The Flickcast

Apple Releases iOS 4.2 to Developers

Posted on November 2, 2010

iPhone users get ready for a brand new operating system for your shiny devices. This week Apple released the GM (Gold Master) of the next version of its OS for iPhones to developers to test and that can only mean one thing: It will hit for the rest of you very soon.

In earlier statements, Apple had promised iOS 4.2 by early November and it looks like they are probably on track. If you have developer access (Like some of us here at The Flickcast) and like being on the “bleeding edge” of iOS releases, head on over to Apple’s Developer Site to get what you need.

Two of the new features expected to be included in this update include Air Print for remote printing via a networked Mac or compatible HP hardware and Air Play which will allow user to hand off video playback to the iOS-based Apple TV. Pretty slick.

If you end up installing this update let us know your results in the comments.

Get in the Christmas Spirit With A Trailer For ‘Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale’

Posted on November 2, 2010

Halloween is officially over for 2010, and if you’ve walked into a department store or supermarket since Sunday, you know that Christmas is just around the corner. Just because the jolliest of holidays is on it’s way, that doesn’t mean you still can’t enjoy a good old fashioned scary movie.

Introducing Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. We don’t want to diminish it’s amazing premise by rehashing it, so here’s the official plot:

It’s the eve of Christmas in northern Finland and an “archeological” dig has just unearthed the real Santa Claus. But this particular Santa isn’t the one you want coming to town. When all the local children begin mysteriously disappearing, young Pietari and his father Rauno, a reindeer hunter by trade, capture the mythological being and attempt to sell Santa to the misguided leader of the multinational corporation sponsoring the dig.

Santa’s elves, however, will stop at nothing to free their fearless leader from captivity. What ensues is a wildly humorous nightmare – a fantastically bizarre polemic on modern day morality.

It’s all of your favorite holiday classics like Black Christmas and Ernest Saves Christmas all in one Finnish bundle! If the synopsis didn’t sell you on the film, the tagline in trailer most certainly will.

He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good. And he doesn’t give a F***.

Check out the trailer after the jump and head over to the official page for the official US release dates.

‘The Walking Dead’ Breaks Records As Most Watched Premiere on AMC

Posted on November 2, 2010

This undead body still has life! For those who caught the amazing premiere of AMC’s newest show, The Walking Dead, we salute you. The show broke records for the network, bringing in the highest ratings ever for a premiere, surpassing the ratings of some of the network’s most popular shows.

The Walking Dead premiered Sunday night (Halloween) at the tail-end of a zombie and horror movie marathon hosted by director Frank Darabont. Not only did the 90-minute episode break network records, but cable-wide networks as well. From THR:

AMC’s The Walking Dead premiere ratings are enormous: The 90-minute Halloween night debut delivered 5.3 million viewers and a 3.3 adults 18-49 rating. That’s the largest demo audience for any series premiere on any cable network this year.

It’s also the highest numbers for any series in AMC’s history, and beat most non-sports programs on broadcast Sunday night.

At this rate, you had better believe the network is planning a second-and maybe even third season. With a story as rich as the one laid out in Robert Kirkman’s comic series, there’s no ceiling on what Darabont, producer Gale Anne Hurd, and the rest of the crew can do with this live action series.

Be sure to keep the momentum going and watch episode 2 of The Walking Dead next Sunday night at 10/9C.

Check Out Two New Visually Stunning Scenes From ‘Skyline’

Posted on November 2, 2010

This weekend may be a tough choice at the box office for most theater-goers. But if you’re looking for a film that will blow your eyeballs right out of your sockets, it looks like Rogue Pictures’ Skyline may be that film.

Directed by the team of Colin and Greg Strause, the SFX brothers who have worked on films like Avatar to Iron Man 2, the film is setting itself to be an epic alien invasion movie in the vain of Cloverfield, Independence Day, and War of the Worlds. Just imagine if Roland Emmerich or Matt Reeves knew, from personal experience, what was possible in the scheme of digital effects.

There isn’t much to the story that we haven’t seen before, but the element to keep an eye out for here is the use of CG effects and how an entire film can play into that world. We’ve got two spoiler-free clips for you to check out after the jump.

Be sure to catch Skyline in theaters everywhere this Friday.

Conan O’Brien Goes Live With His First Talk Show Format in ‘Show Zero’

Posted on November 2, 2010

Though it may not feel like very long, Conan O’Brien has been off the air for quite some time now. Over at NBC, it’s like we’ve already forgotten that red-haired man that took over The Tonight Show for a brief stint while Leno had his experimental phase. On the web, however, CoCo has been thriving. For 8 weeks, O’Brien and his team have been putting out web videos via TeamCoco.com in which he addresses the fans, takes questions, and keep entertaining. Now, in the dawn of his brand new show on TBS, Conan brings us his first talk show-like format since he was taken off of NBC.

In Show Zero, Conan invites a group of real-life Conan fans to sit in his conference room as the audience as he puts on the fastest talk show in the history of the world. Need legitimacy? His first, and only guest is The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons.

A great idea from Team Coco as they get ready for next Monday’s premiere of Conan on TBS. In the meantime, check out SHOW ZERO after the jump.

War Movie Mondays: ‘Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb’

Posted on November 1, 2010

Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964) is the ultimate black comedy, war movie which pokes fun at the absurdity of nuclear war and those responsible for escalating tensions throughout world during the Cold War. The film stars the great Peter Sellers as three of the film’s major characters, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake of her majesty’s R.A.F., U.S. President Merkin Muffley, and as crippled ex-Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove who tries to educate the president and his staff as to the intentions of the Soviets, and how America can survive World War III.

Other talents include Sterling Hayden as Gen. Jack D. Ripper, (the commander of Burpelson A.F.B.), and George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson, a fanatically anti-Soviet member of the president’s staff, and loosely based on actual American Air Force Gen. Curtis “bombs away” LeMay who was one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a veteran of the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Dr. Strangelove was based on the novel Red Alert written by Peter George. The screenplay was written by Kubrick, George, and satirist Terry Southern as a film which shows just how crazy and simple it truly is for the super powers to plunge the world into nuclear Armageddon. As tensions flare around the world due to Soviet and western policy expansion, Gen. Jack Ripper (a stellar performance from actor Sterling Hayden) orders the air wing of his B-52 bomber squadron to initiate “Wing attack plan R”, a plan which gives lower echelon commanders the authority to launch a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union if the normal chain of command is disrupted, e.g. if the president and Washington D.C. were taken out by a sneak attack.

DLC Review: ‘Undead Nightmare’ for ‘Red Dead Redemption’ for XBox 360

Posted on November 1, 2010

We recently got the chance to get our first hands on with Red Dead Redemption’s DLC pack Undead Nightmare. Now, after its full release, Undead Nightmare has proven itself to be one of the most fun and valuable pieces of DLC to be released in recent memory.

The events of Undead Nightmare follow those of the regular Red Dead Redemption storyline so be warned. There are some minor spoilers about the fate of certain characters if you decide to play Undead Nightmare before going through the full RDR story.

Unlike some pieces of DLC like the quests in Fable II or The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion which add new missions to your current game, Undead Nightmare is its own separate story so players can skip back and forth between a regular Red Dead save file and an Undead save file without the two affecting each other. The only negative to this is certain items and steeds then don’t come back with John to Read Dead proper which is a shame since riding through the desert on the steed of War can make someone feel pretty bad ass.

After seeing the outbreak first hand, our hero heads out to find a cure only to find the undead plague has spread throughout the frontier with all cities being overrun and even animals being infected. After seeing bodies reanimate themselves from grizzly deaths, John uses his gun to put them back down with some well placed headshots. What follows is a screwed up path through memory lane as John encounters friends and acquaintances from Red Dead who are now all being struck by the zombie plague as he searches for a cure.

TV RECAP: ‘Eastbound & Down: Chapter 12’

Posted on November 1, 2010

At its heart, Eastbound & Down is about the redemption of Kenny Powers. On the surface he’s vulgar, crude, and clearly delusional. But deep down there is kind of a decent person Kenny can drag out when he needs to. And even though he can screw over others without looking back, he still deserves some sympathy—after all, he did used to be Kenny Powers!

Following last week’s first-rate (and my personal favorite of the series so far) episode, Chapter 12 has a lot to live up to…and it does, right in the first few minutes, which bring back Pat (guest star Adam Scott), the agent who screwed Kenny over in last season’s finale. Pat’s finishing up a 12-step program and is on whatever step has you make amends to all the people you’ve wronged (the most egregiously wronged being Pat’s sponsor, whose wife Pat slept with…while his sister watched).

Pat heads down to Mexico to seek out Kenny, the second-most-wronged on the list, who’s in the process of packing up his gear in preparation for his departure. But Pat’s arranged for a Mexican talent scout to stop by one of the Charros games and see if Kenny still has his stuff.

Meanwhile Kenny’s tying up loose ends, which includes severing ties with Vida (Kenny is, after all, a tit man, not an ass man), settling the score with Aaron, and apologizing to the Charros for his grandstanding antics. It’s heavily backhanded and full of rather strange expressions (George Washington is never gonna cut down that beanstalk), but, like the rest of the episode, there’s sweet sincerity to it. You can’t help but smile when Stevie asks Kenny’s permission to marry Maria.

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