This week’s pick is the 1970 British epic Cromwell which stars veteran actor Richard Harris as the man who led Parliamentary forces to victory during The English Civil War. The film also stars Sir Alec Guinness (King Charles I), Robert Morley (The Earl of Manchester), Timothy Dalton (Prince Rupert), Patrick Wymark (The Earl of Stafford), and Michael Jayston (Henry Ireton).

After years of unjust and unacceptable policies during the mid 1600′s, many members of the dissolved Parliament feel that King Charles I has forsaken his subjects and that England is in need for drastic political change. Oliver Cromwell is a good, god fearing country magistrate who is called upon by his fellow members of Parliament to exact radical change and reform in England for a government for and by the people.

Cromwell is prepared to leave England with his family for a life in the New World until he is persuaded to return to London and to sit once again in the newly resumed Parliament with its members in order to take their grievances to the King who encroaches on their lands and steals it from commoners for the rich, a policy which angers Cromwell and his fellows immensely.

King Charles (Guinness) allows Parliament to resume after eleven years in order to gain their support and to raise money against the Scots and Irish who are threatening England with invasion. Cromwell and the rest of Parliament refuse to grant the King money in order to fight until their demands are met.

Charles fears that if common men were to govern themselves, he would merely be reduced to just a figure head and lose his god given right to rule England and the Church of England which he is a devout member of, even though his French wife is a practicing Catholic. Charles along with his Catholic wife who demands him to stand firm against such an ultimatum from his subjects, refuses to come to terms with Parliament’s requests and the country steers ever closer to civil war.

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This week’s pick is the 1979 least known and only comedy from director Steven Spielberg, 1941 which stars Saturday Night Live originals Dan Aykroyd (Sgt. Frank Tree), and the incomparable John Belushi (Capt. “Wild” Bill Kelso, U.S. Army Air Corp.) Other supporting actors include Bobby Di Cicco (Wally Stephens), Ned Beatty (Ward Douglas), Lorraine Gary (Joan Douglas), Murray Hamilton (Claude Crumm), Christopher Lee (Capt. Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt), Tim Matheson (Capt. Loomis Berkhead) and Toshiro Mifune (Cmd. Akiro Mitamura).

Also on hand are Warren Oates (Col. Maddox), Robert Stack (Maj. Gen. Joseph W. Stillwell), Treat Williams (Cpl. Chuck “Stretch” Sitarski), Nancy Allen (Donna Stratton), John Candy (Pvt. Foley), Slim Pickens (Hollis P. Wood), and Count Floyd himself, Joe Flaherty (Raoul Lipschitz).

The opening of the film informs the audience about the infamous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 which hurtled an unsuspecting America into World War II. The West Coast of the United States was fearful that the Japanese would attack California next. These were actual fears that were quickly realized by its citizens, and that extreme caution and observation was needed to thwart any attempt which made invasion possible. The film is set just six days after the Pearl Harbor attack.

In the first few opening minutes of the film, Spielberg, and writers Bob Gale, John Milius, and future director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future trilogy) fantastically lampoon Spielberg’s Jaws opening by using the very same actress to re-create her skinny dip scene in the early morning hours. Veteran Spielberg composer John Williams even re-creates his famous theme music. The female swimmer is instantly caught on the periscope of a Japanese submarine which is prowling the California coastline for a worthy military target.

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Castle Keep (1969) is a very anti-heroic World War II film filled with lots of dark humor and beautiful photography. The film is based on William Eastlake’s novel about a weary squad of American soldiers who come upon a tenth century castle in Belgium in December 1944.

Sydney Pollack, who was still yet an unknown in Hollywood circles, was chosen to direct this large scale film. Veteran Hollywood great Burt Lancaster stars as Major Abraham Falconer, who leads a reconnaissance squad badly in need of R&R. The remaining cast includes Peter Falk (Sgt. Orlando Rossi), Patrick O’ Neal (Capt. Lionel Beckman), Scott Wilson (Cpl. Ralph Clearboy), Tony Bill (Lt. Amberjack), Al Freeman (Pfc. Alistar P. Benjamin), Michael Conrad (Sgt. De Vaca), and wide eyed screen great Bruce Dern (Lt. Billy Byron Bix).

In the opening scenes of the film, the men are trying to maneuver their battered jeep through heavy mud down an old road. The use of slow motion photography of two individuals on horseback establishes the meeting of the two residents of the castle and the American soldiers. The Count of Maldorais (Jean-Pierre Aumont) welcomes the American soldiers and hopes that they will help protect his castle and its vast treasures and art from the advancing Germans who are preparing to counter-attack in the Ardennes Forrest.

Once in the castle, Maj. Falconer (Lancaster) begins fortifying in preparation of the attacking Germans. His adjutant Capt. Beckman (O’Neal) is an art historian who stresses the importance of the Count’s art collection and that the castle holds some of the greatest treasures of Western Europe.

Beckman tries to convince the Major that they should pull back towards the Meuse River and spare the castle from any destruction. Falconer is a career soldier and cares nothing for the statues, paintings, tapestries, and other treasures. Falconer’s men quickly find ways to keep themselves entertained whether its using expensive bottles of wine as bowling pins, defacing bust sculptures, or satisfying certain requirements at the local whore house in the nearby village known as The Red Queen.

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This week’s pick is the 1988 cult classic from director Kevin Reynolds (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) The Beast a.k.a. The Beast of War, which stars George Dzundza (Commander Daskal), Jason Patric (Konstantin Koverchenko), Don Harvey (Kaminski), Stephen Baldwin (Golikov), Erick Avari (Samad), and Steven Bauer (Taj).

The film is set in 1981 as the Soviet Union has entered its second year of their war with Afghanistan. The film centers around the crew of a Soviet tank platoon whose T-62 tank becomes lost in a valley after an attack on an Afghan village. The first few minutes of the film are brutal as it shows a combined tank assault on a Pashtun village which house some Mujahideen rebels who have been fighting the Soviet occupation of their province.

The Soviets use poison gas, flame throwers, RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and the famed AK-47 assault rifle as they mop up their attack on the villagers. Taj (Bauer) returns home to find his village destroyed and his brother crushed by the tank commanded by the ruthless Daskal (Dzundza) who deals harshly with the guerrillas. Taj becomes Khan (tribal leader) and vows to destroy the tank and avenge his brother’s death.

Not knowing that the valley that Daskal has led them into eventually becomes a dead end, the Soviet tankers go about their duties and hope to rejoin their column. The crew are made up of four Soviets and one Afghan named Samad (Avari) who is not trusted by Daskal who suspects Samad of being a turncoat. The film is a classic example of cat & mouse as the Soviets are chased by the determined Mujahideen rebels who are armed with rockets to destroy the tank.

Koverchenko (Patric) respects the Mujahideen rebels who have them on the run and builds a relationship with the outcast Samad who teaches Koverchenko the rules of Pashtunwali which is their code of honour and civility. Koverchenko begins to suspect that Daskal is going over the edge due to his increased resentment for Samad and for the safety of the men.

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The remake none of us were waiting for, and that has been rumored for a year, has finally been made official today. You will soon once again be seeing Total Recall at a movie theater near you.

Columbia Pictures officially announced Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard, Underworld films) as the director for the project. It has been report that he will be working off a script written by Kurt Wimmer, who recently wrote Salt and Law Abiding Citizen. Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, presidents over at Columbia Pictures, stated that negotiations are almost finalized.

The original Total Recall, was based on the immortal Philip K. Dick’s story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale. The original follows Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Quaid who is a seemingly unsophisticated construction worker, who is haunted by a recurring dream of journeying to Mars.

He buys a literal dream vacation from a company called Rekall Inc., which sells implanted memories. It turns out he is a freedom fighter from Mars who has been relocated to Earth, and he must restore order, and reverse the corrupt influence that commercial powers had over the red planet.

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1978′s The Boys in Company C, along with Go Tell the Spartans, was one of the first Vietnam films to be made after the war. Directed by Sidney J. Furie, the film follows a group of young Marine recruits from Camp Pendeleton, California in late 1967 through the horrific Tet Offensive in January 1968.

The film stars Stan Shaw (Tyrone Washington), Andrew Stevens (in his golden globe winning performance) (Billy Ray Pike), James Canning (Alvin Foster) and Michael Lembeck (Vinnie Fazio). It also stars Craig Wasson (Dave Brisbee), Scott Hylands (Capt. Collins), James Whitmore Jr. (Lt. Archer) Noble Willingham (The Gunny), and R. Lee Ermey in his first major role as, you guessed it, as Drill Instructor Sgt. Loyce.

The film serves as a combat diary with Pvt. Alvin Foster as the film’s narrator. The five inductees form a strong bond of friendship with one another as they turn from raw recruits, into battle hardened Marines. The film is considered a drama, yet has very comedic elements to it. In one scene when the inductees take their oath as Marines, they are then sent to the barber where they are given their new regulation haircuts.

Brisbee (Wasson) is a pacifist who Ermey refers to as “Jesus” because he actually looks like Jesus. When they are filed into the barber a few at a time, Loyce (Ermey) tells one of the barbers to “Do a good job on Jesus for me.” Brisbee and the others then look in horror as to their new “high and tight” hairstyle.

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Zombieland was one of the most entertaining films I saw in 2009 and I was eagerly awaiting its arrival on Blu-ray this week. Unlike the George Romero zombie films of the past, Zombieland is a unique blend of “The Odd Couple meets the zombie apocalypse.” Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin have great chemistry together as the last few remaining humans in a world gone zombie.

As a die-hard fan of apocalyptic films such as The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man and The Quiet Earth, Zombieland takes you into a world that has only recently fallen into chaos and shows how those would react when hordes of flesh eating ghoules are waiting for you around every corner.

As I scrolled through the special features on the Blu-Ray disc, I was excited to see that they had added several features that made the disc worth adding to my vast collection. The first feature is “Beyond the Graveyard” which allows the viewer to access picture in picture commentary throughout the feature to learn more about the scenes and special effects associated with them.

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With Hollywood scooping up as many franchises and rebooting them as possible these days, each of us are bound to see our favorite childhood TV show turned into a multi-million dollar film. For fans of The Smurfs, especially all the members of the Official Smurf Fan Club, that dream is finally coming true.

A few months back, Columbia Pictures announced that they were retooling the 1980s cartoon for not only the big screen, but in 3D as well. Now that some time has passed, the first poster has been revealed, showing us what the new-and-improved smurfs will look like, and if anyone has ever collected the Smurf figures, they know what to expect.

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We here at The Flickcast have been pretty vocal about our love of all things zombie, so it only makes sense for us to swoon over new footage of this Fall’s horror comedy Zombieland starring Jessie Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. Now hitting the web is a new swear-tastic “Redband” trailer with slightly more footage.

Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, (who’s claim-to-fame is creating the reality-tv parody The Joe Shmoe Show) and directed by Ruben Fleischer (who directed 3 episodes of The Jimmy Kimmel Show), the film focuses on two men who have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Check out the new trailer after the jump, which has slightly more footage, and much more zombie-goodness.

The film stars Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland), Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone’s (Superbad) and Abigail Breslin’s (Little Miss Sunshine) and is said to be “Hollywood’s answer to Shaun of the Dead”, but will probably shake that stereotype once we finally see it on the big screen October 9th.

Check out all the “Redband” zombie action after the jump.

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