As a fan of the Star Tours attractions on both coasts, I was excited to go to the D23 panel on the making of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue… I crowded into the 1,000+ seat ballroom, not knowing what Imagineer insights awaited me.

In true Disney fashion, the panel was a professionally crafted presentation, with no room for questions..errr, I mean error. In this panel, lead Imagineer, Tom Fitzgerald, spoke with the aid of Powerpoint and took us on the journey to bring this attraction into the future.

Tom Fitzgerald, began his Star Tours story in 1998 when George Lucas summoned the Imagineer team to his ranch to watch the pod race, and only the pod race. After seeing the infamous scene, the Imagineers decided to wait to see the rest of the film, hoping against hope that it would the pod race would be scrapped for something way cooler.

Ok, so Tom said, “In fact, we did think it was a great idea”, but I can read between the lines. Interestingly back in 1998, way before the 3D onslaught, the Imagineers knew the ride was going to be in 3D.

Continue Reading →

While The Hangover Part II is projected to pull in $80 million this weekend, that hasn’t slowed down Zach Galifiniakis in his goal to produce on of the best (and cheapest) internet talk show out there.

On his show, which has been running for over a year now, he’s had guests like Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien, and Michael Cera all join in the awkward hilarity, and now he’s trying to top himself with his newest guest, Will Ferrell.

Straight from the set of The Office as Steve Carell’s temporary replacement, Ferrell stops by Two Ferns to compliment the atmosphere, show some new clips of monkeys, and feed the host fruit from his own mouth. There’s even a surprise appearance by a former guest.

Check out the episode after the jump, and see Galifiniakis in his Bangkok antics this weekend in The Hangover Part II.

Continue Reading →

I can see how some might initially dismiss Hesher as a quirky indie drama that struggles to find a consistent tone. One minute you’re watching an emotional family dinner, only to be followed by pounding guitar riffs emphasizing comedic beats.  Some might also complain about a lack of character motivation and backstory. But whatever is lacking in this film is more than made up with compelling characters and strong performances from the entire cast.

Devin Brochu plays T.J. Forney, a quiet kid living with his father (Rainn Wilson) and grandmother (Piper Laurie) after recently losing his mother in a car accident. Through a series of unfortunate situations, he runs into Hesher, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a loner metal-head with greasy hair and homemade tattoos covering his body. Hesher decides that he is going to live in T.J.’s grandma’s house, where he quickly gets himself involved with the family struggling with their pain.

Almost just as randomly T.J. meets Nicole, played by the incredible Natalie Portman (also a producer on this film), when she saves him from a bully.  Despite their age difference, they become close friends who always seem to be at the right places to help each other out of bad situations.

Continue Reading →

I’m more interested in coming up with cheap puns that could’ve titled this review were it not for the fact that we have formats to follow regarding the titles, so, no matter how awesome it would be to call it “THORing” or “This Movie Is Asgard,” I can’t. (“Thor: A sNORSE-fest” would be good, too.)

Thor (Chris Hemsworth), for those of you who skipped the Norse mythology part of your childhood or avoided the comic (does anyone know a die-hard Thor fan? I’ve been told they exist, but then people say there’s some dedicated Hulk and Dr. Strange fans, too), is the Norse god of thunder and son to Odin (Anthony Hopkins), king of Asgard, an alien planet or alternate plane of existence (I’m not entirely sure).

A thousand or so years ago the Asgardians fought the frost giants, led by Laufey (Colm Feore), to protect earth and preserve something called the Casket of Ancient Winters. Fast-forward to the present, when those knucklehead frost giants are at it again. This time they invade Asgard to back steal the casket, and Thor disobeys his father when he travels to Jotunheim to rough up Laufey.

Continue Reading →

Truth be known, this isn’t the review I wanted to write. Trust me, it would be a lot easier to heap glowing praise on this over-hyped tale of a Norse God who is banished to earth, but the movie just wasn’t my cup of mead.

I’m convinced someone must have messed with my 3D glasses. Based on ecstatic word of mouth, I should have seen a thrilling, well executed, well acted, and good looking film. Instead, I saw a dull, erratically paced film with gaudy set pieces, tacky costumes, and inconsistent writing.

Admittedly, I am no master of the Marvel universe, so take that with a grain of salt. However, I am game, and have enjoyed several of the movies culled from their stable of superheroes in recent years.  Throw director Kenneth Branagh into the mix, and I am not only intrigued, but a little giddy. I guess that might be part of the reason I was so disappointed in the film; I expected better with Branaugh at the helm.

The film tells the story of Thor, a Norse God who wields a mighty wicked hammer as his weapon of choice against the bad guys. Thor resides in the realm of Asgard, and he is a sure shot to take over the throne from his aging father Odin (Anthony Hopkins).

Odin has maintained peace between his kingdom and the Frost Giants, a rival population, for years.  When they threaten to infiltrate Asgard, Thor makes a hasty decision to attack the Frost Giants. This infuriates his father, who banishes Thor to Earth, and strips Thor’s hammer of any real power.

Continue Reading →

While we may have brought you a very spoilerific Thor video on Friday, we can assure you that this one won’t ruin anything for you. Back during the Super Bowl, Volkswagon had one of the better commercials of the night with their Little Darth Vader spot.

Now Marvel is taking a page from their book with their very own Little Thor commercial. It almost seems like it could be a normal commercial, with the exception that not many kids would want to dress up like The God of Thunder on a whim (at least not yet).

The end of the commercial also has a bit of a WTF ending that may not have gone over so well if this were a real car commercial. Fortunately, its just a spoof — and a pretty funny one at that.

The real Thor is set to hit May 3rd and stars Chris Hemsworth as the title character. Alongside Hemsworth, the film stars Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Kat Dennings, Clark Gregg, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Rene Russo, and Tom Hiddleston.

Until then, enjoy the commercial after the jump.

Continue Reading →

If we didn’t know any better, we’d think that an adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was unfilmable.

Since it was announced that the film adaptation was around the way, the film has gone through several directors including Mike White and David O. Russell, but it seems the bottle has finally landed on Craig Gillespie. Deadline has the scoop.

Lionsgate has made it official. Craig Gillespie has been set to direct Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the movie adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that mixes the 1813 Jane Austen classic with a legion of bloodthirsty zombies. Gillespie, who directed the critically acclaimed art house film Lars and the Real Girl, most recently directed the Fright Night remake that stars Colin Farrell.

“We are so excited to have Craig Gillespie on board this film,” said Alli Shearmur, Lionsgate president of Motion Picture Production. “His sensibility spans from genre-bending horror to elegant character-driven comedy, which is perfect for this movie.”

With new man on the horror scene Gillespie taking on the film, and Natalie Portman’s handsomecharlie production company, the film may actually turn out to be a great project. Finally.

Your Highness is the movie equivalent of Mongolian BBQ: You get your plate and come to the first station, the meat.

There are some things you feel comfortable with, like the chicken (James Franco) and the lamb (Natalie Portman), some things that, sure, you could go for, like the lovely push-up-bra-wearing mahi-mahi (Zooey Deschanel), and then there’s the weird stuff you’re not certain you’ve heard of, like the surimi (Justin Theroux) and the calamari (Danny McBride), which you nevertheless feel obligated to try because, hey, you’re at the Mongolian BBQ, and you wouldn’t be here unless you were trying to try new things.

Then you get to the veggies. You have no idea what combination works with what, so you toss in some of everything–water chestnuts (R-rated sight gags), bean sprouts (stoner humor), edamame (dirty puns), and then you decide “What the Hell?” and go full Mongoloid by cramming in a bunch of peppers and drenching it in spicy buffalo and Tzatzihi sauce (foul, foul language, boobies, five-headed dragons…) to make it (hopefully) interesting.

And after it’s all been worked up, you’re served with something that’s surprisingly tolerable at first, but tastes a little ickier with each successive bite.

Continue Reading →

This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt have no guest and have to go it alone. Fortunately, that’s just what these two rogue adventurers love to do.

So, with that in mind, the discussion turns to topics including Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, Green Lantern casting news and controversy, Natalie Portman’s, um, acting in Your Highness, AMC vs. Matt Weiner for the fate of Mad Men season five and the latest costume and potential fate of the new Wonder Woman TV series.

And for a third week running, no Charlie Sheen. We know you appreciate it. Gifts of cake are always appreciated.

Of course, your hosts also made some picks this week including Matt’s pick of Repo! A Genetic Opera (yep, you read that right) and Chris’ pick of the sadly short-lived Aaron Sorkin series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

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.

Yesterday, we brought you the first full batch of clips from next weekend’s Your Highness, the stoner road comedy set in Medieval Times starring Danny McBride and James Franco. The clips were so good, we wanted to bring you more.

In this newest batch we have for you, you’ll get a little bit of Natalie Portman being bad ass, Justin Theroux being sinister, and Danny McBride trying to pull off a terrible British accent.

The film that first comes to mind when looking at clips and trailer for Your Highness is easily Cheech & Chong’s The Corsican Brothers. McBride and Franco have developed a modern-day Cheech & Chong personas, with very little changing other than the contemporary references.

Another great element in what we can see from these clips is that Portman is acting like she’s in a completely different film. This could either help or hurt her role. If the character never breaks from the stoic, hard-assed maiden to McBride and Franco’s cartoonish antics, it could most certainly help the film’s tone.

Check out the three new clips after the jump, and be sure to go see Your Highness in theaters on April 8th.

Continue Reading →

As the release of Kenneth Branagh’s Thor draws near we can expect the usual deluge of marketing materials to bombard us and try to influence us to see the movie. Not that we really need help in that department.

We’re gonna see it. Duh.

Still, seeing more of the movie before it comes out is cool. Fortunately, Paramount keeps releasing more videos. Case in point is this latest featuring Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and a taser.

Plus, it helps give us more insight into the story and, in particular, the sequence where Thor crashes to earth and is discovered by Portman and pals. And yes, it is pretty cool.

So, to experience this new video, be sure to click through to watch it.

Thor hits theaters on may 6th. As if you didn’t already know that.

Continue Reading →

Imagine a world where the characters from Pineapple Express and Lord of the Rings clashed. That’s exactly what Danny McBride and his writing partner Ben Best had in mind when they gave birth to the idea which became Your Highness.

The synopsis is just about what you’d think this team could come up with after getting really stoned and reading old Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks.

Thadeous (Danny McBride) is a lazy, arrogant prince with his brother, Fabious (James Franco) must go on an epic quest in order to save their father’s kingdom. Natalie Portman plays a warrior princess who is also the lazy prince’s love interest. Zooey Deschanel plays Belladonna, Fabious’ virginal bride. Justin Theroux plays Leezar, the evil wizard who kidnaps Belladonna. Michael Clarke Duncan plays the Giant Troll.

Pretty funny, right? That’s what we thought. We’ve got some pretty awesome clips for you this week so be sure to check out the first batch after the jump.

Catch Your Highness and all of its antics in theaters on April 8th.

Continue Reading →