Movie Website Reviews for Weekend of February 22, 2008

February 23, 2008

Only nine movies were releases this week, and there were only six sites to review (not counting the one that crashed my browser). The three other wide releases each had respectable sites, but nothing that is really amazing and the flashier the site, the weakest content. Charlie Bartlett - Official Site was a previous award-winning site, and I see no reason to change that now.

Be Kind Rewind - Official Site
The site crashed my browser. Not a good sign. I can read the synopsis or watch the trailer, but as soon as I try and skip the intro, it freezes on me. And when I try and surf to another site, it crashes.

Charlie Bartlett - Official Site
One of the few award-winning sites from before this column underwent its rather radical format change. It's a rather big site with all the usual features audio clips as intros to each section, and enough background sound and animation to be effective. The only real extra on the site is the Tell Charlie section that features clips of man-on-the-street interviews from several cities around the nation. The site won a long time ago, back when it was going to be released in August, and it keeps its title this week.

Cover - Official Site
Just the basics with no sense of style. And that trailer is way too dramatic for the quality of the movie; by overselling the drama, it becomes laughable.

The Counterfeiters - Official Site
Mostly just the basics (synopsis, cast & crew bios, images and trailer). There are some additional images of real life people and some of the counterfeited currency, as well as some audio clips. The site meets the minimum to be effective, but does nothing to really stand out.

The Duchess of Langeais - No Official Site
Nothing to review.

Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea - No Official Site
Another movie with no site to review.

The Signal - Official Site
The last time I mentioned how the site made me want to kill. Well, the included the 'killing signal' on this site, but fortunately, that's not the only thing on the site. There are the regular features here, and a clip. As for style, there are short clips used as intros to each section, but that's not enough to really stand out.

Vantage Point - Official Site
A good site with a high level of interactivity including a character exploration section and three games. On the other hand, the target practice game was a little too short and the cast & crew bios are still marked coming soon. The end results are just mixed, which is especially disappointing after a strong initial impression. It does set the mood rather well, which should help sell the movie.

Witless Protection - Official Site
Wow. We have a site that is better than the movie it is advertising. In order to navigate the site, you drive around the in truck to each of the features; there's even a racing game with the same controls. Sadly, the actual content is limited and doesn't sell the movie very well. But it took at least 60 seconds for the novelty of the driving based menu to wear out, which is certainly longer than the movie would hold my attention.


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Filed under: Vantage Point, Be Kind Rewind, Die Fälscher, Witless Protection, Charlie Bartlett, Ne touchez pas la hache, The Signal, Cover, Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea