Voting at the Box Office (2008 Mar 10)

"Programming" Notes: Going forward, additional chapters in the series "My Life as a Geek" will be posted on Thursdays. Also, it's unlikely there will be any weekend ReelThoughts in the near future, since I'm using Saturdays and Sundays to populate ...

Theatrical Releases (2008 Mar 07)

It was a year ago this weekend that 300 was released, igniting a box office that burned brightly until well into the summer. Alas, there is no 300 this year, which means the February free-fall will migrate into a March malaise. There are movies on ...

My Life as a Geek (Part One) (2008 Mar 06)

This will be the first of a several-part series ruminating about various "geeky" pursuits and culminating in a discussion of how Hollywood typically misrepresents one of the most glorious of occurrences: geek love.When I was growing up, the preferred...

Video View (2008 Mar 04)

The studios are getting worried. Profits from DVD sales are way down in 2008. The master plan two years ago was to have high-def revenue "fill in" the standard DVD lag but the format war either killed or delayed that campaign. There are two ...

Full Speed Ahead (2008 Mar 03)

Since I'm spending about 50% of my free time working on the ReelViews re-design, I figured it was worth at least a column to discuss the direction in which I see the site going. Admittedly, the original goal was to make a better home for the ads so ...

Short Clips (2008 Mar 02)

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this past week's e-mail was the lack of volume associated with The Oscars. There were a few obligatory messages but not the usual avalanche. The majority opinion of those writing to me is that this year's ...

Theatrical Releases (2008 Feb 29)

It's a wasteland out there. The tundra of the local multiplex is as barren as the surface of the moon. When I say that, I'm not referring specifically to the quality of new theatrical releases (although that's nothing to get excited about), but the ...

Bigger Theaters, Smaller People (2008 Feb 28)

While out driving yesterday, I passed a building that once housed a movie theater. The theater closed in the early '80s and, since then, it has been a self-storage locale and is currently a pet supply store. I was taken by a momentary pang of ...

Video View (2008 Feb 26)

With the format war officially over, it's now time to start thinking about when some of the really desirable titles will start showing up on Blu-Ray. This is where Hollywood faces its biggest challenge - convincing movie buffs to re-buy catalog ...

Hollywood's Hangover (2008 Feb 25)

First, let me say that I enjoyed "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck" more than the entire Oscar ceremony. Okay, so it wasn't as good as "I'm Fucking Matt Damon," but it was about as good as a rebuttal could be. Also impressive was the star power Jimmy Kimmel...

Short Clips (2008 Feb 24)

Not much in the mailbag this week about advertising or the site redesign. There is one question I want to address, then I'll move on to other things. When I recently mentioned that I intended to "cap" ads, what did I mean? Simply, that the number ...

Theatrical Releases (2008 Feb 22)

Fans of Larry the Cable Guy, this is your weekend! Witless Protection was not screened for critics and that's probably a good thing because it's not a movie I had an overwhelming desire to sit through. Sometimes the studios do critics a favor by ...

Can You Stay Awake through the Whole Thing? (2008 Feb 21)

That's the most pointed question I can think of regarding the Oscars. My solution is to record the thing then watch it late at night, skipping over commercials, filler, and speeches that turn into lists of names. When you think about it, that's ...

Video View (2008 Feb 19)

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 ...

Doctorin' the Pirates (2008 Feb 18)

Now that the WGA strike is over, I feel remiss that I haven't even hummed a few bars of the "Hallelujah" chorus. The fact is, though, that the writers could have stayed on strike for another six months and it wouldn't have bothered me. In fact, I ...

Short Clips (2008 Feb 16)

Three topics dominated the mailbag this week: site redesign, advertising versus donations, and HD-DVD. I'm also amassing a nice collection of hate mail, some of which I plan to share in the near future. The irregular "hate mail" features of this ...

Theatrical Releases (2008 Feb 15)

Jumper isn't the worst movie being released this weekend but it's not the best, either. That won't prevent it from taking the crown as Box Office Champion. This is the kind of movies that will attract teenage boys like flies to manure. The fact ...