Category: Movies

Since most of us stream movies from Netflix, I thought it would be cool to give each other weekly movie recommendations. Social discovery is all the rage and I think it would be awesome if we all shared one pick a week since we “know” each other. This week I’m suggesting Chocolate. It’s a Thai martial arts movie starring the outstanding Jeeja Yanin. She’s just a phenomenal talent with a potentially huge future. Although aspects of the movie are raw (it was made in a third-world country, after all), the fight scenes are some of the best I’ve seen in years. Check out the clip above for a taste of Chocolate (*snicker*).

If you happen to stream my pick, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it. Now its your turn to suggest one movie we should all watch. Please make sure it’s available on Netflix streaming.

Dish Network recently picked up the scraps of Blockbuster Video in a bankruptcy auction for $230-million. It’s hard to believe that the company once sold for billions of dollars. Blockbuster used to be one of the mightiest forces in the movie industry, the company is now a cautionary tale of what happens to old media that doesn’t adapt to the new.

As I was reading this entertaining article on TechCrunch, I was linked to this excellent timeline of Blockbuster’s demise on Fast Company. It’s amazing that the company was so dismissive of Netflix and ignored obvious trends until it was too late. CEO Jim Keyes (former president of 7-Eleven) has some excellent quotes in the timeline, most of which make him seem like a moron that was better off hocking Slurpees.

I’ve always hated Blockbuster ever since it put the local mom-and-pop video-store out of business when I was in high school. Sure I gave the company lots of money over the years, but it was mostly because there weren’t many other options. While it’s sad that lots of people lost their Blockbuster jobs in recent years, I’m happy that geek Darwinism left the company to die.

Source via TechCrunch

The Hangover amused me greatly. It’s funny on its own, but reminded me of a crazy night I had in Vegas with a bunch of important gaming people. There was a lot we couldn’t remember, one of us ended up getting married to an exotic dancer, and…well, I think I’ve said too much already.

I’m really looking forward to The Hangover 2. As some of you know, I spent one of the best years of my life having an adventure in Thailand. Just like the first movie had some eerie similarities to my real life, I expect to find several situations in The Hangover 2 that I can relate to.

The trailer makes the movie look like a lot of fun. Check it out and let me know what you think (please!).

In a move with potentially huge ramifications for the movie business, four major studios have agreed to launch a premium video-on-demand service with DirecTV. The service, called Home Premiere, will cost $30 for movies that were in theaters two months ago. Here are more details from Variety:

Warner Bros., Sony, Universal and 20th Century Fox are the first studios that have agreed to launch Home Premiere as the official brand under which the industry will offer up movies to rent for $30 two months after their theatrical bows for a viewing period of two to three days, depending on the distributor.

If the service is popular and similar deals are made with other providers, movie theaters stand to lose a lot of business. This also makes things more difficult for Netflix, Amazon, Apple iTunes, and other digital movie rental services.

While $30 seems like a lot of money, it’s actually a decent deal. Movie theater tickets costs more than $10 each, food at theaters is incredibly overpriced, and there are often idiots at theaters (talkers, people that leave on their phones, etc.). For a family outing or a parents’ night out (babysitters cost $), Home Premiere could be a lot cheaper than the movies. It also offers the convenience of privacy and eating your own food.

What do you ladies and gents think of Home Premiere? Would you be interested in the service or one like it? Kindly take today’s poll and discuss!

[poll id=”109″]

This is awesome. I can’t wait!