Queue The Day

"PS3, I Want to See Other Gaming Consoles." - Amazon Instant

axlsayshavepatience — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:58:32 -0400

"PS3, I Want to See Other Gaming Consoles." - Amazon Instant:

When the Playstation 3 and Amazon Instant Video started dating, it was a mutually beneficial relationship - Sony got to claim it had the only gaming console that carried Amazon Instant streaming services and nerds who used their Amazon Prime account to purchase used copies ofDevil May Crywalkthroughs got to stay up to date withFringe. But recently, the fire has gone out in their relationship and Amazon Instant wants to see other people. Specifically, Amazon Instant has been seeing the jock of gaming consoles, Xbox 360.

Yes, starting today, Amazon Instant streaming is now available on Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Xbox Gold subscribers “can now access the roughly 120,000 movies and TV episodes available for renting and purchasing on Amazon’s streaming video service.” Prime members will also get access to a more limited Prime Instant video selection.

Don’t think that Microsoft forgot about you, Kindle users. The Instant Video app supports Amazon’s Whispersync service, which allows people to begin watching shows on their TV and continue watching on their Kindle. Obviously, subscribers will also have access to titles they’ve previously purchased.

To read more about this story and to watch a pretty spiffy infographic, head on over to TechCrunch.

Jim Reviews 'Chernobyl Diaries' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience — Tue, 29 May 2012 22:35:47 -0400

Jim Reviews 'Chernobyl Diaries' for The Script Lab:

If Parker were a director of any less talent, the film would entirely resemble straight-to-DVD dross. A lot of that has to do with an unremarkable script written by Peli, and Shane and Cary Van Dyke. If the names of the brothers ring a bell, it’s probably because you spend way too much time subjecting yourself to cinematic atrocities like Titanic II, Transmorphers: Fall of Man, and The Day the Earth Stopped, which are just some of the titles for which the Van Dykes can claim responsibility. Why Peli as producer looked at those two and thought, “well, they need more work,” is a mystery that we will probably never understand, but you get what you pay for and if Peli paid for a mediocre horror film, then Chernobyl Diaries delivers.

To read more about this horror meltdown, visit The Script Lab.

Listen to Kevin Smith Talk Even More on Hulu

axlsayshavepatience — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:50:00 -0400

Listen to Kevin Smith Talk Even More on Hulu:

Original programming is all the rage these days with the ~~kids~~ streaming services. With Netflix and Amazon offering exclusive streaming content from both acclaimed filmmakers and guys or girls you probably dumped in high school, there’s an onus on Hulu to keep up with the competition. Some of the ways Hulu has tried to do this is with the docu-dramedy Battleground and by getting in bed with Morgan Spurlock. Starting this summer, they’ll also do it by paying Kevin Smith to do what he does best: talk.

Beginning in June, Hulu will be launching three new original series and seven exclusives, one of which will be Kevin Smith’sSpoilers,which revolves around the unheard of concept of filming Kevin Smith and his friends talking; specifically, talking about movies.

These days, Kevin Smith has built a devoted following by running his mouth - Lord knowsCop OutandRed Statearen’t doing him any favors - and now, as if an entire podcast network wasn’t enough, he’s got another venue where he can relay Hollywood stories and opinions we’ve all watched on YouTube thousands of times already.

A pilot directed by Justified’s Adam Arkin and another from by Dazed and Confused writer/director Richard Linklater are amongst the shows launching, but Hulu is counting on Smith’s name to be a big draw for the 10 episodes they’ve ordered and if there’s anything we know for sure, it’s that filming Smith and his friends bullshit is a really good idea.

To read about the other series and exclusives coming to Hulu this summer, visit Venture Beat.

Jim Reviews 'The Dictator' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:50:46 -0400

Jim Reviews 'The Dictator' for The Script Lab:

Cohen has made a name for himself irritating America’s political and social conservatism through his fish out of water characters and The Dictator, though still conceptually in line with past titles like Borat and Bruno, is actually hindered by its narrative obligations. With Borat and Bruno (less so with the latter), the pleasure was derived from the people’s reactions that would bring to light and subsequently comment on biases and assumptions that are inherent within people. In those films, Cohen was like a perpetual motion machine, improvising off peoples’ inability to comprehend his character, coaxing more and more hilarious inappropriateness out of them. There was really no need for a narrative to build towards a capstone on the nose moment because every single awkward moment was indicative of whatever that moment would’ve represented anyway.

Kneel before Jim, Sub-Saharan, and read more of his review at The Script Lab.

"You Guys Want Blu-rays to Load Slower, Right?" - The Government

axlsayshavepatience — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:50:48 -0400

"You Guys Want Blu-rays to Load Slower, Right?" - The Government:

You know how Geoff is always talking about how streaming video is better than physical media and that he doesn’t believe that zippers exist and some other stuff I don’t know I don’t pay attention most of the time when he talks.

Anyway, as if instant availability on multiple services and increasing image quality in streaming video weren’t helping his cause enough, the U.S. Government has decided to increase their efforts in the “Let’s ruin everything that you love” department. On May 8th two new copyright notices were unveiled - one to “warn” and one to “educate” - that will play before movies begin on DVDs and Blu-rays. Six major studios will begin using these notices very soon.

The new warnings apparently come about because Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) loves attacking people that break copyright laws like Fox News attacks levelheadedness and they want everyone to know it. Also, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center wants to show off its badass eagle logo.

This would be annoying enough if not for the fact that Blu-rays have an annoying habit of having to load first and those with elaborately animated menus can sometimes take upwards of a minute and a half to get going (if this isn’t the quintessential first world problem, I don’t know what is).

You can head on over to Ars Technica to read more about this recent development, which includes the worst news of all: “Will the two screens be shown back to back? Will each screen last for 10 seconds each? Will each screen be unskippable? Yes, yes, and yes.”

Pay-TV Subscriptions as Dead as Paul McCartney

axlsayshavepatience — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:59:35 -0400

Pay-TV Subscriptions as Dead as Paul McCartney:

The reasons that cable networks are fighting Aereo so hard and moving towards authentication with Hulu is because they’re trying to stay relevant in a day and age where TV viewers are actively and regularly moving toward cutting the cord from pay-TV subscriptions. Seeing as you can catch practically any TV show from either Hulu, Amazon Instant or its respective network’s website, it’s no surprise to see that pay-TV subscriptions have once again dropped significantly in the last quarter. Wait - it hasn’t? Seriously?

Seriously. In fact, in the last quarter pay-TV subscriptions actually increased. True, it hasn’t been a lot - only 422,000 subscribers - but those numbers would still suggest that chord cutting is not as progressive a problem as some would you have you believe. In fact, they would suggest that pay-TV, unlike Jim’s sex life, is alive and well.

“But, how could this be?” you may be asking. “Me and my friends sold our TVs years ago and these days I only watch syndicated episodes of The Daily Showon my iPad after biking home from work at Groupon!” Well, it could have something to do with the fact that these numbers “comes from the publicly traded pay-TV providers themselves — like Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizon — in the reports they offer up to shareholders” Or maybe it doesn’t. I don’t know. But Peter Kafka over at All Things D does, so you should read the rest of the article over there.

Jim Reviews 'The Avengers' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:20:03 -0400

Jim Reviews 'The Avengers' for The Script Lab:

These moments are born out of Whedon’s understanding of the characters, but he should be lauded for more than just his ability to assemble previously fleshed out characters into a solid blockbuster. There’s a real sense of love and appreciation that permeates The Avengers in the individual moments of achievement they’re all given and the amount of time they all get to kick their own share of alien ass (Hulk’s, which I will not spoil, is particularly satisfying). It’s especially remarkable how he’s able to take the two regularly powered heroes of Hawkeye, he of the bow & arrow, and Black Widow, she of 9mm pistols, and make them seem not out of place in a group that includes a giant green monster and a demigod.

To read the rest of this review, assemble over at The Script Lab

Jim Reviews 'The Cabin in the Woods' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:52:37 -0400

Jim Reviews 'The Cabin in the Woods' for The Script Lab:

On a superficial level, most may be satisfied with the jump scares, the flesh and Marty’s oafish nature, but the ones who’ll really flock to this film, the ones who’ll spread the word and watch it over and over again on DVD, are the horror fanatics, the ones who know the formulas and can appreciate deviation or deconstruction of them. In the 80s, these folks saw through the seemingly climactically challenged April Fool’s Day; they’re the kind who have followed the Scream franchise since its inception in 1996; they made Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, a cult hit in 2006.

To read more about this horror deconstruction, visit The Script Lab.

Jim Reviews 'The Hunter' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:18:05 -0400

Jim Reviews 'The Hunter' for The Script Lab:

“When Dafoe is on his own trekking through the Australian wilderness, Nettheim uses the opportunity to explore the geography expansively. The locales, which range from rushing rivers, to claustrophobic forests, to snowy mountains, are gorgeous and seemingly infinite, casting an awesome dichotomy between the insignificance of one man and the significance of permanently losing a piece of the wild, ecological puzzle. But these moments aren’t just reserved for writing love letters to the great outdoors. Often, after lulling us into serenity with camera sweeps and pans, the plot points kick, reminding us that within this great frontier, there are forces working against David.”

To read more about Dafoe’s search for the Tasmanian tiger, visit The Script Lab.

Episode 3 - "DOUBLE STUF AEREOS"

gresh — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:37:00 -0400

Episode 3 - "DOUBLE STUF AEREOS":

Jim & Geoff return from covering the Oscars (and hunting for Nazi gold) for an extended edition of Queue The Day. We discuss the predictable legal battles over Barry Diller’s Aereo streaming service, catch up on what we’ve been watching, and then dig in to our favorite (and least favorite) adaptations.

Direct link to this week’s podcast (mp3).

Subscribe to Queue The Day in The iTunes Store or with RSS via Feedburner.

ACT I - “LIVE NEWS”

ACT II - “WEAPONS OF COUNTER-PRODUCTION”

ACT III - “QUEUE THE DAY”

Hosted by Jim Rohner & Geoff Gresh
Podcast produced & Edited by Jim Rohner
Website produced & designed by Geoff Gresh

All our music is by Severin Bozung of Bozung Music:

Opening theme: “Ox Cart Derby”
Outro: “Longshot”

Jim Reviews '4:44 The Last Day on Earth' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:40:12 -0400

Jim Reviews '4:44 The Last Day on Earth' for The Script Lab:

“Mankind’s existence is perpetuated on the idea of building toward the future. Just take a look at the things you own and pause for a minute to realize how many purchases you’ve made and actions you’ve taken to ensure that some situation will be handled should it come up in the future. You buy a new car because you know you’ll need to get somewhere. You buy food because you know you’re going to be hungry. You go on dates because (to give you the benefit of the doubt) you’ll want to start a family. By creating a film that will see the world’s end in less than 24 hours as seen through the actions of two average citizens, Ferrara depicts for us a world in which every action is simultaneously meaningless - why paint a picture if no one will be alive to see it? - and historic - we may have witnessed the last picture to have ever been painted.”

To read more about Abel Ferrara’s intimate apocalypse, visit The Script Lab.

Eli Roth's Return to Directing Will Be Netflix Exclusive

axlsayshavepatience — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:37:39 -0400

Eli Roth's Return to Directing Will Be Netflix Exclusive:

Eli Roth, who has apparently been licking his directorial wounds sinceHostel: Part IItanked in 2007, is shaking off the rust to direct the pilot of a Netflix exclusive series “Hemlock Grove,” which he will also be executive producing.

The series, based on Brian McGreevy’s gothic horror novel, has been described as “a sly blend of J.D. Salinger and Mary Shelley” by Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos and will feature 13 hour-long episodes that will be instantly available early 2013. On top of Roth’s inclusion as EP, Famke Jansen and Bill Skarsgard have also been brought on to portray the show’s leads.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Set in a ravaged Pennsylvania steel town, Hemlock Grove begins with the body of a young girl being found. As the crime goes unsolved and outlandish rumors mount, Roman (Skarsgard) and Peter decide to find the killer on their own, confronting unspeakable truths about themselves and Hemlock Grove as the mystery unfolds. Janssen is set to play the otherworldly beautiful and controlling grande dame of Hemlock Grove.”

Roth has spent the last 5 years focusing on producing (The Last Exorcism), writing (Aftershock,The Man with the Iron Fists), acting (Inglourious Basterds) and doing blow with Quentin Tarantino, has said he’s wanted to get into TV for years and that he and fellow producer Eric Newman founded the production company Arcade for the purpose of doing “elevated genre projects” such as this.

News of “Hemlock Grove” generates further excitement about the future of Netflix exclusive content, which already is responsible for the North American premiere of “Lilyhammer” and will eventually boast David Fincher’s “House of Cards” and Jenji Kohan’s “Orange is the New Black.”

To read more, visit The Hollywood Reporter.

Dear Subscribers, You Can't Sue Us Ever for Anything. Sincerely, Netflix.

axlsayshavepatience — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:02:01 -0400

Dear Subscribers, You Can't Sue Us Ever for Anything. Sincerely, Netflix.:

If you’re like me, then none of you ever read the terms & conditions for anything. Netflix knows this and loves you for it because they’re counting on your apathy to overlook their new terms of service, which will ask that you surrender your right to sue them for anything. Ever. Including murder [Editor’s note: That last part is 100% speculative].

I’m no legal expert, but the Arbitration Agreement lays it out pretty clearly:

“These Terms of Use provide that all disputes between you and Netflix will be resolved by BINDING ARBITRATION. YOU AGREE TO GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT to assert or defend your rights under this contract (except for matters that may be taken to small claims court). Your rights will be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR and NOT a judge or jury and your claims cannot be brought as a class action.”

So there you have it, folks. Unless you want to take Netflix to small claims court, which is allegedly court’s version of hell and damnation, there’s little hope you can scream “this whole court’s out of order!” while Reed Hastings is on the stand. This likely is a result of the $9 million Netflix had to pay to Virginia residents in 2011 after they filed a class action lawsuit against the company for hanging onto streaming and DVD records for 2 years after the residents terminated their services.

Seeing as I didn’t break this news, you should probably visit those who did over at TechCrunch.

To Fox, PBS and Univision, Barry Diller Is a Boy Named (Counter) Sue

axlsayshavepatience — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:23:31 -0400

To Fox, PBS and Univision, Barry Diller Is a Boy Named (Counter) Sue:

If you’ve been paying attention to our podcast for the last few weeks, you should be familiar with the hullabaloo surrounding the launch of Aereo supported by Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp., the subsequent lawsuits launched by companies who feel their copyrights and have been infringed, and the even more subsequenter counter suits that Diller filed against ABC, CBS, NBCUniversal and Telemundo for suing him.

But Diller, who, like the honey badger, doesn’t give a shit, isn’t done with the counter suits he’s filed and has now added PBS, Univision Communications and Fox - the network he helped found - to the list of networks that are feeling his counter wrath. Aereo rubs broadcasters the wrong way because they say “Aereo will illegally cut into retransmission fees — the cash they get from cable and satellite operators and other video service providers that rebroadcast their shows. The fees are growing as broadcasters get more aggressive and now make up a hefty chunk of revenue. But as digital technology evolves, new players and services continue to challenge traditional distribution channels.”

Aereo works by taking over the air signals that are free to everyone and retransmitting them to individual “dime-sized antennas” that let consumers watch the content on internet devices.

To read more about this story, visit The Chicago Tribune.

Jim Reviews 'Jeff, Who Lives at Home' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:09:52 -0400

Jim Reviews 'Jeff, Who Lives at Home' for The Script Lab:

“It’s funny to me that Jeff, Who Lives at Home will only be theatrically accessible to those in major metropolitan areas because the film deals so heavily, even if not explicitly, with the theme of suburban malaise. From the mundane task requiring Jeff’s purchase of wood glue, to the cramped quarters of Pat and Linda’s second floor apartment, to the colorless drudgery of Sharon’s job, co-writers/directors Jay and Mark Duplass have made Jeff and his slacker existentialism an easy surrogate for the audience because, even without a belief in a master plan or a guiding force, we have to believe there must be something out there more meaningful than the physical and emotional ennui in which the characters are engulfed.”

To read more about this existentialist romp, visit The Script Lab.

Jim Reviews 'Silent House' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:43:20 -0400

Jim Reviews 'Silent House' for The Script Lab:

“Folks with a proficiency for screaming futile advice to horror film protagonists would do best to avoid Silent House as the camera’s relentless shadowing of Sarah’s every move essentially turns the entire film into one 85-minute long “don’t go in there!” sequence. Completely unhindered by any (visible) edits that would pull us out of a scene or release any building tension, the long take approach drags us, ready or not, along with Sarah’s every hesitant step down each darkened hallway, every reluctant peak around a corner and every screaming flight away from an unidentified yet ominous threat. DP Igor Martinovic made a fantastic decision combining the Canon EOS 5D Mark II with the handheld fluorescent lamps that add an eery yet maddeningly (and, I imagine, purposely) limited glow to the claustrophobic setting, but after a while the camera tricks employed in lieu of editing - shallow focus, shaky cam, obliviousness to the periphery - get a little tired.”

To read more about this gimmick, visit The Script Lab.

UltraViolet Overexposure Coming Courtesy of Wal-Mart

axlsayshavepatience — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:08:41 -0500

UltraViolet Overexposure Coming Courtesy of Wal-Mart:

Statistics tell us that the majority of us still buying DVDs are doing it at Wal-Mart, which accounts for up to 40% of the physical media sales in the U.S. It only makes sense then that studios hoping for a boost in the sales of UltraViolet, which stumbled out of the gate for a launch last fall, would partner with the corporate giant in an effort to push the technology.

UltraViolet, for those who may be unfamiliar, “lets consumers store copies of movies they buy in the online cloud, which they can then access on any compatible digital device.” Though backed by five of the six major Hollywood studios, UltraViolet is yet to catch on with Average Joe and Jane movie buyer as online movie sales aren’t nearly as profitable as rentals. Two other factors working against UltraViolet is that the limited advertising for the technology hasn’t sufficiently explained what makes it special and that one of the first big titles available on it wasGreen Lantern,which literally has no value when it comes to owning and/or re-watching.

So says the LA Times:

Wal-Mart will sell Ultraviolet-enabled copies of movies through Vudu, the online video service that it acquired in 2010. In addition, consumers will be able to bring copies of DVDs they own into stores. For a small but not yet determined fee, Wal-Mart employees will give those customers a copy of the movie in their UltraViolet account.

That option, which Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group President Kevin Tsujihara called “disc-to-digital” at an investor event last week, will be critical to boosting use of UltraViolet. Thus far, the only compatible movies have been certain ones that have been launched on DVD since October.

Once Wal-Mart throws in its gigantic hat into the ring, it’s likely only a matter of time before Best Buy and Amazon follow.

To read the rest of this article, visit the LA Times.

Netflix Plays Nice with Cable Companies

axlsayshavepatience — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 13:36:46 -0500

Netflix Plays Nice with Cable Companies:

It’s long been thought by cable companies that Netflix’s streaming services combined with the advent of producing their own original content is a threat to the cable business. However, should a deal develop out of the talks currently taking place between Reed Hastings and executives at “some of the largest U.S. cable companies,” then Netflix will no longer be considered a threat to cable, but to prestigious content provider HBO.

If a partnership develops then, according to Reuters, cable operators might offer Netflix movie streaming “as an additional option added onto a subscriber’s cable bill.” The implications there speak to the aspirations for Netflix to one day compete with HBO, which has a similar arrangement with Time Warner.

“It’s not in the short term, but it’s in the natural direction for us in the long term,” said [Netflix CEO Reed] Hastings, speaking at an investor conference last week. “Many (cable service providers) would like to have a competitor to HBO, and they would bid us off of HBO.”

While most industry watchers considered Hastings’ comments as little more than thoughts about the future, people familiar with the talks said he has already met with senior cable executives to discuss how such a partnership might work. At least one cable operator could experiment with offering Netflix by the end of the year, said one of the people.

Such a deal would not only make Netflix a partner with cable companies, but it would also be a huge step in ensuring they stay as a significant player in the realm of movie watching and streaming as competition from Comcast, which launched Streampix last month, and Verizon Communications, which teamed up with Redbox, will be heating up in the very near future.

To read more about this, visit Reuters.com.

Jim Reviews 'Project X' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience-deactivated — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:02:58 -0500

Jim Reviews 'Project X' for The Script Lab:

“The found footage genre is one that’s quickly wearing out its welcome on paper, so the idea of applying it to something other than a horror story is a way to inject life into the tired formula. But the reason found footage is so conducive to horror is because the technical and narrative limitations of such a filmmaking technique enhance the tense, mysterious atmosphere of the horror genre. Lacking any tension or mystery, the incessant documentation of the debauchery in Project X instead comes off as cinematic self-importance, as though we’ll be thanking everyone later for exposing us to every minute of their private and public destruction.”

To read the full review of this masturbatory teenage fantasy, visit The Script Lab.

Jim Reviews 'Gone' for The Script Lab

axlsayshavepatience-deactivated — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:59:44 -0500

Jim Reviews 'Gone' for The Script Lab:

“I’d imagine that by introducing the possibility of Jill being mentally unstable so early in the film, screenwriter Allison Burnett (Untraceable, Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight) assumed that this would cast of a shadow of doubt over all of the protagonist’s subsequent actions. However, in order to buy into such a hypothetical, we as audience members must accept two absurdities: 1) that the local police force is incompetent to the point of failing to uncover even a single piece of evidence to corroborate Jill’s kidnapping two years prior (the fact that she went missing for weeks and crawled her way out of a hole in the forest was apparently too circumstantial); and 2) Jill’s nebulous psychological condition is sympathetic enough to make up for the fact that she pulls a gun on innocents, flees from the police who rightfully see her as a threat to the general public, and manipulates her best friend and a seedy hotel janitor into giving her their respective cars.”

To read the rest of the review of this abysmal thriller, visit The Script Lab.