RaaD Technology, Movies & News

At this point, the number 1 online music store is iTunes. It looks like Amazon has started to try and take a byte (get it, instead of bite, (mega)byte… I’m such a tech geek, sigh) out of Apple’s market share. The way they are trying it though, is by offering not only drm free mp3 music, but they are offering it for less money. On iTunes, all individual songs are $0.99, but if you want to get them drm free (when available), they are $1.29, no questions asked, while with the Amazon mp3 store, most songs are $0.89, while others are $0.99 and for those prices, ALL are drm free! Not to mention that most albums cost anywhere from $7.99 - $12+ in iTunes, while in Amazon’s new store, these albums range from $4 and up. There even some albums that are anywhere from $1-4 cheaper when purchased through Amazon’s mp3 store (after looking at albums from AC/DC, Nirvana and Pink Floyd).

This is an important step because the idea of having cheaper music, people can use on any music device is the first step toward people being willing to pay for downloadable music in larger numbers.

Thanks to Engadget for the initial post about this.

Dany

This is a film, from first time director and established writer Tony Gilroy, starring George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack. The film makes me wonder why Tilda Swinton isn’t a bigger star, she is one of the most interesting actors to watch in our time (Gilroy gives her so little to work with to create her role, yet she knocks it out of the park anyway) and Tom Wilkinson gives a great performance as an A-list trial lawyer with bipolar disorder. Oh and all you Dexter fans will enjoy seeing David Zayas in the film, now playing a NYC detective.

This is a tight, well paced, suspenseful film. After seeing the trailers where Clooney is portrayed as a superstar in his field as a fixer who could solve any problem, it was great to see that his character was robust, complex and had real problems, which made him seem vulnerable, human and more enthralling to watch.

This was a great film to see, I really enjoyed it and recommend that you rush out to see it, but I don’t want to reveal any of the story, since it is a joy to watch and it is better to go in knowing as little as possible about the story, to get the most out of this movie.

The one thing I have to say that surprised me though, there was one scene in this movie, when Clooney was alone in a loft, that made me jump so far out of my skin, maybe more so than in any film I have ever seen, this was the type of moment that any horror film production would have paid top money for, but almost never is able to deliver, yet this film did it seamlessly.

Thanks to The Hollywood News for the above pic.

Dany

The Darjeeling Limited is a film whose viewing experience should begin with seeing Hotel Chevalier, the free 13 minute prologue. Without seeing this prologue, there are at least two scenes in the film that become insider jokes that you will not be a part of.

Watching this movie, it is obvious just how much of a stamp Wes Anderson puts on his movies stylistically. The music for this movie, even with the Indian theme, felt exactly like Anderson’s other films, he maintained long takes by utilizing extremely deliberate camera pans, zooms and long pauses, which makes the film both look and sound beautiful. The dialogue in this film is also a joy to behold, there are some very quick and witty moments to enjoy.

The movie features Wes Anderson regulars: Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, with Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston playing small but memorable roles and anyone familiar with a Wes Anderson film, will be able to spot Kumar Pallana. Adrien Brody plays the part, normally reserved for Luke Wilson and does a great job (just as he did in both Dummy and King Kong), probably better than Luke would have done (to my surprise).

The film follows three lost brothers, trying to go on a spiritual journey a year after the death of their father. On the way toward this (meticulously itineraried) journey, the movie has some hilarious moments, some are cute, while others cause an outburst from the audience.

This movie has three distinct sections. In the first part, the brothers have an itinerary to take them on a spiritual journey. The second part is them stumbling on a completely different spiritual journey (a spiritual journey that seems to be in the wrong film), bringing the film to a grinding halt and it took me completely out of this film. The last part of the movie, with the brothers completely devastated tries to return to the itinerary, but it doesn’t quite work.

The problem is that the middle section of the movie doesn’t seem to fit with anything that came before it, because it was far too serious for the funny events that preceded it.

I ended up loving seeing the entire train revealed in the end, but even with that, the ending felt flat and unresolved. The other problem I had with this film is that unlike all of Wes Anderson’s other films, I don’t want to rewatch this film over and over again (I can’t remember how many times I’ve rewatched The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore).

Oh, one last thing, Jason Schwartzman should win an award from Apple for funniest and best timed use of an iPod throughout this film.

Thanks to The Hindu for the above pic.

Dany