Another week has passed and we’ve got a brand new episode of The Flickcast for you. Truth be told, it’s a good one. It’s also somewhat serious given the recent tragic loss of icon Leonard Nimoy. But we also manage to have some fun too, don’t worry.

On this week’s show, Chris and Joe talk about a whole bunch of stuff including the singing talents of James Marsters, the recently announced sequels to Alien and Blade Runner, the awesome Power Rangers short that’s taken the Interwebs by storm, the power and influence of Star Trek and, of course, the boys relate their favorite Star Trek and Leonard Nimoy stories in an attempt to pay fitting tribute the man himself. There’s also the ever-present more.

Picks this week include Chris’ pick of the movie The Wrath of Khan and Joe’s pick of the Star Trek: The Next Generation classic two-part episode Unification.

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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The apes are back and there’s gonna be trouble … Yes, we like songs. We also like movies where apes run amuck and kick a lot of ass. Fortunately, we won’t be disappointed with the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It’s got all that, and more.

In this sequel to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Cloverfield director Matt Reeves brings us the beginnings of the war between man and ape. Our money is on the humans. We cheat.

Look for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes to drop on July 11. The trailer is after the break.

What can you say about Gareth Evans’ The Raid 2, the sequel to one of the greatest martial arts action films ever made? Well, knowing the original as we do, this sequel better be pretty damn good if it’s going to have any chance of even coming close to the original.

Fortunately, at least based on this new trailer, The Raid 2 looks like it just might be in the running for “Greatest sequel ever.”

Here’s more about the movie:

He thought it was over. After fighting his way out of a building filled with gangsters and madmen – a fight that left the bodies of police and gangsters alike piled in the halls – rookie Jakarta cop Rama thought it was done and he could resume a normal life. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Formidable though they may have been, Rama’s opponents in that fateful building were nothing more than small fish swimming in a pond much larger than he ever dreamed possible. And his triumph over the small fry has attracted the attention of the predators farther up the food chain. His family at risk, Rama has only one choice to protect his infant son and wife: He must go undercover to enter the criminal underworld himself and climb through the hierarchy of competing forces until it leads him to the corrupt politicians and police pulling the strings at the top of the heap.

The Hunger Games. What can you say about it? Well, it was a decent book that spawned a decent movie.

It also features the very cute Jennifer Lawrence, which doesn’t hurt. Of course, there’s a sequel, and it’s called Cathing Fire.

Of course again, a new trailer for the movie dropped during last night’s MTV Movie Awards. Don’t get us started on how useless the awards are, just enjoy the new trailer.

Or, don’t. No pressure. We won’t judge you either way. Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth, and Josh Hutcherson are back for the Francis Lawrence (no relation)-directed November 22 sequel.

Check out the teaser after the break.

That’s right folks, as you probably heard already, J.J. Abrams is supposedly set to direct the first movie in the new Star Wars trilogy for Disney. Word came down this afternoon about the deal, which according to sources, is “a lock.”

We got our scoop from a few sources too and so far, the deal looks to be genuine. Although, no “official” conformation has been forthcoming from Abrams himself. We expect that shortly.

In the meantime, now that a writer and director seem to be attached, the next step is, of course, the casting speculation. Sadly, we don’t really know much about the story or the characters, so that might make it more difficult.

Don’t think that will stop people from giving it a try anyway. So, how do we feel about Mr. Abrams taking on the new Star Wars movie? Sound off!

Yep. Even better. Can. Not. Wait.

In the least surprising news of the day, Joss Whedon has just been confirmed as the writer and director of The Avengers 2. It was always said that Whedon had the open door to come back if he so chooses, and now we know he did indeed choose to do so.

The Avengers 2 will be the culmination of Marvel’s ‘phase 2’ which is the series of Marvel Studios films that are coming after the grand epic that was The Avengers. Each ‘phase’ sort of works like major comic book events, with lead ups in various solo titles/films and eventually one grand event book/movie.

The news of Whedon signing on to the second Avengers movie was not a shock, but today’s news isn’t entirely without a surprise. Whedon is also signed on to develop a Marvel themed TV show for ABC. That is right. a Whedon created Marvel themed TV show coming to prime-time broadcast television!

Obviously this comes with no further information as of yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do some rampant speculation. This new series is likely to exist in the Marvel cinematic universe if they are bringing in Whedon to create it, which begs the question of who the series will be about. Chances are slim the show will be about The Avengers but what about another Marvel super team that has been rumored from time to time for their own film, The Thunderbolts.

Last year Fox defied all expectations by releasing not one, but two successful prequels to franchises they seemingly had run into the ground. Not only were these properties reeling from recent mishandling, Fox itself has a poor recent history with quality genre, and blockbuster films.

So when X-Men: First Class and Rise of the Planet of the Apes both turned out to be so good, people were shocked. Sequels to these prequels were a forgone conclusion and now thanks to the diligent folks at Box Office Mojo we have dates for both.

The Apes sequel is working under the title Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and is going to be coming first, May 23rd, 2014. Not much is known about the movie just yet, but it is safe to assume based on the working title the movie will have something to do with Ceaser building an Ape community that will eventually kill nearly all the humans on earth.

The X-Men sequel will stake a claim in one of the last prime weekends of the Summer season, July 18th, 2014. The movie is thought to be about Magneto’s further fall into villainy, which is a great angle to play when you have such a great actor in the roll. The primary cast is expected to return, but with production not beginning until next year it might be some time before that is confirmed.

With the “found footage” movie Chronicle making so much money at the box office, especially in relation to how much it cost, it was pretty much inevitable a sequel was going to be made. Fortunately, Fox seems to be playing this one smart and has brought back Max Landis, the writer of the first Chronicle, to pen the sequel.

In case you’re not familiar with Chronicle, it featured actors Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan playing three high school friends who gain superpowers. Unfortunately, as cool as that may sound, things don’t go exactly as they hoped.

Soon, the trio find their lives going out of control and friendships tested as they explore the dark side. Didn’t they ever see Spider-Man? Great power, great responsibility, that kind of thing? Kids today.

Anyway, Landis will reportedly be working on the sequel as his next project after recently selling projects to both Ron Howard and Disney. Fox is looking at a 2013 release for the Chronicle sequel.

Recently, a video surfaced of an older Matthew Broderick playing what seemed, at least on the surface, to be his famous character Ferris Bueller. Of course, this set off a wave of speculation that a sequel to the seminal 80s film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is in the works.

Sadly (or not) it appears the rumors of a sequel were just that. Instead, now that the full video has been released, we can clearly see that it was, in fact, a commercial for the new Honda CR-V and not a new movie.

We don’t usually post commercials here at The Flickcast but because this one is highly referential to the original film, features a prominent film and stage actor basically reprising his role as one of his most famous characters and the commercial is directed by Hangover helmer Todd Phillips, we think it probably warrants a mention. So, we’re mentioning it.

We won’t, however, comment on the rather sad physical state Broderick looks to be in nor the relative creative mertis of the commercial itself. We’ll leave that for you.

Check out the full commercial after the jump.

The fourth installment of the Underworld franchise tried to bring the series back to it’s bread and butter, Kate Beckinsale in skin-tight leather. That was seemingly all you need as the film bounced back from the disappointing third installment and stands tall with a similar start to that of the first two movies.

The estimated twenty-five and a half million dollar haul puts Awakening on pace to top the over all totals of the first and third movies, whether or not it can catch the series peak, set by Evolution, will depend on it’s hold next weekend. The per theater average and total screen numbers are comparable to the second film which performed the best up to this point in the series.

Coming in at an impressive nineteen million is Red Tails, the Lucasfilm tale of the famed Tuskegee Airman. The movie surpassed many expectations and out paced other fighter pilot films by a solid margin. Much like Underworld: Awakening, the critical reception of Red Tails has not been kind, so it will need strong word of mouth to maintain momentum into next weekend.

The original Expendables film was a who’s who of classic 80s and 90s action super stars. It was a throwback film to a time when hardcore action films were made for a more hard core audience. The second film looks to follow in the original’s footsteps by amping up the nostalgic icons, but is the action going to take a step back?

Sylvester Stallone recently confirmed rumors over on Aint It Cool News that the film is aiming to earn a PG-13 rating:

Harry, the film is fantastic with Van Damme turning in an inspired performance… Our final battle is one for the ages. The PG13 rumor is true, but before your readers pass judgement,  trust me when I say this film is LARGE in every way and  delivers on every level. This movie touches on many emotions which we want to share with the broadest audience possible, BUT, fear not, this Barbeque of Grand scale Ass Bashing will not leave anyone hungry…Sly

The initial reaction people will have from this news is likely to be negative, but it is important to remember that the original film was eyeballing a PG-13 rating during it’s filming as well. Stallone has earned the trust of the movie going audience as a director and storyteller, and The Expendables 2 still has in impressive cast list. We will have to wait and see if the teen friendly rating negatively effects the final project.