Anyone who follows The Flickcast knows I’m not the film guy by any means. I’m the video game guy. It is a rare feat to find a strong combination of the two. Portal: No Escape is one of those rare exceptions.

The world of Portal is filled with mystery and though some questions were answered in Portal 2 through the oral history of Aperture Science being explained by the recordings of Cave Johnson, many more questions remained. As a result, the world of Portal is ripe for fan fiction to fill in its many blanks.

That’s where director and editor Dan Trachtenberg’s fan film Portal: No Escape comes in. Though it doesn’t provide any new insight into the world of Portal, it gives a different perspective to its inhabitants. As seen by the events of Portal and Portal 2, the subjects who are used for testing “in the name of science” are not there of their own free will and do whatever they feel they must to escape.

Portal: No Escape follows one of these attempts. With music from Inception trailer composer Mike Zarin,  and vision from director Dan Trachtenberg, this fan film is incredibly tense and compelling and can be appreciated by those who are fans of the series or those who may have never seen it before.

Give Portal: No Escape a watch after the jump and make sure to let us know here at the Flickcast what you think of it.

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We’re pretty big fans of all things viral here at The Flickcast, but given that there is just so much to report on when it comes to awesome web videos, we thought it was time we just spelled it all out for you in a comprehensive list for you to enjoy it all in a digestible package.

We all know how terrible Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark is, either by first or second hand experience. But 4 minutes from the new Batman Live! stage show gives us Batman fighting a giant disembodied Joker head. Meh?

Who doesn’t love a good trailer mashup? How about when the two themes are both eerily similar in histories? That’s exactly what you get when My Little Pony meets Dark of the Moon in TransforMares: Dark of the NightMare Moon.

Speaking of trailer mashups (that are less ironic and more funny), here’s a mashup of the Source Code trailer with the popular game Half Life.

What if Luke Skywalker was the Billy Mumy, aka the creepy kid from the Twilight Zone episode where he made people disappear? Take a step into the Star Wars Zone to find out.

Getting deeper into the world of impressive shorts, this one takes a look at life from two different perspectives. We present to you Splitscreen: A Love Story.

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Since the arrival of affordable and professional level video editing and effects equipment, it’s become more and more common for a small fan film on the Internet to have as good or better visuals (and often a story) than many of the big Hollywood  films we usually see. That case is clear once again with the new short film Robots of Brixton by Kibwe Tavares.

The film takes an interesting look at a futuristic (and not very optimistic) world where robots not only rule, but have the same hardships as humans.

With some of the most unsettling and gorgeous visuals we’ve seen in a some time, Brixton runs a short 5 and a half minutes. However, that time will go by fast and once you’re done, you’ll want to watch it again.

Check out the full synopsis and short itself after the jump.

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Just in time for Joe Johnston to bring us yet another classic WWII era superhero in Captain America, The First Avenger, another film of his is hitting a milestone. Last week marked the 20th anniversary of the release of Disney’s The Rocketeer.

Hard to believe it’s been that long since Billy Campbell donned the brass helmet and flew around the Disney back lot with Alan Arkin by his side, but here we are.

Because the film was such a classic, as was Dave Stevens’ original comic book, diehard fan and animator John Banana put together a little homage animated short in which The Rocketeer shows some of his stuff.

The animation style is superb and the short managed to capture the original magic and wonder that the film brought us back in 1991. All without the use of Jennifer Connelly, Timothy Dalton, or Terry “Locke” O’Quinn.

Check it out after the jump, and let’s hope this revitalizes interest in the project enough for Disney to give us an animated reboot!

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Since he found out Marvel was interested in bringing Luke Cage to the big or small screen, Old Spice spokesman Isiah Mustafa has been petitioning online for the part, as he thinks it’s one he’s born to play.

He’s shot some promotional stills, worked with Marvel, and done a few other things to attempt to prove himself, and now there’s a brand new viral teaser hitting the web showing Isiah in the tank top and chains as Power Man himself, Luke Cage. The Daily Blam brings us up to speed:

Several months ago, reps for Marvel Studios hinted that a Luke Cage film or television series was in the works. Since then, TV personality Isaiah Mustafa has been publicly pursing the role, going as far as to pose for unofficial promotional images. The actor also revealed that he has gone as far as to speak with the studio about the possibility of portraying the hero: “I’ve already had a meeting with Marvel. I talked to them and I told them that I was a gracious reader of their comics and that I wanted to be Luke Cage. So we’ll see where they take it.”

Now we’ve got a taste of what Mustafa is really made of when it comes to playing Luke Cage as a new teaser has hit the web. Is this a teaser for an unannounced Luke Cage film? a TV show? A webseries? Nobody knows just yet. All we know is that it looks pretty bad ass. Check it out after the jump.

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While there have been tons over the past decade, this is certainly the biggest year for superhero films in theaters. Between X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, Captain America and Thor, we’ve got more than enough magic, aliens, and science to keep putting butts in seats all year round.

While we’re finally getting films for The God of Thunder and the Green Lantern Corps, which is something nobody ever thought would happen, where does that leave the rest of the B-list characters in the Marvel and DC universe, such as Hawkman?

That’s where a brand new comedy short from Frog Island about how the rest of the superhero community feels about the winged hero wielding Nth metal to allow him to fly and fight intergalactic crime.

Some great moments and potshots and some less than popular comic film heroes, and we even get Yogi Bear star TJ Miller to star as our favorite emerald hero. Check out the short after the film and be sure to catch Hawkman in theaters probably never (or until Nolan decides to back the movie).

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We love fan films. Especially well done fan films. The constant growth of YouTube and New Media in general has helped fans on both side of the lens come together and enjoy these videos somewhere besides the basement of a comic book store.

With that, we’ve got a brand new fan film by YouTube user TheManBatman compiled several scenes from several Batman films (and many non-Batman flicks as well) and portrayed a story that plays Bruce Wayne as a bit of a lunatic. That makes Batman a figment of his imagination. Here’s what the Man himself has to say about the mash-up.

Here we have a full length theatrical trailer that delves a little deeper into the story behind The Batman Complex. As explained in the teaser, the gist of the idea revolves around a few fun topics, mainly the whole “what is real?” train of thought, and also every fans desire, deep down or upfront, to be Batman at least once in their lives. LOL. And so, I tried to craft a story where we see what happens when someone takes their dream of being Batman a little bit too far. An idea, after all, is a truly resilient parasite.

While some of it is still left a bit ambiguous (both unintentionally and intentionally – while there’s only so much that can be strung together, I often like to leave a little bit open so as to see what fellow fans are able to imagine/create), I believe it offers a bit more than the teaser.

Take a look at the fan film after the jump, and be sure to subscribe to TheManBatman’s channel for more of his upcoming trailer mash ups and fan films.

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This week marked one of the biggest decision making events in recent geek history, as both NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat reboot and Valve’s sequel to the hit game Portal both hit gaming stores on the same day!

Needless to say, this made quite a quandary for most gamers that couldn’t afford $120 for both games. Both have an intense single player and online multiplayer aspect, so there’s the possibility of missing out on what your friends are playing either way.

What is one to do? Buy Mortal Kombat and listen to all of his friends gush about GLADOS and all of her issues in Portal 2? Or pick up the latter and miss out on bone-crunching action and braggability rights when whupping your online pals in a deathmatch?

Well, rather than solve the problem, the guys over at The Game Station offered a third alternative…Portal Kombat!

Check out what we’re talking about after the jump, and pick up either Portal 2 or Mortal Kombat (or both!) in stores today.

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Billy Crystal is back! After a long and mysterious hiatus from Hollywood, the legendary comedian has taken to the web with a star-studded trailer for his newest flick, When Harry Met Sally 2.

OK, not really. In this spoof video courtesy of Funny or Die, both Crystal and director Rob Reiner are pitching a sequel to an unnamed studio (though we’re going to assume it rhymes with Schmummit Schmentertainment) in which Crystal’s “Harry” falls for Hellen Miren in an old folks’ home. With one tweak. They’re both vampires–sorry, “grampires”.

With a pretty amazing cast, including Adam Scott, Maya Rudolph, Rob Riggle, and Mike Tyson, this spoof of both When Harry Met Sally and where today’s films are headed is both brilliant and hilarious.

We’re just happy to see Crystal back at it again. Maybe this means the attention can be off of Robin Williams dressing like a tiger for a few years.

Check out the video after the jump, and here’s to hoping we can see Billy Crystal in a few more upcoming projects like this!

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It’s fun when we can laugh about a totally unreal scenario where a popular iPhone or Android video game gets adapted into a big budget film. Unfortunately, the window between us laughing at a satirical fan trailer and the film getting actually produced is quite small.

While we’ve got the time, we can still laugh at what the guys at Rooster Teeth (the folks who made Red Vs. Blue one of the most popular things amongst boys 18-35) put together in honor of the popular strategy game featuring birds and green pigs.

Some great cinematic spoofs in here as well, as Michael Bay and just about any disaster movie of the 90′s is a target in this short but sweet fan film.

Check it out after the jump, and let’s all pray that we’re years away from this trailer becoming a reality.

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Here at The Flickcast we get sent all kinds of videos made by fans. Many of them are, sad to say, not very inspired. Some, however, like the ones from Freddie Wong, are indeed awesome.

This most recent one has been around for a bit but we just got a chance to take a look. In it, creator msignore takes the familiar tale of 300 and moves it to the only other place we can see that story ever taking place: a bowling alley. Yes, you read that right, a bowling alley.

It’s a pretty interesting tale full of danger, suspense and, of course, shirtless bowling in slo-mo. We look forward to seeing what else this guy comes up with.

Check it out after the jump.

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While internet pioneers have yet to find an exact science to viral videos, there seems to be a pretty simple algorithm for highly successful fan films. Basically, spoof a distant classic video game, TV, or film franchise, or spoof something so new, that it’s already top of brain.

What happens, however, if you combined a spoof of a classic video game with a modern film, however? Fan film magic.

We present to you College Humor’s The Fantastic Mr. Starfox, in which Wes Anderson is the focus of satire, and the classic arcade game Starfox is the vehicle of funny.

In it, we get some great references to the classic 1983 Atari game and its following sequels, as well some pretty hilarious realizations about Anderson’s one-note directing style and how laughable the premise of The Fantastic Mr. Fox was, when looked at from a distance.

Check out the fan film after the jump, and hope that this doesn’t spark some studio’s interest in rebooting the Starfox franchise.

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