Every once in a while, we’ll get an opportunity to check out a new indie film from out of nowhere and get blown away by it. Sadly, this happens less often than we would like, but in this case, it was completely true.

We recently got to check out the short film The Legacy, written and directed by Mike Doto, about a boy who discovers that his father is the world’s greatest superhero. The film is, by all definitions of the word, fantastic. It captures some of the elements that made the original Superman films so great, without treading into campy territory.

With that in mind, we got a chance to sit down with the writer/director of the film, Mike Doto, about what it took to make the project, and where he goes from here.

The Flickcast: With a concept like The Legacy, what drove you to this idea? Were you a big comic fan growing up? If so, which books were you inspired by the most?

Mike Doto: For The Legacy I really wanted to get back to the roots of why I wanted to be a filmmaker to begin with. I feel like I grew up in a time when movies really connected with kids and I’ve never forgotten the impact that those films have had on me.

Most of these films starred a young protagonist that I could relate to quite easily, films such as E.T., Goonies, Wargames, D.A.R.Y.L., The Last Starfighter, and Back to the Future. What I’ve learned is that these weren’t just kid movies, these were movies for all ages, they appealed to the both the young and the young at heart.  So I thought about what movie I would have written when I was 10-years-old and I decided that I probably would have written a movie about being a superhero.

Superman was my boyhood hero so naturally that’s the hero I wanted to emulate.  In thinking further about the Superman story I decided that it would be more effective to write a film about the relationship between the father and the son since this is at the heart of the Superman character. I actually wasn’t a big comic book fan growing up. I was a huge fan of the Superman movies, but I didn’t really spend much time reading comics.

I would much rather dress up as a superhero or play with my action figures and imagine what that world would be like to live in. Even though a camera wasn’t rolling, I think this was the start of my filmmaking career although I didn’t realize it at the time.

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Dear 24:

When we first met in 2001, you were perfect for me. You were exciting, and dangerous, and knew how to show a lady a good time. But lately, the relationship has lost its luster. I know that this is the natural progression of any relationship, you can’t possibly keep up that same level of intrigue for all these years. After the seven year itch, I settled into a comfort with your familiarity.  I looked forward to spending time with you every Monday night.

But you just had to go and ruin things with all these other women. Rene and Dana ring a bell? Heck, I’ve even got a bone to pick with Chloe this season. I can’t deal with all these other women, and here is why I quit you, mid-episode last Monday, for good. Spoilers abound, so proceed with caution.

Sad/Bad/Mad Rene.  Actually I really like Rene, and I adore Annie Wersching in the role, but there are so many inconsistencies with her character this season, and her spunk has been  replaced with this misguided  self–loathing. Quite frankly, making Rene’s character into such a drag has really been a drag on the show.

I also can’t quite figure out the chronology of Rene’s storyline, which is really not helping the credibility of her story arc. Readers, perhaps you can enlighten me here. Weren’t we told that six years ago Rene went undercover with the Russian gang?  Wouldn’t that make it pre-season 7, in which she was still in uptight prissy mode?  Since President Allison Taylor is still in office, I am assuming this season did not skip forward 10 years because of Presidential term limits.

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As you may know, we’re big fans of anything Battlestar Galactica related here at The Flickcast. We loved the original show, follow the cast and report on their appearances in new shows and, of course, we are also fans of Caprica and watch each new episode with great interest every Friday.

After a week off, the show returns tomorrow night with a brand new episode entitled “Gravedancing” and we’ve got a preview of the episode and some other behind-the-scenes videos to share with you today. In the preview, we get a look at Adama’s plan for Greystone’s wife and the potential consiquences of his actions. We also get a glimpse of some new characters that may be making an appeance on the show.

In addition to the promo video, we’ve also got two video blogs featuring the cast and creators of the show. Good stuff.

Check out all three videos after the jump. Caprica airs Fridays at 9/8C on Syfy.

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Yesterday, we showed you some of the cool new movie toys from this year’s Toy Fair at New York City’s Jacob Javits Center. Diamond came in with lots of new and exciting movie properties, but some of their coolest new toys were for their existing DC and Marvel lines.

Among the new toys we got to see were some cool new Marvel MiniMates for the upcoming Iron Man 2 film, including a neat Whiplash, Justin Hammer, and Stark Drones. Marvel Selects announced a gigantic new Abomination figure, as well as The Thing and others, each heavy enough to be used as a murder weapon.

From DC and Diamond, we got to see some cool new statues from the DC Dynamics line, the first ever line of Vertigo busts, and some great statues form the upcoming Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths film. Also from DC, we got to see some great new “then and now” style figures, including the original Superman vs his current incarnation.

Check out the full gallery after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for more upcoming news and features from the wonderful world of toys!

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If you haven’t heard by now Clerks and Cop Out director Kevin Smith was asked to leave a Southwest Airlines flight last weekend.  The reason, he was deemed a “safety risk”, or in Smith’s words, “too fat to fly.” That’s right, Southwest Airlines tossed “Silent Bob” off a flight. What has the world come to?

Smith has come out and said he wasn’t drinking, acting out-of-the-ordinary, or too fat to fit in the seat:

“Dear @SouthwestAir, I flew out in one seat, but right after issuing me a standby ticket, Oakland Southwest attendant Suzanne (wouldn’t give last name) told me Captain Leysath deemed me a “safety risk”. Again: I’m way fat… But I’m not THERE just yet. But if I am, why wait til my bag is up, and I’m seated WITH ARM RESTS DOWN. In front of a packed plane with a bunch of folks who’d already I.d.ed me as ‘Silent Bob.’”

Armrests securely down, he was all prepared to leave (with his bag stowed no less) when the Captain asked that he be removed. Granted, anything could have happened on that flight, but the fact Southwest Airlines tried to issue him a $100 voucher in response (which he refused) doesn’t help their case.

All that said, a number of people have come to Smith’s defense, including Marvel‘s own Stan Lee.  Speaking via Twitter, Lee made a few remarks in support of Smith’s case:

@smilinstanlee: The only way Kevin could look really fat would be if he packed his pockets with cards bearing the names of each of his 1,600,000 followers!

@smilinstanlee: Maybe us thin guys who don’t take up the whole seat on a plane should ask for a discount! It ought’a work both ways!

While humorous, Lee’s remarks note one very important thing; Smith has over a million followers on Twitter.  Sure, there could be a lot of spam accounts in there but let’s assume even half (I’m sure there are more than that) are real people.  500,000 or so individuals following, listening and generally waiting for Smith to say something.

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As we reported last week, Sega’s “hidden” title, referred to as “Project Needlemouse” has been revealed to be Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 and will be coming to the XBox Live Arcade, PlayStation Store and WiiWare.  Included with that announcement was a trailer that showed only a very tiny bit of actual gameplay footage.

Now, a video has surfaced on the internet over at Gamevideos.1up.com with footage of actual game play from a press event. As this footage should not have hit the internet, it is not of the best quality but it does give a great indication of what Sonic 4 will actually play like as it holds true to the series’ original side-scrolling roots.

Notably absent from this game are the cast of Sonic’s best buddies like Tails and Knuckles as well as the entire cast of random extras like Big The Cat and Shadow who piled on to the series as it started to lose quality. While there is still tons of information to be revealed on it, take a peek at just what Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 looks like so far.

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Looks like changes are underway and DC Entertainment is finally moving forward with its plans and getting things in order. Today, DC Comics announced changes to its executive management structure including the promotions of Editor-In-Chief Dan Didio to Co-Publisher with Jim Lee as well as naming Geoff Johns to the position of Chief Creative Officer. This announcement follows the departure of publisher Paul Levitz, who stepped down in September of 2009.

The full details from a press release posted on DC’s The Source blog are reprinted below.

Jim Lee and Dan DiDio Named Co-Publishers DC Comics
Geoff Johns to Serve as Chief Creative Officer

John Rood Named EVP, Sales, Marketing and Business Development

Patrick Caldon Named EVP, Finance and Administration

(February 18, 2010 – New York, NY and Burbank, CA) DC Entertainment, founded in September 2009 to unleash the power of the DC Comics library of characters across all media platforms, has named its executive management team, including new co-publishers of DC Comics and a Chief Creative Officer, as well as heads of Sales/Marketing/Business Development and Finance/Administration. Diane Nelson, President, DC Entertainment, made the announcement today.

The new senior executive team includes Jim Lee and Dan DiDio, who have been named Co-Publishers of DC Comics, and Geoff Johns, who will serve as Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment. Additionally, John Rood has been named Executive Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Business Development, and Patrick Caldon will serve as Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration. Each of these executives will report directly to Nelson.

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Back at Comic-Con in San Diego last year we heard some interesting news that the raunchy animated series, Drawn Together, would be getting a direct-to-DVD movie release. We, of course, tried to get as much information on the project as we could, and came up with nothing.

For those who didn’t catch the Comedy Central series while it was on, it was about a group of classic cartoon stereotypes that get thrown into a reality show house, a la Big Brother. From there, things got pretty outrageous, from mass murder, to racism, to bisexual hot tub sex and more. It was pretty impressive that they were able to top the likes of South Park and Family Guy in a matter of 3 seasons.

Now, we’re finally getting a glimpse at what could be the most outrageous animated film of all time since Bambi Vs. Godzilla, as the first teaser trailer for the film has been released. The trailer doesn’t really give us much to go on, but it keeps hope alive that the project is still happening, and is approaching sooner than anticipated.

Check out the new trailer after the jump, and be sure to catch all of the seasons of Comedy Central’s Drawn Together on DVD and Blu-ray.

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With ABC’s LOST about to air its fourth episode of the final season next Tuesday, we’ve already seen the reappearance of a couple characters who disappeared or died. First, Charlie  (Dominic Monaghan) showed up in the alterative timeline where the characters’ never went to the island, then Boone (Ian Somerhalder) made an appearance on the plane sitting near Locke and finally Claire (Emilie de Ravin) showed up in a cab with Kate.

Now, we can add Maggie Grace and her character Shannon to the list of characters making a reappearance on the show. If you recall, Shannon was killed during season two after her and Sayeed had expressed their feelings for each other. Now, Grace’s character will return for an unspecified number of episodes.

Of course, the show’s producers are keeping her story under wraps but rest assured, it will be something interesting. . . especially for Sayeed. Also, in case you’re keeping track, Harold Perrineau, Cynthia Watros, and Rebecca Mader are among the other dearly departed who will appear in LOST’s sixth and final season.

What, no Ana Lucia?

Never let it be said a violent film like Inglourious Basterds can’t also serve the public interest and give back a little something. What am I talking about?

Well, tomorrow at L.A.’s Upper Playground Gallery, in conjuction with The Weinstein Company, will be an exhibition of alternative poster art for the film from a variety of contemporary artists including David Choe, N8 Van Dyke, Morning Breath and Grotesk. The posters, all signed by director Quentin Tarantino, will be sold and the proceeds will benefit the Red Cross’ Haiti relief efforts.

Check out al the posters at the gallery’s website. Also, here’s more info from the official press release:

THE LOST ART OF THE FILM “INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS”

BENEFIT ART PROGRAM TO HELP RAISE MONEY FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE

SA Studios Global’s Film Marketing Division has teamed up with Quentin Tarantino, Upper Playground and The Weinstein Company to present, THE LOST ART OF INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.

On February 18th, 2010 from 6p – 9p the world will get to preview and purchase the “Lost Art of Inglorious Basterds” at The Upper Playground Art Gallery in Downtown Los Angeles. All proceeds from this program will be donated to The American Red Cross to help the victims of the Haiti Earthquake.

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If you’ve been watching Syfy’s Ghost Hunters International you know the team has dealt with some pretty crazy stuff during this season. In truth, it’s probably never easy to deal with ghosts and tonight’s winter finale of the show is no exception.

In tonight’s episode entitled “The Legend of Rose Hall,” the team travels to Jamaica tracking the White Witch. In this preview, they set up some devices to track the movement of the ghost and also discuss several other techniques that help them in their work.

The show looks pretty interesting but I’ve always wondered why they shoot shows like this in the dark with a night vision camera. Do ghosts really know the difference between day and night or light and dark? Wouldn’t they still come out if their was light in the room? Just curious.

Anyway, check out the preview after the jump. The Ghost Hunters International season finale airs tonight at 9/8C on Syfy.

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Once upon a time, Jack Nicholson was a screenwriter. He has six films to his credit, and I’m not entirely sure why he stopped. Perhaps it took too much time away from being one of Hollywood’s most notorious bad boys.

Ride in the Whirlwind was his third script, as per IMDB, and his second collaboration with director Monte Hellman. It’s touted as being inspired by “actual frontier journals.” After sitting through the weird and lonely experience, I’ve decided that means Nicholson paid a lot of attention to how horses were saddled, how uncomfortable boots were, and how people ate a lot of biscuits.

Ride in the Whirlwind has a fervent cult following because of its sparse realism, and the fact that it feels like it could have happened. There’s truth to that. There are a lot of great little details here (cowboy boots being unfit for hiking), and it’s certainly devoid of epic shootouts, squinting close-ups, and prostitutes with hearts of gold. It has a lot of atmosphere on a tiny budget, undoubtedly due to the guidance of Roger Corman.

But I’m not convinced Ride in the Whirlwind is deserving of such lavish underground praise. This film is far from poetry. The characters aren’t interesting, the performances (except for Nicholson’s) are weak, and a lot of the dialogue is pretty corny. A lean script isn’t necessarily a brilliant one, and it doesn’t always make for compelling viewing.

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