This week’s pick takes us back into the heart of darkness with Francis Ford Coppola’s riveting Vietnam classic Apocalypse Now (1979). The film was written by Coppola and John Milius, along with brilliant narration written by Michael Herr. The movie was based off of Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness about a man who is sent on a mission to kill a rogue ivory trader in the heart of nineteenth century Africa.

Coppola and Milius loved the story and decided to set the film during the Vietnam War. The film stars Martin Sheen (Captain Benjamin Willard), Marlon Brando (Col. Walter E. Kurtz), Dennis Hopper (Photo Journalist), Robert Duvall (Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore), Albert Hall (Chief), Frederic Forrest (Chef), Sam Bottoms (Lance Johnson), Laurence Fishburne (Mr. Clean), Harrison Ford (Col. Lucas), and G.D. Spradlin (Lt. Gen. Corman).

Apocalypse Now has always been considered the quintessential Vietnam war movie not only for the sheer scope of the film, but because the production was just as massive as the war itself. Coppola had raised over twelve million dollars (eight million of which through his own company American Zoetrope) through investors and outside sources to begin producing the film in late 1975 after the release of the highly anticipated The Godfather II.

Coppola’s two friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg contacted their friend and fellow film maker John Milius to see if he would be willing to write a story that blended most of Conrad’s themes, and the horrors of the Vietnam conflict into one solid script. Milius had written a Vietnam story in the late sixties and had shelved the idea once his directing career had taken off. Coppola told Milius to “put everything you ever wanted in a war movie before into the script.” The result was an absolute masterpiece.

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Among my favorite movies, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now ranks very high. It’s a brilliant and disturbing look at war and its effect on the men who fight it. Plus, it’s full of great performances from an amazing cast, action and also makes you think. What more could you ask from a film?

Nothing, really, except for all of the film’s brilliance and cinematic power, it never got the Blu-ray release it deserved. But now, it seems, that’s going to be remedied as Lionsgate is releasing the film on Blu-ray. Not only will the film be on Blu-ray, the release will come in two different versions, the standard and “full disclosure” edition, which will contain a host of impressive features.

Among these are both versions of the film, never seen before interviews with Coppola and other involved in the production, production stills, script notes, the Hearts of Darkness documentary and so much more. For the full list of features in both editions, check out the full press release after the jump.

Also, be sure to check out the Blu-ray trailer for the film after the jump as well. The Apocalypse Now Blu-ray will hit store shelves on October 19th.

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We like to stay clear from most rumors when it comes to movie news, but sometimes there is something that comes along we can’t pass up. This time, the news is in the form of a possible plot leak of the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel, which would be the fifth film in the series.

Many people remember Crystal Skull as being the Phantom Menace of Indiana Jones films, with things like aliens, monkey kidnappers, and the entire concept of Mutt Williams, but this newest rumor could be the thing that saves the Indy franchise. From the New Zealand website Stuff:

Harrison Ford’s final outing as Indiana Jones will be “emotional and exciting” as the franchise heads back to its roots after a badly received fourth installment.

Indiana Jones 5 will begin shooting next year, and much of the plot line will be centered around the Bermuda Triangle, an area over the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft are said to have disappeared.

Movie bosses have assured fans the film will stay true to the series’ roots, and won’t contain lots of state-of-the-art special effects.

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Any film geek, be they fans of sci-fi or adventure, has fallen victim to the charm of Harrison Ford at one point or another. Whether it was for Han Solo, Rick Deckard or Indiana Jones, we’ve all rooted for Ford as the main character for years. As of late, his roles have been simplified to running around demanding his family back, or ruining our childhood with a rehashed sequel. Finally, Ford is trying on a new old hat: playing the comic relief.

The first trailer for Morning Glory hit this week, which stars the always lovely Rachel McAdams as a morning TV show producer who needs to help boost her career by keeping the oil and water of Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton’s characters together and happy every morning.

The film has got geek cred all over it, from Sherlock Holmes‘ McAdams, to Ford, to Watchmen’s Patrick Wilson and Jeff Goldblum. The film is even produced by J.J. Abram’s Bad Robot production company, and written by Aline Brosh McKenna, who will also be writing a new Abrams project in 2012.

Check out the first trailer for Morning Glory after the jump, and keep an eye out when the film hits theaters on November 12th.

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Whatever your feelings about director Jon Favreau’s work on the recent Iron Man 2 (for the record both Matt and I enjoyed it but didn’t love it) he’s moving forward with his next project. Not surprisingly, it will also be an adaptation of a comic book. In this case, that would be the comic Cowboys & Aliens written by Fred Van Lente and Andrew Foley.

We’ve brought you info on this film previously, including some casting and script news, and now thanks to DreamWorks Pictures, we can bring you the official synopsis for the film, which is being adapted by scribes Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof and stars Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell and Noah Ringer:

1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger (Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It’s a town that lives in fear.

But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.

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It’s been a long time since Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep hit the shelves in 1968 and inspired a generation of Sci-Fi fans. In the novel, Dick imagined a post-apocalyptic world wherein earth and much of its population have been decimated by nuclear fallout after a massive world war.

Most animals were either forced into extinction or are now extremely rare due to the radiation poisoning resulting from this so-called World War Terminus. The book’s plotline follows the protagonist, Rick Deckard as a police bounty hunter, racing through a near-future San Francisco on the trail of six dangerous androids.

Many of us Sci-Fi fanatics know this story intimately from Ridley Scott’s 1982 masterpiece, Blade Runner. Now, almost thirty years later, writer Chris Roberson and artist Robert Adler have imagined a prequel that will be available for the iPad in comic form. Taking place immediately after World War Terminus ends, the problems with artificial life – androids – become apparent.

The government decides they must become targets, hunted down, but who will do the dirty work? Two men are assigned: Malcolm Reed, a ‘special’ human with the power to feel others’ emotions, and Charlie Victor, who’s the perfect man for the job – or is he? Meanwhile Samantha Wu, a Stanford biologist, fights to save the last of the world’s animals.

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While Harrison Ford is still sitting back in his chair, maniacally laughing at what he did to millions of Indiana Jones fans with the last film (I’m only assuming it was done with nefarious intentions), he has been pretty laid back on the “getting a job” front.

After a few bombs like Extraordinary Measures, Firewall, and Hollywood Homicide, one would think that the actor would make Oscar-worthy career moves like his peers Bill Murray or Jack Nicholson. Instead, it seems he’s possibly taking the more popular route, and signing to do a comic book film.

In a recent article from Latino Review, they threw out the statement that Ford is about to join a “huge comic book movie to be directed by a director coming off a soon to be released huge comic book movie.”

With hard-hitting journalism like this, we’re led to believe that Ford is either going to be cast in Christopher Nolan’s Superman, or Jon Favreau’s upcoming Cowboys and Aliens.

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Avatar only dropped 14% from last weekend, and is still putting up huge numbers after seven weeks in release.  Once again, it maintained the top spot at the box office with $30 Million. Only six million to go before it breaks $600 Million domestically. At this rate it will hit that number this week for sure.

Mel Gibson’s revenge thriller Edge of Darkness managed a lukewarm $17 Million on just over 3,000 screens, which was a little lower than expectations. Kristen Bell’s romantic comedy When in Rome placed third, with $12 Million. The Tooth Fairy only dropped 29% for fourth place with an additional $10 Million.

The Book of Eli came in at number 5 with $8.7 Million.  It has almost earned  back its $80 Million budget. Outside of the top five, things were not so rosy. In its second week in release, Harrison Ford’s Extraordinary Measures tumbled completely out of the top ten into 13th place for the weekend.

That’s gotta be painful for Ford, and for the fledgling CBS films. Legion also dove about 60%, but a low budget probably ensures that it will still be profitable.

There are lots of puns that could be mined from the title, but the truth is, Extraordinary Measures is a movie that is much better suited to the small screen. It is a mediocre film at best, but I suppose some people might be find its story of triumph over insurmountable odds moving. The crowd I saw the film with seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did.

The film is loosely based on the book The Cure, by Geeta Anand, which chronicles the true story of the Crowley family and their battle with pompe disease (a neuromuscular disorder related to muscular dystrophy). It follows their race to find a treatment  before two of their three children die from the disease. Having one child with this horrible disease is horrible enough, having two is incomprehensible.

Brendan Fraser plays John Crowley, a father who risks his job, his family , and his sanity on a desperate gamble to find a treatment.  Late nights spent poring over the Internet eventually lead him to a renegade scientist, Robert Stonewell (Harrison Ford).

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This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt welcome back recurring guest co-host Elisabeth Rappe and dive head first into a bunch of new topics including potential Star Wars prequels and sequels, Clint Eastwood’s latest film Invictus, the latest Kick-Ass character posters, Clash of the Titans and Sam Worthington, the success and animation style of Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, and the family history of Lando Calrissian.

They also made some great picks yet again this week including Matt’s pick of the series Legend of the Seeker, Elisabeth’s pick of the musical Oklahoma! featuring Hugh Jackman and Chris’ pick of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourios Basterds, which is now on Blu-Ray.

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

I greet this news with a mix of excitement and trepidation. But no matter what, it seems inevitable its going to happen. According to an interview with Shia LaBeouf over at the BBC News, director Steven Spielberg has apparently figured out what the story for the next Indiana Jones film should be and is now working on it.

According to LaBeouf in the interview: “Steven just said that he cracked the story on it before I left, and I think they’re gearing that up.”

At the moment, there’s no word on what the story is or if LaBeouf’s character, Mutt Williams, will be returning for the sequel. Obviously, Harrison Ford would have to sign on for another film as Indiana Jones. Or he would have to at least be in the film long enough to pas the torch to the next generation, if that’s the way the story goes.

To be honest, after the disappointment of the last Indiana Jones film, I’m not sure I want to see another one at all. For better or worse, it seems inevatible we will get a fifth film — especially as the last one made over $750 Million worldwide. You can’t argue with figures like that. And really, my concern isn’t as much what the story is, if Harrison Ford is in the film or even if Shia LaBeouf returns. I just don’t want George Lucas anywhere near it.