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Their fate has already been shown in the documentry Face/Off. Did you really think that was a production oil rig?

For movie reviews, rottentomatoes.com is pretty good.

Mathworld is great for maths- related information. A website from the makers of Mathematica-- one reason why ideologically I prefer Mathematica over Maple, even though my uni uses the latter. Wolfram is simply more involved in education.

Duuuuuhhh... When you sign a contract giving a label exclusive rights to your work, no (duh), you can't just go out on your own while still under contract. This is the main obstacle PE faced and you cannot blame the corruption of the record industry for that. If you work for a company the chances are you also signed a similar agreement when you became gainfully employed there - one granting to your employer full "rights" to any "inventions" you might make while under contract. Such exclusive license is not in any way limited to the "corrupt" music industry. In this case they were "giving away" tracks that had already been promised to their publisher - that means their publisher had exclusive license to distribute those works. It doesn't mean they had license to everything the band ever does, but it does mean they controlled those works - no one forced Chuck D to sign on that dotted line.

So far as selling recordings long after a musician dies - well, yeah. It's too bad how many musicians have been treated, but that has nothing to do with the fact the recordings are still owned by the labels. What if you play a part in a film? Should that film become your property after X years? How do you decide who it should belong to? The Director? The Executive Producer? The leading man? the leading lady?

Music is the same. A recording is not one guy sitting alone in his garage singing into a tape recorder - and when it is guess what? Those guys don't need the majors in order to survive the long haul. In most every other case a recording is the product of dozens of people (including several musicians), none of whom would be in that place at that time without the machine.

If an artist, in today's market, isn't smart enough to know all that machine represents - and, in many cases, their ultimate goal is to become part of that machine - then it is not my right (or yours) to tell them otherwise.

So far as DRM locking away works forever - well, that's fucking absurd. Those recordings (an their right to license them) are the only assets publishers have - they are not going to let them wither away. Even when they've been locked away for twenty years they are still an asset because no one knows where trends and fads will go and they always represent a potentially licensable product. DVDs use DRM and I have heard no one bitching about "we're gonna lose The Matrix in 100 years because all existing copies are locked away in DRM!" In fact, every film and audio recording stands a better chance in the long run because the publishers release damn near everything, no matter how badly they expect it to do.

Publishers keep master recordings so long as they can because that is the bread and butter of their business. And when a publisher goes out of business those recordings do not magically disappear - they are moved to vaults of the new company, because those are also the new company's bread and butter. There have been a few rare cases where historical recordings were transcribed from shellac or wax because those are the only recordings that exist, but when talking about the contemporary music and film industry such a notion is fairly absurd. Derivative rights are far too valuable nowdays to be treated so carelessly; if anything, today's market ensures works will get better care than in the past, because there's always the chance of releasing a mega-DVD of a film or TV show or a "lost sessions" recording of a now dead artist. In such a market DRM i

Look's like a trip to the store is in order.

Barton Fink is available on DVD.

Just a brief correction. Spy Kids 2 was released August of 2002, Spy Kids 3D is in fact Spy Kids 3. Though sequels can be faulted for a lack of originality, this series is a great bunch of movies for preteens. Wacky, great acting, non-predictable, and good pacing.

Relevant Link

The Rotten Tomato movie write-up gives a few insights as to costs, as well as a number of other bits of trivia...

"The filmmaker, Kevin Smith, worked at the Quick Stop in Leonardo, New Jersey during production. The film was shot there, and at the RST Video next door. Smith was only allowed to shoot at night, when the store was closed--hence the closed shutters, which are explained away in the script.

The budget for the film is reported to have been $27,575 by Smith's ViewAskew Productions. Smith financed the film with credit cards, his Quick Stop earnings, family assistance, and by selling his comic book collection. When the film was a success, he bought back the comics (and bought himself a comics shop). The soundtrack rights cost more than the production costs."

Anyone else remember Comix Zone?

not extraordinarily original imo

Honestly, you should never just take one persons advice. Get a lay of the land first before you make a decision. That's why I love these sites:

www.rottentomatoes.com
www.gamerankings.com


The same can be said about news media. If you just get your perspective from CNN or FOX, then you're only learning one perspective.

Hero becasue though people heard about it, come on guys it's so much better than Crotch Tiger Horny Dragon

Grave of the Fireflies because I know some US people don't like it because it shows them another side of war that they don't want to consider.

I also remember a clip from a movie that everybody pretty much called "fuck fu" (adult stuff but with wire-fu) back in the days from the stileproject. I think it's underappreciated because it was really really funny. Anybody knows the real link / name?

Hero becasue though people heard about it, come on guys it's so much better than Crotch Tiger Horny Dragon

Grave of the Fireflies because I know some US people don't like it because it shows them another side of war that they don't want to consider.

I also remember a clip from a movie that everybody pretty much called "fuck fu" (adult stuff but with wire-fu) back in the days from the stileproject. I think it's underappreciated because it was really really funny. Anybody knows the real link / name?

Dunno if anybody else posted a link to this, but it's a pretty darn good flick that might improve your understanding of the situation: Safe

Huh. Is this the same Christopher Null who does movie reviews for FilmCritic.com. If so, I'll definitely have to check it out; I've quite enjoyed reading some of his movie reviews and would probably enjoy seeing what he does with a longer form.

I think a 98% at rotten tomatoes is a pretty good indication of what this movie goes for.

It has (as others have pointed out) all the makings of a really classic movie. It seems like a child movie at first as it tells the story from a childs perspective, but it's a lot more complex than anything you'll see from Disney et al. For starters there are no truly evil characters in the movie. And most characters who are nice are just purely nice either, they have motives for what they do. (Not just "it says so in the script".)

If it's available on Region 1 do pick it up, or at least rent it. And while you're at it check out other works by Miyazaki like Princess Mononoke.

Although anime in general isn't geared towards children there's a lot of stuff that children can appreciate as well. And they are probably going to do a better job of adapting to the sometimes very different ideas in the movies. (Compared to western animations and normal movies.)

...are at Rotten Tomatoes.

What, you guys didn't love Juwanna Mann ?

...are at Rotten Tomatoes.

What, you guys didn't love Juwanna Mann ?

You forgot Tremors (staring Kevin Bacon). A truely wonderful film.

They *do*.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/games/

But then I realized that I was thinking of the Rotten Tomatoes website. :)

Imagine, if RT had a game review site, or, really, meta-review site, you'd get a collection of reviews from a wide range of famous and obscure reviewers, along with links to official websites and freebie "trailers" and desktop pix, etc.

No reviewer would be ranked higher than any other, so the first-glance-trending would probably not be as skewed. It would give everyone more information in one location, and plenty of obscure reviewers would get their chances at many more eyeballs.

Speaking of movie sites, while RT has reviews, IMDB is the place for more encyclopedic information. IMDB also has videogames on it, but that section is woefully underdone right now. If everyone would pick a game or two and double check the information, as well as link to FAQ sites as fan sites, it would become a lot more useful for game research needs. Submit some reviews, as well, and if you don't get what you want out of it, suggest ways to improve the site.

I don't subscribe to or work for either of these sites, but I do feel that if both of these were to jump with both feet into game reviews and information, we wouldn't have to hunt through as many different sources to start searching for infomation we need.

Also, Rotten Tomatoes typically has good review ratings compared to the singular critics.

Hey all you Trekkies! Berman and Braga have finally killed your beloved franchise! Star Trek Nemesis hasn't even made $42 million! It's not even going to break even! Ha ha ha! Maybe now some of you will "Get a life" and found something worthwhile to do!

Hey all you Trekkies, Berman and Braga have finally killed your precious franchise! So far it has only grossed $41.6 million!! So it's not even close to breaking even! Ha ha ha! This is going to be the end of Star Trek! Maybe some of you will 'Get a Life' and try to persue something meaningful!

Nope. Look at my other recent comments for this article. Two out of three unpaid recursive DNS server implentors agree: DNS is a monster.

The third one may or may not hate DNS; I have just shot him an email seeing whether DNS gets a rotten tomatoes score of 33% or 0%.

Note for the trolls: People who judge DNS without having written their own recursive DNS server are like people who judge a movie based on its preview. Asking a BIND developer what they think of DNS is like asking a certain director what they think of Star Trek V.

- Sam

I have single-handendly written a working recursive DNS server without getting paid for my work. There is a reason why there are only three of us in the entire world; DNS is that bad. Actually, it is a good deal worse than you can imagine.

Let me put it this way. Writing a DNS client (or a non-recursive DNS server) is sort of like Highlander I. Entertaining, really. You think to youself "Hey! That was easy! A recursive server can't be too bad!"

Well, writing a working recursive DNS server is like watching Highlander II. Suddenly, just as Highlander II changes your outlook on the entire Highlander franchise, writing a recursive DNS server changes your outlook on the entire DNS protocol.

But, hey, don't take my word for it. Dan, one of the other three of us, feels the same way. Thomas, the last of us, has made no statements either for or against DNS. If we were to review recursive DNS the same way Rotten Tomatoes reviews movies, DNS would get a 0%; possibly a 33% if Thomas secretly loves DNS and hasn't told anyone. By any standard, that makes for a bomb that should have tanked at the box office.

Alas, it didn't. And so we are stuck with a horrible mess of a protocol today.

- Sam

Every time I read or hear abou ta new driving game, I just think of the fuss back in 1976 when an arcade game based upon a really bad B movie of the same title came out ... Death Race 2000. Ah, but then I'm just showing my age ...

Actually, what I'd like to know is if these games actually compete with titles on "that other operating system" enough to tell my kids, Mandrake 9.1b1 is enough for you skippy?

The best site I've found for movie reviews is Rotten Tomatoes. This site compiles reviews from all over the net/newspapers. This rating of LOTR:The Two Towers fires me up. No choice but to leave work early today!!

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 99% with 78 reviews in.

Hmm. I can think of 5.3 out of 10 and 5 out of 100 reasons why he might be a bit envious of Tolkien's box office success...

Okay Comic Book Guy [snpp.com] , it's time for you learn how the outside world works

That's quite ironic, considering you then go off on a long thread defending the utter crap that is Star Trek, currently, use arguments only a true fan-boy could possibly agree with.

Not that it matters, the numbers are in. And so are the reviews. That's gotta hurt!

Finally, it seems Paramount are also aware that this movie is a turkey. Why else would they dump it the weekend before TTT? It's going to get *slaughtered* next weekend.

Ah well, a sad end for Star Trek, but not before time. Look at the dismal, worthless flops (Voyager, Enterprise) that have been passing for Star Trek on television recently. Do we really want more of *that*? Best to let it die with dignity!

Everyone's favorite movie review compilation site, Rotten Tomatoes, gives Nemesis a pretty solid 51% rating, with the big name reviewers rating in at 88%. Full details here.

Rating: ROTTEN Reading: 44%

Reviews counted: 73
Fresh: 32 Rotten: 41

Hell First Contact got a 93% and it wasn't even all that great. I can pretty much rest assure that Nemesis will be the same awful tripe that was Insurrection, which got a 59% rank. If this type of stuff is entertaining to the "average Star Trek fan", then the average Star Trek fan has set very low standards form themselves.

Lets see some other recent examples of the SF-bias in the media:

Minority Report - 93%
The Matrix - 87%
Galaxy Quest - 86%
Contact - 84%

Hell First Contact got a 93% and it wasn't even all that great. I can pretty much rest assure that Nemesis will be the same awful tripe that was Insurrection, which got a 59% rank. If this type of stuff is entertaining to the "average Star Trek fan", then the average Star Trek fan has set very low standards form themselves.

Lets see some other recent examples of the SF-bias in the media:

Minority Report - 93%
The Matrix - 87%
Galaxy Quest - 86%
Contact - 84%

Hell First Contact got a 93% and it wasn't even all that great. I can pretty much rest assure that Nemesis will be the same awful tripe that was Insurrection, which got a 59% rank. If this type of stuff is entertaining to the "average Star Trek fan", then the average Star Trek fan has set very low standards form themselves.

Lets see some other recent examples of the SF-bias in the media:

Minority Report - 93%
The Matrix - 87%
Galaxy Quest - 86%
Contact - 84%

Hell First Contact got a 93% and it wasn't even all that great. I can pretty much rest assure that Nemesis will be the same awful tripe that was Insurrection, which got a 59% rank. If this type of stuff is entertaining to the "average Star Trek fan", then the average Star Trek fan has set very low standards form themselves.

Lets see some other recent examples of the SF-bias in the media:

Minority Report - 93%
The Matrix - 87%
Galaxy Quest - 86%
Contact - 84%

Hell First Contact got a 93% and it wasn't even all that great. I can pretty much rest assure that Nemesis will be the same awful tripe that was Insurrection, which got a 59% rank. If this type of stuff is entertaining to the "average Star Trek fan", then the average Star Trek fan has set very low standards form themselves.

Lets see some other recent examples of the SF-bias in the media:

Minority Report - 93%
The Matrix - 87%
Galaxy Quest - 86%
Contact - 84%

Hell First Contact got a 93% and it wasn't even all that great. I can pretty much rest assure that Nemesis will be the same awful tripe that was Insurrection, which got a 59% rank. If this type of stuff is entertaining to the "average Star Trek fan", then the average Star Trek fan has set very low standards form themselves.

Lets see some other recent examples of the SF-bias in the media:

Minority Report - 93%
The Matrix - 87%
Galaxy Quest - 86%
Contact - 84%

Check out RottenTomatoes

Overall it's getting a 53% positive rating. However, the so-called "cream of the crop" reviewers are 88% positive.

Whereas 8 Mile currently stands at 74%.

I mean... I liked 8 Mile and all, but even with the basic Trek bias, it can't be that much better...

Go look at the reviews at rottentomatoes and see for your self... If you look at the 'creme of the crop' reviewers, who are "famous" you'll see that 80% of them did like it. Only 50% of the other revieweres didnt like it, which for a star trek film is pretty good if you ask me. They've never been in bed with the critics.

I think "panned" is a relative concept here. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 51% positive rank and concidering the SF-bias in the media, I think it's probably safe to assume this is an entertaining movie for the average Star Trek fan. I'm sorry to see the Next Generation go.

Everyone's favorite movie review compilation site, Rotten Tomatoes, gives Nemesis a pretty solid 51% rating, with the big name reviewers rating in at 88%. Full details here.

For a franchise movie such as this, that's not so bad. Die Another Day got a 59% rating, and the Rush Hour series usually scores in the 50s. I have a feeling Nemesis will get exactly the same numbers from Trek fans.

Everyone's favorite movie review compilation site, Rotten Tomatoes, gives Nemesis a pretty solid 51% rating, with the big name reviewers rating in at 88%. Full details here.

For a franchise movie such as this, that's not so bad. Die Another Day got a 59% rating, and the Rush Hour series usually scores in the 50s. I have a feeling Nemesis will get exactly the same numbers from Trek fans.

The Game Industry does a far better job of ensuring customer satisfaction than the Movie/Music industry does. -Game reviews are plentiful.

So are movie reviews, which also happen to be in newspapers.

-Demo/rental versions are easy to acquire to try out.

So are movie rentals. And first run movies only cost $5 to $7.

-You can trade/sell a game to try out other ones. There's more entertainment for your buck.

Ebay sells used movies and games. Also, newly run movies cost $15 to $25 while first run games cost $30 to $50.

-You have the time to sit down and enjoy the game at your leisure. (as opposed to being at a theater by a certain time...)

Online gaming has comparable time constraints, especially for team games. And liesurely home viewing of movies is very common.

-Mods, mods, mods...

Phantom Edit, Extended Editions, Renderman Licensing...

-A bad game isn't as bad as a bad movie. (Your mileage may vary...)

Sure does. $50 wasted is much worse than $25 wasted.

But I agree that video games have more room to grow, and perhaps more potential overall.

They don't have enough reviews for a tomato rating, but at the time I write this, 3 out of the 4 reviews there are positive.

Actually, you can find a lot more reviews than that all linked on RottenTomatoes.com, most actually written by movie critics! ;-)

Gees, I'm not sure how my original post got a "+5 Informative" because I didn't even include the link to the review I read! I mean, "+3 Insightful" or "+4 Interesting" I can understand...

Anyhow, here's the review I mentioned. Needless to say, plot spoilers are featured. Like I said, the review makes Nemesis sound like an okay, but not great, Trek flick.

GMD

Spirited Away has precious little to do with any genuine Japanese religion. If you get a 20 second summary of Shinotism and can understand the concept of a public bathhouse/spa, you're more than prepared. How much does a person need to comprehend European "culture, religion, and social customs" to follow Cinderella or Snow White? Not at all. In the case of Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz (which are more in the Spirited Away genre), any preconceptions will just confuse you more.

If you didn't like it, you must be feeling lonely by now. Here's the only reviewer who agrees with you, as opposed to the hundred who loved it.

Spirited Away has precious little to do with any genuine Japanese religion. If you get a 20 second summary of Shinotism and can understand the concept of a public bathhouse/spa, you're more than prepared. How much does a person need to comprehend European "culture, religion, and social customs" to follow Cinderella or Snow White? Not at all. In the case of Alice in Wonderland or the Wizard of Oz (which are more in the Spirited Away genre), any preconceptions will just confuse you more.

If you didn't like it, you must be feeling lonely by now. Here's the only reviewer who agrees with you, as opposed to the hundred who loved it.

But I really liked Spirited away

Apparently, so did the reviewers at rotten tomatoes

That was a good line. Hard to believe Dirty Harry came out 31 years ago.

I'm not surprised that the /. crowd likes it. More significantly is the fact that the mainstream press are all over it: Rotten Tomatoes shows not a single bad review, that's pretty impressive.