The competition between location-based social networking applications just heated up even more with the announcement by Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley, via his blog, that an updated version of his company’s software is now available to iOS and Android users. As frequent users of this application, we couldn’t be happier here at The Flickcast offices.

Focusing on discovery, encouragement, and loyalty, Foursquare 3.0 rolls out several new features. For example, through the new “Explore” tab, users can input what it is they are looking for, getting recommendations from the app based on what’s around and where friends have visited.

In addition, the app features a revamped leader board which the company hopes will further encourage users to explore their world. According to Crowley: “You’ll see that we’ve replaced our old leader board (and its simple points system and Sunday night reset) with a sliding 7-day barometer of you and your friends.” “Check-ins now trigger points for dozens of different types of actions.”

Loyalty comes in the form of merchants additional ways to reward “swarms, groups of friends, regulars, newbies, or everyone.” Merchants will get their hands on these features later this week.

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As things are just getting good on some of NBC’s biggest shows, it’s hard to believe that we’re in the home stretch for this season of TV. With just about a month and a half left, NBC has just released their final schedule of season (and possibly series) finales for this year.

No exact word on what will return just yet, but there are a few shows still on the bubble to be canceled. We’re looking at you, Chuck, Perfect Couples, and Outsourced). However, we’re still holding out that our favorite comedies such as Community, Parks & Recreation, and The Office will return.

With that in mind, here is the full schedule of season finales that the network has lined up, courtesy of Deadline. So prep your DVR’s and get ready for a whole summer of re-runs and off-season replacements.

MONDAY, APRIL 4
“Harry’s Law” (10-11 p.m.)
FRIDAY, APRIL 8
“Who Do You Think You Are?” (8-9 p.m.)
TUESDAY, APRIL 19
“Parenthood” (10-11 p.m.)
SUNDAY, MAY 1
“America’s Next Great Restaurant” (8-9 p.m.)

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Okay comic book fans, here’s some new ones coming out from our friends at Marvel this week. And like we do every week, we’ve got some particular ones we’re most interested in. Not that they all aren’t interesting to someone, we just have our personal favorites.

Among the new ones coming out we’re most interested in Sigil #1, 5 Ronin #2,  Captain America and the First Thirteen #1, New Avengers #10, and 5 Venom #1.

As with most weeks, new comics arrive on Wednesday, so hit your nearest comics book store early for best selection.

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

Comics On-Sale:
5 RONIN #2 AJA COVER
5 RONIN #2 BROOKS VARIANT
CAPTAIN AMERICA & THE KORVAC SAGA #4
CAPTAIN AMERICA AND THE FIRST THIRTEEN #1
HAWKEYE: BLINDSPOT #2
INCREDIBLE HULKS #624
INCREDIBLE HULKS #624 CAPTAIN AMERICA 70TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT
NEW AVENGERS #10
ONSLAUGHT UNLEASHED #2
PUNISHERMAX #11
SIGIL #1
SIGIL #1 MCGUINNESS VARIANT
SUPER HEROES #12

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AMC is at it again with a new, intriguing show that looks to take its place among their best offerings such as The Walking Dead, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. The new show, called The Killing, is based on a successful Danish television series called Forbrydelsen, and tells the story of the murder of a young girl in Seattle and the subsequent police investigation.

It “ties together three distinct stories around a single murder including the detectives assigned to the case, the victim’s grieving family, and the suspects.” It also “explores local politics as it follows politicians connected to the case. As the series unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no accidents; everyone has a secret, and while the characters think they’ve moved on, their past isn’t done with them.”

We’ve got a new trailer for the show to share with you today which looks pretty darn interesting. Check out the first look after the break.

The Killing debuts on  April 3rd on AMC.

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In 2009, director Sebastian Gutierrez debuted a film called Women in Trouble at SXSW Film Festival. That film featured several women whose story-lines converged throughout the film, and it  became a cult classic of sorts. Elektra Luxx is the sequel to that film, and features several returning cast members.

Carla Gugino plays the title character, who is newly retired from the porn industry. She’s also pregnant, and the baby daddy  is recently deceased.  What’s a single sex siren to do?  Elektra shows some ingenuity and starts teaching some sex classes at the local community college for income. She struggles with insecurity about her pregnancy and the end of her career.

Things become further complicated when Elektra is visited by Cora (Marley Shelton), who has an unexpected and troubling connection to her deceased ex-boyfriend.  Cora asks Elektra to seduce her fiance. In exchange, Cora will give Elektra a set of song lyrics that Elektra’s musician boyfriend wrote about Elektra. A madcap series of events ensues when Elektra seduces the wrong person.

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Just when you thought both Tomb Raider films couldn’t get any better, it looks like GK studios has now obtained the rights and are planning to go back to the drawing board with the entire franchise, and a complete reboot starting in 2013.

The rights were purchased last week from GK. Here’s the official press release.

In a pre-emptive strike, GK Films has come on board to acquire the feature film rights to TOMB RAIDER and will reboot the successful action-adventure franchise aiming for a 2013 release for the first film.

Produced by Graham King and Tim Headington, the films will create daring new adventures for the young and dynamic Lara Croft.

GK Films acquired the film rights from interactive entertainment company, Square Enix Ltd. In Dec 2010, Square Enix subsidiary, Crystal Dynamics, revealed a new game for TOMB RAIDER based around the origins of the Lara Croft story.

“We are very excited to be rebooting what is already a hugely successful film franchise and continuing the TOMB RAIDER phenomenon,” said King.

Though the original films were considered blasphemous to most legitimate gamers, they did pretty well financially. The first films, both in 2001 and 2003, grossed over $430 million worldwide. We’re sure GK is hoping to capitalize on that with a brand new face and brand.

Tsunamis. Carpet bombings. Giant sea squids. Not the way you normally see a round end in a fighting game. But from the looks of things, Anarchy Reigns isn’t going to be your average fighting game. With an already eclectic assortment of revealed characters (as well as some new unnamed ones seen below), Anarchy Reigns looks like it will be the Twisted Metal of open street combat.

Over the top doesn’t seem to be a problem here as utter chaos seemingly engulfs this world. There are still lots of questions left unanswered like just what the whole point of Anarchy Reigns will be and why its combatants are fighting to the death. But, what little we have seen so far has caught our attention.

In the new “Fight to the Death” trailer below, you will see the first look at the game’s ATE’s (Action Triggered Events). These will be massive set piece events that can change the pace of a battle dramatically and look to set Anarchy Reigns apart from other brawler style games.

Also below, take a peek at some new screens featuring some of the ATE’s as well as some new characters including an orange clad pimp, Big Bull’s purple brethren and a girl with a very dangerous looking spiked belt.

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When the trailer for the upcoming sci-fi thriller Limitless starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro first hit, one of the first questions that came to mind when we learned of the plot was “sure, this pill allows him to get a haircut and learn Italian, but does it give him superpowers?” Sure enough, this clip has got the answer for us.

For those who haven’t read about the full synopsis for the film, here it is.

Eddie Morra (Cooper) is an unemployed writer whose girlfriend Lindy (Abbey Cornish) breaks up with him. Eddie believes he has no future, but when a friend introduces him to the experimental drug NZT, Eddie becomes highly focused and highly confident. He is able to recall everything he has read, heard, or seen, and he uses the knowledge to become successful in the financial world. Business mogul Carl Van Loon (De Niro) sees Eddie as a potential tool to make money, but Eddie’s success also attracts hitmen who pursue him for the NZT. Eddie’s stash dwindles, causing him side effects, as he tries to escape being assassinated.

So when an experimental drug gives you heightened intelligence, creativity, and learning powers, doesn’t it make sense that you’d be great in a fist fight? Check out a new clip from the film after the jump and learn for yourself.

Limitless hits theaters on March 18th.

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This week’s pick is the real life story about the Bridge over the River Kwai, and a fantastic war drama about a group of allied POWs who are forced to build the infamous Burma “Railway of Death” in director David L. Cunningham’s To End All Wars (2001).

The film stars Robert Carlyle (Maj. Ian Campbell), Kiefer Sutherland (Lt. Jim “Yanker” Rearton), and Ciaran McMenamin as Capt. Ernest Gordon who plays the film’s narrator and was the man who wrote the book Miracle on the River Kwai a.k.a. Through the Valley of the Kwai about the accounts depicted in the film.

The film opens as a flashback where Ernest Gordon (McMenamin) tells why he decided to enlist in the second “war to end all wars” as he was attending university in Scotland at the outbreak of World War II. He says that he decided to stop reading about history and became a part of it.

Gordon joined the ranks of Scotland’s legendary Argyll Sutherland Highlanders who were Britain’s first and last line of defense. His brigade marches from Edinburgh Castle to cheering Scots seeing the men off to war.

The film then flashes forward to the allied defeat in Singapore in February 1942 as the Japanese seized the great British naval base which was the gateway to the East Indies. Thousands of British and other allied prisoners including Dutch, Australian, and one American Merchant Marine, Lt. Jim Rearton (Sutherland) who attached himself to the surrendering forces. They don’t know it yet, but these men are to be brought to Burma where their Japanese captors plan to use them as slave labor in order to build a railway in order for the Japanese to attempt an invasion of British colonial India.

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We’ve been waiting months and aside from an occasional clip here or there, we’re finally getting the first official look at James Gunn’s upcoming raunchy, real-life superhero comedy Super, which features a huge (and very eclectic) cast. Now that we’re getting an idea of how the film is going to play out, we can see that tonally, it’s going to be quite different than Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass, which seems like a parallel story on paper.

Not only that, the cast alone, which includes Rainn Wilson, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon, Ellen Page, Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion, should be enough to sell this film to fans everywhere. Here’s the official synopsis:

Rainn Wilson stars as a normal guy named Frank who decides to become a crime fighter when his wife (Liv Tyler) leaves him for a drug-dealer (Kevin Bacon), taking on the identity of the Crimson Bolt and agreeing to let a young overzealous comic shop employee (Ellen Page) to be his sidekick Boltie.

Together, they fight crime in the most violent manner imaginable.

There was a worry for a while whether we’d ever get to see this film or not, as things were quiet on finding a distributor. Luckily, IFC Midnight was able to pick up the slack and they’re bringing the film to theaters on April 1st.

Check out the trailer after the jump and join Rainn Wilson as he exclaims, “Shut Up, Crime!”

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NBC’s Thursday night lineup may be some of the funniest comedies on TV today, and that is in no small part due to the outrageous ensemble cast on Parks & Recreation. Sure, people love Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari, but another performance that stands out beyond many others is the dry one-liners of Aubrey Plaza.

She’s done great things on Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, Parks & Rec, and seems to have a continuing relationship with College Humor. A few years ago, she worked on a Twilight spoof for the online comedy site, titled Three Wolf Moon. Now she’s back again, this time spoofing Star Wars.

Sure, they avoided a heavy budget and a letter from Lucas Ranch by using knockoff stormtrooper helmets, but that doesn’t mean the skit didn’t capture the true essence of the Imperial prison from A New Hope.

Sadly, you can’t add Plaza to the list of actresses like Olivia Munn and Alessandra Torresani who have donned the epic Slave Leia outfit, but that doesn’t mean she still doesn’t have the hair buns. Check out the skit after the jump.

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The Apple fan community and press love to speculate on what Apple will do next and what new products they will be coming out with. Now that we’ve got our hands on the Verizon iPhone and we know what the iPad 2 looks like and when it’s coming out, what could we possibly have to speculate about now? Why, the iPhone 5 of course.

With that in mind, here we go. Mac Rumors has a report via Taiwanese newspaper Economic Daily News citing anonymous Chinese sources which says that Apple is considering getting rid of the design of the current iPhone 4 and going back to a form factor similar to the first iPhone. Yes, that’s a long trail, but read on.

According to the report, the iPhone 5 would feature a milled aluminum backing with the antenna integrated into the rear Apple logo, which is also similar to the original, Wi-Fi only iPad. Hard to imagine what that might look like?

Fortunately, the folks at macotakara.jp have seen fit to put together some mockups for you to help spark that imagination. With the noted problems some users had (and are still having) with the iPhone 4 and its unfortunate antenna design, Apple needs to address this issue once and for all with the iPhone 5.

It’s not hard to believe that the company will take a design cue from the rest of its lineup of devices and change to next gen iPhone to more match the look and feel of its latest iPad and MacBook Air. Whatever they do, let’s hope it works. We should find out in June.