Circuit City Is No More

As most everyone knows by now, Circuit City has come out unsuccessful in a long financial struggle brought about by the country's economic downturn. The chain will be liquidating its assets (stores, merchandise, etc.) starting immediately. Its website has already been shut down, and 34,000 employees will soon be left out in the cold.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that adding such a significant number of people to the ranks of America's unemployed isn't a good thing. In terms of the state of America's economy, Circuit City's closing is just one more tragedy in the ongoing catastrophe that is this country's economy. But I think it's also worth taking a look at the situation as it relates to the home entertainment business, as well as to the electronics business in general – in other words, how it relates to us, the customers.

To start off, some people will see prices lowered at their local Circuit City stores. Don't expect anything major, though. Federal law mandates that Circuit City give its employees 60 days notice of their termination, which they just did today, so they can't sell off all of their merchandise immediately. For that reason, I doubt prices will be slashed very much. Of course, that's up to the individual liquidator for each store, so every store will probably be a little different.

But what I find a lot more interesting than what's happening at Circuit City stores until the end of March is what will happen to everyone else once CC is gone. My prediction is that in the short term, we're going to see higher prices at Best Buy and other electronics retailers (like Target and Walmart). That's not to say that Best Buy will raise its prices – it's just going to be less likely to discount its merchandise from MSRP for a while. And why shouldn't it? With its biggest competitor gone, there's little reason to cater the particularly discriminating customer.

But while the death of Circuit City may seem like a victory for the likes of Best Buy, I don't think it will take long for brick and mortar electronics stores to finally realize that their true competition has never been with each other – it's been with the Internet. For months now, Amazon.com has routinely matched (and often beaten) Best Buy's weekly advertised prices and there is no way that Best Buy can continue selling cheaper electronics like DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and video games for MSRP once it's recognized Amazon as its main competition. So in the long run, this could actually turn out well, with Best Buy lowering its prices from time to time in order to compete with online retailers.

I'm not an economist in the least, but as someone who has followed the business of these two companies (and watched their advertisements each week) for years now, I've come to be able to notice the ebb and flow of prices in the home entertainment market. The past few weeks have been devoid of any deep discounts from Best Buy, Circuit City, and even Amazon, which is actually a bit uncharacteristic of retailers immediately after holidays. I guess the bubble was bound to burst sooner or later. Without any reason to spend more at Circuit City than the value of any soon-to-be-useless gift cards one might have lying around, there just hasn't been a compelling reason to shop there...and unfortunately, there won't ever be one again at this point. That's how business works, though, and we can only trust that Best Buy and other retailers will try to learn some important lessons from this situation. Here's hoping that in the long term, they'll amount to something both profitable and sustainable.

Worst Box Art Ever?

I find so many interesting things just browsing through new DVD releases each week. Today I found what may very well be the worst box art for a movie that I've ever seen. Take a look (click on the image to make it bigger)...

I'd never even heard of My Best Friend's Girl before I saw this box art, so I can't say anything about the quality of the movie itself, but I'll be damned if that's not one ugly-looking picture. When will the studios learn that you can't just photoshop the actors' heads onto their bodies and call it a day?

This seriously looks like something a 10-year old would do as a practical joke on his friends. And not just any practical joke, but a practical joke that isn't even very funny. "Hey guys look, I just pasted your heads onto people doing silly things, LOLZ!" See? Not funny. Not funny at all.

...Okay, so maybe it's a little funny.

New Year's Update

I just got back last night from a week-long trip to Florida with my family, which was a lot of fun. Spending New Year's in Disney World was a really neat experience, and I'd love to do it again someday when I have kids of my own.

So although I don't have much in the way of movie-related material to post at the moment, I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that I'm still alive and that I haven't forgotten about this blog. In fact, I was able to watch a ton of movies before I left on vacation, and I plan to post reviews of all of them soon.

My posts will probably become less sparse when I return to school next week, since I'll be separated from the 46" HDTV and Blu-ray player that my parents have at home. It's getting harder and harder to imagine going back to the small SDTV I have in my apartment, so I may have to get an HDTV for myself before too long. I already have about a dozen Blu-ray discs, so a BD player should follow not too long after that.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and is looking forward to 2009 as much as I am. Come back soon!

Delgo Has the Worst Opening in Box Office History

Remember a few posts ago when I said that I couldn't imagine anyone looking forward to Delgo? Well, apparently I was right, because according to Yahoo News it just had the worst opening ever for a movie in wide release. The article says:

"Delgo" earned a measly $511,920 this weekend on 2,160 screens, not even breaking the top ten. That's an average of $237 per screen for the three days. If you figure there were five screenings a day, and assume ticket prices are about $8, that comes out to two people in the theater per showing.

That's pretty rough. But here's the line from the article that really gets me:

By comparison, the Golden Globe-nominated drama "Doubt" earned roughly the same amount of money, but it was only in 15 theaters.

Ouch. I almost feel bad considering the story behind the making of Delgo (see the link), but then I remember how painful the trailer was and I have to wonder how anyone ever thought this movie was a good idea.

Good Trailer

No, I don't mean "Good Trailer" as in this trailer looks good (although it does). The movie is actually called "Good," and it stars Viggo Mortensen as a college professor in Nazi Germany.


I'm always a little skeptical of movies where the characters speak English in places that very obviously don't speak English in real life, but I think this one could turn out all right. It opens in limited release on December 31.

The Academy Changed Its Mind

About a month ago, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences disqualified The Dark Knight's score from eligibility for its Best Original Score award. However, it seems they have now decided to reverse that decision. Here's what Yahoo News has to say:

The executive committee of the academy's music branch initially ruled November 10 that there were too many composers involved in the score; the Academy generally considers only scores that are the work of one or at most two composers.

But after reviewing the submission, it concluded that Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard were the main composers and deemed the duo's work for Warner Bros.' Batman blockbuster as eligible.

Gee, do you think? As I said in a previous post on this topic, Zimmer and Howard had already been acknowledged by their collaborators as the score's primary composers well before any of this controversy ever took place.

I'd like to say this move has restored my faith in the Academy, but it's going to take a lot more than their correcting of one mistake for that to happen. Besides, my guess is that Warner Bros. basically strongarmed the Academy into this decision, so it's hard to give the Academy all the credit.

That said, though, this does make me hopeful that the Academy could finally be turning things around this year. There's no reason why we shouldn't be able to have movie awards that actually mean something again, and this is a step in the right direction.

The 5 Worst-Looking Movies of the End of 2008

First of all, my sincere apologies for the lack of updates over the last week. I had meant to get this post up last weekend, but schoolwork and then Thanksgiving plans interfered and I had to put it off. But here it is now, just in time (I hope!) for you to check out these trailers and save yourself from spending any money on the worst-looking movies coming out before 2009. I’ve ranked them from best to worst, but rest assured – none of them look good at all, so it doesn’t really matter all that much.

5. The Tale of Despereaux


The first of two computer-animated movies to make this list, the only reason The Tale of Despereaux is rated better is because its animation looks significantly prettier. But unfortunately for Despereaux, looks aren’t everything, and this movie just seems like a boring Dumbo rip-off. Others may find something to like here, but I certainly won’t be going out of my way to see it.


4. Punisher: War Zone


Punisher: War Zone has had a long and troubled history, which actually makes me a bit sorry to say that I think it will end up being terrible. Thomas Jane, the star of the 2004 Punisher movie (which had its flaws, but was still enjoyable), was incredibly excited to make this sequel. He was probably more dedicated to the movie than anyone, and he spent hours working out each day for months to make his portrayal of the character even better this time around. But when he found out what direction the filmmakers intended to go with the project, he dropped out, and very publicly at that.

Since then everything related to War Zone has only contributed to its downward spiral, from its casting of Ray Stevenson as the main character to the the abysmal trailer above (complete with spinning-in-circles-upside-down machine gun firing). I’ll honestly be sad to see what could have been a great franchise crash and burn this holiday season.


3. Four Christmases


The problem with a lot of comedies is that they give away their best jokes in the trailer. However, the problem with Four Christmases is slightly different. The jokes in the trailer are not the least bit funny, and the fact that it’s reduced to showing us a puking baby in a last-ditch effort to make us laugh is really pretty pathetic. Vince Vaughn has proven he can do better, so there’s no reason why he should still be making movies like this.


2. Delgo


I watched this trailer three times in an effort to determine what Delgo is about, and I still have no idea. I might have given it a fourth shot too, if not for the fear that seeing it one more time would induce me to jump off a tall building. Delgo honestly looks so bad that I can’t imagine anyone at all is looking forward to seeing it. I say that not only because the plot is absolutely incoherent – it’s also just an ugly film to look at. And if the trailer itself isn’t bad enough, just take a look at voice “talent” listed at the end. Seriously, Burt Reynolds and Kelly Ripa? Boy, I can’t wait.


1. Will Eisner’s The Spirit


If you’ve seen the trailer, I don’t think the sheer awfulness of The Spirit requires any explanation on my part. But my main problem with this movie isn’t just that it looks bad, it’s that they tacked Will Eisner’s name onto the front of it (they didn't do it in this trailer, but it's in virtually every other trailer or advertisement for the movie).

Will Eisner was the main pioneer of serialized comic stories in the 1940s and 1950s, and in many ways Eisner is to comic books as Walt Disney is to animated movies. However, the Spirit character in this movie has nothing to do with the classic character created by Eisner (save for his appearance). Instead, director Frank Miller has opted to make a pseudo-sequel to Sin City starring a guy with a mask and a red tie. Please, whatever you do, say no to stupidity and avoid this movie at all costs.

And with that, we've reached the end of what I think are the five worst-looking movies coming out in the last month or so of 2008. If by some freak occurrence any of them turn out to not be utter trash, I’ll be more than happy to acknowledge that when I’ve seen them for myself. From what I’ve seen, though, I really doubt that is going to happen.

So what do you think? Do these movies look bad, or am I being overly critical? And, more to the overall point of this post – are there any movies coming out this year that you think look worse?