FilmBuff

Keven McAlester's documentary, The Dungeon Masters, will be coming to you on DVD starting August 3. This is our next release with MPI, following the June disc launch of Chris Smith's Collapse. You can pre-order the DVD now on Amazon. You will see some more info on the DVD goods, during Comic-Con and Gen Con this summer. Here is Latino Review about the film, and its DVD release.

Did you know, that if you subscribe to Time Warner or Cox cable systems, that you have access to an International Movies On Demand channel? I'm not talking about the international films already available on the usual Movies On Demand channel, but a completely separate selection of foreign titles on a completely different part of your cable menu? [READ MORE]

BP has a YouTube channel that addresses many of the current developments and consequences of their horrible oil spill. What the YouTube channel does not provide, however, is the ability for viewers to post comments. I think we all understand why they made this decision, but that doesn't make it a good one. This sort of backwards corporate thinking (and a lack of social media understanding) is exactly what makes dumb companies do dumb things in the first place. YouTube comments are not going to fix the crisis in the Gulf, but disabling them only sends the message that BP could care less what you think. It's thus no surprise that the videos have a fairly low number of views.

On Sunday, the jury at this year's Cannes Film Festival handed out the awards after 12 days of premieres in the South of France. Looking at the complete list of winners (which you can see here), it's apparent that the jury (led by filmmaker Tim Burton) was a bit divided on the merits of the competition films. No one film earned more than one prize, typically the sign of an indecisive jury. The winner of the Palme d'Or was Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Javier Bardem tied for Best Actor (with Elio Germano) for his performance in Biutiful, and Juliette Binoche won Best Actress for her turn in Certified Copy. The beloved French actor Mathieu Amalric won Best Director for his film Tournee.

In this weekend's New York Times, there was an article about impossibly long film titles, something that does appear to be in style at the moment. This is evident in the marquee of your local multiplex, when titles such as How to Train Your Dragon, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push' by Sapphire, or Shrek 4 Forever After the Final Chapter in 3D (something like that). It gets even more complicated when you add a filmmaker's name to the beginning (like Tyler Perry) or wind up adding words like "3D." To make room for the creative titles, we're forced to abbreviate. One place where these abbreviations is particularly noteworthy, is on VOD menus. [READ MORE]

At today's Google I/O event, the company announced Google TV, a new platform that will work to integrate the web experience into your television. With technology for TVs and set-top boxes at a place where this is theoretically possible, more and more companies are joining the charge to make it as common and simple as your microwave oven. Of course, few of these companies are as established as Google. [READ MORE]

The FCC announced late Friday that they would make it much easier for Hollywood studios to release first-run films directly via cable VOD. The MPAA (which includes the six major movie studios) made the request, much to the dismay of the National Association of Theatre Owners. The Wrap has more on the decision, and what it could mean for both consumers and creators.

Recently, I went to Estia's in Sag Harbor to have a quick breakfast snack. In the corner of the small cafe, I noticed two men enjoying their breakfast along with some reading material. One of the men had his Sunday New York Times print edition, a mountain of read and unread sections sitting on the table, as he sifted through whatever stories interested him. The other man was reading the New York Times via his iPad. He was able to skim, browse, and devour all sections without clutter. Seemingly, the iPad man was able to read whatever he desired, just as easily as the print man. [READ MORE]

Walt Mossberg from The Wall Street Journal takes a look at a new Web platform for Web-to-TV streaming: Kylo. The makers of Kylo have also developed a handheld remote control, called the Loop. Think of this like Boxee but instead of the box, you're still using your computer but now have a friendly controller for navigation. While these new services impress Mossberg, he still has reservations: [READ MORE]