Mr. Cranky, a satirical film critic, was created in 1995 by Jason Katzman and Hans Bjordahl. [1] The Cranky personae premises that all films are terrible; at issue, solely, is the degree. There are no good films in the Cranky pantheon, only films which inflict greater or lesser suffering. [2] Films are rated on a six-step scale. The least bad (i.e. best) film receive one "bomb", and films that cause greater suffering receive additional "bombs", up to four. Films deemed particularly offensive receive a Dynamite or "Boomstick" rating. [3] The worst films receive the Animated Atomic Explosion or "Kaboom!" rating.
In October 2001, a "guest reviewer" named Mr. Smiley appeared. Mr. Smiley is a mirror opposite of the Mr. Cranky personae: all reviews are hyperbolically positive. Mr. Smiley is a stereotypical smiley face smelling a pink Freesia flower, appearing every year near Halloween. Consistent with the theme, the Smiley character has a rising five-step scale going from one smiley face to the "Prozacerrific!" Happy Pill.
Mr. Cranky, who takes the form of a self-gagging purple frowny-face, appears on the website Shadowculture's Mr. Cranky Rates the Movies. The character was created for a Colorado-based website named XOR. Katzman, the primary writer, and Bjordahl, his editor, purchased the rights to the feature in 1998 and established Cranky's website, which includes an archive of reviews, editorials, and message boards. [1]
The Mr. Cranky reviews appeared on the Chicago Tribune website. They can be found in print in both the Tribune's free publication RedEye [1] and in the self-published trade paperback book Shadowculture's Mr. Cranky Presents: The 100 Crankiest Movie Reviews Ever (Author House, 2004; ISBN 1-4184-4812-5)
Jason Katzman is employed at the University of Colorado and contributes articles to MSNBC. Hans Bjordahl worked on the webcomic Where the Buffalo Roam and is employed by Microsoft.
On July 3, 2008, the homepage announced the character's retirement, but the site came back with a redesign and guest writers. As of 2018, it no longer loads.
A smiley is a stylized representation of a smiling humanoid face that is a part of popular culture worldwide. The classic form designed by Harvey Ball in 1963 comprises a yellow circle with two black dots representing eyes and a black arc representing the mouth On the Internet and in other plain text communication channels, the emoticon form has traditionally been most popular, typically employing a colon and a right parenthesis to form sequences such as :-)
, :)
, =)
, =D
, or (:
that resemble a smiling face when viewed after rotation through 90 degrees. "Smiley" is also sometimes used as a generic term for any emoticon The smiley has been referenced in nearly all areas of Western culture including music, movies, and art. The smiley has also been associated with late 1980s and early 1990s rave culture.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) film rating system is used in The United States and its territories to rate a film's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The MPAA rating system is a voluntary scheme that is not enforced by law; films can be exhibited without a rating, although certain theaters refuse to exhibit non-rated or AO-19 rated films. Non-members of MPAA may also submit films for rating. Other media, such as television programs, music and video games, are rated by other entities such as the TV Parental Guidelines, the RIAA and the ESRB, respectively.
Die Hard is a 1988 American action thriller film directed by John McTiernan, written by Steven E. de Souza and Jeb Stuart. Based on Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, it was produced by the Gordon Company and Silver Pictures, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film follows off-duty New York City Police Department officer John McClane who is caught in a Los Angeles skyscraper during a heist led by Hans Gruber.
Elizabeth Berkley is an American actress and reality show personality. Berkley's most notable roles were as Jessie Spano in the television series Saved by the Bell, and as Nomi Malone in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls.
The Amazing Colossal Man is a 1957 American black-and-white science fiction film from American International Pictures, produced and directed by Bert I. Gordon, that stars Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, William Hudson, and Larry Thor. It is an uncredited adaptation of Homer Eon Flint's 1928 short science fiction novel The Nth Man. It was theatrically released by AIP as a double feature with Cat Girl.
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged. Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source. A color of green, yellow or red summarizes the critics' recommendations. It is regarded as the foremost online review aggregation site for the video game industry.
Stars are often used as symbols for ratings. They are used by reviewers for ranking things such as films, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. For example, a system of one to five stars is commonly employed to rate hotels, with five stars being the highest quality.
Where the Buffalo Roam was a comic strip by Hans Bjordahl that ran from 1987 to 1995. It was published on Usenet in 1991, making it one of the first online comic strips. Witches and Stitches was published earlier, in 1985, on CompuServe.
Jason Lewis is an American actor and former fashion model. He is known for his role as Jerry "Smith" Jerrod on the HBO series Sex and the City.
A Thousand Acres is a 1997 American drama film directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Robards.
The Giant Claw is a 1957 American black-and-white science fiction giant monster film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Sam Katzman, directed by Fred F. Sears, that stars Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday. Both Sears and Katzman were well known as low-budget B film genre filmmakers. The film was released as a double feature with The Night the World Exploded.
Mission: Impossible is a series of American action spy films both based on and a follow-on from the television series of the same name created by Bruce Geller. The series is co-produced by and stars Tom Cruise, whose character is Ethan Hunt, an agent of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). Τhe original music for the movies has been written by Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, Michael Giacchino, Joe Kraemer, and Lorne Balfe.
The Karate Kid is a 2010 martial arts drama film directed by Harald Zwart, and part of The Karate Kid series. It stars Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith in lead roles, and it was produced by Jerry Weintraub, James Lassiter, Ken Stovitz and Jaden's parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. The plot concerns 12-year-old Dre Parker from Detroit, Michigan who moves to Beijing, China with his mother and runs afoul of the neighborhood bully. He makes an unlikely ally in the form of an aging maintenance man, Mr. Han (Chan), a kung fu master who teaches him the secrets of self-defense. The screenplay by Christopher Murphey was from the story written by Robert Mark Kamen for the original The Karate Kid. Unlike the original, this remake is set in China, and features Kung Fu instead of Japanese-Okinawan Karate. The film's music was composed by James Horner. It is an international co-production between China, Hong Kong, and the United States.
Spill.com was a movie and video game review, discussion and news website. It was the continuation of the 9 year old Austin, Texas based public-access television cable TV show called The Reel Deal. There were four main film critic contributors to the website, collectively known as the Spill Crew, including Korey Coleman, Chris Cox, Martin Thomas, C. Robert Cargill, and Tony Guerrero. Under aliases, with the exception of Coleman, they reviewed movies as animated versions of themselves or in uncut audio reviews, maintaining their personas in weekly podcasts. The website was owned by Hollywood.com, under R&S Investments. Stylistically, the site strived to maintain a "down-to-earth vibe." As of July 2013, Spill.com had over 50,000 registered members. On December 6, 2013, it was announced that the site will be shutting down. As of December 20, 2013, The URL for the website now redirects to the Hollywood.com website. Their final review was for the 2013 Disney film Saving Mr. Banks. Founder Korey Coleman posted on his Facebook page that he cannot share details regarding the shutdown but that he has mostly made peace with "past events" and "everything is fine". He also received funds via a successful Kickstarter to start a new website that is a spiritual successor to Spill.com titled Double Toasted alongside Martin Thomas. Chris Cox, better known as Cyrus, since, started his own website OneOfUs.net.
Batman: Under the Red Hood released on July 27, 2010 is an American animated superhero adventure direct-to-video film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and released by Warner Home Video. It is the eighth feature in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series. The writer, Judd Winick, also wrote the "Under the Hood" run in the monthly Batman comic. The film received positive reviews, and is generally considered one of the best DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
Still Bill is a 2009 documentary film about musician Bill Withers. It received its world premiere at the 2009 South by Southwest Film Festival. The title is a reference to Withers' 1972 album of the same name.
Smiley is a 2012 American slasher horror film directed by Michael Gallagher and made by Level 10 Films. The film stars Caitlin Gerard, Melanie Papalia, Keith David, Shane Dawson, Andrew James Allen, Toby Turner, and Liza Weil. The film was released on October 12, 2012.
Chalay Thay Saath is a 2017 Pakistani romance film directed by Umer Adil with producer Beenish Umer & Executive Producer Sheikh Shiraz Mubashir starring Syra Shehroz, Osama Tahir, Zhalay Sarhadi, Behroze Sabzwari, Mansha Pasha, Faris Khalid, Kent S. Leung, Shamim Halai and Sherbaaz Kaleem. It is executively produced by Sheikh Shiraz Mubashir. The film was released on 21 April 2017.