The Flickcast – Page 931 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

Steven Spielberg Takes on ‘Pirates’

steven-spielbergSometimes with all the things going on in the world of movies, tv, comics, games and all things geek (See what I did there?) we sometimes miss out on a few bits of news here and there. Case in point is the recent news that Steven Spielberg is sailing away to 17th century Jamaica for a new adventure. USA Today reports that DreamWorks has bought the rights to Michael Crichton’s posthumous novel, Pirate Latitudes, and has hired screenwriter David Koepp to adapt it.

Spielberg is producing, but plans on directing, though nothing has been scheduled until the script is completed. While it’s unfortunate that Crighton can’t be around to work with long time collaborator Spielberg, according to the article, the timelessness of this deal is pure coincidence, according to DreamWorks’ co-chair and CEO Stacey Snider.

“Anything that Michael wrote, Steven would be keenly interested to read. But without Michael knowing it, or even me knowing it, it turns out Steven always wanted to direct his own pirate film.” Mmm, I guess Hook doesn’t count, right?

Spielberg, of course, is already gung ho for the project. “Michael wrote a real page-turner that already seems suited for the big screen. Michael and I have had almost two decades of solid collaborations. Whenever I made a film from a Michael Crichton book or screenplay, I knew I was in good hands. Michael felt the same, and we like to think he still does.”

Pirate Latitudes the novel hits store shelves on November 24 and Spielberg plans of making it his next film. So, expect to see his big screen version sometime in 2011.

New Trailer for ‘Stan Helsing’

stan-helsing-poster1Remember the time when the phrase “from the guys that brought you Scary Movie” actually meant something? We don’t either, but it applies to the newest venture in outstanding filmmaking, Stan Helsing, or it’s full title, Stan Helsing: A Parody. I’m glad they made that clear.

The film’s premise is pretty simple: every horror movie bad guy you can think of, from Jason Voorhees to Pinhead, is terrorizing a local town, and it’s up to the distant descendant of Van Helsing to save the day. The only problem being that said descendant, Stan Helsing, is kind of a moron.

The term “from one of the guys who brought you Scary Movie” is in reference to Bo Zenga, an executive producer on the first Scary Movie, who went on to produce other gems like Soul Plane and Turistas. Helsing is his third produced script, and his first attempt at directing.

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Fan Film Friday: ‘8-Bit Trip’

Every week, we at the Flickcast try to bring you a new web video in the that relates to the geek culture we all know and love. This week’s video, 8-Bit Trip, came from a true labor of love, or possible insanity. To animate classic video game moments and characters, the skilled filmmakers spent 1500 hours doing the most “stop motion” capture around.

Instead of being able to move just a single piece per frame, they had to deconstruct and reconstruct models to produce this 3:49 piece of Lego insanity. To give you some frame of reference, that comes out to 62.5 days working non-stop or 37.5 standard forty hour work weeks to complete this project.

Hats off to these incredibly talented, and somewhat insane, filmmakers for their work on this project. One can only wonder just how many thousands of Legos went in to the production of it.

Rob Zombie to Remake ‘The Blob’

rob-zombieWe got the chance to talk to Rob Zombie about his release of Halloween 2 this week, and though he stated that he has no intention of remaking any other horror movies, it looks like Genre Co.’s Richard Sapperstein may have made his mind up for him.

According to Variety, Genre Co., which is founded by former Dimension Pictures President Sapperstein, will be producing a remake of the 1958 classic The Blob along with the original producers at Worldwide Entertainment Corp. According to Zombie, this is something new for him, and he’s ready to take a crack at it.

“I’d been looking to break out of the horror genre, and this really is a science fiction movie about a thing from outer space,” Zombie said. “I intend to make it scary, and the great thing is I have the freedom once again to take it in any crazy direction I want to.”

Zombie has begun writing. He’ll follow the release of “Halloween II” with a new album and tour this fall and get the script done at that time.

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Film Independent Now Accepting Director’s Lab Applications

FirefoxIf you happen to be an aspiring director then this is for you. Film Independent, the non-profit devoted to artists and independent filmmaking is now accepting applications for its 9th Annual Director’s Lab, an eight-week course designed to help directors who are in the midst of prepping films. Sound good? Well, read on to get all the latest details on the program, how to apply and other goodies.

FILM INDEPENDENT NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS
FOR 2010 DIRECTORS LAB

* Deadline is October 5, 2009  –

Film Independent’s 9th Annual Directors Lab is an intensive eight-week incubator designed to help directors who are prepping their feature films, and is sponsored by Kodak.

Taking place in Los Angeles during the winter, the Lab assists directors with strong, original voices develop new narrative feature films, improve their craft, and advance their filmmaking careers in a nurturing, yet challenging creative environment.

To apply, please visit: http://filmindependent.org/fellowships/filmmaker_labs/directors_lab

Application fee is $55 for Film Independent Members and $75 for Non-Members.

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Review: ‘Halloween 2’

h2-family

Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 doesn’t live up to the promise of his first effort and is only marginally entertaining for its running time. The film, which begins about a minute after the last one ends, continues the tale of Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton) and her descent into madness. During the film she’s also pursued by Michael Myers, a sinister and relentless killing machine who even thought he’s on a mission to find Laurie and do whatever it is sociopaths do with people they find instead of killing them, he manages to stop along the way and kill many people seemingly at random or just because they happen to be in his way.

There are some things to like about this sequel. First, Zombie manages to up the tension and the stakes a bit from the first one — its now even more about saving Laurie — plus he throws in a pretty effective misdirection at the beginning of the film that leads us to believe we’re going to be watching a very faithful remake of the original Halloween sequel. Fortunately, he’s able to get away from that concept pretty gracefully and ends up taking the film into another less familiar, but in the end no less predictable, direction.

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More Cool ‘DJ Hero’ Trailers

dj-hero-thumb-500x327-89157Our friends at Activision have dropped a couple more cool videos from the upcoming game DJ Hero on us and we’ve decided, since you’ve been so good lately, to share them with you. These new ones showcase more of the fun that can be had when playing the upcoming DJ Hero game and feature an appearance from one of the greatest entertainers of all time: Grandmaster Flash.

The other video is more “educational” and, well, tries to teach you a little something about the game. As we’ve previously shown you, this game looks very cool and, unfortunately for someone like myself still mastering Guitar Hero, complicated but definitely worth playing.  DJ Hero let’s you “scratch and mix the hottest hits” and comes to all next gen consoles on later this year.

Check them both of the new videos after the jump.

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The Pull List Comic Reviews: ‘Dark Reign: Elektra’, ‘Nova’ and ‘Halo: Helljumper’

Don’t forget to check out the review of the “Pull of the Week” Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter, 28 Days Later and Batman and Robin on yesterday’s The Pull List

elektraDark Reign: Elektra #5 – Marvel – $3.99

Score: 7.5

“If I had wronged them, I would simply kill them all.” That quote pretty much sums up what is so cool about Elektra. If only the makers of the Jennifer Gardner movie had figured that out. Dark Reign: Elektra #5 concludes the series as Elektra, having been returned from her Skrull and subsequent Norman Osborn imprisonment, tries to find out just who has put a price on her head. After having been attacked by agent Nico and Bullseye, Elektra is by Wolverine (the good one, not the Dark Avengers one). Wolverine takes Elektra somewhere safe and lets her know the whereabouts of where he tracked Nico to.

Elektra, wanting to find out what happened that these people want to kill her that was caused by her Skrull impersonator, tracks down the agents. When she gets to the Nico and Hammer Agent Brothers, she finds out that they blame her for the death of so many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents when she and the Hand has crashed the helicarrier. At the same time, Norman Osborn has found out through his interrogations of Skrull captives just when Elektra was abducted and what the Skrulls found out from her.

Writer Zeb Wells and artist Clay Mann are a great time to work on an Elektra story. Zeb gets what makes Elektra intriguing as she lives her life in shades of gray while Clay does a great job of bringing it to the page. The only character who doesn’t fit in strongly with this story is Norman Osborn as it seems he was forced in as a main component because of the “Dark Reign” banner. It feels like it should have been more of a post-Secret Invasion tie-in instead of putting so much focus on the storytelling on Norman who has been plastered in literally every corner of the Marvel U.

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