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Let me preface this by saying I like your site and I think your reviews are for the most part fair. However I was really surprised you gave I heart huckabees a 3 out of 10 rating for the movie itself. Ouch. I obviously liked the movie, and I'm not going to be pretentious and assume you didn't get it and that's why you didn't like it.

However, a 3 out of 10 is a rating you give "barbed wire" or "the stupids" or some movie of that caliber. I'll admit huckabees bit off a little more than it could chew, but it was funny, thought-provoking, and entertaining at the very least. Sure the philosophy was dumbed down, but the average moviegoer won't want to wade thru complicated stuff. And to top it all off, the score by jon brion was simple phenomenal. And you gave it a 3. Wow. Did you see the same movie I saw? Cuz i saw a movie that was one of the best and most original i've seen all year. And as long as your giving unbalanced reviews please go on about how good Keanu reeves was in Constantine. Please go on about how napoleon dynamite had no plot (that's the point). I digress, but seriously 3 out of 10. YIKES.

-- Jimmy

Jimmy,

To quote Spinal Tap, "It's a fine line between clever and stupid," and I thought WTFabee's (as I think of it) fell down on the wrong side of that line. While it did have its funny, thought-provoking and entertaining moments, it didn't add up to a cohesive story for me. If it had lived up to its ambitions, it could've been a quite clever film, but it didn't and thus the final score.

Imagine caramel apples with molten lava filling rolled in broken glass and garnished with strips of baby harp seal fur. Original? Certainly! A good dessert? Not even. Originality of intentions only counts for so much - execution is how we're judged. Russell messed up this time, but hopefully next time he'll live up to his past standards.

-- Peter Schorn

I'm just wondering if Star Trek: Nemesis is going to receive the collector's edition treatment, like the previous trek films? I know that I'm in the minority, but I actually enjoyed the film; and if the forgetful Star Trek V can have a special edition, surely Nemesis deserves one as well.

-- Liam

Believe it or not, yes, there is much more to be seen. A better story isn't one of them, though.

-- Andy

I had to respond to your "people not going to the theatres" comment about pan and scan because that is very true. I go to school near my grandparents and I go watch movies at their house on the weekends, they're still stuck with a CRT and mulling over HDTV, they see nearly every movie that comes out...on DVD. The only times they ever feel like going to the theatre is to see IMAX movies where the screen is more like a square. The video store they rent from offers full screen and widescreen versions of almost every title, usually leaning toward having more full screen, keeping in that old holding pattern from VHS. I always convince them to rent a widescreen disc, or sometimes I'll even tell them that I'll find a movie for them and then slip the widescreen disc onto the pile. I explain the difference to them and they say "I paid for every inch of the T.V. so I want it filled up." A valid enough explanation, but the best thing to respond to that is when you pan and scan a movie and use all your scan lines on your TV you cut the image resolution in like half, not to mention things like objects on the screen and the overall miser en scene.

-- Jared

The next time they say that, tell them you also paid for a movie twice as wide as it is tall and they are only getting 40 percent of the film when they rent a full screen video but paying the same price as the widescreen movie.

-- Andy

I understand that in the new Titanic DVD it will have Dolby Digital 6.1. I was just wondering what the differences between 5.1 and 6.1 are.

-- Alex

6.1 adds a back-center channel. So when you have surround action, there isn't a gap as the sound moves between the back left and right channels. It's a single channel, but people add two speakers to do it. You can find more in my Guide to Audio.

-- Andy

Whenever I see a bare-bones release of a high profile arty film like this, I think immediately that a 2-disc edition must be around the corner. It happened to Traffic, it's happening to Kill Bill, and it *should* happen to Chicago.

So, what's Sony/Columbia's track record on double-dips and announcing Special Editions?

-- Navarro

Sony tends to do double dips as precursors to sequels, like the xXx planned for next month in advance of the sequel. The few non-sequel special editions I've seen were usually anniversaries or some kind of event tie in. I doubt Closer will be sequeled, so don't hold your breath on an SE for Closer.

-- Andy

Hey I saw Ong Bak in the theater last month and loved it. I was wondering about the DVD, I saw a listing for it on Amazon, but there were no copies available. Any info on a new DVD release?

-- Dan

Well I saw an Asian import at an L.A. store. The U.S. theatrical distributor is tiny, so I really don't know about a DVD release date. By the way, the import was an uncut version, so I'll have to check and see what they added.

-- Andy

You probably won't print this but... geek alert: 'Beastmaster' is not a fantasy epic. It is a fantasy movie but, it was never intended as an epic which is a genre all to itself.

-- John

Thanks for your 'geek' response. I, too, considered that when writing the review, but finally settled on that wording because the director refers to the film as an epic several times. It may not fit into the textbook definition of an epic, but I think it probably just squeezes past the mainstream understanding of the word.

Thanks again, and keep writing! We love to see readers getting involved.

Take it easy,
Chris Carle

I am one of those people who likes full screen more than widescreen and it is for certain reasons.

I don't have a widescreen TV so there are two black bars on the screen that tend to really annoy me. I understand full screen loses some of the picture, but the black bars just really annoy me on a TV screen.

Maybe one day when I have a widescreen TV and the bars are not there then it won't bother me much, but on my TV they really do get in the way of enjoying whatever you are watching.

I mean widescreen with the bars is okay when I watch DVDs and TV shows on DVD on my computer, as the bars seem less noticeable and that is where I watch most of my DVDs, but I really think that all DVDs should come with an option like at the beginning of the New Guy where there is a screen you can select widescreen or full screen. That way I can watch full screen until I someday get a widescreen TV and then switch over.

-- Johnny

That's the standard argument, but I don't buy it. I have a widescreen TV, and when I watch network television or cable, then I have some bars, too, except mine are vertical and on the left and right side of the screen. Stinks for me, but I get over it because I know what I'm getting for the widescreen set. You should want the whole movie, not a part of it.

-- Andy

Concerning the ever-present pan & scan vs. widescreen argument;

Maybe it would help to mention to full-frame fanatics that human vision is basically "widescreen?" Hand them a pair of blinders to wear if they fail to understand.

-- Gary

And then make them watch a movie in the theater. :)

-- Andy

Just as a great reference point for people that prefer full screen, tell them to watch the Star Wars DVDs and then ask them what the title of the movie is. I had to withstand this cause I was at a friend's place and he only had full screen movies. Because of the scrolling intro, you barely get to see the full title for more than a couple seconds. "Return of the Jedi" becomes "urn of the J" which then fades into "turn of the Je" which then becomes "eturn of the Jed" before becoming the real title for a few seconds before scrolling into nothingness. This is the best and most clear argument to shut down full screen lovers I have found.

-- Johnny

Back in 1997 when the Star Wars Special Ed. was relapsed on VHS, I picked up the Full screen set as I was quite opposed to widescreen movies (black bars?!?!). At the time I was working in a video store and so I tossed a copy of Star Wars in widescreen in to check it out and that was it... after being able to read the entire initial scroll as it appears on the screen, rather than having to wait for it to grow small halfway up (full screen) I realized the error of my ways and now wont even consider full screen (unless it is the only option...) To all those full screen watchers, if you are able to compare wide vs. full Star Wars, I think that will change your mind for good...

Food for thought.

-- Jamie

Star Wars is good on many fronts. I recall a widescreen vs. full screen site that had a shot from ESB, where Darth Vader was basically fighting a disembodied hand and light saber, because Mark Hamill was cut from the frame. There's also a very good ratio comparison on Sleeping Beauty, where they show the widescreen version of the movie and full screen versions on top of each other, so you can see how much is cut away. But you'd be amazed how many people are unmoved.

-- Andy