The Flickcast – Page 86 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

TV RECAP: ‘Once Upon a Time’ – Ep. 303: ‘Quite an Uncommon Fairy’

ROSE MCIVER, LANA PARRILLA

A big new character debuts tonight but will she be the cute, charming Tinker Bell that lights up the Disney castle or the snotty one who nearly got Wendy and Peter killed? Let’s find out Oncers…

Our company once again traipses through the woods. Charming is struggling to keep up and Snow teases him, “David Nolan let himself go?” Just as they’re getting close to the camp, as indicated by the map, it moves. As the bickering about what to do next starts up, Hook helpfully suggests they seek out a fairy he knew in Neverland. She might be able to help them find Henry/take care of Pan.

The leader of the Lost Boys is currently waking up Henry with the offering of an apple. Henry refuses the treat. “It’s a family thing,” he says. But Pan only wants him to use it for target practice. Henry is egged on to shoot a poisoned arrow at an apple on Felix’s head. He wisely tries to shoot Pan instead, who deftly catches the arrow and looks rather pleased with Henry’s decision.

Cut to the Dark Castle where Neal is frantically looking for something to use to make a portal to Neverland. He deduces that Henry must be the boy Pan was looking for all that time ago. The loud rummaging has summoned Robin Hood’s men, including Little John. He shows up with Robin’s son in tow and Neal suddenly has an idea.

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‘Skylanders SWAP Force’ Launch Day, or ‘$250 Unboxed in 5 Minutes’

Skylanders Swap Force Cover Image

So as previously mentioned, yesterday was the new release for Skylanders SWAP Force. As expected, it was not a cheap endeavor. One special edition Starter Pack, one Adventure Pack, one Battle Pack, four SWAP Force, three Lightcore and one standard Skylander later and my tally between Gamespot, Toys R Us and Target had hit the $250 mark. Now, I am not complaining. I bring it upon myself and I enjoy it. That’s what the appeal of Skylanders is. Combine a video game with the ongoing geek desire to collect things and you have an addicting formula. And that’s why we have a fantastic unboxing video for you to check out to check out and help decide which Skylander SWAP Force starter set to get yourself.

There is one piece of the Skylanders formula that does get a little frustrating though. To access all of the game’s content, it does require you to purchase real world products. To play through all the areas that are travel power based, you need eight different SWAP Force characters. Granted, two come with any Starter Set you buy but that leaves six more to go at $13 each, and at launch there are still two modes of transportation not yet available as only six of the sixteen are available so far.

Now I understand the arguments that they are releasing them in waves to keep up demand and all that, but my problem lies with content being locked. The other argument that this is to keep players coming back later and maintain replayability. Let’s be clear, (gravelly old man voice, “Get off my lawn”) back in my day we went back to games often even when there was no such thing as expanding shy of a sequel.

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The Flickcast – Episode 222: Room for Improvement

It’s a brand new episode of The Flickcast this week and Chris and Joe are ready for action. Speaking of action, this week’s topics include all sort of action from some of the boy’s favorite new TV shows.

Of course, that means the Joss Whedon/Marvel series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The BlacklistSleepy HollowArrow, the return of The Walking Dead and a whole lot more. They go a little deeper into these shows and what makes them good, and what they could improve. Plus, the aforementioned “more.” That’s right, a lot more.

Picks this week include Joe’s pick of the new book, A Matter of Time by Rich Handley, which is all about the Back to the Future franchise, and Chris’ pick of some awesome paper products from the folks at Doane Paper and also a great pen from Uni-Ball called the Jetstream. Yes, he still likes to write things by hand, with a pen, in a notebook. So?

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at FacebookGoogle+ or via email.

Movie Review: ‘Machete Kills’

machete

Machete Kills plays like a late Roger-Moore era Bond film — and not just because there’s a lot of visual cues and ideas taken from Moonraker — the action and the humor are constantly fighting for dominance, and the humor, regardless of whether it’s appropriate or not, makes sense within the context of the scene or not, hell, is funny or not, usually wins out. Though, to be fair, the plot of Machete Kills is a lot easier to follow than the plot of Octopussy.

Machete (Danny Trejo), in case you didn’t see the first film…or the trailer on which it was based, is an ex-Federale-turned-spy-or-something-like-that-but-all-around-badass, seemingly indestructible and legendary throughout Mexico. His latest “case” has him busting up a gun-running ring, apparently sponsored by the U.S. Army, and distributed to the Mexican cartel. Gun fights, explosions, dramatic standoff music, and hell ensues. Machete is somehow the only survivor when the cops show up, and by the next scene we’re in the local sheriff’s office and Machete is swinging from the ceiling with a noose around his neck. And then the President calls.

And the President is…Charlie Sheen. Naturally. He needs Machete to hunt down and kill Mendez (Damian Bichir), a nutty terrorist with a vendetta against the cartel who’s moved on to threatening the U.S. with a nuclear device. The catch is that once Machete finds him, Mendez reveals that the trigger for the bomb is tied to his heartbeat, so once he dies, boom. And he’s also put a hit out on himself that everyone in Mexico is trying to cash in on.

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Get Your First Look at Marvel’s ‘Amazing X-Men’ #1

night-crawler-1

Any Nightcrawler fans out there? Are you worried about what happened to him? Well, fear not, because Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men are on the case in Amazing X-Men #1.

Here’s all you need to know, directly from Marvel:

The X-Men are through mourning the loss of Nightcrawler, the “heart and soul” of their family – it’s time to act! Wolverine must lead Storm, Beast, Ice Man and more on an epic journey to recover one of their greatest allies – in a story that’s been building since Wolverine and the X-Men #1!

“AMAZING X-MEN is the newest can’t miss X-Men book.” says Senior Editor Nick Lowe. “Two creators at the top of their game, fully committed, bringing back possibly the best X-Man ever… and that’s just the first arc! Just wait until you see what Jason and Ed have up their sleeves!”

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TV RECAP: ‘Once Upon a Time’ – Ep. 302: ‘Lost Girl’

GINNIFER GOODWIN, COLIN O'DONOGHUE, JENNIFER MORRISON, LANA PARRILLA, JOSH DALLAS

Well Oncers, this was an episode with a lot of things I cannot stand (Snow and Charming’s gushy optimism) but also some things that I absolutely adore (Rumbelle and Hook’s everything). Read on and let me know what you thought.

We start with Rumple building himself a cozy campfire using his magic. Then he makes quick work of hacking off his shadow using his Dark One dagger. Once his shadow is loose, he gives it his dagger to hide from everyone including himself but mostly Pan.

While Rumple continues on his own, the Storybrooke 5 are tromping through the brush. Regina again establishes her place as the most objective and snarkiest of the lot. “You know, I could’ve just poofed us up here in an instant.” So true Evil Queen, but Hook insists it is safer to travel on foot. Safe from the poisoned thorns that Charming really wants to cut through? Guess they can just take the long way ‘round.

Emma and Snow have an awkward talk about the fact that Emma still calls her mom “Mary Margaret.” Snow suggests “Mom,” Once audiences suggest “Snow,” but Emma thinks the former should be saved for life or death situations and the former for never. So Mary Margaret it is then?

We again hear about Peter Pan’s wickedness from Hook, who says he’s the most treacherous villain. The company comes to a cliff (maybe the same one as Henry from last episode) and stare at the Dark Forest below. Time to make camp and head for the forest tomorrow.

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Curt Schilling Estate Goes for Sale This Weekend

Kingdoms of Amalur Logo

As reported by CBS Boston, the former Red Sox pitcher who won the ALCS with a bloody sock and former founder of 38 Studios will have his estate on sale this weekend. In addition to items from his seven bedroom and 8,000 square-foot home, items from 38 Studios will be on sale as well. The sale which is managed by Consign Works will feature a 38 Studios drafting table as well as various posters related to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The sale will take play on Saturday October 12th from 8 AM to 4 PM.

38 Studios will also have a liquidation auction next month which will include IP from Amalur. As a universe this includes the MMO assets for Project Copernicus, sequel rights to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and merchandise and revenue rights associated with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Additionally, Big Huge Game IP rights for Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends and Catan will also be on the auction block.

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Check This Out: Previews and Behind the Scenes for NBC’s ‘The Blacklist’

the-blacklist-red-1

Sure, it might remind us a bit of Silence of the Lambs, but that doesn’t mean it’s not cool. In fact, we’re really enjoying NBC’s new Fall show The Blacklist.

In case you’re not familiar, The Blacklist concerns James Spader’s character Raymond “Red” Reddington, a former FBI bigwig turned international bad guy who suddenly gives himself up one day and says he’s ready to go legit and spill all his secrets. The catch? He will only tell said secrets to one person: Elizabeth Keen, a new agent barely out of training.

We like the show (mostly because of Spader, who’s great in it) and if you give it a watch, you just might as well. To get you even more interested, our pals at NBC have sent us some previews an other behind the scenes stuff.

Check all of it out after the break. The Blacklist airs Monday nights at 10/9C.

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