The Flickcast

Why Funko Pop Figures Are Going To Make Me Broke

Posted on July 10, 2013

For the longest time, I was good. I am a geek who likes collecting but I know my weakness. All I had to do was not buy the first one and there wouldn’t be a snowball effect. It’s like Lays potato chips. As long as you don’t eat that first chip, you don’t end up eating the whole bag.

And then I moved to the west coast and The Flickcast’s WallE and the Internet’s Matt Raub ruined it for me. I was surrounded on all sides by people with these little bodies with big heads and beady eyes and before I knew it, it was too late. On a Saturday afternoon Comic Book Pub Crawl, I made my first purchase. An Alien and a Predator. And I thought I could leave it with just those two on my desk. But I was wrong.

The next week, I went into my comic book store to pick up my weekly stack and see they released a He-Man set so I figure the other half of my desk needs a Skeletor and Hordak. Fast forward a few more weeks and I am in the process of a TMNT set, Game of Thrones set and the first group of Power Rangers. I even downloaded the Toy Collector app to my iPhone to help me keep track of figures I want just in case I somehow forgot.

First ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ Gameplay Video Arrives

Posted on July 9, 2013

Today marks the release of the first gameplay preview for Grand Theft Auto V from Rockstar Games. The nearly five-minute video shows off Los Santos — the biggest open world Rockstar has ever created.

Los Santos is, according to Rockstar, a “satirical re-imagining” of Southern California with L.A.’s most glamorous sections, the seedy parts of the city and the natural beauty surrounding the area. Grand Theft Auto V gives players a chance to jump into a range of different activities in all the settings including scuba diving, boating and flying a plane. And, of course, smokin’ some fools.

The preview also provides a better look at the game’s three protagonists: Michael, a former bank robber who isn’t enjoying the retired life; Franklin, a repo-man and street hustler looking to move up in the world; and Trevor, a career criminal who is completely unhinged. Un-hinged.

Gotta admit it, we’re kinda liking this one. Grand Theft Auto V comes out Sept. 17 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Check out the video after the break.

Game Review: ‘The Walking Dead: 400 Days’ for XBox Live Arcade

Posted on July 9, 2013

Last year, players got to experience a Walking Dead experience that rivaled the comics with Telltale’s The Walking Dead. Sticking to a traditional point and click adventure style of storytelling rather than an action game or shooter (like AMC’s The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct).

Last week on Tuesday for PSN users and Friday for XBLA users, Telltale released a special episode for The Walking Dead. Meant to act as a bridge between season 1 and the upcoming season 2, there is a departure from part of what people loved so much of the first season for. But, the new aspects of the game and its storytelling keeps the hook there for players for the next season.

The Long

The first thing players will note in The Walking Dead: 400 Days is the separation from the main characters in the first season. Where there is an appearance from some periphery characters, the majority of those seen in the game are new to both the game and the comics. There is also a group of six characters players take the role of (five characters with their own chapter and then one epilogue) as opposed to only playing for Lee in the previous title.

This is where things start to feel starkly different. Part of what was so addictive in the first season of The Walking Dead was following the relationship between Lee and Clementine. In 400 Days though, before you can get too invested in a single character, you move onto the next. The long term results of these actions also remain to be seen as to how these characters will play a role in the second season alongside those who made it through the first.

Check Out the First Trailer for Marvel’s ‘Infinity’

Posted on July 8, 2013

Here’s all you need to know about Infinity, Marvel’s upcoming epic comic storyline. And be sure to check out the trailer after the break.

Infinity, the six part blockbuster comic event of the summer, brought to you by the star studded creative team of Jonathan Hickman, Jim Cheung, Jerome Opena & Dustin Weaver, takes fans to every corner of the Marvel Universe, and beyond! Earth has been marked as an “Avengers World”, protected by Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and more from the deadliest threats facing humanity.

A powerful and destructive race is on a collision course with Earth and the only thing in their path is the Avengers! But even Earth’s Mightiest Heroes realize the one hope of defeating this dire threat is to unite every great hero across the cosmos…because only with a united Avengers Universe is there any chance of survival!

With our heroes at the other end of the universe, who is left to protect Earth? Enter Thanos, the galaxy’s most ruthless threat and an unparalleled force of brutality who brings order to the chaos of life through murder. The greatest threat to the Mad Titan’s work—and perhaps the universe’s greatest hope—is something he created leaving no world safe.

First Poster for Spike Lee’s ‘Oldboy’ Arrives

Posted on July 8, 2013

We were a bit skeptical when we heard Spike Lee was directing the American version of Park Chan-Wook’s modern classic Oldboy. The first poster for that movie has arrived today and so far, we like what we see.

Sure, Josh Brolin emerging from a chest in the middle of a grassy field doesn’t exactly spell things out and tell us all we need to know, but that’s a good thing. What we do like is the poster’s bizarre nature, which potentially bodes well for the movie itself.

Spike Lee isn’t exactly known for this kind of movie, but perhaps this is the one that will set his career off in a new direction. For the sake of Oldboy fans everywhere, we sincerely hope so.

Of course, if Lee drops the ball on this one and it turns out badly, we always have the original to enjoy. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s definitely worth a look.

Look for the first trailer from Oldboy later this week. For now, check out the full poster after the break.

Game Review: ‘Deadpool’ for PlayStation 3

Posted on July 8, 2013

Last year, the Deadpool shinanigans began on preview night of San Diego Comic-Con. A “leak” and fake website hinted that Activision’s next Marvel property was going to be Hit-Monkey. This red herring was quickly proven wrong the next day when Deadpool took Comic Con by storm, announcing himself that he would be starring in a game developed by the team behind Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron from High Moon Studios.

From there, Deadpool wrote his own press releases promoting his single player adventure that would have appearances from Wolverine and a few of the more scantily clad X-Men. And what came from Deadpool was something not many would expect, a good game.

The Long

Deadpool has a lot to overcome as a game. First, it has to take on the stigma of being a licensed title which is something that can still sadly go either way right now. For every Wolverine: Origins or Batman: Arkham Asylum, there is still a X-Men Destiny or Thor: God of Thunder. Deadpool also faces a problem that games like X-Men Destiny and Thor did not have to deal with: Name Recognition.

As much as the comics community knows who Deadpool is, he isn’t known by the mainstream community at large. Right off the bat, there is an uphill battle on sales that Deadpool must deal with. But, for those who either recognize the Merc with the Mouth or have someone turn their attention towards the schizophrenic red and black clad, potty mouthed lunatic, there is a very pleasant surprise waiting for them.

Box Office Report: ‘Despicable Me 2’ Dominates America’s Birthday Weekend

Posted on July 8, 2013

Animated sequels in recent history are hardly a slam dunk at the box office, for every Toy Story 3 there are three Happy Feet 2. Thankfully for all of the principles involved, Despicable Me 2 was every bit the hit the former was.

The popularity of the Minions can not be denied as Despicable Me 2 brought it more money than any animated film has ever earned over a five-day span. Granted the Fourth coming on a Thursday is a near perfect storm for a major release, but the final tally of over $142 Million speaks for itself. Even when you shave the first two days off the tally, the traditional three-day weekend was right in line with the monster $80+ million Monsters University brought in a few weeks ago.

Coming up in second place for the holiday stretch was the sputtering Lone Ranger. It seems like high-profile bombs have become commonplace, and everything about the action western screamed this would be another one. Guess what? It was! Coming in at just over $29 million for the three-day, and just under $49 since Wednesday, the film was not the same abject failure John Carter was, but it is far from the performance one expects from the same crew that gave us the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Movie Review: ‘The Lone Ranger’

Posted on July 4, 2013

Late in the movie there’s a scene where a child is playing with a toy train set. As the little model ’rounds the corner, the boy pushes the accelerator, and the toy derails, crashing onto the floor. The railroad owner, who’s lodging the boy, gives him a light talking-to, “Slow it down at the curves, speed up on the straight tracks.” The boy in turn gives him a look that shouts But crashing it is the whole point! No other scene better sums up the movie.

It’s Disney. And Gore Verbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp and Hans Zimmer and all those cogs and moving pieces that make it big and loud and hard charging like the locomotives The Lone Ranger delights in crashing, plunging, derailing, and blowing up. And when it is, it’s a lot of fun. Yeah, the trailer’s given a lot away (which has, sadly, been a major problem for many summer blockbusters), but there’s a lot more that isn’t spoiled.

As for the spoilers in this review, I’ll try to keep them to the general plot. The movie opens in 1933 at a carnival in San Francisco. A tyke named Will, dressed in the garish outfit of the ’30s Lone Ranger, wanders through a makeshift museum of the Wild West, one of those galleries with big cardboard dioramas and plaques that state the obvious (“Buffalo: King of the Plains”). Munching on his carny peanuts, he stops at a display of an elderly Comanche, and the camera lingers just long enough to let you know that something’s not quite right with…

“Kemosabe?” the figure asks, and the startled boy confesses that he’s not the real mysterious masked man. The figure, again in turn, reveals that he’s the actual Tonto, and begins to recount the origin of his partnership with the Lone Ranger — beginning with the time they robbed a bank.

Older Posts

Newer Posts