This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt are joined by comics historian and host of Crazy Sexy Geeks Series Alan Kistler to talk about all manner of new and exciting topics. Among those discussed include reactions and commentary on Kick-Ass, the new incarnation of Doctor Who featuring Matt Smith, Joss Whedon’s direction and vision for The Avengers, the postponment of the next James Bond film, great comics of the past, present and future and a whole lot more.

The three also made some great picks this week including Alan’s pick of The Losers movie and more, Matt’s pick of Martin Campbell’s Cast a Deadly Spell and Chris’ pick of the new comic S.H.I.E.L.D.

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

Last week, we brought you news that Samuel L. Jackson and Twilight star Kellan Lutz were joining a new sci-fi action project titled Deathgames, from the studio Motion Picture Corporation of America. It seems like the fanboy-friendly names weren’t stopping there, as Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim is now joining the cast.

The film is an interesting take on old gladiator tales, with a bit of science fiction and thriller elements thrown in for flavor. Heat Vision gives the scoop:

The story centers on a young man (Lutz) who is kidnapped by a sadistic mastermind (Jackson) and forced into a modern gladiator arena, where men fight to the death for the entertainment of the online masses.

Kim is playing a fellow prisoner, an artist who happens to be a master of kendo (samurai-style sword fighting), a skill that comes in handy when he competes for his life and his wife’s.

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It shouldn’t come as a surprise we like to play some games around here. When we have some downtime at the plush offices of The Flickcast, the team often assembles in the rec room in front of the 60 inch plasma TV and plays some XBox 360. Sure, we can choose from any number of brand new, cutting edge games but we also like to have some fun with XBox Live Marketplace games as well.

Fortunately, to help out with this and so we know what to get when, Microsoft’s own Major Nelson has graciously provided a schedule of upcoming game releases available in the XBox Live Marketplace in the next few months.

Here’s the scoop according to the Major:

Xbox LIVE Deal of the Week:

April 26: The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, 400 points
May 3: Zombie Apocalypse, 400 points

Xbox LIVE Games on Demand:

April 27: Shrek the Third (All regions except Japan)
April 27: Far Cry (North America)
April 27: Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (North America)

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Things are picking up as we draw closer to the national theatrical release of Warner Bros. newest DC/Vertigo comic adaptation, The Losers. We’ve had a new clip for you every day this week, and things get a bit more touching this week, as Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Rogue (Idris Elba) make up after a fight.

There are many doubts on how Losers will do, considering that it’s only one of a handful of similar films getting released this summer. The A-Team, MacGruber, The Expendables, and even Tom Cruise’s Day and Knight all seem pretty similar in one way or another. Warners, however, seems to believe the film will kick off the blockbuster season with a bang. Hey, they could be right.

Check out the newest clip after the jump, and be sure to catch Dean Morgan, Elba, Chris Evans, and Zoe Saldana in The Losers everywhere this Friday.

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With much of our attention focused on the Frank Darabont produced The Walking Dead and our recaps of this season’s Breaking Bad, we still have time to wonder when our favorite show set in the topsy turvy world of advertising was going to make its fourth season debut on AMC. Well, the wait is over as the network has announced Mad Men‘s return date. What is it? Sunday, July 25 at 10/9C.

The new season will hopefully answer some of the burning questions left after season three ended. Will Don and Betty get back together? What’s going to happen with the new agency? Will Joan and Roger get back together? Will Peggy ever be happy? How can I get a job where you drink in the afternoon?

Many of these questions (probably not that last one) will no doubt be answered as the series basically starts agin with a de facto pilot and sets the action to take the stories in a whole new direction. I, for one, can’t wait.

Turning from the return of a great show to a brand new and potentially great show, AMC has also announced the premiere date of its new conspiracy thriller set in a New York-based government intelligence agency. The show, called Rubicon, stars James Badge Dale (The Pacific) and Miranda Richardson and will premiere on Sunday, August 1 at 8/7C.

Obviously, having never seen Rubicon, I can’t really say if I’m interested in it or not. I do like Dale’s work in The Pacific and Miranda Richardson is a very good actress so on the strength of its two leads, the show seems on the right track. Of course, that is all overshadowed by the return of Mad Men.

Today Apple announced the availability of the second version of the iPad, aka the iPad 3G. For those of you who’ve been waiting for some iPad goodness, you have a definitive date to count the minutes until: April 30, 2010. In addition, those of you who pre-ordered the 3G iPad should start to receive shipments the same day.

The iPad 3G will set you back $130 premium more than the Wi-Fi-only iPad. You will also get the pleasure of using AT&T’s 3G network for your needs but in a somewhat surprising move, you won’t have to agree to a teo-year contract in order to do so.

The 3G service from AT&T will be available on an as-needed basis. In other words, if you need it for a day, you pay for a day. A month? Pay for a month. That’s quite a bit better than having to stick with a company for a minimum of two years, especially given their relatively poor track record of network performance.

On a related note, Apple also announced its second quarter earnings today and, no big surprise, the numbers look pretty good. It reported adjusted earnings of $3.33 per share, well above Wall Street estimates.

Total revenues were $13.5 Billion. That’s more than $700 millon above even the most optimistic predictions. Gross margins up to 41.7 percent, from 39.9 percent a year ago.

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This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for a few of them in particular.

These esteemed examples of entertainment include Crazy Heart, Batman, Batman Returns, Fist of Legend, the first season of Merlin, the DVD release of the classic Battleship Potemkin and  an obscure direct t0 dvd movie called Crimes of Fashion featuring Big Bang Theory‘s Kaley Cuoco and Megan Fox. And, of course, the non-3D Blu-ray release of Avatar hits stores this Thursday (pictured above with Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana).

Movies

Avatar ~ Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver (Blu-ray and DVD)

Battleship Potemkin ~ Alexander Antonov, Vladimir Barsky (Blu-ray)

Batman ~ Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson (Blu-ray)

Batman Returns ~ Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken (Blu-ray)

Cheech & Chong’s Hey Watch This! ~ Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong (DVD)

Crazy Heart ~ Jeff Bridges (Blu-ray and DVD)

Crimes of Fashion ~ Kaley Cuoco, Megan Fox (DVD)

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Back in 2004, fans were introduced for the first time to the animated world of Drawn Together. What started off as an animated spoof on subjects ranging from Josie and the Pussycats to Big Brother later turned into an out of control thrill ride of raunchiness and comedy, some of which would even make the writers on South Park blush.

Sadly, the vulgarity and hilarity wasn’t enough to sustain Comedy Central’s expectations, and the show was canceled in 2008. Luckily, the sales of the DVD and internet buzz kept the show alive just enough for the network to offer creators Matt Silverstein and Dan Jeser a direct-to-DVD feature, which hits shelves today.

We were lucky enough to sit down with Matt and Dave to discuss the fall of Drawn Together and what the sales on The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie could mean for the future of the franchise.

The Flickcast: Before we get started, I wanted to let you guys know how much we dug the DVD around The Flickcast office. It was exactly what we were looking for as fans of the series. We were in stitches.

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The game Singularity, from Raven Software and Activision, has been in development for some time and I’m sure its because they want to get it just right. Now, it seems they have as we’ve finally got a new trailer for the game to show you today and a confirmed release date. I first got a chance to play some Singularity at Comic-Con in San Diego last year and from what I saw then, and more recently, this game is really going to be exciting and fun. Plus, the idea of using time as a weapon is very cool.

In case you’re not familiar with the game it revolves around a mysterious island known as “Katorga-12″ where Russian experiments involving element “E99″ took place during the height of the Cold War. Sometime during 1950, a catastrophe known as the “Singularity” occurred on the island. In the game you are Nate Renko, an Air Force pilot who is sent to investigate radiation emissions coming from the island, only to crash land there.

After regaining consciousness, Nate finds the TMD (Time Manipulation Device) and discovers that the island is constantly shifting between 1950 and 2010. Renko’s goal is to find his co-pilot, escape the island and eventually prevent the Singularity from occurring and potentially destroying not only the island, but the entire human race.

Check out the trailer for the game after the jump. Singularity ships for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on June 29th.

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MSI's Dual Touchscreen Tablet

Don’t think that the PC-oriented manufacturers are just sitting idly by while Apple takes the tablet world by storm. Oh no, not at all. While some of these tablet-based competitors to the iPad will be running a touch-enabled version of Windows 7, some are gravitating to Google’s Android OS.

Even though Microsoft’s Windows Touch Software for Windows 7 provides the ability to manipulate items on a screen using gestures and up to 100 touch points including single and double taps, dragging, rotating, flicking, zooming in and out, as well as a special tap that equates to a right-click on a mouse, Google’s Android OS has a competitive advantage with its extensive library of mobile apps.

With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at the forthcoming Android and Windows 7 powered tablet line-up for 2010, shall we?

Dell’s Mini 5: With a 5-inch wide screen, slim form-factor and WiFi connectivity, the Dell Mini 5 seems a bit smaller than the iPad, but more easily held in one hand. Sporting a 5-megapixel camera along with a LED flash on the back, the Dell Mini 5 will release with a big competitive advantage over the camera-less iPad.

It even works as a phone with its built-in microphone, but expect to pair it with a Bluetooth headset or risk looking completely ridiculous holding the huge slab up to your ear as you talk.

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The future is bright. So bright in fact, that J.J. Abrams angled multiple reflections off of every surface imaginable in the darkness of space. Just how many suns were there? A Trek fan and a friend of mine pointed out that finally the future is catching up with the dreams geeks have had for decades. It seems the PADD, or (Personal Access Data Display) has been around since 60’s Trek and is now getting its time in the sun thanks to Mr. Jobs and his iPad.

I, however, didn’t grow up on Trek, I grew up on multiple viewings of Back to the Future Part II. I dreamed of the day when I too would glide on a hover-board, wear flashy baseball caps, and watch TV on a nifty visor. To that end, some of the predictions have come true. As for the rest…well I’ll meet you at Café 80’s on October 21st, 2015.

“Where we’re going we don’t need roads.” Um, yeah we do. We need a lot more roads in fact. Take the amount of roads we had in the 80’s and double it. Either that or bring back the electric streetcars that used to take up a lane on the LA freeways.  There is another option. Anyone with a spare $194,000 lying around can now own their own hover car, or should I say Terrafugia Transition plane.

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We’ve been bringing you lots of coverage of ABC’s popular ongoing reboot of the series V as of late. Scott Wolf, Laura Vandervoort, and Joel Gretsch have all spoken with us about the show, and in continuing that trend, we recently got the chance to sit down with Logan Huffman, who plays “Tyler” on the show.

Logan doesn’t come from a big acting background or know somebody in the industry. He was picked to play the role on V because he was perfect for it, and he couldn’t be more humble about it. We were able to ask Logan lots of questions about things to come on the series, and he was more than happy to let us in on a few secrets.

The Flickcast: With things up in arms both planet-side and on the ship, what can you tell me about tonight’s episode of V?

Logan Huffman: Well, everything is building up on the world stage, when it comes to Anna and the Fifth column. Things are moving along with my character and Lisa (Laura Vandervoort). I don’t know what I can tell you, but it’s going to get pretty fun and intense in the weeks to come.

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