The Flickcast – Page 503 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

‘Prototype 2′ Teaser Trailer Answers One of Life’s Deepest Questions

Penny Arcade is known for their stirring satyrical commentary of the video game and geek world. Back when Prototype was released, they posed the question: “In Prototype, you can do karate kick on a helicopter. What the f**k else do you want?” When we played through the game, we would have been hard pressed to come up with an answer. Now, the good folks at Activision and Radical have found it for us.

Even though it is at least a year away with a 2012 release date, we are keeping a eye out for any information we can get about Prototype 2. This time, without going head to head with Infamous, Prototype 2 will get a chance to shine on its own as the story of the antihero in a world gone mad. We hope the team at Radical is able to take what they learned from the original game and improve upon the success of the franchise.

Take a peek below at the new teaser trailer showing some of the first action from Prototype 2, also plugging the exclusive first look coming to EGM in April. Stick to the Flickcast for more on Prototype 2 as it becomes available.

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Oscar Results 2011

The 2011 Oscars attempted to differentiate itself from past telecasts by bringing in younger hosts (Anne Hathaway and James Franco) and keeping things fresh. The opening montage featuring the best films nominees was quite funny. Though Franco appeared to be a bit out of it *ahem*, Hathaway was engaging and adorable.

Hathaway was hilarious in a fake musical number.  As for Franco, he randomly appeared in drag. He donned a hot pink satin gown and rocked it like Marilyn Monroe in Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend (or like Madonna in the  Material Girl video if you are of the younger generation).

Hathaway and Franco were oddly absent for most of the show.  They had nice chemistry, but most of the categories kind of took care of themselves.

Here is a list of the winners. These awards are in the order they were presented on the show. Analysis coming later today.

  • Art Direction Alice in Wonderland
  • Cinematography Inception
  • Best Supporting Actress Melissa Leo The Fighter
  • Best Animated Short The Lost Thing
  • Best Animated Feature Film Toy Story 3
  • Best adapted screenplay Aaron Sorkin The Social Network
  • Best Original Screenplay David Seidler The King’s Speech
  • Best Foreign Film In a Better World
  • Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale The Fighter
  • Best Original Score Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross The Social Network
  • Best Sound Mixing Inception
  • Best Sound editing Inception
  • Best Makeup The Wolfman
  • Best Costume Alice in Wonderland
  • Best Documentary Short Strangers No More
  • Best Live Action Short Film God of Love
  • Best Documentary Feature Inside Job
  • Best Visual Effects Inception
  • Best Film Editing The Social Network
  • Best Original Song Randy Newman “We Belong Together” Toy Story 3
  • Best Director Tom Hooper The King’s Speech
  • Best Actress Natalie Portman Black Swan
  • Best Actor Colin Firth The King’s Speech
  • Best Picture The King’s Speech

The 2011 Oscars Live Blog!

It’s Oscar day so that means we’re going to try to bring you all the fun, excitement and awards live. We’ve done this once before last year and it met with great success.

This year, we’re doing it a bit differently and using a new interface. So, sit back, relax and check out the fun. Also, be sure yo let us know how we’re doing.

Now, let’s get to it!

TV RECAP: ‘The Office: Todd Packer’


I like the dynamic Todd Packer brings to The Office. Among the group of miserable souls who have their own beefs with each other and whose allegiance depends on whatever the week’s plot requires, Packer was always a fun wrench to toss into the cogs and, somehow, make them work better.

Basically, in his earlier appearances, Packer became the one thing towards which every petty person at Dunder-Mifflin could put aside personal differences and rally against. There’s something heartwarming in that solidarity. I also love David Koechner.

Of course, Packer has only made a handful of those appearances (four? five maybe?), but they’ve all been memorable thanks to Koechner, who finds the relishing humor in school-yard insults such as “Michael Snot!” and adolescent put-downs regarding Jim’s sexuality. He’s the missing link in the evolution of the 1st-grade-bully-to-frat-boy-to-?-to-child-molesting-Uncle-John. Naturally an episode devoted entirely to him wouldn’t work.

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Film Review: ‘Waste Land’

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary, Lucy Walker’s film Waste Land follows Brazilian artist Vik Muniz as he returns to his hometown of Sao Paolo for a project involving two factors most of us shirk from thinking about: the incredible amounts of garbage generated by modern life and the millions of people worldwide who make their livelihood living and working amidst it. Muniz’s destination is the world’s largest landfill, Jardim Gramacho, which takes in 7,000 tons of trash a day from Sao Paolo.

Yet far from abject misery, however, the stunning thing about the catadores who pick through the trash searching for glass, metal, plastic and other recyclable materials, is their inexplicable glowing good health and zeal for life. They show great spirit, intelligence, curiosity and pride in their work, speculating about the lives of the former owners of the items they paw through, and insisting on the importance of their role in the recycling  (not garbage) industry.

There’s a union, a daycare and clinic and even efforts to start a library from the cast-off volumes scavenged by a couple of self-styled intellectuals, who read Machiavelli, Dan Brown and Sun Tzu in their spare time.

Fearlessly climbing the immense, shifting, slipping shifting landscape of garbage, the catadores must be ever-vigilant lest they lose their footing, sink into a morass, or become drowned by the next deluge of trash. It’s dangerous, filthy work, in a chaotic, loud and hectic environment, with dozens of giant trucks and bulldozers rumbling around and cawing ravens overhead. I was grateful more than once that film can’t convey odor.

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TV RECAP: ‘Parks and Recreation: Indianapolis’


Chris and Ben are both extremes of Leslie’s personality—Chris being her unflappable zeal and Ben her insecurities, particularly regarding the acceptance of others—and that’s a good enough starting point, but, as I’ve said way too many times when I couldn’t think of anything else to write, they need to develop into their own characters. Fortunately I think they’re starting to explore the possibilities of Ben, last week being a delightful lambasting of his Pawnee PR ignorance, but Lowe’s Chris still isn’t quite there, and I’m not sure if he’ll ever get a chance to be.

The core plot revolves around Leslie and Ron heading up to Indianapolis to receive a commendation for reviving Harvest Festival, but that’s quickly dismissed once it becomes clear that Ron’s sole incentive for going is to visit his favorite steakhouse, and Leslie gets sidetracked into spying on Chris, now back home in Indianapolis, when Ann Perkins suspects he’s cheating on her.

I love it when Leslie and Ron are put in light opposition to each other, but placing Chris in the crossfire seemed doomed to fail because his character is so upbeat that he’d deflect the spitwads. So the humor falls back on Poehler and Offerman, in particular a scene pitting Chris’s ultra-healthy views on diet squarely against Ron’s aggressively meat-oriented tastes.

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Read Ricky Gervais’ Rejected Script For This Sunday’s Oscars

On the night of January 16th, Hollywood was split in twine after Ricky Gervais’ performance as the host of the evening’s events. One half felt that Gervais went over the line with his sardonic humor and felt that he was rude and crass, while the other half understood his sense of humor and realized he was doing his job as a “comedian.”

Now, continuing in his trend of bitterness, the original Office star has posted on his blog some suggestions to Oscar hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway, in case they have time they need to fill.

Without further adieu, we present to you Ricky Gervais’ suggested script for this year’s Oscars. We’ve got what we think is a pretty good sample below, and check out the full script full of self-deprecating humor over at Gervais’ official blog.

JF
Thank you. I’m James Franco.

AH
…and I’m Anne Hathaway.

JF
You probably know me from 127 Hours where I play a man trapped in an enclosed space who decides he would rather cut his own arm off than stay where he was. Now that sounds “way out” but wait till half way through this fucking ceremony and you’ll start to identify with him.

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Film Review: ‘Hall Pass’

“You get what you get, now don’t throw a fit”-Ancient kindergarten teacher proverb.

I am constantly amused when people attend a Farrelly Brothers film and are SHOCKED to find out that it is filled with bathroom humor and precious little in the way of plot. What do you expect people?  When you go to a Farrelly Brothers film, you know exactly what you are going to get.

Peter and Bobby Farrelly carved out a new niche for comedy in 1998 when they released Something About Mary. The film’s raunchy humor was dubbed “gross-out humor”, and though they have replicated the formula many times, they have never really duplicated the level of success they had with that first film.

It’s doubtful that this will be the film to do that, though it is a nice departure from their usual fare. Don’t worry, you’ll still find male protagonists suffering from man-child syndrome, plenty of tits, dirty jokes, poop humor, and the like. Not that I’m complaining. I’d be disappointed if those things were missing.

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