Blockbuster Favors Facebook Users

Ok, is anyone else fired up with Blockbuster over their preferential treatment of Facebook users?

This weekend I finally spent some time setting-up an account on Facebook. I was thrilled when I learned that they have a new Facebook widget called Movie Clique and that you can link it to your exisiting Blockbuster Online account.

What pissed me off was when I learned that they were offering THE SAME TYPE OF SUBSCRIPTION for a much lower rate to Facebook users! Talk about feeling as though I was just slapped in the face with a book from these corporate executives.

I'm paying $19.99/month and new subscribers through this Facebook application will only be charged a whopping $3.99/month.

I may be missing something, but even if it's only a special introductory offer for a few months it's still much cheaper than the one I was offered ($14.99 for the first 3 months).

I wonder why there's such a major difference between in-store customers and online customers who sign up for this subscription.

Who decides these things?

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY...

So, I see that Wifey posted recently by putting a cute little Christmas widget of our family on here a few weeks back.

Uh-huh. I get it.

She likes to post on here, but doesn't like to do movie reviews of the classics as planned! Just kidding Wifey. The amount of time since our last movie date is just as much my fault as it is yours.

(Have to write that so I'm not on the couch tonight)

As we approach the end of the year with only 3 movies reviewed since we started this way back in July/August I've decided to shake things up - - dramatically.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: Instead of reviewing only the movies from the AFI list, we will post reviews on EVERY movie we rent and watch from this point forward. That includes classics, new releases and personal favorites.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride! Things should get a lot more interesting around here fast.

Merry Christmas!

REVIEW: Rear Window

Seeing this post you're probably just as shocked as I was when Wifey came to me on Saturday night (10:15pm to be exact) and said, "Why don't we watch Rear Window as our next OMD movie?" It's been a month since our last review so of course I said YES even though Bonnie & Clyde was listed as our next film - - oh well! This 1954 Alfred Hitchcock classic is #48 on the all-time greatest list so it actually beat out Taxi Driver, which was #52. Watch Trailer.

WIFEY'S REVIEW

So, we are onto our 3rd movie and I must say this one was pretty good. We’re on a roll now! This is the 2nd movie in a row that’s in color so now I’m having fun!

We started our movie date on Saturday at 10:28pm, but then had to stop it at 11:50pm seeing my Hubby and I were falling asleep, but then picked it back up on Sunday at 9:49pm and finished it at 10:35pm, and this is how it went…

I have to laugh at these old movies because the scenery is so fake. One big thing that really bothered me this whole movie was that no one in their apartments had window shades up and for some reason if there was one or two you could see right through them! Not something I would want in my apartment with all those peeping toms!

Ok, so this guy the main character is named L.B. Jeffries and he is wheelchair bound seeing as how he broke his leg (which we have no clue how and they don’t give you a lot a background on this fellow) and he has this wonderful girlfriend taking care of him, but do you think for once he wanted to marry her? NO! All he wanted was someone to cook and take care of him. SCUM!!! I guess even back then men were afraid of commitment.

Here’s a question…Why is it called Rear Window? When I hear that I think that I’m sitting in a car not an apartment in his living room. Anyways, here’s some positive feedback. I really liked the suspense that this movie gave me because there were times I was clutching onto Hubby’s arm wondering if someone else was going to get whacked.

I also liked the fact that they were laid back actresses and actors. I can’t tell you how many times they screwed up their lines and they kept on going.

***WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! MOVIE ENDING GIVEN AWAY!***

So, here’s the end result of this movie. The girlfriend of L.B. Jeffries goes and gets arrested for breaking and entering the murderer’s apartment and she gets all the evidence needed to put this guy behind bars and all he does is say thanks, but still no marriage! He falls out of his window while fighting with the murderer and the movie ends with him having 2 broken legs.

I would say that this movie moves right to the front of the line. I give it 4 Ben & Jerry’s. So long until next time!

HUBBY'S REVIEW

I was absolutely thrilled when Wifey suggested we watch Rear Window. To be honest, I have a bit of a man crush on James Stewart not to mention Alfred Hitchcock. Both were some of the all-time greats in their profession. Throw in Grace Kelly (I'm not much of a guy who likes blondes, but B-B-BABY!!!) and you have a recipe for a great film. I also thought it was pretty neat that this was the first Hitchcock movie that Lindsay had ever seen.

So, the stage was set and we were ready to rock and roll. For those of you who haven't seen this classic, but are wondering if there's a modern equivalent think of this past year's hit Disturbia.

This particular film is completely Hitchcockian (what a fun word!) in that it's another visual study of human nature.

Nurse Stella, the no-nonsense, straight-shooter said it best in one of the opening lines of the film when she said, "We've become a race of Peeping Toms. What people outta do is get out of the house and look in at their own lives for a change." Certainly, the same could be said for today's reality-show saturated society.

The film does take some time to build up some speed and suspense and I think that was bugging Lindsay. After about an hour, she looked like she wanted to throw herself out of a window!

I kept trying to tell her, however, that movies back then were all about the story, the acting and the directing. They were so much more well written than they are today. The actors were "real" too. They just felt like people you could know in your life and identify with. Yet, when they did fumble their lines a few times I felt like I was watching an episode of Lindsay's favorite soap General Hospital.

A majority of the camera angles are from inside L.B. Jeffries' (played by James Stewart) apartment. Hitchcock brilliantly put the audience in the SAME position as our hero when you think about it because the moviegoers would've been in a darkened theater looking through a window of sorts (i.e. movie screen) seeing the same things from the same perspective. A really neat twist that I never thought of before.

I won't ruin how it ends, but I will say that the last 20-30 minutes are some of the most suspenseful scenes in the movie and in movie history at the time.

In conclusion, this classic is simply a study of obsessive human curiosity and voyeurism.

I give it 4 Ben & Jerry's as well, which means this film gets a OMD rating of 4 Ben & Jerry's Ice Creams.

Oh yeah, and I think the reason why EVERYONE's apartment was visible due to open windows was because of the unprecedented heat wave that swept through that part of Manhattan that week of the summer. They were all trying to stay as cool as possible.

At least I'd like to think that a master of cinema like Hitchcock would've thought of this and had an explanation built into the story.

Brits Have It Right

At least our English counterparts know horror when they see it.

Earlier today, I wrote a post about a TIME online article in which Bambi is included as one of the "Top 25 Horror Movies of All Time."

It was refreshing to read just a few hours later about a recent British poll that voted on the scariest movies of all time. Specifically, the "HMV 2007 Annual Horror Poll Top 10."

Oh yeah, missing from their list? No cartoon characters and especially not Bambi!

The Exorcist took the top spot followed by The Shining and Halloween respectively.

Nice job! Cheerio!

We're Baaaacckk!

We thought it was fitting to make a formal announcement on Halloween that no we haven't forgotten about this project of ours.

We realize it's been a full month and a half since our last review, but things have been EXTREMELY crazy lately (here's a secret...Wifey's been a stick in the mud on this! LOL). And by "crazy" I mean to say that Wifey has been dragging her feet on wanting to watch another classic film.

That's right, I wrote it. I get the distinct feeling that she's none too thrilled about watching 73 more movies, several of which were at the theaters BEFORE she was even born. If it doesn't have color, a love story element, and a name and a face that she recognizes she doesn't want to see it!

She'll probably tell you that it's my turn to pick the next movie we watch so it's my responsibility to make things happen. Good excuse. I would respond by saying that it's kinda hard (the thrill is gone) when my partner in crime doesn't seem as excited as me about all of this. In fact, I don't even think she's read the last review posted about Taxi Driver yet.

That gives me an idea! Maybe what she needs is a movie that has more of a romantic element to it or a love interest of some kind.

Maybe we'll go with Bonnie & Clyde next. That settles it! Consider it done!

Lastly, in an effort to update this on a more regular basis (weekly is the plan) we're going to make a "rule" that every time we order 3 new movies from our Blockbuster Online account we have to make sure that at least 1 of them is from our OMD Queue.

That should speeds things up a bit.

Thank you to those of you who have patiently followed this site anxiously waiting for the next review. The wait is finally over!

Who Knew?

Who knew that a Disney cartoon from 1942 could strike fear and horror into the hearts of men and women everywhere?

Thanks to TIME for releasing this list of their Top 25 Horror Movies yesterday.

One entry they included on this list clearly illustrates the absurdity that can some times override our better judgment.

Surprisingly, they listed Bambi (1942) as one of the “Top 25 Horror Movies of All Time” because the film has a “primal shock that still haunts oldsters who saw it 40, 50, 65 years ago.”

Seriously? Seriously.

That’s interesting because I’ve never heard about anyone walking into a Blockbuster Video store on Halloween night looking for Bambi.

REVIEW: Taxi Driver

It's been almost an entire month since our last post and a 2 full months since our first review. I'm pleased to report that we've finally completed our second movie date. This time it was the #52 movie on AFI's list - - Taxi Driver.

This 1976 classic directed by Martin Scorsese and starring a very young Robert De Niro is at its simplest a story about a NYC cabbie who's ready to snap. Yet, like the main character there's so much more going un beneath the surface. Watch Trailer.


WIFEY'S REVIEW

Ok, second movie date and I got to choose this one. I was thinking a nice movie with some action seeing it was about driving in a taxi. Boy was I wrong!!!

We started the movie around 8:30pm and ended at 11pm. I had to stop at points to collect myself. This was a very hard movie to sit through. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think I would watch Citizen Kane 10 more times before I watch this one again.

This is how it went down...

In the beginning, there was lots of music and hardly any talking (BORING) and then Robert De Niro as the main actor (he was a VERY negative man). Not only was he a pill popper and a drinker, but he was also addicted to porn movie theaters (not someone I want driving me around). But I can say that when it came to asking a lady out he was very confident. He marched right into her office and asked her right out. His only downfall was that on the first date he took her to a movie. A porn movie!

One thing that really bothered me was that this guy Travis only slept once during the whole 2.5 hours we watched this movie. This was a very slow movie until we got to the very last half hour where it quickly became a violent movie.

Travis flipped out and wanted to kill all the pimps in the movie. Oh, did I forget to mention Jodi Foster (all of 13) was the main prostitute in the movie? Nice. So, the ending consisted of a major bloodbath. Sooooo not a chick flick!

I would rate this movie 1 out of 5 Ben & Jerry's Ice Creams. Next movie, I promise, will be a chick flick in some way!


HUBBY'S REVIEW

I guess it's fitting that waiting for this movie date was like waiting for a taxi in a major city.

I had seen this movie just once before and that was back in 1998 so this was like a new one to me. I knew from one of the opening lines ("Thank God for the rain that washed the garbage and the trash off the sidewalks...") that this was going to be a positive and uplifting film.

On a side note before I get started, what was America's fascination with taxi's in the '70s? Wasn't there a TV show - - a comedy - - about taxi drivers? Was that the glamorous profession of choice back then? But I digress.

Only 20 minutes into the movie I wrote down that Lindsay's face looked "priceless" so we were off to another great start.

I really like Wifey's point about De Niro's character Travis. This guy was a pretty shadey character himself. Ironic, because he hates everyone he deems "immoral" on the city streets ("This city is like an open sewer..."). Perhaps he hates them because they remind him of the things he hates about himself.

Movie Date Tip #1: On a first date, never, ever take her to a porno!

Movie Date Tip #2: The next day when you call to make nice, never, ever suggest that maybe the reason why she reacted the way she did is because she had "a virus" and is sick!

How twisted is that? This guy labels everyone who's not like him as being the problem. CLICHE ALERT: Now that's the pot calling the kettle black.

I did note how it was interesting to me that the same things that the public debates today (i.e. social issues/causes) were being debated by cabbies on their break back in the mid-'70s.

The gratuitous violence aside (nothing compared to today's standards, but at the time considered so), a couple of my major complaints involve stereotypes. First, why is it that Hollywood portrayed EVERY Vietnam Veteran as a social outcast who was a mass murderer in waiting? Remember Rambo? Second, why is it that Hollywood portrayed (and continues to potray) Christians as wackos ready to kill?

I can't remember the last time I heard about a war veteran or a Christian going on a killing spree. Quite the contrary! Just bothers me every time.

Wifey also mentioned the Jodi Foster character. If I remember correctly, Scorsese took a lot of heat for allowing an underage Foster to potray a prostitute in this film and there were allegations of subjecting her to a form of child abuse through this role.

It's frightening to think that there are people like this guy walking around every day and that these ticking time bombs are just waiting to explode.

It's fascinating that if Travis would've killed the Senator and Presidential candidate he would've been a villain. He kills a member of the mafia and a pimp (and saves a young runaway prostitute in the process) and he's instead a hero.

In the end, the entire movie is a prime example of what the world and society is like once God is removed. When people's hearts and minds are constantly focused on things like sin, the result is unfortunately a world that resembles the evil that exists in those innermost hidden parts. Only by changing hearts and minds to meditate on good, pure things will the world finally change for the better.

I gave Taxi Driver 3 Ben & Jerry's Ice Creams out of 5. Under our rating system that means that this movie earns 2 Ben & Jerry's Ice Creams from OMD.

We're Back!

It's been a long time since our last official movie-related post and I'm sure many of you thought this project was six-feet-under after only one screening.

Simply not true! As the summer winds down, things seem to be heating up since we've had family get-together after family get-together week-after-week for the last 2-3 weeks. Needless to say, it's been a little difficult finding the time to sit down and watch another movie.

However, things are returning to normal around here and Wifey has picked the next movie we'll be reviewing - - Taxi Driver.

I can't wait!

'Mo Money, No 'Mo Problems

This is way off topic, but we just had to share because it's truly an amazing blessing and hopefully an inspiring story for others in a similar position.

At the start of the year, our goal was to eliminate as much debt as possible. We're the first to admit that for a long time - - too long - - we were VERY irresponsible with our money and the resources that the good Lord gave us. In fact, our money seemed to tell us what to do instead of the other way around.

Realistically, we knew that we couldn't eliminate all of our debt in just 1 year so we decided that if we could at least eliminate the credit card debt (spread out across 3 different credit cards!) we'd consider it a HUGE success and a good start.

I'm extremely happy to report that in just 8 months (4 months ahead of schedule!) we paid off a total of $28, 923.69!!! It was probably closing to $30K, but I couldn't find our Transaction Register for the first month after we began all this.

It definitely wasn't easy, but it was definitely worth the sacrifice. Wifey and I created a strict monthly budget, tithed weekly, fought every now and then (like I said, it wasn't easy!) and often didn't have a single dollar in our wallets to spend during the last 8 months after weekly/monthly bills were paid.

While much of the credit (no pun intended!) goes to national financial guru Dave Ramsey and his MyTotalMoneyMakeover program/advice ALL OF THE CREDIT GOES TO GOD for answering our prayers in a way we never could've imagined.

Don't be a slave to your money any longer. Enjoy the freedom of paying for things with cash instead of credit. It is possible to live debt free regardless of what this world tells you. We're living proof as we continue on a path towards financial freedom!

I Have Something To Spout About...

Ok, I have 2 things to "spout" about actually.

First, take a seat Blogger because that cool Spout.com widget (you know, the one where you can create a personalized movie list that scrolls from left to right to display the actual movie posters of the films we've reviewed) doesn't work properly on your site anymore and it hasn't since last week. At least people from Spout and WidgetBox got back to me in a timely manner - - twice each - - to point out that everything's ok on their end. Please exterminate any bugs so that we can get that back up on our sidebar! That was probably the coolest feature of this entire site!

Second, the silence from Wifey this week has been deafening. I wonder if having to sit through her very first black-and-white movie was enough to make her rethink this whole thing. We'll see. Perhaps she'll surprise all of us with a selection for a second movie date this weekend. Besides, it's her choice to make this time around.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.

REVIEW: Citizen Kane

Finally! Last night was our first official movie date to kick off this project. While we'll be choosing movies at random (and alternating from Wifey's pick to Hubby's pick) we decided we had to start off with the #1 film on AFI's list - - Citizen Kane. If nothing else, at least we'll know what every other movie we watch needs to be compared to. Watch Trailer.

The movie was scheduled to start at 9pm, but we never got started until about 9:20pm due to "technical difficulties" (translation: Hubby pulled his hair out trying to get all the plugs set-up correctly between the DVD player, TV and DISH Network box; we then spent another 10 minutes trying to figure out how to turn the damn Subtitles off!).

When the movie finally started we were both ready to go. We had our snacks and a notebook by our sides. The plan was to write down ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING that came to mind and/or happened during our movie date.



WIFEY'S REVIEW

Ok, so we tried starting the movie last night at 9pm and WOW did it start off with a lot a problems! First off, we couldn’t get the DVD to work down on the better TV in the house and when we finally did get it to work the captions were on and then that took us another 5-10 minutes to figure out how to turn them off, so when we finally got everything under control the real fun began!

1st complaint - - BLACK & WHITE!!!!
2nd complaint - - In the beginning, there were these black specks all over the screen! You know, the one’s only on REALLY old movies (sorry to those who may be offended by this).

9:40pm. I have NO CLUE on what’s going on in the movie. They’ve shown more animals, deaths, and divorces then I’ve seen in my whole entire life! So, as you can see, this movie is way out of my league!

So I’m sitting there watching this and the first thing I keep thinking about is “Has Warren Buffet seen this movie?” For those who haven’t seen this movie, it’s about a man who runs a newspaper company, who came into his fame and fortune by the age of 8 when his parents gave him away so they could then have money. See, it was all about money back then and as well as today.

Another thing I realized about this movie is that a majority of the props in the movie where fake (i.e. the rain was made from shinny streamers; the flames were fake made from cloth and lighting; etc.). Also, I thought Jeff was a workaholic! Kane slept in his office, which would be the day I would be ok with Jeff doing that.

One thing I didn’t like about this movie was that Kane was given his fame and fortune without really having to earn it himself. What’s that teaching the audience? No wonder his wives were so unhappy with such a greedy man!

So, with all that being said, I would give this movie 2 Ben & Jerry’s out of 5!

HUBBY'S REVIEW

I have to start by saying that I'm very impressed by Lindsay. This was the FIRST black-and-white movie she's ever watched! By 9:30pm (or just 10 minutes in) I could tell by the look on her face that she was dying for this movie to end and I even wrote down in my notebook that maybe this wasn't such a good idea. But, if she continues to write good, honest reviews like the one above this is going to work out better than I thought.

This was my third time watching this movie and I loved it as much as the first! AFI was right to put this at the top of their list 10 years ago and they were right to keep it there again this time around. No other American film has ever come close to being as complete as this one is.

This 1941 classic introduced Hollywood and the American public to one of the greatest filmmakers/actors of all time. Orson Welles, at only 25 years old, not only starred as the main character Charles Foster Kane, but he also wrote and directed this masterpiece.

Without getting too deep, Welles was the FIRST filmmaker to truly use a movie as an art form. This is demonstrated by the way he meticulously arranged EVERY SINGLE DETAIL (from the position of the Actors/Actresses, Shot,Camera Angle, Lighting, Sound, Dialogue, etc.) in order so that they would ALL contribute to the overall theme of the story. Bottom line, there's a reason why this movie is used in film schools across the country as teaching tool and why entire semesters are devoted to analyzing just a handful of scenes.

I don't think she mentioned it in here review, but Wifey commented at one point that Welles reminded her of the 1940's version of Leonardo DiCaprio and I think that's a good observation. Another point she made after the movie that I never thought of is how the Charles Kane character in the beginning says he "gagged on the silver spoon in his mouth..." although as he grew in power and fame it seemed to change him to the point where he couldn't live without being spoon-fed attention from others. Tragically, with or without it he was still a lost man.

So, what's the movie about? Simply put, it's about a man who had everything and then lost it all. It's about the "American Dream" becoming an American nightmare for one man. I'm just glad our first movie date didn't meet a similar fate.

I give this movie 5 Ben & Jerry's out of 5! Under our rating system, that means that Citizen Kane receives 3.5 Ben and Jerry's from OMD.

Introducing The OMD Queue

The anticipation's been building and we are pleased to present the Our Movie Date Queue (or the list of movies we'll be reviewing). Again, the rule was that if only one of us had seen a particular movie from the AFI list we had to watch it together.

We'll be selecting movies at random, one-by-one, and each time we review a movie we'll provide some details to keep things fun (i.e. Title, Brief Summary, Release Date, Awards, AFI Rank, OMD Rating and of course our own comments).

The following is the list of 69 movies we have to watch giving the Title, AFI Rank and Name of Person who never saw the movie.



Citizen Kane (AFI #1 / Wifey)
Casablanca (#3 / Both)
Raging Bull (#4 / Wifey)
Singin' in the Rain (#5 / Both)
Gone With the Wind (#6 / Both)
Lawrence of Arabia (#7 / Both)
Vertigo (#9 / Wifey)
The Searchers (#12 / Both)
2001: A Space Odyssey (#15 / Wifey)
Sunset Boulevard (#16 / Both)
The Graduate (#17 / Wifey)
On the Waterfront (#19 / Both)
It's A Wonderful Life (#20 / Wifey)
Chinatown (#21 / Wifey)
Some Like It Hot (#22 / Both)
Grapes of Wrath (#23 / Both)
To Kill A Mockingbird (#25 / Hubby)
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (#26 / Both)
High Noon (#27 / Both)
All About Eve (#28 / Both)
Double Indemnity (#29 / Wifey)
Apocalypse Now (#30 / Wifey)
Maltese Falcon (#31 / Both)
Godfather Series (#32, #33, #34 / Wifey)
Annie Hall (#35 / Wifey)
Bridge Over River Kwai (#36 / Both)
Best Years of Our Lives (#37 / Both)
Treasure of Sierra Madre (#38 / Both)
Dr. Strangelove (#39 / Wifey)
Bonnie & Clyde (#42 / Both)
Midnight Cowboy (#43 / Both)
Philadelphia Story (#44 / Both)
Shane (#45 / Both)
It Happened One Night (#46 / Both)
A Streetcar Named Desire (#47 / Both)
Rear Window (#48 / Wifey)
Taxi Driver (#52 / Wifey)
Deer Hunter (#53 / Wifey)
MASH (#54 / Both)
North By Northwest (#55 / Wifey)
Nashville (#59 / Both)
Sullivan's Travel (#61 / Both)
American Graffitti (#62 / Wifey)
Cabaret (#63 / Both)
Network (#64 / Wifey)
African Queen (#65 / Both)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe? (#67 / Both)
Unforgiven (#69 / Wifey)
Tootsie (#70 / Wifey)
A Clockwork Orange (#71 / Wifey)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (#73 / Both)
In The Heat of the Night (#75 / Both)
All the President's Men (#77 / Both)
The Wild Bunch (#79 / Both)
The Apartment (#80 / Both)
Spartacus (#81 / Both)
Easy Rider (#85 / Both)
A Night At The Opera (#86 / Both)
12 Angry Men (#87 / Wifey)
Bringing Up Baby (#88 / Both)
Swing Time (#90 / Both)
Sophie's Choice (#91 / Both)
Goodfellas (#92 / Wifey)
The French Connection (#93 / Wifey)
The Last Picture Show (#95 / Both)
Do The Right Thing (#96 / Both)
Blade Runner (#97 / Both)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (#98 / Both)
Ben Hur (#100 / Both)

Man, is that a lot of typing!

False Information!

OK, so last night we never made it through the movie. We never even watched it! First off, it was just shy of 2 hours long and second off it was 11:00pm when we were going to start it. What was I thinking? So, we might give it a shot tonight. Stay tuned to find out the results.

And So It Begins...

OK tonight is Wednesday and the hubby and I are going to start Citizen Kane. Not too sure if I'm excited about starting a black and white film first, but hey there is a first for everything. So stay tuned and I'll let you know if I made it through the whole movie without falling asleep!

Netflix Needs To Be Netfixed

18 hours. That's how long the online hub of Netflix's rental system was down for, locking out susbscribers from Monday evening until Tuesday afternoon. The frustration as felt by both customers and investors alike.

Even worse, the timing of the breakdown was especially awkward because it occurred shortly after Netflix executives had briefed industry analysts on plans to improve its customer service. Ouch!

As an Owner of a National Recruiting Firm that relies heavily on the Internet for generating business, I can only imagine the damage done to the perception of Netflix in the mind of the customer and also the damage done to their stock price on Wall Street (a reported 7% drop in shares!).

I'm glad the Blockbuster Rep talked me into joining their service instead. Besides, you can't beat being able to drop off and/or swap DVDs at a local store for faster processing instead of relying on the snail mail.

Just make sure you remember to put the DVD in the sealed envelope they send you before dropping it off in the drop box. Wifey's still ragging on me about that one.

Rating System

Every movie critic has a rating system (i.e. stars, thumbs, tomatoes, etc.), but what will be the rating system for OMD? Wifey suggested pints of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream since that was the snack of choice each and every movie date when we were dating. That's actually a pretty good one. Couches come to mind too since we'll be spending all of out time sitting there while watching these movies. If you have any ideas feel free to share them.

Also, each movie MUST receive 1 of whatever we choose and no more than 5. I think the best way for us to determine the movie's OMD Rating is to calculate the difference between both scores.

We'll include these ratings on the Spout widget to the right after we've reviewed a film. Simply scroll over the movie poster for the Movie Title and OMD Rating.

Cool Features

The site is coming along nicely. In fact, there's a chance we'll be reviewing our first movie this weekend! I'm amazed at how easy it is for a rookie like me to be able to create a blog from scratch. You've probably noticed a few widgets on the right sidebar as well as a blogroll. I thought I'd give a brief overview of what they are and why they're here to begin with. Enjoy!

WIDGETS

The "Do We Have A Date?" widget is your classic "Subscribe" button. We'd be thrilled if you subscribed to our feeds.

The next 3 sections offer up some background information. The picture's almost 3 years old (already!?!), but we're still the same dashing couple with movie-star good looks today.

The next widget is pretty cool! Offered from Spout.com (an online community of movie lovers) it will display a scrolling banner of movie posters. The twist? We'll only add posters for the movies we have a date to review (or have reviewed). Scroll your pointer over each movie poster for some comments.

The "Date Diaries" is your classic blog Archives section. Here we'll catalog anything and everything related to our movie dates.

The "Movie Daters" widget will be a visual display of all the members of the OurMovieDate community. Click the box to set-up your own personal account at MyBlogLog.com where they keep track of the blogs you visit most often. Then, each time you visit a site with this feature your personal avatar will be on display.

No movie site is complete without the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) News Ticker. Keep track of breaking news stories from Hollywood.

The stay-at-home movie dater is lost without an up-to-the-minute guide on New Releases at your local video store. This widget proudly scrolls through each New Release for the current week.

DATE BLOGROLL

It seems like EVERY blog has a section for their Top 25 links. Here's ours...

Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Got a question about a movie? Chances are the Internet Movie Database has the answer. IMDb is simply the biggest and best movie site on the Web.

All Movie Guide

This movie guide started as a music resource and has grown into an entertainment database of admirable size. Explore films of various genres or read about recent and upcoming movies.

All Release Dates

The latest and upcoming movie DVD release dates.

Blockbuster/Netflix

The King and Queen of the movie rental industry.

MovieFone

Offers about the same services as Fandango, but with a wider selection of downloadable movies and trailers.

Fandango

If you have any desire to see the latest blockbuster, you know you will have to get those tickets early - - before you even step into the Cineplex. To buy tickets ahead of time, without the hassle of waiting in line, go to Fandango.

Box Office Mojo

Box office data, analysis and much more.

Hollywood Reporter

"The Reporter was the first daily trade paper for the entertainment industry."

Entertainment Weekly

The U.S. magazine with lots on movies, reviews, interviews etc.

Film Monthly

A monthly e-zine providing reviews, commentary on films, video/DVD, and television programs and events. The coolest thing about this site is that everything is written and published by a group of entertainment industry professionals throughout the country.

Film.com

"Bringing a critical perspective to the world of film..."

The Greatest Films

A great resource for our purposes! Specializing in classic Hollywood and American films with detailed overviews of the greatest films in cinematic history.

Classic Film Guide

Another excellent resource for the purposes of our site! A site designed to celebrate great movies as well as to introduce (or reintroduce) films that have been forgotten, or even neglected, in today's myopic film industry.

Rotten Tomatoes

This site started out as a forum for honest moviegoers to critique the latest box office releases. Using the age-old technique of throwing rotten fruit at bad films, Rotten Tomatoes' critics rate movies with ripe red tomatoes or rotten green splats. Movies are certified fresh when they have a high "Tomatometer" rating and have 40 reviews or more. We like the ability to read many different viewpoints.

Past the Popcorn

Reviews and essays on Past the Popcorn will attempt a serious analysis of a film's meaning, both from the audience's point of view and from the filmmakers', as much as is critically possible. Recognizing that all films still exist (in part) as entertainment, films will also be subjectively reviewed for "nutritainment value" and audience-appropriateness.

Digital Theater: Trailers & News

The entertainment news site that loves you back.

Images

A quarterly journal that contains a mix of popular and academic articles.

Coming Soon

Links, trailers and more for upcoming movies.

CinemaSpot

Simplifies the search for movie news and reviews, show times, film festivals, movie stars, movie quotes, trivia, trailers, cinematography resources and more.

ScreenPlay Quiz

A web site offering movie quizzes and games based on trivia and quotes.

Movie Vault

In-depth resource guides for popular movie themes, including background information, and merchandise, as well as links to articles, reviews, easter eggs, fan sites, and more.

So Bad It's Good

Reviews, clips, screenshots and sounds covering bad movies of all genres.

The Movie Cliches List

Only in the movies!

Spout

An online community for movie lovers.

The Show That Started It All...

Each year, the American Film Institute (AFI) presents another episode in its widely acclaimed series of CBS television specials - - "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies," which in 1997 launched AFI's on-going celebration of the cinema centennial. Each special honors a different aspect of excellence in American film. Last year, they celebrated "AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers," America's Most Inspiring Movies. In June 2007, AFI televised its 10th Annual CBS Special reprising the 1997 original "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies," but with new additions and new rankings.

The list is the centerpiece of AFI's historic celebration of the first 100 years of American movies and the films included on it are regarded by Hollywood as the "100 Greatest American Movies of All Time."

Voted the #1 movie was CITIZEN KANE, Orson Welles' 1941 classic, which he directed, produced, wrote and starred in at the age of 25. If you haven't seen it drop what you're doing and make it happen. I agreed with this choice back in 1997 when I first began studying film as an art and I agree with this choice today even after 10 more years worth of new movies. The rest of the Top 10, in order, are: CASABLANCA (#2), THE GODFATHER (#3), GONE WITH THE WIND (#4), LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (#5), THE WIZARD OF OZ (#6), THE GRADUATE (#7), ON THE WATERFRONT (#8), SCHINDLER'S LIST (#9) and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (#10).

The Top 100 movies were unveiled during a special 3-hour program CBS. The following week, Turner Network Television (TNT) began airing 10 1-hour specials, one broadcast each Tuesday night for 10 consecutive weeks, providing an in-depth look as to why these 100 movies are considered the "greatest of all time." In addition, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will air a cable festival this fall that features many of the movies. And the 100 films will be available in videostores across the nation as part of this special celebration, with labels designating these films as part of "AFI's 100 Greatest" list.

Motivation - (Work + Kids + Sleep) = Time to Post

I saw a similar formula on another blog recently and immediately thought it made a lot of sense. So, I added a few variables and that's what I came up with. As you can see, it's pretty accurate stuff since it's been exactly 1 week since our original post to this blog. We're still very excited about this idea and are committed to posting more regularly as we become more familiar with all the features that come with blogs. Wifey was thrilled and now that we have a picture of us up on the site it's becoming more "real" to her. Coming soon? A listing of AFI's Top 100 or the catalyst for this whole damn thing. We hope you'll enjoy the ride!

Lights, Camera, Action!

So, this is what happens when an under-30 married couple gets so overwhelmed with the responsibilities of raising a family of two kids under the age of 2?

I can't remember the last time my wife and I were on a real "date" just the two of us. Wait, scratch that, because we did spend two hours together - - two whole hours just the two of us - - at the annual "Taste of Buffalo" last weekend. It was our first two hours alone without the kids in months. Sorry to mislead anyone.

Tragic? Perhaps. Are there worse fates? Absolutely, which is why enough's enough with this pity party!

This site is dedicated to the classic "movie date" except with a twist. Actually, my wife knows NOTHING about this yet! She loves surprises so I figured I'd surprise her and tell her she has a new project to work on with me that doesn't involve scrapbooking.


Since our very first days together we've shared a passion for movies. In fact, we used to go to dinner and a movie maybe 1-3 times a week depending on how much free time we had. Obviously, we had A LOT of free time back then.

Now, we enjoy the occassional movie from time to time, but mostly we've become couch potatos who would rather watch movies from Dish on Demand whenever our shows are repeats and we have a little extra cash left over at the end of the month.

So what is this all about? Well, a few weeks ago we caught the American Film Institute's (AFI) "100 Years...100 Movies" TV Special and thought it would be neat to keep track of all the movies from that list we haven't seen. Keep in mind that I am a self-proclaimed "movie buff" who studied film in college and my wife is your typical "chick flick" fan. The rule was that if only one of us has seen the movie we would need to rent it so that the other could say they saw it too.

When we were done there were 76 movies on our list. 76 out of 100. Pathetic. However, without pointing any fingers, the person who was surprised that "Cutting Edge" wasn't on the list is the person solely responsible for inflating these numbers. I'm not pointing any fingers though.

We decided to eliminate ALL the silent films from the list because the person who can barely handle watching black-and-white films definitely couldn't sit through a silent film.

What does that leave us with? We're going to watch at least 1 movie from this list of 68 (after silent films removed) each week and spend the week in between "movie dates" sharing our thoughts and comments about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING related to our "movie date," but hopefully more about the actually date itself (i.e. he said, she said; snacks; random thoughts; etc.) because that will probably be the most interesting part about all of this.

We hope you'll join us on our little adventure through Hollywood history. Who knows, maybe at the end of all this we'll be asked to become the next Siskel and Ebert and have our reviews printed from coast to coast. Or maybe we'll expand and review the new releases as well as popular TV shows.

The more likely scenario is that by the time we're finished with all 68 movies our kids will be old enough to sit through a feature film.

Disney G-Rated movie reviews anyone?