The Flickcast

Greg Mottola to Direct Aaron Sorkin’s HBO Pilot

Posted on March 29, 2011

I don’t think anyone would argue that Aaron Sorkin is an extremely talented writer. His shows, including Sports Night, The West Wing and Studio 60 and movies like the recent The Social Network, have proved this over and over.

Needless to say, we’re big fans. So, when Sorkin takes on a new project, we’re interested. As we told you previously, Sorkin is returning to TV with a new show on HBO. And now, that show’s pilot has a director.

Superbad and Paul helmer Greg Mottola is now set to direct the pilot set behind the scenes of a cable news show. The project centers on news anchor Will McCallister, which Jeff Daniels will most likely play, who has his own cable show, his female executive producer and his staff.

With Sorkin doing a new show, Jeff Daniels starring and now with Mottola’s involvement, we’re even more interested in this show. Come on HBO, get it going and let’s see it soon.

War Movie Mondays: ‘To Hell and Back’

Posted on March 28, 2011

This week’s pick salutes World War II’s most decorated hero. Audie L. Murphy stars as himself in the 1955 film To Hell and Back directed by Jesse Hibbs. The film was based on Murphy’s autobiography of the same name.

The film also stars Marshall Thompson (Pvt. Johnson), Charles Drake (Pvt. Brandon), Jack Kelly (Pvt. Kerrigan), Paul Picerni (Pvt. Valentino), Richard Castle (Pvt. Kovak), and Art Aragon (Pvt. Sanchez).

The film opens up as a young Murphy struggles to keep his family’s farm going during the Great Depression. When Murphy’s father deserts the family, young Audie drops out of school in order to work full time and now become the head of the household for his younger siblings and ill mother.

When World War II breaks out, Audie takes the advice of his friend and neighbor to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corp and go career in order to provide for his siblings and older sister due to the death of their mother. Audie is denied due to his small stature and his boyish looks. After being rejected by the Navy and Paratroopers, he enlists in the U.S. Army to become an infantry man in the 3rd Infantry Division, the “Marne Division”.

Audie hits the beaches of North Africa in November 1942 to help the British and Free French forces drive out the German and Italian forces who are being sandwiched into Tunisia by the advancing British 8th Army moving East from Egypt. As soon as he joins the men of the 3rd Division, he is ridiculed due to how young he appears. The men of his squad soon take a liking to him after he’s proven himself, especially Johnson (Thompson), Brandon (Drake), and Kerrigan (Kelly) who become his pals throughout their campaigns together.

SXSW Film Review: ‘Kumaré’

Posted on March 28, 2011

Kumaré is a good documentary. It (somewhat) does what it sets out to do, does it well, takes some daring chances, scores some laughs, and is a nice-enough movie-going experience. It’s premise is ingenious: Vikram Gandhi, a 30-ish lad of Indian descent, poses as the “enlightened guru” Kumaré and amasses a following among some of the spiritually attuned (and gullible) residents of Arizona.

Dispensing platitudinal and often comically obtuse wisdom, he nevertheless ingratiates himself to his followers, who soon (and not surprisingly) take him to be their confidant, asking questions far less abstract and, personally, much deeper than the lofty spiritual conundrums he poses.

ABC Sets Summer Schedule

Posted on March 28, 2011

As with NBC last week, ABC has unveiled their schedule for the Summer and it looks like reality series (which are cheap to produce and make good money for networks) will dominate the lineup. Returning shows Wipeout, The Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad are joined by five new ones including spinoff of Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, Take the Money and Run and Mark Burnett’s Expedition Impossible.

On the scripted side ABC will drop two shows, both of which are produced elsewhere. Canadian import Rookie Blue (featuring Reaper’s Missy Peregrym) is back as well as the new Canadian/U.K. co-production The Hot Zone are on the schedule. The thriller Missing, originally to be released in the Summer, has been pushed back.

Here’s a list of the network’s Summer shows and their premiere dates followed by some description of the new shows:

Monday, May 23
9:00-11:00: The Bachelorette (season premiere)

Monday, May 30
8:00-10:01 PM: The Bachelorette (regular time premiere)
10:01-11:00 PM: Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition

Thursday, June 16
8:00-9:00 PM: Wipeout (sneak-peek episode)*
9:00-10:00 PM: 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show (series premiere)*
10:00-11:00 PM: Rookie Blue (second season premiere)*
*If there is a Game 7 of the NBA Finals, programs will move to Thurs., June 23

Tuesday, June 21:
8:00-9:00 PM: Wipeout (regular time premiere)
9:00-10:00 PM: Expedition Impossible (series premiere)
10:00-11:00 PM: The Hot Zone (series premiere)

TV RECAP: ‘The Office: Garage Sale’

Posted on March 28, 2011

The Office has finally stopped lollygagging around the Michael-Holly will-they/won’t-they (of course they will) question? and given us what we all expected: The Proposal, albeit coyly buried under the episode’s evasive title “Garage Sale.” But who’s complaining?

In the show’s 145-episode run, it’s deftly avoided cheap sentiment, and though Michael’s erratic behavior can be grating, especially in this last season, Steve Carell knows how to keep it sweet instead of cloying—even when you have the rest of the office bearing candles and ominously asking Holly to marry them in some weirdly druidic ritual (not that I know anything about druidic rituals [though one of the tech guys at my old job was a druid]; it’s just the best adjective to go with “ritual”).

Apple Schedules WWDC for June 6th In San Francisco

Posted on March 28, 2011

It’s beginning to smell a lot like iOS as Apple today announced the dates for its Worldwide Developer Conference, which will take place June 6th to the 10th in San Francisco at the Moscone Center. The software-centric, annual event provides developers and fans a look at what Apple has in store for its operating systems and, as is sometimes the case, its hardware.

“At this year’s conference we are going to unveil the future of iOS and Mac OS,” said Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Phil Schiller. “If you are an iOS or Mac OS X software developer, this is the event that you do not want to miss.”

So, what can we expecgt from this event? Well, if tradition holds we should see a nice demo of the next generation of Apple’s iOS as well as a preview of the next version of Mac OS X, code named “Lion.” We should also see a preview of the next generation iPhone, which we will call the iPhone 5 for now. Although, there has been some speculation we might not see that last thing.

Whatever happens, WWDC is always a great time and often a perfect indication of what Apple has up their virtual sleeve for the next year. If you’re interested in attending, head on over to this website to pick up tickets.

Amy Adams Cast As Lois Lane In ‘Superman’ Reboot

Posted on March 28, 2011

We love it when a family comes together. Over the past few weeks, the entire Kent family in the upcoming Superman reboot helmed by Zack Snyder has been completely cast, with Diane Lane and Kevin Costner playing the “Ma and Pa Kent” to Henry Cavill’s Clark Kent.

Now, the circle is complete as Clark’s girlfriend/wife Lois Lane (depending on what continuity the film follows) will be played by Enchanted star Amy Adams. An interesting choice, as it seems that Snyder and producer Chris Nolan aren’t pulling any punches in terms of a well-known cast.

Snyder recently had some words about casting Adams in the classic role.

“Second only to Superman himself, the question of who will play Lois Lane is arguably what fans have been most curious about,” Snyder said in a statement Sunday. “So we are excited to announce the casting of Amy Adams, one of the most versatile and respected actresses in films today. Amy has the talent to capture all of the qualities we love about Lois: smart, tough, funny, warm, ambitious and, of course, beautiful.”

Sucker Punched: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ Takes the Weekend Box Office

Posted on March 28, 2011

At the end of the day, it was a Wimpy Kid who beat up on the highly stylized and sexualized Sucker Punch. An effective trailer campaign launched by Warner Brothers stirred up plenty of interest in Zack Snyder’s latest offering, but a 17% drop from Friday to Saturday squelched its chances of winning the weekend. Snyder previously directed Watchmen and 300, both of which performed much better on their opening weekend than Sucker Punch, which came in at number two with $19M.

Sucker Punch was leading the weekend on Friday, but the drop-off cleared the way for Disney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules to win the weekend. The sequel to Diary of a Wimpy Kid outperformed its predecessor: Rodrick Rules made $24.4M, while the original Wimpy Kid made about $22M on its opening weekend. With a reported budget of about $18M, Rodrick Rules should put the franchise in good shape for a third movie.

Bradley Cooper’s Limitless didn’t have any trouble retaining an audience. The film only dropped about 19% (very solid for a second weekend) and made an additional $15.2M. That puts its two week tally at $41M. Matthew McConaughey fared almost as well.

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