Fantastic response from all y'all on the Pacino / Deniro DVD giveaway. We should be announcing the winner tomorrow, after I've had a chance to pick a few finalists and take an official Film.com vote.

Also, in fun Film.com news, if you live in the Seattle area and want to attend our trivia night drop me a line at:

I'll get you on the list. As it currently stands the event is six rounds of Movie/TV trivia with prizes and a few free beverages. Should be a good time. If you don't live in Seattle I apologize. Perhaps we'll visit your town soon with the Film.com traveling circus. You never know. Stranger things have happened.

Now then, in other news, I caught a screening of Burn After Reading yesterday. Sadly, I can't tell you anything about it. Why? The film is under embargo. Actually this is kind an interesting topic that folks don't know much about. So let's break it down for today's lesson. We'll handle this in web 2.0 FAQ style.

What the hell is an embargo, and why is Big Hitter Laremy droning on about it?

An embargo is a restriction placed upon a person (like me, or you) in exchange for access to screen films early. For instance I'm seeing Righteous Kill on Wednesday for a review that will run Friday. Now then, if I run that review Wednesday night I'll get in trouble and possibly lose my access to future screenings. That's the way the game works, and up until you start asking questions it's somewhat logical.

So you see movies before they come out, eh?

By and large, yes. Sometimes it's very early, I've seen L.A. and NYC screenings scheduled up to three weeks prior. But for films they are desperately trying to hide it can be as late as the night before. And of course there are films they don't show at all. Bangkok Dangerous was one of those... but I foiled their plans by paying to see it on Friday. They can't stop me from doing that (yet)!

So wait, how do newspapers hit deadlines if they don't show the film until the night before? I mean, not everyone is involved with the super-speedy internet publishing world, right?

Wow. You're really on it to even consider that angle. But yes, you're correct. Newspapers and magazines are beloved so they don't have to put up with a lot of this nonsense. And this is where the embargo rules start making much less sense.

They get to go to "different" screenings because they are "better." So they probably see it Wednesday at noon. It's known that they won't run the story early because they are the newspaper. They follow the rules. We do too, but the courtesy isn't extended to Film.com because we only have a few million readers. You can see why they'd want to exclude us. We're trouble. If we saw the movie on Wednesday we'd have another day to write our review and then what would happen? Exactly. There'd be riots.

Hold up, I see "early" reviews for movies all the time on this one site I read...

Yes, me too. Sites like AICN run "reader" reviews. These reviews come from people getting into screenings the studio holds to gauge public reaction. Sites like this publish under aliases and occasionally get away with murder. I don't begrudge them, and they do provide a legit service to the 'net. The only problem is that certain other sites, like this one, deal with studios that live in fear due to these "early" reviews.

Well, what about Variety? I see their reviews weeks early.

Yes, they can run their reviews whenever they like too. Why? Because they are Variety. This rule also goes for The Associated Press. They, like the websites that don't have to follow rules, can run whatever they want, whenever they want.

What would it take for Film.com to get that sort of power?

It's a question I ask myself all the time. Usually at night, while looking at a giant map of the world. I think if we hit a billion readers (c'mon India!) I can then say "you need us more than we need you." At that point I'll be really important. I'm guessing I'll live in St. Maartens.

I don't really see the problem. I mean... you get to see free movies. Who cares about when and where you get to see them?

Ouch. I'm tough on myself. But I see plenty of terrible movies so that you don't have to. The fact is everyone wants to see free movies. But no one wants to see Bangkok Dangerous. And the hypocrisy is what bothers me. If no one was allowed to report on movies until opening day I wouldn't be troubled by these rules. But letting the big boys and the outlaws roam free while everyone in the middle follows embargoes is silly.

And when we see them does matter, because it affects the writing. If you have 30 minutes to write something it won't be as good. Furthermore, when we can tell you about movies matters. If we reported whenever we felt like it, as Variety does, we could warn you not to see certain things earlier in the week. This would be better for both your pocketbook and free time.

So, to recap: They let newspapers and print media see different screenings than you, because theoretically you might run your review early. But you still have to follow the embargo rules so that you can see the movie at all, even a few hours before it comes out?

That's about the size of it.

That's crazy.

I know! It really is. But reviews are important for a couple of reasons. Here's the reason Film.com keeps banging its head and seeing everything out there, regardless of arbitrary rules:

1. Movies are big business and everything is working against the general public. Marketers are good at their job. Hollywood is good at selling. Reviews and your common sense are your only defense. It's not fair if a studio gets to rip you off because we didn't get a review up in time.
2. One day everyone involved will realize that the internet is important. Our opinion matters. And if Film.com says a movie is good - that means it's good. Plus our reviews are open to live comments if you disagree. We're not in our basement. And we're not in L.A. We're normal folk; occasionally we eat pizza. And our one true hope is that everyone gets to see great movies and avoid bad ones.

That doesn't seem like a crazy dream to me.

That's all for now. We'll have The Women, Burn After Reading, and Righteous Kill reviews for ya Friday.

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