The Flickcast – Page 271 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

Monday Picks: ‘Westworld’

Westworld (1973) marks the feature film debut of Sci-fi writer Michael Crichton who had recently met success in Hollywood with the film adaptation of his famed novel The Andromeda Strain. Westworld stars Richard Benjamin (Peter Martin) James Brolin (John Blane) and Yul Brynner (The Gunslinger).

Westworld is set in the near future (now passé) where a resort known as Delos, comprised of three resort communities gives its adult patrons the opportunity for $1000 a day to live out their fantasies as either an old west desperado, a medieval knight, or a hedonist in the pre-Christian Roman Empire. The park is also home to human like androids that are engineered to look, talk, and react just like humans.

Peter Martin (Benjamin) accompanies his best friend John Blane (Brolin) who has visited Westworld before. Peter begins asking John how the theme park operates and most importantly, what can they expect while enjoying their two week stay as wild west outlaws. After their orientation and then being equipped with authentic old west clothing and pistols, Peter and John arrive at the Westworld theme park by stagecoach where Peter is in awe of the park’s authenticity.

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Red Band Trailer for Seth MacFarlane’s ‘Ted’ Hits the Web

A while back, it was reported that Family Guy and American Dad! creator Seth MacFarlane is one of the highest paid writers in Hollywood. With two massive franchises under his belt, what’s the man going to do next, you may ask? How about a raunchy comedy about a grown man and his talking teddy bear who smokes pot, swears and lightning, and objectifies white trash ladies.

It’s called Ted, and that’s exactly what you’re going to get with the very first red band trailer that hit today. In typical Family Guy fashion, you can expect to see MacFarlane (who also voices Ted in a Peter Griffin manor) push the envelope to what’s allowed in an R-rated comedy with his writing and directorial debut. Here’s the synopsis, as if you needed one.

In the live action/CG-animated comedy, MacFarlane tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish… and has refused to leave his side ever since.

For the guys who need more than a laugh, you’ll also get the easy-on-the-eyes Mila Kunis joining alongside Wahlberg. Take a look at the trailer after the jump and catch the film in theaters on July 13th.

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‘Twins’ Sequel to Co-star Eddie Murphy as Schwarzenegger & DeVito’s Triplet

April Fools??? Unfortunately for all you Twins fans, it looks like this is no joke. The sequel to the 1988 comedy film Twins, aptly named Triplets, is set to add a third brother to the mix and it looks like that brother will be played by Eddie Murphy.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito have already attached themselves to the sequel to the original film which featured the duo as “experimentally conceived” twin brothers.

At first, having a black triplet seems completely crazy, but considering that in the original they tried to to have two brother who could not be more different from each other. What could be more different from those two than a black guy?

Eddie Murphy is definitely a safe choice for the role as he is no longer the edgy comedian he once was, but is he still a big enough draw for him to be a value. Let’s be honest he hasn’t had a successful film in years. His last film which is still in theaters, A Thousand Words, is a box office failure.

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Box Office Report: ‘The Hunger Games’ Continues Its Dominating Ride At The Top

Last week saw the debut of the monster hit The Hunger Games. This week that film held well enough to keep an iron grip on the weekend box office. Raking in an estimated $61 Million over the weekend, the super sized block buster is now over $250 Million in just over a week.

The movie did drop over 60% from it’s opening last weekend, but in comparison to films like the Twilight series that is a decent hold. Especially when you take into consideration that films like these are notoriously front loaded, the second weekend take for The Hunger Games is impressive.

Coming in at number two this weekend was Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to the 2010 film Clash of the Titans. With a total of $34 Million, Wrath brought in only just better than half of the original’s open in the similar weekend two years ago. Given the current trend of sequels performing at levels similar to the reception of the previous film, this low number had to be expected.

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Film Score Friday: ‘The Hunger Games’ by James Newton Howard

Last week saw the release of the first 2012 mega blockbuster, The Hunger Games. The film was eagerly anticipated and delivered the majority of it’s promise for a sweeping, epic tale of love, death and the games.

Being the first of 2012’s big boys I would be remiss if I didn’t spend some time on it’s score. Especially considering it comes from one of the best composers working today, James Newton Howard.

The score is rather strait forward, if maybe a little uninspired. I am not saying it is bad persay, but while watching the movie I really only had one moment where I felt like the score was connecting with me. Once I had the chance to sit down with the actual album I realized why. Most of the music just ins’t particularly gripping.

Again, there is a difference between bad and not gripping. I truly think Howard made quality music, I just think very little of it stands above the whole proceedings and make’s itself known. Of course there are exceptions to this, a couple of the tracks are actually really fantastic. I just don’t think the score spends enough time with the best stuff, and the majority of the rest feels flat.

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Movie Review: ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’

Director Lasse Hallstrom (best known for My Life as a Dog and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) is a man unafraid of heartwarming, and his latest, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, is shameless. The big fish tale of a romantic, mystical Yemeni sheikh (the gorgeous and charismatic Egyptian actor Amr Waked, last seen as Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law in the HBO bio-pic) with seemingly limitless riches and a cockamanie vision of building salmon fishing grounds in his native desert, Salmon Fishing neatly wraps together all the makings of an arthouse wet dream: exotic locales (the Yemen of the title and a Scottish estate that makes Balmoral look like a split level), a star-crossed yet inevitable love story between bumbling, uptight scientist, Dr. Alfred Jones (Ewan McGregor, looking good in tweeds) and crisp, proper career gal Harriet Chetwode-Talbot (Emily Blunt), plus the necessary danger element in the vague shape of possible Jihadi assassins, or at least jealous locals.

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‘The Avengers’ Themed Monorails Soon To Be Speeding Through Disney World

One of the greatest perks of Disney buying Marvel Comics a few years back was that we would start to see some Marvel flourishes in the Disney parks. It is going to be a long process before we see Iron Man and Cap walking around the parks, due to deals Marvel previously had in place with Universal Studios for theme park based attractions.

Those deals don’t, however, hinder Disney from promoting their new features starring the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Soon to be zooming overhead at the Walt Disney World Resort is the Avengers themed monorail!

Wrapping the monorails is not a new tactic for Disney, who previously converted Disneyland monorails into light cycles prior to Tron: Legacy’s release. However, these are much cooler, and will serve as a great looking speeding billboard for Disney World park goers this summer.

Hopefully this small entry into the parks is just the first step that will lead to a full fledged Marvel Comics land in one of the Disney Parks. Heck why not an entire separate Marvel Park, complete with Hulk Smash Bumper cars, Iron Man flight simulators, Thor Thunder Chrurros and Black Widow ladies rooms!

The Avengers hits theaters everywhere May 4th.

First Official ‘The House on the End of the Street’ Trailer With Jennifer Lawrence Arrives

Now that The Hunger Games is such a huge success, it makes sense that Relativity Media will be focusing more of their media campaign for the horror film The House at the End of the Street on Games star Jennifer Lawrence. That tactic is pretty evident in the brand new trailer for the film just released.

In it, Lawrence is front and center as Elissa, daughter of single mom Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) who have come to small town America looking for a fresh start. Of course, things don’t go as planned and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is hiding a terrible secret: most of the people in the house next door to them were murdered.

As they learn more, things spiral out of control and they end up in mortal danger. Of course they do.

Actually this sound (and looks) like a pretty good premise for a horror/thriller. And let’s be honest, Shue and Lawrence make quite the mother/daughter team.

Check out the trailer after the break. Look for The House on the End of the Street to hit theaters on September 21.

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