For the longest time, not much was known about Kevin Smith’s newest written film since 2008′s Zack and Miri Make A Porno, which is also the writer/director’s first horror film, titled Red State.

The cast was revealed a few months ago, with a pretty interesting bunch of names like John Goodman, Kevin Pollak, Stephen Root, and Michael Parks. And then we got this synopsis.

Red State begins by following three horny high school boys who come across an online ad from an older woman looking for a gang bang. Boys being boys, they hit the road to satisfy their libidinal urges. But what begins as a fantasy takes a dark turn as they come face-to-face with a terrifying “holy” force with a fatal agenda.

So you’re probably asking yourself what a writer director like Kevin Smith has to do with horror, but this film has allegedly been in his nerdy vault of a brain since the early days of View Askew.

Going along his grassroots style that made him famous 16 years ago, Smith released the very first teaser for Red State on his site, the Smodcast. Check it out after the jump, and catch the flick in theaters early next year.

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If the noontime opening day crowd for True Grit is any indication of how this film will do at the box office, I think I can safely predict a couple of things. First, seasoned citizens, like myself, who saw the 1969 original starring John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall, and Kim Darby, will warily pay for senior-citizen discounted tickets in large numbers and then proceed to give the movie a CSI-like scrutiny searching for any hint of anti-Wayne blasphemy.

Second, I feel just as strongly that people who have not seen the Duke’s portrayal of U.S. Marshal Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn, will come away from this iteration well-satisfied that they have been well and truly entertained. No one from either demographic should be disappointed with this version of Charles Portis’ 1968 serialized Saturday Evening Post of family duty, determination, and revenge.

In a recent interview, frequent John Wayne co-star, Maureen O’Hara, spoke about the 1963 movie, McLintock! One memorable scene had Ms. O’Hara running through town, being chased by Wayne, wearing only her bloomers. When, prior to shooting this scene, she asked Wayne if the bloomers could be shortened to display her dancer’s legs, he adamantly refused, stating, “We make family pictures!” And therein lies the genesis of many of the films’ differences.

There are several scenes in the 2010 Coen brothers’ version of True Grit that would never have made it past The Duke. Wayne’s Batjac Productions wouldn’t have allowed severed fingers, an outhouse interview, or snakes crawling from a desiccated corpse, to mention just a few things. But that doesn’t make one version better or the other worse, it only makes them different.

While some might say that John Wayne’s Oscar-winning performance as Rooster Cogburn could best be described as a little over-the-top (and it was), Jeff Bridges is able to provide a slightly more somber approach to this complicated, demon-driven character, while still being able to deliver an occasional light-hearted moment. It would be foolish, however, for anyone to try and compare the two actors as Mr. Bridges takes command of his role from the very beginning leaving all thoughts of a Wayne-Bridges comparison in the obscuring dust of the trail.

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Many things can be argued about the past 10 years in popular culture, but hands down the most bad ass TV character in recent history has got to be 24‘s Jack Bauer. Maybe it’s how the character is written, maybe it’s just Kiefer Sutherland’s personality coming through the screen, but you wouldn’t want to come across Bauer in a dark alley on a bad day.

With that in mind, and the show being over, fans everywhere have had fantasy scripts and ideas of who Jack Bauer could interrogate and how amazing it would be. From Obama to Chunk from The Goonies, Bauer has been on a rampage of illegal questioning since his show went off the air.

Given the time of year, it only makes sense that Bauer would go after the Man of the Season himself, Santa Claus. How does he deliver gifts to good boys and girls all over the world in one night? How do his reindeer fly? Plutonium? Special Agent Bauer gets to the bottom of it all in a brand new fan film.

Check it out after the jump, and have a Merry Christmas!

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With all the iPhone/Verizon rumors it’s nice to see rumors concerning another Apple product pop up sometimes. This time around it’s the iPad 2 which, according to Japanese Mac blog MacOtakara, will have a flatter back and smaller bezel compared to the original iPad.

The site also indicates the device will feature larger “wide-ranged speaker” located behind a mesh speaker grille. These will, presumably, offer much better sound quality than current generation device.

In addition, the next iPad will be three millimeters smaller than the original, but the display will stay the same size. That means the bezel surrounding the iPad’s display will probably shrink substantially, improving the devices overall appearance — at least to us. The rear case has been flattened to be more like an iPod touch, which should make it easier to lay on a flat surface. Yeah, that “bump” in the middle has always been a bit of a pain.

No word on if the new iPad will feature a camera, or cameras, but as often is the case, we’ll get more rumors and information as the device gets closer to release. Speaking of that, Apple’s next-generation iPad is expected to begin shipping from manufacturers in January or February, with a release likely soon after.

It’s funny how the general perspective on Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry’s upcoming Green Hornet for Sony has changed over the past year. The film was destined to fail several times after playing musical chairs with the director, pushing the date back more that 6 months, and converting the film to 3D after it was in the can. However, now that the film has been released to critics, word is coming out that the movie may be worth something after all.

The script comes from Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the best friend team that brought us Superbad and Pineapple Express, so you know these two can at least bring the funny. The biggest concern has been the trailer that was released, which shows the film in a very unfunny light.

After checking out what things looked like on the set, however, this could end up being just an editing error, and the movie may just be what we expect in a campy superhero comedy.

Check out the behind the scenes featurette after the jump and catch skinny Rogen in The Green Hornet in theaters on January 14th in both 2D and 3D.

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Taking place following the events of the Tron: Betrayal graphic novel and before those of the newly released Tron: Legacy, Tron: Evolution adds another chapter to the Tron saga. Tron: Evolution does so by taking elements from other well established franchises and puts them together in a package that while not completely enthralling to play through looks and sounds amazing and gives fans of the Tron franchise added life to some of their favorite characters.

Gameplay:

The core gameplay of Tron: Evolution consists of four basic parts. Platforming, hand to hand combat, light cycles and light tanks. The game actually goes out of its way to keep all four parts separated from each other in single player mode. The platforming is heavily parkour style roaming throughout the city. This includes lots of wall running and launching players over chasms similar to that of the 2008 Prince of Persia. Unlike Prince of Persia, the controls are just loose enough that often the Monitor doesn’t make the jump exactly the right way which leads to repeated deaths overcoming the same simple obstacle. This leads to what should be simple sections to become frustrating.

Combat is a beast all of its own. While there is occassionally a section of platforming where one opponent appears, they are easily dispatched. Most combat takes place in closed off arenas where the Monitor must take on a few waves of enemies, attempting to derezz them using his light disc or capoeira inspired hand to hand combat. For the most part, hand to hand combat doesn’t come in to play as players spend much of their time deflecting their opponents’ light discs from all angles or avoiding unblockable attacks.

Players are granted a series of differently powered discs as they upgrade (level up) which can be used to exploit various weaknesses of different opponents. This comes to be one of the biggest weaknesses of Tron: Evolution as the art style, while beautiful, doesn’t aid in telling apart different opponents. Most look identical and as a result, in the heat of battle, it is nearly impossible to tell them apart and plan an strategy to exploit their very specific weaknesses other than repeated deaths of trial and error.

The Light Cycles and Light Tank sections of single player feel more like added fan service than an integral part of the game. The Tank sections are slow moving and lack excitement or opponent AI. The Light Cycle sections feel like mini obstacle races with little to offer in terms of defining moments for the gameplay.

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You know you can judge the merit of a film by the fact that it has 3D in it’s title. As if that gimmick alone is enough to draw an audience. Well that’s exactly what they’re doing over at Lionsgate with their newest schlocky film, Drive Angry 3D, starring the ever-talented Nic Cage.

The premise of the film is so original, it made the suits at Marvel’s heads spin. Get this: Nic Cage is a badass who escapes from hell to punish the gangsters that killed his wife and baby. Along the way, the Devil’s right hand man (played by William Fichtner) heads to Earth as well to find and bring back this escaped soul. So far the only major difference we can see between this film and Ghost Rider is that this flick replaces a motorcycle with a muscle car. Big change.

Cage is joined by Hollywood’s next big thing, Amber Heard, as they take down a ganglord and his army of thugs. The script comes from the guys who brought us Jason X (the one in space) and Dracula 2000. The new trailer is slightly redeeming, because it gives the film a bit of a Grindhouse look, which could make it all worthwhile in the end.

Check it out after the jump, and catch Drive Angry 3D in theaters February 25th.

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Yes folks, it’s that time again. Time for another exciting episode of your favorite podcast The Flickcast.

This week on the show Chris and Matt talk all things horror movies as well as other topics such as Tron Legacy, True Grit, holiday gifts and a whole lot more. Plus, as they always do, the boys made some more picks this week. However, we’re not going to tell you what they are, you’re just going to have to listen to find out.

No, not really. They are: Matt’s pick of the BBC series Hustle and the horror classic Poltergeist 3 and Chris’ pick of The Town, directed by and starring Ben Affleck and Die Hard featuring Bruce Willis and Snape himself, Alan Rickman.

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.

Okay, I’m Mr. Jerk-Ass Film Critic Who Doesn’t Know Comedy. Some people like comedies where you can sit back and just have fun. Fine with me. For any ardent Meet the Parents fans reading this or anyone who just likes plain and simple comedies, my opinion won’t sway you, so I’ll just warn you that the audience at my screening, who would fall into both groups, didn’t laugh much either, and when there was some laughter, it sounded forced.

For good or bad, it’s not like a review is going to be useful for Little Fockers because a review isn’t going to change the mind of someone wanting to see it, and it’s just going to justify the rest who don’t—the only thing a review for this kind of film would be good for is if the film were actually funny.

It’s not. Case in point, when Stiller injects DeNiro’s Viagra-ized penis with adrenaline to de-Viagra-ize it, Stiller’s little kid walks into the bathroom at exactly the wrong moment. Another time a similarly awkward family moment leads to the child loudly exclaiming, “Shit!” Both shots are set up and executed in such a way that it’s just enough to tease the audience into thinking it might not be the predictable joke and then WHAM, it knifes us by revealing that exactly what we thought was going to happen happened.

Now I like little kids swearing and sticking sharp things into Italian men’s genitals, but that’s the point: I like it. Meet the Fockers doesn’t. The essence of third-grade potty humor isn’t in the dirty word itself; it’s in the excitement and reverence of the third-grader at having learned it.

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We’ve been following the development of DC Univserse Online for some time and at points, it looked like it may never see the light of day. Fortunately, those fears proved unfounded as Sony has announced it will debut the new MMOG worldwide on January 11, 2011.

The game has reached gold status and is ready for primetime. It will be available on the Sony PS3 and PC at launch. In truth, we’ve been playing it for a little while now and so far it’s pretty darn cool. Expect a full review soon.

In the meantime, get ready for some great gameplay in January. Check out the full release from Sony and DC after the break.

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As if breaking a couple records wasn’t enough, Activision announced Tuesday a third record-breaking milestone achieved by its hit, Call of Duty: Black Ops. The latest addition to Activision’s Call of Duty franchise first set a new launch-day sales record when it racked up $360 million in first-day sales.

Then, the game beat previous five-day sales records when it did $650 Million in sales during its first five days of availability. Now, Activision has announced that its extremely popular first-person shooter has pulled in over $1 Billion in less than a month. Yes, that’s quite a lot.

“In all of entertainment, only Call of Duty and “Avatar” have ever achieved the billion dollar revenue milestone this quickly,” said Activision CEO Bobby Kotick in a statement. “This is a tribute to the global appeal of the Call of Duty franchise, the exceptional talent at Treyarch and the hundreds of extraordinary people across our many Call of Duty studios including Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer that work tirelessly on the franchise.”

As fans of the game, we can understand why it’s so popular. Let’s hope this means we can look forward to more games like this for years to come. Click through for the full press release from Activision.

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By Jarrett Mellenbruch

Just go ahead and give Mattie Ross whatever it is she demands. Trying to bargain with this 14 year old , played by Hailee Steinfeld, will eventually leave you weakened and bewildered. Her relentless pursuit of justice for the murder of her father calls upon her vast reserve of cunning, quick wits, and masterful tongue.

Cast opposite the craggy and weathered drunkard U.S. Marshall  Rooster Cogburn, masterfully played by Jeff Bridges, she holds up her part and then some in this perfect balance between a game innocent and an extremely experienced, blunt yet perceptive hired gun.

Thanks to Hailee Steinfeld, the young actress who plays Mattie, women viewers who venture out to see one western every decade would do well to make True Grit their choice for the Teens. This may be the one movie where a mother/daughter night out to see a shoot-em-up may rival the father/son crowd. That’s not to say the men should stay away, only that there is something for everyone here, including the strong central heroine.

Matt Damon, Barry Pepper, and Josh Brolin nicely round out the cast and offer some extra color and comedic moments. Damon’s LaBoeuf is the cowboy nerd who rides the fine line between charming and annoying, and he rides it well. Pepper plays bad guy Ned Pepper, who probably is the grittiest part of the whole movie. And Josh Brolin is the seemingly simpleminded crook who killed Mattie’s father and kicked off this whole goose chase.

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