The Flickcast

To Maintain Authenticity, ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ to Feature Real Gang Members

Posted on September 4, 2013

When one thinks about the experience of Grand Theft Auto, the word “authentic” isn’t usually what comes to mind. Everyone remembers their first time running down hordes of hookers, recreating the climax of Scarface and even using a jet pack from Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City and San Andreas respectively. But as Saints Row has come out and erred on the side of parody, Grand Theft Auto has gone towards something more grounded and realistic. With Grand Theft Auto V being the second in the series heading back to a more authentic experience, Rockstar Games actually went and got real gang members to be a part of their voice cast. That’s right. Real gang bangers.

In an interview on Chicago radio station WGN, Rockstar producer Lazlow Jones spoke about the decision and process of using real gang members. “When we record all these ambient characters that are in the world, we go towards authenticity,” Jones said. “So in the game, part of the element of the story is that there’s rival gangs.

“There’s black gangs, there’s Latino gangs, and we recruited a guy who gets gang members, like actual gang members, real gang members. I mean, El Salvadorian gang dudes with amazing tattoos and one of which literally had gotten out of prison the day before. And we brought these guys in to record the gang characters because, you know, you don’t want a goofy LA actor who went to a fancy school trying to be a hard gang member. There’s nothing worse than that.”

‘Minecraft’ on PC Crosses the 12 Million Copy Mark

Posted on September 3, 2013

The little indie game that could just keeps growing. Back in June, Minecraft on PC had crossed the 11 million mark. Now, not even three full months later, the game has sold another seven figures, bringing the revenue generated from just the PC version of Minecraft to $323,400,000. Add in the Minecraft: Pocket Edition’s 10 million units sold and the 8 million that have found their way to XBox 360s across the country and there are a solid 20 million units of Minecraft sold. Not bad for an indie game that is basically a sandbox.

Microsoft has been quoted talking about Minecraft, calling it a “beast” and will be bringing it to the XBox One. Sony will follow suit with Minecraft on the PlayStation 4. Nintendo has said they were big fans of Mojang, Minecraft’s developer, but did not have any announcements as of yet about the series. Back in march, Mojang developer Jens Bergensten talked of a Wii U version of Minecraft as “very unlikely”.

Labor Day Tribute to Jobbers

Posted on September 2, 2013

Journeyman. Ham-n-egger. Enhancement talent. Call them what you will but a jobber is an essential part of the world of professional wrestling. Though not the most glamorous role, the jobber is required for growth in the industry. Especially during the debut or rebuilding stage in a wrestler’s career, they need to be placed in matches against someone who can make them look good. Many times, these enhancement talent are actually more talented individuals than the person they are making look better in the match. It’s one thing to throw someone around but it is a whole different level of talent to make that person throwing you around look like a more impressive specimen than they really are. For a time, there would be a number of matches on each televised wrestling program that involved jobbers

Movie Review: ‘Drinking Buddies’

Posted on August 30, 2013

The poster declares the theme of the film to be “knowing when to say when,” which is as good a summation as any, and has just the right amount of vagueness. In this case the “when” applies to, well, I’m not entirely sure — on the surface it’s when to draw the line at casual flirting. Or when to break up with a partner who’s coasting through the relationship. Or when to grow up — a theme that’s driven far too many indie films.

That lack of understanding is probably my fault, but it may also be director Joe Swanberg’s intent. This is the same guy who made Silver Bullets, a film that made me want to abort fully developed children, mainly because it meandered through the running time with no direction, no story, and a mass of sickly dialogue that wanted to sound fresh and spontaneous but came off as fully self-aware.

He tries a similar approach in Drinking Buddies, but it works infinitely better here. The actors improvise their dialogue, with an outline of the major plots points to guide them. I think that works best whenever the characters have an uncomfortable pause, but aside from that there is an easiness to their interactions. Granted, it should be simple for anyone to sell an attraction to Olivia Wilde.

James Spader Is Ultron In ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’

Posted on August 30, 2013

A movie can often only be as good as its villain. Luckily for Marvel, Tom Hiddleston stole the show in both Thor and The Avengers as the god of mischief Loki. With Loki appearing to play a large part in Thor: The Dark World, it is time for someone else to step up to take the fight to Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the titular role as Ultron.

Most likely in the style of Darth Vader being voiced by one actor and having another inside the suit, James Spader has been formally cast as the villain in Marvel’s movie franchise. Hopefully there will be a way for the character to emote facially to capture the talents of Spader unlike Willem Defoe’s role in Spider-Man. Even though he appeared in the non-vampire slayer version of Lincoln, Spader has some geek cred going back almost twenty years to Stargate.

Still unnamed for Avengers: Age of Ultron are the actors behind Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. It will be interesting to see who gets cast as the brother and sister combo and if Marvel touches on their origin which includes a father who is tied to another Marvel franchise under the control of Fox. Personally, I vote for a real life brother and sister like Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal to make the awkward sexual tension between the characters that much stranger.

Is the Nintendo 2DS a Step Forward or Back?

Posted on August 29, 2013

Living now on the west coast, I am used to waking up, checking my email and being greeted by new and interesting (though sometimes expected) pieces of news. Yesterday, I woke up to an email that was far from what I could have imagined. Along with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Bundle which is a great play to try and get people to purchase a Wii U by remaking a legacy title and presenting it as something new, Nintendo also announced the Nintendo 2DS. That’s right. The 2DS.

Now at first glance, it definitely sounds ridiculous. The Nintendo DS was a success so it spawned the Nintendo 3DS which brought 3D to handhelds. Even after a shaky start, Nintendo was able to pull it together and make the system a success. And now they announce the Nintendo 2DS. It will be a fixed unfoldable design and play the 3D content exclusively in 2D. What? Why take away one of the key features of the 3DS by removing the 3D?

‘Blanka is a Troll’ May Be My New Favorite Thing On YouTube

Posted on August 26, 2013

The internet is filled with pictures, gifs and videos of people failing at life in some way shape or form. These can be Jackass style stunts, car dash cams or just people who have screwed up even the most basic thing to disastrous results while someone just happened to have their iPhone out. Facebook pages featuring these pictures gain millions of fans and the compilation videos on YouTube gain millions of views.

There must be something inherently terrible about people that they enjoy watching others fail. But it doesn’t end there, after watching people fail, there is a next level of person who takes pleasure in the failures of other. That person is known as a Troll.

Launching a little over two months ago, Blanka is a Troll is a series of videos that put in sprites of everyone’s favorite electric green Street Fighter into these fail situations to hilarious results. Seeing a bride fall into a pool of water somehow becomes even funnier when it is Blanka who pushed her in. Watching a bunch of skateboarders bite it is even better when Blanka unleashed a bunch of pineapples in their path. As you’ll see in the video below, Blanka is a Troll shows just how terrible we can be as people and how we can make someone’s embarassing moment that much worse by immortalizing it and exposing it to millions of strangers online.

The Flickcast – Episode 217: The Dark Daredevil

Posted on August 23, 2013

This week on The Flickcast , Chris and Joe are back at the same Bat-time and the same Bat-channel to talk all-thing Superman/Batman. That’s right, a big casting announcement has come down from the Warner Bros. tower and it’s one that’s sure to spark controversy.

We won’t keep you in suspense: the actor chosen to play Batman in Zack Snyder’s Superman/Batman is none other than Ben Affleck.

Of course, Chris and Joe debate and discuss this one quite a bit, but their final conclusions and opinions just may surprise you. They also discuss J.J. Abrams Star Wars and a whole lot more stuff that you’ll just have to tune in to find out.

This weeks picks include Joe’s pick of the great works of Elmore Leonard, who sadly passed away this week. They include TV’s Justified and the novels Get Shorty and Outta Sight. Chris’ pick this week is the 1974 Francis Ford Coppola film The Conversation.

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 Facebook, Google+ or via email.