As I’ve said before, one of my favorite parts of working with The Flickcast is the ability to check out some awesome trade shows like E3, Wondercon and Comi- Con and then have the chance to share them with our readers. On of best ways to do that has always been photo galleries. Now, I want to apologize a little (even though it isn’t my fault) that E3 has reduced the amount of booth babes at the show so there isn’t a plethora of photos from the show floor with half naked women.

But you have to remember, E3 is a trade show with industry professionals. It can’t be all T & A like Comic-Con.

This year was actually my first E3 and unfortunately I was only able to go to the show for one day. But I did get hands on with some stuff on the floor. I had the opportunity to play Diablo III on the PlayStation 3 and it actually felt like a very different experience than the PC version. Aside from it working properly, it also felt more like a button masher in the same vein as Gauntlet Legends. Also got to try out the new LEGO Marvel Super Heroes which was pretty awesome too.

With Google I/O last week, the company unveiled a brand new vision for mobile communication called Hangouts. A major component of Hangouts is the Google+ service, which is getting a major update today.

Among the many changes in Google+ are new photo features including auto backups, auto highlight of the best photos, auto enhance, and “Auto Awesome.” In addition, there is now a dedicated tab for “Locations.” This new feature enables users to see where friends are on a map so that you can set up places to meet. If you don’t want to take advantage of this feature, or are just wary of sharing your location, this can be turned off in location sharing.

There’s also a new card UI and exploring features taken from the Chrome version of Google+. Tags are shown at the top right of posts, so that you can easily browse by topic. Notifications have been updated as well and are “nicer to look at and use,” plus profile fields can be edited on the go.

The update is expected to hit today. Look for it in the Play Store.

Hey all! As I am sure some of the regular readers of The Flickcast have noticed, my favorite part of the Con season is taking pics at them. Unfortunately, due to some professional responsibilities, I was only able to get down to one day of WonderCon this year.

But because my time was limited, I didn’t waste it on panels and the like. Instead I hit the floor with camera in hand and got as many pics of the Wondercon sights as I could.

While WonderCon doesn’t have the size of San Diego or New York Comic Con, the fans there weren’t any less fervent with their cosplay love. This year I saw a lot of new and original costumes I had not seen before. While a pimped out Boba Fett was present, I also saw for the first time Paper Mario as well as a group of female X-Man villains. Alongside the working R2 units, there was a life sized Wall-E that sadly the picture doesn’t do justice as it captured all of the personality of the movie and brought it to life in front of us all.

Unfortunately due to prior commitments, I was only able to make my way down to the New York Comic Con this year for preview night. While it was great to be able to take to the floor and not be mowed down by waves and waves of people, part of what makes a Con great is being surrounded by your fellow geeks. But even though it wasn’t the storm of crazy that usually envelopes the show floor by Friday or Saturday, there was still tons to see at the Con.

In the gallery below, check out some of the great booths from the show as well as some early cosplayers. One thing that stood out this year at NYCC is just how much video games were represented. PlayStation came in with a booth the same size as their San Diego setup including a huge diorama for God of War: Ascension. Meanwhile, Nintendo had two areas set aside: one for the 3DS and one larger area featuring both Wii U and 3DS titles. Not to be outdone, Microsoft came in with their biggest gun, Halo 4 which boasted a 45 minute to hour wait time on the least crowded of the show days for one round of multiplayer.

Take a look at all NYCC had to offer after the jump and we will try our best to find some more photos from the show floor from the rest of the weekend if at all possible!

For those of you (the males at least) who try to keep in shape, this is undoubtedly pretty intimidating. Putting that aside, however, it does give one a bit of hope that the next time Wolverine appears on screen in a major motion picture he will look pretty awesome.

Of course, we’re talking about the just released first picture of Hugh Jackman from the upcoming film The Wolverine. And from what we can see so far, we can deduce at least one fact: Hugh Jackman must work out.

Of course, it’s impossible to judge an entire movie from one picture (although some may try). Still, it does seem that Jackman is taking the physical part of his role very seriously and is making sure he looks the part as much as possible.

Click through for the full pic after the break. Look for The Wolverine, featuring Hugh Jackman and is impressive arm, to hit theaters on July 26, 2012.

Do you remember those Puppet Master movies? Those awesome B-flicks that involved iconic little puppets like Blade during various gory adventures, some times through time itself. They were made by Full Moon Features who are carrying a touch for low budgets horror cinema in much the same way Rodger Corman did decades ago.

The go-getters over at Evil Puppets, one of the last bastions of puppet-based cinema appreciation in the world, recently was invited to the set of the tenth Puppet Master film where they were able to see first hand some awesome horror puppetry action:

Alright fans of evil puppets and ankle biting demons from beyond, lend us your eyes!  Full Moon Features was kind enough to invite Anthony Sant’Anselmo, founder of ‘Evil Puppets’ to capture exclusive, behind-the-scenes coverage on the now in-production ‘Axis Rising: Puppet Master X’! … Say what you will about some of the films Full Moon has put out, but you cannot deny the endless well of creativity and originality that [Charles] Band’s companies has encompassed over the years

Check out a full gallery of rather snazzy set pictures after the jump.

Nicholas Cage is a strange film entity. He has developed a manic energy that can be harnessed into compelling work by the right filmmakers. Of course in the hands of the wrong filmmakers he is just all over the place in a crazy mess.

Usually a good sign of what type of Cage performance you are going to get can be found in the supporting cast around him. Deadline has scored the first look at some stills from his newest movie complete with a few of his fellow cast-mates:

The movie written and directed by Scott Walker revolves around Alaska’s most notorious serial predator Robert Hansen (Cusack), who in the span of 12 years abducted more than 24 women, flew them into the Alaskan wilderness, and hunted and murdered them. Hudgens plays the one teenage victim who escaped, and Cage plays the Alaskan State Trooper who finds her on the street — together they work to bring Hansen to justice.

Sounds a little like Kiss the Girls, but given the true story angle and Alaska setting this should stand well enough on its own. What is most interesting about this film is the almost against type roles for both Cage and Cusack. This could be a nice change of pace for both actors.

Comic-Con is the Mecca of pop culture. People from every facet of the entertainment industry are there and for good reason. If a movie is going to be huge in 2012, it started at Comic Con 2011 (or even sooner). Even television shows that have nothing to do with “geek culture” can be found at the Con.

But of course at Comic-Con, everyone is able to let out their inner geek. Whether it’s a t-shirt that proudly proclaims “Nerd” to the world or a twenty-five piece, thousand dollar Iron Man costume with light-up chest piece, everyone is able to let their geek flag fly.

The hardest part of Comic-Con is it is impossible to see everything, whether or not you are on the show floor or trying to follow it from home. We hope that this photo gallery can help fill in some of those spots of the Con that you missed out on. Check it out and share it with your friends and hopefully see you there next year.

Andrew Stanton might have taken a blow with the commercial dud that was John Carter, but he is still responsible for two of the greatest animated films of all time, Finding Nemo & Wall-E. If anyone deserves a do over pass, it is that guy.

Recently the director shared something rather fun with the guys over at LA Times Hero Complex:

The two-time Oscar winner was the guest after our Sunday matinee screening of the most cosmic of Pixar films and he mentioned that the editorial department at Pixar had a bit of fun by taking a reference model of M-O over to the Sears Portrait Studio where warm family memories are preserved forever, um … tasteful flair?

PIXAR has long been known for adding mountains of humanity to animated inanimate objects, and Wall-E might have been their pinnacle. It is amazing how much personality and soul they managed to put into these, mostly, speechless robots.

Clearly that humanity was fostered behind the scenes too, as evidenced by these silly pictures. It is amazing that these characters make so such of an impact that even reference models paraded around in a series of family portraits can provoke an emotion.

Take a look at these adorable pictures after the jump, and don’t forget to catch the next PIXAR film, Brave, in theaters June 22nd.

It is never to early to get excited about one of next summer’s tent pole films. So with that in mind we turn our gaze to the first official image from Pacific Rim, Guillermo Del Toro’s love letter to Japanese giant monster movies. That last sentence alone should have you contemplating lining up now for the best possible seat for the film.

One of the stars of Pacific Rim is the endlessly cool Idris Elba who is on the fast track to out dueling Samuel L. Jackson to the most bad ass mother in Hollywood title. Further establishing that claim is this image in question from Pacific Rim.

Cool is a word thrown around a lot these days, so much so that it has kind of lost some luster. Allow me to stress fully how cool this is, Elba just standing there in his giant robot flight suit, presumably about to go lay some smack down on giant monsters in the streets of Hong Kong. This exists!

Giant monster movies are cheesy, but there is something innocent about them, something pure. Seeing something as innocuous as a lizard or a moth one hundred times its normal size and being terrifying is the nightmare of children, the fears you have when normal life concerns can’t even compute in your mind. Del Toro is the perfect director to take that type of story and make it gratifying on the largest scale.

This is, no doubt, the first of many gleeful Pacific Rim updates from us here at The Flickcast, stay tuned.