This week on The Flickcast , Chris and Joe are back after some time off for the Labor Day holiday and ready to get back to all the action. This week the duo discuss some new topics, and revisit a few old ones.

Some of this episodes discussion includes Bradley Cooper in Guardians of the Galaxy, Benedict Cumberpatch in the next Star Wars trilogy, Kurt Russell in the next Fast and Furious and Bryan Cranston as, potentially, Lex Luthor. There’s also some talk about the relative merits of the Hangover franchise, the new Riddick movie, the new Westworld TV series by J.J. Abrams and a whole lot more.

This weeks picks include Joe’s pick of the movie Now You See Me with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Jesse Eisenberg. Chris’ pick this week is the Cinemax series Strike Back, mostly because it’s a fun show and he often likes to watch things blow up (only on TV, of course).

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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Magic is a great subject for movies. Take The Prestige or The Illusionist as recent examples of that. Sadly, it hasn’t been as successful at the box office as it could have been.

A new movie called Now You See Me is looking to change that. It’s got a great cast in Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Mark Ruffalo and Michael Caine and tells the story of a group of illusionists who commit crimes using, of coure, their magic skills.

The twist is they give the money to the audience instead of keeping it for themselves. Interesting.

Check out the trailer after the break. Look for Now You See Me to arrive in theaters on May 31.

This weekend sees the release of The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan’s final piece of his Dark Knight trilogy. There are two ways you can look at this film and the series as a whole, as films or as Batman adaptations.

The differentiation between those perspectives is something that I have been struggling with since the classic The Dark Knight hit theaters in 2008. Nolan is a master cinema craftsman, his Dark Knight movies are some of the most well made blockbusters in the history film.

The problem I encounter, is that these films have become increasingly less ‘Batman’. It is not that I think Nolan doesn’t ‘get’ the character, I think he just doesn’t really care.

So at the end of the day I am stuck with two opposing sides to my opinion, one that respects the cinematic merits of the Nolan’s trilogy, and one that is increasingly frustrated with its seeming disrespect shown to some key aspects of the source material.

From this point on my review will weave in and out of spoiler territory, so proceed at your own risk. If you are on the fence about seeing the film this weekend and want a non spoiler recommendation, I can say to you see the film. For all the qualms I have, it is still a well made piece of cinema that should be seen on the big screen with an eager crowd.

The final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy comes out next week. It’s a bittersweet time to be a Batman movie fan because although we’re looking forward to the movie, its the last one Nolan is going to do. So yeah, we have mixed feelings.

Anyway, there’s a new clip from The Dark Knight Rises that’s been released featuring Gary Oldman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The clip is called About That Night and features some good info to help you get ready for the big debut.

Check out the clip after the break. The Dark Knight Rises arrives on

Presented without much in the way of comment (well, just a little) is the first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s third, and presumably final, installment in the Batman franchise. This time around the new film is called The Dark Knight Rises and based on this new trailer it looks, in a word, awesome.

We know people use that word often and sometimes it tends to lose its meaning. However, in this case, it fits completely.

The movie looks awesome and like any good trailer you get a lot of info about the movie but don’t really know what’s going to happen in it. If only other trailers could do this, and be as good as this, and not give everything away.

Of course, you can be sure the folks responsible for this film know what they’ve got and know, with absolute certainty, the movie will do huge box office and people will flock to see it over and over again. So, they don’t really have to do that much to promote it. The movie pretty much sells itself.

July 20, 2012 can’t get here fast enough. Check out the trailer after the break.

There’s an old saying that goes something like “don’t fix something if it isn’t broken”. The people that manage Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s career obviously know this saying very well. When he broke the bank in Disney’s The Game Plan, they thought it may be a good idea to use him in a reboot of the classic Escape from Witch Mountain film.

That movie raked in millions as well, so what’s next? How about a sequel to a film from only a few years ago that was so bad, it forced Brendan Fraser out of the acting game completely. That’s where Journey 2: The Mysterious Island comes into play. Here’s the Rock-centered premise.

Young adventurer Sean (Josh Hutcherson) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist–a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret. Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather (Johnson) joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot (Guzman( and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant (Caine) and escape before seismic shock waves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

Can this franchise be saved by Dwayne’s comedic charm? Or will this fall under the umbrella of “bad ideas” that New Line has masterminded over the past years? Decide for yourself after the jump with the first trailer. Journey 2 hits theaters February 10th.

This week’s pick is director John Sturges’s classic World War II thriller The Eagle Has Landed. The film stars some of Hollywood’s best talent: Michael Caine (Col. Kurt Steiner), Donald Sutherland (Liam Devlin), Donald Pleasence (Heinrich Himmler), Robert Duvall (Col. Max Radl) Jenny Agutter (Molly), Anthony Quayle (Adm. Canaris), Jean Marsh (Mrs. Grey), Treat Williams (Capt. Clark), and Larry Hagman (Col. Pitts).

The Eagle Has Landed supposes the theory that a team of German commandos clandestinely enters England and kidnaps Prime Minister Winston Churchill (the least heavily guarded world leader) and hold him for ransom in order to make the British sue for peace, thus allowing the Germans to continue on as the masters of Europe.

Amazed by the rescue mission to free Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from his mountain prison, Hitler proposes the idea to kidnap Churchill. The high command brings in architect colonel Radl (Duvall) to devise the plan in how to kidnap Churchill. Radl settles on Col. Kurt Steiner (Caine) a decorated paratrooper whose anti-Nazi reputation and crack unit are just the ones to pull off a mission considered too risky.

As we get ever closer to the release date of Christopher Nolan’s alleged final film in his Batman franchise, we’re getting more and more of a glimpse into this world once again before it comes to a close.

Rumor has it that the first teaser trailer for the film is attached to prints for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which means we may get some goodies in the coming days. But before we even get that far, the very first “teaser” poster for the film has hit the web, and we’re nothing but excited.

In the poster we can see that Gotham seems to be falling to pieces, which is what we expect to be the setting for the film, as Christian Bale’s Batman makes his public turn into the hero he’s meant to become.

No sign of the film’s full cast, but you may see more of Tom Hardy’s Bane, Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, or Marion Cotillard in the film’s upcoming teaser trailer later this week.

In the meantime, you can check out the poster in gigantic-size right after the jump, and keep it here for more news as it develops of The Dark Knight Rises.

Late yesterday Warner Bros decided to let everyone know “officially” what most of us knew already: The Dark Knight Rises has begun filming. Even though this isn’t really news, it still set off a flurry of discussion around The Flickcast offices about how we’re all really looking forward to this movie.

If you’re in the same boat as we are, this press release from the studio should at least, for a few moments, distract you a little until you again realize that even though the movie has started filming, we won’t actually see the finished product until July 20th, 2012.

Yes, that’s over a year away. Bummer.

Check out the full press release right here:

BURBANK, CA, May 19, 2011 – Principal photography has begun on Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ The Dark Knight Rises, the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar® winner Christian Bale (The Fighter) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.
The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar® winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake.

We love fan films. Especially well done fan films. The constant growth of YouTube and New Media in general has helped fans on both side of the lens come together and enjoy these videos somewhere besides the basement of a comic book store.

With that, we’ve got a brand new fan film by YouTube user TheManBatman compiled several scenes from several Batman films (and many non-Batman flicks as well) and portrayed a story that plays Bruce Wayne as a bit of a lunatic. That makes Batman a figment of his imagination. Here’s what the Man himself has to say about the mash-up.

Here we have a full length theatrical trailer that delves a little deeper into the story behind The Batman Complex. As explained in the teaser, the gist of the idea revolves around a few fun topics, mainly the whole “what is real?” train of thought, and also every fans desire, deep down or upfront, to be Batman at least once in their lives. LOL. And so, I tried to craft a story where we see what happens when someone takes their dream of being Batman a little bit too far. An idea, after all, is a truly resilient parasite.

While some of it is still left a bit ambiguous (both unintentionally and intentionally – while there’s only so much that can be strung together, I often like to leave a little bit open so as to see what fellow fans are able to imagine/create), I believe it offers a bit more than the teaser.

Take a look at the fan film after the jump, and be sure to subscribe to TheManBatman’s channel for more of his upcoming trailer mash ups and fan films.

We’ve heard names like Kevin Costner for Jonathan Kent and Viggo Mortensen for General Zod being thrown around for Zack Snyder’s upcoming reboot of the Superman franchise, but they are not for sure yet. However, we do officially have another name to add to the cast alongside Henry Cavill as the title character. That name? Diane Lane, who is now set to play Clark Kent’s mom, Martha Kent.

The news was broken by THR late yesterday.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures said late Wednesday that the actress is set as “the only mother Clark Kent has ever known.”

“This was a very important piece of casting for me because Martha Kent is the woman whose values helped shape the man we know as Superman,” Snyder said in a statement. “We are thrilled to have Diane in the role because she can convey the wisdom and the wonder of a woman whose son has powers beyond her imagination.”

Considering names like Phyllis Thaxter, K Callan, and Eva Marie Saint have played the character in the past, we’re expecting Snyder to take a drastic turn with Martha, as Lane is only 56. Lane is the second name to be cast in the film, after word came in earlier this year that The Tudors star Henry Cavill was to take the lead as the Man of Steel.

Snyder, who’s normally known for casting relative unknowns who pull off amazing performances, seems to be taking to the higher-profile names for this film. Could it be pressure from WB to compete with Nolan’s all-star supporting cast of Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman for the Batman films?

We’re hoping to get some solid casting announcements in the coming weeks that will prove that theory.

Who wouldn’t want to see a movie starring the dream cast of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine and Maggie Smith, with cameos by Ozzy Osbourne, Dolly Parton, Patrick Stewart and Hulk Hogan? They had me at James McAvoy.

Throw in some Shakespeare source material and music by Elton John, and one would think we were set. But Gnomeo and Juliet does the seeming impossible—takes all of these phenomenal elements and churns out a movie that’s only sporadically entertaining and completely forgettable. Unlike its durable garden decoration characters, this movie will wash out of your brain with the first drizzle.

Gnomeo and Juliet’s first and biggest problem is its lack of original, engaging characters. Gnomeo, Gnomeo, wherefore art thou, Gnomeo? Who knows, but he’s just your standard love-stricken youth determined to prove himself to the world and win his girl, while Juliet is your standard spunky heroine who’s trapped in a narrow female role but has the ninja skills to fight out.