bnorthup
01-09-2002, 04:40 PM
Web sites for the film buff
By Brent Northup
In an article in Tuesday’s USA today, writer Mike Snider confirms what I already knew: Americans are less likely to leave home for entertainment than ever before. Snider calls it “local area nesting” syndrome, which means we stay closer than ever to our nest. Other scholars have called it “the death of the front porch,” referring to the fact that neighbors no longer sit on the porch and visit with friends. Instead, we are inside calling them on our cell phones.
The home entertainment systems in homes are increasingly high tech. We are not far from high-resolution television on a wide scale (as soon as the corporations resolve the issues of standardization and compatibility). DVD movies are here to stay and will likely displace VHS video within 10 years or less.
And, of course, there’s the new entertainment Mecca of them all: the personal computer. Although it’s illegal, many film buffs had copies of “Lord of the Rings” before it was released in America – on their computer. There’s virtually no end to entertainment options on the computer – the problem is finding the ones that best serve your purposes.
For me, the computer is still primarily a word processor and a library. I would never watch a movie on a tiny computer screen.
But when it comes to finding information about movies, the World Wide Web is a Mecca.
In this week when no new movies come to Helena, I’m going to take time out to introduce readers to four fine web sites for movie buffs.
At the top of my list is a web site called Metacritic (Metacritic.com). As the name implies, Metacritic focuses on movie criticism. The site reads virtually every major review of every film in release, and “averages” all reviews in order to give an average film review rating from 1 to 100.
The highest rated film currently playing in Helena is Lord of the Rings, with an astounding 94. The only film in current release higher than that is Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park” with a 95. “A Beautiful Mind”, which opens today at the Circus, is rated 71, the same as “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” which just left the Myrna Loy, A rating above 80 is said to have been “universally acclaimed by film critics.”
By contrast, “Vanilla Sky” received a low 41 rating, which still towers above the 14 earned by “Corky Romano.”
Since its inception in the summer of 1999, Metacritic has given its highest rating to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which earned a 98 – signifying a chorus of rave reviews, nationwide. It’s important to remember that Metacritic is not rating the movies, but only averaging the ratings of national critics.
There are plenty of other features on the Metacritic web site. With the help of QuickTime’s streaming movie capability, a moviegoer can view previews of virtually every film. There’s a link to the soundtrack, too, where we can listen to clips from the music (thanks to CDNow’s web site). And all the national reviews are listed, with links to the actual reviews. Read reviews of your favorite movie until you fall asleep, if you like. Amazingly enough, Metacritic has all reviews ready for reading the day of national release.
If you would like to see all of the nation’s top 10 movies of 2001, simply click on “awards.” If you would like to read the reviews of virtually any major critic in the country, click on “critics.” If you wish to see what movies are coming out every week for the next year, click on “release calendar.”
A second site worth a visit is the Movie Review Query Engine (mrqe.com). It is a database of reviews about all films. MRQE collects reviews and provides links to them all. Some older films have reviews on file, but most reviews are from films less than 10 years old. It’s similar to Metacritic, but does not omit any review, whereas Metacritic makes some choices as to which reviews it will post. MRQE, for example, features reviews from many minor web sites.
Finally, there are two film critics whose sites are worth a visit. Roger Ebert (www. suntimes.com/index/ebert.html) has a fine web site, featuring all his reviews and feature articles. For my money, he’s the best mainstream critic writing today.
And the Christian Science Monitors movie critic David Sterritt has a useful Movie Guide (at the csmonitor.com web site; follow the links to movies) because he often goes to the trouble to provide detailed information for parents about the content of films. “Harry Potter,” for example, is described as having no scenes with sex and violence; 8 scenes of violence; one mild expression of profanity and one scene with alcohol. That can be useful, even vital, information for parents trying to make an informed decision about a movie. Sterritt also offers two ratings of films – his own, and some select “others” thus providing a sense of the popular view of movies, even ones he hates.
Thanks to all these sites you can bolt your front door and be in touch with almost everything movie-related. In fact, if you would like one final recommendation, check out the finest video store in America. Facets video store in Chicago (facets.org) will rent you virtually any video, including hard-to-find videos – and mail it to you. Most, of course, are for sale as well. If you are a teacher, they will guarantee delivery on the day you show it in class. Facets has incredible catalogs of old and foreign movies. If it’s on video, Facets can find it for you – and you will never have to leave your home.
Unless, of course, your mailbox is out by the street. In that case, you’ll just have to make that long walk, every day or two.
END
E-mail note: Each week my daughter Katherine and I post a Movie Guide, available to all. To receive a copy of the Movie Guide simply send e-mail to bnorthup@carroll.edu and put “movie guide” in the subject line. To receive a copy of a review, send an e-mail to the same address and put the name of the movie in the subject line of the e-mail. You will instantly receive a reply by e-mail.
By Brent Northup
In an article in Tuesday’s USA today, writer Mike Snider confirms what I already knew: Americans are less likely to leave home for entertainment than ever before. Snider calls it “local area nesting” syndrome, which means we stay closer than ever to our nest. Other scholars have called it “the death of the front porch,” referring to the fact that neighbors no longer sit on the porch and visit with friends. Instead, we are inside calling them on our cell phones.
The home entertainment systems in homes are increasingly high tech. We are not far from high-resolution television on a wide scale (as soon as the corporations resolve the issues of standardization and compatibility). DVD movies are here to stay and will likely displace VHS video within 10 years or less.
And, of course, there’s the new entertainment Mecca of them all: the personal computer. Although it’s illegal, many film buffs had copies of “Lord of the Rings” before it was released in America – on their computer. There’s virtually no end to entertainment options on the computer – the problem is finding the ones that best serve your purposes.
For me, the computer is still primarily a word processor and a library. I would never watch a movie on a tiny computer screen.
But when it comes to finding information about movies, the World Wide Web is a Mecca.
In this week when no new movies come to Helena, I’m going to take time out to introduce readers to four fine web sites for movie buffs.
At the top of my list is a web site called Metacritic (Metacritic.com). As the name implies, Metacritic focuses on movie criticism. The site reads virtually every major review of every film in release, and “averages” all reviews in order to give an average film review rating from 1 to 100.
The highest rated film currently playing in Helena is Lord of the Rings, with an astounding 94. The only film in current release higher than that is Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park” with a 95. “A Beautiful Mind”, which opens today at the Circus, is rated 71, the same as “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” which just left the Myrna Loy, A rating above 80 is said to have been “universally acclaimed by film critics.”
By contrast, “Vanilla Sky” received a low 41 rating, which still towers above the 14 earned by “Corky Romano.”
Since its inception in the summer of 1999, Metacritic has given its highest rating to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which earned a 98 – signifying a chorus of rave reviews, nationwide. It’s important to remember that Metacritic is not rating the movies, but only averaging the ratings of national critics.
There are plenty of other features on the Metacritic web site. With the help of QuickTime’s streaming movie capability, a moviegoer can view previews of virtually every film. There’s a link to the soundtrack, too, where we can listen to clips from the music (thanks to CDNow’s web site). And all the national reviews are listed, with links to the actual reviews. Read reviews of your favorite movie until you fall asleep, if you like. Amazingly enough, Metacritic has all reviews ready for reading the day of national release.
If you would like to see all of the nation’s top 10 movies of 2001, simply click on “awards.” If you would like to read the reviews of virtually any major critic in the country, click on “critics.” If you wish to see what movies are coming out every week for the next year, click on “release calendar.”
A second site worth a visit is the Movie Review Query Engine (mrqe.com). It is a database of reviews about all films. MRQE collects reviews and provides links to them all. Some older films have reviews on file, but most reviews are from films less than 10 years old. It’s similar to Metacritic, but does not omit any review, whereas Metacritic makes some choices as to which reviews it will post. MRQE, for example, features reviews from many minor web sites.
Finally, there are two film critics whose sites are worth a visit. Roger Ebert (www. suntimes.com/index/ebert.html) has a fine web site, featuring all his reviews and feature articles. For my money, he’s the best mainstream critic writing today.
And the Christian Science Monitors movie critic David Sterritt has a useful Movie Guide (at the csmonitor.com web site; follow the links to movies) because he often goes to the trouble to provide detailed information for parents about the content of films. “Harry Potter,” for example, is described as having no scenes with sex and violence; 8 scenes of violence; one mild expression of profanity and one scene with alcohol. That can be useful, even vital, information for parents trying to make an informed decision about a movie. Sterritt also offers two ratings of films – his own, and some select “others” thus providing a sense of the popular view of movies, even ones he hates.
Thanks to all these sites you can bolt your front door and be in touch with almost everything movie-related. In fact, if you would like one final recommendation, check out the finest video store in America. Facets video store in Chicago (facets.org) will rent you virtually any video, including hard-to-find videos – and mail it to you. Most, of course, are for sale as well. If you are a teacher, they will guarantee delivery on the day you show it in class. Facets has incredible catalogs of old and foreign movies. If it’s on video, Facets can find it for you – and you will never have to leave your home.
Unless, of course, your mailbox is out by the street. In that case, you’ll just have to make that long walk, every day or two.
END
E-mail note: Each week my daughter Katherine and I post a Movie Guide, available to all. To receive a copy of the Movie Guide simply send e-mail to bnorthup@carroll.edu and put “movie guide” in the subject line. To receive a copy of a review, send an e-mail to the same address and put the name of the movie in the subject line of the e-mail. You will instantly receive a reply by e-mail.