Immortals – Spoiler: It’s from the Producers of 300

I was a history minor in college which means a bunch of people unfairly expect me to know something about history. But I don’t actually know much history and Immortals isn’t burdened with those expectations. Combined, these facts allow me to accept a version of Ancient Greek events that includes a flaming whip attacking a male Statue of … Read more

Source Code: Because Groundhog Day Lacked Dubious Science

Caution… potential movie spoilers ahead.

Many characters in film and television have wrestled with the question, “Does she really love me for me?” But only a select few, including Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) and that guy from Quantum Leap, have had to answer it in another dude’s body.

Source Code, Duncan Jones‘ sophomore directorial effort, after debuting with the vastly superior Moon in 2009, is the kind of movie where you can sort of accept the things that are happening on screen until people start trying to explain them. Our hero, Captain Stevens, wakes up on a train and spends the rest of the movie exploding for a good cause.

Stevens is part of an experiment that transports him back to the last eight minutes of one passenger’s life on a Chicago commuter train to figure out who placed the bomb that wiped out everyone on board. Nothing Stevens does can affect the outcome in his own timeline, so he’s strictly gathering information to thwart a possible future attack. Every time his host body dies, Stevens is forced back on the train to try again. Think Groundhog Day meets Seven Days.

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No Joke, “Premium” Movie VOD To Run $30

The studios originally floated the idea of early access video on demand last fall, and I didn’t think much of it at the time — assuming either the theaters would crush it or they’d recognize very few of us are willing to pay for rentals in the double digits. Well, logic hasn’t prevailed… Warner Bros., Sony, … Read more

A Big 2011 for Jinni?

We’ve been following the Jinni content recommendation service for nearly two years, beginning with Davis’ glowing review. Based on their 2011 goals below, they obviously intend to break free of the web browser: JinniTV – a new guide which will enable online users to enjoy the Jinni experience through remote-control access to their connected living … Read more

Netflix and Others Should Brace for Changes in 2011

A major shift is taking place. The interwebs are now important enough for major content providers to start throwing their weight around online. Sure, they’ve been doing it to some extent over the last several years – networks keeping content off Hulu, broadcasters blocking video scrapers like RedLasso – but the studios are upping their … Read more

Comcast & Blockbuster Devolve (DVDs by Mail)

While Netflix shifts their focus to online streaming, Comcast (?!) and Blockbuster have teamed to provide DVDs By Mail — a soon-to-be-archaic method of content distribution and quintuply befuddling given Comcast’s large data conduit into millions of customer’s homes. I assume DVDs By Mail is primarily a marketing arrangement on Comcast’s end and potentially good for … Read more

IMDb Launches App for Google Android

The Internet Movie Database is pretty much the top destination for information about movies, TV shows, actors, and anyone else associated with telling stories with moving pictures. Want to know how many movies William H. Macy has been in? Want to know who directed His Girl Friday? IMDb can tell you. And now it can … Read more

Movies for Android offers Reviews, Showtimes, Trailers, More

It’s not that hard to open up the web browser on a mobile phone and find movie reviews or showtimes. But it’s a heck of a lot easier to use a dedicated app like Movies from Flixter sometimes. This free Android app will show you the latest movies that are at the top of the … Read more