For all of you who have been buying into the ‘drama’ surrounding Prometheus’ ultimate rating, we have some good news for you. Fox has confirmed that the moody, dark and probably terrifying sci-fi film will indeed be rated R for sci-fi violence including intense images, and brief language.

Many people never believed that a PG-13 rating was possible for the subject matter, so when it took this long to get a confirmed rating people were getting nervous. It also didn’t help that Ridley Scott has been telling people conflicted things about the movie, the process and the rating for months now.

Speaking of which, Prometheus must be setting a new record for the most outright and open deception from a filmmaker to his audience. Scott has gone on record with several quotes that don’t seem to right based on the footage we are seeing. He already famously said the film would not be a prequel to Alien and only have a core DNA similarity with that franchise. Watching the trailer for 2 seconds pretty much disproves that concept.

Continue Reading →

More and more, YouTube is become less of a place to watch cats beat up other cats, and more of a place to watch premium content that you are lucky to get for free on demand. In the past few years, one of those premium content trends has been “supercuts” and “movie mashups” where talented editors take clips from films and put them all together in one splendid masterpiece (if we do say so ourselves).

With that, one talented YouTuber named Kees van Dijkjuizen, an 18 year old films student from the Netherlands, who has been doing two series. One of which is a year-in-review Cinema supercut, that he’s done every year since 2008, and the other is his [the films of] series in which he showcases some of the most critically acclaimed directors of our time, from Christopher Nolan, to Tim Burton, and Ridley Scott.

His latest cut is the finale of the latter series, and it’s is a dedication to Steven Spielberg. This was a big one for him, which he lays out in the description.

Film as we know it today was shaped by thousands of creative minds working together to create something special for the audience to experience. Among those is Steven Spielberg; considered by many to be the true master of modern day cinema, Spielberg’s 26 feature films have each taken us to magical worlds, introduced us to fantastic characters and on adventures we will never forget. [the films of] has honored many filmmakers, but none of them as significant to film history as the genius featured in this final episode.

Take a look at the supercut after the jump, and check out his YouTube channel here.

Continue Reading →

Two of the best filmmakers working today have giant blockbusters planned for 2012. Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott are both bringing continuations of their star making franchises to the big screen. While Nolan is ending his run in the Batman universe with The Dark Knight Rises, Ridley Scott is breathing new life into the dormant Alien franchise with a prequel that may or may not have all that much to do with the previous films.

The Dark Knight Rises poster focuses on Bane walking away from a shattered Batman cowl. This really sells the concept of finality that this film brings. It is also nice to see the filmmakers not shying away from the fact that the character of Bane was created for one purpose, to break the bat.

Prometheus on the other hand is a far more intriguing one-sheet. The large head that dominates the poster raises more questions then can be answered. There are also a lot of small little design choices that echo the fact that this movie is set in the Alien universe. That posters sits rater nicely next to previous Alien films.

Check out both new posters in their full glory after the jump.

Continue Reading →

What is it with Ridley Scott? He doesn’t seem to be able to leave well enough alone. First he decides that what the world needs is an Alien prequel/sequel/spin-off with his upcoming Prometheus, in 3D no less.

Now he’s apparently come to the conclusion that what the world needs is a sequel/prequel to to his classic 1982 sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. Yes, you read that right. Mr. Scott will reportedly be directing a new installment of Blade Runner.

As it was when news of Prometheus first broke, it’s not clear if this new film will be a sequel or a prequel to the 1982 film that was loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (answer: they do) Also not clear at the moment is if the new film will, in any way, feature Harrison Ford. My guess is it probably will, if only in a cameo.

Truth be told I find the idea of a Blade Runner sequel/prequel far less appetizing than a sequel/prequel to Alien. After all, James Cameron did a pretty great job with Aliens, which showed the franchise had some life in it. Plus, they ended up making a few more sequels which were less appealing. Still, they made them.

Blade Runner, on the other hand, has stood the test of time on its own. It’s evolved from a rather unsuccessful commercial debut into one of the most revered sci-fi classics of all time. Plus, it has never had a sequel, which also serves to add to its power and mystique.

Continue Reading →

Once again proving that Hollywood has indeed run out of original ideas and instead is looking to the past to try and generate something at least half-way decent, the production company behind such films as The Blind Side and The Book of Eli has now set its sights on a prequel and sequel to Ridley Scott’s classic 1982 sci-fi film Blade Runner.

The announcement came today from Alcon Entertainment, who are currently negotiating to secure the rights to the Blade Runner franchise from producer-director Bud Yorkin, who currently holds them. If Alcon is successful (and they probably will be) their franchise rights would be all-inclusive, but exclude rights to remake the original. Well, at least that’s something, right? Dodged that bullet.

The company’s co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove are, as you may expect, pretty excited about the prospect of getting their hands on Blade Runner.

“We are honored and excited to be in business with Bud Yorkin. This is a major acquisition for our company, and a personal favorite film for both of us. We recognize the responsibility we have to do justice to the memory of the original with any prequel or sequel we produce. We have long-term goals for the franchise, and are exploring multi-platform concepts, not just limiting ourselves to one medium only.”

Okay, they seem to talk the talk at least. But, of course, this is Hollywood and that could just be fan-service. Which, let’s face it, it probably is. All I can say after hearing about this is thank goodness they can’t do a remake of the original film. At least we will always have that.

Click through if you want to read the full press release.

Continue Reading →

On paper, Robin Hood appears to have it all: an amazing cast, beautiful costumes, spectacular set pieces, meticulously choreographed fight scenes, and a beloved protagonist. Yet somehow, I found the movie stultifying. It’s dull, complicated, and waaaaay too long.

Essentially, this serves as an origin story for Robin Hood. Russell Crowe stars as Robin Longstride, an archer fighting with King Richard (Danny Huston), who stumbles into a sequence of events that ultimately result in him being condemned and banished as an outlaw.

I was rooting for this Robin Hood retelling: after all, my last name is Hood, and I have had such a life-long affinity for the character that at my wedding reception my father made a toast about me finally meeting my Robin. I have been trying to pin down exactly why this movie just didn’t do it for me, and I offer you the following observations:

We all know the original story, but director Ridley Scott’s take is more of a historical drama. Admittedly, Scott has an astute eye for detail. That’s admirable, but most of us associate Robin Hood (the character) with swash-buckling heroics and swoon-worthy romance, not body odor and grimey fingernails. In the opening sequence, do we really need to see Robin playing parlor games? Of course not.

Continue Reading →

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.

Continue Reading →

Though this was one of the weakest years for trailers at the Superbowl, it did give us one of the first HD looks at Russell Crowe’s newest project, playing the leader of the Merry Men in the upcoming Robin Hood. The first trailer looked cool, but a little bit like every other Crowe film. We new get a brand new trailer to snack on that gives us a bit more eye candy.

This incarnation of the classic goes a bit further into the lore than any other story (with the exception of the brilliant BBC series). The film spans over the time of Robin’s parents, his journey to the crusades, and his return to Sherwood Forest where he leads a revolution against the corrupt King John.

The film stars Cate Blanchett, Max von Sydow, and the now ubiquitous Mark Strong. Robin Hood marks the fifth collaboration between director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. Check out the newest trailer, courtesy of Yahoo, after the jump, and catch Robin Hood in theaters on May 14th.

Continue Reading →

We just discussed the recently released trailer for Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, and a host of other excellent actors, But, now Yahoo has the exclusive trailer for the international audience; and it shows far more Robin Hood-like action, and even the prerequisite shot of the camera being the arrow flying through the trees at a target.

Instead of a pounding “metal” tune backing up the images in the last trailer, this time it seems that the music for this trailer is from The Dark Knight, backed up with some added violins; and then some much more decidedly British-isle sounding music.

We also get a good smattering of dialogue, including the soon to be classic, “Are you ready to be, who you are?” There are glimpses of Marian in action, the Sheriff (Matthew MacFayden) yelling at someone, and the still engaging Max von Sydow giving his best Commissioner Gordon speech, or maybe he’s Alfred.

Despite the fact that I can’t see much of a difference between it and the trailers for Gladiator or even Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, I have to say I’m still interested in seeing what this film has in store for us. I’m not one of the people that claims Gladiator was deserving of it’s Best Picture Oscar in 2000, but I do think that it’s a pretty good flick. And I’d expect similar quality from these same filmmakers.

Check out the newest trailer for the film after the jump, and catch Russel Crowe’s Robin Hood on May 14th.

Continue Reading →

The Courier Mail has a gallery of photos from the new Robin Hood film, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong, Danny Huston and Matthew Macfadyen. The series of images focus mainly on showing Crowe on horses, either sitting idly with what appear to be his merry men, charging into battle, and a couple of Ridley Scott and his crew working.

The movie is supposedly written as a more historically accurate telling of the Robin who becomes the famous hood. Apparently we’ll be treated to visuals of battles in France, battles in England, and the beauty of Cate Blanchett all dirtied up to look authentic. But, not too dirtied up.

The casting and obviously the pedigree of the filmmakers behind this movie have me interested. The screenplay is by Brian Helgeland, who has written a number of great movies (Payback, Man on Fire), along with a couple stinkers (The Taking of Pelham 123). But he has a couple of interesting projects coming out soon with the films Green Zone, with Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon and Salt, with Angelina Jolie and Phillip Noyce.

The newly released international trailer for the movie is pretty bombastic with it’s drum and cymbal soundtrack, but it works. It definitely has the Ridley Scott vibe to it, and it’s nice to see Crowe in action – and fit – again. Robin Hood hits theaters on May 14, 2010. Check out the trailer and the larger photos after the jump.

Continue Reading →

There have been plenty of optioned films over the past few months that don’t make a lot of sense. Peter Berg will be directing a film based on Battleship, Michael Bay is producing Ouija, and Kevin Lima (Enchanted) is directing Candy Land. One other that has struck a “huh?” chord more than others is Ridley Scott’s directing of a movie based on the game Monopoly.

Scott, who is best known for directing such epic (and not family-oriented) films as Alien, Blade Runner and Gladiator, was supposedly sold on the film during a pitch meeting with Universal and producer Frank Beddor (There’s Something About Mary). In an interview with the LA Times, Beddor goes into detail on the pitch that got Ridley Scott so interested.

“I created a comedic, lovable loser who lives in Manhattan and works at a real estate company and he’s not very good at his job but he’s great at playing Monopoly. And the world record for playing is 70 straight days – over 1,600 hours – and he wanted to try to convince his friends to help him break that world record.

They think he is crazy. They kid him about this girl and they’re playing the game and there’s this big fight. And he’s holding a Chance card and after they’ve left he says, ‘Damn, I wanted to use that Chance card,’ and he throws it down. He falls asleep and then he wakes up in the morning and he’s holding the Chance card, and he thinks, ‘That’s odd.’”

Continue Reading →

Previously on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt were neck-deep in the loving embrace of all things Comic-Con and talked about a whole slew of things with special guest writer/producer Mark Verheiden. Among the topics covered were how Comic-Con has changed over the years, the status of Mark’s various other projects like Ark and Quatermaine, the end of Battlestar Galactica and what, exactly, Starbuck really was.

This week, your favorite trio is reunited as Chris and Matt welcome Christina back to the show. The team wastes no time and jumps right in with discussion and debate on topics including the Seinfeld cast’s upcoming appearance on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Ridley Scott signing on to make an Alien prequel, Steven Spielberg’s decision to direct a Harvey reboot as his next film, Apple’s relationship with iPhone developers, John Barrowman’s life after Torchwood, Jon Favreau’s talk of Iron Man 2 and Avengers in 3D and what actor may take on the title role in the next Mad Max film.

The team also chooses some more things to recommend this week including Christina’s pick of AMC’s series Breaking Bad, Matt’s pick of the TV series Leverage and Chris’ pick, the horror/thriller The Collector.

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.

Thanks for listening.