Movie Website Reviews for the Weekend of June 5th, 2009

June 6, 2009

There were three wide releases to crack the top ten this weekend, but when it comes to the best of the websites, it's a smaller Canadian movie that was the best. Waterlife's Official Site had a surprising amount of sound and animation to go with the impressive information and it is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.

The Art of Being Straight - Official Site
Just the trailer and a link to a review.

Away We Go - Official Site
A re-direct to the studio's site, which has a lot of information but lacks a sense of style to really sell the film. It doesn't help that there's a section called Features that is still marked coming soon.

Downloading Nancy - Official Site
Just the bare minimum, with some links to reviews as the closest thing we have to extras.

The Hangover - Official Site
I hate sites with restricted sections that don't take into account Canadian visitors. Besides that issue, there's little to complain about here, as all of the usual information is found, plus a couple of games, and enough sound and animation to sell the movie. It's a solid site for a wide release, and with the restricted area, it could be enough to be award-worthy, but I can't review what I can't see.

Herb and Dorothy - Official Site
Typical of most documentary sites, with a lot of information, but not a lot of flash. Still, I think the trailer sells the movie very well.

Land of the Lost - Official Site
This site is taking forever to load. I'm trying to explore the Land of the Lost, but it is taking more than a minute to load each sector, and that's not acceptable. Granted, there's a massive amount of content on this site, and I can understand why loading would take more than mere second, but more than a minute is just too long. In addition to the exploration section of the site, there are the usual features, some clips, and a few games (almost most are contests or offsite games). Could have been award-worthy, if it didn't take so long to load.

My Life in Ruins - Official Site
Typical Fox Searchlight site. I have no complaints about the amount of information here, but I don't like the style. Or the lack of the style. Each of their sites are way too similar, and that hurts when it comes to selling the movie.

Seraphine - Official Site
There's a problem with the menu and most of the time you can't get to the bios or the image gallery. Besides this error, there's nothing about the site that really stands out.

Tennessee - Official Site
Most of the usual features are here (there's just a cast & crew list with no bios) and the only extras are two clips. The flipping of the page used to transition between sections at least adds some style to the site, while the background music is also appreciated.

Waterlife - Official Site
Wow. Given the fact that this is a documentary site and a site for a Canadian movie, I wasn't expecting a whole lot. However, this is a massive site that is filled with information on not just the movie, but the subject of the movie, the water supply. There are almost two-dozen sections, each starting with audio clips and animation, each presenting information and images, even background music and even some mouseover interactivity. Add in some of the more usual information (synopsis, director's statement, screenings) and this is a top-notch site, much better than I was expecting. It is also the winner of the Hydrodynamic Weekly Website Award.


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Filed under: The Hangover, Land of the Lost, Away We Go, My Life in Ruins, Seraphine, Downloading Nancy, Tennessee