Movie search engine Jinni on Nanocrowd by Charles Knight, The Next Web (Mar 19)
Two new movie search engines, Jinni and Nanocrowd - both terrific - Charles Knight asks them to compare themselves to the other. This is Part 1 in which Jinni reviews Nanocrowd.
In general -- "Nanocrowd and Jinni are innovators in entertainment search. Both companies are working to transform how people choose what to watch. Interestingly, Jinni and Nanocrowd both draw on how people describe what they watch, analyzing reviews from around the web, to create more sophisticated and useful ways of indexing titles. "
About these two:
Jinni -- browse topics to select by mood, plot, genre, time period, place, praise - or search with your own terms. Can get information on individual films. Of course you can add your reviews and ratings.
Nanocrowd - start with a known movie to get other recommendations. This works with mood too. Winged Migration can lead me to movies that are global and thought provoking, or being about a journey, sadness, and environment - and some others.
Can also use actor or director as a starting point.
You might wonder if you'll like a movie. Nanocrowd can help you figure that out. I tried Avatar - first question was to ask if I liked Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes - that I hadn't seen these and was so-so on space nailed it. Unfortunately Nanocrowd doesn't have the new Alice in Wonderland loaded yet.
Both are very interesting search engines for movies.
Hundreds of docs offered free online, CBC (Feb 17)
Hot Docs, the documentary festival, has a website - Hotdocslibrary.ca with nearly 300 documentaries available for free viewing online.
"Hotdocslibrary.ca features full-length features by some of Canada's leading filmmakers including Jennifer Baichwal, Allan King, Jean-Daniel Lafond, Alan Zweig, Kevin McMahon, Shelley Saywell and Nettie Wild."
The non-flash version lets you browse by title or by one of four community groupings. Flash version supports search and My Playlists.
There are some wonderful docs here - such as The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes, an NFB film from 1968 that takes a lone canoeist through the geological change on the lakes ending in the pollution of today from industry and population.
BTW- thank Heritage Canada - "This project was made possible with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy"
See Large Site for Canadian Documentaries and Other Content, Viewable Free, ResearchBuzz (Feb 23)
Geist: National Film Board unreels online smash hits, Michael Geist, The Star (Feb 1)
National Film Board of Canada put its Screening Room online. Michael Geist reports that NFB has nearly 1,500 films, clips and trailers, online.
This is all for the good - "As the NFB recognized, remaining relevant in that world requires ensuring your work is as accessible as possible. Though the risks are unquestionable, there are tremendous potential benefits for Canadian creators and the export of Canadian culture."
See NFB Online - http://www.nfb.ca/
Social networks for the movie buff by Don Reisinger, Webware (June 25)
Why not talk to friends and others online about the movies you see or are curious about? There are several described here. All involve filling out a profile of movie tastes.
Top 10 movie recommendation engines by Don Reisinger, Webware (Mar 20)
We're in luck - 10 movie recommendation engines are described here - and Jinni.com was chosen number one - but it's in beta - apply to join.
"Whether you want to search for films in the search field or you want to find films based on your mood, time available, setting, or reviews, the site has it all."
Free Full Length Movies - The Top Ten Sites for Free Full Length Movies - by Wendy Boswell, About .com (Dec)
If you're looking for some free movie watching and have the bandwidth, check out these 10.
IMDb now serves full-length videos, by Harrison Hoffman, Webware (Sept 15)
"IMDb took a step in the right direction and launched a selection of 6,000 full length films and TV episodes, available for streaming right now. All users have to do is click the big gold "Watch It" button as they are browsing through movie and TV pages."
See the list at http://www.imdb.com/features/video/. Small but interesting collection of new and old.
Cinema Buffs Capture Hard-to-Find Films - Service Lets Users Download Independent, Foreign Movies And Then Talk About Them - by Katherine Boehret, Mossberg Solution, WSJ (Sep 5)
There are many sources for downloading movies: Jaman with independent and international movies (which this article reviews), Netflix, Blockbuster, iTunes, and Amazon
National Archives Partners With CreateSpace and Amazon to Digitize Movies by Barbara Quint, Newsbreaks (Aug 9)
"The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA; www.nara.gov), the federal government’s official archivist, has entered into an agreement with CreateSpace (www.createspace.com), an Amazon.com subsidiary, to digitize the motion pictures in its collection. ... CreateSpace will digitize movies chosen from NARA’s collection of more than 200,000 motion picture titles, most of them public domain. Amazon.com will then make the DVDs available in a DVD-on-demand service ($19.99). NARA will receive copies for preservation purposes. The first movies chosen for the program are Universal Newsreels covering from 1929 to 1967. The public domain status of the content raises some very provocative copyright issues."
Quickly Find TV Listings by Actor or Program Using the Internet Movie Database, ResourceShelf (Mar 13)
"Although the name is the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) it’s also an excellent source television information. In fact, this section, IMDbTV is devoted to television listings (national or for your specific area), TV news, rankings, message boards and more."
Yahoo Search Improves Movie Shortcut Results, Searchengineland (Feb 23)
Movie shortcuts at Yahoo, Google, Ask, Live.com. In the US the shortcut results will include an option to get showtimes by zip code.
At Google.ca you can do the same with the postal code; eg dreamgirls m6s 3e5
For Yahoo Canada, the movie shortcut won't work, but you can use Yahoo Movies Canada.
Live.com only brings up the shortcut if you use a zip code and only works for currently playing movies. There are no movie shortcuts at the Canadian version of Live.com - search.msn.ca/
Amazon.com Launches Movie Download Service, TechWeb (Sep 8) -- Amazon is introducing Unbox for downloading movies and showing them on any Windows-media compatible device.
"Amazon.com on Thursday started selling movies, TV shows and other video content from Hollywood and TV networks. The retailer said it had signed a total of 30 studios and networks."
Problem -- "Having a good portable device is important because content from Amazon.com and Apple cannot be played easily on a TV, which is how most consumers prefer to watch video and movies. Neither company offers a burn-to-DVD service."
Searching for Critical Acclaim by Chris Sherman, SearchDay (June 22)
Reviews Metacritic as a source for critical reviews of movies, television shows, books, and games.
"Metacritic is an excellent resource for finding critical information about film, video, music, games, books and television. It's mission is to help consumers make an informed decision about how to spend their money on entertainment, by providing access to thousands of reviews, as well as "metascores" that represent the collective opinion of a select group of highly respected critics—more on metascores in a moment."
Google Video: At the Movies by Ian Schafer, CLickz (June 2)
"Recently, Google launched Google Video Movie Previews, a destination for audiences to watch trailers for films that are in theaters or coming soon. Though it hasn't exactly reinvented the way audiences find movie trailers online, there are aspects that bode well for this product's future, as well as some elements that could probably use improvement."
Web sites offering access to new and historic film are listed in this posting at Resource Shelf concerning the announcement that Google and National Archives (U.S.) have a project to Digitize Historic Films. By No Stretch of the Imagination is this Project the Only Place to Find Both New and Historic Film on the Web (Feb 24)
Catalog of Movie Script Holdings Now Available ResearchBuzz (Dec 29) -- Online catalog of 30,000 motion picture scripts held in six southern California collections is available for research from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- http://scriptlist.oscars.org.
From About the Database, "Entries include title, releasing company, Los Angeles release date (or production date), a description of film type (where applicable), screenwriter(s) and institutional holdings."
New from from The Internet Movie Database: The Movie Keyword Analyzer, Fun!!! - more expert advice from movie buff Gary Price on how to use the special features at The Internet Movie Database.
Internet offers fun diversions for film fans By Ann Hornaday, THE WASHINGTON POST [subscription] (Nov 7) - Selection of "Web sites dedicated to satirizing, preserving and providing insight on film fans' beloved Seventh Art." It's fun. Try the cartoon bunnies at Angry Alien. Also mentions archive.org for moving images.
Inside the Internet Movie Database by By Gary Price, SearchDay (Oct 24) - Price recommends the Power Search for the Internet Movie Database. He's right - it's awesome.
Google Registers "Movie" Related Domains SEW Blog (Aug 16) Gary Price noticed that Google registered domains for movie reviews and showtime. Will Google and Yahoo have more movie ticket purchase options on the showtime results pages? Is Google going to have a movie information site? See Gary's other questions.
On the occasion of the American Film Institute's 100 Movie Quotes I am adding a category for Film. Yes - 100 quotes got a television special and many news articles. Here's the list from the AFI itself. Has a slideshow.
Summary article at the Boston Globe -- 'Frankly my dear...' named top movie quote