The Flickcast – Page 798 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

Review: ‘The Wolfman’

I had some major reservations going into the screening of The Wolfman. For those of us who followed the film’s production, there were frequent rumors of strife on the set, and then there was an ominous release date switch at the last moment. However, once the film began, those reservations were put to rest. I had a blast seeing this new vision of the classic movie monster brought to life.

Director Joe Johnston manages to deliver an atmospheric Gothic thriller, full of foggy London moors, mythical beasts, and buckets and buckets of blood and gore. When all was said and done, I was willing to forgive some story flaws, because this was just so much fun for the horror fan in me. The film is a nice throwback to the monster movies of the 40’s, and has a distinctly nostalgic feel.

A perfectly cast Benicio Del Torro (who has a very feral look in real life) plays Lawrence, who has been living in America, but has been summoned to return to London because his brother has gone missing.  By the time Lawrence reaches his family’s dilapidated mansion, his brother’s mutilated body has been found in a ditch.  Lawrence’s father (a diabolical Anthony Hopkins) seems curiously nonplussed by the whole ordeal, and clearly harbors a deep-rooted dislike of his remaining son.

Lawrence makes a promise to his brother’s grieving fiancé Gwen (Emily Blunt) that he will solve the mystery of what happened to his brother.  His quest takes him to a nearby gypsy camp that has fallen under the suspician of the townspeople. While he is talking to some of the gypsies, a creature attacks the camp with undiscriminating zeal.  Sheer mayhem occurs as decapitations, amputations, and slashed throats lay in the wake of the beast’s assault.

Continue Reading

New Cut of Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ to Be Shown

Fans of Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent masterpiece Metropolis will be delighted to hear that a new cut of the film will premiere tomorrow, February 12, at the Brandenburg Gate in Germany. Streaming video will be shown here at 11:40 am PST today.

The new cut includes nearly 30 minutes of restored, never-before-seen footage discovered in 2008 in Buenos Aires. Not long after the discovery, the BBC reported that representatives of the FW Murnau Foundation, rights holders to the film, confirmed that the recovered footage was indeed part of the original film, which was extensively cut for distribution following its premiere.

The excised scenes purportedly explore several characters in greater depth as well as introduce additional plot elements. In an interview last year with Deustche Welle, film restorer Anke Wilkening mentioned that the missing half-hour will “completely change the film as we know it.” Nevertheless several minutes are still missing.

Premiering in 1927, Metropolis was notable for being among the first films to combine contemporary politics issues with science fiction—in addition to creating an astonishing visual atmosphere heavily influenced by German expressionism and Art Deco. Wilkening, among others, cite its impact on latter-day films such as Blade Runner and its character of inventor CA Rotwang as an archetype of the 1930s-cinema’s mad scientist.

Continue Reading

Warner Bros. Pushes ‘The Losers’ Back To A June Release

This summer wasn’t looking like that big of a deal last month, but in that time, we’ve already picked up the pace with Clash of the Titans getting a late Spring release, and now it looks like June will be a battle between Warner’s The Losers and Fox’s The A-Team.

Both films have a similar premise, with A-Team being a reboot of the popular TV series from the 80’s and Losers being an adaptation of a comic book. With more than enough money in either film’s budget, both can be considered a “summer blockbuster” on their own.

This isn’t the first time this year that Warner Bros is messing with release dates. It came out a few weeks ago that the studio would be pushing the release of Clash of the Titans back one week in order to compensate for the film’s conversion to 3D. Now their changing the release date of Losers from April 9th to June 4th. A bold move.

In history, a change in a film’s release date usually means that the film didn’t test very well with audiences, and they have to go back with reshoots in order to get a better audience score. The same thing was done with this weekend’s release of Universal’s The Wolfman, which was changed twice.

‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ To Get A Reboot

Though February is considered Black History Month, this year it seems that Hollywood is turning it into “Reboot Month”. Less than two weeks into the month, and we’ve already gotten word on a reboot for Daredevil, The Thing, Gunsmoke, Hawaii Five-0, and word that the Spider-Man reboot will be in 3-D.

It seems that Tinseltown and New Line Studios is setting their sights on another classic franchise, in National Lampoon’s Vacation. The original, which started in 1983, beget 4 sequels, including the direct-to-DVD film Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure. From Variety:

The latest project, which will no longer carry the National Lampoon credit, is being described as more of an update than a sequel and will be closer in tone to “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” than the previous chapters. Story will focus on Rusty Griswold, now a grown man, who decides to take his own wife and kids on a road trip to Wally World before it closes forever. Chase is not attached at this time to reprise his role as Clark Griswold, now a grandfather.

Continue Reading

Five New Clips From ‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’

While much of the movie-going population will be headed to Valentine’s Day this weekend, there are two other large releases to look forward to: Universal’s Wolf Man and 20th Century Fox’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

Based on the first of a series of books starting in 2005, the film focuses around a group of half-human, half-god hybrids that are introduced to the very real world of the Olympian Gods. There are five books in the series total, so expect to see Fox take the franchise a bit further than New Line did with His Dark Materials and The Golden Compass.

This year is shaping up to have an ongoing theme of Greek Mythology, as this film opens tomorrow and Clash of the Titans hits theaters on the first weekend of April. With that in mind, we’ve got plenty of clips for you to get ready for tomorrow’s film.

Check out five brand-new clips from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, starring Uma Thurman, Logan Lerman, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Kevin McKidd, and many more, after the jump.

Continue Reading

Dark Horse Announces New ‘Star Wars’ Comic Series

If you’re a Star Wars fan, then this news is for you. Dark Horse has just announced a new way to feed your Star Wars needs. Writer John Jackson Miller (Mass Effect: Redemption, Knights Of The Old Republic) will be writing a new tale of Star Wars called Star Wars: Knight Errant first as an ongoing comic series, and then as a novel to be published by Del Ray Books. The novel will be set in the same era and feature the same characters but following them in an all-new adventure.

Knight Errant will introduce us to Kerra Holt, a young Jedi who’s about to realize that her role in the galaxy is far more important, and vastly different than she could have ever imagined. The series and novel will be set one thousand years before Episode I, in the “Dark Age of the Republic.” According to Dark Horse, this pivotal time in the history of Star Wars has been largely unexplored, until now.

Miller, in particular, is very excited to be taking on this new Star Wars project:

“There’s such wonderful chaos going on in the galaxy in this period,” said writer John Jackson Miller. “More than a generation before Darth Bane introduced the Rule of Two, Sith Lords are colliding not just with the Republic, but with each other. Kerra’s going to find that good intentions just may not be enough in a galaxy gone mad! This is a wide-open area to explore, and I’m thrilled that Dark Horse and Del Rey have given me this opportunity to do so.”

“With John writing both the comics and the novel, Knight Errant will be a Star Wars story on a scale we’ve never undertaken before,” said comic-series editor Dave Marshall. “This will be a first-of-its-kind opportunity to introduce the Expanded Universe of the Dark Horse comics to the fans of the Del Rey novels and vice versa!”

The Star Wars: Knight Errant comic hits stores later this year with the novel coming out early in 2011.

Catch Oscar Fever With TCM’s ’31 Days Of Oscar’

While you’re already getting your big Academy Awards party ready in time for the telecast on March 7th, we’ve got something for even bigger movie fans to enjoy. Of course, we’re talking about a movie marathon!

All month long, Turner Classic Movies will be running over 360 Academy Award nominated and winning films, back to back, with an interesting twist. In the vain of the game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” each film will have a common actor or actress from the previous film.

For example, tomorrow night’s schedule consists of The Graduate with Anne Bancroft and William Daniels, which goes into Reds which stars Daniels and Jack Nicholson, into Chinatown with Nicholson and John Huston. Though we’re already about two weeks into the marathon, there are still plenty of great films to look forward to, including some TCM firsts like Gladiator, Titanic, Alien, and Trading Places.

We’re also going to be helping you celebrate the upcoming 82nd Annual Academy Awards on March 7th with a great prize pack, so be sure to keep an eye on our Twitter for details on how to win.

In the meantime, check out the schedule for this weekend’s films on TCM, and be sure to download the full schedule in PDF format. If not, you could always watch them blind and try to figure out the common actor/actress. Have fun!

Continue Reading

New ‘Toy Story 3’ Trailer Hits The Web!

Going off to college is never easy. It’s even harder when your most beloved childhood toys get donated to a day care center, and that’s the situation Andy and his toys Woody, Buzz, and the gang are facing in the third installment to Pixar’s oldest franchise, Toy Story 3. A new trailer popped up on the Apple Trailers site today, giving us an even deeper peek at the film.

It’s more than appropriate that Andy would be going off to college, as Toy Story fans (myself included) have all grown up and left our own toys behind. But with the toys also facing big changes like making new friends and learning to use the internet, Toy Story 3 looks like it’ll please both fourth graders and college freshmen.

Directed by Lee Unkrich (Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc.) and starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger, Joan Cusack, and Wallace Shawn, Toy Story 3 flies out of the toy box and into theaters and IMAX 3D June 18th. In the meantime, you can watch the brand new trailer after the jump.

Continue Reading