While Slashfilm recommends sticking to your Maniac Mansion or Narc emulators for the long haul, Pineapple Express has a new Donkey Kong ripoff, featuring a playable Seth Rogen or James Franco, that might sooth your holiday hangover-slash-impressive sparkler burns. The goal: Avoid bouncy evil pineapples as you climb ladders to devour floating tacos, Big Gulps, potato chips and French fries. Click here to play.

Yeah, it doesn’t exactly set Billy Mitchell’s tie on fire (disclosure: we only played two levels). We expected more from PE, something to challenge the provocative ranks of Running Scared’s Hot Coffee using bongs and Tipper Gore’s party line. Alas, Huey Lewis’s theme song beckons us to stay positive. Update: The video game for Step Brothers is a whole lot worse (therefore better?). Also, John McCain’s Pork Invaders remains inexcusable.

Discuss: Come up with a concept for a better yet equally simple Pineapple Express video game. Note: This is an unpaid position.

The /Filmcast: After Dark is a recording of what happens right after The /Filmcast is over, when the kids have gone to bed and the guys feel free to speak whatever is on their minds. In other words, it’s the leftover and disorganized ramblings, mindfarts, and brain diarrhea from The /Filmcast, all in one convenient audio file. In this episode, David, Peter, Devindra, Adam and Eric Vespe (AKA “Quint“) continue their discussion of Wall-E and its social implications, intended or not. Also a poll question from David sends the uStream chat room spiraling wildly out of control.

Have any questions/comments/suggestions? Want to advertise your movie/product/service with the /Filmcast? E-mail us at slashfilmcast@gmail.com. Join us for our next broadcast, live on Monday night at 10 PM EST / 7 PM PST as we review Hancock with Adam Kempenaar from Filmspotting.

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Since Tuesday, Hancock has grossed over $40 million domestically and is on track to stack $100 million plus by wke’s end. While early word from critics and geeks is decidedly mixed, that’s a lot of moolah for Will Smith, director Peter Berg (his first major hit), and Sony. How puzzling then that Nikke Finke says there are serious doubts circling inside the studio regarding Hancock’s franchise potential—she even compares the film’s buzz to Wild Wild West. Jab, Hook, Jab. With a reported budget of $150 million, Jeff Wells cries Feh if the film grosses $90 mill or less by Sunday. Meanwhile, Diddy swooned and probably received a nice paycheck. UPDATE 2: It’s on target for $110 million. Wells now says he’s “in pain.” Aww.

My take: the flow of flip-flops, Crocs and wheelies after the holiday will remain steady, less steady than I Am Legend, which received similar “third act was wack” laments, but so what? Will Smith’s “coasting” will outperform the equally pricey The Incredible Hulk. And judging from early viewer comments below, “light fun” beats out-and-out hate.

Discuss: So, what did you think? In a summer of superlative superhero outings, where does Will Smith’s gravity-defying, comic-less street gruff fall? What did you make of the twisteroo that’s drawing steely comparisons to the guy who made The Happening? Would the film have been cooler if it was freed up by an R-rating as originally envisioned and marked by the MPAA—click here to read Vincent Ngo’s leaked screenplay forTonight, He Comes. Was the 92-minute running time too short? Was the editing botched? Is a sequel warranted? What of the performances of Smith and Charlize Theron? Does the Hancock storyline/concept cancel out “Demon in a Bottle” for Iron Man 2 as some have prematurely suggested in the preceding weeks? Worth seeing in a theater?

We’ll take this sentence to offer the ongoing meme for Showbiz Pizza’s house band an extended welcome and a thanks for making so many parents’ divorces and kids’ birthday parties that much more awkward, wacky and bipolar. This forthcoming documentary shines a light on the magic inner workings and fandom of The Rock-afire Explosion, the animatronic musical act and variety show that was a loud staple at Showbiz Pizza franchises in the ’80s.

From indie, Window Pictures, the flick centers on a 31-year-old Alabamian enviously named, Chris Thrash, who fulfilled his lifelong dream of purchasing and programming the band of robotic “artificial life forms.” Thrash now has the good fortune of being declared, “King of The Rock-afire Explosion World!” by a tan man in this trailer who wears exceedingly retro-patterned attire. Also, the Internetz already loves him: Thrash is on his way towards obtaining an invite to next year’s ROFLCon due to the popularity/badassness of his Rock-afire cover song requests, most recently Usher’s “Love in the Club.” Rock-afire also cameos in this obnoxious MGMT hipster dance off.

With its ominous suburban crime scene muzak, arcade montages, cheesy commercials (pun lalala) and telling geek confessions, the trailer will remind many of The King of Kong and Chasing Ghosts; and I really hope the hot lass seen here in a green shirt is an ‘08 Rock-afire Explosion groupie. I will convert Slashfilm dollars, stalk in van and feed her bad pizza. When I was 4-feet-tall and wearing $200 Nike Pump hi-tops, if a stranger had informed me that adulthood would bring this wistful doc and The Two Coreys, I would have worn more black. But hey, times change! I now attribute these semi-customized entertainments to a lucky taxidermy collection.

The Rock-afire Explosion opens Fall 2008.

Discuss: Wouldn’t the catchphrase currently seen/loathed on Domino’s Pizza’s boxes for The Dark Knight—”Cloaked in Pepperoni, Deliciously Mysterious”—be better utlized for The Rock-afire Explosion?

Muppets’ July 4th Viral Video

The Pitch: Have no idea where this comes from, or who created it, but once I saw it I knew that we needed to post this second Video of the Day on July 4th. “I, Sam the Eagle, present a musical salute to America.”

Watch More Cool Videos Here!

Video of the Day is a daily feature of /Film showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should be feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.

Buried in this Billboard chat with The RZA is the first announcement of a new project he’s working on with horror poster boy and David Copperfield doppleganger Eli Roth…

“RZA has developed a martial arts film with Hollywood pal Eli Roth called The Man with the Iron Fist, which he says has “the blessing” of his ‘teacher,’ Quentin Tarantino…”

These three guys! Let’s hope video from Tarantino’s “blessing” surfaces on the DVD. Common sense would dictate that The Man With the Iron Fist is categorically unrelated to Marvel’s kung-fu fighting character of the same name. Roth is a longtime fan of chopsockey; maybe he’ll cast friend Matthew Helms, a 19-year-old martial artist and actor who played the lovely “Pan Cake Dennis” in his Cabin Fever? Here’s the ridic clip.

We reported previously that RZA has completed a collaboration with Hans Zimmer on the score to Babylon A.D. And for the Wu-literate, RZA says that he may finally, finally get around to editing and releasing his Bobby Digital blaxploitation movie, which focuses on the “science lab origins” of his neoghetto alter-ego, a violent playboy who wears a $1 party mask, drives ‘rraris and makes no sense.

Discuss: Do RZA + QT + Roth equal the new Night at the Roxbury? What will Eli Roth-fu look like? I guess the obvious answer is…something like Pan Cake Dennis?

via RZA RSS aka Playlist

The New York Times has a photo from the set of McG’s Terminator Salvation. Looks like they blew up a 7-Eleven in the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The story also reiterates the sequel’s rumored budget of “more than $200 million”. I understand the knee jerk reaction most people are having to the idea of a fourth Terminator film, but I’ve been hearing some really great things about this production.

Update: Videoeta has more photos from the set, I’ve included a couple below.

Right now if I need to print something out or scan a document I need to switch the usb cords currently connected to my computer. Truth is, I need a USB hub. But why get any old boring USB hub when you can buy one that is in the form of R2D2 or Darth Vader? The good news is that George Lucas is releasing Darth Vader and R2D2 shaped USB hubs later this month for $66. The bad news is you’ll have to import them. Click the photo above to enlarge. You can also watch the video below of the R2D2 USB hub in action.

Hellboy Cat PSA

The Pitch: Hellboy does a public service announcement with his cat.

Watch More Cool Videos Here!

Video of the Day is a daily feature of /Film showcasing geekarific video creations. Have a video we should be feature on VOTD? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.

Our friends at MovieMoron bring us today’s edition of LOL: a photo of a real life Hancock. And before you ask, I’m pretty sure this real life Hancock doesn’t actually have any super powers.

Next week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly features Batman and The Joker on the cover. You can read the whole Dark Knight cover story now on EW.com.

IGN has the first trailer for Alex Proyas’ Knowing. My first impression is that the film looks rather generic and boring, which is sad considering how much I am rooting for Proyas. The director gained critical acclaim for his 1998 sci-fi thriller Dark City, but his follow-up efforts (I, Robot and Garage Days) have been pretty uninspired. The concept of Knowing sounds interesting, but this trailer is less than exciting, especially compared to DJ Caruso’s Eagle Eye. Tell me what you think in the comments below.

Watch the trailer in High Definition on IGN. Knowing is set to hit theaters on March 20th 2009.

Official Plot Synopsis: In 1958, as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one of the students, a mysterious girl who seems to hear whispered voices, fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead.

Fast forward 50 years to the present: A new generation of students examines the contents of the time capsule and the girl’s cryptic message ends up in the hands of young CALEB MYLES. But it is Caleb’s father, professor TED MYLES (Nicolas Cage), who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As Ted further unravels the document’s secrets, he realizes it foretells three additional events-the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve Ted and his son. When Ted’s attempts to alert the authorities fall on deaf ears, he takes it upon himself to try to prevent more destruction from taking place.

This gripping supernatural thriller charts one man’s faltering steps towards belief in the ultimate order of the universe even as he finds himself surrounded by mounting chaos. With the reluctant help of DIANA WHELAN (Rose Byrne) and ABBY, the daughter and granddaughter of the now-deceased author of the cryptic prophecies, Ted’s increasingly desperate efforts take him on a heart-pounding race against time until he finds himself facing the ultimate disaster-and the ultimate sacrifice.

Yesterday, I posted on Christian Bale’s reported dismissal of Robin—both the character and his place in Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise—and the comments continue to unfold with incredibly lengthy diatribes widely in favor of Bale’s sentiments. Twenty-three words can unleash hundreds of thousands, and now highly respected comic writer Jeph Loeb, whose credits include both The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, has come out in defense of Robin/Dick Grayson’s place in a Batman 3. What’s worth noting is that both of the connected books mentioned above have long been considered by geeks to be fair game for a sequel(s) to The Dark Knight…if we’re so lucky. Here’s what Loeb told MTV regarding his vision for “the next step” in these high water mark superhero films..

“Take the time to tell the story properly,” Loeb said. “There is a story of Dick Grayson and how he becomes Robin that is extremely moving and very helpful. …[Grayson/Robin] doesn’t understand why it is that he needs to do this and Bruce doesn’t understand why he’s doing it either because he’s not a parent. He doesn’t know how to be a parent,” Loeb said. “And together, they make each other better people. So that for me would be the next step.”

Right now, Robin is considered to be a hex for the series due to Joel Schumacher’s legendary wack-job with the character/costumes. Combined with Robin’s oft-pubescent, effete depiction, he automatically seems like a flamboyant anomaly to Nolan’s world of hardboiled crime staked in realistic technology and sophistication. Of course, Nolan’s take on Robin would certainly not resemble anything like the admittedly biased image above, but Robin would still prove a creative challenge to adapt unlike any other character in his mythology. Oddly enough, Bale stated back in 2005 that one of his favorite Batman comics was Dark Victory, in which Robin plays a considerable role…

“But the two [Batman stories] that I liked particularly were Dark Victory and The Long Halloween. They just had some really fantastic imagery in there of the severity of Batman and everything and I would kind of imitate those positions.”

There’s speculation that The Daily Mail falsely attributed the Robin diss to Bale; however, it’s equally as likely that Bale simply browsed through various graphic novels sent to him by DC (as he informed fans in the link above) with casual interest. As it stands, Bale hates Robin. Haha. If the third film is indeed the last, might it seem strange to have entirely overlooked such a well recognized part of canon? While /Film doesn’t wish to see Robin appear in any form, Loeb does make a nice and knowing effort to illustrate how it could be done tastefully…

“I wouldn’t let him become Robin until the third act, if that. I think that’s the other problem when you tell that story is that there’s this rush to put him in a costume by the end of the first 20 minutes and in that case I think it’s a disaster…”

Discuss: Do Loeb’s comments change your stance on the appropriateness/inclusion of Robin in a sequel to The Dark Knight? Is it worth the risk and if so, how old would Robin need to be for it to work? What do you make of Bale’s compliments to Dark Victory but dislike for Robin?

Bonus Disuss: Is Chris O’Donnell’s Robin the lamest, worst outfitted superhero ever put to film? Has anyone offered a picture of Robin to O’Donnell for an autograph circa 2008? Do tell.

USA Today released a new batch of photos from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Warner Bros has sent us high resolution versions of the photos, which you can check out below. As always, click to enlarge.

The article also hints that the upcoming films might stray a little from the books. The idea presented is that the book series is already complete, and everyone (even many of those who didn’t read the final book) already knows how everything ends. So the films will take on different focuses than you might be expecting. I’s guessing that it won’t be anything too drastically different, but it sure will be interesting.

And the last two photos come from MSN Cine, via Blogwartz

“My name is Klaatu Reeves and I have come to Earth to warn you of Hancock.” The first trailer for December’s big budget remake of 1951’s The Day the Earth Stood Still is now online after premiering in front of Will Smith’s ne’er-do-well superhero flick. Under an icy blue tint, the preview quickly evokes Close Encounters, The Abyss, Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, Contact and Langoliers before closing in on the modern green message, an aspect that Keanu Reeves has mentioned briefly in the press….

“The version I was just working on, instead of being man against man, it’s more about man against nature. My Klaatu says that if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives. I’m a friend to the earth.”

The special effects by Weta Digital—the emphasis here is on a large alien orb and apocalyptic destruction—seem crisp and foreboding enough. Glimpses of a cast that includes Jennifer Connelly, Mad Men’s Jon Hamm (his first major movie role) and Kathy Bates, give the impression that director Scott Derrickson (Exorcism of Emily Rose) may have crafted a classier Day After Tomorrow. If so, that would slightly exceed most fanboys’ early expectations for the film. Alas, do you see Gort? Check out the comments.

Watch the trailer in high resolution on filmweb.no.

Synopsis: Updating the 1951 sci-fi classic’s Cold War and religious themes, Keanu Reeves stars as Klaatu, a mysterious man from another world who warns Earth’s humans that unless they change their gluttonous and harmful ways and pay more attention to the planet’s needs, aliens will swoop down and destroy them for good. :0

The Day the Earth Stood Still opens on December 12th.

Discuss: What do you think of the trailer to The Day the Earth Stood Still? Does it appear to be what you expected? Will Reeves make a Klaatu for the ages? Also, Gort fans, chime in.