Even though we often bring you news of big, expensive Hollywood movies, epic games, cutting-edge tech and more geeky stuff, we don’t want to forget the little guy (or girl) that’s out there making things with nothing more than some friends, some love and maybe a few coins they found under the sofa cushions.

That delightful setup brings us to today’s example of what a few determined fans can do when they set their collective minds to something. The result? The live-action short Batman: Death Wish.

This short tells the story of Batman, Robin and Nightwing “as they investigate a mysterious assailant who is targeting the kingpins of Gotham’s criminal underground. As more of the rogues gallery is ensnared, a disturbing revelation about the attacker’s identity takes shape.”

We have to admit, we watched the entire thing. Twice. Sure, it’s not as epic or polished as a Christopher Nolan Batman film, but that’s okay. They didn’t even have Nolan’s budget for snacks to make this one but they still managed to do a great job.

It would be interesting to see what this creative team could do with an actual budget. Let’s hope they get the chance.

We’ll be watching. And you should too, after the break.

Tenacious D has always represented the very best of what makes us love Jack Black. Together with his unsung partner Kyle Gass their brand of irreverent humor mixed with bad ass rock was always a cocktail best served always.

Unfortunately, Hollywood had to get in the way and it nearly destroyed everyone’s favorite rock duo. Thankfully the keyword here is ‘nearly’, as the band has come together again to make the greatest album ever recorded, Rize Of The Fenix.

To get the world properly prepared for Rize, the D has graced us with a short film that details how these two rock luminaries came back together for this epic rock event.

The short, entitled To be The Best, is a cameo filled reminder that despite their failed attempt at the Box Office, Tenacious D is still a group to be reckoned with in the music world. Of special interest to many of The Flickcast readership will be how awesome Val Kilmer looks in this short.

Seriously, it is as if someone finally popped the Macy’s Day Parade balloon that was impersonating Val Kilmer for the last few years and the original Val is back, and totally bad ass.

Check out the full short after the jump, and look out for Rize Of The Fenix when it is released May 15th.

Community is known for its off the wall plot lines and clever marketing, and the new promotional campaign for NBC’s cult favorite will not disappoint. Your favorite characters from Community will be getting animated for three promotional shorts designed to drum up interest in the show’s March 15 return to NBC’s schedule.

The announcement was one of many made during Community‘s PaleyFest session on Monday. For those of you unfamiliar with PaleyFest, for a quarter century they have held a festival at the Paley Center for Media in LA, which celebrates the best of television with the creative teams who make the breakthrough programs. It allows for interaction between the creative television community, television stars and their fans in a panel type environment.

The shorts, titled Abed’s Master Key, will debut on March 7 on Hulu, Hulu Plus and NBC.com. They were written by Dave Seger (Channel 101) & Tom Kauffman (Lil Wayne’s Big House).

For those Community fans who can’t wait for March 7th, here’s a preview after the jump:

You may not have the chance to see the Oscar-Nominated Live Shorts (or the Animated ones, for that matter), and you probably will not even see who wins at the ceremony.

Hell, you may not even know that there are Academy Awards for shorts. I forget from time to time myself. After all, who goes to see shorts anywhere outside of a film festival? Do they even exist outside of film festivals?

No matter. Honestly, as far as the Academy’s selections, you’re not missing too much this year. I have a bit of a beef with the Academy for overlooking the best short of last year (hell, one of the best movies of last year, Jon Goldman’s fantastic Diplomacy).

There’s some charming films, and the best part is that all five directors look very promising. Only two of the selections (Pentecost and Raju) feel constrained by the running time; the former stretches on too long and the latter needed more. Time Freak andThe Shore are comfortable and left me wanting more, and Tuba Atlantic is a pleasantly self-contained eccentricity that’s totally Norway. Totally.

Anywho, on to the films. I’m going to provide a quick, TV-Guide-style summary and then include my thoughts.

There’s no denying it: we are living in an era at the mercy of the Internet. This very site is proof that many folk’s day-to-day consists of interesting and amazing new treasures they find all over the web, which is growing exponentially every day.

That’s when we like to come across something like today’s find and push it out to everyone who has yet to see it, because use of modern technology has made one of the world’s most treasured pastimes of the cinema more science fiction than anything else.

The folks over at Stargate Studios have put together this short, titled XXIT, which is a little bit Blade Runner and a little bit Terminator, but done with some of the most visually stunning effects and technology to date. For instance, this short film was shot entirely on the Canon EOS C300, which is comparable to the RED that Peter Jackson is shooting The Hobbit with.

The short also stars Nicolette Sheridan, who you may remember from Desperate Housewives and a John Cusack teen comedy from the 80’s called The Sure Thing. Stunning visuals, compelling story, and all made for you to enjoy at your fingertips. Does it get any better?

Take a look at the short after the jump and prove us wrong. We dare you.

As one of the great modern TV writers of the current time, Damon Lindelof has certainly gotten into the hearts and minds of science fiction fans everywhere with both LOST and several other projects with J.J. Abrams. That coveted spot didn’t come without work, however, and that’s just what we have today.

Back before the show was a hit, Lindelof wrote a short play about a young time traveling boy genius and his awkward dinner with Nazis who were setting out to kill him and his family. The screenplay was then turned into a short last year, and had some pretty impressive guest appearances. Here’s the premise:

When Dade Klublershturf (Samm Levine) brings home his new girlfriend Daniella (Rachel Nichols), it’s as awkward as you’d expect any meet-the-parents dinner to be. However, events take an unexpected turn when Dade’s brother Ollie (Super 8‘s Zach Mills) reveals that Daniella, along with a couple of other last-minute dinner guests (Chris Hemsworth and Norman Reedus) are actually secret Nazis trying to steal Ollie’s time travel machine for sinister purposes. Jack Axelrod, Lainie Kazan, and George Segal also star.

Check out the full short after the jump, in all of it’s dialogue-heavy drama, and be sure to comment below as to how you can see why showrunning partner Carlton Cuse decided to pick up this young writer Lindelof after a simple play about a dinner party.

Jane:  Short Fuse: This collection of horror shorts had a few that really stood out to me among the crowd.

Ninjas (directed by Dennison Ramalho) was anticipated to be one of the best by a lot of people that I spoke with at FF.  It contained a truly disturbing scene and an inventive visual sequence that had me squirming in my seat, though some of the imagery used was remeniscent of J-horror films (which a lot of people like, I think I am just way burned out on it).   

Rosenhill (directed by Johnan Lundborg and Johan Storm) is a clever piece about an elderly woman who has recently moved into a nursing home and believes that the staff have nefarious plans for her.  I really enjoyed it.  

Interview (directed by Sebastian Marka) is a dark, humorous yarn which slowly unravels as a journalist interviews a serial killer – this film was a lot of fun and made great use of it’s short running time.  

Off Season (directed by Jacob Jaffke) a man and his dog break into unused summer homes by an ice covered lake during the winter season and find something disturbing and terrifying while they pilfer for loot.  This piece was so beautifully filmed, the stark winter setting adds a tremendously haunting atmosphere to the story, this was easily my favorite among the short programs.

Stake Land (directed by Jim Mickle and starring Danielle Harris, Connor Paolo and Nick Damici) Set in a kind of post-apocalyptic world in which vampires have infested nearly every part of the globe (save the colder climates, as these vampires are cold-blooded like reptiles), a young boy is rescued by an older man after his family is slaughtered and together they seek refuge in a place called New Eden (Canada) which they believe is free of vampire infestation.

It’s hard not to make comparisons to The Road – and to a lesser extent, to Zombieland – because there are many similarities.  This isn’t to say that the film isn’t good – I enjoyed it quite a bit – but I do think it suffers from the resemblances that it bears to other recent releases covering similar themes.

For those of you who watched last night’s Emmy Awards…we’re sorry. There weren’t very many upsets and let’s face it, Fallon’s hosting skills left a bit to be desired. The silver lining of last night’s show? Three brand new scenes with the gang from our favorite NBC shows: Community.

The whole gang was together to help pimp the Infinity QX 56 for NBC, but we’re OK with it because it gave the fans a chance to see our favorite Greendale College students a little early before they return for a new season in September. Even Ken Jeong is back for these clips, which makes the whole series that much better.

And for those die-hards out there: yes, there’s even a Glee sucker punch in there as well. Check out the clip after the jump, in which we get some awesome food-TV gags such as How I Met Your Muffins, The New Adventures of Old Crispies, and even LOST carrots.

Catch all-new episodes of Community on Thursday, September 23rd, on NBC.

Video games will always be the a constant go-to when it comes to geeks. There are geeks that follow comics and movies, but almost all of them still consider classic video games as their source of geekdom. So when we get a fantastic fan film tribute to Time Crisis starring Spartacus: Blood & Sand’s Andy Whitfield, there’s plenty of reason to celebrate.

The film comes from Youtube special effects guru Freddie Wong who has given us some great experiments with CG effects and pulled off great videos like Jedi A-Holes, Skydiving Out My Front Door, and a great stop motion video titled Light Warfare.

Now, Wong has teamed up with legendary TV action star Andy Whitfield to give us a great sendup to the classic arcade game Time Crisis. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to those who haven’t played the game, but for the rest, even the rapid-fire trigger technique towards the end brings back memories.

Check out the video after the jump, and here’s to hoping that Freddie Wong turns up in some credits from great upcoming films.

Want to be in an episode of the critically acclaimed AMC series Mad Men? Well, thanks to the cool idea men at JibJab, you can now fulfill that dream and star in your very own episode — sort of.

JibJab is a cool internet experience that is best known for creating custom videos of your face over the bodies of either animated or live action videos. The company has been using their services for company parties, e-cards, and more for a few years now, and has been growing in popularity exponentially. Their annual “Year in Review” videos even made it onto Leno’s Tonight Show a few times.

Now their expanding even more by allowing you to star in some awesome popular properties like Star Wars, Soul Train, and now Mad Men. You can star as or alongside Don Draper in a fun little video. Also, if you’ve got some friends or family you’d like to send back into the 1960’s, there are plenty of other roles for them to fill.

Make your own video over at JibJab and be sure to fulfill that Mad Men fantasy to the fullest.