Just when you thought the IMDb was the greatest asset to movie lovers, the site has gone and revealed itself to be less a service to the cinematic community and more of a privilege from another corporate power worried about its public image. It isn't clear when the site instituted this, but as of today the IMDb has a search filter that makes it difficult to locate some titles, specifically pornographic or otherwise sexually explicit titles. These titles include the usual XXX fare, but also include more mainstream films like John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus and Caligula, which stars Golden Globe winner Helen Mirren.

They aren't gone from the database, though. Shortbus can be found by way of Mitchell, who shows up when searched. The same goes for Caligula, which can be found in a roundabout way via its stars. But the IMDb isn't only filtering out the titles, it is also filtering out some performers who appear in adult titles. At least that's how it seems. The Rabbi Report experimented with the IMDb search and discovered that while most of the Shortbus cast doesn't show up, some large profile porn stars do show up. As further examples, I tested out the names Jenna Jameson, John Holmes and Ron Jeremy -- all were easily searched. Then I looked up The Brown Bunny and the documentary Inside Deep Throat -- neither was easily located.

I don't know when the last time Michael Winterbottom took a vacation was, but considering the pace with which he's been putting out movies lately, it couldn't have been a long one. Currently he's directing Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart, and now he's got his next project all lined up to begin shooting in the spring. The film is called Genova, and it will star Colin Firth as a widowed man haunted by ghosts of his past while moving to Italy with his teen daughters.

Now, considering I'll watch anything Winterbottom does (I just hope he doesn't do any more semi-pornographic films) and I'll also watch anything Firth is in (yes, even What a Girl Wants), I guess I'll technically need to see this film twice. Not that I'll mind. I'm actually pretty excited to see how Winterbottom handles the contemporary ghost story genre, especially if he shoots it in his usual hand-held-plus-improv style, which could give it a fittingly uneasy tone.

How this news affects the IMDb-listed Winterbottom project Murder in Samarkand is unknown, though I wouldn't put it past the director to do them both next year, maybe back to back. He could just abandon or pass on the film, which will be based on Craig Murray's memoir "Murder in Samarkand: A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of of Tyranny in the War on Terror," considering it might too closely link itself, Heart and the brilliant The Road to Guantanamo as some sort of terror-torture trilogy (sounds catchy, but also sounds like the Saw films). If he does go forward and make it after Genova, let's hope the film maker is then ready for another comedy.

It's hard to believe, I know, but it's been a whole year since Cinematical was officially born. Actually, our birthday was last Saturday, March 10, but we were so busy with our heads buried in movies we let it slip right by. A lot has changed around here in the past year - we've gone from being a little film blog with former editor Karina Longworth blogging all by her lonesome, to a site with a full-fledged staff, covering festivals, reviewing lots of movies, and bringing you up-to-the-minute movie news. Now Karina has moved on to another project (although we're very glad she's still around writing her excellent new column, Laws and Sausages, and doing some other cool stuff for us), and spandy-new Editor-in-Chief James Rocchi is at the helm, with Martha Fischer and me rounding out the editorial team, working hard to continue to bring you what you've been coming here for, while adding a few refinements here and there. It's been a great year at Cinematical, and we're looking forward to the next one. In the meantime, here's a look back at the past year in Cinematical: