The Flickcast

TV RECAP: ‘The Walking Dead: Wildfire’

Posted on November 29, 2010

Despite the lack of actual zombies, I think that this episode stands as my favorite thus far. The episode showed us time and time again that it is our empathy for our fellow man that ultimately makes us human.

Lots of difficult decisions were made this hour, and we were introduced to a serious game-changer toward the end of the episode. It kind of reminded me of Lost, when season 2 began with a peek inside the hatch, and our minds were blown with all the new possibilities the hatch introduced. More on that later, though.

Dale is certainly shaping up to be an important central character. Up until this episode, he was indispensable because of his cache of odds and ends that have proved valuable to the group. Now he emerges as a steady calming influence and a voice of reason within the group. Since he has no family members influencing his decisions, he is able to provide objective input when the group faces some of those tough choices. More and more the group seems to gravitate toward him for advice.

In this episode we saw Dale do the following:

Peter Jackson Purchases 30 RED 3D Cameras for ‘The Hobbit’

Posted on November 29, 2010

I remember my first video camera. It was kinda big and the quality wasn’t really that great but still, it was all mine. I used it to create what I thought were some pretty cool little movies using my friends and kids from the neighborhood. I’ll bet Peter Jackson must be feeling a bit like I did today considering he’s got some new video cameras as well.

That’s right tech and film buffs, Mr. Jackson has gone ahead and purchased 30 new Red Epic 3D cameras so he can use them to film The Hobbit. Of course, these 5K resolution cameras are a bit nicer than the one I used all those years ago. Each camera package sports a host of cutting edge features including the EPIC-M camera body itself, titanium mount, 5-inch touchscreen LCD, REDmote, four batteries, a four-pack of 128-GB SSD cards to capture video onto and a charger. Total cost per package? $58,000.

The folks at Red expect to being making the cameras by hand starting next month and have them to Jackson in time for him to start filming The Hobbit next February. If any of the rest of you want to get your hands on one of these babies, I guess you’ll just have to wait in line.

Of course, the other bit of news we can deduce from this purchase is that The Hobbit will be shot in 3D. Do we like that? Hard to say. I guess, as always, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Check Out The Variant Covers That Form A ‘Kick-Ass’, ‘Nemesis’, & ‘Superior’ Crossover

Posted on November 29, 2010

Mark Millar has definitely taken the comic universe by storm in the past 10 years. He first turned heads of fanboys (and fangirls) everywhere with The Authority in 2000. Then he went a bit darker with his anti-hero epic Wanted. Later, Millar would get his first taste of adaptation, as Warner Bros. optioned Wanted into a highly successful feature film.

The same thing happened with Kick-Ass and Lionsgate last year, and now just about anything Millar puts in a comic is getting picked up as a film right away. His super villain series Nemesis is already being worked on by Tony Scott’s company, and Superior, the story of a crippled teen who turns into a famed superhero is also being looked at by several studios.

Coming up next month, you’ll be able to see all of Millar’s favorite characters crossover in an epic portrait that spans over 3 variant covers by regular cover artist Leinil Francis Yu. When asked about the idea, Millar couldn’t have been more about it.

“It wouldn’t make sense as a story as they all exist in their own distinct universes. But I was talking to Leinil in New York about this a few weeks back and we came up with this idea of spreading the image across three variants, each character touching the front cover of another book and it seemed very exciting. These are my wee babies so to see them all playing together gives me a warm glow. I’m collecting them to form one big image and to have it framed over my desk.”

Check out the full-sized image after the jump, and catch each variant for Kick Ass 2 #2, Superior #4, and Nemesis #4, all on sale in December and January.

Review: ‘The Nutcracker in 3D’

Posted on November 29, 2010

There have been worse movies than The Nutcracker in 3D. Certainly films made with less ambition, with less skilled actors and more modest sets and effects budgets. But it’s genuinely challenging to recall a more wrong-headed film than Andrei Konchalovsky’s convoluted, frankly baffling re-imagining of a beloved children’s story and ballet.

For all its popularity and name-recognition, Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker is a bit light on plot. All the incident is front-loaded to the first half. A girl receives a nutcracker as a Christmas gift. She brings him to life, so he can do battle with the Rat King that enslaved him, and then they return to his fantasy kingdom. The entire second half is just fairies celebrating the Nutcracker’s return. Pretty anti-climactic.

Obviously, anyone wanting to turn the story into a traditional children’s film would have to rework it. But Konchalovsky’s decision to turn the story into a WWII analogy, and to fill the second half with sci-fi/fantasy chase sequences was clearly not the best strategy. (Also, his decision to rework Tchaikovsky’s iconic Nutcracker themes into cheesy musical numbers…more on that later…)

The basic story of The Nutcracker has thus been twisted into this inane sub-Bruckheimer pumped-up fantasy epic about an evil fascist Rat City and the prince, who has been magically transformed into a Nutcracker, that must retake human form and a human rebellion against the rats.

Cookie Monster Auditions To Host ‘Saturday Night Live’

Posted on November 29, 2010

Slowly but surely, Jim Henson’s legacy is growing bigger and bigger in the public eye, all thanks to the power of viral videos. The Muppets have pulled in millions of views and awards with their antics and music videos, while Sesame Street is still going strong on PBS with some impressive guest stars like Ryan Reynolds and Terrence Howard. It seems like one neighborhood monster in particular is aiming for the stars, as Cookie Monster has publicly put out an audition to host SNL.

The video is proof that the brilliant minds behind Sesame Street aren’t just making mindless children’s entertainment, as Cookie Monster refers to himself as a glutton and spoofs things like MacGruber, Lady GaGa, and the format of SNL itself. There is even an official Facebook campaign to make this happen. That’s right, this is real.

Not many remember this, but Henson’s Muppets and Lorne Michael’s SNL have a history dating back to the first season of SNL, when the Muppets got their very first time in the spotlight on the show once a week. So before you write the idea off as being another gimicky hosting trend, it could very well happen.

Check out the audition after the jump, and by all means, help Cookie Monster host SNL!

Box Office: ‘Harry Potter’ Trumps ‘Tangled’ By A Hair

Posted on November 29, 2010

Harry Potter held off a fair haired princess to eke out a win over the weekend. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows made $50.3 M, bringing its ten day total to $220 M. If you count the entire Thanksgiving weekend (Wednesday through Sunday) the five day total was over $76 M, making it the fourth best Thanksgiving total on record.

It was hardly an easy task. Disney’s new princess caper Tangled performed very well, and made $49.1 M for the weekend; $69 M over the five days. This Thanksgiving opening take is second only to Toy Story 2, back in 1999. When actual grosses come in on Monday, Tangled very well could top the box office. It also got the first “A+” from Cinemascore for the entire year. Audiences absolutely loved it.

Megamind is still performing very well. It only dropped 19% in its fourth weekend for an additional $12.8 M. It has now made $130 M, finally matching its reported budget. The Cher/Christina Aguilera musical Burlesque played well to audiences, and received a surprising “A-” from Cinemascore exit polls. It placed fourth with $11.8 M ($17.2 M five-day total).

Denzel Washington’s Unstoppable was just a tad behind, in fifth place. Another new release, Love and Other Drugs, came in sixth with $9.8 M. It should be noted that the film played on about a thousand fewer screens than the top three films this week. Faster (starring Dwayne Johnson) came in just behind it.

Review: ‘Love and Other Drugs’

Posted on November 25, 2010

Jamie Randall (Jake Gyllenhaal) is your average all-American boy: born and raised in Chicago to a wealthy family of doctors, super intelligent, and ultra charming to all the ladies. “This is my Thai friend,” coos Lisa, one of his soon-to-be conquests, “I’m a little Thai-curious myself. She’s a little Jamie-curious” You can imagine where it goes from there.

Wait, that’s not what happens to everyone? Oh. Well, everyone makes mistakes. Everyone, that is, except Jamie.

Love and Other Drugs is based on the book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by, not surprisingly, the real Jamie Randall (whose real last name is Reidy), and it sits back in awe of its protagonist, who’s portrayed as close a thing we mortals shall ever get to seeing an actual god.

And so it’s no surprise that when he meets the woman of dreams, Parkinson-sufferer Maggie Murdock (Anne Hathaway), the conflict in their relationship is driven almost entirely by her reluctance to fall in love with anyone due to her condition. “I hope you’re full of shit,” she says when they decide to become purely physical lovers, “Blow it out your a$$,” I think.

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2010

This week is a holiday week here in the United States and as a result we’re giving the staff a bit of time off to celebrate with family and friends. So, that means we’ll have a reduced schedule for today and for the rest of the week.

Also, due to travel schedules and such we won’t be having a podcast this week either. Sorry folks. That will return next week as well.

Of course, if breaking news happens, we’ll bring it to you. Otherwise, expect to see us back to normal (or our version of it) on Monday, November 29th.

We wish all of you who celebrate this holiday the very best. Happy Thanksgiving.

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