A new site called MovieClips.com has launched on the back of a lot of press attention at South by Southwest and a few posts from Jeff Wells, and it's intended "to give movie lovers, movie bloggers, and everyone else a place to easily find and embed licensed movie clips," says cofounder Richard Raddon, who formerly ran the Los Angeles Film Festival (until his controversial donation in support of Prop 8 led to his resignation). Raddon says the site is still a work in progress, but that the quality and interface is better than YouTube. I decided to take it for a test drive.
1. I kick things off by searching for the delicious "I wonder if you wonder" scene from Double Indemnity. RESULT: No clip.
2. I search for Double Indemnity itself. RESULT: "no results for double indemnity."
3. Stymied, I decide to find another scene of mid-century romantic badinage: Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint's train meeting in North by Northwest, which has some of the best dialogue ever written. RESULT: None of those amazing lines turn up a clip of the scene.
4. I search for North by Northwest itself. RESULT: "no results for north by northwest."
5. All right, fine. Let me go for something more recent. Frequent Movieline readers may remember my slight obsession with Samuel L. Jackson's line "Hold on to your butts" from Jurassic Park. Might it turn up in Movie Clips? RESULT: Clips from Tremors and They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, but no Sam Jackson.
6. I search for Jurassic Park itself. RESULT: A clip from the Michael Moore-directed Canadian Bacon, but no clips at all from Jurassic Park.
7. OK, maybe Jurassic Park is a blind spot in their compilation, but surely they have something from Titanic, right? Second-biggest blockbuster ever? "I'm the king of the world"? RESULT: Nothing from Titanic. Instead, some Lord of the Rings clips.
8. Last chance, MovieClips.com. Please give me Sandra Bullock's "I've got gum on my seat, GUM" line from Speed, which I've quoted incessantly since her Oscar win. RESULT: Nope. But there are some clips from Speed. Relative success!
OVERALL VERDICT: Sorry, guys, I'm sticking to YouTube for now. Sticking, on account of the gum. Let me know in the comments if you have better luck than I did.