Video of the Week: Thundercats Live Action Movie

I know I haven't spent a lot of time on here lately, but I thought this was so neat that I had to blog about it. Now, before you get too excited, this is not a real trailer for a real movie. It is a fan made trailer that was cut together from movies starring Brad Pitt, Vin Diesel, Hugh Jackman, and others, and has some added CGI. Anyone who remembers Thundercats will think this is a pretty cool, not just for its nostalgia, but for its fidelity to the original cartoon. Here it is:



What did you think? Leave a comment.

It has Arrived!

A little while back I announced that Netflix had finally come to its senses and would be offering the Watch Instantly feature to its Mac-using members. That day has finally come. I streamed my first movie the other night: THX 1138. The quality was pretty good. It wasn't 100% DVD quality, but it was darn close. Even in full screen mode the picture was suprisingly good—much like the Fox or ABC's online episode player. (It is sad that most of the shows I watch online are on NBC, whose video player is lower quality. In full-screen mode the picture is severely blurry.) To watch the movies on my computer, I had to download a bit of software first (Microsoft's Siverlight), but it didn't take much time and it was easy to install.

I did have a bit of a problem though because unlike some other online players, the full-screen mode did not disable my screen saver. As a result, I had to remember to touch the mouse pad every once-in-awhile. If the screen saver kicked on, I would be returned to the smaller web viewer. Also, if I exited full screen mode, when I tried to go back the picture would freeze. But going back and forth a couple of times, usually fixed the problem.

All-in-all it seems like there may be a few bugs that need to be worked out, but overall it was great. I really feel like I'm getting the most out of my Netflix membership now. In fact, I now have more movies in my Watch Instantly queue than in my DVD rental queue. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," here I come.

Are you a Mac user and a Netflix member? Tell me how your experience has been.

Video of the Week: New Star Trek Trailer

So, I know it seems like all I do now is post videos. But, honestly, there hasn't been a whole lot of exciting movie news lately. Except this: Apparently a trailer for the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie was attached to Quantum of Solace this past weekend.

Before I actually saw the trailer, I read some discussion boards from those who had seen the trailer in the theater, over the weekend, and WOW. Of course I knew that a franchise this popular and beloved would not be receive well by the die hard Trekkies because they have set the original series right up next to the bible and they take themselves waaaaaay too seriously. But I was surprised by the amount of HATE generated by a two-minute trailer.

On the other hand, many of the self-confessed moderate-Trekkies and most of the non-Trekkies thought the trailer looked awesome. After all, both Kevin Smith and Edgar Wright have already seen the movie and give it high praise.

As for me, I am cautiously optimistic, and I think the trailer shows some promise of an entertaining movie, whether or not you know anything about Trek. But I am surprised that people could get so worked-up and analyze a clip that basically gives no hint of a storyline and almost no dialogue. One post I saw actually analyzed the "realistic" beaming effect, and one guy condemned the whole trailer based on Simon Pegg's single line. When you see the trailer (follow the link, sorry I can't actually embed it here), whether you think it is awesome or rotten, you'll probably be scratching your head and saying to all the fanboys out there: "Get a life!"

Watch the trailer here.

What do you think about the new Star Trek? Let me know, I'm interested to hear your feedback.

Video of the Week: The Haunting in Connceticut

Sorry about the lack of post lately, I've been in Arizona and haven't had much time to comment on the latest movie news, let alone blog about it. Anyway, maybe this will get your spirits up.

Most scary movie trailers are fairly cheesy, or maybe intriguing, but usually I just look at them and say, "we'll see" because usually the trailers are filled with images that are supposed to be scary, but are not simply because of the nature of a trailer--a short commercial for a movie. The fact is, it's really hard to scare somebody in a 30sec ad. Real terror takes time to build up. But the trailer I have posted below actually kind of creeped me out, so I thought I would share it with the rest of you and see what you think.

I'm also interested in this movie because I know about the events that it is based on. It looks like they changed a few details and exaggerated it, but that is the nature of movies. Anyway, watch it and tell me what you think.

Howard Not Cheadle: The Petition

The blogs and entertainment websites have been a-buzz with the recent news that Don Cheadle will replace Terrance Howard as Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes in Iron Man 2. Initially, the reason given was a dispute over Howard's paycheck for the next Iron Man, but in a recent interview with Scott Simon of NPR, Howard said that there was no dispute. In fact, he says he learned about the switch just like the rest of us, through the media. In the interview, he seemed offended and remarked that Hollywood contracts aren't worth the paper they are printed on, insinuating that Marvel has broken a contract with Howard. So, why is Cheadle going to be Rhodes in Iron Man 2, and not Howard (who did a wonderful job)? We may never know, but there are some very devoted fans out there who want to do something about it.

The website howardnotcheadle.com is devoted to a petition to let Marvel studios know that fans want Howard to be in Iron Man 2, not Cheadle.

Now, personally, I have nothing against Don Cheadle. In fact, he's probably one of my favorite actors, and I think he could do just as good a job as Howard did in Iron Man, but that is not the point. There is no need to replace Howard and doing so only disrupts the continuity of the story and characters. But in the end, a petition like this will have virtually no effect on the studio. Remember, studios don't listen to movie-goers, they only listen to movie-goer's money.

So, you can go the website and sign the petition, or you can speak with your money by boycotting Iron Man 2 and all other Marvel Studio releases in theaters and on DVD. But, who are we kidding? We'll see it anyway. And that is precisely why studios don't listen.

What do you think of the Howard/Cheadle switch? Sound off in the comments section.

Netflix Has Finally Come to Its Senses

I just recently joined Netflix. And I know what you're thinking: "The 'one guy' at One Guy's Movie Blog did have a Netflix account?" Yes, I am ashamed to admit that I have been missing out of the beauty of mail-dvd-rental goodness. But I have repented and turned my heart toward unlimited rentals and streaming movies. And that last part (the streaming movies) is the part I want to talk about. As some of you may know, I am a Mac user, and Netflix's streaming movies feature will not work on my Mac, which has been a major issue with Mac users as you can imagine. But Netflix just announced that it has finally found a platform that will allow Mac users to benefit from the "watch now" feature they are currently paying for but have not been able to use until now. Apparently, the video format runs on Silverlight, which can be downloaded for Mac or PC for free. Currently, the service has only been opened up to a handful of testers, but should roll out for everyone by the end of the year. Yipee! Hooray! Mozoltov!

Video of the Week: If Hollywood Directors Made Campaign Ads

Since the election is just a little over a week away, and McCain is down in the polls, I thought I'd post something relevant. What if John McCain hired Hollywood directors to make some new election ads for him? They might look something like this.