Random

When you think of plot keywords for movies you might think mafia for The Godfather or drugs for Trainspotting.

But what about The Mist, last year’s adaptation of the Stephen King novella by Frank Darabont?

If you look it up on the IMDb then you might find some interesting plot keywords, in particular the phrase:

The Black Guy Dies

Now, I don’t mean to sound like a member of the politically correct police but isn’t this a little dodgy?

Futhermore isn’t it a plot spoiler, if you do get around to seeing the film?

I know you have to roll your mouse over the keywords on the front page of each entry but it still seems wrong.

This ‘plot keyword’ or phrase even has it’s own tag section which lists various films, although I’m wary of even linking to it as it contains a number of prominent films where, well…, take a guess.

Your thoughts?

[Original screenshot found via Popurls]

One question I get asked a lot is:

How many DVDs do you have?

To which I usually reply: ‘not as many as you might think’.

The truth is that although I have a reasonable collection, most of the DVDs I watch in a week are screeners of forthcoming releases that I have to review.

Most of the new films I see are screenings of upcoming cinema releases and when I check out DVDs it is often to review regular releases or re-issues of notable films.  

Above is my current backlog of DVDs I have to check out for review.

As you can see they don’t look like regular discs in that they come in sleeves or basic plastic cases without the full retail packaging. 

Despite that, they nearly always have the full set of features although occasionally smaller film companies send you a basic screener of a limited theatrical release.

(For anti-piracy reasons they are usually timecoded or watermarked in someway).

The current crop of DVDs I’m getting through include the following titles:

• Adulthood
• The Last House on the Left (3 disc ultimate edition)
• Rashomon (Special Edition)
• Festen (10th Anniversary Edition)
• Eraserhead

A strange promotional/instructional video for Windows 95 starring Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston, who had just become big stars in Friends when this was made.

Hollywood has long had an interesting relationship with technology from classic films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to nonsense like The Net (1995).

Since the rise of the PC over 15 years ago, computers haven’t always always been portrayed accurately in films.

For example in real life when you download something on your computer, the screen looks something like this:

But in a movie it often looks more like this:

But how about this summer’s crop of movies?

Here is a list of what we learned about technology on the big screen this summer:

1. TONY STARK IS BOTH A MAC AND PC GUY (IRON MAN)

If you are a billionaire industrialist trying to make a robotic suit that will turn you into a superhero, you still face the same dilemma as millions of computer users: do you use Mac or PC?

In order to become Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr) appeared to use both.

In this summer’s first blockbuster, I caught a glimpse of a heavy duty Dell workstation and some Mac Pros - maybe he uses the Dells to crunch some stats and the Macs for the sleek design? Or maybe the two companies paid Marvel a ton of money to feature both.

2. ARCHAEOLOGISTS CAN SURVIVE NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS BY HIDING IN A LEAD LINED FRIDGE (INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL)

One of the most startling scientific revelations from this summer’s movie season was that Indiana Jones could survive a nuclear explosion by hiding …in a lead lined fridge.

It even led to a term being coined: “Nuking the Fridge“, which is supposed to be some kind of follow up to ‘Jump the Shark‘.

This video explains the terms:

Nuke The Fridge

One commentator suggested that:

The problem is that, even if he didn’t get flattened, horribly burned or suffocated (kids, don’t hide in refrigerators), Indy almost certainly would have gotten a lethal dose of radiation from the fallout.

Will the next Indy movie be called Indiana Jones and the Fallout from the Lead Lined Fridge?

3. WALL-E IS A PIRATE (WALL-E)

The cutest futuristic robot since Silent Running charmed audiences worldwide with his impressive devotion to cleaning up planet Earth and love of old musicals.

But where do the MPAA stand on his flagrant disregard of copyright law? Not only does he illegally record ‘Hello Dolly!‘ but there is no compensation for the artists involved.

However, given that the film takes place hundreds of years into the future, I think we can safely assume the 20th Century Fox musical will by then be in the public domain. Unless News Corp and Fox owner Rupert Murdoch lives forever (which shouldn’t be ruled out…)

4. CARRIE BRADSHAW CAN’T HANDLE THE iPHONE (SEX AND THE CITY)

If you were a fan of HBO’s Sex and the City you will have noticed that Carrie Bradshaw wrote everything on her MacBook Pro.

However, in the movie version of the show she can’t seem to handle the iPhone.

When she needs a phone at her wedding in order to get in touch with her husband-to-be (Mr. Big) she is dismayed at the iPhone’s touch interface, saying ‘I can’t work this’.

Maybe some brushing up is needed for the next film?

5. BATMAN HAS THE NEW NOKIA ‘iPHONE KILLER’ (THE DARK KNIGHT)

In contrast to Carrie, Batman (Christian Bale) in The Dark Knight has a surer grasp on mobile phone technology.

Not only does he have a brilliant CEO named Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) who supplies him with all the gadgets a night time vigilante needs, but he also has an intimate knowledge of Gotham’s phone network.

However, in a move that will give Steve Jobs pause for thought, Bruce is introduced to the new Nokia ‘iPhone killer’ by Lucius on a trip to Hong Kong and it proves invaluable in extraditing a criminal.

Despite official denials from Nokia that the phone doesn’t exist, it looks like it could be the prototype for the Nokia 5200 - which is nicknamed ‘The Tube’.

Reports of a red version in a glass case, that lights up every time someone calls, were sketchy as this article went to press…

6. HELLBOY’S BOSS HATES YOUTUBE (HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY)

When you are the demonic spawn of a Nazi experiment gone wrong - that now secretly works for the US government as secret agent - anonymity is tough. Especially when you are Hellboy, who is bright red with horns and a tail.

In the first Hellboy he just about covered his tracks but in this summer’s sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, he couldn’t escape the attentions of citizen journalists in the Web 2.0 era, prompting his boss Tom Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) to snarl: “God, I HATE YouTube”.

The same sentiments could apply to Viacom’s lawyers.

7. ALIENS THINK GOOGLE AND YAHOO ARE SILLY NAMES (MEET DAVE)

Like some internet refuseniks (mainly older guys working in the newspaper industry) the aliens in the unfunny Eddie Murphy comedy Meet Dave are tickled pink that humans search and store information in places called Google and Yahoo.

Believe it or not, this was actually one of the funnier jokes in this dull Eddie Murphy vehicle which saw an alien spaceship (Eddie Murphy) land on Earth piloted by lots of little aliens led by a Captain (Eddie Murphy). Confused? Google it.

8. BRUCE BANNER USES AN OLD IRC CHAT PROGRAM (THE INCREDIBLE HULK)

When you are the victim of a radiation experiment that periodically turns you into a large green monster, what do you do when hiding out in Brazil from the clutches of the US government?

If you are Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) in The Incredible Hulk, you use a creaky old laptop and what appears to be an encrypted IRC program (remember those?) to communicate with a fellow scientist about a possible cure.

Would Skype not have been a better option, especially given its appropriately green icons?

9. MARIAH CAREY PREFERS MACS TO PCS (YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN)

Whilst Tony Stark seems happy to multitask on both, it seems Mariah Carey is a Mac devotee. In the Adam Sandler comedy You Don’t Mess With The Zohan, Mariah appears as herself in a cameo and in one scene her assistants are asked what she prefers: Macs or PCs?

Given that the film was funded by Sony, I was fully expecting them to say ‘PC’ and that (like James Bond) she is a huge fan of the Sony Vaio laptop. But no, they look at one another - as if to say ‘what a silly question!’ - and eagerly report she loves Macs.

High fives all round at Cupertino.

10. TIVO DOES MORE THAN JUST TV (TROPIC THUNDER)

Many people find that that DVRs like the TiVo has changed their TV viewing habits, but in the new Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder we find that it has more uses.

But given that the film hasn’t opened yet I don’t want to spoil why…

Can you think of any other memorable tech moments in the movies this summer?

> 2008 in film at Wikipedia
> The Inquirer’s Top 10 Technology Films
> The uses of computers in movies at Annoyances.org

Who would have thought in 1987 that three actors from Predator would go on to become US politicians?

Arnold Schwarzenegger (Dutch) is the current governor of California, Jesse Ventura (Blain) was the 38th Governor of Minnesota between 1999 and 2003 and Sonny Landham (Billy) is now a Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Mitch McConnell.

> Predator at the IMDb
> More videos at Slate V

If, like me, you grew up watching films on video in the UK you might remember this VSC infomercial with Simon Bates (the former Radio 1 DJ) which explained to viewers why a film had a certain certificate.

What is amusing about them now is the dry way in which they discuss sex and swearing like it was a scientific experiment.

> Find out more about British film ratings at WIkipedia
> Simon Bates at Radio Rewind

Movie marketing isn’t an exact science but have you ever seen a film that was crying out for a tie-in or some kind of clever hook?

Here are some light hearted movie marketing ideas that never happened.

MAY THE 4th BE WITH YOU

This is a phrase I’ve heard from several people as kind of a gag, but the question needs to be asked. Why on earth has George Lucas never released a Star Wars film on May 4th?

In 1977 the first film came out on May 25th, in 1980 The Empire Strikes Back was released on May 21st, whilst in 1983 Return of the Jedi was unleashed on May 25th.

So, what about the prequels? Maybe they didn’t need the publicity, but let’s see. The Phantom Menace came out on May 19th 1999, Attack of the Clones on May 16th 2002 and Revenge of the Sith on May 19th 2005.

According to Wikipedia, May 4th is even known as ‘Star Wars Day‘ - so why have there never been any Star Wars movies released on this date?

I sense a missed opportunity in the Force.

DIGG DiG!

DiG! is a 2004 documentary about two rival bands: The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and is a highly entertaining look at two very different approaches to life in the music industry.

The same year, Kevin Rose was starting the social news website called Digg, which is now pretty big. How about a tie-in for a future DVD release? Maybe users could Digg DiG…

HASTA LA WINDOWS VISTA, BABY

Microsoft launched their latest operating system with a rather confusing campaign using the word Wow. Given that they spent an estimated $500 million on the campaign and people actually want to go back to XP, surely they should have spent some money on a big name?

How about someone famous and not afraid of making a fool of himself in Japanese beer adverts? Yes, why not get Arnold Schwarzenegger to reprise his famous Terminator 2 catchphrase? Hasta La Windows Vista, Baby.

FIREFOX: MOZILLA EDITION

Firefox is a 1982 thriller starring Clint Eastwood as pilot who steals a highly advanced Soviet fighter plane (code named “Firefox”) which carries weapons controlled by thought (yes, really).

Although it grossed $46,700,000 at US cinemas, I think we can safely say it isn’t one of Warner Home Video’s biggest ever titles.

How about bundling a revamped special edition DVD with the latest version of Mozilla’s Firefox browser?

YOU’VE GOT GMAIL

In 1998 Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan reteamed for a romantic comedy called You’ve Got Mail after the success of Sleepless in Seattle in 1993. The title of this film was based on the - now rather dated - greeting that AOL users heard when they received new e-mail.

How about Nora Eprhon doing a Google funded director’s cut where Hanks and Ryan use the much cooler Gmail?

BOURNE IN THE USA

Last year I remember seeing some smart comments on Hollywood Elsewhere about the marketing of The Bourne Ultimatum. The first one sheet poster was based around the idea of Jason Bourne returning to the US (’This summer Jason Bourne is coming home’), so someone suggested the phrase ‘Bourne in the USA’.

Given that the Bourne movies and Bruce Springsteen are both popular and politically savvy, what ever happened to the tie-in album?

Any other ideas? Leave them below.

> Movie Marketing Madness
> Film marketing at Wikipedia