We’ve heard of shows being canceled due to difficult cast members, poor ratings, or a lack of a budget, but an abundance of deaths? That’s new.

That seems to be the case with HBO’s freshman show Luck, about the comings and goings of a horse track and its characters that surround it. The Dustin Hoffman-starring vehicle seems to have been the victim of too many horse deaths to continue on the network. Here’s the official message from HBO:

It is with heartbreak that executive producers David Milch and Michael Mann together with HBO have decided to cease all future production on the series LUCK.

This week’s Monday pick is Manhunter (1986), Michael Mann’s film adaptation of Thomas Harris’s classic novel Red Dragon. The film stars William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Dennis Farina, Stephen Lang, and Tom Noonan.

Manhunter is one of Mann’s best and it was the first film to introduced the world to psychotic killer Dr. Hannibal Lecktor who would go on to great acclaim five years later in the Academy Award winning Best Picture Silence of the Lambs.

William Petersen stars as FBI profiler Will Graham who is pulled out of semi-retirement by his old boss Jack Crawford (Farina) when a series of grizzly murders occur a month apart from one another. Graham is considered one of the best profilers in the Bureau and Crawford is reluctant to ask him to come back after Graham was viciously attacked and almost killed several years earlier when he apprehended Dr. Lecktor.

Something happened in the last ten years or so as exceptional drama TV programming moved away from traditional networks and onto pay cable systems like HBO. With shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones, HBO has established itself as one of the premiere destinations for those seeking well written, skillfully produced and high quality shows.

A new show on HBO seeks to continue that tradition this weekend with the premiere of its new horse racing drama Luck. On first glance, it seems like Luck should have no problem taking its place with those other great shows. It was created and is being produced by David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood) and Michael Mann (Miami Vice, Heat) and features an impressive cast including Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina.

All of those elements together should warrant at least a look at the new show and will almost certainly lead to its success with fans. To help you get ready for the premiere, we’ve got a lot of videos to share with you today including some interviews with Milch and Mann as well as a couple trailers.

Check out all the videos after the break. Luck premieres Sunday at 9/8C on HBO.

When you think of quality drama on TV the network that probably comes to mind in HBO. With series like The Sopranos, Treme, Game of Thrones, True Blood and The Wire, HBO has and is the place where you can find some of the best shows anywhere.

Now an upcoming series is hoping to take its place among those great shows. That series is Luck, which is a horse racing drama from producers Michael Mann and David Milch which features Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte.

Over the weekend the network released a teaser trailer for the series and we, of course, have it for you right here. In it you’ll get a better idea of the show and how its all gonna go down.

Gotta say, it looks pretty interesting. Plus, with the cast and creative team involved, it wil definitely be worth checking out.

Luck is slated to premiere in January. Check out the preview after the break.

This week sees the release of several new movies and TV shows, some for the first time ever on Blu-ray. Of the ones coming out this week, we’re excited for not as many as last week. But still, the release of An Education, Collateral and Sherlock Holmes (pictured above with Robert Downey, Jr and Jude Law) is reason enough to be excited. Plus, there’s always next week. . . and the week after that.

Check them out:

Film

Alice in Wonderland (2-Disc Special Un-Anniversary Edition) ~ Kathryn Beaumont, Ed Wynn, Richard Haydn (DVD)

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel ~ Anna Faris, Christina Applegate, Justin Long (Blu-ray and DVD)

An Education ~ Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard (Blu-ray and DVD)

Collateral ~ Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx (Blu-ray)

I Sell the Dead ~ Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman (Blu-ray and DVD)

Rivals of Sherlock Holmes: Set 2 ~ Derek Jacobi, Judy Geeson, Jean Marsh (DVD)

Sherlock Holmes ~ Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams (Blu-ray and DVD)

Public Enemies, the latest film from director Michael Mann (TVs Miami Vice, Manhunter, Heat, Collateral), hit DVD shelves this week, and if you were a fan of the film in the theater, you’ll want to pick it up on DVD or Blu-Ray. In the film, Johnny Depp plays Depression-era Robin Hood John Dillinger who rose to fame as a notorious bank robber and the F.B.I.’s first public enemy #1.

The film is a loose interpretation of many events such as Dillinger’s empathy for sharecroppers and out on their luck everyday individuals, his famous escape from an Indiana jail, and his eventual demise at Chicago’s Biograph Theater at the hands of F.B.I. agent Melvin Purvis and his band of intrepid G-Men.

Some exciting features on the Blu-Ray and DVD include a documentary about both Dillinger and Purvis who became media adversaries as both rose to both fame and infamy. The second involves a behind-the-scenes featurette with director Michael Mann and how he brought “Public Enemies” to the big screen.

This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt again welcome recurring guest host Elisabeth Rappe and launch into a whole slew of new topics including Avengers casting and story news, The Road, potential Captain America actors, feature film adaptations of Magnum P.I. and ALF, films that should and should not be on Blu-ray and the films of Michael Mann.

Chris, Matt and Elisabeth also made some cool picks this week including Elisabeth’s pick of the Spanish thriller Alatriste, Matt’s pick of the Sly Stallone starrer Daylight and Chris’ pick of the Stanley Kubrick classic Dr. Strangelove, featuring George C. Scott, Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers and Peter Sellers. See the movie to get that joke.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

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Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as Michael Mann’s awesome film Heat (shown above with Robert De Nero and Val Kilmer), Logan’s Run, Up, Monsters, Inc. and the Watchmen “Ultimate” Cut. Plus, there’s the second volume of Batman: The Brave and the Bold coming out this week as well.

Check them out:

Movies

The Accidental Husband ~ Uma Thurman, Colin Firth, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Sam Shepard (DVD and Blu-ray)

The General (1926) (Silent) ~ Buster Keaton (Blu-ray)

Heat ~ Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer (Blu-ray)

Logan’s Run ~ Michael York (Blu-ray)

Love Finds a Home ~ Patty Duke, Jordan Bridges, Haylie Duff (DVD and Blu-ray)

Monsters, Inc. (4-Disc Edition) ~ Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Bonnie Hunt (DVD and Blu-ray)

Near Dark ~ Lance Henriksen, Adrian Pasdar, Bill Paxton, Jenny Wright (Blu-ray)

As a huge Johnny Depp and Christian Bale fan, I was curious when reviews started pouring in and friends kept talking to me about Public Enemies, since most of them felt mixed. I didn’t get it. How could a movie with Michael Mann directing, starring these two plus Marion Cotilliard, possibly be bad?

Let’s set the record straight here- this is not a bad movie. It’s very strong. But like any movie, it’s got some problems.
The film revolves around John Dillinger (Depp), a real-life bank robber in the 1930s, and his heists, robberies, escapes from jail, and love life. Along the way we get to know about his gang and the police hell bent on capturing him.

First and foremost, this movie is slow. While the bank robberies and car chases are action packed, loud, and fast paced, they are often few and far between. Most scenes with dialogue sort of quietly slug their way along. These scenes, although slow, give use chance to learn about and fall in love with John Dillinger.

From the original Miami Vice TV series through films like Thief, Heat and Collateral, director/writer/producer Michael Mann often explores the darker side of the street and highlights the lives and evil deeds of criminals. In his movies, the crooks are often just as symapthetic as the cops who try to catch them and the line between good and evil and right and wrong is, at best, blurred. Another film from the director that promises to explore the same territory is his upcoming John Dillinger biopic Public Enemies, starring Johnny Depp as Dillinger.

Over at the San Francisco Chronicle website they’ve got a very interesting interview with Mann about his upcoming film. In the article, several bits of information are revealed including the fact that the film’s star Johnny Depp has wanted to play the role of John Dillinger for twenty years, that director Mann thinks the film’s stance against banks is very timely given today’s economy but insists it’s just a coincidence, that Mann encourages his actors to heavily research their roles and that the film may glorify criminals.

Mann also defends Depp’s co-star in Public Enemies, actor Christian Bale, for his outburst on the set of Terminator: Salvation, insisting that nothing of the kind happened during his shoot. According to Mann: “Christian is a sweetheart to work with. This is a guy who doesn’t even travel with assistants. I can only surmise, if something like that happened, the provocation to Christian must have been extreme and going on for a long, long time.”

Mann also had glowing things to say about his star Johnny Depp and revealed that Depp has some close ties with the infamous character he plays in the film. “A lot of what goes on inside Johnny Depp could be used and revealed,” Mann said in the article. “I know there are dark currents within Johnny and also from his past life, and I know he has a lot of John Dillinger inside of him. He has a deep understanding of a troubled past and a troubled life, but is someone who is a very passionate man. He could understand those currents in unique ways.”

Be sure to check out the full article right here. Public Enemies hits theaters on July 1st.