One thing we’ve always supported is independent production of film, tv, comics and games. As an independently operated news site, we understand how hard it is to break through to that next level. It is also great to hear when one of The Flickcast’s supporters gets an opportunity to bring one of their artistic visions to life.

Alex Greenfield is one of those supporters. Alex is best known for being the former lead writer on WWE’s SmackDown brand as well as two TV movies, Street Warrior and Jack’s Family Adventure. Last week, Alex and his writing partner Michael K Eitelman released The Temple through Amazon Studios.

We got the chance to talk briefly with Alex and he told us about both his inspiration behind The Temple as well as a little bit of the creative process.

My dad read me “The Rats in the Walls” when I was like five, literally sitting around a campfire. Let’s agree to ignore the parenting questions that anecdote raises and skip right to the fact that I became a Lovecraft addict before I could read. It was only a matter of time before I would dip my pen in the Mythos well.

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Originally intending to auction off the rights to Red State at its Sundance premiere last year, Mr. Smith turned-tail and decided to self distribute through Smodcast Pictures instead. The film was shown in the “road show” format in select cities before receiving an official release. Smith’s sudden change of heart naturally erupted into accusations of dishonesty from some attending distributors.

One year after the controversy, Smith has once again stepped forward and struck a partnership with Phase 4 Films in what seems to be an abandonment of his rebel ways. On Monday, Smith released an official statement regarding the exclusive distribution in cooperation with Smodcast, the production company founded by Smith himself.

Phase 4 gains U.S. and Canadian rights for the option to distribute up to a maximum of twelve films alongside the newly entitled Kevin Smith and Smodcast Pictures Presents label. Four features will release theatrically and include a film tour similar to that of Red State.

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Sure, we may get Abraham Lincoln fighting vampires later this year, but before that even happens, you’ll be getting another American icon kicking some supernatural ass and leaving historical fact at the door.

That’s right, the film FDR: American Badass! is a real film starring the likes of Bruce McGill (Animal House), Ray Wise (Twin Peaks), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) , Lin Shaye (Austin Powers Films), and Barry Bostwick (Rocky Horror Picture Show) as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Here’s a brief synopsis if you don’t believe us.

In this throwback to the original 1966 Batman movie, FDR rides a “wheelchair of death” to stop the world from werewolves who carry the polio virus, including werewolf versions of Hitler, Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito.

Imagine FDR taking on Nazi werewolves, riding a gun-wielding wheelchair, and saying things like “F*ck Polio!”. That’s exactly what you’re going to get from the “straight to Netflix” writing/directing duo of Ross Patterson and Garret Brawith in this flick.

Take a look at the awe inspiring trailer after the jump, and keep your eyes on all forms of distribution for when this movie hits later this year.

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Take a look at Part One of the Horror 2012 movie preview here. We’ve already talked about Women wearing Black, Ravens, and a few other things that go bump in the night, but this spring and summer is when we’re going to get some true horror in theaters. Let’s get started, shall we?

April 13, 2012 – Cabin in the Woods

The Cabin in the Woods (Distributed by Lionsgate Films) Produced by Joss Whedon, this film promises a new spin on the basic remote thriller concept in this voyeuristic slasher.

April 20, 2012 – House at the End of the Street

(Distributed by Relativity Media) Based on a treatment and short story written by Jonathan Demme and Mostow, the story focuses on a girl’s discovery of the murder in the home across the street from her new home.  Things become complicated when she befriends the victim’s son.

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There aren’t that many current directors who have a laser-pointed style that can be seen from a mile away. Thankfully, Wes Anderson is one of those directors. You can spot a film like The Royal Tenenbaums or Life Aquatic from space and know that they came from the retro dreams of Anderson. Now, he’s at it again.

This time, in his film Moonrise Kingdom, he’s adding new names like Ed Norton, Frances McDormand, and Bruce Willis to his regular cast of players that includes Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman. Take a look at the fantastically twisted premise below.

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader.

The flick is set to hit theaters on May 25th, and you better believe that Anderson is going to pull out the stops with his indie band connections for what should be a stellar soundtrack. Take a look at the trailer after the jump.

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It has never been a hotter time to be a fan of Sherlock Holmes. The old chap now has two blockbuster Hollywood movies. Plus, Sherlock has a highly rated and successful BBC television series. The only thing he is missing is a comic book.

His mortal enemy Professor James Moriarty is brilliantly featured in his own series published by Image comics called, what else, Moriarty. It is the beginning of the 20th century, the dawn of World War 1, Sherlock Holmes has been dead for twenty years, and Moriarty has been drafted into service by MI5.

This issue is part four of the storyline called The Lazarus Tree.  A full-scale riot breaks out in the streets of Kyauktada, and the British authorities sweep in to take control. The mystery begins to unravel, and Moriarty becomes aware of the lurking threat of Moran’s sniper rifle hunting him in the shadows.

The characterization of Moriarty is brilliant. He is essentially an evil Sherlock Holmes. He sees common details that people miss, he is a brilliant doctor, and he is even a brilliant professor, dealing with concepts and theories that are way beyond his time. The major problem with the character is that even though he interesting; the writing never truly gives us a reason to like him.

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OK, so maybe not the first time, but this video from the folks at Dogfood Films is pretty hilarious. Already going viral, the video uses the hilariously awkward video of Harrison Ford playing Uncharted 3 in his lofty living room and splices in scenes from the first (and best) three Indiana Jones films.

Sure, we have to believe that Ford has seen all of these films at least a few times, but the reactions he has to some of the timeless scenes, especially the epic cringe that he pulls off while watching Temple of Doom are pretty hilarious.

Dogfood Films have been known for doing a few other film mashups, such as How Jingle All the Way  Should Have Been and a few others. It just goes to show that, if you’ve got the time, and you can obtain the footage, there is absolutely no limit to the things that can be drawn out for us to laugh at on YouTube.

Take a look at the video after the jump and check out Dogfood’s channel for more goodies.

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It’s been said that if you screw up once, it’s a mistake, but if you do it three times it’s a style.

Don’t get me wrong, Submarine is a good film with a strong voice, but that’s not to say it’s not without pros and cons.  With a unique tone, interesting characters, and distinctive editing, director Richard Ayoade obviously had a strong vision for this film from the beginning.  The only problem was with the main character, Oliver Tate, who was written as such an offbeat character that there were times at which he was hard to relate to.

Submarine is a film full of feature film newcomers.  Ayoade makes his narrative feature debut as writer/director, a departure from his career as a TV actor and director.  Both of the young actors, as well, come fresh to the big screen.  Craig Roberts, playing Oliver Tate, takes on his first feature lead in this film (he has since starred in Jane Eyre), and Yasmin Paige, coming only from small parts in obscure films, gives a surprisingly beautiful performance as his love interest, Jordana Bevan.

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The nominations for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards are out. These awards highlight the best in independent cinema and have often helped Academy Awards voters who don’t see indie films realie there’e more to life than what they get at the local multi-plex. Not that Academy Awards voters actually ever go to a multi-plex either.

Looking over the list we can guess what you’re thinking: where’s Michael Fassbender’s nomination for Shame? We don’t know either. We are, however, very happy to see Ryan Gosling, Nicolas Winding Refn and Albert Brooks get nods for their work on Drive. Great movie and great performances.

Here’s all the nominees:

BEST FEATURE
50/50 Producers: Evan Goldberg, Ben Karlin, Seth Rogen
Beginners Producers: Miranda de Pencier, Lars Knudsen, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Jay Van Hoy
Drive Producers: Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel
Take Shelter Producers: Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin
The Artist Producer: Thomas Langmann
The Descendants Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius The Artist
Mike Mills Beginners
Jeff Nichols Take Shelter
Alexander Payne The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn Drive

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With Juno, Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman solidified themselves in cinematic history with Cody even winning an Oscar for best screenplay. So it makes sense the duo would try to strike gold again with a whole new gang of wacky characters and off-beat tone in their latest collaboration Young Adult.

That seems to be the plan for the movie, or at least what we can gather from this new red-band trailer. For those who need a bit more other than seeing the amazing cast of Charlize Theron, Patrick Wilson, and Patton Oswalt, here’s the synopsis:

Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.

Take a look at the new trailer after the jump in which Theron gets a bit nuts. Young Adult is set to hit theaters on December 9th.

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While most people got their Halloween kicks out this weekend, there’s still a whole day of spooks and scary scenes we have to get through before this year’s Halloween is over. And after you see the trailer for Ti West’s The Innkeepers, you may want to wait until February when the film hits to get your real horror rocks off.

West is best known for his retro cult film House of the Devil, and is continuing in that theme with a Clerks meets Poltergeist vibe in Innkeepers. Here’s the synopsis.

After over one hundred years of service, The Yankee Pedlar Inn is shutting its doors for good. The last remaining employees -Claire and Luke – are determined to uncover proof of what many believe to be one of New England’s most haunted hotels. As the Inn’s final days draw near, odd guests check in as the pair of minimum wage “ghost hunters” begin to experience strange and alarming events that may ultimately cause them to be mere footnotes in the hotel’s long unexplained history.

For the truly scary trailer, take a look after the jump, and catch West’s Innkeepers in theaters on February 3rd.

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Not many comic books improve with their second issue. Generally, writers and artists put everything they got into the first. First issues want to catch the readers with their debut so that they stay around. Most of the time the second issue of a comic book series is all setup. It’s usually the quiet reprieve from the action before the build-up to the climax that is still a couple issues to come. Atomic Robo is not like that at all. In fact, Atomic Robo: The Ghost of Station X #2 is better than the first issue!

In my review of the first issue, I was very positive of the entire series of Atomic Robo, and for good reason. Atomic Robo is rarely a book that you can predict. Generally, it fires at all cylinders at all times, throwing jokes, action scenes, and crazy science concepts at you that make you re-read pages over and over. That’s exactly what this second issue does.

Atomic Robo: The Ghost of Station X #2 begins right where the first issue left off. Robo just got a face full of explosion, he’s unconscious, and he’s beginning to fall to the Earth. Hats off to the writer and artist team of Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener for crafting one of the most exciting comic sequences I have seen in a long time. The pacing of Robo’s fall through the atmosphere is pure brilliance.

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