Headings
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CINEMAS
What's on
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Virgin Net Cinema
www.virgin.net/cinema
Virgin's cinema section has everything you want in an
online listings site. Dates, times and venues are easy
to find and there's plenty of potted reviews and witty
articles to keep you amused should you have time to
browse.
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ABC Cinemas
www.abc-cinemas.co.uk
It's as easy as ABC to find out what's on at your
local cinema with this site, which is also very easy
on the eye thanks to clever use of Flash technology.
It also features precis' and trailers of all the big
releases.
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Cinemas in the U.K
www.aber.ac.uk/-jwp/cinemas
A directory of cinemas throughout the UK listed
alkphabetically by town. The authors have done their
homework not only do you get the address and phone
number for each entry, but also how many screens and
seats, includes links to the big cinema
chains.
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National Film Theatre
www.nft.co.uk
This site is needlessly heavy on text, but is a mine
of information all the same for the capital's film
goers. It will tell you what's showing at the NFT over
the next few weeks, so you don't miss out on any arty
or classic gems, while it also contains listings for
the impressive IMAX cinema.
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Odeon Cinemas
www.odeon.co.uk
Here, you can not only find out what's showing at
your nearest Odeon, but also book your tickets online.
Add reviews of the latest releases and well-stocked
video and DVD store and you have a very
well-implemented site.
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Scoot Cinema Guide
www.cinema.scoot.co.uk
The most accessible, accurate and easy-to-use film
finder on the Web. Scoot even provides directions to
the cinema, along with information on the facilities
provided and potted reviews of the films on
offer.
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UCI Cinemas
www.uci-cinemas.co.uk
The owners of many of the plush mulitplexes springing
up on the edge of towns all over the country, UCI has
put together this very impressive site.
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Yell Film Finder
www.yell.co.uk/yell/ff
Finding your nearest cinema with this site is a
little laborious, but the information on films and
times is comprehensive and bang up to date. There's
also access to useful additional information, such as
local restaurants and the nearest pub.
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Cinemas
Background Information
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International Movie Database
www.imdb.com
with over 170,000 films listed, the International
Movie Database is the Granddaddy of all movie sites
on the web. Not only that, but it's one of the best
online resources of any kind. A huge database of
just about every movie ever made, you'll find
information on everything from the cast and crew to
continuity errors.
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Brit Movie
www.britmovie.co.uk
Even though people are continually berating the state
of the British film industry, we have made some fine
movies over the years, as this site proves. A huge
collection of the best British movies ever made, the
list spans from early masterpieces like The 39 Steps
to the Ealing comedies and from Sixties classics like
Alfie to modern success stories like the Full Monty.
Each is accompanied by details of the cast and crew
and a short synopsis. Then there are articles on
actors, actresses and genres.
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British Board of Film Classification
www.bbfc.co.uk
This is the organisation that decides what you watch
and who can legally watch it. It explains the
decision-making process in some detail, along with the
rationale behind the various classifications. Recent
adjudications of the Board are also reproduced online,
while the most interesting part of the site is that
devoted to controversial decisions of the past.
Student Union favourites like Texas Chainsaw Massacre
and A Clockwork Orange are dissected, along with the
reasons why they were withdrawn.
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Exposure
www.exposure.co.uk
This useful resource is aimed at young film makers
who want to emulate the phenomenal success of The
Blair Witch Project. The centrepiece is the witty and
worthwhile 'Complete Eejits Guide to Film making'.
Covering everything from writing your screenplay to
getting your film shown, this site should give you
some inspiration when your creative juices are running
dry. There's also a handy contacts list and details of
screenplay competitions.
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Film 100
www.film100.com
This is a well considered list of the 100 most
influential figures in cinema history, in the author's
opinion, of course. From Walt Disney to the Lumiere
brothers, the innovative split-screen format will
allow you to browse through the entries with ease.
Each is accompanied by a witty and well-written
biography, while the whole site is well designed and
organised.
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Carry Online
www.carryonline.com
The Carry On films are undoubtedly an institution and
this huge site will take you back in time to the days
when Barbara Windsor wasn't a pub landlord and Kenneth
Williams was still with us. The atmosphere of ribald
innuendo is perfectly judged and the level of detail
incredible. You'll find accounts of all the films,
from Carry on Sergeant in 1958 to the ill-judged Carry
on Columbus in 1992, and detailed biographies of all
the actors.
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Jurassic Punk
www.jurassicpunk.com
This site might not be much to look at initially, but
there's a whole host of film clips and trailers
beneath the dowdy exterior. If you're one of those who
can't wait to see the big new releases, then you'll
find a wide selection of trailers for each new
blockbuster. There's fresh content added every day -
from a variety of sources - and not many of the latest
releases escape the Punk's grasp.
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The Movie Cliches List
www.moviecliches.com
Hollywood blockbusters might be an easy target, but
don't let that stop you enjoying this huge list of all
the ridiculous excesses that separate Hollywood from
the real world.Gems like, 'A hero will show no pain
even during the most terrific beating, yet he will
wince if a women attempts to clean a facial wound',
and many more besides will have you laughing out loud.
Helpfully divided into sections, these observations
are all funny because they're true.
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Film Four
www.filmfour.com
As well as promoting the Film Four cable channel, and
providing easy-to-follow online listings to help you
plan your viewing, this site contains plenty of
interesting content. Even if you don't subscribe to
Film Four, you'll enjoy the streaming-video interviews
with big-name directors and special spotlights on
independent film festivals around the world. There are
also comprehensive and well-researched retrospectives
of major films, stars and directors. And you can see
what the film-making arm that funded Four Weddings and
a Funeral is up to.
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Dark Horizons
www.darkhorizons.com
An excellent site for cinephiles that is bursting
with the latest news, images, clips and reviews of all
the current and upcoming blockbuster films.
Each film is given extensive treatment, with details
of the plot, cast, crew and rumours from the set.
There's also an excellent news section that will keep
you up to date with everything going on in Hollywood -
including the early word on the big releases, whispers
of new projects and so on. Then there's a huge archive
of everything on the site over the last three
years.
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Empire
www.empireonline.co.uk
A slick, well stocked site that is easily a match for
its popular print cousin. The very latest movie news
and reviews are regularly updated so if you really
want to know what is going on from a UK perspective,
this should be one of your first stops. What really
marks it out as a quality site, apart from the stylish
design, are he insightful features and the quality of
the chat on the well-used message board.
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Oscars
www.oscar.com
If once a year isn't enough for you, you can relive
the tears and triumph of the Oscars all year round at
this well put together official site. Featuring a
comprehensive spread of subjects, you can read about
everything from Oscar fashion to the history of the
awards. There's also a wide selection of streaming
video clips so you can enjoy once again the tension of
the announcements or the tears of Gwyneth
Paltrow.
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Film Scouts
www.filmscouts.com
This stylish site could provide a pointer to the
future of movies on the Internet. It features short
films by independent film-makers, many of which are
actually very good. And if you've got a reasonably
fast connection, the quality isn't bad
either.
Film buffs will also enjoy the in-depth
documentaries. When we visited, there was a
fascinating insight into the weird world of David
Lynch on offer.
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Greatest Films
www.greatestfilms.org
As this site explains, choosing the greatest films of
all time is always going to be a tricky business and
much of it is down to personal taste. So, Greatest
Films has garnered opinion from a variety of expert
sources and left it to you to make your own mind up.
This is one of those sites that seems nothing special
at first glance, but contains such a wealth of
interesting information that you can spend ages
surfing around.
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Script-o-rama
www.script-o-rama
A great site that will appeal to anyone who lives and
breathes the cinema. It's a mammoth resource that
contains the original scripts for just about every
major feature film ever made.Relive your favourite
moments from Star Wars or Casablanca or marvel at the
changes made during filming. There's also a selection
of as yet unfilmed screenplays by up-and-coming
writers and a large variety of television
scripts.
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Site Officiel du Festival de Cannes
www.festival-cannes.fr
Cannes has long been a glamorous affair and the
lavish website, with its clean black and gold
typesetting, almost matches it sequin-for-sequin.
Available in both French and English, it not only
covers this year's events - making good use of
audio-visual trickery - but has a first rate database
of past Cannes folk and films to rival the IMDB. The
real winner though, is the archive section - which
gives a vibrant sense of this annual gathering in the
name of cinema
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Film
Reviews
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At a Glance Film Reviews
www.rinkworks.com/movies
An extremely useful and comprehensive resource put
together by a pair of movie buffs named Sam and Dean.
Somehow they've managed to find the time to review and
rate hundreds of films, covering all genres and eras
as they go. The reviews are all short and to the point
so can be consulted quickly and easily. Having two
reviews of each film also means that you can formulate
your opinion more easily than simply being told
whether a film is good or bad.
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Atom Films
www.atomfilms.com
Wonderful site where you can see and download the
latest short films. Everything from the new Aardman
Animations ( who made Wallace and Gromit) creation to
the latest Oscar winning short.... but watch out for
Joe Cartoon's foul mouthed gerbil in the microwave.
They email regular updates.
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Blunt Review
www.bluntreview.com
Blunt by name, blunt by nature is the maxim of this
site, on which all of the new releases are reviewed by
one Emily Blunt. In fact, her opinions are actually
much fairer and more reasoned than she gives herself
credit for. Not only that but they're nicely laid out,
not too long and clearly well-informed. Ms Blunt also
has a nice line in sarcasm and a rather unusual
rating system.
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Bollywood
www.bollywood.org.uk/
News,music, new releases and profiles from the exotic
world of Indian films
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Filmweek
www.filmweek.co.uk
It may not have as many entries or look as stylish as
other review sites but Filmweek's writers certainly
know their movies. Well-considered reviews are added
as new movies are released and these are then archived
for later viewing. Most importantly, Filmweek is
British, so you'll only hear about films that have
actually been released on this side of the pond.
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Hollywood
www.hollywood.com
Coming directly from the heart of the movie industry,
Hollywood is a hotbed of reviews, trailers, previews
and exclusive pictures. The design is a little chaotic
but there's so much to see that it hardly matters.
Because it's a US site most of the films featured
won't be out over here for some months but at least
you'll know which blockbusters are on their way.
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Film 99
www.bbc.co.uk/film99
Coming directly from the heart of the movie industry,
Hollywood is a hotbed of reviews, trailers, previews
and exclusive pictures. The design is a little chaotic
but there's so much to see that it hardly matters.
Because it's a US site most of the films featured
won't be out over here for some months but at least
you'll know which blockbusters are on their way.
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Aint it Cool News
www.aint-it-cool-news.com
Harry Knowles has long been a thorn in the side of
the big Hollywood studios. Armed with a long list of
contacts in the industry, his aim is to bring you the
latest movie news and reviews before anyone else. The
layout is somewhat chaotic but that just adds to the
sense that this is news and gossip hot off the
presses. The enthusiastic team take great delight in
pricking the fragile egos of the great and the good
and why not?
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Movie Review Query Engine
www.mrqe.com
A supremely useful site that will search a
hand-picked selection of reputable sites, to bring
back as many reviews as it can find. In particular,
this will also be a useful resource for those
interested in foreign language films, which are often
hard to track down elsewhere. And even if you're not
looking for a particular flick, movie buffs can while
away many a happy hour leafing through the most
popular and most recent reviews.
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Movie Bloopers
www.moviebloopers.com
Now you seeit, now you don't. Silly little mistakes
that film makers shouldn't have made are pointed out
frame by frame in this site.
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Oh the Humanity
www.ohthehumanity.com
Not content with the narrow subject areas covered by
the Tokyo Stomp site, the very professional looking Oh
the Humanity takes things several steps further in the
quest to find the worst film in history.
From laughable special effects to nonsensical plots,
we've all seen films that are truly terrible. This
site allows you to share the horror and recoil in fear
at the sheer number of bad movies out there.
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Inside Out
www.insideout.co.uk
Recently we seem to have been blessed by more and
more UK-based movie review sites, going some way to
correcting the extreme US bias that exists. This is
one of the best, combining intelligent, knowledgeable
reviews with extensive coverage of film festivals in
the UK.
The London and Edinburgh Film Festivals are covered
in exhaustive detail by a roving reporter, who picks
out the highlights and lowlights of each. We also
liked the clear, unfussy design, which reflected the
nature of the reviews.
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Film Unlimited
www.filmunlimited.com
The Guardian's online offerings are so unfailingly
excellent that it comes as no surprise to find that
Film Unlimited contains some of the best film
criticism on the Web.
Each Friday, its team of critics set about the latest
batch of new releases - and for a supposed bunch of
liberals they can be quite vicious! Nevertheless, it's
clear that those who produce the site have a great
love for the cinema, while those who design it ensure
that their work is showcased to best effect.
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Film.com
www.film.com
A very professional US-based site that has been
around for a long time. It may not have the wit and
irreverence of some of the newer kids on the block,
but it more than makes up for that with its
authoritative, comprehensive review section. There's
also a healthy dose of trailers to watch and a number
of quizzes and polls to participate in. The excellent
'Greatest Films You Never Saw' section should also
give you a few ideas for your next trip to the video
shop.
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Popcorn
www.popcorn.co.uk
The problem with most decent movie sites is that
they're heavily American in focus, which means that
they concentrate on films that aren't even out here
yet. Fortunately, Popcorn goes some way towards
restoring the balance and is particularly strong on
securing exclusive interviews with major British
talent like Hugh Grant and Ewan Macgregor. The reviews
aren't as authoritative as they might be but the movie
news is bang up to date.
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Kamera
www.kamera.co.uk
If you're often to be seen perusing the listings
outside your local arthouse cinema with a copy of
Sight & Sound tucked under your arm, then this is
the site for you. While it does review the big films
too, often offering a new slant on them, Kamera
concentrates more on leftfield, less mainstream
offerings.
As well as the excellent reviews, clearly written by
true movie buffs, there's a smattering of excellent
articles, interviews and essays, all of which should
appeal to anyone who knows their Annie Hall from their
Annie.
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Movie a Minute
rinkworks.com/movieaminute
Do you often find yourself at a loose end when the
conversation turns to classic films? Then take a look
at this amusing site, which features hundreds of
movies, all reduced to two or three line pr�cis.
Most of them are hilarious, as classic films - from
It's a Wonderful Life to Return of the Jedi are put to
the sword with glee.
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Oscars.com
www.oscar.com
Applause! Applause The official all singing, all
dancing site that contains everrything you need to
know about the Academy Award Ceremonies dating back to
when all movies were only made in black and white.
Good reports on the nominees for the 2000 ceremony -
tearful acceptance speeches and all.
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Stomp Tokyo
www.stomptokyo.com
This review site is a little different to say the
least, concentrating not on the latest blockbusters
but on those movies usually found gathering dust on
the back shelf of the video shop.
Godzilla, B-movies, kung-fu and films that are just
so bad they're good come together in a melting pot of
truly awful movie-making. Movies are rated in lava
lamps, bad films are good, good films are bad and all
the while you're left wondering whether the authors
are being serious or not.
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Total Film
www.totalfilm.co.uk
Rather than just transplanting its entire operation
to the Web, snappy film magazine Total Film has used
its site to provide a dual service to its
readers.
On the one hand, it reacts quickly to any new
premiere and has a snapshot review up on its site. On
the other, it archives particularly interesting
features and interviews from the magazine.
The design is deliberately sparse to make navigation
quick and easy, too.
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6degrees
www.6degrees.co.uk
6degrees is the UK independant film magasine-
featuring film, video, book,DVD and soundtrack
reviews, plus monthly articles on filmakers, stars,
industry professionals and film organisations.
6degrees also offers free small-ads pages, weekly
email news letters, festival and cinema guides,
trailers, competitions, film society information,
education guides, video interviews and much more
besides.
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DVD's & Videos
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BlackStar
www.blackstar.co.uk
The simple design of this site means it's fast to
load and easy to work your way around. You're tempted
in on the front page with special offers and free
postage costs on DVDs and videos. You can browse by
film genre or search for specific titles. There's a
plot summary for most of the films and suggestions of
other films you might like to see in the same genre.
The site is not short on bargains either - some
popular videos were available for a mere �3.99.
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DVD Box Office
www.dvdboxoffice.com
This site offers free shipping worldwide, which makes
a pleasant surprise. Of course because Boxoffice is
based in the States you can get hold of films before
they're available in the UK and they're much cheaper
than over here. New Arrivals take centre stage on the
opening page of the site and you're looking at prices
between $25 and $30 for the latest movies.
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DVD Express
www.dvdexpress.com
If you are serious about DVD, then the only way to go
is to import titles from America. The problem is
choosing a suitably reliable site. DVD Express is one
such site. Offering thousands of titles, as well as
music CD's and movie merchandise, this is a great
site. The design allows you to search for a title
based on a key word, or delve through the structure in
place.
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DVDplus
www.dvdplus.co.uk
This site looks very stylish and proved to be easy to
navigate. You can search for videos or DVDs by title,
actor or director or you can browse by genre. Each DVD
comes with a plot summary, reviews and a star rating.
If you're stuck for gift ideas then why not visit the
Inspire Me section where you'll find a list of 10
classic films that anyone would appreciate.
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Filmstore
www.filmstore.co.uk
This site is a subsidiary of the Odeon cinema group
and it sells the top DVDs and videos. Each movie comes
with a plot summary and you can search for specific
actors or directors. There's a special section called
TV Heaven for cult soaps and TV shows on video which
contains classics such as Brideshead Revisited.
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Filmworld
www.filmworld.co.uk
You'll find a good selection of videos and CDs on sale
at Filmworld. The movies are accompanied by detailed
background information. Movie buffs will appreciate
the many and varied ways you can search the Filmworld
database - by film title, director, actor, distributor
or by a specific year. You could even use the online
Film Atlas to choose films made in specific countries.
And just to get you in the mood, you can even check
out a few film trailers online.
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Video Paradise
www.videoparadise.com
Video Paradise is yet another WH Smith spin off.
You'll find plenty of special offers on the site, with
most of the videos being backed up by comprehensive
movie reviews along with customer comments. If you're
not sure what you fancy watching then check out the
video charts for inspiration. Videos are sent out
within 48 hours and delivery is charged at
�2.95.
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Entertainment Express
www.entexpress.com
Not only does Entertainment Express sell videos but
it also turns its hands to CDs and software. You'll
always find some attractive special offers at the site
with many videos going for as little as �3.99. If
you're looking for inspiration you can browse by genre
or find a specific title by typing in a movie title or
an actor's name. The prices are good and include
delivery costs.
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Fan Mags
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Clint Eastwood: The World Wide Web Page!
www.clinteastwood.net
An outstanding, stylish and utterly satisfying
tribute to the iconic actor-director. The site manages
to cover most aspects of his public life, building
around an intelligent biography with an excellent
filmography, trivia, and video downloads from choice
moments from Clint's films (including 14 minutes of
footage from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly). Most
importantly, there are a few quirky gems; the best is
a set of audio downloads from mid-60s bestseller Clint
Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favourites. Fantastic.
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Degrees of Kevin Bacon
www.fas.harvard.edu/~salm/student/sdokb
It has recently been estimated that no site on the
Internet is more than 13 clicks away from another. But
the discovery that it really is a small world was
first enforced by a mere film trivia game - and
floppy-haired Tremors star Kevin Bacon. Basically - as
this site demonstrates - the idea is that Bacon is the
hub of the entertainments world. Any actor/actress can
be traced to him through the movies on which they have
worked, in six steps or less. The details and
variations on the game are described in full
here.
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Kubrick Multimedia Film Guide
www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick
The late director was not terribly well served by the
Web before his death and even after, there's not much
to be found in one place. This tactful, largely
monochrome site spares the comments on Kubrick's life
and films, letting an abundant supply of images and
aural extracts from the works do the talking instead.
While material for the early days is slightly lacking,
most of the later movies are covered well (including a
section on AI, the film that never was). Further links
are heaped on, if you want further reading.
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The OneRing.net
www.theonering.net
Remember the Internet furore over the recent Star
Wars movie in the months before its release? Well, the
whole thing's about to happen again, as Peter
Jackson's Lord Of The Rings adaptation begins filming,
for release in 2001. Tolkien's seminal trilogy has a
huge fanbase and The OneRing.net is one of the best of
half-a-dozen sites tracking the films in production
and posting rumours, confirmed castings and script
details as they come in.
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