Welcome back to another episode of The Bitcast, our very own video game only podcast hosted by JC and WallE. The boys hit lots of big news this week including the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 sales records, Activision’s multimillion dollar charity donation, Limbo hitting its millionth sale and discuss the upcoming Dead Island DLC.

In the Topic of the Week, the two discuss the ever decreasing distance of video games and reality and when that line is crossed. In their Now Playing Section, JC talks more about his experience with Modern Warfare 3 as well as his $0.99 download of Scribblenauts Remixed for the iOS.

WallE takes an unexpected turn and talks about the Flash “game” from PETA that tries to target Mario for the reintroduction of the Tanooki suit in Mario Bros. 3D Land for the Nintendo 3Ds.

Don’t forget to subcribe to The Flickcast’s iTunes feed to get your weekly dose of The Bitcast!

The Skin I Live In is an immensely bold and engaging film of perfect gray. “Gray” in the sense that it’s certainly not white, or light, and yet, not black, either. At the core is a redemptive love, but the path that leads to that love is, if one steps back, wholly repugnant. That director Pedro Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Talk to Her) is able to show us the chain of events in a plausible, sympathetic, and, not the least of which, compelling way, is a height of craft and human understanding.

If that description seems vague, it should be, because the film’s greatest strength is drawing you in with unexplained details only made clear after the events have transpired. An example: Early on we see a lab, with blood samples, high-tech equipment, and then bees.

Wait, what the hell are those doing here? And then beetles. Why are they there? To provide a tinge of intrigue, of course. The shots are quick, and the explanation comes seconds later, but it’s a moment that represents the whole of Almodovar’s approach. Of course, others like it range from just as casual to much, much more elaborate.

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It is quite possible The Avengers is the most important superhero film of all time. It could singlehandedly set a bar for audience acceptance in multi-film, continuity heavy, comic book franchise.

Not to mention the fact that this is essentially the sequel to four different individual franchises. So yeah, people pay attention when things like two new banners are unveiled.

Yahoo! Movies and Moviefone both debuted one of the two new character banners for The Avengers. The first depicting the main four heroes from previous franchises, and the other showcasing supporting characters and the villain of the movie.

These are very standard looking character posters, but there are a few interesting things we are seeing here. For one, this is the first time I have seen Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner and I see the character more so than the actor. Also, Captain America is the only one in mask and not showcasing a star of the film.

This might be some extreme over analyzation, but I think it really fits the character of Cap to stay in his mask, as opposed to the nigh celebrity in Tony Stark, who is on the poster sans helmet.

Compared to the Comic-Con connected character posters, these banners seem almost lazy. It is almost like they had a series of cool character posters and chained them together for the sake of creating something banner sized. It would have been much more exciting to see the comic style painted posters as a banner and these cut up into individual pieces.

Take a look at the full spread of posters after the jump.

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Even with the news that NBC has decided to bench Community for the mid-season (stupid decision that) we still have some episodes of the show left to enjoy. In fact, there’s one tonight.

We’ve got a preview for it as well as for some of the other shows hitting the network tonight and tomorrow night. On Community, Dean Pelton takes a stab at directing. But in true meta fashion, Abed’s turning the camera on his Greendale pals.

On Parks and Recreation, we’ll be visiting the smallest park in America. They also talk about lasers. What could be wrong with that?

We’ll be leaving Scranton on The Office when Andy takes some of the staff on a field trip. And on Whitney, she and Alex explore the idea of adopting a dog.

Check them all out after the break. Enjoy Community while you can tonight starting at 8/7C on NBC.

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Coming off of the heels of potentially tragic news in the world of comedy television in NBC putting Community on ice, there is some excellent news to brighten our spirits. Comedy Central has agreed to renew South Park through its full 20 seasons, bringing it through 2016.

Deadline was able to nail down the comedic duo of Matt Stone and Trey Parker to see what they had to say.

Parker and Stone will continue to write, direct and edit every episode of South Park, as they have since the series’ premiere in 1997. “The collective genius of Matt and Trey knows no bounds,” Comedy Central’s president Michele Ganeless said. “Week after week and season after season they continue to surprise and delight South Park fans, and that includes all of us here at Comedy Central. We’re thrilled that the adventures of Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman will continue through 2016.”

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Upon leaving J. Edgar, neither my buddy nor I could nail down the point of what we just watched. Was it a hard look at the man? The film takes a vague stance on Hoover’s actions, and there’s not a very well-defined character arc—Hoover starts out as a stiff prima donna and ends up pretty much the same. And it’s certainly not an action flick.

The best I can surmise is that it’s a look at the relationships of someone who closed himself off from all human contact. Maybe that’s the reason the film’s titled “J. Edgar”–the first name is closed off while the second is used. There’s a lingering shot of the first time Hoover signs his name as such, so it’s obviously important, but then again the context is Hoover opening a new account in a men’s clothing shop. Anybody’s guess.

Hoover is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, using a slightly affected accent that’s not quite convincing but isn’t distracting. He goes through a number of emotions, and I suppose plays that part well, but I think the weakness is in the writing: He’s just not a very compelling character. Of course he’s underplayed and quiet—that’s the point, right? But even a dull character well played is still a dull character.

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There are very little studios these days that you can bank on having a hit just about every time they release a film. Sure, there will always be Cars 2, but that’s only after nearly a dozen award-winning, amazing films. That’s why we have no doubt that the next project in the Disney/Pixar house, Brave, will be anything short of genius.

With a pretty stellar cast of Scottish actors and actresses, you can expect this film to bring new-found love to the kilt-wearing pure bloods proud to hail from Scotland. Here’s the premise for those not in the know.

In “Brave,” a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasts. Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson).

Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane). Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Wise Woman (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.

Strong female hero? Majestic setting? It’s a definite that Brave has the stuff Disney legends are made of, but what do you think? Take a look at the trailer after the jump and sound off! Brave hits theaters on June 22nd.

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Never underestimate the power of experience.  Fresh off directing a couple episodes of King of Queens, Michael J. Weithorn make his feature film debut with A Little Help. I’m all for new talented writer/directors (Mark Webb), but unfortunately, while I do see potential for some creative ideas in this film, he probably should have tried out a few shorts before diving head first into a feature.

It felt like highly produced sit-coms episodes strung together.

In the film, Jenna Fischer plays Pam…. sorry, Laura, a dental hygienist who must deal with the aftermath of the sudden death of her unfaithful husband.  With her family almost forcing comfort and support down her throat, she soon discovers that her son has been lying about his father’s death to his friends at school to make him sound cooler.  The film has all the elements in place, a solid story with good casting, but ultimately fails to come together as a cohesive unit that keeps the audience engaged the whole time.

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In most areas of real life, endings can often be difficult. This can also be be true if you’ve created and produced a very successful television series that’s wrapping things up. In many of those cases, like withThe Sopranos and LOST, fans were very unhappy with the way those series ended.

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner doesn’t want his show to end like those and doesn’t want fans to end up disappointed. In fact, he’s already thinking about and planning the ending to his show.

”It came to me in the middle of last season,” said Weiner. “I always felt like it would be the experience of human life. And human life has a destination. It doesn’t mean Don’s gonna die. What I’m looking for, and how I hope to end the show, is like … It’s 2011. Don Draper would be 84 right now. I want to leave the show in a place where you have an idea of what it meant and how it’s related to you. It’s a very tall order, but I always talk about Abbey Road.

What’s the song at the end of Abbey Road? It’s called ‘The End.’ There is a culmination of an experience of people working at their highest level. And all I want to do is not wear out the welcome. I was 35 when I wrote the Mad Men pilot, 42 when I got to make it, and I’ll be 50 when it goes off the air. So that’s what you’re gonna get. Do I know everything that’s gonna happen? No, I don’t. But I just want it to be entertaining, and I want people to remember it fondly and not think it ended in a fart.”

There are few films upcoming as anticipated as The Hobbit. The predecessor of The Lord of the Rings represents a return to Middle Earth and everyones favorite race of furry feet halflings. Telling the tale of Frodo’s uncle Bilbo who… wait, does anyone really need a run down of what The Hobbit is? Didn’t think so.

So when co-star and 2nd unit director, Andy Serkis, lets loose that a teaser for this massive film is due out this Christmas, it is news.  Serkis told IGN in a recent interview that we should be seeing our first glimpse of the new film this holiday season. Best speculation points to either Tintin or the new Sherlock Holmes film.

Tintin would make a lot of sense because Peter Jackson is that film’s producer and the previously mentioned Serkis is also in the film. That said, Sherlock Holmes: A Gane of Shadows is a Warner Bros. production, and it might behoove WB to keep the excitement of this teaser in the family.

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Even though they seem to, at times, be mostly in the business of making their customers angry, Netflix is still one of the best places to get your movie and TV content from. In fact, their streaming service is one of the most popular available.

One of the ways Netflix is going to keep that service popular, and growing, is with updates to it and the applications that make it possible. That’s just what they’ve done this week with the user interface for their Android application.

The company explained that the revamped UI now displays twice as many movie and TV titles, with larger cover art, and that users can easily swipe through titles to find additional content.

“In the last 12 months we have seen a threefold increase in how long Netflix members are watching on their tablets,” Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt said. The company also said they wanted to introduce the redesigned UI in time for the release of Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet.

Netflix said the update will be available for iPad users “in a few weeks.” The update is free and is available now in the Android Market.

Click through for the full press release from Netflix.

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The Snow White movie wars are heating up folks. Last week we got a look at Universal’s Snow White and The Huntsman directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Kristen Stewart.

Now, we’ve got the trailer for director Tarsem’s take on the story called Mirror Mirror. This one features a cast that includes Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer and Sean Bean.

One thing you can say about Tarsem’s films is that they are stylish and his visuals are often stunning. Plus, he knows his way around an action sequence.

In truth, I was not a fan of his first film, The Cell. That said, his most recent project, Immortals, is quite good so I have a bit of hope for this one.

Plus, this is also the Snow White film that doesn’t feature Kristen Stewart, which is a big plus in my book. Look for Mirror Mirror to arrive in theaters on March 16.

Check out the trailer after the break.

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