Links: Guide to Video, Movie and Other Sites

Video and Movie Sites Video Store Locators Widescreen Soundtracks Kids/Family Ratings PAL Used DVD Sites Video and Film Business/Industry Sites Audiophile/Videophile Sites Miscellaneous Video/Movie Sites Bloopers Other Links Back to top VIDEO AND MOVIE SITES Guide to Film and Video Resources: Compiled by the Marjorie I. Mitchell Multimedia Center of the Northwestern University Library and still one of the best jumping off points for film and video resources on the Web for cinema aficionados. The guide includes listings for academic, trade, review, production, technical, entertainment, media and festival sites as well as other resources. Cinema Sites: is a comprehensive guide to important cinema and video sites on the Web. Here you'll find databases, newsletters and journals, newspapers and magazines, reviews, festivals, film appreciation and historical interest sites, production information and even "stuff for sale." The Internet Movie Database: Probably the most comprehensive guide to films on the Net, with comprehensive reviews, cast lists, filmographies, and information on thousands upon thousands of films, cross-referenced. And the lists are searchable by name and title. DVD Spin Doctor, subtitled "Adventures in Viewing & Reviewing," offers DVD reviews, home video news, upcoming DVDs, HD DVD reviews, plus the latest industry buzz -- from bleary-eyed L.A. entertainment writer Glenn Abel. From Mr. Abel: "Critics usually seek to deliver the goods from the mountain top, but this is an asphalt-level project. Consider these entries works-in-progress, deleted scenes, outtakes -- a raw feed from someone who gets a first look at a lot of good DVDs and knows what's what's on the product side of the industry. I've been writing about DVDs since the late 1990s. You may have encountered my stuff in the Hollywood Reporter, on Reuters or in any of the dozens of papers worldwide that have been kind enough to print/post the work. I don't review films because I don't know how to make films. I review DVDs -- how they look, how they sound, and how the bonus material plays. That I can handle, mostly. I write almost exclusively about DVDs I can recommend without hesitation. (OK, there was "Pearl Harbor" -- but the extras were as good as the movie was bad.) Since I witness every element of the DVDs I review for publication, projects are picked with care. Life is too short. You can find the crap without my help." Highly recommended. Movieweb is one of the finer movie sites we've come across. The site has movie previews (and archives); each movie has its own Web page which supplies synopses and cast information and lets you view (and download) stills, posters, notes, and Quicktime videos of theatrical trailers (long before you'll see them in the theatres). Each page also links to any Web sites dedicated to a particular film, or to the film's studio. There are also lists of the top 50 all-time box office champions as well as the top 25 box office grossers of the past weekend, a celebrity photo gallery and more. We're impressed with the wealth of material here. One of the more impressive video sites we've come across is About Home Video/DVD (formally The Mining Co. Guide to Home Video) hosted by Ivana Redwine (who guides you through the site) and featuring lots of fabulous home video (VHS and DVD) information, including feature articles, reviews, picks of the week, essentials (new videos, home video tech primer, etc.), upcoming releases, a large list of video links, DVD Easter eggs, sales and rental stats, awards, books, databases, magazines and news, and much much more. The site is clean and easy to use, and looks luxurious. Check it out. One of the best film information portals we've come across is CinemaSpot, which offers hundred of high-quality film and video resources with insightful editorial material. Included are links to review sites, genre sites, reference sites, charts, videos and DVDs, soundtracks, memorabilia, people (actors, directors, gossip), movie trivia and quizzes, awards, showtimes, movies on TV, film festivals and much, much more. Give them a whirl. Movie Culture Online bills itself as "The Hollywood Search Engine" -- and it's that and more. It's a gigantic portal to the world of movies, with links to hundreds of sites, all organized within nine categories situated on an easy to use grid located on Movie Culture's home page. There's categories for News and Press (magazines, gossip, box office), Movies and Films (official movie sites, sneak previews), Movie Reviews (now playing, now renting), Filmmaking (studios, schools), Talent (actors & actresses, schools), Show Business (talent agencies, directories), Television (show sites, networks), Merchandise (videos, soundtracks, memorabilia), and Fun & Games (trivia, contests). Each category and subcategory whisks you away to the best sites on that particular topic. Clean and easy and nice to like at too. The Motion Picture Database is a massive guide to movies from the dawn of cinematography to the present, based on the 23-volume landmark reference book published by Cinebooks, The Motion Picture Guide, and the comprehensive Ephraim Katz Film Encyclopedia. The 30,000 film database includes filmographies and bibliographical information on actors and directors. Brought to you by the folks at TV Guide. The Web site of the premiere Hollywood trade newspaper, The Hollywood Reporter, offers everything in the world about movies, TV, music and video. Their comprehensive site posts reviews of virtually every movie released in the United States, as well as reviews of films from all major film festivals (Cannes, Toronto, AFI, Hollywood, Montreal, Venice, Berlin, Sundance, etc.). The meat and potatoes of the site is its coverage of Hollywood industry news, with tracking of boxoffice and home video grosses, TV ratings, films and TV shows in production. They offer an archive of film reviews, an e-mail newsletter, and even a PDF version of the paper delivered to subscribers. The Media Resource Center at the Moffitt Library of the University of California at Berkeley is a comprehensive listing of sources, resources and bibliographies for film, TV, video, mass communication et al. Especially impressive is their Film & Video Distributors & Producers list, a compilation of theatrical/feature film distributors/producers (including the studios and feature distributors and wholesalers); used/out-of-print video distributors; and documentary, educational and performance video distributors/producers. WGA Research Links: Though these sites were chosen by the Writers Guild of America specifically to help writers research their scripts, the breadth and depth of the listings are remarkable. Categories include Internet Search Engines, Art & Music, Children, Directories, Film & TV, Government, History, Literature, Medical, New Sources, References. Screenwriter Sites and more. New York Times Movie Section: Redesigned movie section of the venerable New York Times offers free archived Times reviews from the past 20 years, as well as a limited selection back to 1929; "Critic's Picks" recommendations from Times film critics Stephen Holden, Elvis Mitchell, and A.O. Scott; "Reader's Reviews" tool where users can rate movies, post their own reviews and view other readers' opinions; "News and Features" area with business and industry news from the Times; Movie Update newsletter, a free e-mail from NYTimes.com with the latest reviews, new video releases and news from the Sunday Times; extensive celebrity and production information from AMG's All Movie Guide; online ticketing from MovieTickets.com; weekend boxoffice results from Nielsen EDI; national showtime database searchable by movie title or ZIP code. Registration is not required for many of the featured tools; free registration to NYTimes.com is needed to read articles and reviews. ReelzChannel is a new multimedia brand dedicated to entertaining, informing, directing and connecting fans to everything movies. The site doesn't show movies, rather they make shows about movies. For people who want to know movies, ReelzChannel providesr the latest buzz in the movie biz, from players cutting deals to wranglers handling the stars, from the pitch to the premiere. The site offers movie enthusiasts the latest buzz on movies, from exclusive actor and director interviews to special behind-the-scenes features on new and upcoming releases. There's reviews, trailers, Net TV shows, plenty of gossip, and guides to movies in theaters and on DVD. To celebrate 100 years of American Movies (the first official showing of a movie in the United States for a paying audience took place April 23, 1896 at Koster & Bial's Music Hall, 34th Street and Broadway -- the present site of Macy's department store), The American Film Institute submitted a list of 400 of the best American films to 1,500 members of the entertainment industry to cast their votes for the 100 greatest American movies of all time. The winners are in -- 100 Years ... 100 Movies -- and were presented to a national TV audience on June 17, 1998. The top 10: Citizen Kane (1947) Casablanca (1942) The Godfather (1972) Gone With the Wind (1939) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) The Wizard of Oz (1939) The Graduate (1967) On the Waterfront (1954) Schindler's List (1993) Singin' in the Rain (1952) In June of 2007 the AFI revised their list to reflect changes in the film biz in the last 10 years. The new top 10: Citizen Kane (1947) The Godfather (1972) Casablanca (1942) Raging Bull (1980) Singin' in the Rain (1952) Gone With the Wind (1939) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Schindler's List (1993) Vertigo (1958) The Wizard of Oz (1939) Though the top 10 was basically a reshuffling of the first list, two films enetered the list: "Raging Bull" and "Vertigo," displacing "The Graduate" and "On the Waterfront." You can check out the list of nominees and the winners, as well as an interactive tour of the list and a comparison of the two lists, where you can see which films have moved up or down, at AFI's 100 Years of Movies site. Don't confuse the birth of American movies with the birth of film: the first moving picture made for the purpose of projection was created by the Lumiere brothers in France in 1895. Check out OnVideo's Film Chronology for a timeline of the birth of film. Senses of Cinema is an online journal devoted to the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema. There's feature articles, book reviews, editorials, interviews and more. From the site FAQ: "We believe cinema is an art that can take many forms, from the industrially-produced blockbuster to the hand-crafted experimental work; we also aim to encourage awareness of the histories of such diverse forms. 'Senses of Cinema' is primarily concerned with ideas about particular films or bodies of work, but also with the regimes (ideological, economic and so forth) under which films are produced and viewed, and with the more abstract theoretical and philosophical issues raised by film study. As well, we believe that a cinephilic understanding of the moving image provides the necessary basis for a radical critique of other media and of the global 'image culture'." Rotten Tomatoes, created by movie-buff Senh Duong in 1998, started out as a movie review site, compiling the reviews of both Internet and print film reviewers and offering a kind of "consumer" guide to films. The site linked to the original reviews and even offered a movie rating scale. Rotten Tomatoes has now grown to become a premier destination for both casual moviegoers and film buffs alike. Building on its accolades and the deep pockets of IGN, a Net game company, Rotten Tomatoes offers a full range of services, features, and community. More than 5.4 million readers each month use Rotten Tomatoes as an objective resource for coverage of movies and videos. There's more than 127,000 titles and 644,000 review links in its ever-growing database, offering the critical reaction from the nation's top print and online film critics, neatly summarized via the "Tomatometer." Other features include an integrated price comparison for DVDs, soundtracks, video products, and more; box office statistics; video game information; trailers and clips; celebrity gossip; news and features; and ticket and showtime information. IGN, by the way, was bought in mid-2005 by News Corp. (Fox TV, 20th Century Fox, etc., parent). Film Radar is an eclectic site devoted to everything cinema in Los Angeles. The site's goal is "to bring the virtually endless world of specialty film-going in Los Angeles right to your fingertips. This site covers revival, repertory, and special film events and the venues which house them. Whether your taste is classic Hollywood, documentary, avant-garde, foreign films, silent films, or cult classics." Feaures calendar listings, blogs, reviews, interviews, articles, recommended books ... and even offers tickets to free screenings. Screenmancer is a new site that is a gathering place for people who make movies, featuring news (and news feeds from the trades), interviews, features, reviews and much, much more. Mr.Cranky rates the Movies: Tired of the run-of-the-mill film reviewers? The crotchety moviegoer rates films with a little post-post-postmodern criticism. If you can't enjoy the movies, you can enjoy Mr. Cranky. Agent DVD is a hip DVD magazine created especially for DVD collectors, comic book fans and genre-movie lovers. The site gets the inside scoop on movies and TV shows, with interviews with the movers and shakers in the industry. Zeros in on Science Fiction, Fantasy, Comic Book, Horror and Cult films. The site is a division of Home Media Magazine, the leading trade publication of the home entertainment industry. The Movie Review Query Engine is just what the name implies: a search site that provides links to reviews of more than 20,000 film titles. E!Online Reviews is provided by E! Entertainment and is clean and simple. No clutter: just movie and DVD reviews, top box-office and video charts, a "moviescoop" feature, and message board. The site offers one nifty feature: a reminder function that e-mails you when a particular film has been released. The Video Librarian Online is the free electronic addendum to the print magazine Video Librarian: The Video Review Guide for Libraries, featuring reviews of current films and video releases, including special interest and documentaries. About-Arts Arts Directory is a new compilation of arts and entertainment Web sites. The movie section includes links to topics such as actors and actresses, directors, DVD, Hollywood, music, reviews, show times, soundtracks, trailers, and more. It also has links to movie-related newsgroups. The Teen Movie Critic: Minnesota teen Roger Davidson waxed poetic on movies from a teen point of view and become a media and cult favorite. When he turned 18 he "retired," but the folks at The Dream Machine kept his site intact and maintain his more than 500 reviews. They've also introduced the Teen Movie Critic II: Vivian Rose. Vivian has been reviewing movies in print, on radio and TV since she was 9, and provides quality criticism for young surfers (she writes a new review every day of the week). Check out this new Teen Critic. Cinemacom is dedicated to providing a lasting resource for the best in films and movie poster art. They sell DVDs of good films not commercially available on DVD to help support the site. A great location for doing film research -- includes essays, displays 1,200+ movie posters and lists over 3,000 worthy films. They don't, however, sell posters. Big Film Shorts: Great site is a catalog of hot short films by independent filmmakers. Tai Seng Video: If you're looking for the best in Hong Kong films, this is the place to go. Tai Seng has a catalog of more than 2,000 titles ranging from action, swordplay, martial arts, erotic, comedy and horror, in both English and Chinese subtitles (dubbed versions are also available of some titles). The company regularly re-releases and repackages many of their Hong Kong titles for the American market. They carry many older Jackie Chan films, the fabulous Angel Action series, the films of Chow Yun Fat, Robin Shou and Michelle Yeoh. They also sell goodies (books, posters, gift sets) and have extensive links to other sites for information about Chinese films and animation. MovieMania! Pete's Movie Page is a movie buff's dream come true. And no wonder, it's been created by a movie buff, Peter Miller, who's in the movie theater each and every weekend, checking out the latest onscreen epic. His site includes movie info, coming attractions, links to the studios, box office reports, quizzes, trailers, and special pages for event movies ("Jurassic Park," "Titanic") and a movie store. MovieEye is an online movie guide that covers all manner of the current movie world: new releases, reviews, trivia games and sweeps, celebrities, and much more. The site is divided into pages based on ratings: from 5 stars down to 1 star. It even has digital movie postcards. HomeVideos.com is a fascinating site whose goal is "to give you new movie ideas" and help you "discover great movies." The site offers detailed movie reviews broken down by genre (great dramas, great comedies, great action, etc.) as well as links to classic TV, great movie moments, and awards. There's also weekly classic picks and lists of top rentals. Box Office Mojo is probably one of the most interesting and important film sites on the Web. It's basically an online movie publication and box office tracker, based in Burbank, California, that is the only Internet-based publication that does its own reporting and estimating. They provide accurate, comprehensive and timely box office data and analysis, and do it with an eye towards user-friendliness. In addition to reporting film grosses, the site's content includes stories, profiles, commentary, reviews, release schedules, reader forums, polls and much much much more. Impressive. A Celebration of film, Movie Mirth.com provides mostly reviews of terrible movies, goofy celebrities, video clips, and mischief. "What if you could combine movie reviews with advice for the real world like how to raise a family, sail a 30-foot sloop, or type an essay for that big assignment? Movie Mirth.com's reviews will teach you none of those things but there's always an opportunity to learn in today's America." The Golden Years is a site devoted solely to classic movies, providing links to information on stars, directors, films, and genres, including Film Noir, James Dean, Grace Kelly, Hitchcock, Robert Cummings, Richard Crenna, Noel Coward, Tom Courtenay, Jack Carson, Raymond Burr, Rossano Brazzi, Eve Arden, Tallulah Bankhead, Ethel Barrymore, Joan Blondell, Yvonne de Carlo and hundreds more. Reel Classics is the internet's most comprehensive site dedicated exclusively to classic movies. Comprising more than 2,500 pages and more than 3 gigabytes of content (with much more on the way), it may well be the biggest too. There's news, trivia contests, an audio/video gallery and classic movie downloads, as well as individual pages about hundreds of actors, actresses, animation voices and screen teams -- the most well developed and popular section of reel classics; individual pages on a number of classic movies and musicals as well as some favorite film series; pages on individual directors, producers, studios, costume designers, musicians, production designers, cinematographers, choreographers and others who made it happen behind the scenes; commentary & reviews; a highly organized section of links to dealers who sell almost anything related to classic movies, from videos, DVDs and posters to autographs, photographs and books, as well as occasional special offers from reel classics; and much, much more. The Greatest Films is a unique Web site that contains interpretive, descriptive review commentary and historical background -- as well as vintage film poster images -- for some of the best Hollywood and American classic films in the last century. There's also a film quotes quiz, film genres and recommendations, all-time boxoffice hits, 100 greatest film moments, 50 greatest directors, listings from the National Film Registry, and much much more. The Midnight Palace is devoted to classic films, from the silents through the Golden Age. Includes film reviews, book reviews, articles, interviews, an online movie theater, message boards, "Star of the Month" profiles, polls, vintage resources, contests and giveaways and much, much more. Movie-Today is a comprehensive clearinghouse of information on independent and foreign films, with the emphasis on "indy." There's film reviews, "headline" stories, articles on independent film culture, as well as a host of links to other independent and offbeat sites (including The Flick Filosopher, Nano Picks, Chaotic Cinema, Date Movies, Drunken Fist, Films Outside the Loop and Hollywood Bitchslap). There's also a complete list of international film festivals as well as a Movie-Today Short Film Competition. EntertainZones is a very well designed, clean site that aggregates links to entertainment personalities (actors, actresses, directors, singers, groups, models), movies (action. adventure, animation, comedy, drama, horror, crime, sci fi, thriller), TV shows, games, sports, animation and more. Under each main heading there's links to lists of stars, movies, TV shows, etc; these links are further broken down into sub-links, like the following for Johnny Depp: Image Galleries & Wallpapers (10), Desktop Enhancements (6), Directories (6), News & Reviews (2), Posters (1), Merchandise (3), Fun Stuff (1), Filmography (1), Others (1), Entertainment Portal (1) -- or the following for "The Godfather": Desktop Enhancements (4), Multimedia (1), Directories (4), News & Reviews (5), Posters (1), Merchandise (2), Fun Stuff (1), Filmography (1), Others (1). The Best Movies is a classy site that provides capsule information (with tastefully designed graphics) of all current and upcoming film releases. Depending on the film, the site also steers you to wallpaper, photos, trailers and posters. There's also links to other movie and video sites, as well as links to script and writing sites. The Best Movies is ideal for a quick and involving movie fix. Alto Movies is a directory and resource site that aggregates hundreds of links organized by type of films: action, adventure, animation, comedy, thrillers, drama, horror, romance, mystery and sci-fi. Clicking on a movie title brings you to a film-specific page with info on that film as well as links to posters, wallpaper, eBay auctions, etc. Nice clean layout. Quarrel Network is an impressive site with a wealth of information on movies (and all forms of mass media: music, video games). There's movie news, reviews, release information, box office figures, forums, chats, links and much, much more. Nice, easy-to-use layout. Littleman.com is an impressive movie database site with information on more than 100,000 films and TV shows. There's movie reviews, descriptions, cast information, filmographies, VHS and DVD release information on titles, and more. The site is broken up into categories such as Actor Highlights (spotlighting Nehemiah Persoff, Robert Reed, Kate Winslet, Edie Falco, Wong Tao, Carla Gugino and Howard Hesseman), Director Highlights (John Badham, Jeff Lau, Ted Kotcheff, David Greene, Rudolph Mate, John Landis and Glenn Jordan) and Category Highlights (Action, Adventure, Children's, Comedies, Drama, Horror, Television. Hollywood Dip is a directory and resource site that aggregates Hollywood links organized in a quick and easy way to find info fast on hundreds of Hollywood and entertainment-related topics. Check them out to help them grow. Arts Entertainment World is a complete source for the latest information on international music, movies and fashion. Includes reviews and news as well as links to humor, literature, TV, and film sites. Movie-HQ is a resource guide to movies, with reviews and information on past, current and forthcoming movies; also has theater and cinema listings. Echo List is an aggregate site that steers users to hundreds of sites that cover the world of film: its more than two dozen subcategories include genres, databases, film festivals, contests, culture, trvia, soundtracks, and release schedules. DVDs 4 U is an information site focused on DVDs. Topics (and links) range from Asian DVDs to Bargain DVDs to Elvis DVDs to Import DVDs to Skateboard DVDs to Upcoming DVDs with tons of listings inbetween. The site also maintains an archive of newsletters of helpful DVD information. dvd-HQ is a complete online resource directory to the world of DVDs, from burning and buying to players and renting. MovieThing is a neat and clean movie information site that offers members access to chats, talk forums, contents and games. The site features movie listings, reviews, articles, and electronic postcards. Light Views, Reviews & Previews features coverage of movies, videos and DVDs, with lots of news, previews, updated calendars, editorials and contests. Webmaster is John Larsen. The Video Addicts Hot-Line is run by Dave, who owns thousands of films-on-video and lists his collection at the site. But he doesn't stop there, and that's what makes this so interesting: he acts as an intermediary for people looking to buy-trade-sell videos by posting want lists to the site (in addition to his own want list). He has special places for Disney Video Addicts and weird films, as well as sporting links to other sites that specialize in video, TV, movies, actors and actresses. ZENtertainment is an E-Magazine specializing in entertainment news: music, TV, movies, toys, print, electronic, attractions, food.They have a list of online newsletters, coming attractions, record releases, and links to other sites. They also publish an e-mail magazine (to 40,000 subscribers) sent out every Monday and Wednesday featuring all the latest in entertainment news posted at the site plus exclusive contests and other features. And you can search back issues and partake in entertainment chats. The DVD Report is a pretty cool blog that reviews movies and TV series currently (or soon to be) released on DVD. Though fairly new, there's a ton of reviews already, from "Walk the Line" to "Finding Nemo" to "Independence Day" to "Harry Potter" ... and much, much more. Concise, wise reviews from author Britt Gillette of Chesapeake, Virginia. Here's a weird but impressive niche site: Nunsploitation.net, devoted to resources about nun exploitation and horror movies. From sleazy to erotic, the nun exploitation movie database has a ton of news, movies and reviews, as well as trailers, desktop wallpaper, a nun image gallery and stories. There's plenty of nun anime out there, too. Check this one out. National-Showtimes is a nifty site that allows you to get local movie theater listings and information anytime from anyplace. It's quick and easy to use and if you're in a hurry ("get on and get off") and just want the facts, this is the place to go. Top Movies Now Playing in Theaters is a comprehensive guide to what's on at the local cineplex. There's mini-reviews, lists of movies "coming soon" (this year and next), links to wallpaper, screensavers, movie downloads, and other movie-related sites. Black Movie Site highlights current releases and coming attractions as well as offering links to free downloads. Free-Movie Downloads Net is a directory of quality links to download full movies and TV shows, 100% legally. The links are updated (human-edited) on a daily basis and any dead or bad links are removed within three hours. Download Free Movies offers unlimited access to a gigantic database of free movies, all legal. Using the free Download service provides links to free movie sites and links, and free movie players. The site also provides download tutorials. Asia Entertainment Online Videos features streaming internet broadcasts of Asian TV shows, online videos, short films, 3-D animations and movies from Asia. Free Internet TV offers more than 3,000 online TV channel broadcasts from around the world. The channels are streamed over the Internet for free and don't require subscriptions. The site even offers a Favorite list for faster access. An interesting U.K.-based site is UK Hot Movies. The site includes film reviews, photo galleries, feature articles, a "Fab Five" section ("Every month we select our five favourite films from a particular decade or on a certain theme" -- such as five top romances), and an Interactive page with polls, competitions and TV listings. InsomniacMania is another nifty U.K.-based site that features news and reviews of current and upcoming movies. The site is defty laidout and easy to navigate and includes box-office results, trailers, a users' poll, forums, DVD reviews, release dates, games and artwork. Future Movies is a multi-purpose site produced by a number of journalists mainly reviewing current U.K. releases, films soon to be screened, and DVD releases. The site also has an archive section listing detailed/analytic reviews of films arranged by title. There's also a useful set of articles on filmmaking, which includes interviews with directors and writers. Movie Stuff is a one-stop shop in the U.K. for movie memorabilia: collectible figures, film cells, posters, T-shirts, gifts, bookmarks and much, much more. Student-Films was developed for student filmmakers to promote and view student films, making them easily accessible by media, producers, directors, broadcast companies and other students. The network allows student filmmakers to have their projects seen by a wider audience, and offers forums and useful links. FlickShark is an online movie guide featuring audience movie reviews, DVD rentals, film critiques, and online motion picture reviews. MovieFreak is a general movie site that includes movie and DVD reviews as well as trailers, scripts, features, a reader forum, links and even a poster store. The Orange Movie Quiz is a daily quiz to test your knowledge of films, asking you to identify images from 10 movies; there's also actor and actresses quizes. Changes daily. At Wait For Video movie lovers can rate movies they have seen in the theater to help others decide if a particular movie is: 1) Worth buying tickets to see in a theater; 2) Not worth the time/money ... wait for the video/DVD, 3) Not worth seeing at all. The site is broken down into sections that cover recent theatrical releases, new video releases, new this week, tops at the box office, all movies, best-rated movies and worst movies. An ambitious and worthwhile project. For video game lovers, the major site is industry publication Video Game Advisors'Video Games On Line. Here are links to every major hardware and software manufacturer, publisher, distributor, agency, and retailer on the Web. There's listings for schools, training, PR firms, developers and much much more. Back to top VIDEO STORE LOCATORS For Movies helps you locate a video store near you, limited to those stores that have signed up for its video store Web site creation service. Primarily catering to independent stores (which many times have better selections and service than the Blockbusters and Hollywood Videos of the world), their list keeps growing and growing. Teen Critic's list of U.S. video rental stores. Back to top WIDESCREEN The Widescreen Movie Center not only lists past and current widescreen titles but also lists when they're being aired on various cable and satellite networks. The Letterbox/Widescreen Advocacy Page: A comprehensive guide to the widescreen experience with evaluations of the widescreen release patterns of the studios, widescreen/letterbox links, widescreen-supporting video stores, and, of course, a directory of widescreen releases. Back to top SOUNDTRACKS The Movie Soundtrack Web Page is a massive guide to movie soundtracks, categorized by composers. The site contains links to other sites and runs regular Movie Quote Contests. Here we found almost a book's worth of downloadable information on every version of every score ever written by our idol, Bernard Herrmann. SoundtrackNet: The Art of Film and Television Music is another massive soundtrack site, this one for both movies and TV's. The site contains material on references, reviews, clips, the art of music in film, production and industry resources, and a list of more than 6,000 soundtracks on CD and LP. Back to top KIDS/FAMILY SITES VideoKidz offers some of the finest children's videos available. From potty training to dancing with The Wiggles or singing with the Veggie Tales, it's available here. Users can browse by age group (0 --2, 3 --6, etc.), or by brand (Barney, Disney, Elmo, Thomas the Tank Engine, etc.). Small Fry Productions A children's video production company with a line of videos designed to help infants and toddlers learn basic concepts like colors, numbers, letters and languages. Nest Family Entertainment is a leader in pre-screened animated children's videos on DVD. The site offers homeschool materials and animated educational videos for children that teach world history and the Bible. Guiding Light Video: Children's Christian videos, games and software. Kidscreen: An online and offline magazine devoted to kids movies and family viewing. The Dove Foundation: Non-profit organization fosters family and wholesome entertainment, awarding a "Dove Seal" to family- friendly films. Common Sense Media: Non-profit San Francisco-based organization that offers family friendly reviews and resources for parents seeking age appropriate media for their kids. Rates movies, television, music, games, Web sites, etc. according to content and recommended age group. Other sites: www.familystyle.com www.cqcm.org www.gradingthemovies.com www.familymoviereviews.com www.moviereports.com www.kids-in-mind.com www.adlines.com/juvimovie www.mediafamily.org www.screenit.com www.moviemom.com And don't forget the granddaddy of all media literacy sites, The Center for Media Literacy. A pioneer in the field, the Center for Media Literacy is a non-profit educational organization that provides leadership, public education, professional development and educational resources nationally. Dedicated to promoting and supporting media literacy education as a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating and creating media content, CML works to help citizens, especially the young, develop critical thinking and media production skills needed to live fully in the 21st century media culture. The ultimate goal is to make wise choices possible. The group offers workshops, literacy kits and a host of publications. Back to top RATINGS Reasons for Movie Ratings: The Motion Picture Association of America's CARA (Classification and Ratings Administration) site that allows you to search for film titles and get their ratings. The database contains all movies rated since 1968. Parental Guide to Ratings: An umbrella site that links to the movie rating service of the MPAA (see above) as well as to the Recording Industry Association of America's Parental Advisory site, the TV Rating Guidelines site and the Entertainment Software Rating Board's site. Kids-In-Mind: Rates movies and videos (with kids in mind) for violence, sex and profanity. The Dove Foundation: Non-profit organization fosters family and wholesome entertainment, awarding a "Dove Seal" to family- friendly films. Back to top PAL PAL: PAL is the video format in use in England, Europe, Australia and parts of the Far-East, and is incompatible with the American NTSC standard. For our overseas friends: All About Movies, BlackStar, Cheap or What! (formerlly PastelBlue), Pal Video Online and Immersion Films handle PAL videos. Back to top USED/TRADE/SWAP Need a good source for buying and selling used DVDs and videos? Try Second Spin. They buy and sell thousands of good quality used product via the Internet as well as through four Earth-based retail stores. Other good outlets for used videos are Video Depot, which sells at discount, VideoOyster, Movies Unlimited and Djangos. The following sites specialize in used DVDs Cash For Cds is a site and service that allows you to sell used CDs and DVDs via the Internet. DVD Empire DVDs 123 Digital Eyes SonicSwap is a community of legal swapping for DVDs, CDs and games Back to top VIDEO AND FILM BUSINESS SITES MyMediaBiz.com is an essential online destination for people in the film, television and new media industries, an ever-growing community that promotes professional development, networking opportunities, employment, and industry information. MyMediaBiz.com provides a fully searchable, robust Production Guide available free of charge to everyone. Technicolor Packaged Media Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Carlton Communications Plc., is the number one processor of motion picture films and is the largest manufacturer and distributor of pre-recorded videocassettes. And they're on their way to becoming the leader in global replication of optical media, including DVDs, DVD-ROMs, CDs and CD-ROMs. Their site offers a highly informative DVD Technical Reference Guide booklet (downloadable in text or Adobe Acrobat format) that discusses the DVD format in all its various permutations. If you have any questions about the DVD format, this is an excellent source. The Entertainment Merchants Association, formerly The Video Software Dealers Association. This site is the Web home for the trade association for video stores and dealers. Video Business and Home Media magazines, the leading trade publications for the home video industry. Your Video Connection is the Web site for VPD, a home video and video game wholesaler. Film Journal International is one of a dying breed: a magazine for the motion picture exhibitor. Though not specifically geared to the consumer (with an emphasis on the business of showing films -- projectors, sound systems and popcorn machines, for example) the publication nonetheless offers much value for film lovers: articles on major and independent films and companies, advance reviews of virtually every movie that will hit the big screen, film business news and analysis, and charts of upcoming films. The site includes reviews, guides, features, and industry news. Back to top AUDIOPHILE/VIDEOPHILE SITES If you're at all interested in the widescreen viewing experience, then the magazine Widescreen Review is for you. Although the emphasis is strictly on laserdisc and DVD releases, WSR's reporting is of use to all concerned with the immaculate reproduction of sound and image. The magazine keeps an eye clearly focused on the best equipment for home video reproduction of widescreen films and as such provides an invaluable service for film lovers. You may not be able to afford the equipment, but you can marvel at the possibilities inherent in this magazine's attention to aural and ocular detail. For audiophiles, the grand daddy of "high-end" sound is The Absolute Sound (TAS). Founded by audiophile Harry Pearson some 25 years ago, this magazine is the bible for anyone who wants to appreciate the best that audio has to offer. The emphasis here is on the music and its accurate reproduction in the home, with plenty of equipment and recording reviews. And editor Pearson's Recommended Recordings encapsulates the best sounding musical reproductions the world has to offer. The site has hundreds of links to audio equipment manufacturers, audio societies, electronic associations, music studios, opera and concert halls, vinyl/CDs/laserdiscs/ and home theater, as well as text from the printed editions. Stereophile is a slicker version of TAS, with the emphasis tilted towards equipment, particularly equipment that offers exceptional value for price (their list of recommended components runs the gamut from high end to bargain basement values). Like TAS, the goal here is to reproduce music in the home as accurately as possible. Naturally they offer links to a host of other audio sites. Stereophile's Guide to Home Theater is a videophile magazine spinoff of Stereophile that examines all aspects of the home theatre experience: laserdiscs and DVDs, widescreen TV, surround sound and more. The site has text from the magazine as well as links to other audio and video sites. Back to top MISCELLANEOUS VIDEO/MOVIE SITES Impermanent Press is the home of "Killer B's: The 237 Best Movies on Video You've Probably Never Seen," written by Scott Apel, a frequent contributor to OnVideo. This is the one video guide you need if you think you've seen it all, with 237 buried treasures on tape -- every one a recommended rental. The publisher, Impermanent Press, is a small, independent press that publishes a variety of unique, brilliant, offbeat and outrageous books. In addition to "Killer B's," there's the splendid work of international cult figure Robert Anton Wilson (alleged head of the Illuminati); writings by Richard Roberts, longtime friend and student of the eminent scholar of mythology, Joseph Campbell; and a postmodern surreal comic sci-fi novel "MFU" by HC. The site is beautifully designed and laid out: a work of art in itself. Aim Icons offers hundreds upon hundreds of film and music icons that you can easily download for use as desktop icons. The Movie Sounds Page offers downloads of audio clips (dialogue) from 100 films including "Animal House," "Fargo," "The Godfather," "Independence Day," "Jurassic Park," "Men in Black," "Robocop." "Speed," "Top Gun," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Young Frankenstein." AllMoviePhoto.com is a film voyeur's dream come true: a massive site of thousands of film and celebrity photos just there for the asking, covering past, present and future films (and past, present and future celebrities). The site is easy to navigate and you can search for or browse films and celebrities by alphabetical listings. Celebrity Pictures World is another massive site that posts photos of celebrities. To navigate the site, click on a letter of the alphabet and you'll be presented with a massive list of celebrities. The home page regularly posts the most popular celebrity pictures. Movie Posters: Class Act Posters is an online movie poster and collectibles emporium, featuring new and classic posters, photos, toys and action figures. Movies-Television Posters is a one-stop online source for thousands of movie, television and star posters, searchable by name, title, genre and price. Art.Com is a massive site that offers prints, posters and custom framing in such categories as abstract, Disney, movies, music, still life, vintage and much, much more. Movie Posters HQ is a clearinghouse and guide to hundreds of movie poster sites, ranging from current releases to classics, from sites specializing in posters for specific genres to individual film series. There's also links to cheap movie posters, free movie posters, collecting movie posters and movie poster resources. I Collect Movie Posters is an internet marketplace for buying and selling authentic movie posters and movie memorabilia. The site offers free collection software, posters for sale and wanted, movie poster collector prices database, image galleries, and much more. Columbia House Video Club: The venerable mail order club online. The Dove Foundation: "Family friendly movie and video Web stop." TV Listings: These sites are really databases of TV shows that allow you to find current listings and synopses (usually on a TV grid) on a daily basis, by channel or even by genre or star. What to find out when and where a Bogart film is airing? Plug it into a search engine and the site will come back with the listings. A couch potatoe's dream. Try the venerable TV Guide and GIST TV Listings. Back to top BLOOPERS Everyone loves movie bloopers -- mistakes in continuity, special effects, and editing, or outright factual errors -- and several sites have arisen to chronicle those faults. Some of the best are: Movie-Mistakes Nitpickers Blooperman and Whoops! Movie Goofs Back to top AND FOR DIEHARD WEB EXPLORERS: Is this what we need? One more "Gabby Cabby"? In a word, yes. This amazing site is the handiwork of Pete the Gabby Cabby, a New York cab driver (born, schooled, married in New York City) who has a million tales to tell -- and he tells them all here. He's a working class guy who broadcasts from the streets to 300 million listeners in 71 countries, telling stories of life from the back seat of a cab. He also did a 9,000-mile, seven- week tour of the U.S. in his "yellow mobile conveyance lounge" to augment his city tales with those from around the country. "All of a sudden, I am what? Chopped liver? My voice ain't good enough for youse people? Now, you gets into my cab at Tirty Tird and Tird and you hear Jackie Mason or Earth Kitt?" Check this guy out. The Daily Vault is an independent music review site whose goal is to provide no-holds-barred reviews of any and all forms of music -- a new release or forgotten oldie, from unsigned artists or a road-scarred veterans -- for die-hard music enthusiasts. As the name suggest, they take one album for review every day. Coverage is rounded out with periodic columns and occasional interviews with music-makers as well as links. Postmodern Culture: The grandmother of all online cultural theory journals. CTheory: an international journal of theory, technology and culture. Articles, interviews, and key book reviews in contemporary discourse are published as well as theorisations of major "event-scenes" in the mediascape. Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker. Editorial Board includes: Kathy Acker (San Francisco), Jean Baudrillard (Paris), Bruce Sterling (Austin), R.U. Sirius (San Francisco), Andrew Ross (New York), David Cook (Toronto). A fine critical journal from the makers of the "Panic Encyclopedia." Fed up with corporate culture and its insidious co-option and manipulation of popular culture? Then Adbusters is for you. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Adbusters is a not-for-profit, reader-supported, 85,000-circulation magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces. Their work has been embraced by organizations like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, has been featured on MTV and PBS, in the Wall Street Journal and Wired, and in hundreds of other newspapers, magazines, and television and radio shows around the world. Adbusters offers incisive philosophical articles as well as activist commentary from around the world addressing issues ranging from genetically modified foods to media concentration. In addition, their annual social marketing campaigns like Buy Nothing Day and TV Turnoff Week have made them an important activist networking group. Ultimately, though, Adbusters is an ecological magazine, dedicated to examining the relationship between human beings and their physical and mental environment. "We want a world in which the economy and ecology resonate in balance. We try to coax people from spectator to participant in this quest. We want folks to get mad about corporate disinformation, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that pollutes our physical or mental commons. Readers are professors and students; activists and politicians; environmentalists and media professionals; corporate watch dogs and industry insiders; kids who love our slick ad parodies and parents who worry about their children logging too many hours a day in the electronic environment." Bomb Magazine: Art and literature only the Web can handle. Center for Media Literacy: How to understand the media and how it manipulates you. Eastgate Systems: Serious hypertext with links to other hypertext sites. Marilyn's Non-Violent Planet site is a unique place that supports human and animal rights and non- violence. In addition to its kind and understanding text, it offers a portal to hundreds of sites that are useful to people who have empathy with Marilyn's worldview of a gentler, more humane existence. Link categories include human rights, animal rights, non-violence information, peace organizations, stress management, games, poetry, books, movies, music, and recipes.

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