Posts from the Site Announcements Category at Blogging Sundance

Cinematical's TIFF 2008 Coverage Underway!

Posted Sep 5th 2008 12:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Festival Reports, Fandom, Toronto International Film Festival

In case you haven't noticed, Cinematical has officially kicked off its coverage of the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival with reviews of two of the biggest films screening this year: Rachel Getting Married and The Brothers Bloom. We have so much in store for you this year, it's best if you just sit back, relax and thank your lucky stars that someone else is in charge of fighting the crowds, the snarky journalists and the lack of sleep.

Most of our coverage will land on the main page here, but you'll always be able to find everything in one place over on our official TIFF Hub. Additionally, down there to the right of your screen you'll see a special Cinematical TIFF Widget housing quick links to all our TIFF coverage. Best of all, you can snag that and put it wherever you want (your site, your friends' site, the site of a total stranger) -- this way you (and your readers) will always know what's going on in Toronto. Could we make it any easier?

So, are you ready to check out a sneak peak of this fall's hottest movies? Do I even need to ask that? Enjoy the coverage, and let us know if there's anything you'd especially like to see.

Cinematical Has Arrived on iPhone!

Posted Sep 3rd 2008 10:32AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Fandom, Tech Stuff

I have something to confess: My name is Erik and ... I do not have an iPhone. [Watches all his friends on Twitter immediately bolt out the door] I know, I know, how can I write for a major blog on the internet and not have an iPhone? Am I against Apple? Do I hate the human race? Did someone beat me over the head repeatedly with an iPhone, scarring me for life, making it so I'll never ever purchase one? No, no and no. I actually think the iPhone is a pretty neat little gadget -- it's just I'm too lazy (and cheap) to switch providers.

But for those who DO have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, well, you can now read Cinematical all you want ... and it's easy, it looks cool and your friends will envy you like crazy. As you can see from the image on the right, we have a specific URL: http://i.cinematical.com/.Yup, so all you have to do is navigate over there while you're out on the streets, iPhoning away. Ain't life grand? Definitely let us know what you think!

James Bond Awesomeness: Ask Daniel Craig and Marc Forster a Question!

Posted Sep 2nd 2008 10:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Fandom, James Bond

Cinematical is absolutely stoked to announce a very cool opportunity. In just a couple of weeks, we'll be heading to London to sit down with James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, and Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster. We'll also be taking part in some other super awesome secret activities, but we'll fill you in on all that as time goes on. First, however, we need your help. Yes, you! The dude (or dudette) reading this post, with one hand scratching that annoying mosquito bite while the other hand ...

... Anyway, we need your help with some questions. Basically we're sitting down with Bond and Forster, but the words that come out of our mouths will be from you. Is there anything you've always wanted to know about Daniel Craig, Marc Forster, James Bond or Quantum of Solace? Sure there is, so spit it out now or forever live with the fact that you had a chance to ask Craig where he buys his underwear and you passed it up! [Makes shape of an 'L' on my forehead, then sighs because it's so 2004 of me]

Submit any and all questions you have for these boys in the comments below. If you want to keep it private (those are my kind of questions!), then feel free to send an email to leads AT Cinematical DOT Com, and title it JAMES BOND QUESTION. We'll choose our favorites, chuck 'em out to Craig and Forster, then post their answers (with credit to the brilliant readers who asked said questions) when we get back from our trip across the pond. Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14.

Sound off below (and thanks for helping us out with this -- your next virtual martini is on us)!

Gallery: Quantum of Solace

Cinematical Visits G4's Attack of the Show!

Posted Aug 2nd 2008 8:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Site Announcements, Fandom, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Home Entertainment, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels

Last night Cinematical's James Rocchi was a guest on G4's Attack of the Show, where he and Chris Hardwick spoke about all those crazy Batman rumors spreading like wildfire across the internet. Ya know, how Angelina Jolie supposedly wants to play Catwoman, Philip Seymour Hoffman as the Penguin and/or Johnny Depp as Riddler.

As James points out, these are all "just rumors" right now and there's no way of telling which characters Christopher Nolan and his screenwriter brother Jonathan Nolan have in mind without actually speaking to them. It should be noted that Cinematical has also confirmed that Chris Nolan currently does not have a deal to direct a third film, and if he does hop onboard, they'll have to negotiate something first. But enough of my babbling, check out James above, and much thanks to Attack of the Show for inviting us on.

From the Editor's Desk: Help Welcome Our New Managing Editor!

Posted Aug 1st 2008 12:33PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Fandom, From the Editor's Desk

Above: Cinematical's Scott Weinberg with his celebrity stalker Jennifer Connelly.

Whenever there's an editorial change here at Cinematical headquarters, it's our tradition to announce it live on the site. That said (gets up on his tiny stool with a glass of sparkling apple cider), it is my pleasure to congratulate the new Managing Editor of Cinematical.com! You know him as "That guy who's always making fun of Jewish people", however his official birth certificate reads: Scary Spooky Spice Scott Weinberg (aka Scott Weinberg).

(Waits for loud roars from the crowd to subside ...)

Our former Managing Editor, Kim Voynar (whom we love, cherish, honor, adore, obsess over, crush on, etc ...) will remain with Cinematical, but segue into a Festival Editor role. That's right, our festival coverage kicks so much ass, we need someone with sharp skills and plenty of wit to run the entire show. In all seriousness, both Scott and Kim are tremendous assets to our team and have taken a huge part in our growth over the past three years. I'm ecstatic to be working with each so closely from here on out, and you should be happy because, with their help, this little movie site will become that much more enjoyable to read in the coming weeks and months.

We here at Cinematical wish you a wonderful, sun-drenched weekend, and, as always, we thank you for your continued support.

Cheers! Mazel Tov!

(Now who the hell brought the sparkling apple cider -- this stuff sucks!)

A Message from the Editor ...

Posted Jul 30th 2008 8:45AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements

We now return to our regularly-scheduled programming ...

[insert smiley face here]

SnagFilms Launches, Buys indieWIRE, Becomes Home for Documentaries

Posted Jul 17th 2008 3:03PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Documentary, Site Announcements, Fandom, Exhibition, Newsstand

Fans of documentary film should be happy to hear that there's a new force on the block: SnagFilms has just opened their internet doors, and in the process they've brought (and bought) our good friends over at indieWIRE with them. Founded by three former top AOL executives (Ted Leonsis, Steve Case and Miles Gilburne), SnagFilms is a unique site in that it showcases entire documentary films for you watch online for free, but then also makes those same films available to snag like, say, YouTube does, and then embed the entire film anywhere you'd like. Check out the widget below ...

Pretty cool, huh? Fans of indieWIRE will still get to read all the same, great content, as well as a new blog called Docsider, which comes to us from iLine and indieWIRE co-founder, Mark Rabinowitz. To read more about the SnagFilms/indieWIRE deal, check out this letter to readers from Eugene Hernandez. Definitely head on over to play with the site a bit; with over 225 documentaries available now (and about 750 available by the end of 2008), I'm sure there's plenty of content to keep you busy for awhile. Let us know what you think!

AMC Names Cinematical its Site of the Week!

Posted Jul 12th 2008 5:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Fandom

We're big fans of the work they do over on AMCTV.com, and so we were pleasantly surprised to hear they wanted to feature Cinematical as their site of the week. AMCTV writer Christine Fall asked us a whole bunch of questions in preparation for her piece and I feel she definitely nailed the vibe around here -- one that mixes both mainstream and indie, and attempts to introduce you, the reader, to an entire world full of film. And I like to think we have a little fun now and then, too.

This quote from Cinematical's Kim Voynar summed things up quite well, when Christine asked what it's like to work on a website that reaches so many and covers so much: "Picture us as a gang of wildly diverse people all chained together through our computers, like a bunch of geeks playing World of Warcraft 24/7, only we're film geeks writing about film." Check out the entire article over here, and make sure to stick around and scope out the rest of what AMCTV.com has to offer.

Right on! Thanks AMC!

Introducing the New Cinematical Widget!

Posted Jun 28th 2008 8:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Fandom

"As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to have a widget" -- Erik Davis in a scene from the upcoming Widgetfellas.

For those times when you really need to catch up on your Cinematical without doing much of anything. Yes, everyone has a widget these days, so it was only a matter of time before we here at Cinematical made life just a tad easier for you. As you can see, this widget houses a number of our most current stories, it's pretty to look at, and if you're nice to it, the thing might even sing you to bed at night (your choice of movie soundtrack not included). Additionally, feel free to snag this sucker and throw it up on your own website, or blog or whatever. Give your readers a little bit of the Cinematical ... and make sure you tell them the first taste is free. Enjoy!

Cinematical Among PC Mag's Top 15 Sites for Movie Fans!

Posted Jun 23rd 2008 10:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Fandom, Newsstand

We're a little late to the party on this, but I wanted to share with you news that Cinematical was listed among 14 other sites in a PC Magazine article titled: The Best Web Sites for Movie Fans. This, along with our recent Vanity Fair mention, means Cinematical is well on its way to taking over the world. (Now we're just waiting for a mention in Taking Over the World Magazine, and it's off to the races from there! Woohoo!)

PC Mag gives Cinematical a mention in the movie blogs section of the piece, where we're featured alongside friends from FEARnet, io9 and Slashfilm. Here's the description they give: "Operated by the Weblogs Network, Cinematical is jam-packed with interviews, reviews, news, photo galleries, movie clips, and more." (Personally, I would've added something along the lines of ... "And we've heard everyone who writes for Cinematical is, like, totally hot and brilliant" ... but what they have is just fine.)

So thanks PC Magazine for being our friend! And thanks to all of you out there for reading, listening and sharing your thoughts.

(Now here's where we all high-five each other, turn and point at the camera with a "we mean business" stare.)

The Shawshank Reunion

Posted Jun 16th 2008 2:02PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Drama, Site Announcements, Warner Brothers, Fandom

Were you in The Shawshank Redemption? Did you work on set? Were you otherwise involved in the production? If so, you're invited to a 15-year reunion this August in Ohio. Someone having something to do with the 1994 Oscar-nominated film has put together a weekend-long event and a really snazzy website providing details. Oh, and if you're merely a fan of the movie but had nothing at all to do with its making, you can attend as well. A few of the things on the itinerary do cost an admission fee, but only because there are prison and museum tours involved, plus a concert featuring a southern rock band.

Many people consider The Shawshank Redemption one of the best films of the '90s, maybe even of all time, so there are likely plenty of people who'd be interested in a little trip to see the film's shooting locations and meet with extras and crew members who helped create the film. Apparently there aren't many people on board just yet, but if the word gets out to enough people, there's a chance of making this a huge deal. Maybe principal talent like Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Stephen King and/or Frank Darabont could even make room in their schedules to make an appearance. And then, perhaps this can be a yearly thing, like Star Wars conventions and Lebowski Fest.

[via Pop Candy]

Vanity Fair Places Cinematical in its Blogopticon!

Posted Jun 13th 2008 1:55PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Fandom

Cinematical is often mentioned in a lot of places; on a lot of different sites, in movie advertisements, on DVD boxes and in trailers. But one place we've never been mentioned (I don't think) is Vanity Fair. Thus, we thought you'd be interested to know that VF has listed Cinematical in its Blogopticon, as one of "the most influential or amusing blogs about politics, gossip, Hollywood, media, and miscellany ..." It's pretty cool stuff, and we're joined by our fellow film fanatic friends over at Slashfilm and AICN. Yay!

When I sent this around to the team earlier, my favorite response came from Cinematical's James Rocchi, who said: "I've always wanted to have something I've been a part of mentioned in Vanity Fair; until this week, I thought it was going to be my planned string of cat burglaries in Monaco, or my probable death at the hands of the new Russian Oil Oligarchs. This is way better, and congratulations to all."

Indeed, sir. Congrats to all -- especially you, our readers, because we wouldn't be anywhere without your continued support, wisdom, humor, feedback and, of course, love.

Fox Searchlight Has Free Movies Online Too

Posted Jun 12th 2008 1:32PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Drama, Horror, Independent, Site Announcements, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie

Yesterday we learned that a bunch of Disney movies will be available for free online, each for a limited time, this summer. Now, because everyone wants in on the streaming video game, Fox Searchlight has also put up three of its own films for free. Sideways, 28 Days Later and Quills can now be watched in full on the studio's website or on Hulu, which is hosting the videos. Hulu, known best as one of the premier streaming sites to watch TV episodes, is also hosting some movies from Searchlight parent Twentieth Century Fox, as well as from Lionsgate, Universal, MGM, Salient Media and FEARnet.

To me, the interesting thing about Searchlight's three available titles is that they're each R-rated, yet neither Fox nor Hulu requires proof of age to view the videos. The same goes for a few other titles offered on Hulu, but Searchlight's crop seems particularly adult in content. When I first saw the press release, I immediately thought of it as the antithesis to Disney's offerings. Of course, I don't mind who sees these movies. I'm having more difficulty getting over the idea of watching R-rated material with "limited commercial interruption." The ads make me feel like I'm watching a movie on network television, which of course would only broadcast films reedited or a general audience. But then suddenly I realize I'm not watching network-friendly versions when suddenly I'm seeing full-frontal male nudity in Quills. It's a little disorienting.

What do you think? Should Hulu have the same kind of censored cuts that the networks have to show? Or should these videos at least come with age-restrictive blockers?

Welcome to the New Cinematical!

Posted Jun 10th 2008 11:13PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Site Announcements, Newsstand

It's not that we didn't like the old Cinematical, it's just we thought it was time for the sequel.

We've worked hard here for the past three and a half years bringing you tons of inventive, passionate writing from a bunch of folks who probably watch more movies than they should. We've made many friends, slew many dragons and rescued more princesses than any prince in all the land of New Jersey. It's been rough. We're tired. But we love it. Thus, I'm honored to introduce all of you to the brand new Cinematical! We've made a lot of changes around here, and I suggest you take some time to look over everything.

See the brand new totally awesome Watchmen trailer to the right? Kidding! But over to the right we do have a bunch of headlines, where you'll be able to see what we feel are the hottest and most interesting stories of the day. Above those headlines we have quick links to some of our more lively categories. Over to the right, we also have our new gallery feature where we'll highlight some of the cooler galleries we're currently hosting. (Basically, these are images you want to check out.) Additionally, we have a brand new video box which we'll use to house, well, new trailers, clips, or home videos of Weinberg watching Aliens all giddy and whatnot.

Our coolest new feature has to go to the carousel up there at the top. It rotates automatically, or you can click those orange arrow buttons to advance and back up. Definitely check those out every day as the site's most important features (reviews, interviews, poster premieres, festival coverage, etc) will live inside those boxes. Of course, you have our reviews, interviews and popular categories to the right as well. Oh, and did I mention the new box office window? How cool, right? I swear, it's like the Spider-Man 2 of re-designs!

Anyway, stick around for awhile -- take the tour, make yourself at home. Whaddya think?

Tons More 'Wanted' Photos and Official Site Updates

Posted Jun 5th 2008 5:02PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Action, Site Announcements, Universal, Angelina Jolie, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Images

Other than a half-hearted attempt at a little viral marketing, the comic book thriller Wanted is sticking to the advertising basics until their release in just a couple of weeks -- probably for the best if you ask me, because that weaving site wasn't cutting it. Cinematical has received a slew of additional photos from the action flick, giving us more shots of Angelina Jolie hanging out of cars, and co-star James McAvoy wandering around without his shirt off (which earns Universal a personal thanks from me). When the official site was launched, there wasn't much to start with, but Universal has since added character bios, a couple of flash games and an invite into the 'fraternity'.

By now there probably isn't much we don't know about the movie --but for those who might have missed it, the story centers on an office drone that discovers he is the heir to an ancient society of assassins. Russian director Timur Bekmambetov is at the helm, and rounding out the cast are Morgan Freeman, Common, and Terrence Stamp.

Wanted may not be at the top of my list of must-see summer flicks, but I feel like I have a personal stake in the success of this movie. Let me explain: ever since Tomb Raider, I've been quietly hoping that Jolie was going to be the action heroine that's missing from movies today. But, it hasn't quite worked out that way. Instead, I have walked out of each flick more disappointed than the last. So for me, Wanted is Jolie's last chance to be the badass I've always wanted her to be -- and this time I mean it. Check out the new photos in the gallery below.

Wanted arrives in theaters on June 27th.

Gallery: Wanted

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