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Thoughts on films

Toys for the boys

By on April 8, 2007 in General, Technology

Finally stepped into the High Definition television age. I got a Sony Bravia KDL-40W2000 LCD television and a Sony Playstation 3. The TV has a 1080p HD display and the PS3 has a Blu-Ray HD drive in it. As a bonus I get a games console in the Blu-Ray player for free 🙂 Here is a picture of the beasts in situ. The image on the screen is from a Mac mini that I use as my music centre with iTunes.

The quality of Blu-Ray movies via the PS3 and the TV is stunning. Very, very happy. I had to take the first PS3 back as the fans would come on and once they got to a high speed, whilst playing a game for example, they would stay at the high speed until the unit was switched off. This was irrespective of what the PS3 was doing after the fans speeded up. So if I left it idling the fans would never slow down again. This was annoying when using it to watch movies when in a quiet part of a film. You could hear the fans over the film sound. The replacement PS3 seems to be quieter but I’ve still to test it fully.

The game MotorStorm is stunning on the PS3. Really, really good fun as well. It outputs at 720p resolution and looks excellent on the Bravia. Here is a picture of a bike from the game. It has a bit of motion blur.

So I’ve cast my die into the Blu-Ray camp in the great HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray face off. Hopefully Apple will go down the Blu-Ray route with their HD optical drives in Macintosh machines. A Mac mini with a Blu-Ray drive and a version of DVD Player that allowed playback of Blu-Ray movie discs would make a very nice media hub indeed. It’d need to output 1080p via HDMI cable though.

Smokin’ Aces

By on January 27, 2007 in Uncategorized

Went to see Smokin’ Aces last night. Weird. Bizarre. Strange. Drivel. Funny. Violent. About 2 hours of mindless mishmash. Good for escapism. Some parts try to be profound but fail. Quote from the girl I was with about 10 minutes into the film:

Like watching a train wreck

:-)I didn’t care though as I was in very contented mode after an truly excellent dry roasted chicken with korma sauce and rice at the Indian Ocean Restaurant in Belfast’s Odyssey Complex.

Match Point

By on August 19, 2006 in Uncategorized

Inspired by watching Scoop, I rented Match Point on DVD. This was the previous Woody Allen film that was set in England, like Scoop. The first thing to say about this film is that it is beautifully filmed. The camera work, lighting and locations are stunning. I watched it on my HD Apple Cinema Display whilst longing in my Mirra chair, drinking ice cold Woodpecker cider. Bliss. Story wise the film builds slowly with the introduction of the various characters. This is not a typical Woody Allen comedy, like Scoop. No this is a story about extra-marital affairs. The end is very good, if unexpected. Well worth renting if you haven’t seen it yet.

Scoop

By on August 19, 2006 in Uncategorized

I went to see the new Woody Allen film, Scoop, when in San Francisco for WWDC. It was good. Typical Woody Allen performance with a few deja vue moments with bits very similar to his earlier films. If anything it was a bit short. The murder mystery suspense could have been longer in the middle. Well worth seeing though.

Dune (The Movie)

By on July 12, 2006 in Uncategorized

Watched the 1984 version of Dune on DVD today (it’s a holiday in Northern Ireland). If ever a film needed an extra hour added its this one. It’s not often you hear people asking for scenes to be added to a film. I don’t think it would be possible to understand the film if you haven’t read the book. Urban legend says that the first cut of the movie was 5 hours long. Interviews in the DVD Extras reveal that David Lynch wanted to release a 3-hour version in theatres but the producers wanted a 2-hour cut. Lynch was correct I think. It’s interesting in this era of long films that in the 1980’s it was deemed that a 3-hour release would be too long. Hopefully one day we will see a restored David Lynch Director’s Cut.

Dunespecialedition Click Picture for larger view

V for Vendetta

By on March 18, 2006 in Uncategorized

Went to see the new movie version of the V for Vendetta books tonight. I loved it. Lots of ideas and layers at work in this film. It certainly made me think. Some people are complaining that it glorifies terrorism. I think the word bollocks is an apt response to that. Well worth seeing. I’ll be going again.

People should not be afraid of their Governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.