Be film smart, like me

Don't you hate it when you're watching a movie and you see someone recognizable like O'Bannion in "Dazed and Confused" but can't figure out who it is? What about seeing a great movie trailer at the theaters with "hotty" Josh Hartnett, and you want to see it again and again? And don't you ever just want to know what a film is all about and who is in it months before it's released, like who is playing the evil cyborg in "Terminator 3"? Well, these questions can all be answered quickly and quietly with one tool, the Internet. Yes, the Internet has more uses than downloading copyrighted songs, playing online euchre and looking at porn. Here are three sites that are the best when it comes to knowing anything and everything about film.\nwww.imdb.com\nThe Internet Movie Database is probably one of the best research sites on the Web when looking for everything you need to know about films. The heart and soul of this site is that you can go to it; type in an actor's name and every film he or she has been associated with will pop up. The plot line, the cast, reviews, memorable quotes, goofs, soundtrack listings and numerous amounts of other trivial information can be found with a click of the mouse. \nIMDb has always been a free service since its start, but recently it has added a subscription charge on its brother site IMDb Pro. This offers all the same information and much more. The Pro version basically just adds information such as box office grosses for every film an actor has done and how much he or she got paid for it. At $12.95 a month, stick with the regular IMDb because it's everything you will ever need to help you out in a who's who situation. Oh yeah, and the ass-whuppin, failed senior in "Dazed and Confused" is a young Ben Affleck before he went on to save the world with Bruce or asked young girls who their favorite New Kid was while hanging at the mall.\nwww.ifilm.com\nYes, you can go to this site and watch Trip Fontaine (Hartnett's best role in "The Virgin Suicides") over and over again in the trailer for his new film "40 Days and 40 Nights," or any other trailer released in the past few months. But the main part of this site refers back to its name -- independent film. \nThis site was created so independent filmmakers could display their work to an audience cheaply and effectively. These aren't Sundance award winners; they are mostly just shorts spoofing hit films, but they are great to watch with your friends. There are different genres on this site, but the best are in the comedy section. These short films (usually around two to 15 minutes) are hilarious in content and will keep you laughing at your monitor with their impressive originality and creativeness. Many are just satires of other films such as "The Seventh Sense: I See Gay People," or "The Godfather" done with LEGO men, and these are great. But some of the more original work is ingenious, such as "Homebase." The plot is simple, a guy gets dumped by his girlfriend, but instead of getting upset, he decides to do the most logical thing; he sets his sites on having sex with his ex's mom. If that's not worth a couple of minutes at this site, I don't know what is.\nwww.aintitcoolnews.com\nThe main objective of this site is to offer its audience a hint to everything that's going on in Hollywood and "The Business" before we're supposed to know it. Occasionally the page is filled with rumors, but most of the time it's right on the money. \nA chubby redheaded guy named Harry Knowles runs the site along with his gossipers that try everything to get the inside on the inside. A short paragraph gives people the scoop on something like, "Spielberg doesn't know when he's going to start with 'Indiana Jones 4,' but it'll probably be after 'Goonies 2'." This is actually true, and then film nerds and Internet geeks get to leave messages on the site's board with what they think about the news. Usually something like "sequels suck" or "The first 'Goonies' was awesome. Remember when Chunk was telling Joe Pantoliano about when he knocked his sister down the stairs and blamed it on the dog? That rocked," are the most common types of comments left here. \nThe site will usually let you know if there is a spoiler in an article (something that ruins a surprise -- such as why Anakin goes to the Dark Side in the new "Star Wars" Prequels) so you can go risk-free and check out the hype on the street months before everyone else knows. You too can know about Vin Diesel getting signed to play the evil Terminator and talks of Edward Norton playing John Connor in "T3." \nSo now whenever someone asks you a question about film, you can find the answer quickly. Remember who showed you these sites, not your professors, not your mom, but me. Score: Mike one, everybody else nothing.