Cinematographer Jack Cardiff, 1929

There is only one word to describe the multitude of trailers rolling out this week: epic.  Stunning visual effects, powerful film scores, and, most importantly, long run-times, are what make audiences flock to the theater summer after summer.

Honestly, it was hard for me to narrow down this week’s selection, but I have included as much as possible.  This week also brings two new features designed to break up the monotony of Hollywood blockbusters.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II

Click to see the trailer

As a fan, I couldn’t be more excited about this trailer.  I literally watched it three times in a row.  Honestly, as much as I love these books, I have always been cautious of the film franchise.  Terrible pacing and poor character development were what was normally found in the Harry Potter films year after year, almost as if they were never designed to stand alone, but made exclusively for people who where already fan of the books.

But splitting this last book into two parts was a brilliant move.  Even though it was most likely purely a marketing move to milk this franchise as long as possible, having two feature films has finally given the screenplay the room it needed to breath and to take the time to explore the relationships between the characters that make this fantastic world believable.

Looking directly at the trailer itself, we find it properly utilizing this new “epic trailer” structure that has been emerging recently, which consists of a 90 second theatrical trailer which ends with a dip in the music and poignant one-liner, only to explode into the final minute of epic montage footage set to the most powerful moments in the score, purely for the sake of being flashy.  It is almost like the trailer is saying, ” This movie is too epic.”

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This season has been quite a big one for Fox’s number one sci-fi drama, Fringe. Between body switching, new villains, and more twists than you ever would have expected, this crazy season is finally coming to an end.

With that, we’ve got a sneak peak of Friday’s season finale for you to get excited for. Here’s the episode summary to help set the scene.

FBI agent Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop are faced with a rapidly spreading unexplained phenomenon of the threatening kind. In an attempt to stop the spread, they enlist the assistance of Bishop’s estranged father, the institutionalized scientist Dr. Walter Bishop.

We leave you with a warning: the trailer we’re bringing you has got some intense spoilers if you have yet to tune into this season. Tons of action and getting things ready for season four. That’s all we’ll give you.

You’ll have to click below to get the full spot. Fringe airs Friday nights at 9/8C on Fox.

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Since the creation of The Flickcast, there has rarely been a time or topic that I’ve felt strongly enough about to write an editorial rant, until now. There is a new fad swooping through the brains of up and coming actresses who feel like they need to close in on a wide and constantly sought after demographic. I’m talking, of course, about the close group of people across the globe who can be referred to as “nerds.”

Back in the day (and by “the day” I mean when Lord of The Rings were just books that nobody talked about and the closest thing we had to a superhero movie was Christopher Reeve wearing guyliner and blue tights) the concept of a “nerd” was someone with awkward social skills who took solace in the worlds of science fiction or fantasy.

Today, the line has obviously been blurred between what’s considered “cool” and what’s considered “nerdy.” Some of the biggest movies of the year are one’s involving Orcs or robots from space. That’s all fine and dandy, but enjoying these things isn’t what makes you a “nerd.”

Since the explosion of Felicia Day, who’s best known for her work with Joss Whedon on Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog or on her own series, The Guild (a webseries about the social misadventures of real gamers), there have been hundreds of copycats hoping to rake in some of that sweet nerdy celebrity. And given how much money the video game and comic book industries are now making, it’s ripe for the picking.

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As expected, today Apple updated its lineup of all-in-on iMac desktops with faster processors and improved graphics cards. In addition, the new iMacs now feature the Thunderbolt I/O port first introduced in the most recent MacBook Pro updates as well as the new Sandy Bridge chipset.

The new, improved, iMac comes in two 21.5-inch and three 27-inch models. Here’s the specs:

iMac 21.5″

• CPU: 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 or 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
• RAM: 4GB (2 x 2 GB)
• HDD: 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive
• GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6750M or AMD Radeon HD 6770M
• Other: Single Thunderbolt port, FaceTime HD camera, aluminum and glass design, IPS LED-backlit high resolution display, Mini DisplayPort, One FireWire 800 port, Four USB 2.0 ports, SDXC card slot, Slot-loading 8x • SuperDrive, Audio in/out, Gigabit Ethernet, IR receiver, 802.11 a/b/g n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and an Apple wireless keyboard with a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.
• Price: Starting at $1,199

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Poor Sony just can’t seem to get a break lately. With hackers already breaking into Playstation Network and Qriocity services only last week, the company now says hackers may have stolen the personal information, including credit card numbers, of 24.6 Million users of Sony Online Entertainment.

“We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyberattack,” Sony wrote in a statement on its website on Monday.

Sony Online Entertainment is a division of the company that publishes online multiplayer games like the recently released DC Universe Online. Sony turned off all SOE game services Monday after it learned of the intrusion.

Sony said that the compromised personal information includes customers’ names, addresses, e-mail addresses, birth dates, gender, phone numbers, logins and hashed passwords. Also at risk are the credit card numbers and expiration dates of 12,700 non-U.S. customers, plus 10,700 direct debit records from customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain, containing bank-account numbers, customers’ names and addresses.

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There’s no denying that zombies are at an all time high on the list of “things that are both awesome and horrifying”. Just in front of sparkly vampires and found footage, everybody wants to be in a zombie scenario. But what happens when those zombies attack one place they’ve never been: Berlin?

That’s where the very first film from Bloody Disgusting (yes, the horror news site–now production company) is setting out to do. Here’s the premise.

Just when Michael arrives in Berlin to visit his ex-girlfriend Gabi, a terrible virus starts spreading across the city at a rapid pace, turning people into mindless homicidal maniacs. Much to Michael’s concern, Gabi’s not home; instead, he meets Harper, a teenage plumber’s apprentice at work in her apartment block. Together, they manage to barricade themselves when raging hordes of infected people swarm the building. Surrounded by these thirsty zombies, Michael and Harper have their hands full to survive – and it will take all of their ingenuity to make their way out to try and find Gabi.

The film is set to hit select AMC theaters across the country on May 4th, and will be available on iTunes on June 28th. Take a look at the trailer after the jump.

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This week’s pick is from the wonderful world of Cannon Pictures with the 1987 feature The Hanoi Hilton. It was directed by Lionel Chetwynd and tells the story of downed American airmen who suffered greatly at the hands of their North Vietnamese captors in the infamous Hoa Lo Prison.

The film stars Michael Moriarty (LCDR Williamson USN), Paul Le Mat (Capt. Earl Hubman USAF), David Soul (Major Oldham USMC), Lawrence Pressman (Col. Cathcart USAF), Doug Savant (Lt. Ashby USAF), Jeffrey Jones (Maj. Fischer, USA), Jesse Dabson (Seaman Rasmussen USN), and John Diehl (Capt. Murphy USAF).

The film opens in the fall of 1964 where U.S. warships are patrolling the waters off of North Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin which is where the events leading up to the war happened. Michael Moriarty plays Cmdr. Williamson who is a Navy aviator who is being interviewed by the press who are trying to determine if American involvement in this police action is what’s needed.

Williamson declares that it is the duty of America to lend a hand to whomever requires its assistance and that they are there at the request of the South Vietnamese government, and at the request of President Lyndon Johnson. Williamson also adds that it is the right of all nations to determine their own existence, and that Communism must be stopped by all freedom loving peoples in the world.

This was what became known as the famous “domino theory” which stated that if one country in a hemisphere succumbed to Communism, others would fall along side it. That was one of the major arguments for American involvement in southeast Asia during this crucial time during the Cold War.

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I‘ll admit it. I was a bit slow on the uptake to start embracing Parks and Recreation. But now, after watching it for many weeks, I’m hooked on it and its quirky characters.

Now we can add one more quirky character to this show, at least as a guest star. That’s right, 90′s indie film mainstay (and recent Lex Luthor BFF) Parker Posey will be making an appearance this Thursday on the show.

She will be playing the role of Lindsay, Leslie’s former coworkers and current Eagleton rival. When the two faceoff about a fence, tempers run high. To get you started off and excited for Thursday’s show, we’ve got previewsd and some interviews with Posey as well.

Be sure to check them al out after the jump. Parks and Recreation airs on Thursdays at 9:30/8:30C on NBC.

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The LEGO games have earned themselves a place in the hearts of gamers with their unique takes on the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter franchises. Their signature humor is something that has kept players coming back along with strong loyalties to their respective franchises.

LEGO Battles: Ninjago tries to capture that same humor on a smaller scale with the Nintendo DS while introducing new gameplay elements different from those in the previously mentioned titles.

This time though, it uses one of LEGO’s latest series Ninjago and bringing it to the Nintendo DS.

Gameplay

Very surprisingly, LEGO Battles: Ninjago plays less like LEGO: Star Wars as a simple platforming action title and more like Warcraft 3. Players take the stylus and control groups of characters in various missions defeating the Skeleton minions, helping various villagers, collecting special items or defeating large LEGO bosses. These levels are quick little bursts of gameplay that fit well with the portable platform.

At the end of each chapter, players also encounter a level similar in style to most standard RTS games. Players collect resources, build various structures and amass a tiny army to attack their opponent’s base. Due to the limitations of the platform, the resource management is limited to only one item and the army size isn’t very high.

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Even when they make dumb mistakes (which doesn’t happen often) Apple is pretty quick to try and fix them. Or, at the very least they offer an explanation. In the case of the recent location tracking issue, they’re doing both.

According to a source that informed BGR, Apple isn’t wasting any time fixing the location tracking issue in the iPhone and other iOS devices. Apparently, it is going to be done via an iOS update within the next two weeks or even sooner.

The update will be known as iOS version 4.3.3 and will address the following:

• The device will no longer back up the location database to iTunes
• The size of the location database will be reduced
• The location database will be deleted entirely when Location Services are turned off
• Battery life improvements
• iPod bug fixes

Looks good. Let’s hope this takes care of the public outcry over location security and privacy for this issue. Really, I’ll be happy if the update just gives me back the battery life I seem to have lost with the last one.

Fast Five shot out of the gate with a weekend total of $83.6M.  Obviously, we haven’t seen these type of totals all year, so it comes as no surprise that the film has broken all sorts of records. This is the best opening for the Fast and Furious franchise.  It is also the largest opening of 2011, the largest opening in April, and the biggest opening that Universal has ever had.

The film played at over 3,600 locations in the United States, including a handful (243) of IMAX screens. It was well received by audiences, earning a CinemaScore of “A”, which should ensure continued brisk business in upcoming weeks.

Coming in far behind Fast Five was Rio, now in its third week in release. It made $14.4M, which was a decline of about 45%.  Madea’s Big Happy Family took the third spot this weekend with $10.1M.

So what about the weekend’s other two new films?  They were left in the dust, coming in 5th and 6th.  Teenagers didn’t show up for Disney’s Prom. The film made about $5M, and had a paltry per screen average of $1832. Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs Evil fared even worse with $4.1M. That’s well below the $12M its predecessor made on its opening weekend.

Water for Elephants was number four, earning $9.4M. The film has made about $32M in two weeks.  Dylan Dog: Dead of Night rolled out on 875 screens, but fell short of making one million dollars. Its take was $885,000

In limited release, Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams had an impressive per screen average of $25,400.

Much like the roommate that disappeared with your credit card, Playstation is crawling back to life this week after over 2 weeks of being down due to an alleged “hacking”. There were plenty of rumors as to why the gamer network went down, and one fact that was floating to the top was that some credit card numbers and personal information would have been compromised.

With that scary seed planted into thousands of PSN customers’ minds, the network is making it’s way back this week with both regular and a few new features. GeekWeek‘s got a full breakdown.

• Restoration of Online game-play across the PlayStation®3 (PS3) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems
  -This includes titles requiring online verification and downloaded games
• Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers
• Access to account management and password reset
• Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
• PlayStation®Home
• Friends List
• Chat Functionality

The network is said to be back at 100% by sometime this month, with no specific date announced yet. So the network is coming back. That should be enough for most people right? Not so much.

With droves of PSN customers screaming mad because they haven’t been able to access the network for 2 weeks, Sony and PlayStation have decided to sweeten the pot a bit with some free features and bonus material. here’s the list.

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