Awesome Harry Potter 7(B) Trailer is Awesome!

Yes, I used Internet slang in the title. Sue me. I’m just super psyched for the final Harry Potter movie. This trailer is incredible — awesome special effects, dramatic moments, and more! I totally marked out when Harry addressed Lord Voldemort as “Tom”. That was cool.

Check out the trailer and share your thoughts (please)!

Today’s Poll: Do You Like Sony Qriocity?

Not that you can currently use it on your PlayStation 3 at the moment (thanks to external intrusions), but I wanted to get your opinions on Sony’s Qriocity service. A unified approach to streaming music, movies, and television sounds great on paper, but there are separate services that do each of these things so well. I know that a lot of you are big on Netflix and some of you use Hulu. Some of you dig Pandora, while a few of you are Slacker or Last FM peeps. Do you think Qriocity can take the place of those services? Or is it just not good enough?

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X-Men: First Class International Trailer is…

…not nearly as scary as the first one…but it still worries me. Banshee looked really cool in the trailer. Aside from that I saw a lot of over-acting. Yes, I understand that mutant persecution is supposed to be a serious issue, but these guys make it seem like an episode of Days of Our Lives.

Anyway, check out the clip and let me know what you think (please). Is it better than the first one? Does it give you hope for the movie?

Netflix Picks: Hitman Hart — Wrestling With Shadows

My Netflix pick for this week is an old wrestling documentary that’s fun to look at in a new light. Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows recounts the tale of the “Montreal Screw Job” where Bret Hart lost the WWF Championship on a day he thought he was going to win. Various wrestlers and agents conspired to take the strap off of Bret out of fear that he would appear in WCW with a WWF belt. The documentary wasn’t produced by WWE, so it has a different feel — a bit on the raw side and a different bias than most WWE DVDs.

I loved this documentary when it first came out. I was amused that Hart was such a mark for himself — he really bought into his “hero” thing. Shawn Michaels and Triple H flat-out lied to Bret and his family regarding their involvement in the plot. They come off as disingenuous pricks. Over the years, Bret mellowed out and forgave the people that “screwed” him. Shawn became a born-again Christian and sorry for his role in the event. Wrestling with Shadows was fun to watch when they all hated each other and it’s even more interesting now that everyone has chilled out.

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.

Netflix Picks: Chocolate (Jeeja Yanin)

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.

Remembering Blockbuster Video

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

WonderCon Green Lantern Trailer is Awesome!!!

Thanks to RPadholic tokz_21 for sending me the iTunes link to the awesome Green Lantern trailer shown at WonderCon 2011. The footage is now available on YouTube (embedded above) and I highly recommend checking it out. I completely marked out when I saw alien Green Lanterns like Sinestro, Kilowog, Tomar-Re, and Abin Sur. Hal’s costume still looks like a rotten piece of salmon nigiri to me and Hector Hammond looks stupid, but I still went nuts for the footage.

Check it out and let me know what you think (please)!

The Hangover 2 Trailer Reminds Me of Life in Thailand

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!).

Today’s Poll: Would You Pay $30 for a Movie Rental?

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!

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