Movie Website Updates for April 21 - April 28

April 28, 2006

The first of the new Friday edition Weekly Website Review column is here, but not without a hitch. We had a bit of a power outage early in the day so I did what any modern man would do when faced with the prospects of going without the Internet for an undetermined amount of time, I took a nap. Fortunately, I was mostly done before the power went out so there was no real affect on this week's list, but I am starting to this that this column is cursed. As for the list, its pretty average with the best of the bunch being A Scanner Darkly - Official Site.

Akeelah and the Bee - Official Site
No real changes since the beginning of the month. It's a good site with all the necessary features and enough sound and animation to keep the surfer attention but not enough to become an award winning site.

Art School Confidential - Official Site
Both the teaser and the full trailer are on the site now. Both sell the film well to those who enjoyed Terry Zwigoff's previous films.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Official Site
Just a placeholder site with the synopsis, image gallery and the trailer.

Cars - Official Site
The week we saw another two car added to the show room, Chick Hicks and The King. There are only two cars left, and after that we should be getting some of the cooler features added to the site. I suspect shortly after that the site will win the weekly website awards.

Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks - Official Site
There were another couple of clips added to the production journal including a practical joke played on the of the crew.

Crossover - Official Site
Just the trailer so far. I wasn't impressed, but I don't like basketball, so I'm not part of the target audience.

Down In The Valley - Official Site
The usual features are here, and there is a certain sense of style, but not enough to stand out against the crowd.

Full Grown Men - Official Site
After a cute intro, there's not much here besides the synopsis and reader submitted horror stories of their childhood. The trailer is online, but you have to head to Apple.com to see it.

Guys and Balls - Official Site
I mentioned this site at the beginning of the month when the movie was first set to be released and since then nothing has changed.

The Heart of the Game - Official Site
Placeholder site with no real content.

An Inconvenient Truth - Official Site
The site has a new and more polished look, but focus remains as much on the science than the movie itself.

Jackass 2 - Official Site
In a year that has rewarded bad movies over and over again, this film could break records.

Just Like The Son - Official Site
Simple site with just the usual features.

Killer Diller - Official Site
Good site with some great music, however, at the moment it is down due to heavy bandwidth usage.

Lady Vengeance - Official Site
For some reason the link above no longer works for me, but after checking out the page source I was able to find the actual site, which is here. The site has all the usual features plus sufficient sound and animation. But there's not enough here to put it into consideration for the weekly website award.

The Lake House - Official Site
A placeholder site with just the synopsis and the trailer. It's an interesting concept and I look forward to learning more.

Mission: Impossible: 3 - Official Site
The text based features were added to the site this week, as were a couple more TV spots. Update - the site is now down. Not sure why, but it should be up again shortly.

Nacho Libre - Official Site
Two more clips, one about Jack Black's black eye and the other with him playing video poker.

Over the Hedge - Official Site
More updates this week including the soundboard and some podcasts. Or perhaps the podcasts were added last week and I forgot to mention that then.

Poseidon - Official Site
Here's a fun little side site I found during my usual surfing. It's called Ship Shake.

A Prairie Home Companion - Official Site
The new trailer is online and I'm not overly impressed. Don't get me wrong, I'm still interested in the film but I was as soon as I saw the name Robert Altman. I fear that nearly everyone who sees the trailer will either want to see it or not because of its director and this trailer won't change many minds.

R.V. - Official Site
This is a good site with all the usual features plus enough extras to keep surfers happy. On the other hand, there's not much here to make it award worthy.

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - Official Site
Just the synopsis, cast & crew bios, production notes, image gallery and trailer. There is a little bit of animation, but no sound.

A Scanner Darkly - Official Site
I've been waiting for this site for a while now, and it didn't disappoint. The usual features are there, of course, synopsis, cast & crew bios, production notes, image gallery and the trailer. There are also extras like character bios, a mental test, (I failed, but there's no surprise there), and other features. But the best part of the site is its style. Lights are flashing, there's humming of a machine in the background, not to mention all the beeping. Sets the mood very well and has increased my anticipation for the film. It all adds up to making the site the winner of the unilluminated introspective Weekly Website Award.

Stick It - Official Site
The site is full fleshed out this week with several new additions including a couple of clips, music videos, as well as regular features like cast & crew bios. Overall the site has a ton of features including a lot of video clips throughout the site. Add in a different sense of style and it was in the competition for the weekly website award but lost out at the last minute to the site above.

United 93 - Official Site
No real changes in a while.

Wah-Wah - Official Site
Just the synopsis and the trailer and that's likely all that will be.

Water - Official Site
All the usual features are here, but some are restricted to registered members, (it is a free membership, however). I don't like how the synopsis, cast & crew bios, and production notes are presented. The one big block of text makes it hard to find specific information.


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Filed under: Movie Website Updates, Cars, Over the Hedge, Mission: Impossible III, Nacho Libre, Jackass: Number Two, R.V., Poseidon, The Lake House, United 93, Stick It, Clerks II, An Inconvenient Truth, A Prairie Home Companion, Akeelah and the Bee, Water, A Scanner Darkly, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Art School Confidential, Down in the Valley, Chinjeolhan geumjassi, Killer Diller