Friday, November 28, 2008

Film guy’s guilty website pleasures

By John P. Meyer

As the Pegasus News film guy (although Alex may argue - with justification - that I'm by no means the only one), it's my task to cover movies and movie-related topics - which I have done to the best of my ability for upwards of two years now, having begun on a part-time, uncompensated basis back in June of 2006.

During this time I've accumulated a diverse stable of go-to movie-related URLs, some of which stretch the boundaries of what might be considered "job-related." While IMDB, Variety and Rotten Tomatoes are standard destinations for the film reviewer, these esoteric byways verge into neighborhoods more - um - specialized.

I'm sharing them with you here in the hopes that someone will discover something wonderful that they didn't already know about. Consider it my Thanksgiving holiday weekend offering to Pegnews readers.

I've divided these not-completely-safe-for-work (NCSFW) websites into categories pertaining to "content" and "merchandise," as follows:

CONTENT

Movielist - an aggregate site where links to new movie trailers are posted as they are made available by film distributors. Great time-killer, particularly if you have a sluggish connection.

Cinematic Happenings Under Development (CHUD) - to my mind, the best of the independent review blogs, offering "pull no punches" commentary on films both mainstream and independent. Good, insightful, in-depth writing - except for the pieces that try to foist opinions I disagree with.

Beyond Hollywood - in addition to films, this site keeps track of cult-ish TV shows, such as Terminator (the Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Heroes. Lots of information splashed onto one big page.

Moviepooper. Ever want to just "cut to the chase," and get the goods on a movie you've heard about but know you'll never bother to see? (Me neither, but I understand there are some people out there like that.) It's the equivalent of picking up a novel and turning right to the last page.

Stomp Tokyo is kind of like a Grand Central Station for threads (which one might think of as train tracks, if one were wanting to make my GCS metaphor meaningful) involving B-movies, cult films, sci-fi & horror, really obscure films, pop culture as it (sort of) relates to niche cinema, and really, really BAD films (Leonard Pinth-Garnell, welcome to the Bad Movie Report). To access these "tracks," see the "Departments" menu in the right-hand margin.

* My favorite sort-of-sub-site of Stomp Tokyo is Attack of the 50 ft. DVD, specializing in sci-fi, horror and cult genre film fare, which segregates the commentary about the movie itself from the stuff that's presented with the DVD product, such as special features, aspect ratio, menu functionality and etc. (Not that I actually have time to watch DVDs anymore, but still...)

Not coming to a theater near you (NCTTNY) - this one wins the award for most aptly-named website, specializing as it does in commentary about "older, often unpopular, and sometimes unknown films that merit a second look." When's the last time you had a chance to read anything about silent film star Louise Brooks, who reportedly cared more about her off-screen lovers than she did about her on-screen performances? I'm betting the FIRST time you might have read about her would have been Nov 17, when the linked essay showed up on NCTTNY.

The Great God Cthulhu: yours for $85.

MERCHANDISE

Luminous Film & Video Wurks - I love this site (I mean the layout itself) because it's so cheesy-looking; I don't think they've changed the front page design for 15 years, but I still keep going back to see what's newly available in the realm of otherwise-unobtainable European cinematic imports on DVD or DVD+R, many of which will only play on a "regionless" component. (Luminous will sell you one, but so will other, less obscure retailers, I'm fairly certain.)

While I'm personally thrilled to have access to spaghetti westerns and giallo titles heretofore known only from the literature (which Luminous also peddles), aficionados of art house cinema, sexploitation and bizarre horror will also find plenty to slake their vile lusts (I mean, "whet their cinematic appetites").

Along the same lines, SuperStrangeVideo covers some of the same territory, but with a leaning toward obscure super-heroes, Hercules films and rare serials. (My advice: don't for God's sake click on the Reality Series tab.)

For all your cosmic horror and Cthulhu statuary needs, head on over to Arkham Bazaar - a great place to pick up H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival tote bags for everyone on your holiday gifting list. (And here, we're probably talking Solstice.)

Heritage Sunday Internet Movie Poster auction - Danger! - if you're a movie fanatic with wall space (or a lover of poster art) you will get sucked in. Trust me on this.

Movie Poster Warehouse - where you might just find a better bargain on one of the posters you'll see in the auction mentioned above. (HINT: check here before bidding.)

While this list is of course limited and shaped by my own particular (and, I hasten to admit, peculiar) interests, I invite readers to contribute links to their own favorite sites in the comments section below.

Related stories

• Pegasus News week in view: Sloppy Seconds edition (Dec. 4, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Arts > Movies / Film

Comments

Mike Orren Staff

John, here's one that was recommended to me today focused on title sequences:

http://www.artofthetitle.com/

11 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

John Meyer Staff

I likey!

11 months, 2 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

John Meyer Staff

TheCatch - thanks for delivering the pee-pee whacking I so richly deserved. (Somebody had to do it.)

I will peruse the Brooks site with pleasure - your contribution is much appreciated!

11 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )