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Screen Rant Featured on the JoBlo Podcast

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:00:19 +0000

Well for the second time in as many weeks, I was invited to be a guest on another movie site’s podcast. Last time it was as a guest of The Movie Blog and today Screen Rant was featured on the JoBlo podcast.

I was surprised by the invitation both times, and both of these sites were very gracious in their comments about us. It was a lot of fun both times and it’s spurred me to thinking about re-starting podcasts here on the site.

The podcast was hosted by Jim Law and Johnny Moreno – both very cool guys who I had a chance to spend some time with at Comic-Con a few months back. They grilled me on how and why I started Screen Rant and how it’s grown to where it is today. Be warned, their site and podcasts aren’t PG rated like we are here, so the language is a bit rough.

To listen to the podcast head over to JoBlo.com. My interview comes in about 1/5 of the way into the podcast. It was a lot fun and I hope to be able to do it again some time.

Be sure to come back and let us know what you thought!

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Screen Rant on The Movie Blog Podcast

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:44:28 +0000

Hey gang, yesterday John Campea of TheMovieBlog.com was kind enough to invite me to be a guest on his Movie Blog Podcast. John’s podcast is the longest-running movie podcast on the net (and the third oldest ongoing podcast, period).

Also on the podcast was TMB regular guest Christina Warren of Mashable.com and FlickCast.com. Here are the topics we covered:

Jennifer’s Body
Edward Norton claiming no cameo in Iron Man 2
X-Men: First Class casting
Nic Cage leaving Green Hornet, and the mess that movie seems to be in

We were going to cover a couple more items but we had so much fun just with those above that we ran out of time.

You can download it directly here or you can head over to The Movie Blog to listen to it (but do come back and tell us what you think!).

I’ll be doing another guest appearance on a well-known movie site’s podcast soon!

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A Friendly Response To Variety’s (Anti-)Blogger Article

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:11:27 +0000

Mike Fleming, one of the seasoned veteran entertainment reporters over at Variety posted an op-ed piece yesterday where he talked about the good, the bad and the ugly in the blogging industry, as seen by an old pro.

While the piece tried to walk the middle of the road, it inevitably skewed toward the condescending end of the spectrum, addressing those of us in the blogosphere in the tone of a teacher addressing the impetuous students in his freshman journalism class.

Funny part is, I don’t even disagree with much of what Fleming said. However, Mr. Fleming needs to recognize that there are sites like Screen Rant out here already working hard to be everything he wishes bloggers could be (and so much more than that).

Here’s a quick rundown of the complaints Fleming offers about bloggers in his article:

“In the entertainment industry, the proliferation of bloggers puts the news timetable into fast-forward.”

“With a race to be first, bloggers don’t wait for confirmation — which has hugely increased the spread of mistaken (and sometimes disruptive) info.”

“To their continued frustration, news sources are no longer in control of how and when they make an announcement.”

“Too often, accuracy takes a back seat to being first. I regularly see half-baked stories posted, and quickly spread all over the world by sites that don’t verify them. I’m troubled by a growing lack of objectivity, and an erosion of civility between competing journalists and the subjects we write about.”

“Sometimes the fast “news” process of the Internet is mystifying. I watch sites showcase stories of directors simply taking meetings on projects with no deal in sight. Is that news?”

“…bloggers are often forced to retract “news stories” that they’ve printed.”

“Sometimes I wish there were more points of view from showbiz bloggers. Too many of them have taken the same tone as they blur a line between objective reporting and opinion…Some bloggers seem to prize pummeling each other more than gathering news.”

“I just wish many bloggers could be a bit more gracious — and I don’t think it would make them boring. Even six months ago, it was fun to laugh at the meanness and negativity on the web. But as times get tougher, it’s not fun any more.”

All fair points, and all very true in the cases of certain sites-which-won’t-be-named. But NOT the case here at Screen Rant. For those of you who don’t know, let me briefly familiarize you with our sacred mission statement, first laid down by our Owner/Editor-in-Chief, Vic Holtreman:

Quality of writing counts. It’s not enough to just “present the facts,” you have to be able to present them well.
Not every rumor need be reported at first utterance. Sometimes it pays to be the site that waited.
Not everything that COULD be reported on, SHOULD be. A line does in fact exist between public and private, news-worthy and news-worthless.
Opinion counts. Sometimes a well-thought op-ed on a popular subject is more compelling than a up-to-the-minute exclusive. Emphasis on the “well-thought” part.
Personality matters. Breaking news draws the curious reader. Distinctive voices from engaging writers keeps them coming back.
“Keep it friendly” comment sections. A blog site’s comment section should be a forum where movie enthusiasts gather to swap ideas and opinions about what’s going with a film or in the industry. Not a platform for verbal abuse and childish behavior.
A little bit of snark is OK (after all it’s what makes us bloggers!); too much snark is just too much.

Pretty much the journalistic values Mr. Fleming said bloggers needed to adopt, right?

Screen Rant’s head guru, Vic Holtreman

And you know what? It’s a system that works. I know that when I came over to Screen Rant from another blog site nearly a year ago, (although I am a damn good writer) I was just as snarky and careless as many of the bloggers out there Fleming is lambasting. Vic had zen-like patience reigning me into his wise view of what a site should and shouldn’t be.

Moreover, the entire Screen Rant team has always held high standards about the quality of writing that goes up on the site. Our team of editors spend oodles of time editing and fact-checking posts before they go live. We might not get the info out first, but it will be polished and it will be correct. Finally, we’ve often stayed skeptical while other sites are throwing around wild rumors, until we have 100% confirmation of what is what.

And, like I said, our system has paid off. No one here at Screen Rant could’ve imagined the growth we’ve seen in the last year–and like pretty girls who need little makeup, we’re only getting better with time.

Mr. Fleming, some of us in the blogosphere are well ahead of your curve, sir. In your next op-ed, we would appreciate greatly if you could take the time to discover more of the real quality writing out here in the ’sphere (that’s the 2009 slang for the “blogosphere,” BTW), and don’t focus so much on the bad.

Finally, not to end on a snarky note, but one thing Fleming’s article DOESN’T bring up (ironically enough) is the growing trend of trades dipping their spoons into the blogosphere for a taste of an “exclusive.” I won’t mention any names or cite any specific examples–this is strictly a wink to my fellow bloggers–but even as of late, a certain famous trade in particular has re-reported accurate news first broken on a blog site, without showing ANY reference or link back to the originating site. Where is the journalistic camaraderie in that?

In the interest of fairness, you can follow the link and read Mike Fleming’s blogger op-ed in full. When you’re done, let us know what you think about his views of the ’sphere and how Screen Rant matches up to his complaints.

Shout-out to all our friends at other sites who run their sites like professionals. Keep up the good work. We are the new reporters.

Source: Variety

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Screen Rant Technical Stuff

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:55:24 +0000

Hey folks. We’re going through a transition here on the site so at some point tonight I’ll be shutting down commenting so that we don’t LOSE any of your comments. It’ll happen around midnight EST and I’ll probably bring commenting back on line around noon tomorrow (Saturday) barring any complications.

The look of the site isn’t going to change, we’re just doing some things in the background to help improve the performance/speed of the site for you.

Thanks for your patience.

Vic Holtreman, owner/editor-in-chief

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Love Screen Rant? Vote For Us!

Vic Holtreman — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:03:15 +0000

Well I’m not sure how this happened exactly, but TotalFilm.com has nominated Screen Rant as one of what they consider to be the five most influential movie blogs.

I’ll tell you right now that I know we don’t have a chance in hell of beating out the other four (most of whom are friends of mine), but it’s an honor (and a surprise!) to even have been nominated.

Also nominated were /Film.com, TheMovieBlog.com, FirstShowing.net and TwitchFilm.com, all sites I read regularly.

We’re not really a movie news site – we provide editorials and analysis on what’s going on in the movie and TV world. We’ve been accused in the past of not being “objective,” to which my reply is: Duh. That’s not the point of Screen Rant at all.

So if you appreciate the fine staff of writers that we’ve put together and the fact that you can have civilized, intelligent discussion here with no fear of trolls, general idiocy or personal attacks, please head over to TotalFilm and vote for us!

**Click here to vote for Screen Rant at Total Film’s Movie Blog Awards!**

Or heck, vote right here…

Vote for your favourite major film blog ( polls)

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Trying Out Google Friend Connect On Screen Rant

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 22:43:53 +0000

In the interest of trying to increase the community feel here at Screen Rant, I’ve added Google Friend Connect to the right sidebar here on the site. That means you can become a friend of Screen Rant via Google or other OpenSocial-supported type accounts. You can read all about it here and check out the video below for a quick explanation of how it all works.

Basically if you have a Google account (and who doesn’t?) it’s a piece of cake to sign up.

Will I keep it on the site? At this point, I don’t know for sure. I’ll be playing around with adding some of their widgets, like giving visitors the ability to review posts and such.

So go ahead and join, I’m lonely all by myself there on the right. It might be fun.

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Perspectives On Running A Movie Website

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:44:47 +0000

This has been percolating in the back of my mind for a while now – like an itch I couldn’t quite scratch, but today it finally bubbled to the front of my brain. Something seems to have changed for me regarding Screen Rant, but it creeped up on me slowly so I didn’t really notice what was happening. I think I may have to thank my pal John from The Movie Blog for providing the trigger along with a post I read over at Dosh Dosh regarding shifting from being a writer to an editor in chief of a website.

John wrote a post titled 20 Tips For Starting Your Own Movie Blog which is really a great primer on starting up your own website (although he left out the fact that one actually needs some sort of writing skill). Now having run a movie site for almost 5 years, I didn’t really need the tips mentioned in the article, however the last couple of bullet points in his post jarred something loose in my head:

19) IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND FILM IS SUBJECTIVE, DON’T WRITE A SINGLE WORD UNTIL YOU DO

20) DON’T BE SPINELESS! HAVE AN OPINION AND EXPRESS IT REGARDLESS IF IT’S POPULAR OR NOT

I’ve found that it’s a hell of a lot different running a movie site that gets 50 visitors a day than one that gets 10,000. Of course when I started up this little enterprise I had no plan for it to grow at all or imagined anyone other than a few friends would read it. So what’s the difference? When you don’t have many readers, it’s easy to put your opinion out there since you won’t get much negative feedback – but as your site gets “out there” and more popular suddenly opinionated posts and reviews start getting a LOT more “blowback.”

As Screen Rant has grown and has garnered more readership, honestly I’ve started to think about what I write a lot more before I write it – perhaps too much. Over at Film School Rejects, one commentor ripped into that site calling them in effect sell-outs and pawns of the studios for their coverage of certain films. That got me thinking about how one’s perspective changes as a site grows from a “hole in the wall” to a moderate-sized movie news site.

There’s a sense of responsibility that creeps in when you cross a certain threshold and I believe that has been influencing my general writing and reviews lately. In the past I’ve never checked to see what the consensus was on a particular movie before writing a review, but lately I’ve been second-guessing myself, wondering how my opinion jives with other reviewers’. So when I review a movie that I think is awful like The Happening or You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, I find myself asking “was it REALLY that bad or am I being too hard on it?” On the flip side, when I review movies like Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk I ask “am I being too easy on this movie because I’m a fan of superhero movies?”

So, The Happening ends up with 2/5 when I really think it should have gotten 1/5, Zohan gets a 2 when I think it deserved 1.5/5, and Hulk gets 3.5 when I really felt it deserved 4.5.

Believe me, it’s not easy putting your opinion out there where thousands of people can read it and a certain percentage of those will come into your house and rip you a new one with no regard for civility. Just check out the comments on my Aliens vs Predator: Requiem review to see what I mean.

(Continued…)

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Welcome to Screen Rant 2.0 (Beta)

Vic Holtreman — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 10:47:41 +0000

It may seem like we just went through a redesign, but that was not only not that different from the one before, but was purely cosmetic. This time we’ve gutted it and moved it to a completely different platform. We will be adding features that I’ve wanted to offer you for a long time but haven’t had the ability to implement.

I just pulled an all nighter so the site is up but no bells and whistles beyond the new look yet. If you were subscribed to comments on posts, you’ll need to re-subscribe to continue to get updates on those.

There will no doubt be lots of little buggy issues and if you find any please let us know about them by either leaving a comment here or shooting me and email via the contact page.

I hope you folks like the new design and I’ll alert you as new features come online.

Thanks,

Vic Holtreman
Owner: ScreenRant.com

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Comments Going Offline For Site Upgrade

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:31:32 +0000

Hey gang, just a quick note that the comment feature will be turned off at approximately 11AM PST / 2PM EST today so we can do some work on the website. Comments will be re-enabled by tomorrow morning at the latest.

FYI, if you subscribe to comments on various posts, unfortunately you’re going to have to RE-subscribe to those when the upgrade is complete as we’re going to a different system. So you may want to bookmark your favorite discussion posts so you can come back to them later.

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Another Server Move

Vic Holtreman — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:52:14 +0000

Hi folks,

If you experience any site wierdness this weekend it’s because we’re moving Screen Rant to a new host and server. I apologize for any inconvenience and don’t hesitate to let me know about anything that doesn’t seem to be working right.

Thanks for your patience,

Vic

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Screen Rant Server Upgrade

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:53:33 +0000

Hey folks. Screen Rant is moving to a new server in order to improve performance of the site. The temporary downside is that due to the nature of this sort of thing, some comments may be lost during the transfer for technical reasons.

Due to the way the internet works, some of you will be looking at the version of ScreenRant.com that is on the old server (on which this post won’t even appear) while others will be looking at the site on the new server.

It may take a couple of days for all this to work itself out and I apologize for any annoyance caused by comments that will seem to have vanished. I’ll probably even end up losing some emails in the process.

To be honest I’m not happy with the way the hosting company is handling this and I when I have the time I will probably look at finding a new company.

Thanks for your patience.

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Screen Rant’s 2008 Movie Preview & Recommendations

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:40:42 +0000

Here is the official Screen Rant 2008 movie preview! Below you’ll find a list of 48 movies that you’ll most likely consider seeing this year along with a description, month of release and recommendation for each one.

I realize that “Top 10″ lists are all the rage at the end of the year and you’ve probably noticed that there haven’t been any of those here. I did think about it, but really – there were already so many other sites churning them out (and some of them did quite a nice job) that I didn’t feel the need. Plus, I just didn’t see enough movies in 2007 to be able to create my own list of best, worst or otherwise.

However 2008 looks like it’s going to be a pretty awesome year for movie fans. To prove it, from the list below movies that get a pre-release recommendation from me outnumber obvious stinkers by a margin of almost three to one! I was truly not prepared for numbers like those when I set out to create this preview.

Now I’m not going to mention every movie under the sun here – just the ones that I think Screen Rant readers will be most interested in. Namely, sci fi, fantasy, and superhero flicks with a few others thrown in. There are view-worthy movies not mentioned below as well as upcoming bombs that are missing from the following list.

Keep in mind that my predictions are based on my most excellent gut-check instincts but are no guarantee that I am 100% on the mark regarding how great or awful the movies listed below will be.

So read on to see Screen Rant’s 2008 movie preview and recommendations of what you should go out of your way to see – and what you should avoid like the plague.

Winter / Spring 2008

There’s not usually much during this time of year, but 2008 looks surprisingly strong for movies in the following months.

JANUARY

Cloverfield
If you haven’t heard of this J.J. Abrams monster movie, you don’t spend ANY time surfing the web. This one is right around the corner and the buzz has been building since last July via a vague early trailer and viral marketing.

SR says: This could be really cool, but the anticipation for it is so high that it will be difficult to meet expectations.
See it?: Yes

Rambo
Much like the recent Rocky Balboa film, Stallone brings back one of his iconic characters for another go-round.

SR says: As in the recent Rocky movie, Stallone is going to show Rambo in the context of the passage of time since the last movie. It worked for Rocky and I’m betting it will work for Rambo. Leave the kiddies at home for this one, folks.

See it?: Yes

Meet the Spartans
A low-brow take-off on the 2007 hit 300.

SR says: If you must watch this, wait for the DVD release, drink heavily and then pop in the movie. Maybe then you’ll find it funny.

See it?: No

Untraceable
Diane Lane stars in this suspense film where serial killer meets YouTube.

SR says: Dumbest poster ever and no doubt anyone who knows anything about computers will roll their eyes at what transpires in this movie.

See it?: No

FEBRUARY

Jumper
Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson star in a sci fi thriller involving a small number of people who have the ability to teleport – and those who hunt them.

SR says: This has “sleeper” written all over it. I’m betting it’ll be one of those little gems that may not make a lot of money but will be thoroughly enjoyed by those who show up to watch it.

See it?: Yes

The Spiderwick Chronicles
A young boy discovers a world of goblins and fairies that exists just beneath the surface of what we can see.

SR says: A high quality film that will make a ton of money from family audiences.

See it?: Yes

Be Kind Rewind
A Jack Black comedy about a guy who mistakenly erases all the videos at a rental store and who creates his own versions of popular movies that end up being wildly popular themselves.

SR says: I don’t cover comedies much here, but the buzz on this is quite excellent and Jack Black has not yet jumped the shark.

See it?: Yes

The Signal
A trio of directors each creates one third of this horror film about a mysterious signal that causes the population to go violently insane.

SR says: I’ve seen this and gave it an excellent review but there doesn’t seem to be much interest in it for some reason. Unfortunately I don’t think this one will do very well.

See it?: Yes

Vantage Point
The attempted assassination of a U.S. President is told through multiple points of view.

SR says: I’ve only seen one trailer for this but it looks like it’s going to be quite good and features the likes of Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, Dennis Quaid and William Hurt.

See it?: Yes

Semi-Pro
Will Ferrell stars in a comedy about professional volleyball players.

SR says: Either you like Ferrell’s style as of late or you don’t. I haven’t liked him since Elf.

See it?: No

The Eye
Jessica Alba stars in a remake of yet another Japanese horror movie as a woman who receives an eye transplant from a now-deceased killer.

SR says: As usual, I’m betting the original Japanese version is better than the remake, although Alba is never a strain on the eyes, so there is that.

See it?: No

The Hottie and the Nottie
Paris Hilton stars in a comedy.

SR says: Do I really have to add anything to that?

See it?: Hell no

MARCH

10,000 BC
Roland Emmerich follows up The Day After Tomorrow with an epic caveman movie.

SR says: Sorry, but while this one looks like it will have cool visuals, but much like the movie I just mentioned it’s going to be mildly mediocre at best.

See it?: Your call

Doomsday
A futuristic action thriller where a team of people work to prevent a disaster threatening the future of the human race from the director of The Descent.

SR says: I only saw the one preview for this at the San Diego Comic-con. It had a very strong Damnation Alley vibe, and while I didn’t love The Descent, I do believe director Neil Marshall is a talented guy.

See it?: Yes

Horton Hears a Who
Jim Carrey provides the voice for the lead character in another screen version of a Dr Seuss classic.

SR says: While it looks like it’s strictly for the kiddies, at least it looks more true to the source material than the God-awful live action The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, which also starred Carrey.

See it?: Yes, if you have very young children

Superhero!
A comedic send-up of superhero movies.

SR says: Haven’t heard of this one? Me neither. It’s from the guy who brought us the last couple of Scary Movie films. Folks, pass on this one and wait for Will Smith in Hancock.

See it?: No

APRIL

Leatherheads
A George Clooney-directed and starring comedy about the birth of professional football back in the 1920’s.

SR says: Hey, look… a comedy that actually looks funny without resorting to moronic humor!

See it?: Yes

Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
The guys from White Castle are imprisoned at Guantanamo. Much hilarity is supposed to ensue.

SR says: Ok, I haven’t seen their first movie yet, but trying to extract laughs from Guantanamo and terrorists? Doubtful.

See it?: Your call

The Forbidden Kingdom
A teen obsessed with martial arts is transported to China to fight alongside Kung Fu warriors.

SR says: Jackie Chan and Jet Li together in one movie and it turns out to be this? It looks like a PG-rated fantasy/fish out of water flick instead of a real kung-fu movie.

See it?: Your call

Summer 2008

This is it folks, the premium movie viewing season for those of us that love a great blockbuster, and this summer’s looking really good!

MAY

Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark: Billionaire weapons manufacturer who while captured creates a powerful suit of armor and uses it to fight the forces of evil.

SR says: I’ve personally been waiting for this film my whole life and what a relief it is that it’s looking like they’re going to knock it out of the park. Iron Man has gone from relative obscurity to one of the most highly anticipated films of 2008!

See it?: Hell Yes!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
After almost 20 years Harrison Ford reprises his role as the archaeological adventurer with George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg at the helm.

SR says: While I’m trying to temper my enthusiasm about this, most people are extremely excited about it. While I think it’s a longshot that Lucas and Spielberg can inject the youthful exuberance of the previous films into this one, I’m not betting against it. We are talking about Spielberg as director, after all!

See it?: Yes

Speed Racer
The Wachowskis (who brought us The Matrix films) are finally back with a live action version of the 1960’s anime series.

SR says: This is going to be either incredibly popular or will seem totally cheesy with a surreal, psychedelic look. Amazingly they’ve opted to go for a G-rating on this one.

See it?: Yes

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
A follow up to the financial mega-hit The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe based on the C.S. Lewis novel.

SR says: While the first one was ok, I thought it fell a bit short overall. This one looks like it may be more powerful and engaging than the previous film.

See it?: Yes

Starship Dave
A crew of miniature aliens operate a spaceship that has a human form. While trying to save their planet, the aliens encounter a new problem, as their ship becomes smitten with an Earth woman.

SR says: Eddie Murphy tries to make his comedic comeback. Again. Sorry, Eddie, but much like Chevy Chase, it looks like you’ve lost your comedy mojo.

See it?: No

Sex and the City: The Movie
A big screen version of the popular HBO series starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Catrrall.

SR says: The only reason I mention this is to tell you how much I don’t care about this movie.

See it?: No

JUNE

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan
Adam Sandler plays an Israeli counter-terrorist expert who leaves everything behind to come to America to become… a hair stylist.

SR says: It’s always dangerous to draw a conclusion about a comedy based on a trailer, but believe it or not this one looks really funny to me.

See it?: Yes

The Happening
Famous twist-ending director M. Night Shyamalan returns with an apocalyptic thriller.

SR says: Shyamalan has lost some of his prestige with recent films but if he can check his ego at the door this may end up being a decent flick (although if what I hear is true and the story being about Earth itself killing off humans to save itself, I’ll vomit.

See it?: Yes

The Incredible Hulk
A reboot of The Hulk superhero movie franchise starring big names like Ed Norton, Liv Tyler and William Hurt and directed by the guy who brought us the adrenaline/action movie The Transporter.

SR says: Up until now there has been an incredible lack of buzz about this one but I’m betting it’s going to sneak up on us all and be awesome.

See it?: Yes

Get Smart
A remake of the 1960’s TV show with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway.

SR says: Although both of these actors are very funny in the right roles, the director doesn’t exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to funny movies.

See it?: Undecided

Wall-E
The next Pixar movie starring a cute little lonely robot in the far off future.

SR says: It’s Pixar so it will be awesome. That is all you need to know.

See it?: Yes

Wanted
Action flick about professional assassins based on graphic novels by Mark Millar. Stars Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie.

SR says: Based on the trailer this looks like a cool Matrix-style action flick.

See it?: Yes

JULY

Hancock
Will Smith as a slacker who happens to possess super-powers and causes almost as much destruction as he prevents when he flies into action.

SR says: Based on the trailer and Will Smith, this looks to be a very funny twist on the superhero genre.

See it?: Yes

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army
Guillermo del Toro writes and directs Ron Perlman as the wise-cracking Hellboy once again in this story of an epic battle between good and evil.

SR says: I just re-watched the first one and had forgotten how excellent it was. With Del Toro coming back for this sequel I’m really looking forward to it.

See it?: Yes

The Dark Knight
Chris Nolan once again directs Christian Bale as Batman in this follow-up to Batman Begins which pits our hero against his ultimate nemesis: The Joker.

SR says: As much as I’m a huge Iron Man fan, this movie is tied with that for the one I’m most looking forward to in 2008, no question about it.

See it?: Do you really even need me to answer this one?

The X-Files 2
Little is known about the story for this film which once again pairs up Scully and Mulder.

SR says: Other writers here at Screen Rant are excited about this, but not I. At least I hear it’s going to be a standalone movie instead of continuing down the ridiculously twisted plot path established in the TV series and previous film.

See it?: Your call

AUGUST

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
This is The Mummy 3, another addition to this series after a seven year hiatus. Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh join the cast in this story penned by the guys behind TV’s Smallville.

SR says: The previous two films were the lightest sort of popcorn movie fluff imaginable, so while this may turn out to be mindless fun, it’s not my kind of mindless fun.

See it?: Your call

Dragonball
A live action film based on the long running Japanese animated series.

SR says: I’m completely unfamiliar with the animated version so I’ll be coming to this one completely fresh and have no opinion at this point.

See it?: Undecided

Trailer Trash
Eli Roth takes fake movie trailers, the concept that filled the space between Planet Terror and Death Proof in the box office bomb Grindhouse, and turns the idea into a full 90 minute experience.

SR says: It’s a great idea as most people love movie trailers (myself included), but Roth’s fake trailer for the fictional horror movie Thanksgiving was particularly vile. I can’t imagine sitting through 90 minutes of horror movie trailers by him and I don’t know if too many others will either. Plus if it fails Roth will no doubt blame everyone else for it.

See it?: No

Babylon A.D.
Vin Diesel returns to the big screen as a mercenary transporting a woman who unknown to him carries a genetically modified organism.

SR says: There really isn’t enough out about this movie to make a judgement either way, but at least it looks like they’re putting Vin in the sort of role he was born to play.

See it?: Yes

Fall / Winter 2008

Well that’s it for the big summer movie season, although you might still include September in that with the next couple of movies. While there are still a couple of heavy hitters in the following list, most of the action for 2008 is now behind us at this point.

SEPTEMBER

Punisher: War Zone
Frank Castle (but not Thomas Jane) returns to fight crime, this time in New York City.

SR says: I thought the last one was a misfire and am hoping for more from this latest version, but it’s being directed by a GIRL. (I’m kidding, hopefully Lexi Alexander will do a great job.)

See it?: Yes

Death Race 3000
A remake of the early 70’s Roger Corman cult classic about a society in the near future that is entertained by a cross country race where pedestrians are run over for points.

SR says: Although I’m a big fan of Jason Statham, it’s being directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. What does that mean? Massive suckage, folks, that’s what.

See it?: Yes, but only if you want to see how terrible a movie can be

OCTOBER

Valkyrie
A Tom Cruise movie about a German officer who plots to assassinate Hitler during World War II.

SR says: Bryan Singer directs and except for his less than stellar Superman Returns, he has an excellent track record.

See it?: Yes

Scanners
A remake of the cult classic sci fi horror flick by David Cronenberg about telekinetic people being used by the government to carry out assassinations.

SR says: Beyond David Goyer being attached to direct, right now nothing is known about this film. Gut check-o-meter says it shouldn’t be made.

See it?: Undecided, but leaning towards no

Saw 5
The fifth in this gore-driven horror series.

SR says: Yawn.

See it?: No. Is this really necessary?

NOVEMBER

James Bond 22
Not much is known about this beyond the fact that Daniel Craig is returning.

SR says: While Martin Campbell, who directed the previous film is not returning, Marc Forster who has taken the reins has an excellent resume.

See it?: Yes

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The next (and final?) Harry Potter movie.

SR says: Sorry I can’t tell you more or if I’m unsure whether this is the last. I’m just not that big a fan of the series and I don’t read the books. I’m sure it’ll make a ton of money.

See it?: Yes

DECEMBER

The Day the Earth Stood Still
A remake of the classic 1950’s Cold War era sci fi movie, this time starring Keanu Reeves as the enigmatic visitor from another world.

SR says: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again regarding remakes: Stay. Away. From. Classic. Films.

See it?: Yes, just to see how badly they mess it up

Star Trek 11
J.J. Abrams reboots the Star Trek universe for a new generation.

SR says: I’m torn on this one. I want it to be great but doing a brand new version of such an iconic TV and movie franchise with brand new actors portraying the original ones is a VERY risky proposition.

See it?: Yes, no matter which way it goes, this is a must see

Well there you have it – the high (and low) lights of the 2008 movie season. It looks like it’s actually going to be a very good year with far fewer sequels than we saw in 2007. If you’d like see what we consider the hottest 15 films from the above list to, check out our most anticipated movies of 2008.

Please chime in with your opinions on the list above, whether you agree or disagree.

I want to give a big thank you to both FirstShowing.net and IMDB.com for the excellent resources on their sites that helped me to compile this list!

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Merry Christmas From Screen Rant

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 21:12:05 +0000

I just wanted to wish our readers a very Merry Christmas (or Happy Hanukkah). Heath, Niall and I are all spending time with our families and that’s why the last couple of days have been light on articles. And being that tomorrow is Christmas Day, I will NOT be seeing AVP-R… at least if I don’t want to sleep on the couch for the foreseeable future.

Don’t worry, I will get a review of that out since I’ve been looking forward to seeing whether it will be better than the last one.

In any case, here’s wishing you and your families a very happy holiday and I hope you have a safe one with Santa bringing you lots of great stuff.

Sincerely,

Vic Holtreman

P.S. Alcadyzaar, if you look in the upper right corner you’ll see a little Christmas present: Movie quotes are back.

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Screen Rant Site News

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:37:19 +0000

I thought you might be interested in an update on what’s going on with the site.

First off I want to congratulate the winners of the Screen Rant Suggestion contest:

“Zipper” Stevens and Andrew Phillips

They’ve each won a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate (BTW guys, let me know if you haven’t received them yet).

Zipper was the random winner and Andrew won for best suggestion(s). There were a bunch of great ones and it really helps me to know what you would like to see (or not see) here at Screen Rant.

Among Andrew’s suggestions that I thought were great:

- Get rid of the orange fade in the background color. (I’ve already done this one)

- Setting up some sort of weekly online gathering where regular visitors can get together and talk to each other real-time. (Been thinking about this but nothing happening yet)

- Movie picks that we think stand out from the currently playing films. (This means I’ll actually have to get out and see more of the movies I spend months discussing)

There was also a suggestion for a rating system for stories. Really, that’s already there but most of you don’t take advantage of it and I wish you would! At the end of each post you’ll see links to vote for a post on Digg, Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon.com.

We would actually really appreciate it if you would start making use of these links to help make Screen Rant more popular, as well as to vote for posts that you really like. If I had to choose one, I’d probably select Digg.

As far as covering even more topics like video games and animation, I’m afraid that’s just not going to happen. I don’t have enough time as it is to cover current movies as well as I’d like. Also, regarding more non-sci fi and action movies: I do some coverage of those, but honestly, I’m only motivated to write about movies that I actually care about. This is more of a movie opinion site than a movie news site so I have to feel strongly about a movie whether it’s for it or against it to write about it.

Podcasts: I found it extremely difficult to do one man podcasts, and I have a newfound respect for radio talk show hosts. Maybe if I can arrange something where I can bounce stuff off of another person in the podcast I’d give it another shot.

Oh, and the random movie quotes. I’ll have a look at re-incorporating those into the site.

On a more personal note, I found it necessary to get a real 9 to 5 job recently, so if I don’t reply to emails or comments in a timely manner lately now you know why. This is requiring me to be MUCH more focused with my time since I used to surf for news to write about all day and could take my time composing an article. I’m trying my best to continue to post at least a couple of worthy items per day, but it’s gotten much harder to do.

Today I’m home sick, and since it’s impossible for me to just lay around and recuperate I’ve been tackling the recent site slowness issues. It was taking a really long time for pages to load and I managed to track down the culprit. You should notice much faster pageloads now. Also, I’ve been trying to improve the comment posting speed but I haven’t had too much luck there, I’m afraid.

That about wraps it up… If you’ve read this far, thanks!

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Enter The Screen Rant Suggestion Contest!

Vic Holtreman — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:59:37 +0000

Hey, here’s a chance for you to make Screen Rant a cooler place to visit, and to win something at the same time!

I am forever on the lookout for ways to make ScreenRant.com a better movie and TV site. I want to make it a place that you’ll want to come back to more often. A place that you’ll enjoy so much that you’ll want to tell your friends about it and have them become regular visitors as well.

So I figure what better way to do that than to ask YOU what you’d like to see on the site?

I mean if I want to make it more interesting to you, I figure you’re the folks to ask, right?

So here’s the deal: Give me your suggestions below via a comment and I will randomly draw one person’s name and I’ll email the winner a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate. I will also send a $20 gift certificate to the person that I think makes the best suggestion (this is very subjective and is completely my call). Of course you’ll need to provide an email address that’s valid to be selected as the winner.

The sky is the limit on suggestions… for example you could tell me if you want:

- More articles

- What kinds of articles (reviews, news, editorials, features, other?).

- What movies/TV shows you’d like to see covered more in depth.

- What other features you’d like to see on the site (latest movie posters, more trailers, upcoming movie release dates, etc.)

- What don’t you like or would prefer different on the site?

Don’t limit yourself to what I just listed above. There may be things that you’d like to see or changes made that haven’t even occurred to me.

You are free to comment more than once but I will only count each email address as one entry even if you leave multiple comments.

If you’re one of the “silent majority” that reads the site but never comments, this is the time to speak your mind. And hey, email your friends and tell them to participate as well, they don’t have to be current readers of the site. 20 bucks at Amazon.com will come in handy this close to Christmas.

The contest ends at midnight EST on November 30th.

Thanks, and I look forward to your suggestions!

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Happy Birthday To Us – Screen Rant’s 4th Anniversary!

Vic Holtreman — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 06:31:28 +0000

Wow.

It’s hard to believe that Screen Rant has been online four years already. When I started this site on November 11th, 2003 I had no idea what I was doing… I’d just always been a movie and Sci Fi fan and with this whole internet thing that seemed to be up and coming, I decided that I wanted a place online where I could talk about movies and TV, both the good and the bad. I never thought anyone would read it outside a couple of friends of mine.

The first thing I ever posted was Sandy Collora’s short fan film Batman: Dead End. One of the coolest things I’d ever seen up to that point (I wonder what he’s up to these days…). Other early posts included my review of the horribly dissapointing Matrix Revolutions, how much I disliked the Battlestar Galactica pilot and a rant against talking in movie theaters.

Back then the site was VERY heavy on the “Rant” side of things and I think we’ve mellowed at least a little bit since then. We’re still opinionated but not quite as angry.

The site has been through a lot changes over the past four years, and will probably continue to change as I try to figure out what you guys and girls would like to see on the site and how to make your visits a better experience. I’m always open to suggestions on how to improve the site, whether it be the design or the topics and features we cover and write about.

Since I’m very sure none of you (with the exception of sometime contributor Brian) know what the site looked like when it was born, I thought you might get a kick out of this (click on the image for a larger version):

We’ve come a long way, baby. Screen Rant still isn’t a huge site but it’s come a long way from 3,000 visits per month back in 2004. Although we get a heck of a lot more visits than that these days we’d still like to see lots more visitors, so tell your friends about us and tell us what would make you come back more often and spread the word!

There have been some ups and downs but overall it’s been a great ride and has given me the chance to meet other really cool movie bloggers, movie directors and actors and to connect to other movie fans like yourselves.

Now I just need some big honkin’ movie site to come buy me out like John over at The Movie Blog.

Oh, and what’s been the most popular story on the site, bar none? It’s related to Iron Man, of course:

Rejected Iron Man Movie Armor Concepts, September 2006.

Anyway, if you’re a regular visitor I want to thank you for coming back again and again. If you’re a first time reader, kick off your shoes, relax, and have a look around… join in on the conversation and hang out. I consider a lot of you folks family, so again, thanks for hanging around for our first thousand posts and four years.

Here’s looking forward to the next thousand and four!

Sincerely,

Vic Holtreman

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Out of town for a few days…

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 04:20:54 +0000

I’m going out of town for a few days but I’ve got a few stories set up to auto-post while I’m gone, including a commentary on why some mediocre movies make a gazillion dollars while other, better movies get seen by hardly anyone at all. Oh, and be on the lookout for a Halloween contest/giveaway that’ll be starting some time this weekend as well (so tell your friends!).

In addition, Heath and Kane will hopefully help keep you fine folks up to date on what’s going on in the movie biz.

See ya in a few!

Vic

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Brand New Look For Screen Rant

Vic Holtreman — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:17:28 +0000

So you’ve arrived at Screen Rant today and your first reaction was probably “What the heck? Am I at the right place?” Well you are, indeed.

I thought it was time I updated the look of the site, and while it took much longer than I expected to get it done, it’s finally online. I hope you guys like it, although I’m sure it’ll take a bit of getting used to. I decided to keep the overall color scheme is the same so it wouldn’t be too jarring of a change, plus it’s kind of a signature of the site.

One thing that’s always been missing here is an “About Us” page, but we finally have one so you can get to know the contributors a bit better. I’ve wanted to add that for a long time, but you know how it is with stuff getting in the way and some things getting pushed way down on the to-do list.

I’ve also added a “Subscribe” button and link to the end of every post to make it easier to add Screen Rant to your newsreader list of favorite sites.

There will probably be some fine tuning done over the next few weeks and if you have any suggestions I will of course take those into consideration.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the new look of the site, plus if you run into any buggy issues I need to know about those as well – so please, chime in below!

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Screen Rant Site News

Vic Holtreman — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 15:56:00 +0000

Hey folks, I realize one of the things you’re NOT supposed to do on a blog is apologize for a lack of posts, but I’ll do it anyway. I’ve been working on a major site redesign for a while along with some other things and have just not had the time to dedicate to posting movie news and opinions recently.

I’m a computer geek at heart so sometimes I can get sucked into that side of things and forget to come out into the real world.

Anyway, I’m going to force myself to make posting a priority before I work on anything else and I plan on pounding out a few posts today.

Thanks for hanging in there and I hope you’ll like the new design I’ve been working on, which should be going live very soon.

Vic Holtreman

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Why Screen Rant Doesn’t Jump On Every Story

Vic Holtreman — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:00:45 +0000

Rumors about upcoming movies are usually lots of fun to talk about – people enjoy speculating about what may or may not happen in, or who may be cast in, the next superhero/sci-fi/action/etc. movie.

The problem is that sometimes rumors come out pretty fast and loose… and in the battle for scoops among movie news sites stuff sometimes gets posted without any fact-checking.

Yes, of course I realize that’s part of the nature of rumors, but sometimes these things surface and the content of the rumor contains info that enrages the fans of the movie (or of the source material) in question. Often these rumors are so outrageous that it seems like they surface as a joke and/or experiment to see how much traction they get on movie news sites.

There has been “news” that’s come out that has seemed so whacked that I haven’t bothered writing about it, and invariably within about 24 hours an update comes out completely refuting said rumor as total B.S.

Now of course you’ll see movie rumor stuff posted here, but I try to limit it to stuff that seems to either:

1. Have some sort of corroboration from either multiple sources or a very trusted source.

2. If not item #1, then at least it seems to make sense given other news surrounding the film.

3. It’s so ridiculous that it crosses the line into “funny” and is worth sharing just for a laugh.

Lately the rumor mill has been going whole hog over the Justice League movie, with the latest hard to believe items including reports that they want the Wonder Twins to appear in the movie or that Mel Gibson and Leo DiCaprio might be in the movie. The former sounds too stupid even for Hollywood execs to be contemplating (of course, never underestimate that factor) and the latter was debunked by the guy who made it up.

Prior to all the JLA speculation it was Cloverfield/1-18-08 with Ethan Haas speculation, fan-made websites that people thought were from the studio and a lot of other nonsense.

So now you know why Screen Rant doesn’t cover every whiff of news out there.

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