by Jason Inman, Mar 22 2012 // 8:45 AM

You may not know her name, but I bet you have seen one of her videos.
Jessica Mill is the star and creator of Awkward Embraces, a web series about three nerdy girls working their way though the dating world of Los Angeles. The series has become popular among the “nerd” culture. Jessica herself has become a “nerd” icon on Twitter and Tumblr due to her frequent posts and nerdy sense of humor.
It was at WonderCon 2012 in Anaheim that I talked to Jessica. She reveals the details about three new web series she is working on including Damsels and Dragons. A new web series about a girl LARP (live action role playing) group that she is creating with Greg Aronowitz, designer of The Guild.
Watch my full interview with Jessica Mills below.
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Posted in: Celebrities · Comics · Exclusive · Fandom · Features · Interviews · News · Video · Web · Writers
Tagged: 2012, anaheim, Awkward Embraces, Comedy, Comic, ComicCon, con, Convention, Cosplay, cosplay of wondercon 2012, funny, girl, Girls, girls of wondercon 2012, Humor, Interview, Jawiin, Jessica Mills, nerd, Viral Video, WonderCon
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Mar 15 2012 // 3:00 PM
There are few long form comic book stories that really feel like a single cohesive whole. It is just hard to maintain total continuity in style and storytelling over more than a half a decade’s worth of single issues.
Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra were able to accomplish that difficult feat with their epic series Y: The Last Man. A tale told over several years and 60 total issues, that details the last male on earth, and his pet monkey. The comic series is one of the great achievements in comic book storytelling, and is ripe for an adaptation.
The problem is that such an large tale needs more than two hours to tell, and that has slowed the adaptation process down considerably. New Line has been reluctant to sign off on a trilogy of films, but they are still very eager to move forward with a single Y: The Last Man film.
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that New Line has brought in two new writers to take a new stab at the adaptation:
Writing duo Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia are in final negotiations to write New Line Cinema’s adaptation of the acclaimed Vertigo comic book… The duo is somewhat new to the feature world but are hot out of the gate – Y is the second studio job in five months after booking Sony’s untitled Zorro origin project — but they have plenty of genre TV credits. Federman and Scaia were writer-producers on Charlie’s Angels, Human Target, Warehouse 13 and Jericho.
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Posted in: Action · Adaptation · Announcements · Comics · Movies · New Line · News · Vertigo · Warner Bros · Writers
Tagged: Adaptation, Brian K. Vaughn, Comics, Matthew Federman, Movies, News, Pia Guerra, Stephen Scaia, Vertigo, Writers, Y: The Last Man
by Matt Raub, Mar 9 2012 // 10:00 AM

While most of the fanboy nation is already waiting with baited breath for May 4th to come and all of us to see Marvel’s super film The Avengers, director Joss Whedon is already thinking about where he wants to go with the proposed sequel to the film.
It turns out that while this Avengers film is going to have plenty of big “splash page” style action, Whedon told Digital Spy he would like the next film to play a bit smaller, and more personal for each character.
“By being the next thing that should happen to these characters, and not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time. By having a theme that is completely fresh and organic to itself.”
Whedon joked that a sequel could take heed from crime classic The Godfather II ”by having flashbacks to young Michael Andolini escaping Sicily to come to New York, where he will be called Corleone”.
“Sequels are always better when that happens,” he quipped.
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Posted in: Action · Comics · Geek · Marvel · Marvel Studios · Movies · News · Prequels and Sequels · Sci-Fi · Whedon · Writers
Tagged: Avengers, Captain America, Godfather 2, Iron Man, Joss Whedon, Marvel, Marvel Studios, The Avengers, The Hulk
by Matt Raub, Mar 8 2012 // 8:45 AM
With the “found footage” movie Chronicle making so much money at the box office, especially in relation to how much it cost, it was pretty much inevitable a sequel was going to be made. Fortunately, Fox seems to be playing this one smart and has brought back Max Landis, the writer of the first Chronicle, to pen the sequel.
In case you’re not familiar with Chronicle, it featured actors Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan playing three high school friends who gain superpowers. Unfortunately, as cool as that may sound, things don’t go exactly as they hoped.
Soon, the trio find their lives going out of control and friendships tested as they explore the dark side. Didn’t they ever see Spider-Man? Great power, great responsibility, that kind of thing? Kids today.
Anyway, Landis will reportedly be working on the sequel as his next project after recently selling projects to both Ron Howard and Disney. Fox is looking at a 2013 release for the Chronicle sequel.
Posted in: Movies · News · Sci-Fi · Writers · Writing
Tagged: Alex Russell, Chronicle, Dane DeHann, Deals, Found Footage, Fox, Max Landis, Michael B. Jordan, Movies, Sci-Fi, Sequels, Superheroes, Writers, Writing
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Mar 7 2012 // 1:45 PM
Woody Allen is a talented writer, director and actor. He is generally very funny, and often provides a very unique perspective that feels familiar but is undeniably his own. Now he will finally achieve the final peg for total life victory, he will play John Turturro’s pimp.
Turturro’s next project as a writer and director is Fading Gigolo, and he has been able to pull in a very impressive cast.
Variety is reporting Allen will co-star in the film with Turturro with Sharon Stone and Sofia Vergara likely to sign on in supporting roles.
Turturro and Allen [play] cash-strapped best friends who decide to go into the gigolo business together and subsequently attract the suspicion of the Hasidic Jewish community in which they live. Duo take on the pseudonyms Virgil and Bongo, with Allen pimping out Turturro’s character until he falls for a Jewish widow.
The movie sounds incredibly interesting, and pulling in Woody Allen just as an actor likely speaks volumes about script.
This will be Allen’s first project since winning this year’s Academy Award for best screenplay, for his film Midnight in Paris. Turturro has recently been seen fighting giant robots in a certain loud and explodey trilogy, so this next picture is an interesting change of pace for the both of them.
Posted in: Announcements · Casting · Comedy · Movies · News · Writers
Tagged: Bongo, Casting, Fading Gigolo, hasidic, Jew, John Turturro, News, Pimp, Sharon Stone, Sofia Vergara, Virgil, woody allen
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Mar 6 2012 // 3:00 PM
There has been talk of a third Bill And Ted film for quite some time. A few weeks ago it was stated by Alex Winter that the script has been written, by the original writers no less, and is waiting on a green light. Winter intially made this proclamation at a screening of his cult classic film Freaked, but it didn’t really register.
Yesterday Winter actually re-affirmed the news via a twitter back and forth:
@kelly_carlin: is it true? Bill & Ted’s 3? > Hey Kelly. -Script done? Check. -We love it? Check. -Green light? Working on it!
That’s so totally awesome! Knowing that there is a completed script, written by the guys that did the originals, and loved by at least half of the original Wyld Stallyns is most excellent news indeed.
Part of what makes this story so fun, beyond the reaffirmation of a completed script, is that Kelly Carlin, to whom Winter was responding, is George Carlin’s daughter. There is an awesome symmetry to the impetus of this story comes from Rufus’ daughter herself.
Here’s hoping that the powers that be decide to put a little money down and give us a chance to take another wild ride with the saviors of humanity. San Dimas High School football Rules!
Posted in: Comedy · Movies · News · Prequels and Sequels · Rumor · Sci-Fi · Writers · Writing
Tagged: Alex Winter, Bill and Ted, George Carlin, Keanu Reeves, Kelly Carlin, News, phone booth, script, Sequel, Time Travel, Twitter, Writers
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Mar 1 2012 // 3:00 PM
The Muppets was one of the best films of last year. An amazing mix of nostalgic respect, unrelenting optimism and brilliant songs that rank among the very best in the franchise. A sequel to such a successful film is inevitable.
The Vulture is reporting that the deal for said sequel has already been made, but one key element of the first film is thus far absent:
[Jason Segel] won’t be returning to the keyboard. Segel, a star of How I Met Your Mother — now in its eighth season — has a burgeoning film career, and Disney insiders tell Vulture that between his commitment to the CBS sitcom, his other feature-writing efforts, and promotional work for Five Year Engagement (due out this coming April) and Judd Apatow’s This Is Forty (in December), there won’t be time to collaborate on a Muppets sequel.
This only means he might not be apart of the writing stage, but with Nicholas Stoller (his original co-writer) and director James Bobin signed on the original flare should still be present. The news also doesn’t mean Segel couldn’t star in the sequel either, so it is possible this is only a minimal, semantics based departure.
So good, potentially great, news for Muppet fans out there, but we hope once they move forward with the movie they bring back Bret McKenzie too. His song stylings fit the Muppets perfectly.
Posted in: Announcements · Comedy · Disney · Movies · News · Prequels and Sequels · Writers
Tagged: Announcments, Bret McKenzie, Disney, James Bobin, Jason Segel, Kermit, News, Nicholas Stoller, Sequel, The Muppets, Writers
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Feb 28 2012 // 3:00 PM
The original Vacation movie is a bona fide classic. The film was made during the primes of Chevy Chase, John Hughes and Harold Ramis, three of the most prolific names in 80s pop culture. It spawned a hit and miss franchise that most people remember fondly to this day. So this news was inevitable.
The Hollywood Reporter has announced that the guys who wrote Horrible Bosses, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstien, have turned in a script for a new Vacation movie and New Line is keen to give the duo the chance to direct too.
Daley and Goldstein’s Vacation script, first set up in 2009, plays like both a sequel and a reboot of the franchise that began with the 1983 Harold Ramis-directed comedy National Lampoon’s Vacationand continued with European Vacation, Christmas Vacation and Vegas Vacation.
A now grown-up Rusty Griswold, the son of the Chevy Chase character in the original series, experiences a misadventure with his own family.
Posted in: Announcements · Comedy · Directors · Movies · New Line · News · Prequels and Sequels · Reboots and Remakes · Writers
Tagged: Announcements, Chevy Chase, Directors, Griswolds, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstien, News, Reboot, Sequel, Vacation, Writers
by Matt Blackwood, Feb 6 2012 // 9:00 AM

Max Landis’s Death and Return of Superman is a very long sketch. No, it’s a really funny short film. No, you know what it’s like? It’s like, after a long night of gaming, when you’re hanging with your best nerd friends having a laugh, debating movies and video games and all things geeky. Tie all that together into a 17 minute short film and you’ve got The Death and Return of Superman.
Screenwriter Max Landis (Chronicle) decided to film his late night nerd philippic and brought some familiar friends along for the ride.
Death and Return of Superman, affectionately dubbed DAROS, cuts back and forth between Landis recounting the story of Big Blue’s demise directly to the camera and live-action re-enactments by actors using Landis’s voice (much in the style of the Drunk History series).
The star-studded short features Mandy Moore, Morgan Krantz, Elijah Wood, Elden Henson, Dustin Romero, Matt Bennett, Zach Cregger, and Jimmi Simpson in key roles. Sharp-eyed viewers can also spot cameos by Simon Pegg, Sarah Shahi, Whitney Moore, Chloe Dykstra, Micah Sloate, Chris Hardwick, and Ron Howard.
Check out the full film, which was released for free on YouTube Friday, after the jump.
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Posted in: Action · Comedy · Comics · DC · DC Entertainment · Fan Films · Fandom · Movies · News · Video · Web · Writers
Tagged: Chloe Dykstra, Chris Hardwick, Chronicle, Death and Return of Superman, Dustin Romero, Elden Henson, Elijah Wood, Jimmi Simpson, Mandy Moore, Matt Bennett, Max Landis, Micah Sloate, Morgan Krantz, Ron Howard, Sarah Shahi, Simon Pegg, Superman, Whitney Moore, YouTube, Zach Cregger
by Matt Blackwood, Jan 25 2012 // 3:00 PM

The legal battle between The Weinstein Company and Relativity is over, and The Crow reboot is looking like a foregone conclusion.
Director F. Javier Gutierrez and writer Jesse Wigutow have signed on to once again adapt the James O’Barr graphic novel about a slain musician resurrected for vengeance.
Gutierrez’s sci-fi debut Before the Fall has garnered him awards from bodies as diverse as the Cinema Writers Circle and Screamfest. He is currently in pre-production on an adaptation of The Monkey’s Paw.
Wigutow wrote the 2003 dramedy It Runs in the Family and the upcoming Irreparable Harm. He has also worked on the adaptations of Eragon and The Ruins.
Casting announcements are expected over the next few days.
Posted in: Adaptation · Announcements · Comics · Directors · Legal · News · Reboots and Remakes · Weinstein Co. · Writers
Tagged: F. Javier Gutierrez, Jesse Wigutow, Relativity, The Crow
by Matt Blackwood, Jan 24 2012 // 1:00 PM
The Flickcast recently got the chance to speak with Marshall Cook, whose new film Division III: Football’s Finest is now on Blu-Ray and DVD. Cook co-wrote, directed, edited, and starred in the film, which stars Andy Dick as an insane college football coach.
The Flickcast: Congratulations on the movie; it’s hilariously funny. You clearly have a good sense of comic timing.
Marshall Cook: Well, a lot of the supporting cast are writers, and it was a culmination of everyone’s work that went into this. I don’t have the ego to say I’m the funniest person here.
TF: Did you write it with the actors you got in mind?
MC: Yeah, pretty much all of them, except for a couple. Alison Haislip, who plays my love interest, auditioned and she was very similar to the girl it was based on; she had that guy’s girl personality. Also, she’s just a solid actor. I’m really glad we got her.
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Posted in: Blu-Ray · Comedy · Directors · Exclusive · Interviews · Movies · Writers · Writing
Tagged: Alison Haislip, Andy Dick, Division III, Marshall Cook
by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Jan 17 2012 // 12:00 PM
With Twilight coming to an end and with Harry Potter already over, the world of young adult fiction franchises is looking pretty thin. The next series to take a stab at filling the void left by sexy vampires and teen wizards is The Hunger Games. The books are widely popular and the upcoming films are headlined by hot and talented young actors who could carry a series for a few years, so it behooves the studio to hedge their bets and begin working on the sequel as soon as possible.
TheWrap.com recently revealed that the studio has brought on writer Simon Beaufoy, whose credits include The Full Monty and Slumdog Millionaire, to begin work on adapting the second novel in the series. This isn’t exactly a huge surprise as a November 2013 release date has already been penciled in for the second film.
Director Gary Ross is supervising the script writing process as he plans on jumping into the sequel as soon as he is done with his work on the first film. Beaufoy is a very interesting choice who has had great success with recent adaptations winning an Oscar for his adaptation of Slumdog Millionaire and receiving another nomination for his work on 127 Hours. You can say what you want about a film that is aiming for the Twilight audience, but you have to give them props for using quality, talented people.
Posted in: Action · Adaptation · Announcements · Books · Movies · News · Prequels and Sequels · Sci-Fi · Writers
Tagged: Adaptation, Announcments, Bestselling, Catchign Fire, Movies, News, novel, Sci-Fi, Sequel, Simon Beaufoy, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, Writers, Young Adult