Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category
First post for the new year and it’s a tie-in to last year. Over the past weekend, I went into movie marathon mode and rented a few movies from Vudu as well as purchased a couple (I wouldn’t have but it was the only way to watch them). While I was disappointed that Minority Report and Donnie Darko weren’t in the library, I was pleasantly surprised with a couple of foreign movies I wouldn’t have watched otherwise. Video quality was very good for all but one movie and the sound quality was still pretty good even coming out of the TV stock speakers. Since I don’t have a sound system, I won’t get into the audio. Even though I don’t have an HD TV, my set is relatively new so the display is pretty vibrant. There were no artifacts (except for that one movie, but I think it’s just how old that film may be) and, if I didn’t see the download progress whenever I paused or rewound the playback, I could be fooled into thinking the movie I was watching was on a DVD and not streamed to the Vudu box.
I mainly used the “My Wish List” feature to bookmark movies I was interested in but didn’t want to watch right away. While the “Find Movies” search is pretty nifty, I do get lost in the moment of perusing the titles and “waste” time. So, before the weekend arrived, I added a few movies to my wish list and waited for the weekend before starting my marathon. This method worked out pretty well but also made me miss some of the featured movies on the home screen. The featured movie list is great for newly available movies.
I think the Vudu system works well for anyone who wants to watch a movie “right away” aka to impatient to wait for delivery of the movie or too lazy/uninterested in driving to a movie rental shop. Although you might not find exactly what you’re looking for, you may be surprised to find a few gems you may not have come across otherwise.
After unboxing the “Vudu”:http://www.vudu.com/, I checked out the quick-start guide. The very first thing they tell you to do is slap the batteries into the remote. It melted in my hand (not literally melted, mind), which I’m guessing is due to its snazzy design. I’m hoping the experience of using Vudu is as elegant.
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I recently purchased “Blade Runner (The Final Cut)”:http://bladerunnerthemovie.warnerbros.com/ as the older version I had seems to have disappeared. Along with that, I also got “Renaissance”:http://video.movies.go.com/renaissance/ and I must say that I’m glad I bought it. Everything in the movie was very well done, from the storyline to the animation.
Renaissance is set in Paris in the year 2054. The story revolves around the kidnapping of a gifted researcher by the name of Ilona Tasuiev where the main protagonist, Barthelemy Karas, is an officer of the police taskforce Section K. He is very good at his job and thus is assigned to find Ilona who is an employee of Avalon, a huge company specializing in beauty products. In his quest to find Ilona he meets her sister, Bislane, as well as other figures that were prominent in Ilona’s life. Everyone seems to have a secret to hide. Will Karas find Ilona before it’s too late? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.
And watching it is a visual treat. While the movie is in a black and white style, the characters and environments are digital 3D models. The characters incorporate motion capturing and move realistically. Paris itself is a beauty. To support the population growth in 2054, new homes are built on top of older structures, with glass being a prominent building component for not only visual appeal in the movie but also in a realistic sense to allow sunlight to filter through to the older buildings. Also, Paris has expanded underground too. Obviously, space is a commodity, which is futher reinforced with architecture being built in every available space (like the 71 dance club being built under a bridge). All of this is in beautiful detail in spite of (or in light of?) the movie being in black and white.
Renaissance does well in following the Blade Runner style, while simultaneously making its own distinct mark in the Cyberpunk genre.
I’m sorta looking forward to the movie Hitman, which is based off of the video game series of the same title. In my opinion the storyline of the series isn’t complex and the only really great feature of the game was the freedom of operation for each mission, so Holywood can’t screw this up, right?
Then again, the whole premise of Doom was that a rift to Hell was opened (very straightforward, no twist no turns), whereas in the movie, it was changed to genetic mutation. Very disappointing, especially since I’ve gone through the Doom remake, which provided a better cinematic atmosphere. Out of the two Resident Evil movies I’ve seen (I didn’t see the third, Extinction, yet), only the second one (Apocalypse) was entertaining and that’s only because they had Jill Valentine in it. The first Resident Evil movie could’ve been so much more. It could’ve been a great horror/thriller movie sprinkled with some gun fighting action.
The failures of the recent video game to movie adaptations have me feeling a little discouraged with Hitman, but the trailer (always the trailer!) has sparked my interest.
Of course, there’ve been a few adaptations that were successful. Like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Tomb Raider and Silent Hill.
“Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions”:http://na.square-enix.com/fftactics/ is launching tomorrow. I’ve got it pre-ordered so that’s no problem. The trick would be to acquire the movies, Transformers and 28 Weeks Later. Actually, just Transformers. I don’t think it’d be too hard to get the other movie.
Circuit City is always the best place to get new movie releases, but do I take up lunch hour and scramble to Pearlridge, or do I wait and go through traffic and thus take up time I could be spent driving to Gamestop to pick up my FFT?
I must come up with a solid battle plan.
Speaking of battle plans, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is out and has gotten good reviews. I’m assuming it’s like Battlefield and pretty much completely online with no single-player story to burn through.
