While Hollywood has proven that magicians may look cool, they definitely don’t always rake in the big bucks across the globe. It’s been shown time and time again with films like The Prestige, The Illusionist, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Though, for that last one, we blame Nic Cage.

It looks like Working Title films, the company behind the series The Tudors and the film Hot Fuzz, are now working on a brand new adaptation of the classic Merlin tale, which will take the old wizard to modern day.

The script comes from historical novel author Jay Basu, who plans on rebooting King Arthur’s spiritual wizard in a “contemporary setting.” Expect to see the film to keep a prominent British cast, as most of the films from Working Title are done out of the UK.

Not much is known about the script or what we can expect from the film, but you can expect to see plenty of respect paid to the character, as legendary actors like Sam Neill, Ben Kingsley, and Donald Pleasence have donned the robe and pointy hat at one point.

Keep it here for more news on this film as it develops.

As of a few minutes ago, Apple released its Mac OS X 10.6.5 update to its flagship Mac operating system. Some of the bug fixes, improvements, etc. in this release include:

• improve reliability with Microsoft Exchange servers
• address performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture
• address stability and performance of graphics applications and games
• resolve a delay between print jobs
• address a printing issue for some HP printers connected to an AirPort Extreme
• resolve an issue when dragging contacts from Address Book to iCal
• address an issue where dragging an item from a stack causes the Dock to not automatically hide
• resolve an issue with Wikipedia information not displaying correctly in Dictionary
• improve performance of MainStage on certain Mac systems
• resolve spacing issues with OpenType fonts
• improve reliability with some Bluetooth braille displays
• resolve a VoiceOver issue when browsing some web sites with Safari 5

Some good improvements there to be sure. Also, be on the lookout for an update to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch pretty soon in the form of iOS 4.2, coming soon . . .

If you update today be sure and let us know if you have any issues. We’re firing up Software Update as we speak. Or, you can always wait for the combo update if you feel like it. Should probably be along shortly.

Austin is home to some great festivals and other events. From SXSX to Fantastic Fest the town certainly has more than its share of pop culture events. Another event coming up is the Austin Comic Con which starts this Friday and goes through Sunday at the Austin Convention Center.

The event features speakers such as writer/director Tim McCanlies, Harry Knowles, Bionic folk Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner, Billy Dee Williams, Walter Koenig, comic art superstar Joe Madura and Buffy’s Clare Kramer and Nicholas Brendon. For more info, check out all the details in this full press release for the event.

Celebrity Q&A panels, Film Screenings, “Drink & Draw” and Costume Parade highlight Austin Comic Con This Week
Austin Film Festival Screenwriters Panel, Artist Panels, Masquerade Ball and AMC’s Walking Dead Episode Preview Also Set

NEW YORK and AUSTIN, Texas—November 10, 2010 – A wide variety of entertaining and informative panels and comic industry sessions are among the programming offerings scheduled at Wizard World Austin Comic Con, this Friday through Sunday at the Austin Convention Center. Featured panels include Austin-based heroes such as screenwriter and director Tim McCanlies, film critic and pop culture guru Harry Knowles and filmmaker-wunderkind Emily Hagins. Austin Comic Con is sponsored by Austin Books & Comics, Alamo Drafthouse, Austin Chronicle, 101X FM and Dragon’s Lair.

Day programming begins on Friday with the popular “Wizard Art School,” as noted Marvel and DC artist Greg Horn leads a discussion on digital art, beginning at 2 p.m. in Room 9. Indy art sensations Rob Guillory (Chew) and Kody Chamberlain (Sweets) discuss their breakout Image hits in “The Art of Chew and Sweets” at 3 p.m. in the same room. Also at 3, in Room 8, “The Incredible Hulk,” Lou Ferrigno, sits down for an exclusive Q&A about the classic show and his status as a pop culture icon. At 4, the Women of Wrestling take the stage, as Torrie Wilson, Amy Dumas, Lisa Marie Varon, Christy Hemme and Jackie Haas discuss their special role in the sport of wrestling, in Room 8.

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This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt are on duty and discussing, dissecting and, in some cases, dissing some new movies, TV shows, comics, games and geek stuff. Among the topics this week are more on The Walking Dead, the debut of Conan’s new talk show, upcoming films Skyline and Friends with Benefits, George Lucas and the new Force Unleashed II video game, the Back to the Future Trilogy on Blu-ray and the bizarreness of Robert Altman’s 1980 film Popeye.

Of course, the guys also made new picks for your enjoyment this week including Matt’s pick of the drama spoof Fatal Instinct, featuring Armand Assante and Sherylin Fenn, and Chris’ double pick of Call of Duty: Black Ops and the upcoming Skyline, which hits theaters this Friday.

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.

Let’s admit it: it may be against the law in several states, but there are still plenty of people who still use their handheld cell phone while driving. Of course, that has a direct correlation with the amount of car accidents, which means it’s time to embrace the technology that will eliminate the need to take your hands off the wheel. That’s where the N650 Solar Bluetooth Car Kit from Noise Hugh comes in.

This bluetooth kit requires no hands, no ears, and most importantly, no cords. One of the main pains with bluetooth kits is having yet another cable reaching from your car outlet to the kit cluttering up your dashboard. The N650 is 100% solar powered, which it can take in through your windshield, so no wire clutter needed.

A main factor in deciding your bluetooth kit is, obviously, whether or not you can hear and be heard. The folks at Noise Hush definitely take their name seriously, as you can talk–with the radio up–and still be heard. The device also offers echo cancellation and full noise reduction.

As for hearing the other end, the device is basically one big speaker, so you should have no problem doing 55mph on the highway and hearing the other half of your conversation.

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Uwe Boll has given up. At least, that’s what he’s trying to give the impression of. From the man who brought us films like Postal, Rampage, and an upcoming documentary on Auschwitz, comes Blubberella, a film about an overweight half-vampire who takes her hungry vengeance out on Hitler and his band of Nazis.

If Lloyd Kaufman were dead, he’d be spinning in his grave at the thought that Boll is making films that could be considered more vulgar and pointless than his films. As if you needed any kind of proof that this film will be obscurely bad, cult hero Clint Howard is cast as a Nazi scientist in the film.

Boll regulars Lindsay Hollister and Michael Paré also join in the cast. You may remember Hollister as Steve Carell’s lonely overweight dance partner from Get Smart, and you may remember Paré from other decent films like Streets of Fire and The Philadelphia Experiment.

The film is begrudgingly making it’s way to theaters next year, but you can check out what we’re talking about with the full trailer after the jump. Enjoy!

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Pinball FX 2 is the most recent XBLA release from Zen Studios and a followup to their 2007 homage to the classic pinball arcade coin op machines of bowling alleys and arcades past. The game goes for a realistic feel in both gameplay and visuals and stops itself from becoming too videogamey. With the exception of a few changes in camera angle for special instances, nothing is really present to distract from the actual pinball experience players are expecting.

Gameplay:

Pinball FX 2 feels like a real classic pinball machine. The controls couldn’t be simpler. The bumpers on the controller act the same way the side buttons on the classic arcade machines would as players spend hours trying to rack up obnoxiously high scores that few ever achieve on a variety of tables. A player can also tap the analog stick to shake the table, but as with a real machine doing so too much will cause a tilt, ending the players turn.

The tables of Pinball FX2 all do a good job of differentiating themselves from each other with very different layouts and puzzles. Some are more challenging with increasingly varied puzzles while others are smaller in scale. The nice thing is players get the chance to try out tables before they purchase them. Since the game takes an a la carte approach, players aren’t forced to purchase more than they want with tables only costing about $2.50 each.

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New browsers don’t come around very often. So us users are pretty settled-in, mostly sticking to tried-and-true browsers like IE, Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari or perhaps for the adventurous types, Google’s Chrome or Opera. And while all of these browsers work well enough, and given the recent trend in browsers to slim down the features and focus on performance, it’s especially unusual to see a new browser that seems to be heading the opposite direction.

Meet ‘RockMelt,’ the social-enhanced browser backed by the likes of Mark Andreeson, the man who created the Netscape browser back when HTML was is its infancy. RockMelt, which is based on Chromium, the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser, aims to distrupt the market by tightly integrating social networking and baking it right into their new browser software.

You may expect it to play nicely with properties like Twitter and Facebook, and it does, but it goes far beyond that by taking your Facebook account and integrating it right into the browser. No need to open a new tab, visit Facebook, potentially log-in, and so on. It’s all right there. Frequent and somewhat routine tasks like sharing and search take on a whole new meaning within the RockMelt browser too.

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Fortunately, even with all the things seemingly going wrong in the world, we still get to enjoy one great thing (Or things) each and every week: new comics. This week brings more new titles from our friends at Marvel.

Some of the ones were excited about this week include I Am An Avenger #3, New Avengers #6, Avengers Prime #4, Invaders Now # 3 and the debut of She-Hulks #1. As they usually do, comics hit stores on Wednesday this week. So, head over early to your favorite comics shop for best selection.

Don’t know where your nearest comic shop is? Use this handy guide to find one.

Check out the list of comics you can get below.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #648 (BIG)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #648 BLANK COVER VARIANT (BIG)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #648 CAMPBELL SKETCH VARIANT (BIG)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #648 CASELLI VARIANT (BIG)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #648 MARTIN WRAPAROUND VARIANT (BIG)
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #648 SPIDER-GIRL VARIANT (BIG)
ANT-MAN & WASP #1
AVENGERS PRIME #4
AVENGERS: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES #1
AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE #3
AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE #3 ADAMS VARIANT
CAPTAIN AMERICA: FOREVER ALLIES #4
CHAOS WAR: THOR #1 (CW)
I AM AN AVENGER #3
INCREDIBLE HULKS #616
INVADERS NOW! #3

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Just in time for a Tuesday comes the latest trailer for Disney’s highly anticipated sequel Tron Legacy. I say “highly anticipated” but in truth, it may only be the geeks and fans of the original movie who respond to this new one. But really, that’s just fine with me.

In case you haven’t been watching TV, reading a comic book or on the Internet prior to today, the new film picks up almost 28 years after the events of 1982′s original. Jeff Bridge’s Kevin Flynn has gone missing and it’s up to his son, Sam (Garrett Hedlund), to get to the bottom of the mystery. Mix this story with some very impressive visuals of the game grid and more plus Olivia Wilde in a skin-tight outfit, and you’ve got yourself a film.

How good a film remains to be seen. However, with this new trailer added to the mix it’s definitely looking better and better. Check out all the trailerery goodness after the jump. And no, the above picture doesn’t really have that much to do with this trailer, it just looks good.

Tron Legacy fills us with a sense of wonder and awe starting on December 17.

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Every year the Hollywood Foreign Press Association picks a recipient for the Cecille B. Demille Award, which is awarded during the televised Golden Globes award show. The award is given for lifetime achievement in film.

The Wrap is reporting that Robert De Niro will be this year’s recipient. Philip Berk, the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, made the announcement earlier today.

De Niro has appeared in over 80 films thus far. His most iconic performance was arguably in Taxi Driver (1976.)  He played Travis Bickle, an unhinged taxi driver who becomes involved with trying to save a teenage prostitute played by Jodie Foster.

Other notable performances were in Good Fellas, Casino, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull, and countless others. He is also one of the founders of the Tribeca Film Festival, which takes place every spring in lower Manhattan.

Past recipients of the award include Harrison Ford, John Wayne, Paul Newman, and Steven Spielberg. The award is named after Demille, a film producer who was responsible for bringing us The Ten Commandments, Cleopatra,The Greatest Show on Earth,  and over 80 other titles.

The Golden Globes ceremony will take place on Sunday, January 16, 2011.  Ricky Gervais will host.