hat does one give the SF collector who has everything, from a Chronicles of Narnia sword to his very own King Kong costume? With the holiday season now only four weeks away, this problem can become rather urgent. Luckily, Monsters in Motion might just be the solution to an otherwise thorny gift-shopping problem.
For those whose loved ones want nothing less than a Predator cookie jar, a replica of Mace Windu's lightsaber or a toilet-brush holder shaped like a skull, this site is a fannish paradise, offering collectibles and tie-in merchandise for just about every SF, fantasy and horror film imaginable, as well as a few that haven't been made yet. Dinosaur models, film posters, anime action figures—the range of items available will boggle the imagination. The browsing potential of the Monsters site is limitless, in other words: Every click brings new marvels and unbelievable oddities.
Though the core of this site is its selection of figurines and spaceship replicas, film fans not in the market for a full-sized Gollum collector's bust or the Jupiter 2 Moonbase can go straight to the Monsters DVD and soundtrack sections. For those of a more hands-on bent, the site has a wide range of model kits of varying difficulty.
Monsters in Motion is a store, pure and simple—one with a massive catalog, to be sure, but one that exists solely to sell its often zany merchandise. Site visitors looking for extras—like links or collector-oriented discussion boards—will have to look elsewhere on the Web. (The page does allow guests to sign up for mailings of its newsletter, "The Eyeball.") Straightforward, easy to navigate and filled with hilarious tie-in products, what the Monsters site does offer is some of the most outrageous and entertaining electronic window shopping on the Web.
—A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—November 14, 2005
xperience close encounters of the Google kind with UFO Maps, a site that takes a month's worth of unidentified flying object sightings and digitally pins them to a map of the continental United States.
The site's a mashup of the innovative "Google Maps" Web application with data provided by the National UFO Reporting Center. When the U.S. map loads, dozens of small flying saucer icons appear on it. Mousing over an icon reveals a quick blurb about the sighting, including place, time and a short blurb explaining what was seen. Each entry links to the full sighting report on NUFORC. By default, the page loads with the past month's data, but visitors can choose to browse decades' worth of sightings.
The site retains the flexibility of Google Maps, allowing visitors to zoom in on a region or state and then drag the map with their mice to fine-tune the view. Other views are possible, too—while the default is Google Maps, users can try out MSN Virtual Earth and view the sightings in 3-D if they have the "Google Earth" rendering software.
—Ken Newquist
Site of the Week—November 7, 2005
or horror buffs seeking new spooky movies, fans who prefer to consult a review or two before renting pictures they missed in the theater or anyone interested in offbeat Asian cinema—Beyond Hollywood is the site with the answers, a lively archive of movie reviews and film chatter with a distinctly SF slant.
The reviewers at Beyond Hollywood dip into the full range of U.S. movie genres, but the site's focus leans most heavily to horror as well as Eastern films. Visitors are more likely to find obscure Japanese pictures like the 1995 film Naked Blood than a new release like North Country in the site's review index. Making it easier to surf through alphabetized lists of often-unfamiliar film titles, Beyond Hollywood offers a dedicated section for movies given a five-star rating by their reviewers ... and one for zero-star clunkers as well. Finally, the site maintains an area for staff recommendations.
Added to the lengthy and always-growing list of film reviews at Beyond Hollywood are a constellation of standard Web page features: discussion forums where regular visitors can talk about films or participate in site contests, a blog that wanders on and off the topic of movies and a lengthy links page. For visitors who find their favorite film has been overlooked by the site, submission guidelines for guest reviewers are prominently displayed.
As film sites go, Beyond Hollywood is low on frills: Its writers stick to the basics by cranking out a steady stream of well-informed and thoughtful reviews. Quirky, opinionated and filled with a genuine love of cinema in all its forms, this site gladly shares both this affection and a considerable pool of industry knowledge.
—A.M. Dellamonica
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