As is the usual practice almost anywhere were column inches or post counts matter, writers such as myself take to their keyboards and make lists. I am no exception and, with a great deal of difficulty and toil, have managed to cobble together a list of what I think are some of the best things of 2011.

I don’t really want to bore you with a lot of explanations as to why I picked what I did. Suffice it to say these picks are mine and mine alone. Also, they are not in any particular order, mostly because I find it hard to rank them that closely. Or, I was just too lazy.

Either way, here you go.

Movies

Drive
The Artist
Attack the Block
X-Men: First Class
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
The Descendants
Thunder Soul
13 Assassins
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Hugo

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The third score from this year’s Golden Globe nominated set that I have the pleasure to review is from The Artist. The film is an interesting one, a silent film shot in black and white, set during Hollywood’s golden age. The film goes through great lengths to simulate the style of films the movie is about, and one of it’s biggest assets is it’s score.

Musically this could have come right out of the late 20s, it has a timeless quality, that allows it to feel fresh at the same time it transports you back to film music of a long passed era. Silent films used to rely heavily on music to help convey emotion, and as a result the music would often tell you as much of a story as the pictures did. It is exciting to hear that style of music in cinema again.

There is also a tremendous positivity abound in the music. Ludovic Bource has crafted a musical composition that damn near forces you to smile. One of the things that we too often hear these days is dark, monotone notes played for a mildly uncomfortable effect. This score excels at the exact opposite, and is incredibly fun.

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When Battlestar Galactica ended its run a few years ago fans were pretty disappointed. It was a great show that was enjoyed by a lot of people. One of the reasons for that enjoyment was the great cast.

Ron Moore, Exec. Producer and Co-Creator of the re-imagined series, tried to give fans something they’ve been wising for with the pilot for his series for NBC called 17th Precinct. Reuniting for the pilot were BSG alumni Jamie Bamber, James Callis and Tricia Helfer along with Caprica‘s Esai Morales. Sadly, no Edward James Olmos was in sight.

However, what we did get is a pretty interesting and inventive pilot which gives a new twist on the well-worn police procedural. It’s so fresh, in fact, that’s that’s probably the reason NBC decided not to pick it up. They would rather have a block of Whitney Cummings and Chelsey Handler shows and put Community on “hiatus” than have original programming.

But, I digress. Check out the pilot after the break while you still can. It might go away just as fast as it appeared.

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One thing we’ve learned is there are too many games and too little time to play them all. This also means there isn’t even enough time to give all of them awards, but we try our best. Today we take a look at both the most time consuming efforts of the past year as well as give some awards for games that deserve some notable mentions as well.

Game Most Likely to Consume Your Life: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Two Hundred and Fifty Hours. By most estimates, this is how long it’ll take an average player to explore MOST of the content of Skyrim. To give some perspective, if the average person works a 40 hour a week job, Skyrim would take six and a quarter full work weeks to complete. Now, we realize that most gamers work jobs outside of the gaming industry and cannot devote a full forty hours a week to a single game.

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Yesterday we took a look at Minecraft, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Capcom, Dark Souls and Portal 2. Today, we have a whole second set of awards to be given out for the best (and worst) of 2011.

Game That Shouldn’t Have Taken Nearly As Long to Come Out: Duke Nukem Forever

What happened in the time span since Duke Nukem Forever began development?

The entire Presidential run of George W. Bush.

This writer’s entire high school and college career.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and The Clone Wars were all released in theaters.

The XBox was released and ended its lifecycle.

Activision released 7 proper Call of Duty titles.

Lost.

A child born when development started would have grown to be a teenager.

The list goes on and on…

And the worst part is, after all that wait… Duke Nukem Forever wasn’t very good when it did finally come out. What was considered controversial when the game began production is pretty tame by comparison to what people are enjoying in gaming now and the humor comes off as sophomoric instead of clever.

While we can understand the desire to release a passion project to finally let it see the light of day, sometimes it is better to let it enjoy a quiet death with some dignity instead of coming out guns blazing as a failure.

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2011 was one heck of a year for gaming. Once again, the Call of Duty franchise set records for the largest entertainment launch in history. A game that was only in Beta was able to sell millions of copies and spawn an ungodly large community to the point they had a convention before the game was officially released. There were tons of critical darlings encouraging developers to rethink how they create games.
Take a look this week at the awards The Flickcast (along with The Bitcast team) are proud to present for gaming in 2011

Think Outside the Box Game: Portal 2

While many may argue that Minecraft may be the most deserving of this award, they need to remember one thing. In Minecraft, there are no rules. The expanses of the box are too extreme to find the outer boundaries of. Within Portal 2, players are asked to explore new viewpoints of physics, matter and… well, portals. The puzzles in Portal 2 completely overtake the complexity and creativity of the original, which in itself was groundbreaking. With additional toys at their disposal and the introduction of a cooperative mode, the team at Valve came up with a game that redefined both the puzzle solving and FPS genres all at once.

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Filmmaking is often a fun and very collaborative process. In the past, however, it usually took place mostly in secluded locations where the majority of fans never saw it or even really knew about it until a particular film was released into theaters.

Now that we live in the age of the Internets, the possibilities are almost endless as to how filmmakers can involve an audience in the entire process of creating a film. Case in point today is Peter Jackson and his production of The Hobbit.

The director has released another in a series of videos giving audiences a look at the ongoing production of his epic. In this one, Jackson talks about the cast, locations, logistics and a lot more sure to make fans everywhere even more excited for the film’s release.

Check out this very cool video after the break. Look for more from Jackson and company as the film progresses and, of course, expect to see The Hobbit in theaters on December 14, 2012.

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Merry Christmas to all the fans of Monday Picks. This week’s pick in celebration of the holiday season is Scrooged. Richard Donner (The Omen, Superman I & II, Lethal Weapon series) directs this modern comedy version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Bill Murray stars as media mogul Frank Cross, the head of IBC Networks who has risen to the top of the company by being a cynical, conceited, and cruel individual. Frank is in charge of a forty million dollar production of a live television broadcast that is to air on Christmas Eve.

When company executives show Frank the latest commercial for the broadcast, Frank belittles and insults his staff and shows them an incredibly offensive and violent commercial he has produced for the broadcast, which he plans to air in place of the original. Corporate executive Eliot Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait) confronts Frank on the commercial saying that the ad is in poor taste and will frighten people. Frank goes along with Loudermilk’s suggestion and then has him fired just days before Christmas.

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Yes. Winter is definitely coming. This time, it’s coming to your gaming consoles and PC, as Game of Thrones is getting it’s very own RPG adaptation.

Straight from the relatively small game publisher Cyanide Studios, who had put out a Game of Thrones strategy game earlier this game, and also were the minds behind the popular “fantasy” football game, Blood Bowl, comes the first George R.R. Martin and HBO-sanctioned Game of Thrones video game to date.

The game looks to stem from a few other popular games in the genre such as Skyrim, Dragon Age, and Assassin’s Creed with the aesthetic and feel of the environment, with some of our favorite characters from A Song of Fire and Ice making cameo appearances throughout the game.

With major distribution on XBox 360 and the PS3, the game is set to hit shelves early next year, just in time for the second season of the show to air on HBO. Take a look at tons of the game’s characters and events in the trailer after the jump, and prepare for the oncoming winter.

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This week, JC & WallE get into it with their thoughts on the recent trailer reveals for The Last of Us, Fortnite, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, The Amazing Spider-Man and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. JC also gives his final edition of The Long Grind focusing on The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Don’t worry though, the Long Grind will return in 2012 with new epic games to discuss.

The Topic of the Week this week is a very special one. A few weeks ago, the Bitcast crew talked about realism in games. This week, JC had the honor of sitting down and talking to a member of the United States Marine Corps who was involved in the conflict at the Battle of Fallujah in late 2004, considered to be one of the harshest battles in modern warfare history. This marine shares his perspective on gaming, movies and television  and how it relates to his experiences. We thank this individual for his time, his service and for sharing his experiences with us.

For their Now Playing, JC gives some insight in the recent Voltron XBLA release as well as how Christmas shopping reminded him of his time playing Dead Rising while WallE talks Madden 12. The duo even gives some not so subtle hints on what games they wouldn’t mind getting for Christmas.

Don’t forget to tune in next week for the Best Games of 2011 show and make sure to follow everyone on Twitter including @theflickcast, @thebitcast, @thejohncarle & @JWWallE. Finally, don’t forget to subscribe to The Bitcast on The Flickcast iTunes feed.

If there’s one thing we love around here it’s Liam Neeson. He’s a cool customer who usually ends up in movies we relly enjoy watching like Batman Begins, Taken or the recent Unknown.

We especially like to watch when he’s demonstrating his “particular set of skills.” Those are seemingly in full effect in his latest film The Grey.

In The Grey, Neeson is pitted against a new foe, one that will stop at nothing to make sure he, and the people he’s protecting, don’t make it out of the wilderness alive. I’m talking about, of course, a pack of hungry wolves.

Yes, you read that right: wolves. Neeson is even a badass when he fights against nature. To prove my point we’ve got a new trailer for The Grey to share with you today.

Check it out after the break. The Grey, which in addition to Neeson features Dermot Mulroney and James Badge Dale, is directed by Joe Carnahan and hits theaters on January 27.

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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 week or so we will have a reduced posting schedule. Of course, if anything big happens, we’ll bring it to you. Also, be sure to look for our “Best of 2011″ 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 2012.