Movie Website Updates for September 9 - September 15

September 16, 2006

High quantity on sites this week, but many of them were for new releases, most of which haven't had any updates in a while. Those that did have updates were generally quite small, but one site stood above them all, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny - Official Site, which is easily the winner of the Weekly Website Award.

Al Franken: God Spoke - Official Site
There's another blog entry, but the clips are still marked coming soon. I shouldn't be surprised since it's quite common for clips not to be added till after the movie opens, but it's still disappointing.

Artie Lange's Beer League - Official Site
Most of the usual features are here, (character bios replace cast & crew bios), as well as a rather fun, but definitely not safe for work pinball game. However, overall the site doesn't sell the film very well.

Aurora Borealis - Official Site
No real changes in a while.

The Black Dahlia - Official Site
8 clips were added to the site. Overall this is an excellent site with all of the usual features, (synopsis, cast & crew bios, image gallery, and trailer), as well as extras like the aforementioned video clips as well as more unusual features. Easily worthy of the award it won.

Casino Royale - Official Site
New trailer. He he he he he! Okay, in all seriousness, that trailer worried me. I guess with a new Bond comes a new tone. The movie looks good, but I'm not sure it looks like Bond. I'll have to see more before I'm sold. Also up this week are some new games, another blog entry and more.

Code Name: The Cleaner - Official Site
Just the synopsis, image gallery, and the trailer, none of which sold me on the movie.

Confetti - Official Site
Not much has changed since the site was last on this column. It's a fun site with all the features you would expect.

The Departed - Official Site
The bios were added to the list, but it still feels like an overgrown placeholder site and not a full site.

Dreamland - Official Site
All the basics are here, but it doesn't have a very polished feel.

Employee of the Month - Official Site
The poker game was added to the site, but it's not Texas Hold'Em. It's also not against an opponent. So really, it's not real poker.

Everyone's Hero - Official Site
Nothing new this week, but overall the site's well done and should sell the movie to the target audience.

Flags of Our Fathers - Official Site
The trailer was added to the site, as was the synopsis. The phrase, "Oscar favorite" will likely be bandied about from now till Oscar night.

Flushed Away - Official Site
There's a new trailer on the site, but I can't decide if it's a step up or a step back. I think it sells the film better to the family crowd than to the adult animation aficionados like myself.

Flyboys - Official Site
The little game that you can playing while the site is loading is target practice against an enemy plane. I think it should be expanded into a full game for the site.

The Genius Club - Official Site
Just the trailer so far, which took a long time to load and wasn't worth the wait.

Ghost Rider - Official Site
The video blog entry this week deals with the lengthy time the film spent in development hell, but they never really let on if the process was tormenting or not, which it probably was.

Gridiron Gang - Official Site
No real changes since the site was last on this list. It's a good site with plenty of video clips, but not enough to be an award-winning site.

The Ground Truth - Official Site
No real changes in the site for a while, but it sells the site well to its target audience. I'm not sure it will draw in too many others, which could leave it preaching to the choir.

The Guardian - Official Site
The cast & crew bios and production notes were added to the site.

Haven - Official Site
Just the synopsis and trailer. At least there's a good song for the background music.

Keeping Mum - Official Site
There's not much here, just the basics. Add in no sound or animation and it has a tough time selling the film. On the other hand, the trailer alone was enough to convince me to at least give the film a rental.

The Last King of Scotland - Official Site
All the usual features are here, but the heart of the site is a timeline that has both text and clips. These clips can also be found in the video section.

The Last Kiss - Official Site
This is a good site overall with the usual features as well as extras like video clips. There are two sections that make it stand out, Choices and A Day In the Life with Zach. The first one is a semi-interaction clips show, while the second is a 16-part video blog. I prefer the second feature more, but both help the site stand out a bit more.

Man of the Year - Official Site
There's a new placeholder site, but no new content.

Ratatouille - Official Site
They finally fixed the broken link to the trailer. Excellent teaser trailer, gives more than enough information to sell the film while leaving the viewer wanting more. On a side note, when the one rat mentions muscling past the gag reflex, I think he should say, "all kinds of gastronomic possibilities open up." The word gastronomic is a funnier word, especially since it would be used to describe eating something unidentified.

Saw III - Official Site
The full site is up, but I need to give way too much information to get into the site.

School for Scoundrels - Official Site
A clip was added to the site, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping for.

Spider-Man 3 - Official Site
The latest video blog entry is with Bruce Campbell discussing his roles in the franchise so far.

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny - Official Site
The site's been completely redesigned, and the intro alone makes it award-worthy. The intro has Jack Black and Kyle Gass getting the site ready by giving instructions on how to make it cool, "Paint it black!" I love it when they produce content for the site and not just grab audio and / or video clips from the movie. As for the actual content, there's most of the usual stuff, (synopsis, cast / crew / character bios, image gallery, trailer), as well as extras like video clips, (all the old Hell O'clock News segments are here as well as a new one, just for the ladies). There are two other extras, Global Mosh and As*trology. Global Mosh lets you create an avatar that will be part of the mosh pit holding up the guys while As*trology lets you know your future by the bumps on your butt. I like what happens when you place too many bumps. I'm still not 100% sold on the movie; it certainly looks creative, but sometimes creativity run wild is not a good thing. It is likely that I'm going to have to wait for peer reviews on this one. In the meantime, the website is easily the best of the bunch this week and the winner of the pertinacious Weekly Website Award.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon - Official Site
Not much has changed since the site was last on the site.

Unaccompanied Minors - Official Site
Just the synopsis, image gallery, and trailer. I realize I'm not in the target demographic of this film, but the trailer still seems like it could use some work.


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Filed under: Movie Website Updates, Spider-Man 3, Ratatouille, Casino Royale, The Departed, Ghost Rider, Saw III, Flushed Away, The Guardian, Gridiron Gang, Man of the Year, Flags of Our Fathers, Employee of the Month, The Black Dahlia, School for Scoundrels, The Last King of Scotland, Unaccompanied Minors, Everyone's Hero, Flyboys, The Last Kiss, Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny, Code Name: The Cleaner, Keeping Mum, The U.S. vs John Lennon, Artie Lange's Beer League, Confetti, Haven, Al Franken: God Spoke, Aurora Borealis, The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends