Star Wars Series To Be Released In 3D (WTF?)

In a story that gets put in the "what the hell" bucket, George Lucas has continued to find new ways to whore out the same product. Behind the announcement of the release of all Star Wars movies in Blu Ray in 2011, now comes the news that starting in 2012 the franchise will be re-released in theaters in 3D. Lucas has said that starting with "The Phantom Menace" he will release one movie per year in 3D, ending with "Return of the Jedi" in 2017. The reason for the year long gap is said to be that it takes that long to take an existing 2D movie and 3D it up.

Now I know that I've gone on record on how I feel about George Lucas finding new ways to get you to buy the same movies over and over again. And with the announcement of the series being released on Blu Ray was just another example of how greedy and uncreative Lucas can be. But putting all 6 movies back into theaters just because 3D is all the rage takes a loved movie series and completely degrades it. You don't see Francis Ford Coppola racing back to remake "The Godfather" in 3D.

So why would you cheapen the Star Wars legacy in such a way?

'sigh'

[Crunchgear]

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review… Hilarious!!!

I have not had a chance to check out the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie yet, but I have to say that I’ve read one of the funniest reviews of the movie yet. Rob, from “Topless Robot” comes off the top rope on the newest installment and has an interesting way of doing it. I have to warn you that it is full of colorful language (to say the least) and spoilers but if you can handle that, it’s worth the read. Check out a sample below:

So it's not as bad as shitting your pants?
Marginally. I honestly had to make a pro and con list to figure it out.

Why on earth would anyone make a film about giant robots but have myriad scenes of some random douchebag's first day of college?
I don't have the faintest clue.

Latest Trailer For Transformers 2 On Boot Leg

The latest trailer for Transformers 2 can be viewed if you want to go waist your money on Terminator: Salvation. But if you don’t want to part with the $10 to see it, someone was kind enough to record it on a low quality camera and post it on YouTube.

Not sure how long this will be up before it’s taken off. So view it fast.

UPDATE: Here's a look at 5 trailers at SciFi Wire.

Red Box To Have Blu-Ray In Kiosks Soon

For all you people who like to rent your movies in front of a Walgreen's or at the local supermarket, It looks like DVDPlay will make your Blu-Ray dreams come true. A Red Box representative did confirm that Blu-Ray is certainly on the way to your local Red Box. No word on when or if the rentals will cost a $1, but I'm willing to bet that it will be a little more.

[Engadget]

Sony Conducting "Hancock" Experiment

Now how cool is this!!!

If you own a Sony Bravia set with a Web connection and you want to check out the new Will Smith movie 'Hancock', Sony is hookin you up. From G4TV:

"In an industry first, Sony Pictures’ new flick Hancock, out this Wednesday and starring the Fresh Prince himself, will be available over the Internet to be directly fed to viewers’ television sets after its theater run...IF they own a Sony Bravia TV that is.

BEFORE it hits DVD!

And if this plan turns out to be a successful one, many other Hollywood films will use a similar media path, insiders say.

Howard Stringer, the chief executive of Sony, mentioned the "Hancock experiment "as he discussed the company’s growth strategy for a roomful of analysts in Tokyo last week. He says movies streamed over the Internet directly to televisions, bypassing the longtime purveyors of content to the living room, cable and satellite companies, is the future. And Sony is all about the future, baby!

“The Internet is not only a great place to reach Web sites, but it’s also a great way to deliver conventional content,” says Sony Corporation of America executive vice president and chief financial officer Robert S. Wiesenthal. “And at the end of the day, it’s about getting entertainment back into the living room.”

“Ultimately, when all these devices are connected, you’ll be able to quite easily manage how you watch movies,” Stringer added. “This is us saying we want to be ahead of the curve rather than behind the curve.”

Now how kick ass is that?

Got me seriously considering getting a Sony Bravia.

[NYTimes.com via G4TV]

“James Bond: Quantum Of Solace” Trailer

I just love the new James Bond!!!

He's much more edgy, and kicks more ass than any other Bond that I can think of. I can't wait to see what new gadgets are in the new movie.

Take a look at the new trailer.

[Crunchgear]

View Netflix movies on your Xbox 360

OK, we talked about this a little bit ago and I said that I'd let everyone know how well it worked. After a little delay (mostly due to the fact that my stuff was pilfered), I have installed vmcNetflix and I can say whole-heartedly, it works great. Not only can you watch the streaming movie, you can download it to watch later without worrying about lag or bandwidth.

Here's a list of features.
* Stream WatchNow movies directly to the Media Center player.
* Download WatchNow movies to a "Watch Later" gallery.
* Support for Vista Extenders on both x86 and x64 platforms.
* Support for Netflix Instant Queue.
* Support for Episode listings.
* Search for movies by keyword.
* Browse DVD and WatchNow movies by genres.
* Sort Gallery by Title, Year, or Star Rating.
* View your queue, history, and recommendations.
* Add, remove, move movies in your queue.
* Supports DVD/Movie Parental Controls

What You'll Need
1. An Xbox 360
2. Windows Vista with Vista Media Center (it's included by default in Vista Home Premium and Ultimate)
3. A Netflix subscription
4. The freeware vmcNetflix plug-in

[LifeHacker via Joystiq]

Amazon Has Blu-Ray Movies For 50% Off

I love the way my Blu-Ray movies look on my set, granted I don't have a 1080p, the images still look amazing. But the one thing that I can't stand about the new high definition format is the price of the movies. The Blu-Ray camp will never get full buy in from the consumer unless they lower the price of the movies from the $35.00 range to the more acceptable $19.99.

Well Amazon is taking it on themselves to cut prices on Blu-Ray movies by 50%, and not just on movies that suck. There's no telling how long this will last, so if you're looking to add to your Blu-Ray library without taking it in the moon, head over to Amazon.

[Amazon via Gizmodo]

Indiana Jones Might Suck?

Oh, boy... This was just what I was afraid of about this movie. When I heard that they were making another Indiana Jones movie, I feared that they would not be able to recapture the magic of the previous movies. Well early reports are starting to confirm those fears, in the worst way. From the guys at aintitcool.com:

"This reminds me of waiting for the first of the last three Star Wars movies: you wait for years and years for a new movie to come out and then, when it finally arrives, not only does it fail to live up to expectations, it clouds your view of the originals because it's so bad."

Wow!!! Not good!

But I love George Lucas's respond: "You're not going to get a lot of accolades doing a movie like this. All you can do is lose."

Funny thing is, the trailers that are out didn't make me excited to go check it out. Usually the best parts of the movie make it to the trailers, and that's not good news if this is the case. I somehow think that Steve and George just took a little to long to put this movie together, and I would hate to see this franchise go out like that.

[Daily Mail via G4TV]

First Look At Leaked Snake-Eyes Photo From Upcoming G.I. Joe Movie

Leaked images of the upcoming live action movie ‘G.I. Joe’ have made it out to the net, and we get our first look at Snake-Eyes. I have to say that he looks pretty bad ass, which gives me hope that the movie won’t suck ass.

But I’ve been disappointed like that before.

No release date is set as of yet, but stay tuned.

Thanks to Crunchgear for this.

Alternate Ending To "I Am Legend" Video

If you've haven't seen I Am Legend you might want to skip this video, which shows an alternate ending. Personally I think they should have gone with this ending, but I'm sure I'm in the minority with this.

[Game Trailers via Crunchgear]

Legos ‘Dark Knight’ Trailer

Ok, I certainly had a good laugh and was very entertained with this one. If you’ve seen the Batman: The Dark Knight trailer, I think that you’ll like this one.

[via Crunchgear]

Cloverfield Number 1 At The Box Office

Despite mixed reviews, the intensely viral advertised movie Cloverfield came in at number 1 this week. The monster movie brought in 41 million, which isn't to bad for a movie with a running time of only 84 minutes. I'm still looking forward to checking this movie out, and if anyone has seen it, let me know what you thought without spoiling it. Take a look at the rest of the pack below:

Rank	Movie	Weekend $	Theaters	Average	Total $	Budget	Week
1	Cloverfield	41.0 mil	3,411	$12,019	41.0 mil	25	1
2	27 Dresses	22.4 mil	3,057	$7,336	22.4 mil	-	1
3	The Bucket List	15.1 mil	2,915	$5,197	42.7 mil	45	4
4	Juno	10.2 mil	2,534	$4,044	85.3 mil	-	7
5	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	8.1 mil	2,963	$2,749	198.0 mil	-	5
6	First Sunday	7.8 mil	2,213	$3,524	28.4 mil	-	2
7	Mad Money	7.7 mil	2,470	$3,117	7.7 mil	-	1
8	Alvin and the Chipmunks	7.0 mil	2,962	$2,363	196.3 mil	60	6
9	I Am Legend	5.1 mil	2,525	$2,021	247.6 mil	-	6
10	Atonement	4.7 mil	1,291	$3,686	31.8 mil	-	7

Thanks to Mania for this info.

Netflix Tries To Beat Apple To The Punch

One thing that I like about Netflix is that they don’t wait for the preverbal train to run them over before they react. Such is the case with the decision to give most of their users unlimited movie streaming downloads, in response to Apple’s rumored announcement tomorrow at MacWorld. Apple is said to announce that they will get into the movie rental business and stream movies to users for $3.99 a pop. Netflix will offer unlimited streaming download for a monthly set price for all but their cheap ass users (such as me) that are part of the 2 movie rentals a month for $4.99. So while Apple will offer per movie downloads, Netflix will give you the run of the house. This is a great option for people who rent 5 or more movies a month, as long as you don’t mind watching a movie on your computer.

This should be a lesson for Blockbuster. Don’t sit on your ass, waiting for someone to kick it!

[Yahoo News]

Toshiba Drops Price On HD DVD Players

It didn’t very long for the hardware deals on HD DVD to come through, as Toshiba has dropped the prices of the HD-A3 and HD-A30. The HD-A3 and HD-A30 are available on Amazon.com for $134.98 and $174.98, and you still get 2 free movies (Bourne Identity and 300) with them. What’s interesting about the price though, is that often time’s retailers will use the last two digits to reflect the status of the product. Prices ending in 99 cents represent current products and 98 cents represents no new product will replace the item.

So if you’re interested in picking up a high definition format that will not have any new movies for it soon, get ‘em now!

Amazon.com: Toshiba HD DVD via Crunchgear]

Microsoft Considering Blu-Ray Support

So now that the dust has started to settle after the devastating blow to HD DVD, a Microsoft executive has told Reuters that they might consider supporting Blu-Ray. While they still made it clear that Microsoft is still behind HD DVD, they would support the format that consumers want. Check the quote by marketing manager for Xbox hardware Albert Penello:

"It should be consumer choice; and if that's the way they vote, that's something we'll have to consider," He went on to say "I fundamentally don't think ... this has a significant impact on Xbox 360 versus (Sony's) PlayStation 3,"

It might in the long run Albert, it might in the long run.

Microsoft's Xbox could consider Blu-ray support [Reuters via G4TV]

I Am Legend Breaks December Records

I thought this movie would do well but I didn't think it would have a showing quite like this. I am Legend was number 1 at the box office, with a record breaking 76.5 million weekend. The biggest December debut ever, surpassing the 72.6 that Lord of the Rings: Return of the King pulled in on 12/17/03. Not to bad for the science fiction & fantasy genera that's base off the novel by Richard Matheson.

Thanks to Mania for this info.

Rank	Movie	Weekend $	Theaters	Average	Total $	Week #
1	I Am Legend	76.5 mil	3,606	$21,224	76.5 mil	1
2	Alvin and the Chipmunks	45.0 mil	3,475	$12,949	45.0 mil	1
3	The Golden Compass	9.0 mil	3,528	$2,558	40.9 mil	2
4	Enchanted	6.0 mil	3,066	$1,958	92.2 mil	4
5	No Country for Old Men	3.0 mil	1,348	$2,225	33.5 mil	6
6	The Perfect Holiday	2.5 mil	1,307	$1,952	3.1 mil	1
7	Fred Claus	2.3 mil	2,750	$838	68.9 mil	6
8	This Christmas	2.3 mil	1,921	$1,197	46.0 mil	4
9	Atonement	1.8 mil	117	$15,837	2.9 mil	2
10	August Rush	1.7 mil	2,007	$889	28.0 mil	4

The time may be right for PS3

Well, the time may be upon those of us who haven't bought a PS3. Or this may be the last desperate act for a desperate company. (I don't care if it's the last act of Henry the 8th). Kudos to the first who gets that reference.

From Fatwallet.com

On 11/24 at 8:00am (running through 11:59pm on 11/25), the 80GB PS3 ($499) will come with 10 FREE Blu-ray movies instantly. You choose any 10 BD titles under $30 within the store and they will override the prices to zero. For those stores that carry BD already, additional titles are being sent in for the sale. For those that do not have BD in their store (a small minority) product will be sent to each store specifically for this sale. Oh, and you still get your 5 FREE movies by mail.

OK. It may be time to take the PS3 plunge.

UPDATE: Ok, this one has been confirmed. You can actually see it on Wal-Mart.com. Just click the 11/24 Saturday preview.

In-Store Movie Downloading Kiosks Coming To Blockbuster

I know that this seems to be "beat up on Blockbuster" week, but they're providing all the ammo needed. This time with the announcement of their 'In-Store downloading Kiosks', that will be installed in all of there Brick and Mortar stores. The idea is that you can bring in your portable media player, plug-in and download a movie. The only problem with it is that most people already have something like that at home, it's called a computer.

Why would anyone get up out of the comfort of their home to drive to Blockbuster, just to download a movie on an ipod? Most of those features are available on the Internet, so what would be the point? If I walk into Blockbuster, why wouldn't I just get a dvd to watch a movie on a larger screen than an ipod? It seems that whom ever is making the decisions at Blockbuster really doesn't get it, or possibly could be completely out of touch with what the consumer wants.

If this is really part of their big "revival" plan, they might be gone sooner than even I thought.

[Gizmodo]

Blockbuster Scales Back 'Total Access'

When I talked how Blockbuster may be closing their doors soon, people (some from this very blog) felt that this might have been an over reaction on my part and by the tech analyst from CNet who wrote the article. Well hot on the heals of that story, Blockbuster has cut back on their Total Access plan. This is the on-line plan that allowed customers to rent movies on-line, and return the mailed movies to a near-by Blockbuster for a new movie.

The problem is that it cost Blockbuster big bucks to do this, hence the changes to the program. Now it will cost an extra $7 more a month for the unlimited in-store returns, in addition they plan on cutting in half all TV and in store advertising for the program. This doesn't sound like a company ready to compete in the digital world, in fact, it sounds like they're going backwards.

This company is going the way of the dodo bird.

Blockbuster dials back on Total Access after mail-order bloodbath [ArsTechnica via G4TV]