As an update to our previous post, we’ve now spoken further with Netflix and have a better understanding of the issues at hand. The team at Netflix tells us they are working now on adding ratings history access to the API. Although this is a complex process, they are working hard to make this available as soon as they can, in order to provide the best experience for importing ratings. We appreciate the good will and initiative from Netflix in providing an API that is of great value for developers and services like Jinni.

Technorati Tags: Netflix, Netflix API, OAuth

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Death of an American Idol

Michael Jackson. King of Pop. American icon. One minute he’s about to make what was supposed to be one of the biggest comebacks in music, the next minute he’s gone.

Cinema loves stories of cultural icons, especially if they are controversial or die young. (And it seems that great talent attracts sickness, addiction, and untimely death…) So I guess we can start the countdown to a movie about the rise and fall of MJ. What can we expect? Here’s a look at ten other outsize musical lives and deaths, as captured on the big screen. July 4th is the perfect time to have a look at these icons, mostly reflecting American culture, influence and the American dream…

(Quick aside: I remember the nights when the video clips of Thriller and Black or White premiered. In my country there was just one TV channel back then, and we were all glued to the screen. Those clips still stand out, along with Bad, as successful short movies - made by directors at the peak of their careers, John Landis and Martin Scorsese. Can you imagine that happening today? Black or White even introduced groundbreaking special effects, before their cinematic breakthrough in Terminator 2.)

10. The Glenn Miller Story (1953) – Jazz and a plane crash

James Stewart gives a warm performance as the legendary band leader who met an untimely end in a World War II airplane crash. Though much of Miller’s story has been sentimentalized here, the great Big Band music is really what it’s all about, including performances of “Little Brown Jug,” “Moonlight Serenade,” “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” “In the Mood,” and many more. The movie was nominated for 3 Academy Awards.

9. Bird (1988) – Jazz, drugs and alcohol

Charlie “Bird” Parker was Clint Eastwood’s hero since childhood. This is a true jazz fan’s movie about the music. The film shows how Parker, a genius who changed the face of modern music, was hampered and eventually destroyed by his appetite for women, food, and drugs. With wit and warmth, Bird tells the story directly, avoiding sentimentality. Eastwood used Parker’s original solos, and also patterned the dark, moody look of the film after old photos of musicians who used to appear in jazz magazines. Music lovers will be thrilled with the result, and movie lovers will find plenty to engage them in this moving tale of a great man battling his demons.

8. Beyond the Sea (2004) – Pop, jazz, folk, country… and illness

Kevin Spacey did it all in this swinging biopic: directed, wrote, produced, starred - and even sang! He plays legendary crooner Bobby Darin, whose 1950s hits included “Splish Splash” and “Mack the Knife.” Left with a bad heart after a childhood fever, Darin nonetheless seeks out the high-pressure world of stardom, performing every number like his life depended on it. Through it all, Darin keeps reinventing himself, going from Elvis-style rocker to Vegas crooner, and even long-haired 60s folkie. In their own ways, both Spacey and Darrin proved that anything can be done in America.

7. Walk the Line (2005) – Country music and collaboration

Primarily the story of the love between country stars Johnny Cash and June Carter during the early years of Cash’s career, the film also follows the early stages of Cash’s touring career alongside musicians such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley… and of course June Carter.

Walk The Line is different from the other in this list, both because Cash’s death was at age 71 (not so untimely, but still the result of bad health), and because the movie is the result of intense collaboration between director James Mangold and Cash himself. Though both Cashes died in 2003, they oversaw the script’s development.

Mangold and Cash’s insistence that the film’s stars would actually sing paid off. Reese Witherspoon’s singing is lovely, and Joaquin Phoenix’s contains the raw energy and soul that defined Cash’s sound.

6. The Rose (1979) – Rock and OD’ing

This is not an official biography, but is considered to be based on the life story of Janis Joplin. Bette Midler, in a star-making performance, plays Rose, a talented rock star whose entire life is controlled by her cutthroat manager, Rudge (Alan Bates). Pulled down by raging alcoholism and drug addiction, as well as her own insecurities, Rose’s life begins to deteriorate to the point of complete self-destruction. This raw, uncompromising, witty, and ultimately heartbreaking film includes several incredible musical performances by Midler in actual concert settings.

5. The Doors (1991) – Rock & OD’ing 2

Val Kilmer stars as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s electrifying profile of The Doors, which takes the group from its inception to its demise with the death of the “Lizard King” in a Paris hotel room in 1971. In the early days, Morrison is just a guy hanging out at the beach writing poetry. But soon The Doors’ fame begins to spread, with Morrison as the focus of attention. As Morrison’s drug consumption and erratic behavior increase exponentially, the rest of the band begins to grow tired of his late arrivals, the increasing number of cancellations, and the drunken recording sessions requiring infinite retakes. But no one can help Morrison as he spirals downward into an inferno of drugs, alcohol, public obscenity, and depression, bringing the music to an untimely end.

4. Tupac: Resurrection (2003) & Notorious (2009) – Rap, hip hop and murder

The fierce and tragic rivalry between these two rappers generated several movies.

Tupac: Resurrection is an inventive documentary, which celebrates the life of one of hip-hop’s most iconic figures. But rather than rely on friends and family, the director lets Shakur himself do the talking, as if he’s speaking from the grave. Raised by his mother, a high-profile Black Panther, Tupac grew from a deeply sensitive boy to become the voice of a generation of disenfranchised youths. Run-ins with the law, stints in jail, and feuds with east coast rappers all precede the night when he was shot five times in NYC, and his eventual murder in Las Vegas at the age of 25.

Notorious is the story of Tupac’s east coast rival, who was murdered in retaliation, shortly after Tupac’s murder, also at the young age of 25. Christopher Wallace started out as a hustler and dealer, and found himself in run-ins with the law just like its rival. But his talent and determination drove him to stardom as Notorious B.I.G., one of the greatest rappers at the time.

Love them or hate them, these movies capture the contradictory glory, and are a must-see for anyone interested in pop culture and American history and culture.

3. The Killing of John Lennon (2006) – Rock, pop and assassination

Numerous movies have been made about this legend. This recent contribution delves deep into the mind of Mark David Chapman, the crazed gunman who shot Lennon. Basing his script on Chapman’s own words from interviews, writings, court transcripts, and depositions, director Andrew Piddington retraces the events leading up to the shooting, showing Chapman’s obsession with The Catcher In The Rye and vision of himself as the hero who must root out the phonies of the world.

Jonas Ball gives a quirky debut performance, part Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, part Rupert Pupkin in The King Of Comedyshot, part Valerie Solanas in I Shot Andy Warhol; while Piddington manages to hold viewers in suspense even though they know what is going to happen.

2. Sid & Nancy (1986) – Punk and OD’ing

Alex Cox’s riveting biopic tells the bleak, heroin-drenched story of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his disturbed American girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Gary Oldman delivers a bravura performance as Sid, matched by Chloe Webb’s unhinged Nancy. The two lovers’ childlike tenderness toward each other contrasts sharply with their violent nihilism. While the script implies that Nancy’s death was accidental, the line between intention and accident is deliberately blurred.

The film’s dreamlike style and hypnotic score dramatize the schism between Sid and Nancy’s world and the world around them - and the inevitable horror when those worlds collide.

To relax from Tupac’s and Biggie’s all-American mayhem, following is one completely non-American music icon, yet one of the greatest ever - and a classic case of untimely death:

1. Amadeus (1984) – Classical music and sickness

Milos Forman’s riveting, Oscar-winning Amadeus is a fictionalized account of the real-life mysterious death of Mozart, perhaps the result of jealous actions taken by Salieri against Mozart. Determined to keep Mozart from lasting recognition, Salieri set himself on a course for Mozart’s destruction that led to his own as well. Mozart continued to mount beautiful, moving operas (incredibly staged in the film), but became obsessed with writing a Requiem as his friends, family, health, and resources wasted away. It is hard to imagine anyone - whether they are knowledgeable about classical music or not - not held captive by this superb feast for the eyes and ears.

Back to MJ, here’s a clip of one my favorites, back in the days he had the right groove, look and…. color :-) R.I.P

Also, a Spill blog has a nice take on biopics as an indie subgenre. To find more, search on Jinni for:

Pop * Rock * Jazz * Country * Music concert * Music * Musical * Untimely death * Musician’s life * Music band * Addiction * Alcohol abuse * Drug abuse * Rise and fall * Downfall * Rise to stardom * Classics * Health situation

Technorati Tags: Michael Jackson, MJ, Biopic

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Since March, we’ve offered an option to connect your Netflix account with Jinni. Until now, an optional feature has been importing ratings, so Jinni can quickly learn about your taste and recommend only movies you haven’t seen.

Unfortunately, Netflix has demanded that we remove the import ratings feature. If you already imported your ratings, they will stay on Jinni.

We, and many other developers and users, have been asking Netflix to open the ratings data for a while, to give you the choice to import your Netflix ratings as you wish. We’re working with Netflix now to initiate adding an import ratings option to their API - as your ratings actually belong to you.

Davis Freeberg wrote an interesting reaction: Netflix Closes Silo (again) - Forces Jinni To Disable Ratings Feature (also published on Zatz Not Funny)

Technorati Tags: Netflix, Netflix ratings, Netflix API

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Please vote for Jinni here!

We’re proud to be a nominee in The Europas, Techcrunch’s technology innovation awards for European (EMEA) tech companies. The list is a testament to the impressive level of innovation in the EMEA region. The event is held on July 9 in London.

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Originality is rare these days. Just look at this week’s new releases: My Sister’s Keeper is based on a novel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a sequel based on a children’s TV series, and Cheri is based on a novel and a play. (As We Are Movie Geeks notes, even monsters aren’t safe.)

IMDb’s top 100 titles (in the Top 250 list) echoes this: 42 (!) titles are based on books, 6 on short stories, 3 on plays, 2 on comics, TV series or true stories, and 1 on an article. That leaves only 42 movies with original scripts.

So we wondered: Which “based on” films are the best?  Is it best to go to a movie based on a book or based on a play? Should filmmakers read comics or watch TV for inspiration? Analyzing the “based on” category in our Movie Genome suggests some answers…

Based on a Book: Fantasy, classics and girls in period dresses

Typing “based on a book” in Jinni’s search box brings two main results: classics and bestsellers.

This group is full of adaptations of literary classics – from Lord of the Rings to Pride and Prejudice – alongside adaptations of recent bestsellers like Slumdog Millionaire (Q & A) and No Country for Old Men.

It’s tempting to jump to the conclusion that movies based on books are best. But despite the many book-based movies on IMDb’s top 100, there are also plenty of terrible book-based movies, some of them defiling masterpiece classics.

Also, movies based on books always have the danger of changing the book too much - enraging fans - or following it too closely - alienating people who didn’t read the book. (We’ll have to wait and see where Tim Burton’s Alice falls, beyond the amazing visuals.)

Conclusion: Watching a movie based on a bestselling or classic book is no guarantee of quality. But I think it’s safe to say that it raises the odds, which is not bad at all.

Based on an Article: Politics, society and drama

It’s a rare creature, but movies based on articles do exist. Unlike a book or a play that tells a story, articles are often more abstract and issues-oriented. Article-based movies are usually serious dramas, dealing with issues like human trade, immigration and moral quandaries.

While these movies are mostly absent from top 100 lists, deeper research reveals that they tend to be highly acclaimed and win important prizes. For example, On The Waterfront (1954) won 8 Academy Awards including best picture, and Dog Day Afternoon (1975) is considered a masterpiece by many.

Conclusion: Don’t expect hilarious comedy or light fantasy. But when you try an article-based movie, you have a good chance of striking an acclaimed drama.

Based on Comics: Superheroes, superheroes and… superheroes?

Although movies based on comics are wildly popular, they don’t have much presence in top 100 lists (except for the phenomenon called The Dark Knight).  But don’t cry for them: Financially, they get their fair share.

The successful franchises of Spider-Man, X-Men and Batman all had huge blockbusters lately. Combined with newcomers like Iron Man and Wanted, it seems like most of the money from the movie industry comes from comics adaptations these days.

As for quality – that’s another question. Alongside highly acclaimed comics features like The Dark Knight are some adaptations that shame the original comics and the movie industry. Think Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004): both received humiliating 10% fresh ratings on RottenTomatoes. Unreality put Watchmen on the list of most polarizing movies of the decade.

Conclusion: It’s hard to know when it comes to comics-based movies. They can be great or terrible. One caveat: The last decade or so has seen more comics-based movies that don’t deal with superheroes or special powers, but with other, more original, issues. This trend has produced some gems, like Sin City (2005), Ghost World (2001) and American Splendor (2003). That type of comics-based movie is - in my eyes - worth watching.

Based on a Play: Shakespeare meets Broadway

Search for “based on a play” on Jinni and you’ll see two main groups: serious dramatic plays including works by Shakespeare, David Mamet and Tennessee Williams, and light Broadway-style musicals like Grease, Hair and the new versions of The Producers and Hairspray.

There’s this idea that plays are more sophisticated and of higher quality than movies. The catch: Some say that really acclaimed plays, like Shakespeare’s, are so perfect in themselves that adapting them for cinema can only result in disaster. Maybe that’s true - I can think of several bad or mediocre Shakespearean adaptations, but not any masterpieces.

Perhaps that’s the reason the only 3 play-based movies on IMDb’s list are not by the greatest playwrights of all time, but by lesser-known writers. The film directors could create a world of their own, not just stay true to a classic.

Conclusion: Worth a try, especially if the original is not by a master playwright.

Based on a Folktale: Myths, fairytales and animation

Type this in Jinni’s search box, and I believe most of us will encounter some of the best-loved and remembered films of our childhoods - from all-time Disney favorites like Cinderella (1950), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Aladdin (1992) to adaptations of great folk stories like Robin Hood and the Knights of the Round Table.

Conclusion: You might not find the greatest masterpieces of our time, but you’ll get nostalgia and excellent kid-friendly suggestions.

Based on a TV series: The cash cow never gets tired?

So, there’s a TV series. It’s successful. Successful enough that producers feel compelled to try and squeeze a little more out of the lemon, by creating a movie with the same beloved characters and themes. Sometimes it happens during the series run, sometimes afterwards, but the conclusion in most cases is the same – movies based on TV series are bad.

Star Trek could be considered an exception to the rule. Otherwise, looking at this group on Jinni confirms that, other than hardcore fans of the specific TV series, most people believe the movies suck. That was the case with Sex and the City, both of The X-Files movies, Twin Peaks, Miami Vice, and many others. (And now we’ve got M. Night Shyamalan’s first trailer for The Last Airbender…)

Conclusion: If you are not a huge fan of the TV series, try another based-on category. I hope the producers of the A-Team are reading this post, and will not be too proud to cut their losses now and end the 10-year effort to make the movie…

Based on a Video Game: Shut up and shoot

If there’s one category where no one expects to find quality, it’s this. No Shakespearean monologues, original scripts or innovative directing here. What you will find is shooting, fighting and all sorts of other gritty action.

I find it hard to believe any of these movies is critically acclaimed. But like it or not, it seems these movies make enough money to justify sequels and new adaptations. The Resident Evil series, for example, already includes 4 feature films (and the 5th is releasing next year) and several straight-to-video sequels. And the release schedule for the next couple of years includes several game–based movies: Alice, Splinter Cell, Halo and the much-anticipated Prince of Persia.

So perhaps there’s something to this format after all.

Conclusion: Like the title says - if you like shooting more than talking.

Based on a Biography: The good, the bad and the funny

Biography is an interesting study case. Generally the basic material to work with is quite good: be it Jesus or Hitler, William Wallace or Ed Wood, nobody makes a movie about some ordinary, nobody guy.

But good material does not ensure a good movie, or else all biography-based movies would be masterpieces. The truth is, as usual, somewhere in the middle. This category includes highly acclaimed films like The Diving Bell and Butterfly (2007) and The Pianist (2002) alongside mediocre or just plain bad ones like Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006) and De Sade (1969).

Conclusion: Every good movie needs a good story as its base. And since there are so many good stories here, I think that, despite what I wrote above, these movies tend to be at least watchable…

Based on a True Story: Why so serious?

Reality gets short shrift on IMDb’s Top 100 titles. Only 2 are based on true stories, and 5 more are based on books based on true stories. (Confused? Read it again slowly). Maybe truth isn’t stranger than fiction after all.

Almost all the movies in this category deal with serious issues: War, the Holocaust, terrorism… As with biographies, there’s no point depicting history unless something big is happening. And big things tend to be bad things. Nothing to do about it: Movies based on ordinary, daily life, even if it’s true, are just not that interesting.

Conclusion: If you want to sink your teeth into a serious film about the horrors of war or the nature of man under pressure, this one is for you.

Based on a Short Story: Variety is the spice

This category is probably the most elusive of all. In the first results pages for “Based on a short story” on Jinni, no specific styles, genres or topics jump out. There’s a little of almost everything – fantasy (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), sci-fi (2001: A Space Odyssey), drama (Away From Her) and comedy (Smoke); masterpiece (The Shawshank Redemption) and drivel (Creepshow 2).

When you think about it, this makes sense. The flexible format of the short story allows writers to experiment with a variety of styles and subjects. And the limited material allows filmmakers to stretch the story as they wish.

Conclusion: Like the variety in style, there’s a variety of quality here. It’s hard to say whether these are overall better or worse than other “based on” categories.

So what do you think about the sources of movies these days? Do you prefer a light based-on-a-game flick or a heavier based-on-an-article film? Or do you like your movies fresh and completely original? What are your favorite based-on movies? Comment and let us know!

Technorati Tags: film, movie, tv, television, based on books, based on comics, based on video games

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