[Chris Tedesco]

I first noticed this a few months ago when I didn't see a review of Blade III. Sure not up to par with the others, but I remember reading the review for Blade II here and I really got alot out of it.

Fast-forward several months later and I definately see a downward trend of DVD reviews here. Are we losing reviewers? I know there are different reviewers for different studios, but HTF still hasn't reviewed Constantine.

HTF is a place I come to primarily for there in depth reviews, just wondering if they are shifting for HD-DVD or BluRay?

Curious is all...

[Aaron Silverman]

Only speaking for myself, I have been incredibly busy with a major project at work over the past few weeks, so I have a bit of a backlog. When I get home at 11 pm (probably after midnight tonight ), it's tough to turn on another computer. This craziness should let up in the next week or two, though.

Also, lately I have been getting some screeners very late. I just got In My Country two days ago -- it was released more than 3 weeks earlier! At this point I probably won't even get to that one since I have some newer titles to write up. Note that different studios send out screeners at different times, and sometimes they decide not to send out a screener at all for certain titles. It varies quite a bit.

As I've recommended before, if there is a particular title for which you'd really like to see a review, post something here or email the reviewer a few weeks ahead of time -- I try to select titles that will be of interest to our members.

[Robert Harris]

Chris...

Most on-line reviewers do so because of their love of film and not for monetary reasons.

With more and more DVDs hitting the market quickly, no one can keep up.

I'm personally months behind, not helped by a hotel monitor for over a month
which disallowed any critical viewing.

I fear that this will only get worse, as the copyright holders attempt to hit the market of NTSC versions before they can be subsumed by HiDef.

RAH

[TonyD]

maybe HTF could find more people to help write the reviews.

i dont know anything but i would guess that less movies are being made available for review purposes, online.

[John Kilduff]

I'm a big fan of Warner Brothers' product. If the Mods are
looking for a back-up reviewer in case Herb is too busy to review certain titles, I would gladly take up that position.

I have experience in doing this. I've written reviews for 3 years at the 80s Movies Rewind. If you click on my page for "8 Million Ways To Die" and then click on my name, you'll see a list of titles that I've reviewed.

Let me know if you need anything.

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

This is only if Herb is too busy.

[Herb Kane]

Hi Chris,

As Aaron has stated here (as well as your previous thread), there are a number of factors, why there have been fewer reviews – not only here but at the other major review sites as well. The two biggest factors are a). the studios send out fewer screener products during the summer months presumably due to personnel/staff vacationing etc. and b). the vast majority of people are just all around busier during the summer period. Right now, kids are out of school, so I’ve been somewhat busier than usual trying to keep my two little ones amused. As Mr. Harris correctly states, this a volunteer position, so I would hope that most understand where household priorities lay. On a personal note (and one that Ron is aware of), my wife has been battling a serious illness since February of 2002. This obviously requires much of my time and focus, particularly during periods when things aren’t going well.

In terms of what is reviewed – simply put, everything can’t be reviewed. Ron would need to triple the staff which obviously creates a whole host of other problems. So we as reviewers must try and gauge what needs to be reviewed or what should be reviewed. Using Constantine as an example, I don’t think there is going to be a shortage of reviews posted on the net, thus I’d prefer to utilize my spare time reviewing something a little more obscure (and a lot more worthy in my opinion) like covering the Thin Man Collection. Perhaps not to everyone’s liking but sadly a month from now, there’ll only be 2 or 3 reviews of the collection to be found on the entire internet - but the HTF will be one of them.

I’m proud to be a part of the HTF reviewing group. I feel that collectively, we are the best on the net with every member bringing with them, certain strengths, clearly not demonstrated on other review sites. And considering that we are not necessarily a review site, I certainly think we hold our own when it comes to posting our fair share of quality and diverse DVD reviews.

Herb.

[Ronald Epstein]

First of all, we appreciate the concern and
offers to better the review output that we
have here.

Let me first address the Warner Brothers issue.
I understand that Constantine was a popular
request amongst the membership, but I have to back
Herb on his decision to focus on other titles that
the other review sites are not covering. I think
we are extremely fortunate to have Herb Kane aboard
as a reviewer for the Warner library. The task fits
him like a glove as he has put out some of the best
"classic film" coverage of any website. I know that
the folks at Warner are extremely proud of Herb's
efforts in representing their product. The fact
that HTF presents more of these type of reviews
rather than focusing on the same titles all the
other review sites are doing is a major plus for us!

Let's move on....

I do see that there is a sudden drop in reviews
being done on this site. Let me bring you all
up to date on a few things....

All of our reviewers here are volunteers. They
are not paid professionals, and frankly, since we
get little to no paid support from the studios to
promote their product (other than Fox and Warner)
we don't see the need to pay anyone to promote it
for them. We are VERY fortunate to have people
who volunteer their time in exchange for the free
product they receive.

Because this is a voluntary position, all we
ask of our reviewers is that they review a
majority of the product that is sent to them.
If we or the reviewer feel that they can't live
up to that task we are happy to give the position
to someone else. No hard feelings -- we understand
the nature of this business.

With that in mind, we are very happy with the
staff we have on hand here. We brought aboard
approximately 7 individuals who though had little
to no experience in writing reviews, had passion
for the films they watched. All of them have been
doing surprisingly well under those circumstances.

This is Summer. Right now we have two reviewers
on vacation and a third who is in the midst of
moving to a new home. This is why you have seen
a drop in coverage.

We are in the processes of retooling the way
reviews are done here. We are going to add
Steve Tannehill (DVD Resource) to our staff and
try to better delegate the amount of review
product we are receiving so that perhaps the
staff can share studio product so more of it
can be reviewed.

All this is retooling going to take time mainly
for the fact that dealing with product change
through the studios is a time consuming effort
within itself.

Thanks again for your interest.

[Glenn Overholt]

Why don't you ask for volunteers and farm some out? I have a feeling that there are at least a few members who would not only love to do it, but have done reviews or think they could give it a decent try.

Heck - test them! Have them review a movie that they have not seen, and send the review off to another reviewer. If you did get enough "extra" reviewers, you could put them on a rotation, which would make it easier all the way around.

I have read a few reviews on movies that I was sure I didn't want, only to change my mind and buy it after seeing the reviewers comments.

Off box
Glenn

[Ronald Epstein]

Glenn,

At this point I think we are okay.

We have just added Steve Tannehill to
our staff lineup which should help considerably.

Thanks for the suggestion.