Tue, December 13, 2005
Look back!—12:14 AM
"Look", the movie fanatic magazine from the makers of "Entertainment Weekly" is back. I was so fond of its test-market issue, I signed up for a subscription in advance. Now that it's out of beta, they've sent me the first issue of the new magazine.
Wow, there have been a lot of changes. They took away virtually everything I praised about the pre-release issue, most lamentably the fresh design and the "Look Back" feature. (Also missing: the rave review for The Incredibles on DVD – no surprise there, but the pages still felt a little emptier without it.) The magazine retains its sassy, movie-geek tone, but the new design is just a little less daring and a little more familiar. (The previous choice of identity font captured my attention so completely, I stole it for a design project at work.)
Just one of my favorite features has survived, but it's the most unique and precious of all: the DVD upgrade recommendations. Try as I might, I usually have a hard time waiting the requisite decade after a film's DVD release to see if some sort of amped-up "special edition" is forthcoming. Sometimes I get lucky (I heard an Office Space upgrade was in the works two years ago and held off); sometimes not (I ordered Sin City from Amazon twelve hours before EW informed me its extras were so scant that an upgrade was nearly inevitable – it comes out tomorrow). But now I have a weapon in the fight: "Look" will evaluate the rereleased DVDs, outline the changes, and let me know in unmistakable terms whether or not it's worth the upgrade. It'll take me a while to get over the loss of the magazine's better features, but the DVD reviews will provide an excellent salve while I heal.
