The Flickcast – Page 768 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

Are You Watching SyFy’s ‘Destination Truth’? You Should!

Let me be gushingly frank.  If you are anywhere other than the SyFy Channel on Wednesday nights, you’re missing one of the coolest shows on television: Destination Truth.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking. SyFy Channel! Sure, they have Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who, but it’s really just the land of classic films such as Wyvern and Manticore and the unconfirmed Sharktopus.  It’s the channel of camp, even if you are tempted by Ghost Hunters’ Halloween special.

Or maybe you’re secretly indulging in Ghost Hunters all the time.  I know I am.  It’s my one reality show pleasure.

At least it was. But I became so intrigued by Josh Gates’ enthusiastic SyFy spots that I gave in and watched Destination Truth.   Forget Ghost Hunters. This is now my reality show addiction.

The concept is silly:  Gates and his team go looking for monsters.  It’s cryptozoology at it’s silliest as he and his team race around dangerous locations looking for evidence of yetis, giant serpents, giant squid, and werewolves. They break it up with forays into the paranormal, and do a bit of ghost hunting or sail around the Bermuda Triangle.

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Sigourney Weaver Goes For The Throat In ‘Vamps’

By now, you’ve read a dozen articles proclaiming the past year or so to be the Age of the Vampires. You have probably complained loudly about how many darn vampire movies and television shows there are. I know I have.

I make a few exceptions (you’ll pry my True Blood DVDs out of my cold, undead fingers) but for the most part, I could let most of the movies and television shows pass on by.  But we’re all going to have to make another exception for Sigourney Weaver.

According to THR’s Heat Vision, Weaver has joined the cast of Amy Heckerling’s vampire horror comedy Vamps.   The film centers on two young vampires played by Alicia Silverstone and Krysten Ritter who find their permanent youth, sexiness, and penchant for darkness a boon in the New York club scene.   But when they find true love, they face a difficult choice that threatens their immortality.

Weaver will play Ciccerus, a vicious vampire who turned both girls into bloodsuckers.   She’s also a queen vampire. Move over Evan Rachel Wood!  Weaver will have the power of Zuul at her back. Frankly, that’s why I’m excited to see her embrace her (campy) dark side. No one can play vicious like Weaver, and few have her dry comedic chops.

Even if the idea of a vampire romantic comedy immediately makes your fangs pop out, you have to admit this addition makes Vamps a lot more appealing.

Vamps is eying an April start.   Let’s hope all the blood isn’t drained of the trend before we get to see a goddess like Weaver have some fun with it.

New On Blu-Ray and DVD This Week

This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for Ninja Assasin, new seasons of Hawaii Five-O, Monk, and South Park and the Blu-ray release of The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Edition.

Oh, and there’s that Twilight movie coming out on Blu-ray this week you may have heard of. I think its called New Moon.

Check them out:

Movies

Armored ~ Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne (Blu-ray and DVD)

Astro Boy ~ Nicolas Cage (Blu-ray and DVD)

Bandslam ~ Vanessa Hudgens (Blu-ray and DVD)

Broken Embraces ~ Penélope Cruz (Bl-ray and DVD)

Did You Hear About the Morgans? ~ Sarah Jessica Parker, Hugh Grant (Blu-ray and DVD)

Fallen Angels ~ Leon Lai Ming, Karen Mok (Blu-ray and DVD)

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Western Wednesdays: ‘The Train Robbers’

The Train Robbers has been sitting in my Netflix queue for ages, hoping every Tuesday night that I’ll finally pick it for a Western Wednesday.  It may have stayed there forever had not Justin Gray suggested it.  Gray, as you should know by now, is coauthor of the DC series Jonah Hex. If he says “You should watch The Train Robbers!”, you call up the Netflix queue, and then you apologize to John Wayne that you required someone to intercede on his behalf.

However about halfway through, I began wondering if I had picked the right movie.  Nothing was happening. The villains were a dustcloud shrouded bunch who just thundered around,  Ann-Margaret was getting on my nerves,  the sidekicks were blurring together, and Wayne was just being Wayne.  I checked the clock and was relieved to see there was only about 15 minutes left.

And in that 15 minutes, The Train Robbers becomes an epic, edge-of-your-seat Western that just beg the question “Why the heck did they save up all the good stuff until now?” There’s explosions, a dynamite-loaded mule, guns, a creepy town,  a train used as an entire weapon, and a big twist.  It’s really one of the best action pieces I’ve seen in a Wayne Western.

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The Flickcast – Episode Nada: As Time Goes By

Due to much of The Flickcast team (including Chris) being in Austin for SXSW and the power outages on the East Coast, sadly we won’t be able to bring you a new episode of The Flickcast this week. However, don’t despair as we’ll be back next week with an all-new episode featuring great info from SXSW, the Syfy upfronts, Emerald City Comic Con, Captain America and a whole lot more. It should be a rocking episode.

In the meantime, check out some of our favorite episodes from the past to help you handle the waiting until next week. And don’t worry, seven days really isn’t that long.

The Flickcast – Episode 39: First Flight

The Flickcast – Best of 2009 Special

The Flickcast – Episode 36: Avatar Schmavatar

The Flickcast – Episode 32: Eclipse

The Flickcast – Episode 31: Attack of the Clones

Check Out the Trailer for the ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ Prequel Novel

With less than a week to go until the highly anticipated release of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (prequel to publishing phenom Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), Quirk Books has released a blood-soaked trailer for fans to get a glimpse of how the Bennet sisters became formidable zombie killers.

The terrifying and hilarious prequel is a coming-of-age story details the origins of the zombie plague in early-nineteenth-century England and how the five Bennet sisters go from clumsy country lasses to savage slayers of the undead. Fans of the beloved Elizabeth Bennet will witness her clumsy first attempts at training with nunchucks and katana swords to mastering the placement of a ninja star in a zombie’s neck (tasty!).

Written by Steve Hockensmith, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls will be available at a bookstore near you on March 23.

Catch the gory (well, 19th-Century gory) two-minute trailer after the jump

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SXSW Review: ‘Cyrus’

Mark and Jay Duplass caused a bit of a commotion at Sundance and SXSW in 2005 when their feature film The Puffy Chair debuted to rave reviews and serious buzz. The brothers’ approach to filmmaking was so innovative that they had a new genre of film named after them: mumblecore.

Mumblecore is an indie genre characterized by low budget, improvisation, “non-actor” actors, and plots dealing primarily with personal relationships. The brothers followed up The Puffy Chair with Baghead (2008.)

Even though Cyrus cannot be categorized as pure mumblecore, it is certainly heavily influenced by the Duplass brothers’ earlier films. The movie stars well known comedic actors Jonah Hill (Superbad) and John C. Reilly (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), as well as Oscar winner Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler.)

John C. Reilly is wonderful as John, a downtrodden divorced man who finds out that his ex-wife Jamie (played by Catherine Keener) is getting remarried, and wants him to attend an engagement party. Humiliating stuff for even the most confident of men, and John is far from confident.

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Want To Direct ‘Breaking Dawn’? Oscar Nomination Now Required!

Now that the trailer has hit for the third Twilight installment, Eclipse, Summit has begun the hunt for the lucky soul to sit in the director’s chair for the final dose of Twilight: Breaking Dawn. According to Entertainment Weekly, they’re aiming high and want no less than someone with an Oscar nomination or two under their belt.

Summit has reportedly approached Sofia Coppola, Gus Van Sant, and Bill Condon with offers.   It’s still very hush hush, however, as only Van Sant’s representatives would confirm first contact. Summit declined to comment.   Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg’s script outline is due next week, so it’s unlikely any serious offers can be made until  everyone knows how the iffy bits are going to be handled.

Stephanie Meyer will also have to weigh in, as she has approval over every hire Summit makes.  Any Twilighters know whether she prefers Marie Antoinette to Dreamgirls? What does she think of Good Will Hunting?

Of course, it may end up being none of these fine people. When Chris Weitz dropped out of the series after helming New Moon, the list of possible Eclipse directors was long and interesting:  Drew Barrymore, Juan Antonio Bayona, Paul Weitz, and James Mangold were all name dropped before David Slade climbed on board.

With that in mind, do you think we can convince David Cronenberg consider the gig?  If so, Breaking Dawn would officially be the first Twilight film I’d be camped out to see.