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Photoshop Theme: Stop all the downloading!

A lot of new releases coming out at netflix next week. Highlights include The Pacifier, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, and Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show: Indicision 2004. For an exhaustive listing, click here.

Top movie sites: IMDB, Yahoo! Movies, NetFlix, MSN Entertainment by ZDNet’s ZDNet — Direct Marketing News quotes HitWise data regarding top movie sites and their reach.
The Internet Movie Database: 14.63%
Yahoo Movies: 9.79%
NetFlix: 8.57%
MSN Entertainment - Movies: 5.73%
Blockbuster: 4.94%
Fandango 3.55%
Moviefone: 3.40%
MovieTickets.com: 2.06%
Movies.com: 1.66%
Rotten Tomatoes: 1.65%

Side by side comparison along with predictions of DVD’s future by Boston Globe correspondant Bruce Mohl.

Argh! Avast ye scurcey currs! The supreme court ruled today that p2p networks can be held responsible for illegal downloads of movies and music, after all. So if you like to download movies for free illegally, you better do it while you still can!

But there is some good news for the pirates, because the movie studios will have to prove that the filesharing companies are encouraging the file sharing. Simple knowledge of illegal activity isn’t enough for an indictment.

“But the court also said a technology company couldn’t be sued if it merely learns its customers are using its products for illegal purposes. That balancing test, the court said, is necessary so that it “does nothing to compromise legitimate commerce or discourage innovation having a lawful promise.” ”

Full article here.

There’s some buzz that the big boys at Blockbuster are tinkering with their prices. As you proably know, BBOL offers a 3 DVD plan at $14.99 vs. Netflix’s $17.99, but that may change in the very near future. In anticipation of the Blockbuster price increase, Netflix stock has risen 35 cents a share. If you want to know more, click here.

Hot List! Ha chachachacha!

Here are some HOT titles from yours truly. No way you can get them in time for the weekend… but Wednesday is a good movie day too, right?

Suspense:

The Machinist- Stars Christian Bale, remarkably thin compared to his appearance as the Caped Crusader.

Red Dragon- The third installment of the Silence of the Lambs trillogy (or first, depending on how you count). Good stuff here. Edward Norton is brilliant as always, and Anthony Hopkins, well, they don’t call him “Sir” for nothing.

Comedy:

Starsky & Hutch- I never watched the original series, so I’m not sure if this movie does it justice, but I will tell you that it is funnier than you might expect. I hate Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson usually, but they’re great in this. Snoop Dog is priceless.

Mean Girls- If you subtract filiming costs from theater gross, this was one of the most financially successful movies of 2004. And for good reason. The girls are mean… like a fox!

Romantic Comedy:

Love Actually- The ultimate Romantic Comedy. There’s really no reason to see any other film from the genre.

Action/Sci-fi:

Kill Bill- Volumes 1 and 2 both. Quentin Terantino’s 4th film is better together. If you’ve seen it before, it’s worth another look. I think it get’s better every time.

12 Monkeys- A great, dark, timetraveling post apocalyptic scifi suspense thriller romp. Terry Gilliam directs Bruce Willace to a weird and wonderful proformance. Keep an eye out for Brad Pitt, too. He plays a sexy mental case.

Family:

Toy Story- The movie that began a revolution. Animation hasn’t been the same since Pixar hit the scene. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen give fantastic vocal performances in Toy Story, and the humor is great for kids and adults. Worth another look- it’s as good as you remember it, maybe better.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- You’d swear you were watching a real film, not a Harry Potter movie. After a mediocre 1 & 2, the series has come into its own. One of the finest childrens movies ever made, with great performances from all the kids, great action, great special effets, and wonderful art direction.

It’s got drive- pioneering the online DVD rental industry, it’s got stamina- surviving the onsaught of Blockbuster and Wal-Mart, but has it got a big future on Wallstreet? Only time will tell, but the Motley Fool certainly seems to think so.

Amazon, the internet’s biggest marketplace for DVDs and more, yesterday launched a DVD rental service in Germany. It is Amazon’s second DVD rental offering, following the launch of rentals in the U.K. late last year.

But, of course, Netfix isn’t worried.

More details here.

Just thought you might like to know. Interesting article with info about codecs and the future of legal Hollywood downloads. Always good to keep your ear to the ground.