The Flickcast

Check Out a Preview for Tonight’s Episode of Cinemax’s ‘Strike Back’

Posted on August 26, 2011

As we’ve said before, for premium original content we usually look to HBO for most of our entertainment. However, Cinemax is fighting back in a big, explosive way with their new series Strike Back.

“When a resourceful international terrorist group plots an attack, a charismatic former U.S. Special Forces operative joins forces with a stealth British military unit to stop them.” That’s pretty much the way it’s gone so far. Oh, and did I mention stuff blows up pretty much non-stop so far this season? Well, it does.

This week we’ve got a preview for you of episode 3 as well as some new pics of the gang in action. The show features Sullivan Stapleton, Philip Winchester, Amanda Mealing, Eva Birthistle, Jimi Mistry, Rhashan Stone and Richard Armitage.

Check out the preview and the new pics after the break. Strike Back is on tonight at 10/9C on Cinemax.

Tom Cruise Is A Better Driver Than You Are . . . Mostly

Posted on August 26, 2011

We now continue our rather infrequent series of car-related posts with this new one containing a video of the world’s most famous actor, Tom Cruise, putting the Red Bull F1 car through its paces. Yes, the car is fast and yes Cruise is a pretty good driver who really shows he’s got some skills.

Sadly, things don’t go completely perfect for the diminutive action star as you can clearly see if you watch. However, that doesn’t mean the video isn’t interesting, it is.

It also makes us very jealous he gets to drive cars like this and we don’t. Damn him.

And damn him for corrupting young Katie Holmes too. Oh well.

Anyway, the video is still pretty cool and we think you’ll enjoy it. Check it out after the jump.

Film Review: ‘Circumstance’

Posted on August 26, 2011

It’s not a good sign when you’re half an hour into the movie and are still unsure who the main character is or what’s going on. By the end, I had a pretty good idea, but to make sure (this was the winner of the Audience Award for Drama at Sundance), I checked out IMDB’s synopsis, which says, “A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager’s growing sexual rebellion and her brother’s dangerous obsession.”

Not quite satisfied, I then headed over to the film’s Facebook page, which conversely says that it’s, “the story of two vivacious young girls…discovering their burgeoning sexuality.” Finally, I looked up the film’s actual website, which stated that Circumstance “is a suspenseful tale of love and family upended by obsession and suspicion.”

Evidently, I’m not the only one who was more than a bit confused. Again, not a good sign.

None of them are flat-out wrong, and indeed the movie contains elements of all three—there’s Atafeh (Nikohl Boosheri) and Shireen (Sarah Kazemy) as the two 16-year-olds discovering their burgeoning sexuality; Atafeh’s brother Mehran (Reza Sixo Safai), the former addict who finds a new addiction in Islamic extremism; and their father Azar (Soheil Parsa), the liberal-minded man who disagrees with the old ways but nevertheless must adhere to them for his family’s safety.

John Barry’s Score for ‘The Black Hole’ Gets New Release

Posted on August 26, 2011

Recently film music legend John Barry past away. It was a great loss for the film score community, Barry wrote some of the most well known themes and scores of all time during his career. Most people know Barry most for his work on a large number of James Bond movies, but me personally, my favorite score is from the undereducated Disney film The Black Hole.

The guys over at Intrada Records have recently struck a deal with Disney to release some of their more classic scores and thankfully the need for a fully restored The Black Hole was high on their priority list. Beyond the quality of the score itself, the music for this movie has historical significance:

John Barry’s score was the first digitally recorded soundtrack in motion picture history and was recorded using the 3M Digital Recorder. The format was used sparingly for several years until technology moved on, and due to its limited use, finding working machines had become quite a challenge some 30 years later.

Randy Thornton’s producer’s notes chronicle the entire odyssey through the investigations and trials until successful transfer of the 32-track digital elements, with simply stunning results. Now The Black Hole is presented in complete form with a striking clarity not heard previously.

This new release is available now from Intrada’s website.

SDCC11 Extra: Talking ‘Payday: The Heist’ with Overkill Software

Posted on August 26, 2011

Even though SDCC is already a month removed, we still have some games news still to cover. One of those stories is that of Payday: The Heist. Coming from Sony Online Entertainment, Payday: The Heist is a four player cooperative shooter inspired by the combination of the movie Heat, the most famous heist movie of all time, and the game Left 4 Dead, a stunning example of cooperative shooter gameplay.

This isn’t the first time Heat has played inspiration to the video game world. Anyone who got into Grand Theft Auto 4 will remember one of the best missions of the game comes from the bank robbery based off of Heat. Now, instead of a third person single player experience, gamers can team up with up to three friends to take down a bank and try to escape with their winnings a la Left 4 Dead, minus the zombies.

Players need to be conscious of everything from hostages which can be used as currency to revive killed teammates to security cameras which can be disabled in order to reduce the amount of intel available to SWAT and hostage extraction squads.

First Trailer for Michel Hazanavicius’ Silent Film ‘The Artist’ Hits the Web

Posted on August 26, 2011

Mel Brooks may have knocked it out of the park by being tongue-in-cheek back when he made Silent Movie, but there is no way today’s audience could possibly accept a full, silent, black & white film. Right? Well, that’s exactly what director Michel Hazanavicius has done.

His film, The Artist, is done like a classic black & white film. Movie stars, dames in trouble, tons of indoor smoking, and more dancing than you could shake a stick at. Here’s the premise:

Hollywood 1927. George Valentin is a very successful silent movie star. The arrival of talking pictures will mark the end of his career. Peppy Miller, a young woman extra, becomes a major movie star.

With films about zombies and The Help making waves in the box office, why couldn’t a simple silent movie about Hollywood in the 1920s take off? They’ve already got us hooked with the trailer, which you can check out after the jump.

Catch Weinstein Company’s The Artist in theaters on November 23rd.

Fan Film Friday: ‘Portal: No Escape’

Posted on August 26, 2011

Anyone who follows The Flickcast knows I’m not the film guy by any means. I’m the video game guy. It is a rare feat to find a strong combination of the two. Portal: No Escape is one of those rare exceptions.

The world of Portal is filled with mystery and though some questions were answered in Portal 2 through the oral history of Aperture Science being explained by the recordings of Cave Johnson, many more questions remained. As a result, the world of Portal is ripe for fan fiction to fill in its many blanks.

That’s where director and editor Dan Trachtenberg’s fan film Portal: No Escape comes in. Though it doesn’t provide any new insight into the world of Portal, it gives a different perspective to its inhabitants. As seen by the events of Portal and Portal 2, the subjects who are used for testing “in the name of science” are not there of their own free will and do whatever they feel they must to escape.

Portal: No Escape follows one of these attempts. With music from Inception trailer composer Mike Zarin, and vision from director Dan Trachtenberg, this fan film is incredibly tense and compelling and can be appreciated by those who are fans of the series or those who may have never seen it before.

Give Portal: No Escape a watch after the jump and make sure to let us know here at the Flickcast what you think of it.

‘Ghostbusters 3’ Happening Soon, Possibly Without Bill Murray

Posted on August 26, 2011

These days when you hear about reboots or sequels to classic 80’s franchises, the only thing that comes to mind is a shutter. With things like Footloose or Fright Night trying to take over theaters, it’s hard to believe that a good idea could float to the top.

That’s where Dan Aykroyd’s script for Ghostbusters 3 comes into play. Rumors have been floating around for over a decade about the proposed third film in the franchise, with names like Steve Carell, Jonah Hill, Eliza Dushku, and Alyssa Milano being thrown about, but Aykroyd is here to tell us exactly what we can look forward to, in an ambiguous sort of way.

In a recent episode of The Dennis Miller Show, Aykroyd finally answered the questions we’ve all been waiting for: Will there be a third film?

Yes, we will be doing the movie and hopefully with Mr. Murray. That is our hope. We have an excellent script. What we have to remember is that ‘Ghostbusters’ is bigger than any one component, although Billy was absolutely the lead and contributive to it in a massive way, as was the director and Harold [Ramis], myself and Sigourney [Weaver]. The concept is much bigger than an individual role and the promise of ‘Ghostbusters 3′ is that we get to hand the equipment and the franchise down to new blood.

So the idea of Jonah Hill or Eliza Dushku may not be too far off. The sad part is when Aykroyd explains what has happened to our favorite members of the team 20 years later.

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