Okay, here’s my official take on the Academy Award show this year. The entertainment world is abuzz today with reports of how horrible James Franco and Anne Hathaway were as hosts of the show. I think that they are being unfairly maligned. I found Hathaway charming, beautiful, and eager to please.

On the other hand, Franco seemed like he didn’t give a crap about the show or his performance. He was obviously stoned out of his mind, and I am not one to judge, but that is flat out disrespectful. Do that stuff on your own time, not when you are in front of a billion people. Anne Hathaway didn’t stand a chance when she was saddled with the stoner from hell. I genuinely felt bad for her.

Franco has had an amazing year. I used to dismiss him as a joke, until I saw his performance in 127 Hours. He was astounding. Shortly after I saw the film, I spoke at a public event, and swore that I would never sell him short again. Until now.

Franco has squandered all the good will he has earned in one catastrophic hosting gig. Back in the penalty box you go, Mr. Franco. This time it won’t be so easy to earn your way out. For a very funny take on Franco’s questionable frame of mind, check out this Gawker.com article.

To be fair, I truly didn’t feel that the two were given much to do. Outside of a great film montage at the beginning of the show, they were barely present. Perhaps that was a blessing. Still, Hathaway deserves props.

Franco’s quick little appearance in drag was bizarre, jarring and random. I felt like I was watching an SNL skit.

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As it is every week, this week’s episode of The Flickcast is brimming with fun, entertainment, knowledge and all sorts of humor and insightful commentary. Well, it’s sorta funny at least.

Anyway, this week Chris and Matt are joined by Chief Gaming Guru John Carle to talk all things DCU Online, Sony PS2, PSP2, Activision and Toy Fair. In addition, they discuss new trailers for X-Men: First Class and I Am Number Four, Smallville‘s series finale featuring Lex Luthor and a whole lot more.

Chris, Matt and John also make some new picks this week to help guide you and highlight movies, TV shows, games and more that you may not have heard of. What were the picks? Well, you’ll just have to listen to the show to find out. We can’t always give everything away.

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.

Guitar Hero is arguably one of the most popular and successful video games of all time. Its combination of great music, fun gameplay and rather simple premise has made it, and its spin-offs, extremely popular. Now, Activision is adding even more fun to the mix with the latest addition to the Guitar Hero franchise: Guitar Hero Van Halen.

As in the past, this new add-on provides brand new music from one of the seminal rocking bands of the 80′s and 90′s for you to enjoy and play along with. To commemorate this new release, we’ve got a trailer for one of the band’s most popular songs as well as some cool new screenshots of gamplay.

Click through to check out the video for Van Halen’s “Jamie’s Cryin’” and the screenshots. Guitar Hero Van Halen hits stores on December 22nd for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii.

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I probably spend as much time playing brand spankin’ new video games as I do replaying my old favorites, not just because of nostalgia but just because they’re awesome games. Which is why it’s exciting to hear that Sega will be releasing a Sonic Classic Collection for the Nintendo DS next year, according to Kotaku.

Many Sonic classics have already been released for systems like the PS2 and Xbox, but what’s exciting about this collection is that since it’s on the DS, you’ll be able to take them anywhere. The collection will include classics Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.

The game will also have a nifty “save anywhere” feature, which is a relief for those of us who used to just leave on their Sega Genesis  for hours on end while we had family dinner and did homework. The Sonic Classic Collection will ship in March 2010.

Our friends at Activision have sent us a cool behind the scenes video showing what it’s like to shoot a TV commercial for the game Band Hero, which hits stores today. It features artists such as Taylor Swift, Pete Wentz and Travis Barker, but don’t let that stop you from taking a look anyway.

I kid. I kid because I care. In all seriousness, I worked on a lot of commercials over the years and I can tell you that very few of them were ever this cool to shoot or, in the end, to watch. So, leave your preconceptions at the door and take a look at this video.

Who knows, you might just enjoy it. Plus, you’ll also get more of a taste of Band Hero, a game I just know you’re anxious to try — especially if you’re a fan of Guitar Hero. As I may have mentioned, the game hits stores today for Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2. Enjoy.

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Sony’s been on our radar a lot recently here at The Flickcast- first with the release of the Playstation 3 Slim and recently with the upcoming PSPGo. Now, G4 brings to our attention a document posted by MCV, stating that the entire Playstation 2 game catalog will soon be available for purchase on the Playstation Network.

The move is no surprise, as the PS3 Slim doesn’t have PS2 backwards compatibility. Making the catalog available would certainly silence some gamer complaints, and maybe even boost PS3 and PS3 Slim sales. However, this change may be frustrating to gamers who have held onto their PS2 games, and might not want to repurchase them. It also could cause a drop in sales on boxed PS2 titles, which are still sold in stores.

We’re sure to find out all the details during the Tokyo Game Show, especially when Sony delivers their keynote speech this Thursday. For now, we’ll keep this on the rumor pile.