The Flickcast

Just in Time for Halloween, Ti West’s ‘Innkeepers’ Gets a Trailer

Posted on October 31, 2011

While most people got their Halloween kicks out this weekend, there’s still a whole day of spooks and scary scenes we have to get through before this year’s Halloween is over. And after you see the trailer for Ti West’s The Innkeepers, you may want to wait until February when the film hits to get your real horror rocks off.

West is best known for his retro cult film House of the Devil, and is continuing in that theme with a Clerks meets Poltergeist vibe in Innkeepers. Here’s the synopsis.

After over one hundred years of service, The Yankee Pedlar Inn is shutting its doors for good. The last remaining employees -Claire and Luke – are determined to uncover proof of what many believe to be one of New England’s most haunted hotels. As the Inn’s final days draw near, odd guests check in as the pair of minimum wage “ghost hunters” begin to experience strange and alarming events that may ultimately cause them to be mere footnotes in the hotel’s long unexplained history.

For the truly scary trailer, take a look after the jump, and catch West’s Innkeepers in theaters on February 3rd.

Box Office: Of Course Adorable Cats Beat Scary Ghosts

Posted on October 31, 2011

The experts were wrong again. Last weekend’s huge success of Paramount’s Paranormal Activity 3 lead everyone to believe that the film would have continued success on the weekend leading up to Halloween. Turns out, kids who love Shrek and folks that love adorable, animated kittens proved them all wrong.

That’s right, Universal’s Shrek spinoff, Puss in Boots, managed to blow Paranormal’s creepy handicam shots out of the water this weekend with a decent $34 million in the domestic box office. Don’t worry, horror fans, Activity stil stayed relevant in 2nd place as it pulled in $18.5 million, bringing its total gross up to $81 million so far.

Also opening this weekend, Justin Timberlake’s foray into the world of sci-fi with In Time made a whisper in the box office, only making $12 million, while the faux continuation of Johnny Depp’s performance in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (The Rum Diary) underwhelmed audiences and only pulled in $5 million for the weekend.

Next weekend, it’s the tale of two crowd-pleasers, as the Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy caper flick Tower Heist hits theaters alongside A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, which both open up wide across the country. Are people already in the Christmas mindset or will Heist prove that the Ocean’s 11 formula works with lesser grade talent? We’ll find out in a week!

Film Score Friday: ‘In Time’ by Craig Armstrong

Posted on October 28, 2011

Craig Armstrong is one of those interesting composers that I have always really liked. He made a big splash in the late 90s with Romeo + Juliet, and has since been consistently solid in a long line of work. I have been longing for him to venture back into the action/suspense movie scoring business for a few years now. So it is with great excitement I get to review his latest release, the score for In Time.

Early in the process of composing this music Armstrong had conversations with the film’s director, Andrew Niccol, that gave direction to the music. They wanted to think of the kind of music people would be listening to in the “not to distant future”, deciding that there would be a fusion of types. This lead to the decision to merge classical, electronic and eastern influences together to give the film it’s sound.

It is very clear from the first track on where this music was inspired from, and I venture to guess that was exactly the point. The music doesn’t shy away from it’s parts, it is not trying to be subtle it is trying to be good, and for the most part I think it generally succeeds. Craig Armstrong’s style fits perfectly for a serious film score that fuses together different elements and makes something completely original from it.

Check Out Previews for Tonight’s ‘Chuck’ and ‘Grimm’ Premieres

Posted on October 28, 2011

The show that would not die is back tonight with its season five premiere. I’m talking about, of course, Chuck.

Glad to see it’s getting a final season to end the story right. Chuck isn’t the only one returning tonight, though, he’ll be joined by guest stars Mark Hamill and Craig Kilborn.

Also premiering tonight is NBC’s all-new show Grimm, which looks very interesting. Potentially more interesting than ABC’s rival show Once Upon a Time. I guess we’ll see.

At any rate, we’ve got previews and whatnot for both shows after the break. So, if you’re interested (and you should be) click on through and check them out.

It all starts tonight at 8/7C with Chuck. That is, unless something happens and NBC decides to postpone the premieres due to the World Series. Could happen.

James May and Richard Hammond Bring You ‘Top Gear at the Movies’

Posted on October 28, 2011

If there’s two things that go together well it’s cars and movies. In fact, there’s a fine history of great cars in great (and not so great) movies over the years.

So it should come as no surprise that the most popular car show of all time, Top Gear, has decided to make a movie about cars, involving cars and shoot it on film. That’s just what Top Gear at the Movies is and as you would expect, it’s pretty awesome.

We’ve got the trailer for it to share with you today. In said trailer you can experience lots of car action, explosions and all the other things that go into a proper movie. Well, at least as close as this gets to a proper movie.

Still, it’s great fun. Check out the trailer after the break. Top Gear at the Movies is available on November 14th.

Get Ready to Fight with New ‘Hunger Games’ Character Posters

Posted on October 28, 2011

Even though I’m not all that enthusiastic about the upcoming big screen adaptation of The Hunger Games, I know some of you are. And because I love and respect all our diligent readers, we’ve got brand new character posters from the film to share with you today.

The poster collection includes some of your favorite citizens of Panem: Rue (Amandla Stenberg), Cato (Alexander Ludwig), Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), Effie (Elizabeth Banks), Cinna (Lenny Kravitz), Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth).

In case you never read the book, here’s some info on the story:

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains.

Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

The Hunger Games opens in theaters everywhere March 23rd, 2012. Click through for some larger versions of the posters after the break.

Film Review: ‘In Time’

Posted on October 28, 2011

Like director Andrew Niccol’s previous film Gattaca, In Time is devoted more to its concept than showing car chases, fist-fights, shoot-outs, and your basic action staples. All those things are in the movie, but mostly they provide breaks from exploring the film’s dystopian world.

It’s a few hundred years in the future, and the worldwide currency is time. Human beings have been genetically altered to stop aging at 25, and from there, they get one year; if they don’t start working, or if they’re lucky enough to be born into a timely family, they’ll die once their clock winds down.

Everyone’s time is tracked by a digital counter in their arm, and they can exchange time by shaking arms or putting them in metal containers that store time. If you want to rob someone, it takes only a forceful arm-shake, and then plop they’re dead, and you have a few extra weeks, months, or years to live.

The wealthiest individuals can live forever, but the poor literally live day to day, and it’s nearly impossible to move up in society because the classes are physically confined to time zones. Travel between them is allowed but costly.

Two More Trailers & First Impressions of ‘Transformers Universe’

Posted on October 28, 2011

NYCC this year saw the debut of one of the most nostalgia filled MMO gameplay trailers since Star Wars: The Old Republic. Though we can’t show you the trailer we can tell you about what we saw and what information we were able to get about the game. Transformers Universe is being developed by Jagex, the makers of the free to play fantasy MMO Runescape. Jagex promises an experience meant to appeal both to the masses as well as the Transformers hardcore fan.

Transformers Universe will be a browser based MMO for both the PC and Mac which means no downloads are necessary. It will take place using real world looking cars on a diverse landscape and will be a planet-based experience. So what does that mean? Don’t expect boats or planes just yet for this game. PR people were very careful to only mention driving and not piloting. It may be possible that they may exist in the future but the character creator screen we saw only gave options for cars, trucks and motorcycles thus far.

We have also been promised that Transformers Universe will be a constantly evolving world with huge character customization options. This means that when players pick their side as either Autobot or Decepticon, they will have a massive level of creative control over their character and that the world around them won’t be static. Areas, characters and missions will change and allow for new gameplay experiences instead of repetitive gameplay. Additionally, players will be granted the ability to play alongside iconic characters like Optimus Prime. Similar to the vein of DC Universe Online, players will fight with or against some of the recognizable faces from the Transformers Universe, helping make that individual’s story feel bigger and more important.

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