Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Conceived as an "online miniseries event" during the 2008 writers' strike, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a 42 minutes of musical romp that bears the distinctive stamp of Joss Whedon. Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) plays the title character, who video-blog on his twin goals of joining the Evil League of Evil and win the right to Penny (Felicia Day of Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer series and in The Guild), a woman he met on site laundry. Dr. Horrible is foiled on both fronts, however, by his arch-nemesis, self-absorbed superhero Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion, Castle and Whedon's Firefly).

Dr. Horrible was written by Whedon, his brothers Zack and Jed, and Maurissa Tancharoen, and the songs were written by Joss and Jed (who also produced, orchestrated, played, etc.), with some lyrics by Tancharoen. (Jed and Tancharoen have backup singing roles.) The offbeat, off-the-cuff humor is laugh-out-loud funny, and as Dr. Horrible wants to take over the world, the songs will take on its head: they're engaging ( "My Freeze Ray"), exciting ( "My Eyes") and sweet ( "Penny's Song"). "So They Say" is particularly evocative of Jonathan Larson's Rent, but with Joss Whedon's musical episode of Buffy, "Once More with Feeling", the influences are diverse. It is difficult to imagine a better cast. Harris, who is singing Sondheim on Broadway, is a great leader and clearly the best singer, Day is completely charming, and who better than Captain Tightpants to play the gallant hero? We could argue about the ending, and shows the independent budget, but Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a completely enjoyable romp for everyone, especially for those who like music with quirky humor. You will watch this over and over again!

If you watched or downloaded Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, there are a number of bonus features on the DVD that may interest you. There are two commentary tracks: Harris, the three Whedons, Tancharoen, Day, and Fillion have a spirited discussion of the movie, and there are also "Comment! The Musical," which ignore the movie altogether and sing about the writers' strike and each other (Fillion sings "I'm better than Neil") - the songs are not as good as the songs in Dr. Horrible, but good silly fun. A 20-minute making-of discusses the cast, the recording sessions, as the film became a phenomenon, videos, and 10 (half an hour total) were recorded by fans who want to join the Evil League of Evil.

Outlander

So, I was at the video store and I ended up picking up this movie called Outlander- thinking at the time that it would either be really good or really bad. I had never even heard of it, but it had big names like James Caviezel, John Hurt, Sophia Myles, and Ron Perlman, but so did In The Name of the King which also had Ron Perlman and boy, did that stink! Two things on the cover caught my eye: "Beowulf meets Predator" - okay, that's promising, and "BEST...MOVIE...EVER" by some critic whose name doesn't mean much to me, but strong words. So I grabbed it and another DVD to watch in case it turned out to be a stinker.

This movie was terrific! Really, the Beowulf meets Predator tagline is dead on - I'm fairly certain that's precisely what the writer had in mind when he wrote the script. "Let's do Beowulf, but this time what if ..."

Brief synopsis:
During the reign of the Vikings, Kainan (James Caviezel), a man from a distant world, crash lands on Earth, unknowingly bringing with him an alien predator known as the Moorwen. Man and monster both seeking revenge for violence committed against them. As the Moorwen rampages through the Viking world, killing everything in its path, Kainan forms an unlikely alliance with the primitive but fierce Viking warriors. Combining his advanced technology with their Iron Age weapons, the hero leads a desperate attempt to kill the monster - before it destroys them all.

So they made this movie, had a select screening, and now it's out on DVD and Blu-Ray. Why not a wide theatrical release? Or advertisements for the DVD? It was entirely happenstance that I picked this up, and I'm glad I did. If you're an action fan I strongly encourage you pick it up! Better yet, click the above cover, and buy it! You will want to own it, I promise. Don't believe me? Check out the trailer. Yeah, it's good, right?

Coupling - Hilarious BBC Comedy - Think "Friends" With Raunchier Humor

Coupling is like Friends but with more sexual innuendo ala BBC. You have six principal characters, 3 guys and 3 girls.

The men:

Steve (Jack Davenport): Boyfriend to Susan. Excessively neurotic, and yet easily the most well-adjusted of the men.

"Lap dancing is the ultimate nightmare of man. Porn that can see you."

Patrick (Ben Miles): Man-whore. Also an ex of Susan's.

"If I don't like a woman, if there's no chemistry, if I'm not attracted to her, then I don't lead her on, I just get out of there... every time, before she even wakes up."

Jeff (Richard Coyle): Socially inept and sexually fixated. Shares his thoughts and opinions about things such as "the Melty Man" and "the sock gap." Oddly enough, Jeff is the one most men identify with.

"When God made the arse, he didn't say, 'Hey, it's just your basic hinge, let's knock off early.' He said, 'Behold ye angels, I have created the arse. Throughout the ages to come, men and women shall grab hold of these, and shout my name!"

I think we fear we are most like Jeff, wish we were more like Patrick, but most people would say we are like Steve.

The women:

Susan (Sarah Alexander): The most well-adjusted of the women characters.

"Well, you know what it's like at the start, when they're all fiery-eyed, and eager, and they haven't seen you naked yet. And it's like he's smashing at your door with his mighty battering ram. And he's promising to ravish you forever. So you brace yourself for man overload, and throw open the doors, and what do you find standing there? An over sized toddler who wants his dinner. And before you can say 'there's been a terrible mistake', he's snoring on your sofa, the fridge is full of empty bottles and the whole place smells of feet."

Sally (Kate Isitt): Exceedingly neurotic and preoccupied with aging.

"A woman's breasts are a journey. Her feet are the destination."

Jane (Gina Bellman): Steves ex. Ditsy nympho.

"I really quite like being single. Except for the bit about not having a man."

Coupling is the only show that makes me laugh out loud every time. For most with digital cable, you'll have BBC America which airs the show. If not, look for it wherever you rent movies.

A Basic DVD Movie Rental Guide For First Time Users

By: Brooke Hayles | Posted: 05-12-2006

DVD movie rentals via the mail have become increasingly popular over the last few years. As you've probably noticed there are many companies that offer this service. There are many people who can benefit from taking advantage of movie rentals by mail. The elderly, disabled and parents of small children often find it either near impossible or near improbably to leave the house for the movie store. For the individual who finds getting around and running errands a chore, receiving DVD movie rental through the mail is a welcome relief.

The advantage of DVD movie rental services continues past convenience. Paying a straight monthly fee can be easier on the pocket book too. Companies such as Netflix do not charge late fees. Since there is no "due date" you return your movie after you've finished with it. However, you won't get the next movie until the DVD out is returned. The faster you return your movies, the more you get for your money.

Traditional store front DVD rental services, such as Blockbuster, are even offering online services. A big advantage of utilizing their services is that you will get a coupon for a free in-store DVD movie rental. This is in addition to the movies you receive in the mail and allows you to get your hands on the movie you just "have to see" right then and there!

A few basic requirements such as an accepted mailing address and a credit or debit card are needed in order to join a DVD movie rental company.

With all the advantages that companies such as Netflix, Quickflicks, Intelliflix and Cafe DVD offer, it's easy to miss the drawbacks. With a DVD movie rental service you must decide not only what you want to watch, but when. If you're itching to settle down to that little romance you signed up for, but you've requested it for a later date, you're out of luck. You get the movie you choose when the online rental company has it available.

It's relatively easy to order movies once you decide to sign with a DVD rental company. Just scroll through their movie index and pick the ones you want to watch. A common option is the ability for you to prioritize which flick you'd like to view first. Unfortunately you don't get the option to choose when your videos are sent to you from the DVD movie rental company.

Summary:

Many Traditional and exclusively online companies offer mail order DVD movie rental services. Online movie rental services offer advantages that a local video store just can't. No need to bother going out to rent a video or worrying about late fees. Also, the faster you watch your movie and return it, the more movies you can watch each month and the more bang you get for your buck!

About the Author:
Brooke Hayles Check Out More Helpful Information About DVD Movie Rental For FREE! Visit DVD Movie Rental Now!

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How To Get The Best Out Of Your DVD Movie Rental

By: Brooke Hayles | Posted: 06-12-2006

There are many companies now days that offer DVD movie rental services. DVD movie rental services vary by company, as do the terms of services, payment schedules, special offers and any other available options. The best way to determine which company is right for you is to compare rental services side-by-side.

First off, you will need to decide which DVD movie rental service best fits your lifestyle. If you don't intend to watch too many movies each month, but like the convenience of a home rental service, a pay per movie service may be best for you. With this option the DVD movie rental company only charges you per movie rented. If you live in a rural community or don't have the variety you want in your local video store, the pay per movie service will suit you well. One word of warning is that if you do plan to watch many DVDs each month, this service can get expensive.

The second of the DVD movie rental options is to sign up for a subscription service. These are commonly known as "memberships" and the terms and options vary depending on the company; however, most DVD movie rental companies do offer a choice of subscription levels.

Most popular is the monthly fee option. The movie rental business allows you to rent a set number of DVDs each month or sets a maximum allowed number of DVDs out at one time. Further up the chain of DVD movie rental subscriptions you are allowed to have more DVDs out at one time each month, commonly this number runs between 4 - 6.

Once you've determined the average number of DVDs you'll watch in a given month, you can decide whether a pay per movie or a subscription option is best for your movie rental needs.

After you've decided about how many DVDs you'll want access to at a given time, you will want to consider how wide of a selection the rental company offers. Even if a DVD company has a vast array of options, you will need to look at how many copies they have of each movie. If there are only a few copies of a particular movie available, you could find out what happens first from everyone around you who has already seen it.

Just as important in a DVD rental service is how fast their turnaround time is. If it takes the company a week or two to send off the next movie you want, you may never see all the movies that you are paying for each month. Look for a company that sends your next movie within one business day. A good way to help speed the process is to make sure that you put your movies back in the mail as soon as you have watched them.

If you are an avid video game fan, a rental service that offers video games may be something to think about.

Some companies, such as Blockbuster, offer both in-store and online rental services. If you think that you still want the option to frequent your local video store, a movie rental service that offers both might interest you. As an added incentive Blockbuster is known to give one free in-store movie rental weekly if you are an active member.

The last big point to consider is what policies does the rental company hold for damaged or lost items? It happens that a DVD gets lost or are received damaged and you are not going to want the responsibility of paying for the lost of damaged goods.

Summary:

Before signing up with a DVD movie rental company, it's best to weigh the options that each offers. Payment options and membership services vary from company to company. Keeping a few tips in mind while comparing companies will help you find the company that fits best with you and offers the best deal.

About the Author:
Brooke Hayles Check Out More Helpful Information About DVD Movie Rental For FREE! Visit DVD Movie Rental Now!

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Can The Matrix Trilogy Stay As Popular As Star Wars?

By: Gary Ruplinger | Posted: 12-12-2006

Can the extremely popular Sci-Fi movie, The Matrix, have the staying power and interest that the Star Wars movies have had?

Three years after the final movie was released, interest levels are still high as evidenced by a high level of searches on major search engines. A definite cult-like following for the Matrix Trilogy has definitely developed.

Merchandising for these movies has also been huge. The movie spawned several video games, a 10 disc DVD collection, a sunglasses line, in addition to the typical toy and action figure line. The movies have rabid fans who will buy anything that has the Matrix name on it and who have spent countless hours trying to decipher the religious and philosophical messages in the movies.

While a lot of time has been spent by Star Wars enthusiasts on developing additional background and back-story, the same is true of the Matrix movies. One need only look at the Ultimate Matrix Collection which includes several additional DVDs that help explain the entire story of the Matrix in addition to the three DVDs of the movies.

Total worldwide gross on the trilogy of movies is $1,623,967,842, making the Matrix Trilogy one of the most successful trilogies of all time. The original three Star Wars movies have made $1,788,879,251 in worldwide gross revenues.

However, the parallels to the Star Wars movies don't end there. While Star Wars was known for it's ground breaking special effects back in 1979, the first Matrix movie was ground breaking "bullet time" special effects which is now a common effect seen in action movies.

While The Matrix still has a long ways to go in proving that it can remain popular like Star Wars has all these years, so far early numbers indicate that the Matrix movies will stay popular for many years even if no new movies are ever released.

About the Author:
Gary Ruplinger owns MatrixEyewear.com, the top destination on the Internet for Matrix Sunglasses. Stop by and be sure to check out the popular Morpheus Sunglasses.

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The Greatest Movie of All Time

Truth be told. Hollywood hasn't come out with a great movie for a long time. The last great, completely solid motion pictures in the last decade were films like Braveheart, American Beauty and Saving Private Ryan. Unfortunately, the rest of the films that were offered to us movie fans always found a way to fall short of perfection.



In recent years, there were films such as Lord of the Rings that relied heavily on special effects and the already great fan base that the novels generated. Crash was an independent film that almost made it to the classics category, but the lewd essence and "rough around the edges" quality of the filmmaking cut its chances in half.



Quentin Tarantino wasn't able to duplicate his masterpiece tour-de-force Pulp Fiction with his following tries. Jackie Brown was too talky and it lost its audience's attention after the first 10 minutes and Kill Bill was the exact opposite and could never be taken as a serious cinematic work.



Sixth Sense was an innovation in the world of cinema but it didn't have enough solidity through out its whole body to complement the great conclusion. The Usual Suspects had the same situation by having a powerful ending but nothing so impressive leading up to it.



How about all those comic book adaptations? It seems like filmmakers these days make films to make money and there is really no drive toward creativity and taking risks. One of the films that was recently nominated for the Oscars was Lost in Translation - which although so small managed to stand on its own too feet. It was a breeze of fresh air and it didn't feel like two hours; it felt like a casual and satisfying conversation with a person across the dinner table.



Machiavelli Hangman achieved that magic even though it was also swimming in the same low-budget waters as Lost in Translation. When there is so much at stake, there seems to be an awkward sense of restriction placed on how far the film can take you. The high budget and production values place that limitation on risk and spontaneity and it doesn't leave the story any room for breathing.



Napoleon Dynamite was made just like Machiavelli Hangman (http://www.hangmanmovie.com), on a thread-thin budget but it felt real and that's the reason for its tremendous success. The irony is that no matter how many of these "real" movies prove successful at the box-office, studios continue to make motion pictures that depend mainly on special effects and visuals.



Learn from the amateurs. Focus on story.

About Author

Arthur Kohoutova is a movie reviewer. Machiavelli Hangman http://www.hangmanmovie.com









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Comic Book Superhero's in Movies

The Movie Industry and the Comic Book Superhero

The public fascination with comic book superhero characters
have been exploited by movie production companies for
years. Hollywood has been creating feature length comic
book movies, movie serials and TV shows to continue to whet
our appitites. But as special effect technology and costume
designs became better and better, Hollywood kicked it up a
notch with feature-length high budget productions.
Superman, the Movie and the 3 sequels started in the 1970s
and the '90s and beyond brought us Batman, The Hulk, the
X-Men and the now infamous Spider-Man, to name a few.

Why all this interest in producing comic book superhero
movies? Big bucks!! The two Spider-Man movies alone have
netted about 800 million dollars apiece in worldwide ticket
sales. That's not chicken feed. This kind of income could
not be generated without an avid public interest in comic
book movies. So if you feel you are alone in your voracious
passion for your own comic book collection, think again.

And now a new twist has been added. Directors, screenplay
writers, and even actors are writing for, of all things,
comic books now. Big name Hollywood writers are helping to
sell more comics. For example, Joss Whedon, perhaps best
known for creating Buffy the Vampire Slayer, has written
stories for Marvel in the series Astonishing X-Men. Back in
the 90s, who would have known that all these fan boys had
been hiding in the Hollywood woodworks waiting for comics
to gain some cultural credibility?

If you haven't followed some of the comic news of the last
several months, Stan "the man" Lee has been fighting his
personal battle with His life long employer, Marvel Comics.
Stan is probably one of the most well known character
creators in the comic book industry. He has characters like
Batman, Spider-Man and the Hulk credited to his creative
imagination.

Seems Stan had a contractual agreement with Marvel for 10%
of any revenue acquired by Marvel from comic book superhero
movies and TV projects centered on Stan characters. But
apparently the high dollar superstructure of the corporate
mind doesn't want to part with all their income. Now this
is nothing new, but Stan Lee managed to win the first round
for the little guy. The judge presiding over Stan's case
agreed that Stan should receive his share of the agreed on
profits.

Now maybe Stan will get his share and maybe he won't.
Sounds like Marvel will be appealing the decision. At any
rate, if there weren't big bucks involved in the production
of comic book superhero movies, this case would not have
been such an issue.

I believe the near future is going to bring many more of my
favorite comic book superheroes to the silver screen. I
have already started my own DVD collection and as more
comic book superheroes get transferred from the screen to
round disc, I will continue to increase the size of my
collection. Do you think a DVD comic book movie collection
will be worth as much as a comic book collection in the
future? Probably not, but that won't stop me from building
my collection anyway.

What does the future hold for comic book superhero movies?
It almost seems that we can call the present and near
future the Golden Age of the comic book movie. I spend a
lot of time researching comic book superheros and creating
new content for my comic book site. Is there a movie in the
planning stages for your favorite comic book superhero? A
frequent visit to my site may inform you as to when you can
expect the next comic book movie. See you there.

About Author

Dave Gieber owns and edits a website built around one of his childhood passions. Learn the basic essentials to comic book collecting success. To receive your free 5-part mini course visit: www.comic-book-collection-made-easy.com/5-day-course.html







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Peter Jackson's King Kong

King Kong Review

Three time Oscar winner Peter Jackson reteams with his screenwriting partners Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh to retell the story of King Kong. The large ape who is captured and brought to civilization to meet its tragic ends. Jackson was always interested in retelling the story of the love story between the large creature and Ann Darrow (played by Naomi Watts).



After his great success from the Lord of the Ring trilogies, Peter Jackson dove right back into filmmaking with this great and popular character in the history of cinema. There had been so many films made based on the original that it was difficult to know where to begin and where to end and still keep the audience on its toes. After a long casting period, the main players were chosen and moved to New Zealand to begin production. Adrian Brodey and Jack Black were the first to step on the boat.



Jackson completed principal photography a few months ago in New Zealand he is now working with his team of editors to polish the rough ends. While a trailer was released recently, many people criticized the fact that King Kong was revealed to the audience as opposed to extending the teaser and suspense period.



Recent poles and statistics have shown that the trailers that give away the least amount of information on the film are the one to bring the more people to the theatres. "And it's quite understandable. People go to see what has been marinating in their imaginations... With King Kong, the trailer doesn't leave much room for anything else. We know what he looks like and how he moves. I think that this was a very bad move on part of the marketing team," says Brian Copote.



Other films that are said to be released around the same time as King Kong are Machiavelli Hangman (http://www.hangmanmovie.com) and Wedding Season with Nicole Kidman. Whether these two smaller films will be completely crushed by the size of Jackson's mega-motion picture is to be seen.



So far, Peter Jackson, has enjoyed a great amount of following for the Lord of the Rings mainly because there was such a huge fan base of the book and there had never been a movie made from the books. In this case, King Kong was never based on any novels and it has been shown on the silver screen several times. This may or may not be a handicap but one thing's for sure. It will certainly not equal the $300,000,000 success of the Lord of the Rings.

About Author

Laney-Jane Jackman is a pediatrician and a part time film reviewer for online publications. Machiavelli Hangman http://www.hangmanmovie.com









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Nonverbal Film -- Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi a nonverbal film by Godfrey Reggio and Ron Fricke

Koyaanisqatsi is a nonverbal film, directed by Godfrey Reggio, and completed in 1982. Koyaanisqatsi contains no actors, no dialogue and has no script. Images from around the world are set to a moving score from composer Philip Glass.



In the movie Koyaanisqatsi director Godfrey Reggio tries to show the imbalance between man and nature. Shots showing the destruction of mankind are coupled and set against images of nature’s beauty and force. The images are very moving and provoke many thoughts in viewers. The musical score of Philip Glass is unconventional, as his scores often are, and yet it is a good balance to the images.



The images are shot by Ron Fricke who later went on to make the movie Baraka. Baraka has a similar theme to Koyaanisqatsi, but a slightly more spiritual theme. It was shot using 70mm, which gives a warmer and cleaner feel than Koyaanisqatsi. Koyaanisqatsi was shot between 1975 and 1982. Some of its scenes are stock footage, such as explosions and space rocket launches.

Koyaanisqatsi has its own page at http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/koyaanis.aspx with all of the details of the film and images of most of the scenes.



In 2003 Koyaanisqatsi was re-released after ownership disputes where settled. The re-mastered DVD image greatly improved the quality but bizarrely lost its original aspect ratio.



Koyaanisqatsi has gone on to be an underground cult movie, and often studied by film students looking to explore a deeper side of the film world.



A small genre of films has been spawned by Koyaanisqatsi. Baraka, as mentioned above has become the most popular. Other movies in the genre include Chronos: also by Ron Fricke, Powaqqatsi: the sequel to Koyaanisqatsi, Microcosmos: about insects, Naqoyqatsi: the less popular final part of the Qatsi trilogy: Winged Migration: about birds, Samsara: the Sequel to Baraka, Dogora: about the young people of Cambodia.



All of these movies where originally created to by viewed in theatres, where one gets the maximum effect. Larger and clearer televisions, as well as home cinema systems have allowed all of these movies to be enjoyed at home.

About Author

Darren is a big fan of nonverbal films and runs the Spirit of Baraka website.




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Ultraviolet DVD Review

Ultraviolet review

The film starts out with rather unique comic covers for the title sequence. There is a reason, this is a comic book movie. I don't mean like X-men or Hulk, a big screen adaption of a comic, I mean a visual abuse of the media to produce comic style entertainment in a theatre.

Yes, the story does contain something about vampires, but beyond the pointed teeth little is talked about. Essentially you have a government created infliction, a bunch of hunted down infected people and an evil facist government that sees germs and disease as the no. 1 enemy.

In walks Violet, yup, she's infected. Yup, she's mightly pissed off. Yup, she's on a rampage, hell it'd be a dull movie if she overcame her issues and took up knitting.

This film is everything that the disappointing Aeon Flux wasn't. While Aeon showed how empty a film like this can be, Ultraviolet shows how attention to detail makes the tired old concept of "ultimate assasin turns on their maker and seeks revenge" can actually create something unique, fresh and exciting.

Directed by the man responsible for Equilibrium, expect some kick ass martial arts/gun fights. If there's one thing that man knows, it is how to make pulling a trigger and kicking a barrel load of ass look like hot steamy sex on the big screen.

There's also all manner of cool gadgets, inventions and technology within the film that just simply aren't talked about or explained. You know, that's a good thing. The idea the audience need some Star Trek style technobabble to explain away every plot device is a moronic one, I've no care for how this shit works, just that it looks cool when it does. Watch the film, you'll see what I mean.

The dialogue is... well... forgettable. A series of groans, grunts and traded insults about who isn't going to leave the room alive and such.

The acting is the same, Oscars won't be won, but essentially all that is needed are a few snarls and some tension, which Mila Jovovich provides, despite fully expecting "Umbrella corp" to be lurking around the corner, due to similarties between this and the Resident Evil movies.

That isn't to say the movie sucks, it doesn't, like I say I left the theatre saddended that this wasn't Aeon Flux, it should have been: Stylish, sexy, futuristic film about a vengeful assasin with some great set pieces, cool tech and gorgeous sets/costumes.

So, if you like Mila, or just like ass kicking or guns, you won't be disappointed in this movie. Plot is entirely optional (and to be honest I've pretty much already forgotten it).

Rating: 4 out of 5

About Author

The author is the founder of Further Down the Rabbit Hole, a vampire community designed to promote the normal, everyday side to real vampirism by delving deeper into Vampire, Gothic and dark culture.



Source: ArticleTrader.com

Planet of the Apes

The Metaphor of Planet of the Apes

What you have to understand about the original Planet of the Apes movies is that is was an A-List movie. It had a respectable budget, a respectable director, and stars that been in major motion pictures in the past - Charlton Heston (no slouch) Roddy McDowell (also no slouch) and almost Edward G. Robinson. I'll explain what happened, later, but he started filming and left. And most of all the first draft of the script was authored by none other than master story teller Rod Serling.

It had a lot going for it. There was a special on the series that I watched that detailed all of these things, and as these 'making of' specials tend to it made every decision look like it was inspired genius. What the special glossed over was the central metaphor of the movie. The special said that it wasn't clear what the metaphor was, though unfortunately, it was and looking back from the twenty first century the metaphor was clearly racism. On the Planet of the Apes the monkeys were once the slaves of the humans but they rose up and became their own masters. The reason that no one wants to touch this one is because monkeys can be equated with former African slaves and that is an ugly and insensitive connection. It's also almost certainly the one that was intended.

My favorite show, Star Trek, often used metaphor and often painfully obvious metaphor. They tackled racism once in the guise of two aliens from a planet that had been racked with civil strife. These aliens were portrayed with black grease paint on one side of their face and white grease paint on the other, but they hated each other because of the side that was black and white, which happened to be opposite. See, there's the irony. To the human eyes the difference of the sides was silly, but to them it was critically important - so that means that our racism (it was the sixties) is silly also.

For the time, I guess that was a daring statement, though these days it seems quaint and prosaic. Anyways, to get back to the Planet of the Apes - for it's time it also was a powerful message. When Charlton Heston sees the remains of the Statue of Liberty in the foreground and does his marvelous bellowing speech about the maniacs blowing it all up damn them, damn them all to hell! What he is clearly showing is that racism was destroying the promise of the United States - freedom and equality and all that. Sure it seems trite today, but the first time it wasn't.

Slavery we all know now is wrong. What I have trouble getting my brain around is that for human history it wasn't considered so. How could human beings have believed in and practiced this sort of abomination for - basically for ever except the slim era of present history? Currently slavery is legal nowhere and it is also currently more prevalent than any other time. Most of the slaves who have ever been alive are alive right now.

This statistic I got from a Dateline NBC Special. In this special the correspondent went undercover to an Eastern European country and bought himself a sex slave, who of course, he freed right afterwards. He paid eighteen hundred dollars. The woman's story - his slave - was sad beyond belief. She grew up in an orphanage, was developmentally disabled, and at the age of fourteen she was thrown out of the orphanage where she lived in the sewers for two years before being enslaved and forced to earn her keep by having sex dozens of times per night while being fed beans and beans only.

Back to Plantet of the Apes: The Tim Burton version was one that I looked forward to eagerly, and which I was therefore disappointed in when I finally saw it. His version was a mess. Not the visuals, mind you, Burton is a master at putting out visually stunning movies that are an absolute confused mish mash. This was definitely one of them. Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes meant basically nothing and the contrived ending was obviously something that the studio insisted that he put in so he would have some sort of an ending comparable to the origninal. It wasn't. It was stupid.

Please take my advice and see the original, or own the original since its now out on DVD. It's the whole series I think.

About Author

Steve Sommers is the author of REXROI, and Evil Super-Villains need Love, Too ... and other important wisdom. (Both books can be viewed by simply clicking on the titles)



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Amityville Horror on DVD

The Amityville Weight Set

The remake of the Amityville Horror is now out on DVD. If I remember correctly, the original Amityville Horror movie wasn't such a blockbuster and it's a true puzzlement that anyone would take a second shot at it. Thumby movie critics, Ebert and Roeper, were unable to review it because the movie company didn't want the critics to see it. So, that's not a good sign. My amazing connection to this movie was that I bought a set of weights from a guy from Amityville.

Yes. It's incredible and hard to believe, but here's how it happened. It was at an airforce base in Greece where I read the entire book, The Amityville Horror. I never actually bought the book, but just read the whole thing standing in the aisles. This bookstore was a fair-sized one which was run by Greeks who had what I think is the most unique way of organizing I've ever seen.

Let me ask you - say you were going to open a bookstore - how do you think you might organize the books? Subject matter, maybe. Or perhaps alphabetical by author? Or publisher or even the color of the cover? You'd do it in some logical way, wouldn't you? Not them. They organized the books by price. (no, no, I'm not kidding). Is that the dumbest thing you've ever heard of? Have you ever said to yourself that you want to read a twenty five dollar book, for example? Anyways, the Greeks there didn't like me too much because I was pretty insistent that they find a different method of inventory. Which, 0f course, they never did.

The book was written in the form of a daily diary and I had to wonder who on Earth goes to the trouble of starting and maintaining a daily diary about their friggin' house? Do you have friends or family who've ever done that? It's pretty abnormal, I think. The story was that this family moved into this house and all sorts offrightening paranormal activities started happening. Then they find out that a gruesome mass murder had been committed there before they'dbought it and it was haunted like you wouldn't believe. I forget how I met this guy from Amityville who I bought the weights from, but I did ask him about this and he said that he hadn't known the family who wrote the book, but knew the family who were murdered and the guy who murdered them, whom he described as a pretty normal fellow who he would see down at the local bar.

Later I saw a special on the Amityville Horror on PBS. (I don't know why I was watching PBS and I also don't know why they would do a show on this). On the show, they interviewed the people who had bought the house after the Amityville Horrors and found the house not to be the least bit haunted at all. The wife had, in fact, gone to the trouble of looking up the daily weather reports that matched the dates in the book and not one matched. That pretty much cinched it for me that the house was never haunted.

Those weights I bought from that Amityville guy, however - they were.

About Author

Steve Sommers is the author of REXROI, and Evil Super-Villains need Love, Too ... and other important wisdom. (Both books can be viewed by simply clicking on the titles)



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Download Movies Legally

Download Movies Legally, But Let the Buyers Beware

Because of the success of Apple's iTunes music store, companies are now focusing on the next great frontier in the world of digital media, which is the market for legal movie downloads. But companies entering that space are faced with a dilemma: In order to gain access to the most marketable content, they need to implement services that large movie owners will find acceptable. That typically means imposing severe restrictions on what consumers can do with the content after they download movies. The need to impose restrictions, however, conflicts directly with another critical requirement, which is to create something that paying consumers will want to use. Most of the time, the developers of movie download services have opted to create implementations that satisfy movie owners. Unfortunately, these implementations are best described as consumer-hostile. Not surprisingly, consumers have been slow to start using these restrictive movie download services, meaning movie owners get little return.

The ability to distribute large volumes of digital content on the Internet has created unprecedented opportunities for new offerings that can better enable consumers to enjoy movie downloads in more convenient ways. But at the same time, the Internet has also created opportunities for people to illegally distribute large quantities of content, preventing the rightful owners of that content from being compensated. The effort to prevent unauthorized use of content has led to the creation of download services that attempt to control what consumers can do with their purchases. Thus was born the concept of digital rights management (DRM), a technology that is intended to force consumers to only use purchased content in ways approved by the copyright owner.

In order to be at all effective, a DRM system must maintain control of content at all times. Consequently, consumers that download movies from legitimate sites are frequently not allowed to then burn those movies to recordable DVDs that will play on standard DVD players. Most DRM-based systems do not allow burning since recordable DVDs cannot currently be both encrypted and also playable in standard DVD players. Some companies have attempted to add copy protection to recordable DVDs. But all of these efforts only provide a temporary illusion of copy protection. That is because in order to be at all useful to the consumer, the recordable disc must be readable by a DVD player. Since most DVD players are not designed to work with DRM, any effort to make a recordable DVD not copyable is limited to inserting “errors” into the DVD structure or on the physical disc that will confuse a disc ripping program, but not a DVD player. Protection schemes that have attempted this approach are typically broken within hours.

Consumers are painfully aware of the use restrictions imposed by DRM; however, very few people are aware of the long-term implications. Most of the well-known services that allow consumers to download movies utilize Microsoft's DRM. It is not surprising, therefore, that these services invariably only support computers running Microsoft Windows. And while a few sites allow consumers to copy downloads to a limited number of Windows computers, some do not even allow that. What could you do then with all of your purchased content that is locked up in Windows DRM if you want to switch to a Mac or Linux? The dirty little secret not advertised by DRM-based movie download services is that your likely reward for buying DRM-encrypted movies is that someday you will either have to throw away all of the content you paid for along with an old PC, or you will have the privilege of needing to buy the same content all over again.

Faced with the prospect of losing content that you paid good money for, you may decide to try a hack in order to get your movies out of the DRM system that restricts them. Since just about every DRM technology is broken at one time or another, there is a good chance that you will find a utility that can circumvent the DRM system. What many people don't know is that in the United States, circumventing copy protection is illegal. That is due to the anti-circumvention clause in of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. The DMCA makes breaking copy protection illegal, even for personal use. So, if you pay your hard-earned cash to download movies legally and then try to copy those movies from your old Windows PC to your new Mac, you may well have to commit a crime in order to do it.

The video industry has undergone two important transformations in the last few decades: the introduction of VHS and the transition to DVD. Both times, those who fought change profited least, and those who found new ways to deliver value to paying customers profited the most. The business models left standing after the Internet transition will surely be the services that find a way to make things better for paying customers. Consumers should try the new legal movie download services that are springing up nearly every day. People should know, however, that not all Web sites allowing consumers to download movies legally were designed with consumers' best interests at heart. So, before you take out your credit card to pay for a movie download, you should beware of the restrictions that the service provider may be trying to impose on you.

About Author

Jim Flynn is the CEO of EZTakes, Inc. (www.eztakes.com), a Web service that enables consumers to purchase and download movies that they can burn directly to DVD. EZTakes discourages piracy by personalizing DVDs with the identity of the purchasing consumer. By giving consumers the ability to easily to burn movie downloads that will play on virtually any DVD player, EZTakes has bridged the gap between the Internet and the living room.



Source: ArticleTrader.com

Online Movie Downloads

Start Your Dream Movies Collection Today

Do you know that the best way to watch latest movies without even need to leave the comforts of your home?Think about renting movie on web?Or search for the web for movies to download?Then you must read this article....

But this article talk about download movies from the web..

On line download movies is an extremely popular way to collect your dream movies these days. Not only can one watch from the comfort of their own home but they can just get instant access to all these movies with just a single click on your mouse the download starts within a matter of days.On line download movies is a great way to look for favorite movies without having to travel to a cinema.And it is not only movies that are available; there are TV shows, music, games, applications and content for the adult audience.

Most of the people afford to buy about 2-3 new movies each month,or some people spent almost half of the salary on new movies.For hose have small children and as you know they want to watch the latest cartoons,They have to spend a fortune on DVDs each month... this is a great newsfor these movie lovers due to you can always watch the latest movies and it only cost you the time to download them.It is very simple.It is really amazing how the Internet can affect and changes your lives.

Maybe you are thinking,how can you stay legal to download all your dream movies?By following these outlined steps made by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) you can ensure that you stay 100% legal.You can stay 100% legal and still download files.

As revealed,with the wonderful technology aspects of today, individuals can use their computers and the Internet to get many things accomplished. One such item which more and more individuals are using the Internet for is downloadingmovies.

About Author

My name is Nick Lim and I want to thank you for reading my article. I sincerely hope you've found this special report to invaluable and extremely useful to you..Take three minutes and visit this site to find out more about how to stay safe and legal while accessing the worlds largest downloading networks. http://tinyurl.com/ja5wp



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Unlimited Free Movies

Watch Unlimited Free Movies | How to Evaluate a Movie Download Service

With the advent of PCs, DVDs, Mp3 players and iPods, taking your movies and music along with you has never been easier. Building your portable library however can be an expensive venture if you are paying a fee every time you download a movie, game or music. Fortunately, there are many different movie download services to evaluate and join to watch unlimited free movies.

So, how do you evaluate a movie download service and watch unlimited free movies? First, it's important to note that most movie download networks are not completely free. They usually have a set up fee or there may be a monthly charge. There are 4 important criteria that a respectable movie download service should meet. This will tell you whether or not you will get a valuable and enjoyable service for your money.

The first thing you should look for in a movie download service is a guarantee of no spyware, adware or pop-ups. Spyware, adware and pop-ups are not only annoying; they can be downright dangerous to your computer system. Many people also consider them an invasion of privacy.

Second. Look for a movie download service that allows you to download and watch unlimited free movies. You should not be charged a service fee every time you download a movie. Another thing to watch for is a recurring monthly fee. The best movie download services will have a one time set up fee with no per movie download fee and no monthly service fee.

Third. Check to see if the movie download service you are considering also has games, music and other types of media available for download. There is where you will get the most bangs for your buck. Some movie download services will also offer sporting events, music videos and even your favorite TV programs. The more options that are offered, the better chances you have of being well satisfied with the money you have spent of your movie download service. Some movie download services will also offer sporting events, music videos and even your favorite TV programs.

Fourth. Technical support is vital. A great movie download service isn't worth much if you can't get technical support when necessary. The best services will offer 24 hour technical support assistance and you should be able to reach someone via email or by phone if you have a question or a problem with your service. If the technical support is via email, the turn around time to get an answer to your question should be 24 hours or less.

Armed with these 4 important criteria to evaluate the multitude of movie download services available on the internet, knowing how to evaluate a movie download service should appear to be a bit easier. If a movie download service meets the minimum criteria, you may be reasonably sure you can watch unlimited free movies for a long time to come.

About Author

Start Downloading All Your Favorite Movies, Music and Games FREE.Watch Unlimited Free Movies!!!



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1960's BATMAN TV SERIES

Batman one of the best movie of all time, from cartoon series, tv series, and even on the big screen. Lots of people specially kids really love this movie. This movies have lots of award. Some of this are:

Batman Awards:

Academy
1989 Best Art Direction Anton Furst
1989 Best Art Direction Peter Young

Golden Globe
1989 Best Actor - Musical or Comedy Jack Nicholson

PEO
1989 Best Film (in Drama)

and more..

The 1960s Batman TV series focuses on Bruce Wayne, a multi-billionaire living in crime capital Gotham City. Bruce Wayne is Batman a crime fighting super hero that uses only his wits and some advance gadgets and vehicles to combat criminals and bring them to justice. When Bruce was just a child he’s parents were murdered in front of him, because of this Bruce trained himself to become tough enough to fight thugs and criminals. Along with Bruce is Dick Grayson a former circus acrobat who became Batman’s sidekick Robin, they secure Gotham from bigtime criminals such as the Joker, Penguin, Scarecrow, the Riddler and Catwoman.


Batman (1960s TV series)
The series debuted on January 12, 1966 and was marked for its high camp, and continues to be the version many associate with the Batman character despite it perhaps being least representative of the many versions.

Despite the abhorrence of the TV series by Batman's fans of the 1970s through the present day, the live-action TV show was extraordinarily popular; at the height of its popularity, it was the only prime-time TV show broadcast twice in one week as part of its regular schedule, airing on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The hippie counterculture of the 1960s enjoyed the fact that even though they would eventually win and put the bad guys in jail, Batman and Robin portrayed the forces of "law and order" as being woefully humorless, "square", and unaware of the fact that the world was laughing at them.

The series was produced in the United States of America and debuted at 7:30, Wednesday evening, January 12, 1966 on ABC television, at a time when other popular TV series included The Andy Griffith Show and The Wild Wild West. The Batman series set a standard that identifies it as a product of the 1960s. It was known for its silly high camp humour and continues to be the version some associate with the Batman character despite it being least reflective of the Batman mythos as it is known today. (The series was very reflective of the character as portrayed in comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

About Author

Archie C. Artienda is on Search Engine Marketing Team. As Search Engine Optimization Specialist (SEO) and his recent project is TV Shows on DVD | Top Selling BATMAN (1960s TV series) On DVD




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Online DVD Downloads

Access Online DVD Downloads Instantly! So Fast You Can Start Watching Them Yesterday!

I’m a strong believer that local and online movie rental stores will never completely disappear, but when I see the incredible advancements in technology that currently allows you to quickly, and easily access online dvd downloads in a matter of minutes, it sometimes makes me wonder where this movie rental industry is taking us!

This is definitely an exciting time for movie and game enthusiasts, and if you’re one of thousands of individuals that enjoy receiving the latest versions of your favorite movies and video games instantly to enjoy, then having the ability to download a dvd movie or game to your computer right this minute must be truly exciting for you.

I don’t want to date myself, but I remember the days when we used to correspond with letters through the mail system and wait patiently for weeks to get our response. Yes, it seems like ages ago!

Then the fax machine was introduced to us, and it magically eliminated that dreaded time gap that once existed with our mail delivery system. Now we have the Internet that gives us access to information around the world instantaneously, and today we can get unlimited information, products, and services in record speed.

Where am I going with this you may be asking? The point I’m trying to make here is that as technology and the Internet becomes more user friendly, faster, and safer, we are now feeling extremely privileged to have options that we never had before!

I don’t believe that every movie enthusiast out there is going run to their computers and start a video download revolution, but I do feel that when we get completely comfortable with the Internet and what it provides us, we will be going to many of these entertainment websites and start taking advantage of the dvd downloads.

I’m Interested In Finding Out More About Video Downloads, Where Do I Begin?

You may have many questions, and if you have never had the opportunity to view or experience game and video download services, you may have many questions. Just like the online movie rental services that you can access today online there’s a small learning curve you go through, but in my opinion it’s very simple to learn, and takes a little of your time.

Unlike signing up for a membership at your local video store, or movie rental services online, you should have a little understanding of the minimum requirements that your computer must have to properly download a movie or video game, and you must also have a little bit of knowledge on how to download files from the Internet, and how to operate a video player.

Most of these online tools I mentioned above are at your disposal on many of the video download company web sites, and if you require specific download software, they should provide it to you at no charge, or if they do charge for it, it should be a very nominal fee. Remember, they want you to be using their services for a long time, so the costs should not exceed what a membership costs at many of the online rental service companies.

To find out more on what online services are available to you for downloading movie and video games, you can go to your favorite search engine and type in “video downloads” or download dvd movies, and you should see some select companies that can help you get started such as CinemaNow and TotalVid.

Don’t hesitate if you’re not sure what do when you reach these sites. They’re very user friendly and normally offer a free trial period so you can get familiar with the features they offer at no cost to you.

I hope you found this information helpful, and if you’re a movie buff like me, I’m sure you will be excited to check out these movie download sites and really experience the convenience of getting your favorite flix the same day in the comforts of your home, office, or wherever you enjoy watching movies.

About Author

When it comes to renting movies or downloading videos online, Online-DVD-and-Game-Rental.com is a great source for comparing quality online dvd rental and video download services. Spend some time reading our articles, reviews, and do some comparisons on what entertainment services are best for you.



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