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ABC Dominates Thursday Night

Posted on October 6, 2009

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Television network ABC has effectively staked their claim to rule Thursday nights, if the return numbers from The Hollywood Reporter are any indication. But instead of trying to make sense of those numbers, let’s break it down in a more digestible format, and what you really need to know is that ABC crushed the competition.

Both Grey’s Anatomy and the season premiere of Private Practice won their respective time slots while FlashForward tied with CBS’ Survivor in theirs, translating to an almost clean sweep. While most of the other shows couldn’t produce the same viewership, they managed to stay the course and not drop too much. CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigations and The Mentalist, Fox’s Bones and Fringe and The CW’s Vampire Diaries and Supernatural all enjoyed different levels of success.

Left in the cold, however, is NBC and their sinking line-up of programming. Parks and Recreation, Community and SNL Weekend Update Thursday managed to produce poor numbers. Even fan-favorite The Office only managed to do “average,” leading to the former home of “Must See Thursday” placing fourth among the top-tiered networks.

EA Takes ‘Spore’ to Fox

Posted on October 6, 2009

spore1-thumb-580x324EA has teamed up with 20th Century Fox to turn their popular creature creator game, Spore, into a motion picture, Variety reports. Writing the Spore script will be Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, the team behind Disney’s upcoming “The Princess and the Frog” and directing will be Chris Wedge, director of Ice Age and Robots.

“I’m always looking for unique worlds to go to in animation,” Wedge said. “From every perspective — visually, thematically and comedically — the world of ‘Spore’ provides the potential to put something truly original on the screen.”

Released in 2008, Spore allows players to create and evolve a species from its earliest stages to its development as an intelligent and social creature by mixing role playing, action, and strategy. EA Entertainment’s Patrick O’Brien will produce “Spore” with Lucy Bradshaw, VP of Maxis Studio, the studio that developed the game with Will Wright, creator of “Sim City” and “The Sims” franchises for EA.

“With more than 100 million unique creatures uploaded to our website, it’s clear that people are passionate about the game, and it will be exciting to offer a powerful medium like film in order to expand their experience with ‘Spore,’ ” said Bradshaw.

Video game-to-film adaptations are pretty commonplace these days, especially if a game has a unique plot or premise. Which is why EA’s Spore looks to be an interesting but curious movie. What’s unique about Spore isn’t its plot or premise. It’s the gameplay. Gamers are able to customize their creatures in hundreds of ways, who interact with other gamer’s unique creations. How this will translate from the computer screen to the big screen remains to be seen.

EA also has plans for film adaptations of other popular franchises like The Sims, Army of Two, Dante’s Inferno, Dead Space, and Mass Effect.

‘Doctor Who’ Gets A New Logo

Posted on October 6, 2009

Picture 2Those of us who have been following the BBC series Doctor Who since it’s reboot back in 2005 know that the series has always been about change, going back to it’s roots in 1963. Once in a while, the show will change it’s lead actor, writing in a “regeneration” for the good Doctor. It’s happened 10 times in the past 50 years, and it’s about to happen again.

It was announced earlier this year that British actor Matt Smith would be taking over the role as the 11th Doctor when the series starts up again in 2010, after Davin Tennant resigns from his 4 year position in December. We now get word that not only will the main protagonist be “regenerating”, but we’ll be getting a brand new logo as well.

Steven Moffat, new head writer for the show, even had some new things to say about the branding change.

“A new logo. The eleventh logo for the eleventh Doctor – those grand old words, Doctor Who, suddenly looking newer than ever.  And look at that, something really new – an insignia!   DW in TARDIS form!  Simple and beautiful, and most important of all, a completely irresistible doodle.  I apologize to school notebooks everywhere, because in 2010 that’s what they’re going to be wearing.”

Check out the reveal video after the jump, and the new series of Doctor Who will premiere in spring 2010. The final three episodes featuring David Tennant will be broadcast later this year on BBC and BBC America.

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XBLA Review: ‘Military Madness: Nectaris’

Posted on October 6, 2009

mmlogo_finalScore: 6.0 – XBox Live Arcade – 800 Microsoft Points ($10.00)

Twenty years ago, a little system called the TurboGrafx-16 entered the console wars with Nintendo and Sega. Though it ultimately didn’t survive the long haul, it did produce a few games that have been remembered by its faithful followers. One of these was Military Madness. One of the original turn based strategy games released, it would go on to eventually be rereleased on the PSone years later before going dormant once again. That is, until this week’s XBLA release of Military Madness: Nectaris from Hudson on the XBox 360.

Gameplay:

Military Madness: Nectaris is a futuristic military Turn Based Strategy game on a hexagon based grid. Units consist of various Infantry, Artillery, Tanks, Planes, Mechs and other specialized units each with their unique playstyle and abilities. A new unit, the Commander, has also been introduced to multiplayer component of the series. The Commander is based on customizing its abilities in order to boost attack and defense of other units, attack air unit or various other tactical uses. Units cannot be produced at any time butthe player can “capture” enemy units if they were in wait in factories. Units can be repaired by returning them to factories present on the map.

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Ryan Reynolds: ‘Green Lantern 4 to 5 Months from Shooting, Still on Deadpool’

Posted on October 6, 2009

ryan-reynoldsThis past Thursday night actor Ryan Reynolds dropped by Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to discuss, among other things, his involvement in the upcoming Green Lantern and Deadpool projects. According to MTV’s Splash Page, Reynolds dropped a tantalizing nugget of information when he told Fallon “I’m 4-5 months away from beginning shooting,” Green Lantern.

But why does it seem like the soon-to-be 33 year-old is constantly looking over his shoulder? “It’s crazy, it’s the only job I’ve ever had that I’m not allowed to really talk about. I think there’s like a representative from Warner Brothers who I’m sure is following me around ready to blow-dart me if I say a single word.”

All threats aside, while Reynolds didn’t have anything new to offer on Deadpool, the X-Men Origins: Wolverine spin-off, he did confirm that he’d be reprising his role as the “Merc With a Mouth,” Wade Wilson. Does he feel any pressure knowing that countless comics fans are watching his every move? “At this point [playing both roles] makes you just like an Internet hero, nothing really more than that.”

Stellan Skarsgard Joins ‘Thor’

Posted on October 6, 2009

stellanskarsgardOkay, let me get this out of the way first, with a name like Skarsgard how could you not be in Marvel‘s upcoming Thor movie? Apparently the answer is, you can’t. To that end, Stellan Skarsgard is joining the cast of Thor.

While Skarsgard could not comment on what role he would be playing he did speak of the hurdles committing to the project, “They wanted me to sign without reading the script. That I refused to do. Then they sent one to me that was so coded that I could only print one copy.” Considering the nature of Marvel properties it’s not surprising they would want to keep things hush hush.

If you don’t recognize Skarsgard’s name you would remember him in such films as Angels & Demons, Mamma Mia!, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End. Interestingly enough Skarsgard’s son, Alexander (True Blood), was rumored to be up for the leading role of Thor himself, but that ultimately went to Star Trek’s Chris Hemsworth.

Alongside Skarsgard, Thor stars Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore and Samuel L. Jackson. Directed by Kenneth Branagh Thor is set to hit theaters May 20, 2011.

Marvel Comics On Sale This Week

Posted on October 5, 2009

AstonishingXMen31Its Monday so that means it time to share with you all the great comics that will be coming out from one of our favorite comic publishes this week. So, following is a list of comics and trades from Marvel that will hit store this Wednesday.

Some of the titles that look pretty interesting to us include a new The Torch, a new Cable, issue #2 of Strange Tales and a brand new issue of Astonishing X-Men. As always, be sure to check out all of the bigger cover art after the jump and stay tuned later this week for a brand new installment of The Pull List comics reviews.

Comics On-Sale:

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #608

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #608 DJURDJEVIC 70TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT

ASTONISHING X-MEN #31 WRAPAROUND COVER

ASTONISHING X-MEN #31 CHAREST VARIANT

ASTONISHING X-MEN #31 SKETCH VARIANT

BLACK PANTHER #9

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Tarantino Wants to Kill Again

Posted on October 5, 2009

kill-bill-sequelsHot on the heels of his summer blockbuster Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino announced recently that he is planning on making a third Kill Bill film. According to Variety, Tarantino announced the sequel Saturday at the Morelia Film Festival, where he was promoting Basterds.

There, he said that there would be a ten year gap between Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Kill Bill Vol. 3 to give Uma Thurman’s character, “The Bride” and her daughter Beebe some well-deserved peace. This would slate the project for a 2014 release.

Before he turns bloody with the next Kill Bill film, Tarantino said he was “wide open” to what his next project would be. At a conference alongside Eli Roth, Tarantino talked about “re-imagining” of a number of film genres, including a Western or a 1920s “Pretty Boy Floyd” kind of gangster movie. Inglorious Basterds continues to perform at the box office, earning $1.4 million in its 7th weekend in theaters.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted here at The Flickcast on Tarantino’s upcoming projects and any other exciting movie news.

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