Anyone catch the image in which diesel fuel costs $123/gallon? Whoa.
A Call to Arms
To keep the illusion of perfection from disappearing around here, we’d like to ask for YOUR help. We’ve been kicking around a few ideas lately in the front office as to some of the ways to make the experience in the third row a fun and unique one. Our goal and mission is still to foster discussion within the realm of Filmopolis; and thus far, that goal seems to be being met.
One of the things we really want to make happen is the ability for registered users to post images and embed videos within the comments section. So that’s definitely in pre-production. A couple of other pretty cool ideas have sprung up lately as well. The one thing we’re NOT interested in employing right now is a forum. There are millions of movie forums out there and we consider the posts here to be little forum threads within themselves.
But we’d like to come up with some other things that allow for more user interactivity and some other ways in which the site itself might work better for you or look better (like arbitrarily planting pics of a half-naked Emmy Rossum in our posts), etc. Are there unique features that you’ve always looked for in a movie site but have never seen? Or is there something here that just plain doesn’t work for you? If so, let us have it!
So please feel free to leave your feedback and ideas at anytime in any of the posts’ comments sections. If you prefer to be more private with your scathing, abusive criticism, send an email to any one of us here. We want to make this site complete in its ass-kickery; and to do that, we need input from the people that matter most: you!
Wait. You mean I’m not the most important person around here?
Comment by Marina Antunes — May 1, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
Silly Marina, I’m the most important person here, or anywhere else for that matter. I’m also modest
Comment by Colleeny — May 1, 2008 @ 12:27 pm
I couldn’t find any half naked pictures of you Marina, so I chose Emmy. Sorry.
Comment by Andrew James — May 1, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
LOL
“I couldn’t find any half naked pictures of you Marina”
Thank god for that!
Comment by Marina Antunes — May 1, 2008 @ 12:44 pm
I think gravatars would be great… I like to be able to see the person I am attacking.
It would be cool if we could co-ordinate film marathons, mark them off when we have seen one and discuss it. logistics are problematic on that, I tried that sort of things going down the first 100 spine titles of criterion with a group of people and it became hard to sustain… but on a smaller scale it could be done. But you were talking about Bergman, Andrew and I would be interested in catching up on his work too… that sort of co-ordinated ambition, would be interesting.
Comment by rot — May 1, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
Film Marathons would be cool!
Any kind of co-ordinated all see the same film thing would be neat too, like the collective review that was done with Doomsday (I know that can be tricky for anything that isn’t widely released). Could do a poll maybe to see what people want to see, then everyone see it and ready to rave or rant by Monday?
Comment by Shannon the Movie Moxie — May 1, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
yeah you could do it like, everyone list there top five Hitchcock films that they haven’t seen but want to see… and God willing there would be a significant overlap that then could be used as the selection. Another concern those is time constraints, because it not always so easy to get to the film within a certain time… I think one a week might even be too fast.
Comment by rot — May 1, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
Ideas first, concerns later!
If working with older films, could have a fair amount of lead time. Could pick a director or genre to work through. That kinda thing would be more realistic to do once a month.
One a week would be a bit much I admit but I meant that for regular theatre theatre releases. Also not everyone would have to participate every time (because that usually equals burnout!).
Comment by Shannon the Movie Moxie — May 1, 2008 @ 4:59 pm
As someone who watches one older movie a week and writes about it, it is a hard enough pace to keep up and I’m just one person. Coordinating that with multiple people would be begging for delays.
Comment by Matt Gamble — May 1, 2008 @ 8:57 pm
Yeah I would almost say strive for five films in the marathon with one a month.
Comment by rot — May 2, 2008 @ 9:11 am
How about a generalized marathon. Pick a focus…. The Films of David Lean. There’s alot of them floating about, and most people have seen some of them. When the end of the month (or what ever time period alotted) is over have a discussion of David Lean.
If you choose only Ryan’s daughter…only those people that have access to that one film can chat. Having the idea wider means more people can participate.
Comment by Colleeny — May 2, 2008 @ 10:09 am
David Lean, how utterly random of you Colleen
I guess you could have both, discussion about a particular themed marathon but with a suggested list for those who have access. Maybe I’m wrong, but I find between libraries and Zip, Netflix, it is not so difficult to get ahold of most films, its just that it may take a couple weeks to get it and then watch it.
Comment by rot — May 2, 2008 @ 10:30 am
Problem with Zip list (don’t have access to netflix) is you don’t have much choice in what they send you. Sure you can put the film you want near the front of the list, but that pick may still languish their for months before you get to see it. Obscure stuff isn’t generaly available at the local bigbox video stores. I like the idea of a list of possible movies in a broader theme.
Comment by Colleeny — May 2, 2008 @ 10:59 am
That’s exactly why I un-joined zip, twice.
Comment by Shannon the Movie Moxie — May 2, 2008 @ 11:01 am
Yes. My only complaint. “Don” has been in the #1 slot for *weeks* and I still haven’t seen it.
That said, I’m always happy for the next item on the list but yes, it would be much more difficult to work in a narrow spectrum when you’re relying on ZIP for the DVDs.
Comment by Marina Antunes — May 2, 2008 @ 11:13 am
I am still enjoying Zip. Mostly due to the horendous selection at the local video stores. Sure I have no say on what shows up this week, but everything on my zip list is stuff I want to see anyways
Comment by Colleeny — May 2, 2008 @ 11:21 am
I have never had a problem with older films from Zip… and so long as I put it as #1 I would suspect it would get to me within a couple of days. Mostly I have the advantage of working at an academic library which is well stocked in DVDS so I rarely have a problem getting a hold of a film.
Comment by rot — May 2, 2008 @ 11:50 am
I’m glad to hear your not adding a forum. I’ve gone back and forth on it but right now the comment section here works fine.
Plus BBForums sucks. I don’t people find anything on Chud.
Forums favor a community splintering along shared interests. For instance the Amy Adams fans and the Zooey Daschanel fans would have their own threads. Instead of both groups posting in the same section and calling each other idiots.
Comment by Rusty James — May 2, 2008 @ 4:26 pm
As I keep staring at Naomi Watts in the ‘I love women’ pic at the top of this site I am reminded how many interesting films she has been in. I have not heard any reaction from the RowThree people about co-ordinating some mini-marathon on a common theme but probably on my own I may indulge in a Naomi Watts marathon. She is a fearless actress if ever there was one. I still say she was entirely robbed by the academy for not being recognized for her performance in 21 Grams
Comment by rot — May 9, 2008 @ 6:48 am
@rot. Would you battle it out in the trenches with Watts’ early career: Persons Unknow, Dangerous Beauty, Tank Girl? or focus on her post-Mulholland Dr. films: The Ring, 21 Grams, King Kong, I Heart Huckabees, Stay**(this one was actually underrated and unfairly trashed) Funny Games US.
As a trivia point, she was one of the rabbit voices in Inland Empire…
I guess in the court of mainstream public opinion, Naomi Watts career has never been one with the fans, even her box-office hits seem to be written off by many (Remakes! Remakes! Remakes!) and her work with auteur directors went largely unnoticed (or in the case of Huckabee’s and Funny Games willfully ignored!)
I must admit that I’ve liked her in just about everything she has been in, and like her for precisely what she has been in. If there is criticism of all the mainstream remakes she has done, she seems to have picked the best of them (King Kong, The Ring, Funny Games,)
Anyone seen WE DON’T LIVE HERE ANY MORE or ELLIE PARKER? I haven’t.
Comment by Kurt — May 9, 2008 @ 7:04 am
We Dont Live Here Anymore is, quite simply, an abomination. I will leave it at that.
I also need an excuse to revisit tank girl which I have not seen since it came out. Now that I think of it though I should wait awhile for the Naomi Watts marathon if only because I have watched a lot of her films recently, and she is still apparently making edgy stuff (her next with Nicole Kidman).
maybe a Kate Winslet one would be better… I have never seen Jude
Comment by rot — May 9, 2008 @ 7:21 am
Kate Winslet essential: HOLY SMOKE - It’s a delirious beast of a film, and a real overlooked gem.
Comment by Kurt Halfyard — May 9, 2008 @ 8:19 am
Watts is a personal favorite. I’ve come really close to picking up Ellie Parker several times and always manage to grab something else off the shelf.
The marathon thing and a couple other new ideas for the site are on the way. This week has been pretty busy though and next week doesn’t look any easier (two podcasts, several theatrical visits and coordinating my excursion to “The Indy Show” with about 25 people).
We’ll figure something out rot.
Comment by Andrew James — May 9, 2008 @ 8:20 am
I do want to watch Holy Smoke in its entirety, I caught a bit of it on tv once and it looked awesome.
Thinking about the Kidman/Watts pairing that is coming to a theatre near you… started to make me think of onscreen pairings that have not yet be done that you would love to see. Certainly the Kidman/Watts duo is up there. One I really wish would have happened but sadly cannot is Toshiro Mifune and John Wayne - could a screen hold that much machismo? When you think of it they had parallel careers, and both were (wrongly) criticized for being unpolished in their acting but nonetheless oozing charisma.
Comment by rot — May 9, 2008 @ 8:30 am
I too enjoy Holy Smoke.
Comment by Rusty James — May 9, 2008 @ 5:22 pm
Is there going to be a return of the top 100 films lists? or was that a one-off?
Comment by rot — May 10, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
another recommendation: searchable comments… its hard enough to remember my opinions, let alone where I pontificated them.
If Matt Gamble reads this (or anyone), the gauntlet has been thrown down: this month’s mixtape theme is Wong Kar-Wai. I got this one in my bones.
Comment by rot — May 14, 2008 @ 9:09 pm