When I first read about Roger Ebert's new At the Movies show, I wasn't as interested in the show itself as I was the website. Movies websites still haven't been able to evolve much and I was hoping that Ebert's site would be a mix of news, premieres, reviews, etc. Sadly, it's not. All it is is a site for a show that really nobody is going to be that interested in.

The fact of the matter is that watching two unknown critics give their opinion about a film just isn't worth watching anymore. I can go to Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes and read dozens of opinions from different critics. The original At the Movies also was worth watching because it had clips from the movies, clips that I probably haven't seen. Now, movie clips and trailers are all over the place. And worst of all, the discussions between the two critics are so staged that there's nothing real about it. It's barely a discussion and you don't feel any of the passion that you felt when Ebert or Siskel was defending a film.

For the site to be successful, it needed to be a mix of everything. First off, it needed daily news updates so there would be a reason to check every day. It also could have embeded new trailers or had posted fresh interviews with filmmakers (which I believe the show desperately needs.) And call me crazy, but I'd LOVE to see a review show where the people actually talk about the film with someone who made it. Rather than have two critics discussing what they didn't like about The Company Man, have them talk to writer-director John Wells about it. Let's hear the filmmakers defend their work and also explain what they were going for and who they were targeting.

And the last part is key and it's why I dislike most movie "reviews". If you're going to talk about a movie in 2 minute snippets and sound bytes then you should just own up to the fact that you are reviewing a movie and not being a critic. And since all you're doing is a review, the key position that needs to be addressed is: who would like this film? Now, I know it's hard to pigeonhole people but I feel like it's more helpful to say, "If you liked Judd Apatow's brand of humor, this will be up your alley" than to just weigh in with "It didn't work for me."

I don't know. There's a great film site just waiting to be made and maybe I should just stop wasting my time here and try to put it together but there's so much more that could be done, especially with more and more access being granted to actors and filmmakers and with there simply being more things to share. There are so many short films; one of the critics could champion one each week and embed it on the site. Share the advertising on the video with the filmmakers and it will be a way for the short to make money and for the filmmaker to gain exposure.

As for the critics themselves, they didn't wow me. The young kid (and yes, I could go back and find out their names but it's late and I'm should be working on my own stuff right now and not blogging) seems to go out of his way to find the good in movies, which is a great trait as a person but not that good when people are trying to figure out if a movie with worth their 15 bucks. The lady hated everything so I kind of related to her better but her comment of "The Company Man" being "TV" seemed dated. Overall, television today has better writing on it today than film does. Or at least I think so and I'd rather listen to the two critics discuss that tangent than just repeat over and over why they didn't like the film for two minutes.

The day of Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down is over. I'd recommend that the new approach maybe be ranking the movies that came out this week. Say which movie you would recommend people see first, second, third, etc. or to whom you'd recommend them. Allow the discussion to be more than just "Here's movie A, here's what I think. Now Movie B, how about that one, and as for Movie C." It needs to be more of a talk show than a review show if it's going to work.
And as for the site, build it up. Get some news on there. Team up with Slash Film or another blog to get some constant new material up there. Add more to watch. More to discuss. Get a message board. Yes, I know the site just launched but after one visit, I doubt that I'll be back so it is kind of a now or never proposition.

At the Movies turns out to be just another Hollywood remake, when what was needed was a completely revamping of the approach.