Steve Jobs famously referred to Apple’s set-top box as “just a hobby.” Then again, Apple seems to enjoy bragging about their sales numbers. Case-in-point: the Cupertino company issued a press release saying that it expects to sell 1 million new Apple TVs by the end of the week.

With three months of sales under its belt, the 2nd generation Apple TV is certainly selling well by all accounts, but not quite on par with some of the company’s top sellers like the iPad and iPhone. Don’t take it from me, here’s what the official Apple PR had to say:

“Apple® today announced that it expects sales of its new Apple TV® to top one million units later this week. The new Apple TV offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows, stream content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe℠, all on your HD TV for the breakthrough price of just $99. iTunes® users are now renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV episodes and over 150,000 movies per day.”

As an Apple TV owner, I have to say the features that really sold me were the great sub-$100 price-point, the ability to stream Netflix Instant movies and shows, and while I didn’t know it at the time, the new AirPlay features available via iOS 4.2 devices, makes tossing streaming video from my iPad to the flat-panel TV so amazing and easy.

Now, when I stumble on todays’s viral video on YouTube, I don’t have to keep it to myself. My significant other has become quite used to me blurting out, “You have to watch this, NOW!” And AirPlay makes that happen smoothly with a couple of jabs of my finger.

Still, for such a humble price-point, I keep expecting more out of Apple TV. For instance, where’s the browser? Sometimes, it would be handy to pull up a website on the plasma. Or how about apps? Why can’t I run Angry Birds on my Apple TV? Perhaps Jobs is saving that for a future update. You know, when Apple TV finally graduates from tinkering in the garage and goes out and gets a real job?

In the United States, this is the time of year when Hollywood virtually shuts down and people leave town to visit family and friends. Plus, the staff here at The Flickcast actually has family and friends as well and many of them are doing the same.

So, for the next two weeks we will have a reduced posting schedule. Of course, if anything big happens, we’ll bring it to you. Also, be sure to check out a brand new episode of the Podcast tomorrow and look for our “Best of 2010″ articles covering movies, TV, comics, games and all things geek before the end of the year as well.

In the meantime, from all of us here at The Flickcast, we wish all of you the very best for this holiday season and happiness, health and luck for 2011.

Even with Christmas right around the corner (It’s Saturday, just in case you didn’t realize) that doesn’t mean the elves at Marvel have stopped making comics. In fact, this week sees the release of some new titles we’re pretty excited about including X-Men #6, Superior #3, Deadpool #30, Secret Avengers #8 and Punisher: In the Blood #2.

As with most weeks, comics hit store shelves on Wednesday so hurry into your nearest comics book store early for best selection. Don’t know where your nearest comic shop is? Use this handy guide to find one.

Comics On-Sale

CHAOS WAR: DEAD AVENGERS #2 (CW)
DEADPOOL #30
FANTASTIC FOUR #586
INCREDIBLE HULKS #619
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #33
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #33 TRON VARIANT
KLAWS OF THE PANTHER #4
NAMOR: THE FIRST MUTANT #5
PUNISHER: IN THE BLOOD #2
SECRET AVENGERS #8
SPIDER-MAN #9
SUPERIOR #3
THOR: WOLVES OF THE NORTH #1
ULTIMATE COMICS DOOM #1
ULTIMATE COMICS DOOM #1 VILLAIN VARIANT
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #151

Continue Reading →

If we learned anything from Chloe Moretz’s performance in this year’s Kick-Ass, it’s that chick assassins are in. More in than when Natalie Portman was just a teenager. So of course, with that knowledge, Hollywood is going to be snatching up intellectual property in that department until they realize it’s no longer “cool”. That’s where the new trailer for Hanna comes in.

From director Joe Wright (Atonement) comes this dark thriller that will more than likely end up with a big twist in the final act. Here’s the full synopsis.

Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a teenage girl. Uniquely, she has the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a soldier; these  come from being raised by her father, an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Living a life unlike any other teenager, her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own. As she nears her ultimate target, Hanna faces startling revelations about her existence and unexpected questions about her humanity.

Not only do we get Hollywood’s “next big thing” Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) in the titular lead, but Eric Bana plays the paranoid father, and Cate Blanchett takes a swing at a Southern accent. Check out the full trailer after the jump, and catch Hanna in theaters on April 8th.

Continue Reading →

Who doesn’t love horror? Our very own founders Chris Ullrich and Matt Raub sure do. They were the hosts of a brand new web series with the This Week In web TV network. Titled This Week in Horror, the new weekly series delves into the gruesome world of past and present projects in the horror genre.

Last night, they kicked off with a world premiere, starting things right with a Christmas Special. Sure, not many use horror and Christmas in the same sentence, until now. Films like Christmas Evil, Santa’s Slay, and Silent Night, Deadly Night are among the films that get showcased during their freshman episode.

They even get special guests like the writer/director of 2005′s Santa’s Slay David Steiman, and the creator of the 1980 classic You Better Watch Out, aka Christmas Evil, Lewis Jackson.

Check out the full episode after the jump, and be sure to check back in at their showpage to see when new episodes of This Week in Horror pop up.

Continue Reading →

Since it’s conception over a year ago, there seems to be absolutely no good news coming out of Julie Taymor’s upcoming Broadway adaptation of Spider-Man, unfortunately titled Turn Off The Dark. The film has gone through two budget slashes, several casting changes, and now a slew of injuries and technical errors during live performances.

It seems that yet another (the fourth reported) actor has been injured during a live performance. This one took place last night and actually made it about 80% of the way without an incident. Then this happened. From THR:

Monday’s night performance was stopped short after an unidentified performer — either the actor playing the title character or his stunt double — fell about eight to 10 feet during the final moments of the show, the New York Times reported. Some equipment also fell into the audience when the fall happened.

“He fell several feet from a platform approximately seven minutes before the end of the performance, and the show was stopped,” a statement from the musical said. “All signs were good as he was taken to the hospital for observation.”

One audience member told the Times that the accident happened during a scene when Spider-Man was rescuing his love interest, Mary Jane, while she dangled from a rope attached to a bridge. The witness said he saw the actor playing Spider-Man appear to trip and fall from the bridge into an open pit at the end of the stage.

At this rate, the film has hurt more musical actors and cost more money than any other cross breeding of comic books and any form of mass media. It looks like just some things aren’t meant to adapt.

This week’s Christmas war pick is the 1992 release of Keith Gordon’s A Midnight Clear which was adapted from the novel by William Wharton. The film stars Ethan Hawke (Sgt. Will Knott), Peter Berg (Pvt. Bud Miller), Kevin Dillon (Cpl. Mel Avakian), Arye Gross (Pvt. Stan Shutzer), Gary Sinise (Pvt. Vance ‘Mother’ Wilkins), Frank Whaley (Pvt. Paul ‘Father’ Mundy), Larry Joshua (Lt. Ware), and John C. McGinley (Maj. Griffin).

The film tells the story of  a six man U.S. Army intelligence squad which is hand picked by their regimental commander (Griffin) to scout out an old French chateau in the Ardennes forest in December of 1944 which may house forward German patrols who are trying to push through a gap on their way towards Bastogne, Belgium. Sgt. Knott (Hawke) and his men are at the breaking point fighting the war and try very hard to disassociate themselves from the normal chain of command.

Continue Reading →

Night Catches Us takes place during the mid-‘70s in Philadelphia. The protagonist, Marcus (Anthony Mackie), is an ex-Black Panther, who comes back to town for his father’s funeral and is targeted by other ex-Panthers because he ratted out the cop-killing husband of Patricia (Kerry Washington), the only woman in the neighborhood who apparently likes him.

Marcus strikes up a rapport with Patricia’s daughter, filling in the role of the father he may or may not have had killed, and it’s not too long before we learn that the reason for Marcus’s stay is his deep passion for Patricia.

Patricia also plays surrogate mother to Jimmy (Amari Cheatom), a sort of street tough who’s had several run-ins with the police, some of them his fault, but mostly because the white police have a habit of harassing the neighborhood and Jimmy never knows when to keep his mouth shut. Jimmy idolizes Marcus’s former life as a Panther and is quickly heading down that same road that Marcus now regrets taking.

But Night’s ultimately not as much about the Panthers as it is about Marcus choosing not to repeat his past mistakes and find a better life through forging relationships instead of severing them. Jimmy’s the counterpoint, and his character works well at explaining why the life of militantism in the late ‘60s and ‘70s was so seductive—the police were brutes, and for a lot of angry young men, fighting back seemed like the only response.

Continue Reading →

Last night may have been the world premiere of Robot Chicken’s third Star Wars special, but the stormtrooper jokes and Ewok references are far from over, as the third installment of the Family Guy Star Wars specials hits DVD and Blu-Ray. Ready for the best news of all? We’re giving a copy away!

Following the trend, this film is a direct spoof of Return of the Jedi, titled It’s A Trap!. Expect some amazing cameos from genre actors like Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, Carrie Fisher, and a few more surprises we won’t even spoil.

How do you win a copy? It’s easy! Just follow @theflickcast on twitter, tweet out that you want a copy of It’s a Trap on DVD, and answer the following trivia question correctly.

Who does the voice of the Rancor in “It’s A Trap”?

•    Jon Stewart
•    Rush Limbaugh
•    Bill Mahr
•    Jay Leno

The eventual death of all-things print just moved one step closer to reality with the news that the Rupert Murdoch backed digital and iPad only (At launch) newspaper The Daily is set to launch in January. At least according to Peter Kafka at MediaMemo.

While earlier reports were touting a December launch, it seems the staff working on the digital paper needed some more time to create their iPad app which will reportedly feature “lots of video” and “cool multimedia bells and whistles.” This includes, as you may guess, a really cool 3D effect that “lots of people are excited about.”

The Daily will be a daily iPad newspaper that will make sure of a new push delivery system from Apple. The digital newspaper will be delivered every morning to your iPad without you having to manually download it. That is, of course, if your iPad is connected to the Internet.

So, with this coming soon it begs the question: Will you read an iPad only newspaper? If so, how much would you be willing to pay for a subscription? Sound off in the comments.

Tron Legacy did manage to take a commanding lead at the box office this weekend, but its final numbers were not high enough to warrant the title of blockbuster. The $170 Million follow-up to Disney’s 1982 movie made a solid $43.6 Million at the box office.

Box Office Mojo reports that almost 82% of that total was from 3D screenings. Fortunately, audiences seemed to like the movie more than the critics, giving it a B+ score on CinemaScore.

Compare that total to last year’s must see event movie  Avatar, which made $77 Million on the same weekend last year. Avatar went on to make almost $750M domestically.

Yogi Bear came in at a distant second place with $16.7 Million.  That’s rather ho-hum for a family friendly movie.  Perhaps some parents took heed of the rather dismal reviews.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader added another $12.4 Million to its total, which now stands at $42.7 Million after two weeks, far below its $155 Million price tag.  The Fighter expanded wide into 2,500 theaters this weekend, and pulled in $12.2 Million.  With all the Oscar buzz around this movie, it should easily surpass its modest $25 Million budget during its theatrical run.

Continue Reading →

A few months ago, we first brought you the trailer for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s newest comedy, this time taking place in the US, titled Paul. Fanboys (especially those who attended Comic-Con this year) had heard nothing but great things about this upcoming film, and when the first trailer hit, we got anything but tickled with humor. The trailer showed us all of our favorite actors and actresses that could make a good flick, but was cut in a way that was lacking in any comedic payoff whatsoever. It looks like things have changed with a brand new trailer, however.

This new International trailer finally gives us the goods. For those who don’t know, the film follows Pegg and Frost’s characters across country to their first ever San Diego Comic-Con. On the way, they decide to pass through the famed Area 51 and come across Paul, an escaped alien, voiced by Seth Rogen. After choosing to befriend the little guy, they are forced to keep him safe from a shadowy government figure (Sigourney Weaver) who sends her best men after him (Bill Hader & Jason Bateman).

The flick has plenty more cameos, nods to other geeky franchises, and yes, alien nudity. Check out the full trailer after the jump and catch Paul in theaters on March 18th.

Continue Reading →