If there’s one particular Marvel comics series I’ve been enjoying for the last many months it’s Secret Avengers. The story and characters really seem to resonate with me and I really like where the series is going.

As pleased as I am with the series I was even more intrigued to learn that one of my favorite writers, Warren Ellis, was taking over the scripting duties on it. That work has now arrived with Secret Avengers #16 and, not surprisingly, it was hugely successful. In fact, it sold out and is going back for a second printing.

That second printing hits store shelves on September 28th. But wait, there’s more.

To get you interested in this great arc, we’ve got a preview for Ellis’ next issue for you today. In this one, Ellis is joined by artist Kev Walker and sends Steve Rogers and his team to Eastern Europe to stop a global bio-threat.

Can’t wait to check that one out. Sounds awesome.

Check out the preview for Secret Avengers #17 after the break. Look for it in comic store on September 28th too.

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If you’re as addicted to Instant Netflix as the rest of us, you’re probably glued to the New Releases feed to see what the benevolent Netflix gods will bring you to enjoy from the comfort of your bed/couch every night. One company who has helped aid in their vast streaming library is Starz, which expands to original series and films that make it to their movie channels.

It looks like that deal won’t last much longer, as it’s been announced that Starz will choose to discontinue their deal with Netflix and Instant Netflix, pulling their content from the servers. Here’s the press release from Starz.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Sept. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Starz, LLC, President and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Albrecht, issued the following statement today regarding the status of affiliation agreement renewal discussions with Netflix.

“Starz Entertainment has ended contract renewal negotiations with Netflix. When the agreement expires on February 28, 2012, Starz will cease to distribute its content on the Netflix streaming platform. This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content.”

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It’s hard to believe but there are some franchises that seem to take on a life of their own long after the original cast & crew has moved on to greener pastures. One of those franchises is American Pie, with an insane 7 films under its belt.

Who says you can’t go back to the drawing board for number 8? Certainly not the original cast, as they’re ALL returning for the 10-year reunion of when they started back with the first American Pie.

Hard to believe the only person who’s made it through all 7 films is Eugene Levy (or maybe it’s not that hard to believe) but he’s back and still playing the poor man’s Jerry Lewis. Here’s the film’s synopsis.

In the comedy “American Reunion,” all the “American Pie” characters we met a little more than a decade ago are returning to East Great Falls for their high-school reunion. In one long-overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed, who hasn’t and that time and distance can’t break the bonds of friendship.

It was summer 1999 when four small-town Michigan boys began a quest to lose their virginity. In the years that have passed, Jim and Michelle married while Kevin and Vicky said goodbye. Oz and Heather grew apart, but Finch still longs for Stifler’s mom. Now these lifelong friends have come home as adults to reminisce about—and get inspired by—the hormonal teens who launched a comedy legend.

Check out the first “trailer” for the film after the jump, which has no official footage, but rather a photo booth-style slideshow giving us a taste of whats in store when American Reunion hits theaters on April 6th.

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As a fan of the Star Tours attractions on both coasts, I was excited to go to the D23 panel on the making of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue… I crowded into the 1,000+ seat ballroom, not knowing what Imagineer insights awaited me.

In true Disney fashion, the panel was a professionally crafted presentation, with no room for questions..errr, I mean error. In this panel, lead Imagineer, Tom Fitzgerald, spoke with the aid of Powerpoint and took us on the journey to bring this attraction into the future.

Tom Fitzgerald, began his Star Tours story in 1998 when George Lucas summoned the Imagineer team to his ranch to watch the pod race, and only the pod race. After seeing the infamous scene, the Imagineers decided to wait to see the rest of the film, hoping against hope that it would the pod race would be scrapped for something way cooler.

Ok, so Tom said, “In fact, we did think it was a great idea”, but I can read between the lines. Interestingly back in 1998, way before the 3D onslaught, the Imagineers knew the ride was going to be in 3D.

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I don’t know about you but I was a huge fan of The Six Million Dollar Man when I was a kid. So much so that I hoped to one day be bionic, just like my hero Steve Austin — a man barely alive. Years and many sessions of therapy later I can now appreciate the show for what it was: cool and a lot of fun.

Of course, one of the reasons the show was so cool was Lee Majors. After The Six Million Dollar Man ended, he went on to play another cool character on TV, Hollywood stuntman Colt Seavers in The Fall Guy. That was another fun show that I watched all the time. Of course, some of that interest may have had to do with Heather Thomas, but I can’t be sure.

Lee Majors has been absent from the small screen for too long. Fortunately, pro skater and cool guy Tony Hawk, along with Lance Krall, have decided to do something about it. That something is a new show called Crash & Burn.

It’s a show about stuntmen (and women) and looks to be pretty damn funny. To help spread the word about this new show, which looks to be no more than a pilot or even, as they call it in “the biz” a pilot presentation at this point, we’ve got the promo for it to share with you today.

Let’s hope it becomes a series because it’s pretty awesome. Click through to check it out.

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The zombies are back! Well, almost. You still gotta wait until October. But fear not friends and zombie lovers, we’ve got an actual premiere date, and more about the schedule, for The Walking Dead.

The thirteen episode season two will premiere on October 18th at 9PM ET and kick off with full 90 minutes of zombie killing fun. Then, six one hour episodes will follow.

After a break for the holidays (which I think is stupid, by the way) the show will return for the final six episodes on Sunday, February 12th at 9PM ET. Here’s a bit more from the official AMC press release:

The Walking Dead follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln (“Love Actually,” “Teachers,” “Strike Back”), who are traveling in search of a safe and secure home. Jon Bernthal (“The Pacific,” “The Ghost Writer”) plays Shane Walsh, Rick’s sheriff’s department partner before the apocalypse, and Sarah Wayne Callies (“Prison Break”), is Rick’s wife, Lori Grimes.

Additional cast include: Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Norman Reedus, Jeffrey DeMunn, Chandler Riggs, Iron E. Singleton and Melissa McBride. Recently announced guest stars include: Lauren Cohan, Scott Wilson and Pruitt Taylor Vince.

Oh, there’s also something about a new reality series from Kevin Smith that takes place in a comic book store. But really, who cares about that. We’ve got zombies!

I know it might seem a bit confusing sometimes what with many comics having unusual or long names these days. Ultimate Comics New Ultimates anyone? Fortunately, this one isn’t that long or confusing. Or is it? Anyway,what am I talking about?

I’m talking about Marvel’s upcoming Ultimate Comics Ultimates #2, which we have a preview of for you today. Here’s some scoop on the book directly from our pals at Marvel.

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Ultimate Comics Ultimates #2 from the rockstar creative team of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic. Ultimate Comics Reborn continues as the entire world begins to crumble around S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Ultimates are powerless against it! With their leader nowhere to be found, can Thor, Iron Man & Nick Fury pull together and stop the Tomorrow People before it’s too late?

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say they probably will. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to read it and find out for sure. Fortunately, I’m going to get my chance pretty soon.

Look for Ultimate Comics Ultimates #2 to hit store shelves on September 28. Click through to check out the preview pages.

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If you’re one of the people who was enjoying your $9.99 instant streaming plus one DVD deal at Netflix, get ready to be disappointed. That’s right, that nice low price for the service you love is going away, effective today. Can’t say we didn’t warn you this day was coming.

Instead, you can now pay $15.98 (60% more) for the same service. Of course, you can opt for the streaming only plan like most of us here at The Flickcast do. That’s still only $7.99, which is a pretty good deal.

Sadly, the selection of movies that are available for streaming is still not all that great and if you’re looking for relatively new movies, you can forget it. Most of them don’t ever make it to Netflix streaming. However, there are some and there is also a pretty decent selection of older and classic movies. Plus, the selection of TV programs is pretty good, even including some cable and non-US shows in some cases caught up with their current seasons.

So, it’s not a total loss and worth it for the money. Still, for those of you who enjoyed that low priced plan for streaming and for a DVD now and then, today just isn’t your day.

Now that this new pricing is in place, will this cause you to leave Netflix, change to a different plan or just pay the higher price? Sound off in the comments.

Summer is finally coming to a close, and for most that means heading back to school or waking up early to take their little ones to school, but the good news is that all news shows are returning to the primetime lineup!

Some people are excited for things like the brand new look of The Office or new comedies like Up All Night and Whitney to start, but we can tell you none of that compares to what we are looking forward to in the upcoming third season of NBC’s Community.

Last season, we had things like an Apollo 13 spoof, another paintball tournament, and some amazing cameo guest stars, but from what we can tell in this new extended trailer for the season, that’s only the tip of the iceburg in what the students and staff at Greendale Community College have to offer.

Check out the brand new teaser after the jump, featuring a peek at an incredibly austentacious-looking musical number, and some of the most intense dialogue performed by John Goodman since the final season of Roseanne after the jump and catch the season premiere of Community on September 22nd.

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The Flickcast and the world got their first look at Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure back at Toy Fair.  Activision has come up with a way to combine the collectible aspect of high detail model toys along with the addictive nature of a classic dungeon crawling action game. Don’t let the word “toy” or the game’s lighthearted graphics fool you. Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure is going to be full of depth.

While the game won’t be as intense in terms of upgrades and item management like a title like Mass Effect, it won’t be a slouch either. Players will need to work through levels, upgrading powers to further both their exploration experience and combat prowess. Being able to save these stats to a fancy action figure that they can bring to their friend’s console to play is just an added bonus.

With PAX this weekend, Activision has released a bundle of new screen shots and character vignettes for the game. This batch focuses on Dark Spyro, Bash, Sonic Boom, Stealth Elf and Voodood. Make sure to take a look at all these characters have to offer below.

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Now that this year’s superhero season is safely in our rear view mirrors, it’s time to look forward…to next year’s superhero flicks! One of the big ones is obviously going to be The Avengers which hits mid year.

With that, Marvel is getting us ready for the epic flick with an awesome series of shorts to connect films like Iron Man 2, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America: The First Avenger to the upcoming film about the superteam. We heard a while back about these shorts, titled Marvel One-Shots, in which S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) helps tie all of the films in together.

Now that Marvel’s first of two films from this year, Thor, is hitting DVD and Blu-Ray on September 13th, we’re getting a first taste of the release’s One-Shot in which Coulson has to enlist “The Consultant” in order to get Gener “Thunderbolt” Ross to help out the Avengers.

Now we’re getting the tie-ins that we’ve been making up in our heads since Marvel’s strategy to tie all of their films together began, and you get a first glimpse right now!

Check out the clip from the short after the jump, and catch the full mini-movie on the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Thor, in stores on September 13th.

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