Late yesterday Warner Bros decided to let everyone know “officially” what most of us knew already: The Dark Knight Rises has begun filming. Even though this isn’t really news, it still set off a flurry of discussion around The Flickcast offices about how we’re all really looking forward to this movie.

If you’re in the same boat as we are, this press release from the studio should at least, for a few moments, distract you a little until you again realize that even though the movie has started filming, we won’t actually see the finished product until July 20th, 2012.

Yes, that’s over a year away. Bummer.

Check out the full press release right here:

BURBANK, CA, May 19, 2011 – Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ The Dark Knight Rises, the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar® winner Christian Bale (The Fighter) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake.

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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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The previous two Nolan Batman films have used the sprawling metropolis of Chicago to fill in for the fictional Gotham City. Chicago was a fine stand in and only required a few CGI touch up shots to sell it as another city.

Despite the success of filming in Chicago in the past, The Dark Knight Rises has been searching for a new stand in city for quite a while. Now, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Steel City has now been chosen to represent Gotham.

“Pittsburgh is a beautiful city,”  [Nolan] said in a statement. “We have been able to find everything we were looking for here, and I am excited to spend the summer in Pittsburgh with our final installment of Batman.”

Now obviously this was done for financial and cinematic reasons, but I suspect something else might have played a part in choosing this new city. You see, the local NHL franchise is the Pittsburgh Penguins, so perhaps Nolan is secretly planning on using Mr. Cobblepot in the movie, and filming in Pittsburgh is a clever clue to us vigilante fan boys!

Yes, it just makes to much sense.

Or at least that is what I think I am supposed to say. You are required to put dumb and obviously false speculation at the end of every The Dark Knight Rises story, right?

This may be the biggest year for the Academy Awards, as some major Hollywood players are going up against some fresh newcomers. Eyeballs everywhere will be glued to ABC on Sunday, February 27th at 8PM E/5PM P when the awards show goes live. But before that, we decided to do some picking of our own with the staff’s predictions for each award.

For a full list of the nominees, check out our previous article on the subject. Now, on to the predictions.

Best Picture

Shannon Hood-The Social Network. It had early and consistent momentum all year, and the Academy appears to be trying to shake up their stodgy image. This would be the perfect film to put their money where their mouth is.

Matt Raub – True Grit. Not only are the Coens a regular in the “I Have an Oscar” club, but this testament to classic western films is definitely one for record books, between its all-star cast and gritty (no pun intended) visual style, this one definitely deserves the golden statue.

Chris Ullrich – True Grit. Even though this was a pretty great year for movies and there are many excellent choices in this category, True Grit stands on its own as my pick. As an example of pure movie storytelling, this Coen Brothers masterpiece excels on every level and delivers a pure entertainment experience you will want to revisit many more times in the future.

Cortney Zamm – The Social Network. There’s a lot of great films in this category, some of them from my favorite directors and starring my favorite people. But the one that combined all of the essential elements of filmmaking into a truly gorgeous, compelling, and memorable film was The Social Network.

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Today, in what can be considered a pretty groundbreaking move, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution announced it is the first to launch “App Editions” of movies for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Starting with the popular Christopher Nolan films Inception and The Dark Knight, the special edition movies and bonus content are now available for free in the U.S. app store in and more than 30 other countries.

According to the studios, these “App Editions” provide “a fully-loaded, connected viewing experience that gives consumers the first five minutes of a feature film and a portion of bonus content that can include games, trivia, soundtracks and soundboards. The entire feature film can be unlocked via an in-app purchase, which enables downloading and unlimited streaming, as well as access to the entire array of bonus content available within the App.”

With the apps arriving in the iTunes store today, this is something we’re going to have to check out for sure. On the surface it seems like a great way to expose these films to an even larger audience, especially where they may not have been available previously.

Still, for more mainstream audiences who’ve already seen and enjoyed these films, it will probably come down to what new and unique content these apps bring and what they will cost. For even more on these new apps, check out the full press release after the jump. We’ve also included some screens of these apps for you to check out as well. So, check ‘em out and let us know what you think.

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This week on The Flickcast brings more insight, innovation and innuendo from your favorite co-hosts. That’s right, Chris and Matt are back and discussing all sorts of new and returning topics. Yeah, we copied that into from last week, what of it?

Some of those topics include the recent Superman casting of Henry Cavill, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Call of Duty: Black Ops Map Packs, the new PSP 2, 3D movie madness, how English actors are taking over Hollywood and much more.

Chris and Matt also made new picks this week including Matt’s pick of the Mel Brooks classic Silent Movie and Chris’ pick of the John Woo action classic The Killer.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook and MySpace or via email.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the  nominees for the 83rd annual award ceremony this morning. The King’s Speech was the front-runner with 12 nominations. Overall, there weren’t too many surprises.

Many were disappointed  that Christopher Nolan did not receive a best director nod, but as a consolation prize, Inception was nominated as a contender for best picture.
True Grit did quite well, with Hailee Steinfeld nabbing a best supporting actress nod, and nominations for best picture, best director(s), best actor, and best adapted screenplay. Winter’s Bone was recognized for best actress, best picture, and best adapted screenplay. Dogtooth, Jackie Weaver, and Javier Bardem were nice surprises.

Here are the nominees in the order that they were announced.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld True Grit
Jackie Weaver Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale The Fighter
John Hawkes Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner The Town
Mark Ruffalo The Kids Are All Right
Jeffrey Rush The King’s Speech

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I was surprised at how much trouble I had narrowing down my top ten movies this year.  My top 20 were all very close, but here are the movies that I ultimately enjoyed the most. I readily admit that I did not see near as many foreign films as I would have liked, but by the time I cover most of the mainstream fare, there is simply no time left.

Honorable Mentions: Fair Game, Tiny Furniture, Greenberg, Cyrus, The Tillman Story, The American, Mother and Child, Scott Pilgrim.

10. Waiting for Superman
This Documentary was equal parts frustrating, inspirational, and heartbreaking. Director Davis Guggenheim (No End in Sight) sheds light on the dismal state of our public school system. He follows the plight of several children who live in various geographic regions who are placing all of their hope for an decent education into lottery systems for charter or private schools. Guggenheim relies on their compelling stories for a narrative, while interspersing lots of graphics and cartoons illuminating some pretty harrowing statistics.

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Indeed it is the time of year when inevitability the lists appear and people pick their favorites of 2010. Some have already done their lists and some, like me, like to wait a bit. That said and since I don’t want to be accused of not following trends, I will also be making a list (or two) of my picks of the best of 2010. However, in the interest of clarity and brevity (or neither), I’m going to pick my top 5 (or so) things in the main categories we cover here at The Flickcast.

Although, as our own John Carle covered the best of 2010 in games so well already, I won’t make much (if any) a list of those and will just mention my two favorites. In case you’re not familiar with those main categories we cover, they are as follows: Movies, TV, Comics, Games, Tech and all things Geek.

So, to that end, here’s my list (or lists really) of my picks of the top stuff of 2010.

Movies

Inception – I love smart movies and this one is pretty damn smart. Featuring great performances, a mind-bending plot and twists galore, director Christopher Nolan delivers with one entertaining ride I was talking about for weeks (and months) afterward. And with all the ways I can get distracted by other things, to still be taking about this movie now is a testament to just how great it is.

True Grit – I love Westerns and this one will go down as truly one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and the rest of the cast are superb and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld owns the screen. She is definitely one to watch. Plus, the Coen brothers have a genuine love and reverence for the classic Western conventions, even when they twist and turn them into new and even more compelling shapes.

The Social Network – When I first heard of this movie I was skeptical, as probably most were, about how interesting a movie about Facebook really could be. I had nothing to worry about. This brilliant film, directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, delivers on all levels and tells a compelling story of one of the most impressive success stories in history. Along the way it also shows us a little something about the nature of greed, friendship and the real cost of success.

Winter’s Bone - This tale of a real heroes journey to find out what happened to her father before the bank forecloses on her home resonated with me for quite some time after watching this film. Jennifer Lawrence as the young mother and John Hawkes as her meth-snorting uncle really deliver top performances. Part crime movie, part thriller and part coming-of-age-story this film’s stark realism takes you into a world you didn’t know existed and holds you there until the lights come up.

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The Fighter is the perfect award season movie. It’s based on a true story, it showcases some great acting, and it’s uplifting. It’s the type of movie that allows you to leave the theater happy and proud. How many times does that happen?

Director David O. Russell managed to bring a magnificent cast to this story about a working class boxer who is making one last push for a title. Mark Wahlberg plays Mickey Ward, a welterweight whose career  has been horribly mismanaged by his overbearing mother Alice (played by Melissa Leo).

In fact, his entire boxing career has been a family affair. His seven sisters frequently offer up unwanted opinions.  What a treat they are, swilling beer in their acid washed jeans and sporting amazing bang claws on the top of the heads. They steadfastly stand behind anything their mother says.

His half-brother Dickey is Mickey’s trainer, whenever he is not passed out in a crack flophouse. Dickey just floats about, showing up whenever it is convenient. Poor Dad is too beaten down by Alice to speak up.

The family completely enables Dickey.  Everyone knows what is going on with him, but no one dares to acknowledge it. After all, he’s the apple of their eye, because long ago, when Dicky was boxing, he knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard.  Dickey has been the pride of Lowell ever since.  There is a documentary crew from HBO following Dicky around. He thinks it is for his comeback.  It’s really to show the chronic effects of crack use.

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It’s officially film awards season!  Today the National Board of Review released their list of winners for the best in film for 2010.  The Social Network was a big winner.  The movie picked up Best Picture, Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg), Best  Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin), and Best Director (David Fincher).

The National Board of Review typically releases their list toward the beginning of the film season.  Last year they picked Up in the Air as Best Picture.  It did not go on to win an Oscar, though it was nominated.

Here are the major awards that were announced.

Best Film The Social Network
Best Director David Finch, The Social Network
Best Actor Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Best Foreign Film Of Gods and Men
Best Documentary Film Waiting for Superman
Best Ensemble Cast The Town
Breakthrough Performance Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Best Original Screenplay Chris Sparling, Buried

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After months of speculation about the sequel to The Dark Knight, at least now we have some info that’s confirmed. In a new interview over at Hero Complex, Christopher Nolan reveals that the title of the next Batman film will be The Dark Knight Rises, which seems to suggest the film will be about Batman reclaiming his hero status in Gotham City after ending the previous film as a wanted man.

Sadly, for some of you at least, Nolan also said the Riddler will not be the main bad guy in the third film. Although, he didn’t rule out the Riddler making some kind of appearance. In addition, Nolan also said in the interview that Warner Bros. has agreed to not go 3D with The Dark Knight Rises. Instead, Nolan will do what he did with The Dark Knight and use a combination of high-definition and IMAX cameras to give the film its distinctive look.

Finally, Nolan revealed some tidbits on what other characters may be appearing in the film. “We’ll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we’ll be introducing some new ones,” Nolan said, without revealing any names. Of course, we can assume some of the characters that will appear in the new film which have to include the core group of Batman/Bruce Wayne, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon.

For my money, I would like to see Catwoman make an appearance with, perhaps, some support by the Riddler. With Nolan’s take on the Joker working so well, I’m sure he can help Catwoman become the big screen villain she deserves to be. What about you guys? Who do you think we’ll see in the film?