The Flickcast – Page 595 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

Full Trailer For ‘True Grit’ Gives Us The Good Stuff

Posted on October 5, 2010

As if we weren’t excited enough when the first trailer for the Coen Brothers’ upcoming remake of True Grit hit last week, a brand new, full-feature trailer has hit the web, and not only does it have more Jeff Bridges as US Marshall Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn, but a killer Johnny Cash tune, and even some kind of man-bear riding a horse.

The film comes from Ethan and Joel Coen, who made their stamp on visually stunning Western-style dramas with No Country For Old Men. The cast is rounded out enough with Bridges leading the charge, filling in the shoes of John Wayne, while Matt Damon and Josh Brolin fill out the supporting cast.

Between this film and his upcoming dual roles in Tron Legacy, it looks like the next year will be pretty big for Jeff Bridges, and could bring him another Oscar for True Grit.

Check out the full trailer for the film after the jump, and catch it in it’s full Western glory in theaters on Christmas Day.

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Google Unveils Portal, Details for its Upcoming Google TV

Posted on October 5, 2010

What interesting timing Google has. On a day when many Apple TV pre-order customers are eagerly plugging in their little black cubes and exploring what Apple’s brand of TV-Internet convergence has to offer, Google launches a dedicated site for their own Google TV. While we’ve previously covered the coming of Google TV, details about the forthcoming product have been notoriously scarce. Flash-forward a month and finally, the veil is being lifted on the internet giant’s plans for your living room.

“Your TV just got smarter.” A great tagline and not a bad way to summarize what Google TV will do for the average couch potato. Let’s explore exactly what Google is bringing to the table, shall we?

Befitting a search engine behemoth like Google, a universal search will allow you to query for content across your apps, channels and the entire web simultaneously. Want to browse the web on your ginormous flat-panel? Not a problem for Google TV, as you can browse the entire web in a browser optimized for the ten-foot experience.

However, it sounds like web site owners will need to optimize their sites for the Google TV experience, something that’s in the works at some of the hottest properties across the web. A blog post by Google references some web content producers who are tuning up their sites to offer the best browsing experience on your TV.

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This Is Krypton! Zack Snyder Directing ‘Superman’ Reboot

Posted on October 5, 2010

Well Superman fans, the search for the person to take on directing the Christoper Nolan produced Superman reboot is at an end. Of course, as you can tell from the headline for this post, that director will be none other than Zack Snyder.

In case you’re not aware for some reason, Snyder has quite the track record with comic to film adaptations having both 300 and Watchmen under his belt so far. Because of this and his long relationship with Warner Bros., he was on a short list of directors reportedly in consideration for the gig. Others on that list included Tony Scott, Matt Reeves, Jonathan Liebesman, and Duncan Jones. However, Snyder got the nod and is as you would imagine, pretty excited about it.

“I’ve been a big fan of the character for a long time, he’s definitely the king of all superheroes, he’s the one,” said Snyder about the decision. “It’s early yet, but I can tell you that what David and Chris have done with the story so far definitely has given me a great insight into a way to make him feel modern. I’ve always felt he was kind of awesome. I’ll finish Sucker Punch and get right at it.”

I’m sure some will argue that Snyder isn’t the right choice for a Superman film but I’m a fan so I feel he will do an excellent job. He’s capable of bringing amazing visuals to the screen and knows his way around action. Plus, he’s also good with actors — traits a Superman director must have.

Now that Snyder is on board the real fun can begin like who will play the Man of Steel, Lois Lane and what the story will be. What do you guys think? Who should be Superman in the new film?

Game Review: ‘Hydrophobia’ for XBox Live Arcade

Posted on October 4, 2010

Hydrophobia is one of the most ambitious new titles for XBox 360’s XBox Live Arcade. Using the HydroEngine to power the game, Dark Energy Studios creates a dark future with some of the most impressive water technology ever seen in gaming. Taking a third person shooter and adding it to this new environment, Hydrophobia attempts to reach new levels of a download only title both visually and in terms of technology.

Gameplay:

Hydrophobia isn’t a standard third person action shooter. Employing a cover system similar to that of Kane & Lynch 2 or Alpha Protocol, Hydrophobia is a thinking man’s shooter. Fans of running in guns blazing will quickly feel how fast they can be gunned down in a flicker of glory.

Starting off with a pistol that shoots non-lethal stun rounds, Kate must navigate the halls of her hijacked vessel using the environment as her weapon. She can ignite gas canisters and venting pipes, break glass walls holding back gallons of water and unleash electrical surges on her unsuspecting opponents.

The controls for this system haven’t been perfectly honed yet and players will find times where they cannot properly move will in the cover system despite an enemy flanking them in to a corner. More times than naught, certain gameplay aspects like the actual cover provided by a cover object or a jump in an opposing direction don’t work as well as one would hope which leads to a string of repeated deaths.

There are also times the gameplay can hit dead ends when certain objectives either aren’t explained thoroughly enough. The difficulty can be somewhat reminiscent of titles from the NES days that the difficulty became more frustrating than rewarding for beating certain areas of games.

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War Movie Mondays: ‘The Thin Red Line’

Posted on October 4, 2010

The Thin Red Line (1998) marks the triumphant return of American film maker Terrence Malick’s return after a twenty year hiatus from the studio system. Anyone who was anyone in Hollywood circles jumped on the production of the film, even if it was just a brief walk on role. In fact, many A -list talents like Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Bill Pullman, Leonardo Dicaprio, Brad Pitt, Peter Berg, Dermot Mulroney, Edward Burns, William Baldwin, Edward Norton, Matthew McConaughey, Nicolas Cage, and Johnny Depp were very interested in joining the cast or were either cut from the film due to editing and budget constraints.

Malick was best known for two films in the 1970s which were Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978) which were renowned for their breathtaking cinematography and for Malick’s ability to capture magnificent exterior shots much like John Ford’s sweeping westerns Stagecoach (1939), and The Searchers (1956). The beautiful cinematography of the film is credited to John Toll who is an absolute genius.

Malick wrote the screenplay based on author James Jones 1962 novel which chronicles his experiences during the campaign. Pvt. Fife (Brody) is actually Jones who serves as the main character in the book, yet in the film is reduced to a minor character.

The film stars some of Hollywood’s most celebrated actors such as Sean Penn (1st Sgt. Edward Welsh), Adrien Brody (Pvt. Geoffrey Fife), Jim Caviezel (Pvt. Robert Witt), Ben Chaplin (Pvt. John Bell), George Clooney (Capt. Charles Bosche), John Cusack (Capt. John Graff), John Savage (Sgt. McCron), John Travolta (Brig. Gen. Quintard), Arie Vereen (Pfc. Charlie Dale), Kirk Acevedo (Pvt. Tella), Mark Boone Junior (Pvt. Peale), Woody Harrelson (Sgt. Keck), Elias Koteas (Capt. James Staros), Tim Blake Nelson (Pvt. Tills), John C. Reilly (Sgt. Storm), and Nick Nolte (Lt. Col. Gordon Tall).

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Fantastic Fest Review: ‘Hatchet II’

Posted on October 4, 2010

Director Adam Green brought his patented flair for gore to Fantastic Fest with Hatchet II, the sequel to the well received Hatchet (2006.) The movie will be released in theaters unrated, the second October release to buck the trend and opt for no rating (the other being I Spit on Your Grave 2010, which also showed at the festival.)

Hatchet II has the distinction of being the first film that theater chain AMC will release and support in unrated form, through their independent program.  Dark Sky films is the distributor, and this marks the largest unrated release in major theaters in 25 years.  That’s  a huge development for horror, and for that reason alone, if you are a horror fan, you should support this movie by buying a ticket.

Although I personally adore Adam Green, and fully support his career, I found the hype for Hatchet perplexing.  I watched the film twice, just to see if I missed something, but I never found the movie to be very good.  The story behind Victor Crowley (played by Kane Hodder in both films) is interesting, but the secondary characters are grating, to say the least.

Fortunately most of those tourist types have been eliminated from the sequel, and the story has been stripped down to a bare bones slasher flick.  You get exactly what you expect, no more, no less.  It’s a good October release, and should satisfy those looking for a an old-school throwback to the films they grew up with, but don’t expect any new ground to be broken here.

Hatchet II literally picks up precisely where Hatchet left off.  Scream queen Danielle Harris steps into the role of Marybeth this time around. If you recall, she was the sole survivor of Victor Crowley’s bloodbath in Hatchet, and she flees to the safety of an isolated house occupied by a swamp dweller. All is fine and good until he actually finds out who she is, then he promptly kicks her out of his house.

Marybeth seeks answers from New Orleans Voodoo shop owner/ghost tour operator Reverend Zombie, played by horror icon Tony Todd (Candyman.)  He’s sympathetic to her plight, and decides to accompany her into the swamp to retrieve the bodies of her father and brother. They assemble a ragtag group of people to track down Crowley.

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‘Just Cause’ Video Game Coming To The Silver Screen

Posted on October 4, 2010

Just when you thought Hollywood would be turning to more real-life based stories like The Social Network, news is now coming in that the video game franchise Just Cause is getting optioned into a major motion picture. Variety has the lowdown.

Eric Eisner’s L+E Pictures has optioned the film rights to Avalanche Studios’ videogame franchise “Just Cause,” which it will develop with producer Adrian Askarieh, of Prime Universe Prods., before shopping it to the studios.

The story revolves around Rico Rodriguez, a black ops agent who is brought in for the sole purpose to complete missions of chaos and bringing down foreign nations. Rodriguez has been referred to as “James Bond, Mad Max, Jason Bourne, El Mariachi, Punisher, Rambo, Tony Montana, and Han Solo all rolled into one. With a touch of Enrique Iglesias.” So you can imagine how important the casting for this character will be.

The first game hit stores on XBox proper back in 2006 and the sequel hit the 360 back in March and has sold just over 3 million units between the two. The script is being penned by Turistas writer Michael Ross, who was also the lead editor for Wrong Turn and the remake of 2001 Maniacs. Ross definitely comes from a horror background, so it will be an interesting turn to see him take on an international spy action.

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‘Wonder Woman’ Coming to TV From David E. Kelly

Posted on October 4, 2010

A new Wonder Woman project is in the works and this time it won’t be for the big screen and has nothing to do with Joss Whedon. Sorry fans. Instead, David E. Kelly, one of TV’s most successful creators of shows such as Ally McBeal and The Practice, has signed on to bring the character to the small screen in a new TV series.

The project, from Warner Bros Television where Kelley is based, and Warner Bros’ DC Entertainment, will be taken out to the networks shortly. Details on Kelley’s TV series are, of course, being kept under wraps and it’s not clear if the new Wonder Woman series will feature the old familiar Wonder Woman or the redesigned one announced earlier this year and now featured in the comics.

It will be interesting to see if Kelly can do for Wonder Woman what he did for his other shows. He managed to portray strong female characters who were likable and also infused his shows with a sense of humor. Plus, he always had a bit of his own personal social and political agenda come through.

I’m not sure if that’s the right way to go for Wonder Woman, but based on his past successes and obvious talent, I’m willing to give him a chance. Plus, with Smallville off the air after this season, we are in need of another superhero show to fill that void.

Regardless of the rest, the real question now is who can replace the iconic Lynda Carter, who portrayed the Amazon princess in the most successful TV adaptation which ran from 1975 to 1979, as Wonder Woman? There are a lot of talented actresses out there who may be right for the part, but who’s best? Let the speculation and predictions begin.

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