As I was watching the new Eclipse trailer, out of sheer boredom and a hint of curiosity, I found myself wondering why in the world two super-powered boys would fight it out over a girl clad in American Apparel who’s a hell of a downer.

How is there an entire film series devoted to one girl’s delusional obsessions of a fairy tale ending with a born-again killer? Sparkely vampires want to kill you, strapping werewolf shape-shifters want to keep you safe.

Do these Edward fans have a death wish and a yearning for abandonment? Is Bella Swan so heavily marketed as mesmerizing that it erases the history of the brazen blonde that came before her?

A long time ago, otherwise known as the 90’s, there was a series called Buffy the Vampire Slayer where a feisty girl from the southland slayed Urban Outfitted demons. This legendary show paved the way for multi-tasking girls who cheer by day, slay by night, and every once in a while hook-up with a tormented blood sucker.

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With his film Tucker & Dale vs. Evil playing the crowds at Austin, director Eli Craig is looking to become the American Edgar Wright. We recently had a chance to sit down with him to chat about his new movie, classic horror in general, and plans for the future.

The Flickcast: What are some of your classic horror influences?  I see some Texas Chainsaw in there.

Eli Craig: I really tried to put a lot of different films into this one; I like a lot of the older horror films going back to Sam Raimi and The Evil Dead and a lot of Peter Jackson’s older films—the old zombie slasher films. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a bit of Friday the 13^th, Cabin Fever, and even threw in a little bit of Fargo.

And definitely Wrong Turn. This is basically the opposite of Wrong Turn. And then sprinkled on top is just a little bit of I Love You, Man.

TFC: Is there something about the splatter genre that attracts you?

EC: In regards to I Love You, Man?

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Tonight marks a pretty big night for fans of the USA Network series Psych as it finishes off another successful season. Ending the fourth season will be quite a big episode, as 80’s star Ally Sheedy reprises her role as the serial killer Mr. Yang in “Mr. Yin Presents.” The episode will also stand as a send up to many classic Alfred Hitchcock films in a half-spoof half-homage episode.

We were lucky enough to talk to star James Roday and Sheedy about the episode, and they were able to give us some insight on what we can look forward to seeing. Be sure to catch the season 4 finale on USA at 10 PM EST.

Clearly in this episode there is a lot of Hitchcock references.  James I was wondering if there is anyone else you drew inspiration from – influences from when you were directing this episode?

Roday: You know, I really do try to stay as faithful to Hitchcock as I could both aesthetically and in pacing and I just shamelessly ripped off four or five shots straight out of his films, quite frankly.  It was an homage episode and I’m a Hitchcock fan, and Andy Berman who wrote the episode with me, is a Hitchcock fan.  As much as we could get away with doing Hitchcock in a Psych episode that’s definitely what we set out to do. 

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Are you a big fan of USA’s Psych, starring James Roday and Dulé Hill? Then you’re going to want to hop on over to our Twitter all day tomorrow as we host another Twitter Contest for an awesome prize pack to coincide with Wednesday night’s Psych season finale.

From USA:

Don’t miss the most shocking PSYCH finale ever as a killer targets Shawn using scenarios from classic Hitchcock films. Ally Sheedy guest-stars in Psych’s season finale, directed by James Roday — “Mr. Yin Presents” — premiering Wednesday at 10/9C!

Enter to win a Psych Prize Bag filled with:
–        Psych Season 3 DVD Set
–        Psych Talking Bobbleheads
–        Psych Book: Call of the Mild
–        Psych Pineapple T-Shirt
–        Psych Pineapple Stress Toy

Be sure to check our Twitter Feed all day tomorrow to see the Psych trivia question that will give you a chance to win! Also, don’t forget to catch the season 4 finale of Psych, this Wednesday at 10pm EST!! Good Luck!

This week’s pick is the 1969 Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Force 10 From Navarone) directed classic Battle of Britain, which depicts the valiant struggle of Great Britain’s Royal Air Force against the onslaught of the numerically superior German Luftwaffe during the summer of 1940. The film opens as France falls in May 1940, and the British and their allies avoid capture with the massive evacuation at the coastal city of Dunkirk. With time to regroup and strengthen their home defenses, the British lie and wait for Hitler’s forces to eventually invade England.

The film is told through a collection of fighter squadron groups (English and German) who are veterans in the skies over France and the low countries during early 1940. Like many films of the mid to late 1960’s, Battle of Britain has its fare share of brilliant English and German actors. Screen legend Sir Laurence Olivier leads the cast as Chief Air Marshal H.C. Dowding who helped to coordinate British forces to total victory in the battle.

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Every once in a while, we’ll get an opportunity to check out a new indie film from out of nowhere and get blown away by it. Sadly, this happens less often than we would like, but in this case, it was completely true.

We recently got to check out the short film The Legacy, written and directed by Mike Doto, about a boy who discovers that his father is the world’s greatest superhero. The film is, by all definitions of the word, fantastic. It captures some of the elements that made the original Superman films so great, without treading into campy territory.

With that in mind, we got a chance to sit down with the writer/director of the film, Mike Doto, about what it took to make the project, and where he goes from here.

The Flickcast: With a concept like The Legacy, what drove you to this idea? Were you a big comic fan growing up? If so, which books were you inspired by the most?

Mike Doto: For The Legacy I really wanted to get back to the roots of why I wanted to be a filmmaker to begin with. I feel like I grew up in a time when movies really connected with kids and I’ve never forgotten the impact that those films have had on me.

Most of these films starred a young protagonist that I could relate to quite easily, films such as E.T., Goonies, Wargames, D.A.R.Y.L., The Last Starfighter, and Back to the Future. What I’ve learned is that these weren’t just kid movies, these were movies for all ages, they appealed to the both the young and the young at heart.  So I thought about what movie I would have written when I was 10-years-old and I decided that I probably would have written a movie about being a superhero.

Superman was my boyhood hero so naturally that’s the hero I wanted to emulate.  In thinking further about the Superman story I decided that it would be more effective to write a film about the relationship between the father and the son since this is at the heart of the Superman character. I actually wasn’t a big comic book fan growing up. I was a huge fan of the Superman movies, but I didn’t really spend much time reading comics.

I would much rather dress up as a superhero or play with my action figures and imagine what that world would be like to live in. Even though a camera wasn’t rolling, I think this was the start of my filmmaking career although I didn’t realize it at the time.

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Yesterday, we showed you some of the cool new movie toys from this year’s Toy Fair at New York City’s Jacob Javits Center. Diamond came in with lots of new and exciting movie properties, but some of their coolest new toys were for their existing DC and Marvel lines.

Among the new toys we got to see were some cool new Marvel MiniMates for the upcoming Iron Man 2 film, including a neat Whiplash, Justin Hammer, and Stark Drones. Marvel Selects announced a gigantic new Abomination figure, as well as The Thing and others, each heavy enough to be used as a murder weapon.

From DC and Diamond, we got to see some cool new statues from the DC Dynamics line, the first ever line of Vertigo busts, and some great statues form the upcoming Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths film. Also from DC, we got to see some great new “then and now” style figures, including the original Superman vs his current incarnation.

Check out the full gallery after the jump, and be sure to keep it here for more upcoming news and features from the wonderful world of toys!

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With the second episode airing last Friday on SyFy, things have been picking up quite a lot for the first season of Caprica, the prequel spin off of Battlestar Galactica. Many of us remember the events that took place in the pilot, which hit DVD shelves back in April, and now things are underway for a whole season of action, drama and cylons.

One star in particular has been stirring up some buzz on the web, as Alessandra Torresani’s provocative photo shoot has been circulating around. We got the chance to sit down with star Alessandra, who plays “Zoe”, at New York’s Big Apple Convention. We spoke about her role on the show, how much more we’ll get to see of “Zoe”, and what Alessandra’s plans are now that she’s been introduced to the world of science fiction.

Check out our exclusive interview after the jump, and be sure to catch Alessandra and the rest of the Caprica on SyFy, every Friday night.

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We’re all pretty big fans of the original Showtime series Weeds around The Flickcast offices. The show has managed to stay strong and innovative since it’s launch back in 2005, with plenty of plot twists and fan favorite cameos. One of the main reasons we love the show so much is the use of the ensemble cast, especially any major story arcs with Andy Botwin, played by Justin Kirk.

We recently got a chance to sit down with Justin about the show, his work on the recently released season five DVD, and where he sees the upcoming season going. One cool feature on the DVD is a collection of the University of Andy web shorts. We asked Justin where the idea came from, and he knew that it was already going to be a success.

The writers had done various web-based content over the years. I don’t know if you remember ‘Good Morning, Agrestic’, which was a faux public access channel, but it was all meant to be for the web and DVD’s, which inevitably turned into a big hit. There’s also a new round out right now. We are only 3 episodes deep into round 2, which is going on right now.

One of the biggest events of this past season was the jump ahead six months and the story progressed. Justin was more than excited about that idea when he first heard about it.

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The world of hour-long legal dramas have had a strange relationship with ABC in the past. From their lengthy term with The Practice, to the even longer relationship with the spin-off, Boston Legal, the network seems to give more of a chance to programming that revolves around the courtroom.

With that in mind comes the newest mid-season show, The Deep End. The show brings in an interesting twist on the established genre, focusing more on the lives of the up-and-coming lawyers, with the named partners taking more of a supporting role.

We recently got a chance to sit down with famed actors Billy Zane (Titanic, The Phantom) and Tina Majorino (Waterworld, Corinna Corinna) about their roles, what attracted them to the show in the first place, and where they see their characters going.

Check out the interview after the jump, and be sure to catch The Deep End on ABC every Thursday at 8/7C.

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