Watching movie after movie after movie in sequence throughout this film festival, a thought has occurred to me: Where have the opening credits gone? As recent as ten years ago, the norm was for every movie to have opening credits. When exceptions ...
Today is Wednesday, and it's already possible to start feeling the stirrings of the end. It's like this every year. The festival has its most active and chaotic days early then, on Sunday, settles down to a slow, contented bubble for the first half ...
It's impossible to notice the date and not think back. Thoughts of 9/11 don't linger in my mind the way they did at the film festival in 2002 or 2003, but they're still there. Of all the memories I have of spending time in Toronto, those from 9/11 ...
(Note: I have been asked by several readers to discuss the incident that occurred last week involving Roger Ebert and Lou Lumenick. However, while I was present at the screening and in fact was sitting rather near to Mr. Ebert, I did not personally ...
Is anyone still watching television? I suppose people are - ratings are down but not out. In my view, watching television is more of a habit than a form of entertainment. We watch bad shows not because we think they're worthwhile but because they'...
At the risk of sounding like I have my priorities reversed, I'm going to look ahead before looking backward. By "ahead," I'm referring to early 2009 - specifically, where the website is going in the near future. Next month, ReelViews will turn 13 ...
Looking at the few films opening in theaters this weekend, I can affirm that it's a good time to go to the multiplexes for horror fans and devotees of Sex and the City. Everyone else might do better staying home. Big summer movies often have the ...
So I have nearly reached the end of what has been a longer road than I initially envisioned. To remake the site required that I add CSS, PHP, and MySQL to my arsenal of web tools (which previously contained HTML and some Java). I won't claim to be ...
Originally, I had hoped the site redesign, which I have unoriginally dubbed "ReelViews 2.0," would be ready by May 1, but I underestimated the amount of time necessary to add reviews to the newly created database (the underlying foundation of the ...
The big news this week is more about what's happening in the high definition market that what's available on standard DVD. (In answer to the question of when I will start "publishing" new Blu-Ray titles on the VideoViews page in addition to standard...
This is another slow week for new movies on DVD. There are really only four worth mentioning, and none are very good. (I wouldn't even waste a rental on any of these. It's not the loss of money so much as the loss of time.) Good Luck Chuck is ...
First, my thoughts about the Oscar nominations: yawn. Has there ever been a more predictable roster? With only a couple of mild surprises, everything was as expected. My (unpublished) predictions scored 25 out of 30 in the main six categories, ...
When it comes to DVD releases, this is yet another week when high-profile TV series trump high-profile movies, but that's not to say there aren't a lot of new theatrical titles available. In fact, this is the first week of the new year in which ...
There's not much on the format war front this week except for an observation. As I prepared this column, I noted the placement of Blu-Ray titles versus HD-DVD titles relative to each other on Amazon's Top 50 list. Blu Ray discs are consistently ...
Every war, regardless of its nature, is comprised of a series of battles. Yesterday, HD-DVD lost two big ones. Early in the day, Netflix announced that it would no longer support HD-DVD. To salt the wound, Best Buy indicated later in the day that ...
A bit of consumer advice: if you don't have a Blu-Ray player at this time and you live in the United States, don't use your stimulus rebate check to buy one. Wait until November - that's when price cuts and sales will drive down prices into a range ...
Before discussing what arrives on DVD this week, I want to write a few words about the status of the format war. Contrary to what some people are claiming, it is not over. Admittedly, Toshiba's decision to abandon HD-DVD has left the format on life ...