Offerings from Blinkbox, LoveFilm, Apple and Sky's Now TV compared
Lovefilm
The oldest UK online film service is now owned by Amazon but its roots are more pedestrian. In the early 2000s Paul Gardner and Graham Bosher launched Online Rentals, trading as DVDsOnTap in Harlow, Essex, while William Reeve and Alex Chesterman founded ScreenSelect in Acton, London. The two competed fiercely, their customers ordering DVDs via the internet that would then be sent to them by post.
After a string of small acquisitions, ScreenSelect bought its rival, now rebranded as LoveFilm, and adopted its name. Two years later Amazon merged its DVD rental business with LoveFilm and became its biggest shareholder, and in 2011 the Us company bought LoveFilm outright. Though LoveFilm still sends discs out in the post, it started streaming films in 2010.
With more than two million subscribers, LoveFilm is Netflix's biggest direct competitor in Britain. It has more,...
Lovefilm
The oldest UK online film service is now owned by Amazon but its roots are more pedestrian. In the early 2000s Paul Gardner and Graham Bosher launched Online Rentals, trading as DVDsOnTap in Harlow, Essex, while William Reeve and Alex Chesterman founded ScreenSelect in Acton, London. The two competed fiercely, their customers ordering DVDs via the internet that would then be sent to them by post.
After a string of small acquisitions, ScreenSelect bought its rival, now rebranded as LoveFilm, and adopted its name. Two years later Amazon merged its DVD rental business with LoveFilm and became its biggest shareholder, and in 2011 the Us company bought LoveFilm outright. Though LoveFilm still sends discs out in the post, it started streaming films in 2010.
With more than two million subscribers, LoveFilm is Netflix's biggest direct competitor in Britain. It has more,...
- 2/16/2014
- by Sean Farrell
- The Guardian - Film News
Opens
Thursday, April 22
In this well-intentioned celebration of nature and traditional ways of life, giant-screen images feel generic when they should inspire wonder. With unwieldy large-format equipment, the filmmakers have ventured into places mainly untouched by Western technology, but the fruits of their labor are devoid of drama or urgency.
"Sacred Planet", which the Walt Disney Co. is bowing on Earth Day, has family appeal but will click especially as an educational item. It would be a worthy discussion-sparker in elementary school curricula. On the other hand, Imax aficionados -- and filmgoers who like a good, or any, story with their natural history lesson -- will find far better examples of the genre in such current offerings as the 3-D feature "Bugs!" and "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea".
One of the powers of large-format film is its ability to immerse the viewer in otherwise inaccessible environments, presenting the smallest details in glorious magnification. By contrast, "Planet" suffers from its survey approach. Traveling to five regions -- California/Utah/Arizona, Namibia, Thailand, coastal British Columbia/southeast Alaska and Borneo -- the film follows a seemingly arbitrary course from one to the next, begging many questions along the way about the endangered communities it visits.
The husband-and-wife team of director-editor Jon Long, who made the 1999 Imax feature "Extreme", and writing-producing partner Karen Fernandez Long don't identify the groups of indigenous people they've filmed. The docu often shows them looking into the camera, in long takes that lose their charge after the first two or three times they appear.
Voice-over narration, whether by longtime environmental activist Robert Redford or tribal elders, is, like the film as a whole, lacking in specificity. "Native voices" -- unattributed to particular tribes, traditions or people -- wax eloquent on the interconnectedness of all life, the animating force of spirit and the healing power of storytelling and art. But however laudable, and important, it is to listen to people who still live in close harmony with the earth, helmer Long distances rather than involves the viewer. The intent might be a sense of mystery; the effect is didactic vagueness.
DP William Reeve and his intrepid colleagues have captured picturesque, occasionally breathtaking, views of exquisite places: primordial forests, desert rock formations, paradisal waterfalls and mist-enshrouded jungles. There are disappointingly brief glimpses of rock pictographs, totem poles and rituals, and the planet's fauna make cameo appearances. The most exhilarating sequence is shot at treetop level, alongside giraffes galloping across an African plain. Time-lapse scenes of a frenetic city (Bangkok), meant to strike sharp contrast with the serene settings, are repetitious interruptions that add little beyond visual echoes of "Koyaanisqatsi", without the impact.
SACRED PLANET
Buena Vista Pictures
A Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a New Street/Allied Films production
Credits:
Director-editor: Jon Long
Writer-producers: Karen Fernandez Long, Jon Long
Executive producer: Jake Eberts
Director of photography: William Reeve
Native voices: Arapata McKay, Tsaan Ciqae, Mae Tui, Cy Peck Jr., Mutang Urud
Narrator: Robert Redford
Running time -- 46 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
Thursday, April 22
In this well-intentioned celebration of nature and traditional ways of life, giant-screen images feel generic when they should inspire wonder. With unwieldy large-format equipment, the filmmakers have ventured into places mainly untouched by Western technology, but the fruits of their labor are devoid of drama or urgency.
"Sacred Planet", which the Walt Disney Co. is bowing on Earth Day, has family appeal but will click especially as an educational item. It would be a worthy discussion-sparker in elementary school curricula. On the other hand, Imax aficionados -- and filmgoers who like a good, or any, story with their natural history lesson -- will find far better examples of the genre in such current offerings as the 3-D feature "Bugs!" and "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea".
One of the powers of large-format film is its ability to immerse the viewer in otherwise inaccessible environments, presenting the smallest details in glorious magnification. By contrast, "Planet" suffers from its survey approach. Traveling to five regions -- California/Utah/Arizona, Namibia, Thailand, coastal British Columbia/southeast Alaska and Borneo -- the film follows a seemingly arbitrary course from one to the next, begging many questions along the way about the endangered communities it visits.
The husband-and-wife team of director-editor Jon Long, who made the 1999 Imax feature "Extreme", and writing-producing partner Karen Fernandez Long don't identify the groups of indigenous people they've filmed. The docu often shows them looking into the camera, in long takes that lose their charge after the first two or three times they appear.
Voice-over narration, whether by longtime environmental activist Robert Redford or tribal elders, is, like the film as a whole, lacking in specificity. "Native voices" -- unattributed to particular tribes, traditions or people -- wax eloquent on the interconnectedness of all life, the animating force of spirit and the healing power of storytelling and art. But however laudable, and important, it is to listen to people who still live in close harmony with the earth, helmer Long distances rather than involves the viewer. The intent might be a sense of mystery; the effect is didactic vagueness.
DP William Reeve and his intrepid colleagues have captured picturesque, occasionally breathtaking, views of exquisite places: primordial forests, desert rock formations, paradisal waterfalls and mist-enshrouded jungles. There are disappointingly brief glimpses of rock pictographs, totem poles and rituals, and the planet's fauna make cameo appearances. The most exhilarating sequence is shot at treetop level, alongside giraffes galloping across an African plain. Time-lapse scenes of a frenetic city (Bangkok), meant to strike sharp contrast with the serene settings, are repetitious interruptions that add little beyond visual echoes of "Koyaanisqatsi", without the impact.
SACRED PLANET
Buena Vista Pictures
A Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a New Street/Allied Films production
Credits:
Director-editor: Jon Long
Writer-producers: Karen Fernandez Long, Jon Long
Executive producer: Jake Eberts
Director of photography: William Reeve
Native voices: Arapata McKay, Tsaan Ciqae, Mae Tui, Cy Peck Jr., Mutang Urud
Narrator: Robert Redford
Running time -- 46 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
Opens
Thursday, April 22
In this well-intentioned celebration of nature and traditional ways of life, giant-screen images feel generic when they should inspire wonder. With unwieldy large-format equipment, the filmmakers have ventured into places mainly untouched by Western technology, but the fruits of their labor are devoid of drama or urgency.
"Sacred Planet", which the Walt Disney Co. is bowing on Earth Day, has family appeal but will click especially as an educational item. It would be a worthy discussion-sparker in elementary school curricula. On the other hand, Imax aficionados -- and filmgoers who like a good, or any, story with their natural history lesson -- will find far better examples of the genre in such current offerings as the 3-D feature "Bugs!" and "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea".
One of the powers of large-format film is its ability to immerse the viewer in otherwise inaccessible environments, presenting the smallest details in glorious magnification. By contrast, "Planet" suffers from its survey approach. Traveling to five regions -- California/Utah/Arizona, Namibia, Thailand, coastal British Columbia/southeast Alaska and Borneo -- the film follows a seemingly arbitrary course from one to the next, begging many questions along the way about the endangered communities it visits.
The husband-and-wife team of director-editor Jon Long, who made the 1999 Imax feature "Extreme", and writing-producing partner Karen Fernandez Long don't identify the groups of indigenous people they've filmed. The docu often shows them looking into the camera, in long takes that lose their charge after the first two or three times they appear.
Voice-over narration, whether by longtime environmental activist Robert Redford or tribal elders, is, like the film as a whole, lacking in specificity. "Native voices" -- unattributed to particular tribes, traditions or people -- wax eloquent on the interconnectedness of all life, the animating force of spirit and the healing power of storytelling and art. But however laudable, and important, it is to listen to people who still live in close harmony with the earth, helmer Long distances rather than involves the viewer. The intent might be a sense of mystery; the effect is didactic vagueness.
DP William Reeve and his intrepid colleagues have captured picturesque, occasionally breathtaking, views of exquisite places: primordial forests, desert rock formations, paradisal waterfalls and mist-enshrouded jungles. There are disappointingly brief glimpses of rock pictographs, totem poles and rituals, and the planet's fauna make cameo appearances. The most exhilarating sequence is shot at treetop level, alongside giraffes galloping across an African plain. Time-lapse scenes of a frenetic city (Bangkok), meant to strike sharp contrast with the serene settings, are repetitious interruptions that add little beyond visual echoes of "Koyaanisqatsi", without the impact.
SACRED PLANET
Buena Vista Pictures
A Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a New Street/Allied Films production
Credits:
Director-editor: Jon Long
Writer-producers: Karen Fernandez Long, Jon Long
Executive producer: Jake Eberts
Director of photography: William Reeve
Native voices: Arapata McKay, Tsaan Ciqae, Mae Tui, Cy Peck Jr., Mutang Urud
Narrator: Robert Redford
Running time -- 46 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
Thursday, April 22
In this well-intentioned celebration of nature and traditional ways of life, giant-screen images feel generic when they should inspire wonder. With unwieldy large-format equipment, the filmmakers have ventured into places mainly untouched by Western technology, but the fruits of their labor are devoid of drama or urgency.
"Sacred Planet", which the Walt Disney Co. is bowing on Earth Day, has family appeal but will click especially as an educational item. It would be a worthy discussion-sparker in elementary school curricula. On the other hand, Imax aficionados -- and filmgoers who like a good, or any, story with their natural history lesson -- will find far better examples of the genre in such current offerings as the 3-D feature "Bugs!" and "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea".
One of the powers of large-format film is its ability to immerse the viewer in otherwise inaccessible environments, presenting the smallest details in glorious magnification. By contrast, "Planet" suffers from its survey approach. Traveling to five regions -- California/Utah/Arizona, Namibia, Thailand, coastal British Columbia/southeast Alaska and Borneo -- the film follows a seemingly arbitrary course from one to the next, begging many questions along the way about the endangered communities it visits.
The husband-and-wife team of director-editor Jon Long, who made the 1999 Imax feature "Extreme", and writing-producing partner Karen Fernandez Long don't identify the groups of indigenous people they've filmed. The docu often shows them looking into the camera, in long takes that lose their charge after the first two or three times they appear.
Voice-over narration, whether by longtime environmental activist Robert Redford or tribal elders, is, like the film as a whole, lacking in specificity. "Native voices" -- unattributed to particular tribes, traditions or people -- wax eloquent on the interconnectedness of all life, the animating force of spirit and the healing power of storytelling and art. But however laudable, and important, it is to listen to people who still live in close harmony with the earth, helmer Long distances rather than involves the viewer. The intent might be a sense of mystery; the effect is didactic vagueness.
DP William Reeve and his intrepid colleagues have captured picturesque, occasionally breathtaking, views of exquisite places: primordial forests, desert rock formations, paradisal waterfalls and mist-enshrouded jungles. There are disappointingly brief glimpses of rock pictographs, totem poles and rituals, and the planet's fauna make cameo appearances. The most exhilarating sequence is shot at treetop level, alongside giraffes galloping across an African plain. Time-lapse scenes of a frenetic city (Bangkok), meant to strike sharp contrast with the serene settings, are repetitious interruptions that add little beyond visual echoes of "Koyaanisqatsi", without the impact.
SACRED PLANET
Buena Vista Pictures
A Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a New Street/Allied Films production
Credits:
Director-editor: Jon Long
Writer-producers: Karen Fernandez Long, Jon Long
Executive producer: Jake Eberts
Director of photography: William Reeve
Native voices: Arapata McKay, Tsaan Ciqae, Mae Tui, Cy Peck Jr., Mutang Urud
Narrator: Robert Redford
Running time -- 46 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
- 4/22/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- Fledgling British online DVD rental company Screenselect said Monday that it has bought rival In Movies in a move to establish itself as the leading player in the burgeoning sector. Screenselect, which launched in September, declined to reveal financial or operating details involved in the deal but said its DVD stockholding currently stands at 16,000 titles. The company added that it intends to bring that figure up to 20,000 by early next year. Set up in 1991 by Laurence Penn, In Movies is the longest established online movie renter in the United Kingdom. Penn will join the Screenselect board, which is led by Simon Murdoch, the founder of Amazon U.K. The board also includes a number of former Amazon execs. "This deal secures our market leadership in the U.K.," managing director William Reeve said. "It makes us the biggest player, allowing us to benefit from economies of scale by deploying our sophisticated proprietary fulfillment technology across a larger operation."...
- 12/23/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stephen Low Distribution
In this astonishing and provocative Imax feature, filmmaker Stephen Low and his intrepid crew have ventured to the ocean bottom and brought back the most extensive documentation yet of hydrothermal vents and their profusion of marine animals, many of them species new to science.
Delving into a relatively young field of exploration -- the underwater depths were long presumed inhospitable to life -- and new ideas about the origin of life on Earth, "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" is a groundbreaking film, not only in terms of the material it presents but also in its innovative use of technology to capture images in a place devoid of light but full of peril.
In partnership with Rutgers University and with the backing of the National Science Foundation and James Cameron, the 45-minute film was nearly a decade in the making. Imax vet Low, who first conceived of the project while working on his 1993 "Titanica", and DP William Reeve met the challenge of shooting in black ocean depths by employing an unprecedented array of light -- more than 4,000 watts -- and 40,000 ASA time exposures. The film's crystalline giant-screen images, the fruit of almost 20 dives over a three-year period, seamlessly incorporate CGI and, for close-ups that the Imax camera could not access, high-definition video.
"Volcanoes" opened Sunday at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and will open Nov. 8 at New York's Museum of Natural History, with other such venues in Seattle, Jersey City, N.J., Syracuse, N.Y., and Boston on its itinerary. The film is bound to spark classroom discussion and research.
It was only in 1977 that scientists discovered whole ecosystems miles below the ocean surface, proving that not all life is dependent on energy from the sun. The film offers ample evidence of these underwater metropolises, teeming with albino crabs, shrimp and fish, 6-foot tube worms, golden mussels and asymmetrical octopi.
They flourish around hydrothermal vents, fissures in the sea floor whose volcanic eruptions create an otherworldly landscape of smoking chimneys. The bacteria the animals feed on thrive in the boiling, chemical-rich waters that are fueled by ancient radiation at the center of the Earth, from the supernova that gave birth to the solar system -- or, as the elegantly written, poetic narration puts it, the "embers of dead stars." Most astounding is the discovery that these microbes contain the building blocks of human DNA and likely are the source of all life on Earth.
"Volcanoes" is partly structured as a scientific detective yarn, with paleontologist Dolf Seilacher and geologist Peter Rona in search of what is probably the Earth's oldest living fossil, a creature called Paleodictyon that predated dinosaurs and has withstood numerous mass extinctions. When the two scientists, peering out into the mid-Atlantic from the deep-sea submersible Alvin, find thousands of the elusive creature's distinctive honeycomb of tunnels on the ocean floor, the look on their faces speaks volumes about the joys of scientific discovery.
Underscoring that excitement and wonder is the definite sense of awe with which Ed Harris delivers the narration. While a clearer chronology might be helpful in the film's early going, soon enough the power of the mystery takes hold of the viewer.
In this astonishing and provocative Imax feature, filmmaker Stephen Low and his intrepid crew have ventured to the ocean bottom and brought back the most extensive documentation yet of hydrothermal vents and their profusion of marine animals, many of them species new to science.
Delving into a relatively young field of exploration -- the underwater depths were long presumed inhospitable to life -- and new ideas about the origin of life on Earth, "Volcanoes of the Deep Sea" is a groundbreaking film, not only in terms of the material it presents but also in its innovative use of technology to capture images in a place devoid of light but full of peril.
In partnership with Rutgers University and with the backing of the National Science Foundation and James Cameron, the 45-minute film was nearly a decade in the making. Imax vet Low, who first conceived of the project while working on his 1993 "Titanica", and DP William Reeve met the challenge of shooting in black ocean depths by employing an unprecedented array of light -- more than 4,000 watts -- and 40,000 ASA time exposures. The film's crystalline giant-screen images, the fruit of almost 20 dives over a three-year period, seamlessly incorporate CGI and, for close-ups that the Imax camera could not access, high-definition video.
"Volcanoes" opened Sunday at the California Science Center in Los Angeles and will open Nov. 8 at New York's Museum of Natural History, with other such venues in Seattle, Jersey City, N.J., Syracuse, N.Y., and Boston on its itinerary. The film is bound to spark classroom discussion and research.
It was only in 1977 that scientists discovered whole ecosystems miles below the ocean surface, proving that not all life is dependent on energy from the sun. The film offers ample evidence of these underwater metropolises, teeming with albino crabs, shrimp and fish, 6-foot tube worms, golden mussels and asymmetrical octopi.
They flourish around hydrothermal vents, fissures in the sea floor whose volcanic eruptions create an otherworldly landscape of smoking chimneys. The bacteria the animals feed on thrive in the boiling, chemical-rich waters that are fueled by ancient radiation at the center of the Earth, from the supernova that gave birth to the solar system -- or, as the elegantly written, poetic narration puts it, the "embers of dead stars." Most astounding is the discovery that these microbes contain the building blocks of human DNA and likely are the source of all life on Earth.
"Volcanoes" is partly structured as a scientific detective yarn, with paleontologist Dolf Seilacher and geologist Peter Rona in search of what is probably the Earth's oldest living fossil, a creature called Paleodictyon that predated dinosaurs and has withstood numerous mass extinctions. When the two scientists, peering out into the mid-Atlantic from the deep-sea submersible Alvin, find thousands of the elusive creature's distinctive honeycomb of tunnels on the ocean floor, the look on their faces speaks volumes about the joys of scientific discovery.
Underscoring that excitement and wonder is the definite sense of awe with which Ed Harris delivers the narration. While a clearer chronology might be helpful in the film's early going, soon enough the power of the mystery takes hold of the viewer.
- 9/18/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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