Snakes and Transportation and an Idea That Won't Die

First there was Snakes on a Plane, then there was Snakes on a Train. Now in a continuation of the concept that won't die...there is the Cobras in the Cockpit boardgame. The twist? The players are the snakes.

An Overlooked Reason for Casino Royale's Quality

Let's face it, Casino Royale is one of the best Bond films to come to theaters for quite some time. Martin Campbell, who directed both recent Zorro movies and had previously directed Goldeneye, has been rightly praised for his work on the film. But I thought Martin Campbell's last Bond film, Goldeneye, was one of the worst Bond films to date. The tank chase was fun, but I found most of the character development elements of the film weak and I didn't think the action of Goldeneye was anywhere near as sophisticated as the action in Casino Royale.

What is the difference, the key element, that most critics are missing?

Alexander Witt.

Goldeneye's Second Unit Director, the job most in charge of action sequences, was Ian Sharp. Sharp is a competent director, with limited Second Unit work, which is apparent in his work on the classic iTV Robin of Sherwood series. He directed one of my favorite episodes of that show, Robin Hood and the Sorcerer, but his overall "action street cred" is relatively low.

Alexander Witt, on the other hand, is the Second Unit Director's Second Unit Director. Witt is maybe the best director of action sequences in the industry today. This is not to say he is a great film director, Resident Evil: Apocalypse amply displays his limitations in character work, but a quick look at his action resume reveals the reason that the action in Casino Royale was so viceral. Witt was the Second Unit Director in all the below listed films:

• The Bourne Identity
• Blackhawk Down
• Gladiator
• Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse ofthe Black Pearl
• xXx

The above list is obviously cherry picked, it doesn't include She's the Man, but it only scratches the surface of a career that also includes Always (DP on the aerial photography), Hunt for Red October (Second Unit DP), and the first Speed. These are all quality films, obviously I'm not including She's the Man in that statement, where the action sequences move quickly, stylishly, and convincingly. That is the trademark of a film where Witt is the Second Unit Director. Many have commented on the similarity of the action in Royale and that of Bourne, the common denominator is Alexander Witt who seems to be involved with films that reshape our action expectations.

Now if I can only figure out who decided to bring in action influences from last year's District 13, the foot chase after the title sequence is straight out of the Besson produced actioner.

In Casino Royale, like in the Ridley Scott films Witt worked on, we got to see the magic of the collaborative nature of film where the Director and Second Unit Director work together to create a gem. The focus many critics have on the auteur theory of film often neglects the importance of other staff working on a film while overly crediting the Director. Campbell did a great job as the director of the film, Royale had genuine pathos, but it wouldn't have been the same movie if it hadn't had Witt on the Second Unit.

IGN Offers Manga Entertainment and CPM Downloads

IGN's Direct 2 Drive entertainment download site offers movies and videogames for purchase and direct download to your PC. This service has a continually growing library which now includes Ghost in the Shell and Castle of Cagliostro. As a subsidiary of Fox, IGN's service has access to a catalogue of decent size especially when it comes of films of interest to their target audience.

Let me be straight here. I think that download services for movies and games are the future. I think they are great ideas. I am very interested in what Microsoft is doing with the 360 in this regard. What I am not so keen about it the pricing scale.

Let me get this straight. I, as the consumer, incur all the printing costs of the manuals and have to burn the CD or DVD copies of the downloads myself. My movie or television DVDs won't play in a regular player only on my PC, they had better track things like Microsoft is tracking TV shows where a login is all you need. They allow backups only, but at least they allow backups. I need my backups or I'm not even beginning to use a direct to download service. I am an old school gamer. I play Zork every now and then. You know I'll want to play Neverwinter Nights 2 in a decade, so I need the backup capability. And before you ask...yes, I know I will have to have a computer room filled with totally obsolete machines to meet my desires, that doesn't stop me from having the desires.

So let's say I print in color. That's a couple bucks in printing, and I'll have a few more cents of CD cost. Additionally, there is the time I waste waiting for the printing to happen. I am a meticulous instruction booklet reader, so I do need my copy. So I pay a couple of bucks at home for backup and printing, reducing the manufacturing costs of the game I am buying.

Do I get a price break?

Not really. I can buy X-men: The Last Stand for $19.99 and watch it on my computer screen and handheld device or my TV if I have a television card, or I can buy it for $15.87 from Amazon.

Hmm...Not much question as to which way I'll purchase the item. I might be willing to pay more to support my Local Friendly Mom and Pop Shop (LFMPS), but not to support a subsidiary of Fox.

I think that this is a great idea, but I am still waiting for the "working model."

Is This a Sign of a Coming Bollywood Invasion?

Sit Com Producer Rob Long wrote in his book Setup Joke, Setup Joke that rumors in the entertainment industry are "always true." If you want to know whether your show has been picked up by the network no one is going to tell you straight to your face one way or the other (which usually means you haven't been picked up anyway), but you will know through the rumor mill what your fate is. You will deny your fate, but like Oedipus you will end up ripping your eyes out cursing your stupidity.

The rumors are always true, unless they are tabloid rumors.

Then they are mostly true.

What does this have to do with prophesying a Bollywood invasion? Everything. It appears that there are rumors about Warner Bros. having interest in buying a 10% stake in GV Films. The Chennai based firm denies the rumor, and other rumors as well, but I keep hearing Rob Long in the back of my mind. Which makes me believe that there is some interest.

What this means for a Bollywood invasion is unclear. Warner could be interested in owning a share because of the success of the Bollywood market, they may just want some additional profits. They may want a smoother distribution for their American movies, GV Films apparently owns multiplexes and Warner recently lost ground in China. But they might, like Virgin, be seeking a way to leverage the Indian film industry into other markets. Does this mean wider releases of Bollywood epics? While that would make David Chute happy, I doubt it. More likely it will mean Hollywood style films with Indian influences, maybe more mythic tales, more musical numbers, or more multi-genre films.

I don't really know which way the wind is blowing, but I believe the rumor.

Nicholas Cage...Spiritual Warrior

Nicholas Cage is a well-known comic book fan and every comic book fan wants to be a comic book writer or artist, star in a movie as a comic book superhero, or have family that has one of these honors. With the recently announced partnership between Nicholas Cage and Virgin Comics, it appears that Mr. Cage has now achieved two of the three. I am sure it will be a trifecta by the end of next year.

Nicholas Cage will be starring in an adaptation of the Virgin Comics title The Sädhu and his son Weston will be authoring Enigma for the Bangalore, India based company.

The Sädhu appears to be a combination of a Sharpe story with the kind of story one frequently sees in the better Hong Kong period pieces about British imperialism. Think Richard Sharpe meets Wong Fei Hung, with magic, set it in India, and that looks to be a good starting point.

Practical Jokes and Feelings

Anne Thompson over at the Risky Biz blog has a post about one of the "stars" of Borat. In this case, the guy isn't suing, but he still feels shafted. Don't just read the excerpt at Biz, read the full link as well.

I think the most surprising thing about Cohen is that he never reveals the gag to the victim. Imagine an episode of Punk'd where Ashton never comes out of the woodwork and you have to wait for the episode to air before you find out that you've been taken advantage of. Think that is a stretch? Given how Vanilla Face describes the "waiver process" and how much the filming was misrepresented, one could imagine some less than scrupulous comedian improving on Punk'd by having actor's sign any kind of contract under any kind of pretense.

Korean Video Game Developers Understand Economics!

One of the things I find continually frustrating about my online gaming experiences is that I just don't have the time available to warrant the monthly fee associated with my favorite online games. It seems absurd to me to pay $15 a month for a couple of hours of entertainment where I am not able to accomplish much except watching my friends gain wealth and power while I remain a noob.

Players like me are why there is a secondary market, ie goldmining, for items, money, and higher level characters. I work and have a pretty full calendar, but I want to be able to keep up with my friends when I game. That means that I have to buy things that let me keep up. Specialty stores have arisen on the internet to give me that very option.

Before I get a lot of responses yelling at me for being a cheater, let me cut them off at the pass a little bit. I love playing online games for two reasons. I play for the story and for social interactions with people around the world. I often find it annoying when I want to do a particular instanced event when the people I team up with run through the event because they've done it twenty times. I want to experience the narrative and explore new things, and I want companions who are doing the same thing. Some people have a lot of time to play and it would be unfair for me to demand that they be bored with the same old thing, so I sometimes buy the privilege to keep up with my friends.

This isn't unusual, nor is it cheating, it's good solid economics. If you want a better car, in life, you can either build one (presuming you have the knowledge and time) or you can buy one with the largess you have acquired. That's the real world folks. As for cheating and bad economics, that is what most online game providers are doing. Let me illustrate. You have two gamers. One has near unlimited time to play and uses a large amount of server resources every day. The second has limited time and barely uses the server. Let's say one plays 80 hours a week, those 16 hour marathon weekend days are awesome, and the other plays 4. Both pay $15 dollars a month to play. One gets to do everything he or she wants, the other has a continually diminishing experience when it comes to possible play, there are just fewer people of similar power available to play with and sluggishly slow advancement can be frustrating. The 80 hour a week player, and his Czech employees, begin selling their accomplishements on the internet to the 4 hour a week player.

Both are happy, and are being economically rational. The problem is that the game company is being irrational. Not because they frown upon the secondary market or even that they try to prevent it from happening, no those are rational. The problem is that they have created an economic imbalance and refuse to acknowledge it. They allow both limited and unlimited users to access at the same rate which is economically irrational. They then complain when people who get what is essentially a discounted rate take advantage of their time and sell the spoils. Sorry, you don't get to do that. You have two rational options at this point, from an economic perspective. Either charge by the amount of time used, which will be very unpopular, or allow those who have less time and more money to purchase advancement and items from you, which has a bi-product of eliminating or diminishing the black market you oppose anyway.

Some key Korean developers understand this process and have begun to implement it in a Free to Play system where you can buy, for micro fees, in game advancements. Trust me, this is the way to go.

Eli Broad to Tribune, "I don't take no for an answer."

According to the Hollywood Reporter, it appears that following his initial refused bid to purchase the Los Angeles Times from Tribune Co., Eli Broad has decided to buy Tribune Co. in partnership with RON BURKLE. One can imagine the conversation went a little like this...

A PLAYGROUND in MIDDLE AMERICA children cheer the departure of DUSTY BAKER from the CUBS in the background. ELI BROAD,and TRI BUNECO, are having an argument about UGLY LAT IMES who is baffled by the attention. RON BURKLE is playing stickball with some of the happy youth.

ELI BROAD

(Shouting above the celebratory hollers of "Just Wait Til Next Year!")

I don't like the way you've been treating LAT, and I'll give you four ice cream bars if you stop beating her up and let me play doctor.

TRI BUNECO

No way! She's going to keep giving me her lunch money, and she's going to sell her shoes if she has to in order to give me $5.00 everyday. I can't make it on $4.95!

(ELI and TRI have a brief scuffle when it becomes apparent that TRI is a better fighter)

ELI
(Defiantly)
I don't take no for an answer you punk!

TRI
Whatever!
(Breaks LAT's glasses just for fun)

(ELI walks over to the stickball game and talks with RON BURKLE. They both start walking back toward TRI and LAT. BURKLE is carrying the stickball stick.)

ELI

Fine! You won't let me play doctor with LAT, then Ron and I will play stickball with your head!

NBC Expands Internetelevision

Those of us who have been disappointed that NBC wasn't offering full episodes of The Office on their website, and those of you who like Passions, now have reason to rejoice. NBC will be making episodes of these shows available for viewing on internetelevision. Online versions of The Office will feature additional scenes and extra footage.

The Office was one of the first shows available for purchase on iTunes and its movement over to internetelevision, as well as still being available on iTunes, shows how quickly the dynamics of internetelevision are changing from a purchase to an ad funded enterprise, or at least an industry with a combination of funding sources (see Xbox story below to see how the show purchase environment is expanding).

The On Demand Future is Here

Owners of Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console will soon be able to download video entertainment content directly to their console's hard drive starting on November 22. You know, the non-interactive kind. According to the Hollywood Reporter, "The first wave of content will include dozens of high-definition and standard-definition offerings from such partners as Warner Bros. ("Batman Forever," "V for Vendetta," "The Nine"), Paramount Pictures ("Nacho Libre," "Jackass: The Movie"), MTV Networks ("South Park," "SpongeBob SquarePants"), CBS ("CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Survivor") and Turner Broadcasting ("Aqua Teen Hunger Force," "Robot Chicken")." Consumers will also be able to purchase television shows and watch those from their Xbox device as well.

In light of this development, one can begin to see the future battles of the video entertainment delivery world. Microsoft's decision will make it a competitor of Netflix, TiVo, and the various developing online on demand networks like Innertube. Given that Microsoft is entering the game at this, possibly, late stage Microsoft is having to develop a purchasing system consistent with its competitors. Though pricing information hasn't been revealed, methodology has. Movie purchases will follow a rental model of purchase/watch once/auto-erase which puts it in line with DVD mail companies and Cable On Demand purchases. Television purchases will work differently and be "purchase-to-own" in nature, this means buyers will be able to watch television shows they purchase from any Xbox by using their Xbox Live account. Given that Microsoft's main competitors in the TV watching demographic are free online services like CBS's Innertube, this is the most interesting aspect of the Microsoft decision.

It appears that my earlier statements that the internet will become television are still true, but I should also add that television will become the internet and it won't be that crappy WebTV either.