Thompson on Hollywood

Needham Talks IMDb 20th Year Overhaul, Top 20 Lists

As someone who turns to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) every hour, much less every day, I can't believe that the popular movie buff destination is celebrating its 20th anniversary on October 17.

By Anne Thompson
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October 6, 2010 11:29 AM
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Be a Douchebag With Your iPhone

Drake Doremus' low-brow Sundance comedy Douchebag, which opened in New York over the weekend, is about two brothers, one on the verge of marriage, who go on a wild goose chase to find the other's fifth grade girlfriend. While some big studio films (Tron: Legacy comes to mind) have developed iPhone apps, this is one of the first little-known indies to try to build a following with a free iTunes iPhone app, available for free download at the Apple app store. (Let us know if there are others.)

By Sophia Savage
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October 4, 2010 6:36 AM
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As Moviegoers Cool on 3-D, Next Breakout Could Be Tron: Legacy

It's amazing how far the 3-D clock has turned in a short time. In classic Hollywood fashion, the industry seems to have cooked its own 3-D goose in just a few years. After talking theater owners across America into building some 5000 digital cinemas equipped with 3-D projectors, the studios have jumped eagerly onto the 3-D bandwagon, throwing one movie after the other into shoddy quickie retrofit post-production. While high-quality early efforts such as Avatar ($3 billion worldwide) and Alice in Wonderland ($116 million opening weekend) pulled in huge percentages of 3-D patrons, audiences swiftly got pickier about what they were going to pay for after getting burned on such B-efforts as Clash of the Titans and The Last Airbender. If you track opening weekend grosses on 3-D vs. 2-D, there's a precipitous drop from December 2009 to August 2010.

By Anne Thompson
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September 27, 2010 12:37 PM
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Rotten Tomatoes Goes Social

Founded in 1998, movie-review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes is making changes under new owner Flixster. It’s going social.

By Anne Thompson
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September 17, 2010 9:06 AM
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Critic vs. Critic: The Changing Landscape of Movie Coverage

Moviefone's Jack Mathews and I are squabbling again, this time in a new column we're calling Critic vs. Critic, in which we debate the latest trends and topics in movies. This week, Mathews and I take on the changing face of movie coverage, now dominated by the Internet.

By Anne Thompson
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August 31, 2010 1:40 AM
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SnagLearning Expands Classroom Boundaries

SnagFilms announces SnagLearning, a platform of 125 documentary films that will serve as engaging education tools for students in nearly every middle and high school classroom. CEO Rick Allen calls it a "natural extension" of SnagFilms, which launched two years ago; "teachers have championed our slate of films, which students can stream for free as a means of supplementing their learning. As classrooms stretch their boundaries, SnagLearning will be there – at home or in school – to serve our ever growing community of teachers, students and parents.”

By Sophia Savage
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August 26, 2010 7:44 AM
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Checking In: Building Studio Loyalty

So your Facebook stalker - er, friend - knows what you had for dinner and which YouTube video you liked, but now they know where you're going. And what you're watching. And when.

By Sophia Savage
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August 26, 2010 6:43 AM
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The Future of Digital Distribution: A Mini Documentary

The Future of Digital Distribution, a mini-documentary from Game Industry TV, now available here (and below), goes deep into how the online availability of music, film, TV and video games are revolutionizing the way society digests its plethora of media. With commentary from reporters, analysts, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Disney Interacting Studios GM Graham Hopper (and others), the topics range from the growth of online purchasing, direct distribution channels changing the relationship between content creators and their consumers, and how social networking will continue to influence the entertainment world.

By Anne Thompson
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August 25, 2010 1:23 AM
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Academy Selects Scientific Achievement Short List

The Motion Picture Academy's scientific and technical awards committee has selected 15 achievements for further awards consideration. Now anyone else with similar devices or prior claims can offer their achievements to the committee, by August 31.

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2010 5:36 AM
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New Living Room: from Netflix Streaming to Google TV

At book group last night, we not only picked David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas (in development with the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer), but debated the relative merits of TiVo and Roku, the best way to get Netflix streaming on TV and the breadth of the Netflix catalogue of free-stream titles. I use my PS3 and a disc to get my Netflix "watch-instantly" queue to pop up on my TV. The other night on a whim, I clicked play and watched the enjoyable Anna Wintour doc The September Issue. More pleasures await me, but I do find it frustrating that many (even older) titles that are in my DVD queue aren't yet available.