Items tagged with Movies
Although being a geek was not always chic, geek culture has been celebrated in cinema and on television for decades in one form or another. In some ways, it is a genre unto itself. The appreciation of science, fantasy, and intellectual concepts have given birth to a wide range of both celebrated and cringe worthy flicks and TV episodes, from Weird Science and Revenge of the Nerds, to Star Trek and Star Wars. The list is long, and expands exponentially when you relax the criteria of what fits the mold of geek entertainment. Do Ghostbusters and Breaking Bad qualify? I would argue they do, in their own way, though I am less interested in coming up with a concrete definition of geek entertainment...
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Kids these days have no idea what the web was like in the early days, back when America On-Line trial CDs littered store counters and instead of Googling, you would Ask Jeeves. They can get a taste what online life was like in the dial-up era, though, in the most awesome of ways—by visiting Marvel's Captain Marvel website. Let's talk about Captain Marvel for a quick second, and then we will get back to what makes the website such a treat for us nostalgic types. Captain Marvel is an upcoming superhero movie based on Carol Danvers, who is played by Brie Larson. It has been in development since May 2013, and when it hits the silver screen later this year, it will be Marvel's first superhero...
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The way we rent, purchase, and watch movies at home is constantly changing. More recently, the shift has been from physical media to online streaming, and before that the market transitioned from video rental stores to kiosks like Redbox. Those still exist and are legal, unlike the crop of movie kiosks that have popped up in Ethiopia. These new kiosks transfer movies to USB flash drives for pennies on the dollar. It is actually a nifty idea, at least the part about transferring movies to flash drives for watching at home. But it's also one that would never fly here in the United States because it would be difficult for media companies to maintain copyright control. And so it will never be, at...
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Hardcore geeks are typically split into two factions—Star Trek and Star Wars fans. If you fall into the latter category, we have good news. Disney has released the first trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which picks up where Star Wars: The Force Awakens left off. It is the eighth episode in the Star Wars saga, which can get a little confusing with Star Wars: Rogue One thrown into the mix. Let us explain. When Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas for a cool $4.05 billion in 2012, it announced plans to release three more main episodes every two to three years, those being Episode 7 (Force Awakens), Episode 8 (The Last Jedi), and Episode 9 (not yet named). Rather than make rabid...
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Way back in 2013, it was announced that both a Portal and Half-Life movie would be coming to theaters, although very little additional information was given. Still, the mere announcement set fans off in a frenzy. Could a Half-Life movie mean that HL3 would finally become a reality? No - it sure doesn't look like that. That announcement was made three-years-ago, and today, we're seemingly no closer to seeing the loose ends of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 tied up. Fast-forward to today, and our hopes are renewed. None other than mega producer J.J. Abrams admitted on the red carpet this week that both movies are still in the cards, although it seems extremely likely that we'll first hear about the...
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Here we go again folks, there's another Star Wars movie on the horizon and you better buckle up because it looks to be another action packed ride. Disney dropped its second official trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first in the Star Wars Anthology series that are to fill the gaps between the releases of the sequel trilogy that kicked off with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Films in the Anthology each will focus on a side story, with Rogue One centered on a female heroine tasked with stealing plans for the Death Star so the Rebel Alliance can look for vulnerabilities. The new trailer is jam packed with eye candy, some of it obvious and others more subtle. Darth Vader makes an appearance,...
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One of the perks of being an Amazon Prime member is you get to stream a growing catalog of movies and television shows similar to Netflix. Unlike most rival streaming services, however, Amazon now lets you download flicks to a memory card for offline viewing via the Amazon Video app for Android devices, a new feature that comes courtesy of the latest update.The ability to download Prime movies and TV shows for offline viewing isn't entirely new. Previously it was possible to save streaming content to your phone or tablet's internal storage, so whether you were going on a cross country flight or heading out to the boonies without a reliable Internet connection (or Internet service at all), you...
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With over 100 million copies sold, Minecraft qualifies as the best selling PC game of all time, and the second best selling video game for any platform behind Tetris. Given how wildly popular it continues to be more than five years after release, it was probably inevitable that Minecraft would eventually land on the silver screen, and in 2019 it will."Hello future Minecraft movie-goers! I know you've been thinking just about every day. 'When's the Minecraft movie coming out?' Luckily for you, we can finally say! The Minecraft movie will be released on May 24, 2019!, Mojang stated in a blog post.Why so far in the future? That may seem like an eternity to fans of the franchise, "but it just so...
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Valve took a major step in growing its Steam digital distribution platform today by adding movie rentals to the mix. The addition of movies to Steam's catalog is a first, and it was made possible through a deal with Lionsgate Entertainment that immediately fleshes out the service with more than 100 flicks. This is a big deal for Valve and its Steam platform, one that hints at the company's plans of expanding Steam into an entertainment juggernaut. Steam is already the biggest digital distribution platform on the planet for games, and while it has a long way to go before it can claim the same for movies, there's little doubt Valve wants to take it there. In a press release announcing the deal,...
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There's a time and place for everything, folks. Need to relieve yourself when you're out on a date having dinner? Find a restroom rather than whipping out your member or crouching in the middle of the restaurant. Are you at the movies and need to text the babysitter because you forgot to tell her that little Billy needs his medicine before bed? Quietly slink out of the theater and do it in the hallway or lobby. Or go to an AMC-owned theater, because texting during the movie might soon be allowed at its establishments. In his short time as CEO of AMC Entertainment, Adam Aron has drawn headlines. First it was for agreeing to buy rival Carmike Cinemas for $1.1 billion, making AMC the world's biggest...
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Are moviegoers trying of a seemingly relentless stream of comic book movies headed to theaters? If Deadpool’s release is any indication, the answer is an enthusiastic “Hell No!” Deadpool had a rather meager (at least compared to other superhero movies) $58 million budget and was originally projected to bring in $65 million to $70 million during Presidents Day weekend. However, the raucous movie absolutely obliterated studio and analyst expectations, tallying an astounding $135 million during the Friday to Sunday period (domestic box office). Not only did Deadpool surpass all studio expectations, even securing a sequel before the movie actually opened in theaters, but it did so with an R-rating....
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We've been hearing about modern virtual reality (VR) for what seems like forever, but with some leading headsets soon to launch, 2016 is shaping-up to be a pivotal year for the technology. That being the case, if you think you've been hearing about VR quite a bit up to this point, to quote Bachman Turner Overdrive, "You ain't seen nothing yet." The biggest concern most VR enthusiasts have currently is the lack of content, or at least the lack of high-quality content. It's hard right now to find the great stuff amongst all the lackluster demos and use cases, although the situation will of course improve as time goes on and the technology matures. One start-up, Wevr, wants to make sure that...
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Not only is the Force strong with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so are box office ticket sales. The newest Star Wars flick kept the momentum going and pulled in an additional $153.5 million on its second weekend in theaters, pushing the overall tally to $1.09 billion. In doing so, Force Awakens became the fastest movie ever to hit the $1 billion mark. That's just one of many records Force Awaken has broken. Its second weekend ticket sales total was also the most in the history of big screen movies, and with a domestic total of $544.6 million, it has a good chance of unseating Avatar as the highest grossing movie in the United States, a mark that sits at $749.8 million. The good news for other...
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First of all, no spoilers here -- feel free to continue reading. And secondly anxious fans new and old lined up in record number over the weekend to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first in a new trilogy set decades after the events of Return of the Jedi. It's also the first Star Wars film to be distributed by owner Disney, though that's not the only reason this weekend was a historical event.The Force Awakens raked in an estimated $238 million in the U.S. during its first three days on the big screen, including $57 million in Thursday night preview viewings. Combined with another $279 million from international ticket sales, The Force Awakens debuted to $517 million over the weekend,...
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Nearly four decades after the original Star Wars movie met the silver screen, fans new and old are lining up in record number to see the newest installment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In North America alone, pre-sale tickets have now topped $100 million, obliterating the previous $25 million record for The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.At least half of that tally is from pre-sale tickets for the flick's opening weekend -- following a premiere earlier this week in Los Angeles, Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out Thursday night in select theaters and then releases generally the morning of December 18 (Friday).You might be surprised to learn that opening weekend tickets are still available despite...
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Planet Earth will once again find itself under siege from aliens, only this time around Captain Steven Hiller won't be around to save the day. However, there will be some familiar faces. Though Will Smith won't be returning to reprise his role as Hiller in Independence Day: Resurgence, scientist David Levinson, played by Jeff Goldblum, looks to once again have a major role. The folks at 20th Century Fox released the first trailer for the second Independence Day, and in it we learn that mankind has been using alien technology to strengthen the planet and build up a better defense against future attacks. But as Levinson notes in ominous fashion, "it won't be enough." Uh oh. "We always knew they...
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One thing is for certain, Steve Jobs was a complex individual. As the co-founder of Apple, now the most valuable company in the world, it stands to reason that people would want to know more about him and his rise from a budding entrepreneur to billionaire technology icon. Unfortunately for Universal Pictures, its biopic titled "Steve Jobs" isn't generating much interest at the box office. Even though it's generating mostly favorable reviews from critics, "Steve Jobs" pulled in a paltry $7.3 million during its opening weekend to a national audience. That tally placed it seventh on the list of the highest grossing movies, with the top two spots belonging to "The Martian" ($15.9 million) and "Goosebumps"...
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There's only one streaming video service in the world that offers the ability to download movies and TV shows for offline viewing, and that's Prime Video. Adding that function gives Amazon a leg up over the competition, including Netflix, which went on record saying it will "never" offer that kind of capability.Never say never, right? Netflix dismissed the notion of offline viewing before Amazon rolled out the function to Prime Members. By blazing a trail, it wouldn't be surprising to see other streaming services follow Amazon's lead. There are some obvious technical hurdles to overcome, but it's now been done. It's also a common function in the streaming music world.For now, offline viewing...
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I've been looking forward to two movies this summer. The first is Straight Outta Compton, which I caught last week (and it didn't disappoint), and the second is The Martian, a flick that will come out when kids and college students are back in school. After viewing the newest trailer put out by 20th Century Fox, it's going to be tough to wait. You've probably seen the original trailer for The Martian in which Matt Damon finds himself stranded on Mars and needing to "science the s**t" out the situation in order to survive. To recap, a fierce storm results in Damon's character getting left behind an aborted mission and he only has enough supplies to last 31 days. He has to figure out both a way...
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Magnolia Pictures and Magnet Releasing posted an official trailer for Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, an upcoming documentary that details the life of the late Apple co-founder. Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney directed the flick, though whether or not the movie's portrayal of Jobs is accurate is a topic of debate. This is the same documentary that premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival earlier this year. Several Apple employees were in attendance, include Eddie Cue, the company's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, who called the film "mean spirited" in a Twitter post. "Very disappointed in SJ: Man in the Machine. An inaccurate and mean spirited...
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Quick, if you had to choose one, which would you pick -- Hulu or Netflix? Both have their pros and cons, though in Netflix's favor, it doesn't force you to sit through ads. That's a huge bonus for people who don't believe they should be required to both pay for a service and watch commercials, even though that's how it works with cable and satellite TV.Regardless, this is the age of the Internet, and the same rules don't necessarily apply. At least that's how consumers think. With that in mind, Hulu is reportedly kicking around the idea of offering subscribers an advertising-free tier, one that would presumably cost more than the $7.99 subscription plan Hulu currently offers.The codename for...
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If you need someone to solve complex equations on a chalk board, Matt Damon is your man (Good Will Hunting). He also makes a great spy and assassin (Bourne Identity). But for all his talents, like being able to renovate a zoo (We Bought a Zoo), he has a penchant for getting stranded on distant planets. It happened in Interstellar and in the upcoming movie, The Martian, Damon once again finds himself a long way from Earth with little chance of survival. What's a Boston native turned actor to do? Science the s**t out of the situation, of course. It's his only option after a fierce storm results in Damon's character, astronaut Mark Watney, getting left behind on Mars and presumed dead. With enough...
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