It’s a brand new episode of The Flickcast. We’re still doing this! High fives all around.

Joe is off this week so Chris, and special guest Rick Marshall of Digital Trends, get deep into all-things movies, television and pop culture with discussions ranging from Zack Snyder’s Justice League to parenting during a pandemic to toxic fandom, the future of movies and movie theaters, their first “adult” movie experiences, what they’re watching and looking forward to and a whole lot more.

No really, they talk about a lot of stuff . . . and most of it’s pretty damn interesting. Why not give it a listen?

WARNING: This episode contains discussions about COVID-19, mental health, toxic fandom and quarantine. We understand not everyone is in a place to talk about or hear discussions surrounding these issues. Please do what’s best for you. Stay safe everyone.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, Instagram or, yes, even Facebook. Or shoot us an email. We don’t mind.

Also, here’s that Patreon Link again, just in case you missed it the first thousand times. Thanks!

We’re back baby!

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This year’s LeakyCon is shaping up to be the most geeky and exciting yet with special guests including Harry Potter film actors, New York Times bestselling authors, and plenty of web video stars. Quickly become a catch all of fans’ favorite things, like Harry Potter, Doctor Who, the Whedonverse, The Hunger Games, and more, the four-day convention will run from June 27 – 30 in the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, OR.

The 4,000 expected attendees will enjoy both formal and informal programming such as live rock shows, panels, workshops, guest signings, talent and costume competitions and the Esther Earl Rocking Charity Ball. This event will be held on the final night of the convention in honor of Esther, an avid Harry Potter fan who lost her battle with cancer in August 2010. Performers for LeakyRock include Hank Green, Alex Carpenter, The Whomping Willows, and Harry and the Potters.

Among the Harry Potter celebrity guests are Devon Murray (Seamus Finnigan), Scarlett Byrne (Pansy Parkinson), and Ellie Darcy-Alden (Young Lily). Of course theatre troupe Team Starkid will be bringing their unique musical productions to the stage again at LeakyCon. This year they will be performing their entire catalogue of music from all three of their wildly popular Harry Potter spoofs. Confirmed performers include Brian Holden, Joe Walker, Joey Richter, and many more.

With seven novels and eight movies, the Harry Potter franchise is one of the most successful of all time. In fact, the Harry Potter books are the most successful series in the history of publishing.

With that in mind, it has always seemed strange that the books were not available at the most popular online bookstore of all time: Amazon. Well, that’s about to change.

That’s right, starting June 19, all seven Harry Potter books will be available to Kindle owners via Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library. According to Amazon, the company “has purchased an exclusive licence from J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore to make the addition of the addition of these titles possible.” Wonder how much that cost?

“We’re absolutely delighted to have reached this agreement with Pottermore. This is the kind of significant investment in the Kindle ecosystem that we’ll continue to make on behalf of Kindle owners,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. Well, Kindle owners who also happen to be Prime members anyway.

Sadly, you can’t actually purchase the books and own them via Amazon’s store. You can only borrow them. Which, to be honest, is kinda annoying.

Still, if you’re a Harry Potter diehard fan who’s always wanted to read the books on your Kindle (that is, via legal methods) then this deal might just be the right one for you.

Click through for the full press release from Amazon.

One of my favorite things to cover in my weekly film score review is compilations. These sets are the most easily digestible forms of film music, and represented my entry into the world. It was the combined ‘Best Of’ albums of John Williams, James Horner and Danny Elfman that captivated me so much as a child. Now I take great pleasure in shining a light on these sets today, hoping that some non film score fans give them a shot.

In the world of film music compilations there is a top dog who has been releasing stellar sets over and over again. Silva Screen Records has been nailing it with re-recorded compilations of some of today’s most recognizable franchises. Mostly using the excellent City of Prague Philharmonic, these sets have been some of the most fun I have been able to review in my many months of writing about film music.

Today’s set is no exception, The Complete Harry Potter Film Music Collection is a well crafted, well performed and generally a great listen from start to finish. The set smashes together musical highlights from the eight film series that takes you on a journey from the optimistic sense of wonder in the first film all the way through the dark and dangerous end. It is a musical time-capsule that follows the decade long franchise.

While we count the weeks, days and hours until Community returns we can console ourselves a bit with some of NBC’s other programming. Case in point today is the brand new show Awake, which looks to be pretty interesting and features some actors we really like, and one of our long-time favorites, Parks and Recreation.

Starting us off is the new show Awake, starring Laura Allen of the seriously underappreciated Terriers and Jason Isaacs of Harry Potter movie fame as a man who seems to exist in two worlds and neither of them are an ideal place to be. We’ve got some previews for this new show for you today and from what we’ve seen so far, it looks pretty interesting.

Then, we turn our attention to the folks in Pawnee who, as the previews show, are having a bit of an issue with a drinking fountain. This is why I always bring bottled water wherever I go.

Parks and Rec airs at 8:30/7:30C followed by The Office, Up all Night and the premiere of Awake at 10/9C on NBC. Check out all the videos after the break.

This past week John Williams had his 80th birthday. One of the first thing he will do during his 80th year will be attending the Oscars later this month where the Maestro is nominated for 2 best score awards. Even at this age Williams is at the top of his game.

In honor of the most prolific film composer alive today I wanted to use my weekly film score soap box to celebrate the man who has provided the soundtrack to the imaginations of several generations.

Everyone knows about his contributions to Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, but how many people are aware that he wrote not one, but two classic themes for Lost in Space?

It was John Williams music that made me fall in love with film music. I can pinpoint it all the way back to a single moment in Jurassic Park when the helicopter approached Isla Nublar, the cue still gives me chills to this day, and nearly two decades later I still look to Mr. Williams as the inspiration for a life long passion.

Silva Screen Music is a class outfit, they release really good music and great collections from some of the top composers and movies of today. In the past we looked at their collections of music from Hans Zimmer and James Horner, as well as a well put together a great best of album from the Transformers trilogy. Today we take a peak at their big end of the year release, ‘Film Music 2011’.

This collection, performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic and London Music Works, is a highlight reel from the most high profile film scores of the year. The music chosen for this set  isn’t necessarily the very best music of the year, but it is certainly a snap shot of what 2011 was for film and film music. We are in award season, so we will have plenty of lists and collections of the “best” music, but in this album you will find tracks that rank among many fan’s “favorites” of the year.

Interestingly enough, many of the movies represented on this album are scores I have previously reviewed, but only twice are one of my favorite tracks actually on this album. At first this caused me to roll my eyes and dread the listening experience. Not because I disliked the tracks, but because I felt they were passing over the better tracks for more obvious and less interesting choices.

Books are coming back in a huge way lately. I can remember being in school when Hollywood was having an outreach for kids to “read more.” now it seems like Hollywood can’t get kids to stop reading and loving books, to the point where just about every big book franchise is getting adapted into a movie.

Twilight, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and now Orson Scott Card’s epic series, Ender’s Game is getting the Hollywood treatment.

Movement on the project is picking up quickly, as critically acclaimed actor Ben Kinglsey is joining an already stellar cast. From THR:

Hugo actor Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld are starring in the pic, set in a future where the Earth is under attack by an insect-like race and mankind has created a battle school to train fighting forces.

Those who live in Los Angeles or the surrounding areas have probably been to the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park at least once in their lives. Whether it was for the Haunted Halloween Nights last month, or to check out the fun and exciting rides and attractions, most people (locals in particular) probably think they’ve seen all the park has to offer. They’re wrong.

In just 4 months, Universal Studios Hollywood will unveil their new Transformers ride, which is only one of the huge attractions coming to the park. Also coming soon, you can see a smaller version of “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter”, which is currently thrilling attendees at Universal Studios in Orlando.

If you’ve been the star of one of the most successful film franchises of all time and now that’s over, you might want to consider trying to go in a different direction with your career. If you’re Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, that’s kinda what you’ve done with your upcoming film The Woman In Black.

In the film Radcliffe plays a lawyer who travels to a remote English village and discovers that the ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals. The horror thriller is a remake of a 1989 TV movie which was adapted from a play which, itself, was adapted from a novel by Susan Hill. You follow all that? Good.

We’v got a new trailer for the film to share with you today. In it, Radcliffe does his best to overcome the notion that he should just pull out his wand and blast the ghost with his magical powers. Does he succeed? You be the judge.

Check out the trailer after the jump. The Woman In Black is set to hit theaters on February 3rd of 2012.

It turns out, after tons of doubt that Captain America: The First Avenger would undertake the final Harry Potter film in the box office on the biggest nerd weekend of the year, San Diego Comic-Con, we were all wrong.

In reality, the film actually did just that, and took the #1 spot for the weekend, totaling an impressive $65.8 million here in the US. While this is excellent news for the new films from Marvel Studios and Paramount, the real story here is how much of a drop Harry Potter had.

From last weekend’s $169 million opening to a mere $48 million this weekend, the film dropped over 70% in just a week. Either everyone who was going to see this film saw it in the first weekend, or the word of mouth wasn’t as good as the folks at Warner Bros were hoping for.

Also opening this weekend, the R-rated version of No Strings Attached, starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis and titled Friends With Benefits managed to stay in the top 3 with an estimated $18 million. Just a simple million less than the one that starred Kutcher and Portman.

From the people that brought properties like Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Pirates of the Carribbean to the world of LEGOs, it looks like they’re getting into the spirit of Comic-Con with a brand new announcement of LEGO Super Heroes, which takes place.

The new LEGO DC Universe SUPER HEROES collection will feature 13 iconic super heroes in LEGO minifigure form, including: Batman™, Robin™, Catwoman™, The Joker, The Riddler™, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn™, Bane, Bruce Wayne, Superman™, Lex Luthor™ and Wonder Woman™. Buildable characters will include Batman, The Joker and Green Lantern.

So now you can add to your favorite LEGO collections with a bit of a DC flair and even make some of your favorite DC heroes using the old mix and match LEGO technique.