Is Total Movie Dead? (1 Viewer)

[Kelly W]

Hey guys,
Well, Total Movie (the magazine) was supposed to go monthly starting with the September issue, which I received around the 20th of the month. Alas, I have not seen an October issue. When I tried calling the customer service number, I got a message saying that the phone number had been disconnected.
Does anybody here know anything about the future of Total Movie? If they are, in fact, closing up shop, I guess I can't really complain. I subscribed for 6 issues and the 40 movie pack and I received exactly that.
Oh, well. :frowning:
-Kelly

 

[Brian E]

That appears to be the rumor.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=247170

 

[streeter]

It's interesting that virtually nobody had anything good to say about this magazine, and nearly everybody is happy to see it go.

Here's what I posted at DVDTalk the other day:

Ding, dong, the witch is gone.

Let's hope this isn't just hearsay but that it's actually true.

This magazine didn't deserve being a magazine.

Good riddance.

I hope that whoever was behind this junk publication is in deep financial trouble now.

 

[Kelly W]

Well, I won't completely defend the magazine-- it needed improvement. However, I AM sorry to see it go. I always looked forward to reading it and I loved getting the DVD with each issue. I thought that the content was improving, although I've always maintained that they needed to tone down the "Maxim-ness" of it all.

All in all, I'm quite disappointed. I'd hoped TM would continue.

Does anybody know of another publication which distributes DVDs like the ones in TM? (Especially trailers and short films?) I would like to subscribe to something similar if such an animal exists.

Thanks!!!

-Kelly

 

[Ruz-El]

This explains why I never received a response over the "Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter" DVD being "Species" in Canada.

I am sad to see it go, as admittedly it was a shallow read, they at least reviewed some DVDs that other magazines don't seem to touch. It was also the closest thing to "Film Threat" that is currently on the stands.

Maybe Chris Gore will bring back Film Threat, with cover mount DVDs.

I can dream can't I?

 

[KynanD]

This magazine was horrible. They rated the special features on Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone higher than on Pearl Harbor Vista Series! Cavemen published better DVD magazines than this, and that was without the modern day convenence of not having to worry about if your lunch was going to eat you before you killed it. OTOH (whatever that stands for) they did have a nice article about (pictures of) Asia Argento.

 

[Bill J]

I guess I'll never see those 40 free movies then.

 

[TonyD]

hmm last month i got a letter from them asking me to renew my sub.

i called and told them i never got the last 5 issues of my previous sub, before it closed down the first time.

i said i would re-up if they sent me the missing issues. they would not so i told them to stop sending me renew it letters.

 

[Peter Kline]

It has used two of its lives now. The magazine seemed to me to be nothing but a promotional tool for movie companies. TM never seemed to dislike any film. It was also aimed at a demographic that simply does not buy many magazines in my opinion. It had no real editorial voice. Also, it was hard to read at times. No big loss except if you liked the free flicks. You can get some free DVDs now with some cereals in the supermarket.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

How difficult is it really to do something like this RIGHT??? Funny how last time it died it was about to go monthly also, which would have been a good thing! I don't even CARE about the magazine, I just subscribed for the discs!
While the technical quality of the first incarnation's discs wasn't the greatest, Verstile Media One has always been laughably awful going back to the Inside DVD discs. Notice that their last few Total Movie discs (with the exception of the August issue, which was a noticable improvement) have something done to the sound, which renders it not only mono, but also gives it a hollowness- hard to describe but recognizable if you've heard it. When I complained about this to the representative on DVDtalk.com he kept saying that he couldn't hear anything wrong with it!!! The problem vanished on the August issue only to return in all its glory on the next (and I guess last) issue (one cartoon on that disc sounds fine, strangely enough, but the rest, even the Species movie suffered the sound crapization!)
Come on, SOMEONE should be able to put out a monthly disc with decent-quality trailers (preferably 16x9 enhanced and with the 5.1 soundtracks as they're issued with to theatres)!! I want Short Cinema Journal back too; I just looked at the first 2 volumes again a couple days ago, which were among the first DVDs I bought, and thought that was also a great idea- then as soon as they started coming out on a frequent basis (and ruining the sound the reverse of Total Movie- the last few discs had everything in 5.1 with the same sound coming out of every speaker!)

 

[AndrewR]

Does anybody know of another publication which distributes DVDs like the ones in TM? (Especially trailers and short films?) I would like to subscribe to something similar if such an animal exists.

http://www.moviefxmag.com/
They have 5 "issues" available. It's a magazine on DVD about movie efx (duh!). Bonus stuff is usually trailers galore.
FYI, the 4th issue has the Spider-Man/WTC trailer on it.
Andrew

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

I was thinking the same thing! When the publication first hit, the buzz was HUGE. A competent publisher could have translated that early hype into a really strong initial customer base that would have kept them going for a couple years. Heck- the mag was so popular initially there were two of us making custom covers for the DVDs, and enough demand to warrant it...

However the writing fell short from the beginning, the DVD content was uneven, the publisher seemed to deliberately piss off customers, and the initial enthusiasm rapidly shifted to a loud grumble from dissatisfied customers. Despite being one of the first mags dedicated to a wildly growing market- these guys couldn't figure out what the studios knew how to achieve with DVD: how to please the nerds until the mainstream catches on.

And in the end, the mag again slips away into the night (for a second time) no doubt with pockets full of cash from HTF members. I'm glad I decided not to renew after #6 (which still sits in the plastic on my shelf...).

Good riddance. If only a mainstream publisher could see the potential in TM's initial idea and push it to the next level.

-Vince

 

[Joe Bernardi]

I hadn't received an issue since May/June 2002.

First Inside DVD, then Leonard Maltin, now Total Movie!

OK, anybody else out there with a DVD/magazine who wants to rip me off?

 

[Brian Kidd]

Their website is up for sale. What's sad is that the creeps who ran this sham took so many people's money without delivering product and will get away with it. Another case of corporate crooks who will go unpunished. Not as large-scale as some of them, I realize, but it's the principle of the thing.

 

[Andrew Chong]

I only bought that issue with the (unexpected) Species disc and agree with much of what has been mentioned re: the lack of quality in the disc and magazine.

Once upon a time, magazines with music CDs or CD-ROMs didn't exist. Now you can get a music CD with every issue of Pianist magazine, and CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs with a number of computer-, music-, and computer graphics-centred publications.

In terms of future, or even current magazines, including DVDs with each issue, I think this is inevitable.

 

[Scooter]

Actually...the Species issue wound up here for free. Never asked for it..it just kinda..came.

Oh well...glad I never subscribed.

 

[Jason Little]

TM never seemed to dislike any film.

I'm no huge fan of TM, but that's simply not true. They gave MANY movies terrible scores.

At least I got my 40 "free" movies (of which I only want to see about 5 of them... too bad they didn't include "Fantastic Planet" like they said they would) and "So Wrong They're Right", though in hindsight I wish I hadn't paid so much for the subscription.

 

[streeter]

Their reviews were terribly inconsistent as well - giving horrible 'special feature' ratings to discs with great special features.

 

[Mark Kalzer]

I used to have an interest, back when Gary Whitta, the Editor in Chief, anounced it on this forum. I remember Gary back from the good old days of PC Gamer which he had left quite some time ago. That mag is only now coming back out of it's post-Whitta funk.

Total Movie was a pretty good mag. at first, promising to be a magazine about pure movies. It seemed to appeal directly to me, but then it started becoming as one member put it, "Maxim-ish". I don't even bother to buy the new issues now. There's no Gary Whitta, and when I look at their covers, they don't have ANYTHING to do with movies. They just show some embarassing scantily clad women, ALWAYS. I'm heterosexual but I don't go for women who sell themselves like that, and when I see those covers on the newstands, it doesn't say "Movies" to me one bit. What kind of magazine has it become? I certainly don't care to pay to find out.

 

[Rob Tomlin]

Good riddance. If only a mainstream publisher could see the potential in TM's initial idea and push it to the next level.

Exactly! It was a good idea (especially the packaging of a DVD with every issue) gone bad!

If someone could put out a better magazine (with better movie and DVD reviews) along with a quality DVD with anamorphic trailers and other extras, it would be a success!