This weekend I watched The Mist for the second time, on dvd. This is a movie adaptation of a Stephen King story, done by Frank Darabont, who also did The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. The first time I watched it, I wasn't sure what to expect. Quite a few of the movie adaptations of King stories have been rather unsatisfying, or plain disappointing. Not this one though. Regardless of how well it follows the novella the movie is an incredible watch all by itself. (I understand it follows it closesly, except for the ending, which Darabont improved to King's liking.) It has been too long since I read the story, so I can't say anything about that.

The video is one of the songs used in the movie, and even without the movie, it sets a very dark mood. The clip (not related to the movie) does so as well, but that is rather unrelated to my post or the movie. A little more about the movie after the clip, possibly with spoilers.




Here be possible SPOILERS ... be warned. [Read More!]

If you ever tried to find a specific movie scene you liked and had trouble locating it on the dvd, you may appreciate the idea behind MovieStamper. At MovieStamper, users can upload screenshots from movies and add them to a timeline. By adding tags and comments to both movies and screenshots, users work together to basically index a movie. An interesting step towards describing entire mainstream movies.

Finding the answer to a question or some general textual information is pretty easy nowadays, with powerful search engines. Finding movie scenes based on descriptions is much harder. A site like MovieStamper might change this, if it would ever get a large enough user base. It will be interesting to see how this works out. And how long it will take for the movie industry to complain about people uploading screenshots. I'm already waiting for the first movie with a frame-by-frame timeline and someone coming up with a way to sequentially play all fragments at proper speed.
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Over 2.5 years ago, I bought the DVD boxed set of Nowhere Man, a television show from the 90's that I raved about before. Now I have finally had a chance to watch all episodes again, this time with my love, who (as far as I know) had never even heard of the show.

Watching the show again made me realise I am less raving about it these days, than I remember me being back when I first saw it. Then again, it was the 90's, I was young and impressionable and I wasn't spoiled by fast-moving shows like today's 24. Speaking of 24, the show's creator Joel Surnow also wrote a number of Nowhere Man episodes, just like Nowhere Man's creator Lawrence Hertzog did. Hertzog also wrote a couple of Nikita episodes for his friend Surnow. Another show I plan to watch some time in the near future. Once I get it.

Watching Nowhere Man this second time, the ending bummed me out again, like it did the first time. Too many loose ends, so much opportunity to go on and show us more of the world in which Thomas Veil lived. Or thought he lived. Something that surprised me while watching, was the fairly high amount of sci-fi topics in the show. Some episodes seemed to fit just as easily in an X-Files season.

I can't say I am disappointed by the show now that I watched it again. If it came on tv later this year, I might still get sucked into it, although it would be rather slow compared to present day shows. Some of the acting is a bit over the top/disappointing too, but the story's background and subject make it exactly the kind of show I like. So if you ever have a chance to watch it on tv, or to buy the dvd (or hell, download episodes), give it a shot.

[Buy] Nowhere Man - The Complete Series

People downloaded Google Videos “to own” and now find out they can forget about those movies. Talk about deceptive naming of a service.

There are many free and paid ways to get your “movie” fix online. Google Video was one way to actually pay for the content you wanted to watch, through its Download to Own (or Rent) program. Apparently (I never tried it) you could download and watch a movie as often as you wanted, as long as you accessed it from your own computer/account. To make sure you don't cheat, the movies are protected with DRM.

And now? Now Google has decided to stop its service. People who Did The Right Thing (tm) now find themselves without video! Imagine that. No matter how Google tries to make up for this (and it doesn't seem to be doing a good job at all), there is no way to fix this. Nothing short of sending people the actual dvd's or DRM-free files, that is.

Google has been moving down a slippery slope for years now, but this is a big blow. If Google (not the smallest player in the field, and one that prides itself on its ethics) pulls this stunt, how can users trust other services that offer similar DRM-protected deals?
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Ever missed an episode of one of your favorite tv shows and wished that someone would tell you what happened? Well, the Internet can help you out. There are plenty of Usenet and Web forums discussing tv shows, and there are sites dedicated to providing elaborate recaps of shows. This is a great way to catch up on an episode without actually waiting for a rerun or downloading the episode.

My girlfriend mentioned TV Squad, which I had never heard of. It offers recaps of shows that are grouped by category (drama, sci-fi, comedy). In addition to the recaps there is plenty of room for interaction through a commenting system. The site offers RSS feeds by category and shows.

Television without Pity also offers recaps of shows, but does so with a little humorous twist. Even so, the recaps are generally incredibly long. Take this example of an old Lost episode for instance, which goes on for 12 pages. To those in a hurry, the site also offers “recaplets” which are shorter versions of the long recap, containing just the basics.

Since I usually want to see the actual show for myself, I don't really read recaps. They can come in handy to get some more information and see if I missed something, but even that is not something I often do. I am more likely to try and find the actual episode. For me, recap sites are great to catch up on less important shows. Shows that are ok to watch but that I don't mind missing an occasional episode of. Reading up on it I can make sure I didn't miss anything important in the episode I missed.

Ok, I admit it. I have a soft spot for Rutger Hauer. Not just because he happens to be the biggest Dutch actor in major (US) movies, but because he has played some very fine characters in entertaining movies. Probably best known for his role in Blade Runner and maybe Turkish Delight. I recorded a documentary about him that was on Dutch tv last Sunday. Now also available online. An interesting look into his life.

I feel like the documentary confirmed my opinion that Hauer is an actor who sees his acting as a fairly regular job. As work that doesn't always have to be fun, sometimes it is necessary to make it through a job just so you can pay your rent. Well, in his case it probably pays for a new car or something, but still. Going by the diverse roles he played in over 100 movies, he either plays what he likes or plays what pays well enough. How else can one explain playing parts in Blade Runner and The Hunt for Eagle One?

Ah, poetry never was my strongest point. Glee might not be the best term to describe watching Saw III, but it certainly was a good experience compared to Saw II. I still like the first Saw movie best, but the third one has some really good parts as well. Definitely better than the second one.

Coincidence or not, but Saw III goes on sale tomorrow, so today is your last chance to pre-order it at Amazon. If you do, or if you decide to buy it after today, feel free to use my associate link

Buy Saw III

[possible spoilers below]
[Read More!]

When I first saw The Librarian: Quest for the Spear, I was pretty disappointed. For once, there seemed to be an action movie with a librarian as the main character, and then it turns out to be ... well, not so good. Pretty bad acting (why would Noah Wyle want to do this at all?), bad special effects and a story line that has little to do with librarianship.

Even though that first movie was seriously disappointing, of course I still had to see the sequel, The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines. Guess what? It was not as bad as I expected. The main reason for this? Well, now I knew what to expect. I was prepared for bad acting, crappy stereotypical lines, cheap special effects, and a movie that is to be watched as a parody of the adventure genre. When watched with this in mind (it's not a serious movie, it's a joke), then it is watchable. Once ...

Anyone watching these movies and thinking their local librarian will know the most pointless little facts by heart is in for quite a surprise though. [Read More!]

A good sign: Amazon has launched Unboxed, a store section that lets US customers download movies and episodes from tv shows. These files are protected with DRM of course, so you can't copy or burn them just like that, but you are allowed to use the (bought) files on two computers.

Movie prices seem to range between $10-15, depending on the age of the movie. You can also rent movies, which seems to be in the $4 range. Rentals have to be viewed within 30 days, and once you start the movie, you have to finish it within 24 hours. Amazon does require you to use its software to view the movies.

If you're not big on movies, downloading tv shows for $1.99 an episode may sound interesting. Whether you're interested in an old season of House Hunters, or a show about The Netherlands, there's lots of stuff to choose from.

It's a good start, given the fact that this is brought to use by a big player. Of course there is plenty of room for improvement. More stuff to download, less (i.e. none at all) DRM so I could actually use it whenever and where ever I want to (if I could download it at all, I'm not a US customer, after all), and prices that don't come to the same cost as an actual DVD. For rental though, it looks good to me. If downloading is fast enough (70 minutes on DSL? 5 minutes on really fast cable sounds better, but that depends on each customer's choice of connection of course) then it makes for a great last-minute movie decision. That way I wouldn't have to resort to my own movie collection when I'm in the mood for a movie and there's nothing on tv.

Three American guys made Loose Change, 2nd Edition, a documentary presenting an alternative view of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. Their view revolves around the idea that the US government itself was behind these attacks. And who hasn't wondered about that at least once since 9/11?

The documentary has been dismissed as yet another conspiracy theory by most, including professional media. However, it seems there is now a slight willingness with some journalists to investigate the statements in the documentary. I watched it last night, it is available on Google Video. I was surprised by all the evidence presented to explain their theories and views. Most strikingly the part where they look at the plane that supposedly flew into the Pentagon, comparing the small hole in the wall to the size of the plane, and wondering about the lack of wreckage. And of course there's the ever-interesting question of why the towers collapsed in such a neat fashion, resembling a professional demolition job like I see them on Discovery Channel.

Presenting alternative views is a good thing, because it makes us wonder about the truth and it should motivate us to weigh the views, examine evidence, and make up our own mind instead of just taking our government's views for granted. Due to the complex nature of this event, actually examining the evidence is an enormous task. But thanks to Loose Change, at least one has an idea what to look for and what to weigh in forming an opinion.

If you have access to Dutch public television, you can watch the documentary on BNN, September 10th.