Guardians of the Galaxy is the summer blockbuster I’ve been waiting for for longer than I can remember.

The usual adjectives of effusive praise are appropriate: funny, clever, touching, and, of course, fun. While Marvel Studios has certainly found the formula for successful films, they’ve been progressively more and more serious and, worse, self-important. Guardians has the good sense to mock itself and its concept, which is likely due in large part to its star, Parks & Recreation‘s Chris Pratt, and writer/director James Gunn (Slither), and perhaps almost as large a part being that it’s relatively free of the Marvel Universe around which every other film it’s made snugly revolves. I doubt we’d see even Tony Stark using a space-rat as a make-believe microphone, especially in the first two minutes.

So Gunn and Pratt bring a delightfully refreshing sense of self deprecation to their film, Pratt playing the somewhat well-known Peter Quill, a.k.a. Star-Lord, intergalactic swashbuckler. The promotional writeups describe him as a mix of Han Solo and Marty McFly, but I think Indiana Jones may be more appropriate, since they’re both adept at getting into and out of particularly sticky situations.

This time Star-Lord has snatched an orb of potentially unimaginable power, which puts him in the sights of nearly everyone across the galaxy, from assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to planetary ravager Ronan (Lee Pace) to Yondu (Michael Rooker), Star-Lord’s kind-of adopted father, to genetically modified raccoon Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and his Ent-ian-ish pal Groot (Vin Diesel). After a three-way battle on the universal capital planet, the four are imprisoned and…blah, blah, blah. They team up, everyone tries to kill them, and so on.

In 1977, at the age of 8, I sat in a theater and experienced the awe and wonder that was Star Wars. At the time, no one had any idea what kind of cultural significance it would have or what it would mean for cinema in general and science-fiction films in particular. Though there have been many books, essays and college theses that have attempted to quantify and examine those impacts over the years, at age 8 I didn’t really care about such things.

If I’m being completely honest I should admit that I still don’t, I just remember sitting in the darkened theater being completely pulled into a new and completely realized new universe of awe and wonder and being completely captivated and immeasurably entertained by it. Thanks to James Gunn and Guardians of the Galaxy, that feeling has returned 37 years later.

There are two known facts about The Flickcast’s gaming division (a.k.a. the Bitcast):

1. WallE and I love video games.

2. WallE and I cannot wait until Wreck-It Ralph hits theaters.

So it only makes sense that we would be following the news on the Wreck-It Ralph tie-in video game. Now while we all know that movie tie-in games run a high risk of not living up to expectations for the film, or for games in general, there is a shed of hope for Wreck-It Ralph. After all, it is a game… based off a movie… that is based off of gaming. What could possibly go wrong? Well, don’t answer that as we have seen many a project that should have been a layup go wrong.

In the new teaser trailer, we take a quick look at Wreck-It Ralph but don’t get the opportunity to see his gameplay so that is what leads us to speculate. What is Wreck-It Ralph going to be like? Players have already been given the opportunity to play browser based versions of Hero’s Duty and Sugar Rush on the Wreck-It Ralph movie site as well as a Fix-It Felix iOS game.

If there was ever a movie to not surprise us with a tie-in video game announcement, Wreck-It Ralph would be it. What is surprising though is that the video game adaptation of Wreck-It Ralph, the Disney animated flick that revolves around a video game villain who wants to become the hero, is being limited to only the Nintendo platforms.

In the film Wreck-It Ralph, characters from all over gaming’s past and present make cameos from those we have seen to what is sure to be a bunch of star studded surprises as well. Whether that happens in the game remains to be seen.

Here’s the official word from Activision:

Get ready for classic arcade video game action with a whole new modern look and feel as Activision Publishing Inc. and Disney Interactive today announced a collaboration to produce and distribute a Wreck-It Ralph video game. As a story extension to the highly anticipated upcoming blockbuster film of the same name from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the Wreck-It Ralph video game is set to inspire a whole new generation of young gamers as a classic, arcade-style side scroller featuring Ralph – the misunderstood villain of his own arcade game who sets out to prove he can be a hero too.

This is a big week for the video game industry. Everyone has their eyes on Los Angeles as the next few years in Video Gamedom are laid out in very elaborate fashion. So with all of the buzz surrounding the industry, Disney decided now would be the perfect time to unveil Wreck-It Ralph officially.

For those of you woefully unaware of what Wreak-It Ralph is all about, here is a synopsis to get you up to speed:

Wreck-It Ralph longs to be as beloved as his game’s perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix. Problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. But they do love heroes… so when a modern, first-person shooter game arrives featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun, Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan — win a medal — but soon wrecks everything, and accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade.

The movie has the chance to be this generation’s Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, only instead of rival cartoons co-existing in their own world it is established video game characters. Just the support group in this trailer alone evokes the same sort of feeling of watching Daffy and Donald Duck play dueling pianos.

Wreck-It Ralph hits cinemas this winter and check out the trailer and the full official image after the jump.

It looks like Funny or Die’s viral hit Drunk History may soon be a full fledged TV series. Comedy Central has request a pilot presentation of a Drunk History Across America. 

The pilot is set to be produced by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Chris Henchy’s Gary Sanchez Prods. The trio will executive produce with Derek Waters, creator of the Drunk History series of shorts, Jeremy Konner, who directed them, and Owen Burke. Konner will also direct the pilot presentation.

Just like the web series, Drunk History Across America will feature historical reenactments that are based on the way the historical events are described by drunk narrators. The television show will expand on this idea by include some travel elements and interviews with city locals, who will drunkenly narrate local and personal history which. As with the current shorts, all the re-enactments will all be acted out by guest actors.

There are very few things Pixar could do that would get me more excited to see one of their films. Between the overall popularity of Toy Story, Up, The Incredibles and tons more, there is very little the animation studio can do that would be considered a bad move (Owen Wilson vehicles not included).

With that said, it’s hard to believe they’ve found a way to speak to their audience even more with their upcoming video game parody film, Wreck-It Ralph, but it looks like they just might. Here’s the official synopsis of the film. Consider it Donkey Kong from the gorilla’s perspective.

Wreck-It Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) longs to be as beloved as his game’s perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix (voice of 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer). Problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. But they do love heroes… so when a modern, first-person shooter game arrives featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (voice of Jane Lynch), Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan—win a medal—but soon wrecks everything, and accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade.

Ralph’s only hope? Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman), a young troublemaking “glitch” from a candy-coated cart racing game who might just be the one to teach Ralph what it means to be a Good Guy. But will he realize he is good enough to become a hero before it’s “Game Over” for the entire arcade?

As if the concept of several video and board games being parodied in a Pixar film isn’t enough to guarantee your $10, the studio has recently released some images that will give us an idea of how this video game-based world will look. Take a look after the jump, and catch Wreck-It Ralph in theaters this November.

Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim work best in sketches. If you’re reading this, I suspect you’re a fan of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. If not, it’s a sketch show that’s best bits mock public-access television, from the strange and self-aggrandizing programs to those car commercials from the local dealer who insists on inserting himself into nearly every frame, regardless of appearance or vocal stylings.

All this is done with hyper editing, bizarre imagery, and hopelessly cheesy special effects. The trailer gives a pretty good idea.

Either way, it’s very creative but can’t last beyond a minute or so. And that’s the biggest failing of Tim and Eric’s Billion-Dollar Movie – the sketches are great, the main storyline is horrible.

I was in utter stitches at the opening commercial with Chef Goldblum (Jeff Goldblum, and the movie gets at least a star for capturing the only non-bad-ass image of Goldblum) and loved the actual billion-dollar movie itself, but then the lights go up and it all goes downhill.

Imagine if the sublime Jackass films actually forced the gang into an actual plot—and how traumatic an experience that would be.

Roman Polanski may get some heat for personal things going on, but that isn’t stopping the man from cranking out some quality films in the immediate future. The first of which is Carnage based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. Here’s the premise.

A showdown between two kids: about eleven, in a local playground.  Swollen lips, broken teeth…  Now the parents of the  “victim” have invited the parents of the “bully” to their apartment to sort if out.  Cordial banter gradually develops a razor-sharp edge as all four parents reveal their laughable contradictions and grotesque prejudices.  None of them will escape the ensuing carnage.

A plot like this, with such thick character development, could only get justice from a director like Polanski. The play has starred such great actors as Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini, but the film will bring names like Jodie Foster, Kate Winsley, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz together to discuss this battle.

Check out the trailer for Carnage after th jump and see it in theaters later this year.

Terri is the latest entry in the “oh God, high school sucked” genre (will we ever get a film that puts us in the eyes of the “popular” kids?) that tells the story of Terri (Jacob Wysocki), a sullen, picked-on, overweight underachiever who knows as much about who and where his parents are as we do. Terri lives with and cares for his senile Uncle James (The Office’s Creed Bratton); pines for the pretty-girl Heather (Olivia Crocicchia); shares detention with the hair-pulling-kid Chad (Bridger Zadina); and sparks an interest in quirky-assistant-principal Fitzgerald (John C. Reilly). The pieces fit into place, and the actors perform with talent and aplomb.

Unfortunately, Terri doesn’t offer anything new to the genre. As the poster says, “We’ve all been there,” and I suppose we have, whether it be in high school, college, or work. But a thought occurred to me near the end of the film: What is the point of this movie? Is it “Don’t pick on the fat kid”?

Terri isn’t really picked on for the bulk of the film, and those who do pick on him are never punished; they’re simply forgotten. Perhaps it’s the old axiom, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But no one’s opinion of Terri really changes—even Fitzgerald sees the good in him from the outset.