Movie Website Updates for May 13 - May 19

May 19, 2006

It was a good week for movie sites, although it's hard to tell looking just at the number of sites featured here. However, while the numbers of sites is low, the quality is very high with three sites in the running for the Weekly Website Award, (four if you include Casino Royale - Official Site, which I preemptively gave the award to when the placeholder site went live). Both The Break-Up - Official Site and Pulse - Official Site were also in the running, but in the end I went with See No Evil - Official Site. However, I expect the other two sites to win the award in later weeks.

20 Centimeters - Official Site
Typical placeholder site with no real content.

300 - Official Site
The latest video journal is online, this one is about all of the stunt work.

The Break-Up - Official Site
The flash site launched this week and its broken up into two parts. The regular site with all the usual features like synopsis, image gallery, etc. as well as extras like plenty of clips, a couple of personality clips, bowling game and more. The second site is for the National Break-Up Day, a day to get out of a bad relationship that your stuck in cause you can't find the nerve to get out. It's quite funny and sells the movie very well.

Casino Royale - Official Site
The flash site launched today, in fact, it launched about 2 minutes ago. (I tried to get to the site right at 8:00, but I needed an update for the site to work.) All the usual features are here, which you can get to by clicking on the cards. Or you can click on the dealer button and switch sides and now the cards take you to the extras, (character bios, dossier, (very detailed and very cool section)), as well as other regular features like image gallery and trailer. Add in the poker game and other features marked coming soon and this site definitely deserves the award I gave it two weeks ago. In fact, I was tempted to give it another award today.

Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks - Official Site
Two more clips were added to the site, so I guess I was wrong last week when I said they would be concentrating more on the main site. Both clips deal with the first couple of days of shooting in Jersey.

The Da Vinci Code - Official Site
I know I've mentioned how slow this site is before. But this week you could watch the movie in less time that it takes the site to load. To ad insult to injury, there's been previous little updates these past weeks. This week there were some clips added to the site, I think; to be honest, after waiting five minutes to the section to load, I just gave up.

The Devil Wears Prada - Official Site
Typical placeholder site with the synopsis, image gallery, and trailer. Although it is not really a trailer. It's actually a 3-minute clip from very early in the movie. I think it sells the film very well and my interest in the movie increased a lot.

Flushed Away - Official Site
The placeholder site has been completely redesigned and now features the synopsis and the trailer. However, while I like the new trailer, I wish they kept the old behind-the-scenes featurette as well.

Gridiron Gang - Official Site
Typical placeholder site with just the trailer, which is actually over on Yahoo Movies, which was much better than I was expecting given the stars.

How to Eat Fried Worms - Official Site
Just the synopsis, image gallery and trailer so far. I really loved the book as a kid and was looking forward to the movie, but the trailer left me cold.

The Lake House - Official Site
The flash site went live this week, but outside a slightly interactive section, most of the real content is marked coming soon. On the site is the synopsis, image gallery and trailer, which only leaves cast & crew bios and production notes left to go. But I have a feeling there's more coming.

Mouth to Mouth - Official Site
No changes from last week.

Nacho Libre - Official Site
Updates this week include four confessionals, (although 2 of them could have appear last week but I didn't notice them). Making a couple of appearances is director, Jared Hess. In these two clips, Jack Black says that his PSP was 'stolen' and how he wants it back. However, I think Jared Hess took it because Jack Black kept delaying to shot by playing it.

The Omen - Official Site
I think the flash site is supposed to be up, but there are some serious problems here. First there was a broken link on the old URL. Now it's taking several minutes just to load the intro. The only real content so far is the image gallery and the trailer, and that's not worth the wait.

Over the Hedge - Official Site
Most of the rest of the feature were added this week, (Meet the Trail Guide Girls being one exception).

Pulse - Official Site
The flash site is finally up. It has been six months since the site's last update. The flash site sets the mood well, but there's not much in the way of traditional content. However, given the number of video clips on the site, this is not a problem. There are a series of clips in the Activity section, most of which are marked coming soon. Then there's a lost more in Sightings, but that section is so chaotic, that it's hard to tell if you've seen all of them. I like it. When all the clips are finally added, I could see this being an award winning site.

See No Evil - Official Site
The basic site here is very good with all the necessary features, synopsis, production notes, cast & crew bios, image gallery, and trailer. There are also a few extras like more than half a dozen clips, soundboard, etc. However, it is the Visit the Hotel section that sets this site apart. There you get to look around, watch some clips, you even need to find some items to fully explore the site. It's very well done, I just wish there was more branching involved as that would have made it feel more interactive. There were a few site worth giving the weekly award to and I was leaning towards this site but I was unsure if that was based entirely on the site's merits, or if it was because this was the last chance for the movie to win. But in the end I went with my gut and so See No Evil - Official Site is the winner of the quarrelsome Weekly Website Award.

Twelve and Holding - Official Site
A very good site that feels bigger than it actually is. All the usual features are here, synopsis, production notes, cast & crew bios, and such. There are also extras including character bios, lots of text based interviews, and several clips in a section called Explore. There was one small problem, the background music skipped quite a bit, but I think this was caused by something on my end.

Wordplay - Official Site
The regular features were added to the site, as well as a lot of extras all marked coming soon.

World Trade Center - Official Site
The trailer is online, but I couldn't get it to work on the site so I had to watch it on Apple.com.

X-Men: The Last Stand - Official Site
There's a seven-minute clip online now and it can be found here. It's hard for me to tell if the clip is effective since I was sold on the movie as soon as I saw the ending to X2.


-

Filed under: Movie Website Updates, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Da Vinci Code, Casino Royale, Over the Hedge, The Devil Wears Prada, The Break-Up, Nacho Libre, World Trade Center, Flushed Away, The Omen, The Lake House, Gridiron Gang, Clerks II, Pulse, See No Evil, How to Eat Fried Worms, Twelve and Holding, Mouth to Mouth, 300