by Vince Berry, Jan 21 2013 // 1:00 PM

In a story broken by Ben Fritz of the L.A. Times, it was reported late last night that legendary game developer Atari Inc. has filed for bankruptcy.
The initial report suggests that U.S. operations will cease while the company attempts to separate from their parent company, the France-based Atari SA. Fritz’s report also indicates that Atari Inc. is looking for a private buyer.
This is another blow to the once-great developer, who rose to prominence with their Atari 2600 console. The 2600 spend six years on top of the console world until market saturation sunk in. Atari is widely considered to have been the catalyst behind the Video Game Crash of 1983, producing historically notable bombs such as E.T. and their notoriously bad port of Pac Man.
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Posted in: Atari · News · Video Games
Tagged: Atari, bankrupt, Cryptic, Donkey Kong, E.T., infogrames, jaguar, lynx, Nintendo, nolan bushnell, nostalgia, pacman, Retro, Video Games
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by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Jul 26 2012 // 3:00 PM
E.T. is a film that was massively influential in its time. In the early 80’s this film transcended genres to become one of the most beloved movie experiences of a generation. It still resonates today as an important coming of age tale for all ages.
This year is the 30th anniversary of the original release of this classic tale, and Universal decided now would be the perfect time to finally bring one of Spielberg’s most beloved masterpieces to the world of High Definition.
The anniversary edition is centered around the original theatrical version of the movie, which means those menacing guns will be intact. It is good to see Spielberg reconsider some of his Lucas-esque mistakes during the 20th anniversary window. That said, because leaving anything out on a Blu-Ray seems rather silly, you can still see the added scenes from 2002 in deleted scene format.
The Blu-Ray will be hitting store shelves on October 9th, and will include the Blu-Ray disc, a DVD and an ultra-violet digital copy. You can check out the full list of features for the upcoming Blu-Ray release after the jump.
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Posted in: Announcements · Business · DVD · Movies · News · Sci-Fi · Universal Pictures
Tagged: 30th Anniversary, Announcments, Blu-Ray, Combo Pack, DVD, E.T., Movies, News, Sci-Fi, Steven Spielberg
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by Jonathan Weilbaecher, Aug 26 2011 // 2:00 PM
Last week we looked at recent “best of” releases celebrating two masters of film music: Hans Zimmer and James Horner. Reflecting on the works of Zimmer and Horner reminded me that I have gone a long time with out appreciating the one composer who can rightfully be called their superior. Of course I am talking about the maestro himself, John Willaims, the single most prolific master composer in the history of cinema.
In honor of the maestro’s concert series at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend and the two new scores coming out this winter I am going to review the last score John Williams wrote for a feature film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The much maligned sequel to the popular franchise, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull still boasted a brand new, return to 80’s action style score from Williams.
The movie might have failed to live up to the high standards of Spielberg and his franchise, but the Williams brought his A game to the table. The score is right out of the vintage Williams style that influenced an entire generation. If you would have told me the music came from a lost late 80’s adventure film scored by Williams, I would have believed you. The spirit and tone of Williams most iconic era was alive again.
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Posted in: Action · Film Music Reviews · Film Score Friday · Movies · Music · Paramount · Reviews
Tagged: E.T., film music review, Film Score Friday, Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, John Williams, Music, Raiders of the Lost Ark, review, score, Star Wars
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by Chris Ullrich, Jun 12 2011 // 1:13 PM
J.J. Abrams latest film Super 8 is not E.T., to which it doubtless will be compared. Nor is it Close Encounters of the Third Kind, another film in the Steven Spielberg oeuvre to which it also owes a great debt. Heck, it isn’t even The Goonies. It is not any of these films.
Instead, it’s a stark reminder that having all the tricks in the bag doesn’t necessarily mean you can make magic. Being a fan of Abrams and his previous efforts, I went into Super 8 optimistic and enthusiastic that I was in for a great movie.
What I got instead was a shrill effort that accomplishes almost nothing except to demonstrate a filmmaker obviously at the top of his game technically, but seemingly lacking a grasp on what true human interaction, characters and to the greatest extent, story, are supposed to look like. I had a hard time caring about anyone in this movie, especially most of the kids. They all seem to exhist in the film mostly to fill a quota for a particular type of character.
You have the quiet kid who suffered a recent loss, the fat kid who tries to make up for it by being loud and bossy, the awkward kid who’s extremely nervous, the kid with braces who likes to blow stuff up because, as evidenced by the fact that you never see his parents, he’s obviously acting out. You also have the lonely, beautiful girl with the angry, drunk father.
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Posted in: Movies · News · Reviews
Tagged: E.T., Elle Fanning, J.J Abrams, Joel Courtney, Super 8
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by Sebastian Suchecki, Jun 10 2011 // 7:00 AM
While we may have a pretty deep review of the flick later today, there are still plenty of us who are waiting impatiently to see exactly what kind of magic can happen when screen legends J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg team up on a sci-fi picture in Super 8.
Much like Abrams’ last big original sci-fi flick Cloverfield, this film has been shrouded in some pretty deep mystery since we first got a glimpse of the trailer back in January. Here’s what we have for a synopsis, in case you still aren’t up to speed.
In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth – something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.
Filled with no-name child actors who will most likely steal the show, the film is as pure as Spielberg’s E.T. was nearly 30 years ago. Check out a brand new featurette on the film after the jump, and be sure to catch Super 8 in theaters starting today.
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Posted in: Abrams · Action · Drama · Movies · News · Paramount · Sci-Fi · Trailers · Video
Tagged: Bad Robot, Cloverfield, E.T., J.J Abrams, Paramount, Steven Spielberg, Super 8
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by Joe Gillis, Feb 24 2011 // 1:30 PM
We show a lot of trailers here at The Flickcast. Most are for movies you will actually be able to go out and see once they hit theaters. Some, like the one we have today from YouTube user blankenheimrobert, are for movies you probably won’t ever see.
Still, that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth watching. In fact, this trailer for the imagined sequel to the classic sci-fi film E.T. is pretty impressive in that the filmmaker had to borrow from so many different movies and add CG touches of his own to make it work. Sure, the visual effects are not exactly perfect nor do all of the scenes exactly fit together without some looking a bit out of place, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t pretty fun to watch.
Plus, you really have to appreciate the shear amount of work that must have gone into making this. So, for that reason and because we love to encourage this kind of thing, check out the full trailer after the jump.
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Posted in: Movies · News · Prequels and Sequels · The Internets · Trailers · Video
Tagged: Drew Barrymore, E.T., E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Fan Films, Henry Thomas, Movies, Sequels, Trailers, YouTube
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