What’s this? Another new episode of The Flickcast for your listening pleasure? That’s right.

On this week’s episode, Chris and Joe take it to another level and really seem angry about a lot of stuff, which isn’t like them. Still, anger leads to the Dark Side, so we should probably keep an eye on them. In the meantime, some of these anger-provoking topics include Jared Leto’s joker, Frank Miller’s new Batman, what kind of a girl Black Widow is and a whole lot more.

Picks this week include Chris’ pick of the movie Ex Machina, written and directed by Alex Garland, and Joe’s pick of the new album by Big Wreck called “Ghosts.”

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.

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Today, Warner Bros dropped the first trailer for the sequel to 300 called 300: Rise of an Empire. Because this is so new, we won’t waste a lot of time on analysis and just say this looks pretty cool to us. Plus, Eva Green. Just sayin’.

It also has that guy from the Cinemax show Strike Back, which we like and think is one of the best action shows on TV. Other than that, hope you enjoy it too.

Look for the movie in theaters in March, 2014.

For all the hit and miss of DC’s theatrical features in the last decade, their animated features have been mostly top-notch. The wealth of quality has evolved from the team that brought us the classic DC animated shows of the ’90s and early 2000’s.

No doubt to capitalize on the recent Batman movie the next direct to DVD animated feature is a two-part adaptation of the seminal Bat-tale, The Dark Knight Returns. There is little doubt that the film will be a visual marvel, Frank Miller’s work translates very well to moving images, but we have yet to see anything real to give us a sense of how it ‘feels’. Until Now.

MTV has debuted the first real trailer for part 1 of the animated epic, and for the uninitiated lets start with the synopsis:

Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing 55-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl. But, does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?

What is interesting is how the trailer seems to emphasis the elements of the story that parallel the recent Christopher Nolan movie, and it kinda reminds us how much Nolan has been pulling from Miller’s work for his whole franchise. Which does kind of put a kibosh on the wild fan-boy theories that Nolan and Bale will return in twenty years to actually make a live action The Dark Knight Returns, it would be treading on some very familiar ground.

Check out the full new trailer after the jump.

The DC animated universe is fantastic. Bruce Timm has been masterminding gold standard animation for nearly two decades, and his crew is finally taking on one of the most important Batman stories ever told, Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.

This epic two-part animated event has already been officially announced, but The Hollywood Reporter has announced the principle voice cast:

Peter Weller (Robocop) will star as Batman/Bruce Wayne and Modern Family’s middle child Ariel Winter will play Robin… Also in the cast are David Selby, the veteran actor who starred in the original Dark Shadows soap opera as well as the classic 1980s soap Falcon Crest; Wade Williams (Prison Break) as Harvey Dent/Two-Face; and Michael McKean as Dr. Wolper, the psychiatrist who releases the Joker from the insane asylum.

Fan favorite Michael Ironside played the role in a classic episode of Batman: The Animated Series that payed homage to the seminal story. While it would have been nice symmetry to have him back, Peter Weller is an amazing choice for the role.

The story is being split into two animated features, the first of which will be hitting shelves later this year, followed by the second part in early 2013.

It has been confirmed that Rodrigo Santoro will reprise his role as Xerxes in 300: Battle of Artemisia. Santoro will join Eva Green (Casino Royale) as Artemisia, Sullivan Stapleton (Darkness Falls) as Themistocles, and Jamie Blackley (Snow White and The Huntsman) as Calisto.

The story is rumored to be a sort-of-sequel which will follow Xerxes (Santoro) is pushed into the bloody battle with the Greeks by the gold-covered maven goddess Artemisia (Green). Artemisia utilizes her knowledge of how much Xerxes’ father King Darius’s death has affected him, persuades Xerxes to go into battle against those responsible. Artemisia also searches for  group of men to join Xerxes in the battle against the Greeks.

She manages to use her feminine wiles to convince Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) to side with her and Xerxes, even though the Persians took her family and he was firmly on the side of the Greeks. Ultimately, she convinces him that his life will be better off if he swaps sides. Themistocles’ skills as a fighter are only rivaled by his ability for deception and lies.