War has been said to be 99% tedium interspersed with 1% pure terror. And so it is with pregnancy, childbirth and baby rearing, only thankfully (else who would do it?), in these pursuits there are also intervals of intense joy. Perhaps appropriately then, something akin to this ratio of tedium to pain and pleasure obtains in the new romantic comedy What to Expect When You’re Expecting.

With a title based on the famously alarmist, best-selling series of pregnancy advice books, one might expect this film to be a cautionary tale of the innumerable ways the process of pregnancy can go wrong, but not to worry. This is a Hollywood product; like a anesthesiologist with an epidural syringe, it does its best to deliver easy laughs and a feel-good ending.

Following the stories of five interrelated couples, the plot is as crammed as a uterus in the ninth month (yes, the pregnancy metaphors must continue). Little wonder few of them make emotional or comic impact, or that several wear out their welcome. Although she’s as impressively long-stemmed and perky-bodied as humanly possible, the appeal of Cameron Diaz has always been inexplicable, and here again she left me wondering.

Continue Reading →

Earlier this week we had some previews for upcoming Fall shows from our friends at NBC. Now, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, we can being you even more previews.

This time around its shows from CBS, including a modern day western (well the 60s at least) and a detective show featuring the great Sherlock Holmes. Of the shows previewed, we kinda like the Western called Vegas the best. It looks fun and, let’s face it, we love Vegas.

Plus, it features Dennis Quaid, Carrie-Anne Moss and Michael Chiklis, so that’s cool too. Sadly, it also stars Jason O’Mara, who is pretty much the kiss of death for new shows, so we don’t hold out much hope Vegas will survive.

But who knows, maybe the show will get lucky. We’ll have more previews as they come out. In the meantime, click through to check out the videos we’ve got so far.

Continue Reading →

Enemy Mine (1985) is one of those great, lost treasures of sci-fi from the mid 1980s. The film stars Dennis Quaid as a fighter jock who becomes marooned on a distant planet with an alien being known as a Drac, a humanoid, reptilian creature who perceive humans as a threat since humans have begun colonizing the far reaches of space.

Quaid’s narration opens up the film and explains that by the late twenty first century, humans put aside their differences and worked together to begin colonizing outer space in search of worlds and resources. The Drac race had colonized the universe a thousand years prior to man’s arrival and went to war to preserve their claim in the galaxy. During a surprise attack launched by the Dracs, pilot Will Davidge (Quaid) and his shipmate crash-land on the planet Fyrine IV, a hunk of rock in outer space that has a breathable atmosphere.

Davidge’s partner Joey (Lance Kerwin) dies due to internal injuries and Davidge is left all alone. After Davidge buries his friend, he looks off into the distance and sees smoke from the crashed Drac ship that was responsible for him being marooned. Davidge sets off to find the ship and to kill its pilot if it isn’t already dead.

Continue Reading →

That’s right, for those who didn’t know Footloose was getting remade, it’s time to take it in. Who needs classic films or musicals when they are already being remade for a modern audience with absolutely no resemblance of the iconic imagery that made the film a classic to begin with?

With no sign of Kenny Loggins or anything that made us enjoy the original, we can expect this to be less like Footloose and more like Step Up Country. Here’s the synopsis.

Ren MacCormack (played by newcomer Kenny Wormald) is transplanted from Boston to the small southern town of Bomont where he experiences a heavy dose of culture shock. A few years prior, the community was rocked by a tragic accident that killed five teenagers after a night out and Bomont’s local councilmen and the beloved Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) responded by implementing ordinances that prohibit loud music and dancing. Not one to bow to the status quo, Ren challenges the ban, revitalizing the town and falling in love with the minister’s troubled daughter Ariel (Julianne Hough) in the process.

At least, from what we can see in the trailer, we get an updated version of the famous “fight dance” sequence that has made everyone laugh and cry at the same time. Check out the trailer after the jump and Everybody cut loose this October.

Continue Reading →

As with most every week, this week sees the release of more new movies and TV shows on Blu-ray and DVD. Of the titles dropping this week we’re most interested in Edge of Darkness, Legion, Daybreakers, the first time Blu-ray release of Karate Kid I and II, the release of the Kurosawa collection and the debut of Mel Brook’s History of the World Part One on Blu-ray (pictured above with Mel Brooks and Harvey Korman).

Check them out.

Movies

Daybreakers ~ Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe (Blu-ray and DVD)

Edge of Darkness ~ Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston (Blu-ray and DVD)

Essential Art House: Kurosawa Collection (Hidden Fortress/Ikiru/Throne of Blood) (Blu-ray and DVD)

Father of the Bride 1 & 2 ~ Steve Martin (Blu-ray and DVD)

Hang Em High (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] ~ Clint Eastwood, Ed Begley, Bruce Dern, and Dennis Hopper (Blu-ray – 2010)

History of the World Part 1 ~ Mel Brooks, Dom Deluise, Harvey Korman (Blu-ray)

Continue Reading →

Hitting stores everywhere today, Screen Gems’ Legion will be taking the Earth by storm in the form of DVD and Blu-Ray. Originally in theaters back in January, the action-thriller brought about the apocalypse with a cool “God purging the world of it’s disease” storyline, some cool zombie/demonic baddies, and an epic showdown between angels Michael (Paul Bettany) and Gabriel (LOST’s Kevin Durand).

Directed by visual effects artist Scott Stewart, the film fills out its cast with some great talent like Dennis Quaid, Private Practice’s Kate Walsh, Tyrese Gibson, Adrianne Palicki, and American Gothic’s Lucas Black. As part of the Blu-Ray release, we’ve got some great clips from the disc’s features to show you.

Dennis Quaid delves into the troubles of his character, Bob, Paul Bettany talks about doing (just about) all of his own stunts, and we see exactly how the production crew got the 60+ year old Jeannette Miller to hang from a ceiling.

Check out the clips after the jump, and pick up Legion on Blu-Ray or DVD today.

Continue Reading →

This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for a few of them in particular. These esteemed examples of entertainment include The Natural, Dreamscape, the debut of the quirky ABC show The Unusuals, the second season of Simon & Simon, Cocoon and the Blu-ray premiere of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (pictured above with Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellan and John Rhys-Davies). Yes, we realize it’s not the director’s cut of the trilogy but still, having these great films on Blu-ray in any form is cause for excitement.

Check them out:

Movies

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans ~ Fairuza Balk, Nicolas Cage, Vondie Curtis-Hall (Blu-ray and DVD)

Cocoon ~ Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn (Blu-ray)

Dolan’s Cadillac ~ Christian Slater, Wes Bentley, and Emmanuelle Vaugier (Blu-ray and DVD)

Dreamscape ~ Dennis Quaid, Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer (Blu-ray)

Flight of the Intruder~ Rosanna Arquette, Adam Biesk, Reb Brown (Blu-ray)

Jade ~ David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Cazz Palmintieri (Blu-ray)

Continue Reading →

WARNING: This review contains minor spoilers, when noted.

It feels like genuine sci-fi, humans vs. aliens films are few and far between these days. Which is why, after seeing the trailer for Pandorum, I was so excited. Fortunately, Pandorum won’t disappoint any die-hard fans of sci-fi, especially if you’re also a lover of the blend of sci-fi and horror.

Pandorum centers around Bower (played quite convincingly by Ben Foster), who wakes up from extended hypersleep on a spacecraft, with no idea who he is or why he’s on the ship. Soon after, Payton (Dennis Quaid), wakes up too, and they join forces to try to figure out where they are and why in the world they’re awake. As they gain back their memories, they realize they’re not the only humans on board…and that humans aren’t the only things on board.

What this film does well (and I was a bit skeptical about this at first) is it puts the viewer right into the action and horror, with little to no backstory or introduction into the world of the film. Other sci-fi/horror films, like Event Horizon or Sunshine, work to make you feel safe and secure in your surroundings before they start scaring you.

With Pandorum, we’re clueless and freaked out from the moment Bower wakes up, and we experience with him the same fear, anxiety, and confusion that he goes through as he explores the ship and learns about the horrors within. We’re on the same page as our main character throughout the whole film, and it makes his journey and discoveries ours as well.

Continue Reading →

Most people that go to see District 9 this weekend will get to see Legion’s far less violent green band trailer. But recently released online was the far more interesting “Red Band” preview of the post-apocalyptic action-thriller — courtesy of the folks at Trailer Addict.

The film’s premise, which is quite interesting, goes something like this: “When God loses faith in Mankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the Apocalypse. Humanity’s only hope lies in a group of strangers trapped in a desert diner and the Archangel Michael (played by Paul Bettany).

The film looks to be something like Constantine meets Demon Knight, which is a pretty cool idea. Legion hits theaters on January 22, 2010.

Check out the probably NSFW trailer after the jump.

Continue Reading →

Two years ago, there wasn’t much to be said about a film that was only based off of a toy line. Then a dude named Michael Bay came along and changed all that, making over a zillion dollars with two films about robots that change into other things. The movies weren’t exactly rich with story or character development, but they did the source material justice, which is all most fans wanted. One would think that a movie about a secret squad of soldiers would be more believable, but sadly, this wasn’t the case.

There is more than enough source material to play with, given the G.I. Joe toys, comics, and many incarnations of the TV show and Director Stephen Sommers’ other projects including Van Helsing and The Mummy have a decent story and are both relatively entertaining. For this film, however, it felt like Sommers left the passion and creativity he had for his previous films at home when reporting to the set of Joe — which is pretty evident in the first five minutes of the film.

It’s easy to pick on G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra for its poor dialogue or predictable story because when you force lines like “he’s a real American hero” into a scene, it warrants ridicule. When it comes to the story, it’s predictable because it is a blatant ripoff of another film, when the main villain brainwashes his victims to do his bidding, identified by a small lesion on the neck. It’s also funny how you can call this movie The Rise of . . . when the entire film is lacking in any rising action.

Continue Reading →

We’ve been following the upcoming film Pandorum a bit here at The Flickcast and were able to bring you an early look at the trailer and a cool pic of some of the cast. Now, we’ve got the final poster for the film to share with you today. Before we go on, in case you’re not familiar with the film, it concerns some astronauts who wake up on their spacecraft and have no memory of where or who they are.

Once awake, they discover something horrible has happened, most of the rest of the crew is dead and they are not alone. After that, there’s lots of running, shooting, yelling, death, explosions and various mayhem which fans of horror/sci-fi/action films will probably eat up with a giant spoon. After watching the trailer and reading a bit about the film, I think I understand some things about it. Looking at the poster, however, I’m not exactly sure what I’m seeing — which could be good or bad.

To some extent, I like the fact that I need to know more about the film after looking at the poster. On the other hand, it would be nice to get a bit more info about the movie from it other than the ominous tag line “Fear what happens next.” However, it is good to see a poster that tries to be different instead of just featuring the heads of the film’s main stars standing there looking earnest. In my book, that alone puts Pandorum ahead of many other films coming out this year.

Pandorum, which stars Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet and Cung Le, hits theaters September 18th. Check out the new, big poster after the jump.

Continue Reading →

One of the great things about Comic-Con is all the cool trailers for movies you might not have heard of that get released. One such movie is the horror/sci-fi action film Pandourm. In case you’re not familiar with the film it concerns two astronauts who wake to find themselves drifting through space and with no memory of who they are.

They believe that they must be the only ones aboard the spacecraft, but can hear sounds coming from its center. Exploring the spacecraft, the astronauts start to learn that a terrible event has occurred on board which might affect the survival of the entire human race. Damn, isn’t that always the way it is?

Pandorum, which features Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster and Cung Le, hits theaters on September 18th. Check out the full trailer after the jump.

Continue Reading →