true than you’d believe” –opening credits for  The Men Who Stare At Goats. Irreverent, sarcastic, and funny as hell, The Men Who Stare At Goats is based on a non-fiction book by Jon Ronson. Ronson is a journalist who stumbled upon a secret military group that was formed in 1979 specifically to harness paranormal and psychic powers to use in warfare. The men in this group were training to become “psychic warriors” who could walk through walls, read thoughts, and kill someone just by staring at them.

Ewan McGregor plays Ronson in the movie. His wife has just left him (for his one-armed boss), and he has no sense of purpose. He goes to interview a man who claims that he used  to be in  a psychic military unit. His story is so crazy that Ronson writes him off as being a kook. He decides to go to the Middle East to cover the Gulf War, partly to impress his ex-wife, and partly because he has nothing to lose.

Upon arrival, he runs into Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who just happens to be one of the people mentioned by name by the crazy man he just interviewed in the states. Astonished by the coincidence, he starts tagging along with Lyn pleading with him to tell the truth about whether he was in the secret unit. Bit by bit, Lyn tells the story (through flashbacks) of the formation and eventual disintegration of the military unit known as the “New Earth Army” in military circles.  The story finally leads up to what Lyn is doing in the Middle East.

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Charles Dickens purists, fear not. Robert Zemeckis remains faithful to the beloved tale, all the while putting his own spin on the story. This version is a little more exciting,  and a lot more sinister than previous outings (it also happens to be in 3D),  but I loved it.

I don’t think I really need to spend much time on the plot. Everyone knows the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the original curmudgeon who hates everyone and everything and is just downright unpleasant. One Christmas Eve, he is visited by four ghosts;  his former business partner Marley;  the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future.

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Our friends at Top Cow have provides us with a sneak peek at their upcoming comic Tracker — which hits store shelves next week. The comic tells the story of Alex O’Roark, the FBI’s top tracker, who has his perfect life ripped to shreds when a case to capture the world’s most dangerous serial killer leads him straight into the maw of a werewolf.

Now, keeping his secret from his gorgeous fiancé and the FBI, he must hunt down the wolf that infected him before the disease turns him into a monster. Hey, how many time has that happen to you, right?

All kidding aside, this comic looks pretty cool and has some great art by Francis Tsai. Plus, combining two things I really like, FBI action and werewolves, can’t be a bad thing either.

Check out the two covers , from Tsai and Darick Robertson, and the six page preview of Tracker #1 after the jump. Once you read these pages I’m sure you’ll have the same reaction I did: I want to see what happens.

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Casey Affleck has been known to take some pretty intense roles as of late. His first being the role of Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James and then his work on his brother’s project, Gone Baby Gone. It looks like Affleck is going to step it up once again as Sheriff Lou Ford in the ultra-violent The Killer Inside Me.

The film is based on the novel by Jim Thompson, who also wrote the novels films such as The Grifters and The Getaway were adapted from. The original 1976 film starred Stacey Keach, who took on the role that Affleck is now running with.

The extended trailer shows off some of the intense moments (hopefully not all) from the film, such as some raunchy aggressive sex with both Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson, as well as a violent murder of one of them. This may just be the role that puts Casey Affleck on the map. The film has a lot of visual similarities to No Country for Old Men, which may help it come Academy Awards season.

Director Michael Winterbottom is the visual eye behind the remake. He directed a few other low-budget films such as A Mighty Heart and 24 Hour Party People. The Killer Inside Me also stars Bill Pullman, Simon Baker, Ned Beatty, and Elias Koteas. As of yet, it does not yet have a hard release date.

Check out the full, extended trailer after the jump. Some moments may be NSFW.

Update: Sadly, the video has been removed at the request of the copyright holder.

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XBox 360 – THQ – $59.99
Score: 7.5

THQ brings back its yearly moneymaker WWE SmackDown vs. Raw with a revised visual look to the game and brand new Create-A-Story mode. Since its inception on the Playstation in 2000, SmackDown has been an annual franchise that has continuously worked to improve itself with updated graphics, gameplay, new match types and, most importantly, user customization.

Taking pages from some real life WWE programming in its story mode while keeping as up to date a roster as possible with each iteration, there is an instant appeal for sports entertainment fans to pick up this game and play out the role of their favorite superstar or their own custom creation.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 is very similar to the previous years. Players move their wrestler with the left analog stick, use the right stick to lock up in to a grapple and use various combinations to perform specific moves. This isn’t like a standard fighting game where complicated button presses are needed to pull off “special” moves like the complete circle on the DPad needed for Zangief’s piledriver in Street Fighter.

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We here at The Flickcast are fans of just about all films, but some of us around the office still get tickled when we hear the titular line in a film thrown out. Many comedy series have spoofed this concept, such as Upright Citizens Brigade with “I’m sick of all these Star Wars!” or Family Guy with “That’s why they call me Superman 4: The Quest For Peace” but nobody has ever gone to the length’s of this week’s Fan Film Friday Creator.

The cool cats over at VideoGum put together a pretty impressive compilation of just about every film that uses the title in dialogue. From Fried Green Tomatoes to Minority Report, this compilation has it all. It makes you wonder if the writers are being clever with that line, or actually really lazy.

Check out the full video after the jump, and if there’s a line or two that you can think of that was omitted, the creator of the video, Gabe, is welcoming all suggestions and comments, so shoot him an e-mail. Enjoy!

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