Well, if the Wachowski Siblings ever wash out of the movies, they can always turn to knitwear. Their inimitable line of deconstructed post-Apocalyptic Steampunk sweaters, wraps and bodysuits made a big impression in its debut—1999’s The Matrix—and continues strong in their brand new Cloud Atlas collection. Fans will find the irregularly rustic stitches, bold asymmetry, and moody hand-dyed Neo-Gothic palette they love, cast in intriguing new shapes. Tom Hanks’ hooded cape and Susan Sarandon’s stone- and macrame-ornamented dress with matching fingerless wristlets are particularly arresting.

Which is to say that Art Direction is as important in the epic, sweeping, wildly ambitious Cloud Atlas as it has always been in the Wachowski oeuvre, as obsessively thorough and as effectively world-making. The movie is based on a 2004 novel of the same name by David Mitchell, a book so bulky and complex it took several years for the movie’s three directors—the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer of Run Lola Run—to work out the script and logistics.

Welcome to Monday Picks, a new weekly feature that examines a new movie every week from a wide array of different genres. In the spirit of the Halloween season, and being that the prequel opened this weekend, to kick us off is this week’s pick: John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing.

The Thing is one of my favorite sci fi horror films for several reasons. 1) It is one of John Carpenter’s best films besides Escape From New York, Assault on Precinct 13, Starman, and Big Trouble in Little China. 2) Kurt Russell’s acting is phenomenal and his character MacReady is the textbook hero of the film, who overcomes and triumphs. 3) It is a very well done film in which the suspense, and the acting play a crucial role in executing the plot. From beginning to end, the film is truly a flawless picture.

The film was based off of John W. Campbell Jr’s short story “Who Goes There?” The film is not a remake of the classic 1951 Howard Hawks film, but is a very faithful new version of the short story for a new generation of sci fi horror fanatics.

Happy Memorial Day to all those currently serving in the U.S. armed forces, and to you vets of America’s foreign wars.  This week’s pick is Oliver Stone’s 1986 Academy Award winner for Best Picture Platoon, which depicts the horrors and struggles of infantrymen figthing not only the enemy, but themselves during one of the most difficult periods of the Vietnam conflict.

The film stars Charlie Sheen (Chris Taylor), Tom Berenger (SSgt. Bob Barnes), Willem Dafoe (Sgt. Elias), Forest Whitaker (Big Harold), Francesco Quinn (Rhah), John C. McGinley (Sgt. O’Neill), Kevin Dillon (Bunny), Reggie Johnson (Junior), Keith David (King), Johnny Depp (Lerner), Mark Moses (Lt. Wolfe), Chris Pedersen (Crawford), Corey Glover (Francis), and veteran Marine and the film’s technical advisor Dale Dye (Captain Harris).

The film is an autobiographical account of Stone’s own experiences during 1967-68 as told by a fresh-faced new recruit Chris Taylor (Sheen) who dropped out of college and volunteers for combat duty in Vietnam.  The film opens with Taylor’s arrival in country as he and others deplane from an Air Force transport.  Taylor and fellow recruit Gardner (Bob Orwig) see body bags which are being loaded onto their plane.

This week on The Flickcast Chris and Matt inch ever closer to the magical 100th episode of the show. It’s getting closer every day but until then, they still had this episode to do and do it they did.

This week’s topics include lots of new trailers including Green Lantern and The Muppets, the state of 3D movies at the Box Office, the technical glitches of some movie theater chains on the East Coast, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Torchwood: Children of Earth and much more. Sadly, they also talked about Charlie Sheen, Ashton Kutcher and Two and a Half Men . . . but only for a minute.

Of course, the boys made some picks this week including Matt’s pick of John Carpenter’s They Live and Chris’ pick of the book Bossypants by SNL and 30 Rock writer and star Tina Fey.

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 and MySpace or via email.

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The more we see of NBC’s upcoming new superhero show The Cape the more we hope it ends up being as good as it looks. The show seems to have a great deal of potential so let’s hope it lives up to it.

Plus, any show with Keith David, Vinnie Jones and Summer Glau at least deserves a chance. That’s a pretty cool cast. Not only that, but the main good guy (aka “The Cape” played by David Lyons) doesn’t seem so bad either. So, to help kicks things off and keep people interested, we’ve got some more video from the show to share with you today.

This time it’s three scenes from the premiere episode itself. In them we see Vince’s training in how to use his cape, the first time The Cape meets Summer Glau’s Orwell and the moment where the superhero first reveals his name. Oh, and did I mention Summer Glau is in this show? Yeah, we’re happy about that too.

Check out all three scenes after the break. The Cape arrives this Sunday night on NBC.