The Flickcast – Page 765 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

Take A Peek At This Week’s ‘Destination Truth’ and ‘Ghost Hunters’!

A few days ago I raved about SyFy’s reality show Destination Truth, and hopefully inspired a few more of you to put it on your DVR or TIVO. In case my enthusiasm wasn’t enough to convince you, SyFy has sent us a clip of next week’s Destination Truth, where Gates and his crew investigate the Great Wall of China.  I was hoping the clip would be of a hilarious cultural misunderstanding or bout of food poisoning, but it’s of Gates brushing up against a possible entity.

If you’ve never seen the show before, you might find yourself sneering at Gates’ goosebumps, but don’t judge too hastily. He’s actually a hard man to shake. Judge its night vision eeriness for yourself.

Along spookier lines, SyFy has also included a clip of next week’s Ghost Hunters, which finds  TAPS doing its usual thing, and investigating some paranormal activity in New Jersey.   (New Jersey may not be as exotic as China, but it’s just as colorful in its own way, right?)  Watch them try to solve the mystery of the climbing EMF reading. Red-blooded males will probably appreciate it’s the two lovely ghost hunting ladies that are doing the investigating.

Is any of it for real? Who knows.  It’s good fun, anyway.  I’m not a fan of reality television, but SyFy has me hooked with all these investigations into pseudo-science.  Plus, I saw Gates kiss a cobra on an Egyptian episode.   Seeing someone risk death for a laugh and vaguely educational purposes  is worth a Wednesday night.

The clips are embedded below. Thanks to SyFy for sending them to us!

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Aniston is Bested by Alice and a Wimpy Kid at the Box Office

Several prognosticators predicted that the one-two punch of Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler co-starring in a romantic comedy would equal box office gold. Well, until the reviews started trickling in. When the dust settled, The Bounty Hunter had amassed a truly rotten score of 9% favorable reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch.

Despite that, the film made $2 1Million, good enough to place it in third place for the weekend. With a production budget of around $40 Million, it is way to early to call this a flop. $21 Million is a respectable opening weekend take.

The Red Queen and company from Alice in Wonderland continue to surprise everyone.Now in its third weekend in release, Alice is still bringing in some pretty big numbers. It dropped 45% over last weekend, for $34.5 Million, bringing its three week cumulative total to a fantastic $265 Million.

So what box-office star beat out Aniston for the number two spot? Would you believe nobody?  A cast of relative unknowns starred in Diary of  Wimpy Kid, which you probably have never heard of unless you happen to have elementary school-aged children.

It is a hot book franchise for those who run in the pre-tween circles, and apparently that was enough to buoy its box-office take.  Diary narrowly edged out The Bounty Hunter with $21.8 Million, but with a much more modest budget of $14 Million, it is already profitable.  There are plenty of books (4 already out, with plans for a fifth this year) to pillage for a franchise, too.

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Review: ‘Repo Men’

Remakes and sequels are a dime a dozen. While Repo Men is neither of those, it bears incredible similarities with Repo! The Genetic Opera, a rock musical released in 2006. The films are very much the same in content and style, while the stories that they tell are very, very different.

Remy (Jude Law) seems like a normal guy. He’s got a wife and child, lives in a house in the suburbs, drives a fancy Volkswagon SUV. What isn’t so normal is Remy’s job. He repossess people’s artificial organs when they can’t afford their payments to The Union, the company that makes and finances the organs to people in need.

Anyone who becomes late with their payments is hunted down by The Union’s “repo men” and their artificial organs are repossessed, usually resulting in their immediate death. Remy and his partner Jake (Forest Whitaker) don’t mind being repo men, in fact they quite enjoy it. But when Remy’s wife decides maybe her husband should consider a career change, everything changes.

It’s hard to discuss this film’s plot without giving away the two major twists that make this film interesting, but I’ll just say that the Remy you meet in the beginning of the film is very, very different from the Remy at the end of the film. Think of Christian Bale’s character in Equilibrium as a comparison. Jude Law does a great job with this transformation, and Whitaker isn’t too shabby either.

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Motorola DROID 2.1 Upgrade Details Emerge

Over at the terrific Boy Genius Report, they’ve got the reported details on the upcoming update to the Motorola DROID. This update will bring the DROID to Android Software version 2.1.

Sadly, as exciting as that is for DROID owners, the rollout details are somewhat underwhelming, especially if you’re not a fan of waiting. Check ’em out:

• At noon EDT on 3/18, 1,000 users will receive notification of the update
• At 11:59 PM EDT on 3/18, 9,000 more users will receive the update notification
• After the first 10,000 users receive the update on 3/18, there will be a 24-hour period when no additional upgrades will be delivered
• On Day 3 (3/20), 200,000 users will receive the update notification at 11:59 PM EDT
• This schedule will continue each day thereafter until the update has been delivered to all users
• And here are a few conditions needed for the update to be applied:
• An OTA download requires 40% or more power availability
• If the device is not connected to an external power source or 20% or more power if it is connected to an external source
• If roaming, the customer will not receive the update

So it seems those of you getting the update the “legit” way will have some time to wait. Those of you who can’t wait that long and will acquire the update by other means, well, you’re wait won’t be as long. Happy updating.

The Flickcast’s ‘On The Radar’

This week On the Radar George Lucas seeks to capture the minds of even younger viewers, Image Comics takes a shot at Marvel, and one of the most famous music videos of all time may go 3D.  All that and whole bunch of other fun stuff!

Crispin Glover talks Back to the Future controversy

Personally, I didn’t realize Back to the Future was mired in any kind of controversy, but it is.  Speaking at a promotion for Hot Tub Time Machine, Crispin Glover, who played Marty McFly’s (Michael J. Fox) Dad spoke about the raw deal he was dealt after the first film came out:

“On the DVD to the Back to the Future trilogy, Bob Gale has said something that’s totally fabricated,” Glover told a group of reporters at this weekend’s press junket forHot Tub Time Machine. “He said I asked for twice the amount of money that Michael J. Fox asked for in the first film. In the negotiation for the second film, they offered me less than half of what any of the actors that were being asked to come back in the film—Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson. They had all done studio films, and they’d made a lot more money. I was being penalized.”

Interesting stuff.  Mind you, considering the somewhat lackluster opinions of the second and third film maybe Glover got off easy by not being in them.

Jamie Foxx to star in Kane & Lynch video game adaption?

There hasn’t been a lot of talk about the film adaption of video game Kane & Lynch other than it could star Bruce Willis as Kane.  Now, another big name is being tossed around to play opposite Willis, Jamie Foxx.  Developed by IO Interactive Nu Image/Millennium is set to finance with Lionsgate distributing.  While I’m confident in the actors involved, video games are not well known for the best of translations to the big screen.

George Lucas bringing Galactic Heroes to TV

Ask any “real” Star Wars fan and they will probably tell you that The Clone Wars cartoon is pretty childish.  Well, prepared to consider that more mature entertainment.  Looking to draw in even younger viewers to the Star Wars universe, George Lucas is working on a cartoon adaption of the Star Wars: Galactic Heroes toy line.  You know, those chunky figures with a whopping two points of articulation (usually the arms).  Worse yet, this problem means more screen time with the one Star Wars character that can relate best to 3 year olds-Jar Jar Binks.

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‘Final Fight: Double Impact’ Date and Price Announced

The Flickcast’s gaming division loves retro. Not one of us hasn’t broken out their old NES, blown into a cartridge, and booted up the original Super Mario Bros. even though it came out decades ago. So when we heard one of our Capcom classic favorites from the Super Nintendo and arcade era was making a return to XBox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, of course we were excited.

Set for April 14th on XBox Live Arcade and a day later on the PlayStation Network, Final Fight: Double Impact brings back the classic side-scroller beat ’em up goodiness of both Final Fight and Magic Sword. In Final Fight, players take the role of either Cody, Guy or the most jacked mayor ever, Haggar, as they try to save Haggar’s daughter from Mad Gear and his goons. With six levels of Metro City to explore, players will get the chance to see Cody and Guy before they appear in the upcoming Super Street Fighter IV release.

In Magic Sword, players take on the role of “The Brave One” who must defeated the evil forces of a mystical tower and rid the world of its evil lord Drokman. But The Brave One isn’t alone as he has eight companions of unique skill sets who will aid him in his journey.

Both games will feature online drop-in multiplayer as well as a fully remixed soundtrack and updated graphics. The two-pack will retail for $9.99 (or 800 Microsoft Points). Stay tuned to the Flickcast for more news and reviews on Final Fight: Double Impact as it becomes available.

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SXSW Review: ‘Winter’s Bone’

Winter’s Bone is  stark, bleak and haunting. It won the Grand Jury Prize and a screenwriting award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. This is the second film by director Debra Granik.  Her debut film Down to the Bone played at the 2004 Sundance Festival, and earned her a Best Director Prize.

At the heart and soul of this drama is Ree, a seventeen year old girl living in the wooded Ozarks with her mother and two younger siblings.  It is never made  apparent why, but Ree’s mom is completely incapable of caring for the family. She is non-communicative and just sort of stares into space all the time.

That leaves Ree to man the household, so to speak. She chops wood, shoots and skins squirrels, and cares for their animals the best she can. As played by an astonishing Jennifer Lawrence, Ree is the embodiment of a girl forced to be a woman and caretaker far before her time.

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Check Out A New Restricted Clip From ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’

Today begins the official one week countdown for the release of potentially one of the funniest movies of this year, Hot Tub Time Machine. We’ve been gearing up our coverage of the film, with some great clips and a review of the official iPhone App, now we’ve got an even better goodie for you.

Straight from our pals at MGM, we got our hands on a restricted (or “red band”) clip from the film, starring the four main characters played by John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke. The clip is restricted for some shouting and violent dialogue, but nothing that you should be timid about if you plan on seeing the movie next week.

We don’t want to spoil it for you, so check out the hilarious clip after the jump, and be sure to catch our coverage of Hot Tub Time Machine all next week, leading up to the film’s national theatrical release on March 26th. By clicking through, you certify you are 18 years of age or older.

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