The Flickcast

Interview: Liam McIntyre Talks ‘Spartacus: War of the Damned’

Posted on January 22, 2013

The final season of Spartacus: War of the Damned is upon us starting this Friday, January 25^th on Starz. Last season we left off with Spartacus and his merry band of rebels facing the full might of the Roman army, which are as feisty as ever. I was lucky enough to sit down with the ruggedly handsome, chipper, and all around good guy to have in your corner if you happen to come across an army, Liam McIntyre. He shared some insight on the upcoming season.

The Flickcast: What has happened in the time between the ending of Vengeance and the start of this season, War of the Damned with Spartacus’ team?

Liam McIntyre: A lot, they’ve been fighting legions of Romans, so you’ll find everyone in a slightly different place. Spartacus is very much in commander mode, he doesn’t take shit from anybody, pardon.

From last year searching for a way into that leadership role and who he really is in terms of this war that they’ve gone on, he’s now very much that guy. It’s fun to play and difficult because you can’t just play a commander, because he’s boring. It is all [about] the relationships with all of the generals. Each one has a different dynamic with the other and keeps kind of a shifting sands kind of feeling.

Check This Out: Trailer for ‘The East’ with Ellen Page, Alexander Skarsgard and More

Posted on January 22, 2013

Someday, we will be cool enough to go to Sundance. Until then, we’ll have to content ourselves with seeing some of these interesting, indie films a bit later than our peers.

One such film is The East. It’s directed by Zal Batmanglij and co-written by Batmanglij and Brit Marling, who also stars. The film made its debuted yesterday at Sundance.

It centers on a mysterious anarchist group called The East and an ex-FBI agent (Marling) who goes undercover to take it down. Ellen Page and Alexander Skarsgard co-star.

Check out the trailer after the break. Look for The East to hit theaters later this year from Fox Searchlight.

Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gadd Added to Macworld | iWorld 2013 Festivities

Posted on January 21, 2013

He’s not Steve Jobs (obviously) but he plays him in a movie. Of course, we’re referring to none other than the ex-misses Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher.

While Kutcher is certainly no Steve Jobs and Josh Gadd, the guy playing Apple co-founder and Segway addict Steve Wozniack is no Woz, the duo will be taking to the stage at next week’s MacWorld | iWorld Expo at the Moscone Center in San Fancisco headlining a session about the iconic co-founders.

The best part? They will be doing the session in character as Jobs and Woz. Yep, you read that right.

The session, titled “Playing Steve & Woz,” will take place on the main stage, room 2005 on Thursday, January 31 at 9:00 AM Pacific. Oh boy, that can’t be good, right? Or, will it be so bad, it’s gonna be great? Who knows but it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Macworld | iWorld 2013 runs from January 31 to February 2 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. It’s a great event and definitely worth checking out.

Atari Files for Bankruptcy, Separates from French Parent Co.

Posted on January 21, 2013

In a story broken by Ben Fritz of the L.A. Times, it was reported late last night that legendary game developer Atari Inc. has filed for bankruptcy.

The initial report suggests that U.S. operations will cease while the company attempts to separate from their parent company, the France-based Atari SA. Fritz’s report also indicates that Atari Inc. is looking for a private buyer.

This is another blow to the once-great developer, who rose to prominence with their Atari 2600 console. The 2600 spend six years on top of the console world until market saturation sunk in. Atari is widely considered to have been the catalyst behind the Video Game Crash of 1983, producing historically notable bombs such as E.T. and their notoriously bad port of Pac Man.

In Case You Missed It: ‘Indie Game: The Movie’

Posted on January 21, 2013

You have to love Instant Netflix. On those late nights where you can’t fall asleep, it just seems to know exactly what to recommend to you to help you pass the time. But this isn’t about Instant Netflix, though I do thank it for the recommendation. This is about Indie Game: The Movie.

Indie Game: The Movie takes place with three indie developers who are in three very different situations with their games. The men behind Braid, Super Meat Boy and Fez are all profiled in this documentary exploring the world of indie development and the trials associated with it.

Jonathan Blow talks about life after having a successful indie release with Braid and the effect it has had on him. Team Meat, a duo comprised of Edmund McMillen and Michael Refenes, are shown from midway through their development process until the release of Super Meat Boy on XBox Live. Finally, Phil Fish chronicles the trials and tribulations he went through in the extended development process of Fez.

Gaming Editorial: On Disc DLC Offends Me

Posted on January 18, 2013

Earlier in the week, I praised Far Cry 3 for the living world it presented to players. Now, only a few days later they have ticked me off in a way I only recently suspected from Capcom. The other day on XBox.com, I saw Far Cry 3 had new DLC and thought to myself, “Great. More Far Cry 3 to play and it’s only ten bucks.”

Six more missions, more rare animals to hunt, multiplayer unlocks and the previously unreleased retail bonuses from The Monkey Business Pack, The Lost Expeditions, The Warrior Pack, and The Predator Pack. But then I look over and see the file size. 108 kb. While I know there are some coding tricks out there to compress file sizes, but a 108 kb isn’t enough to load new missions and rare animal character models. But it is just big enough to unlock content currently on the game disc…

This has been a personal pet peeve of mine since DLC began supporting on disc unlocks. If it’s on a disc, that means it was completed before the game was sent to print. In my mind, the price I paid for the game disc should include all of that content on said disc. There aren’t extra man hours being created to produce new content after the game was completed which is why most people pay for additional DLC like map packs in Halo or Call of Duty. It is literally players just being given a key to unlock what is on the physical media they already have in their possession.

TV Recap: ‘American Horror Story: Asylum’ Season 2 Episode 12 – ‘Continuum’

Posted on January 18, 2013

The second season of AHS: Asylum has been filled with all kinds of crazy content. This episode was more about the people than the supernatural.

It begins with Kit holding an axe, covered in blood. The family life of Kit is explored, as he, Grace, Alma, and their two children all live together in Kit and Alma’s old house. It is a seemingly happy family.

Grace is obsessed with drawing pictures of the aliens that took her, while Alma wants to pretend that it all never happened. Grace sees it as a miracle and a gift, whereas Alma remembers all the pain and fear that came along with it. Kit splits his time between his two women as needed.

One night Kit wakes up to find Grace drawing again. Grace is trying to convince Kit that the aliens will be coming back and it’s a good thing. Alma kills Grace with an axe.

Movie Review: ‘Broken City’

Posted on January 18, 2013

Broken City is no Chinatown. It takes many of the 1974 Polanski classic’s basic elements – both protagonists are private eyes who used to be cops and specialize in extramarital affairs. Both get involved in schemes to bilk to poor schlubs of a major city (both schemes being land deals, no less). Both have troubled pasts, get in over their head, and see a case through when they’d be better off keeping their eyes shut. Both have confrontations with the villains that end with them being told that they may know what they’re doing but don’t. Only Chinatown did it really, really well and has what is widely recognized as one of the best screenplays of all time.

Broken City, to put it mildly, doesn’t. Despite being among the Hollywood “blacklist” of the purportedly best yet unproduced scripts, it’s an immensely plodding and dull story whose “twists” are so predictable, that one can easily lay out the movie’s entire course simply from the trailer.

Wahlberg plays Billy Taggart, the P.I. who’s hired by the mayor of New York City (Russell Crowe) to discover whom his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is schtupping. Naturally, Wahlberg uncovers some sordid details about both the mayor as well as his political rival (Barry Pepper). Someone tips the ruckus, some people get whacked, and Taggart all but ignores it to struggle with his own personal issues including an actor girlfriend (Natalie Martinez) and a history of possible alcoholism.

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