RaaD Technology, Movies & News

Before Wall-E came out, I thought the robot was a ripoff of Johnny 5 for kids too young to remember Short Circuit and Short Circuit 2. After seeing the movie though, I can admit that I was wrong… the good thing is that I am not usually this glad to be wrong about something. There were also some great nods to classic science fiction and technology fans, with callbacks to 2001: A Space Oddyssey and the classic Mac startup chime, to just name a couple.

I consider myself a jaded New Yorker and that’s why I was so surprised to be emotionally knocked on my ass for many scenes in this film. I even teared up during some of the scenes between Wall·E and Eve (the slick white robot that resembles ASIMO), which was the most surprising thing for me. I was NOT expecting to be hit so hard by the love story and the ability of Pixar’s animators to imbue that much emotion into robots that say less than 5 words to one another.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film though was the first 40 or so minutes of the film on Earth, first with WALL·E alone and then with Eve. This was some of the best pantomime since Charlie Chaplain and what really moved me was the interaction between WALL·E and Eve reminded me of Chaplain’s City Lights. I liked the juxtaposition between Fred Willard’s live action scenes from the past and the animated humans who are now blubberous blobs of laziness and a shell of their ancestors, played to a tee with voicework from Jeff Garlin John Ratzenberger and Kathy Najimy.

This movie is a definate must see, even the silent animated short with a hungry bunny and an obnoxious magician was entertaining to watch and I know I’m going to be looking for this movie when it is finally released on dvd. Thanks to MoviePatron for the above pic.

Dany

There are very few things actually captures the true essence of living in New York City, Woody Allen films come to my mind first and foremost, but HBO’s Sex and the City also comes to mind. but recently, Woody has been AWOL from NYC, spending his time in Europe and Sex and the City held their series finale in 2004. This has left a gap even with rumors that Woody Allen will return to his NYC roots for his next film, I might just need something to hold me over until 2009.

I was hoping that the Sex and the City movie would be that holdover. I enjoyed the television show, but I can’t say I’m a part of its rabid fan base. So, the advantage for me was that I knew all about these 4 women going into the film…

After watching the movie, I felt that it held pretty true to the television show and would satisfy the film’s built in fan base. It felt like 3 or 4 episodes of the television show back-to-back. After telling the person I saw the movie with this, I realized that this may not be such a good thing after all.

The film didn’t just feel like 3 or 4 episodes of the show, it felt like the film ran long, with these episodes just tacked onto the back of each other, instead of a tight continuously flowing story.

The next realization I had was there was very little setup for the main characters (and why the casual viewer should care about these 4 relatively well off women). Now, for someone like me, who knows these four strong ladies very well from their tv escapades, this was not a problem, but what about for someone who has either never seen the tv show or has only seen a handful of episodes? Well, these people just get a quick (~2min) video recap of the tv series laying out the history of the characters and a voice over by Sarah Jessica Parker to go with it and my guess is that this will leave the uninitiated confused and in the lurch.

Even with these misgivings and the fact that there were times when I felt the film was just a bit long, I DID enjoy the movie, there were a handful of unexpectedly funny moments, Charlotte’s troubles during international travel being one of them (a point I disagree with my favorite reviewer, Roger Ebert on). I feel like for those people who are NYers, New Yorkophiles or fans of the tv show, you should definitely go out and see this film (especially if you’re planning on pre-gaming with a Cosmo or two), but if you’ve never really seen the show or know the characters, you’d be better off not initiating yourself to this world with this film, just go back and rent/borrow/buy the dvds of the original series.

Thanks to No Guarantee for the above pic.

Enjoy

Dany

One of my favorite movies is Punch-Drunk Love, it is by far the best (and most out of character) performances by Adam Sandler. One of the best parts of this film though (for me) is the song on the soundtrack, He Needs Me. What I didn’t know about it though, was that the recording of the song in the film was lifted from the 1980 movie, Popeye, with Shelley Duvall performing the song. It makes me want to get Popeye, even though I have heard that it was not very good and even hurt Robert Altman’s career.

Thanks to Jedi Girl and Amazon for the above pics.

Dany

I’ve been using Xdrive as an online backup for almost a month now since I hate backing up to CD/DVD (for me, DVDs are for movies). On February 25th though, Adobe released their new AIR software and Xdrive, probably due to it’s affiliation with AOL’s resources, was able to come out with a desktop application, Xdrive Desktop Lite, using the Adobe AIR core technology on that same day and I’ve been testing it ever since.

Thusfar, I have had a great experience with the new software. I like that I can drag a file from Windows directly into my Xdrive account and even host that file if I needed to show off any Photoshop work I’ve done… like this, which I created for this sci-fi topic.

It would be nice if you could drag files/folders FROM the Xdrive Lite program back to your computer’s hard drive (not just the virtual folders the program creates at the bottom of the window) and I also hope they update the left side folder bar and add a trash can/recycle bin so I could drag and drop files to throw them out, but the program is still in beta, so they’ve got some wiggle room. It could look something like this though:

Thanks Download Squad for the above pic.

Dany

There are a lot of media players on the market and I’ve tried a whole heck of a lot of them. There seem to be more media players than there are media formats… and there are a LOT of media formats.

The most well known all-in-one player is probably the VLC player. This is a great player for playing almost any audio or movie format you can think of, dvds, iso, divx, mp4, mp3, the list goes on and on and you can also use this player for transcoding these files into one of the other formats as well. This program works with pretty much any system, Windows, Mac, Linux, BeOS and BSD!

There are some people who do not like this player. For those of you who fall into this category who run Windows, you might want to try GOM player. I tried it 2+ years ago and enjoyed using it, it looks nicer than VLC, but since I hadn’t really had any problems with VLC, I didn’t really need GOM player, especially since VLC handled dvd playback better.

I heard a few of my favorite podcasts (Tekzilla and Windows Weekly) talk about GOM player today though, so that reminded me about this player and now that there is a lot more HD content available compared to 2 years ago, it’s important to note that GOM player seems to handle HD files a bit better than VLC (at least on my humble XP laptop).

Thanks to Tweakers.net for the above pic.

Dany

After weeks of speculation, it is official, CBS will be airing Dexter, season 1, starting in mid February!

This looks to be the same model that TBS took with Sex in the City and A&E uses to air The Sopranos. The episodes will be edited for tv, which means commercial breaks as well as content neutering of more extreme language, sex and violence. I am not a huge fan of this style editing, but I am a fan of bringing this show into more people’s homes to give them a chance to experience, what I think is one of the best shows on TV. I think this model has really been a boon for Sex in the City, so I hope this does the same thing for Dexter.

I first heard inklings of this when I saw an ad for CBS tv shows and after seeing the poster for CSI flash across the screen, they followed it with a signature shot of our favorite serial killer. Now I came across this press release from Showtime which confirms this story!

I still think the best way to watch this show is on either Showtime, DVD or both, but this is still exciting news and I WILL be checking out the network airings starting this February to see just how much the show changes with these edits.

Thanks to Toxic Shock TV for the above pic.

Dany

After watching I Am Legend in IMAX, the latest movie starring Will Smith, I realized just how difficult this movie was to pull off. Smith had to carry the entire movie virtually all by himself, he spent a majority of the film only able to interact with a dog, a few assorted manikins and some totally terrible CGI characters. The last movie that tried this was Cast Away with Tom Hanks and I hated that movie, I usually love Tom Hanks, but I was so bored watching him interact with that stupid volleyball!

With regard to the CGI characters, I think it was said best by the guys on the latest Filmspotting podcast, when they reviewed this film: “Anytime you put CG characters next to real ones,” it totally takes me out of the film, “thinking how bad they look.” CGI can look absolutely amazing when used to create landscapes, scenery and completely alien monsters, but CG humanoid characters never look right. Recently, in Beowulf, the scenery, Grendel and the Dragon look absolutely flawless as CG, but whenever characters moved or tried to yell, things just didn’t look natural. The non-character CG work in this film, creating a lonely, overgrown forest of New York City, a city known for being one of the busiest and hectic cities on the planet, it was a stunning sight which was a joy to watch.

The first two thirds of this film were absolutely riveting, I was TOTALLY with Will Smith act his way through the empty city, even with the completely unbelievable CG zombies (on that note, can we please go back to the slow moving zombies? I’m really getting tired of the whole faster than a blinking eye zombie.) Without giving too much away, I thought the juxtaposition of the very first minute of the film was great, it was easily one of the best parts of this movie. I was surprised though with the last third of the movie though, I didn’t realize going into this movie that it was only going to be 100 minutes, I thought that last third of the movie was too rushed and would have been better served if it had been stretched a bit longer and the film had ended up around two hours long.

I must say though, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would recommend that it be seen, especially if you could catch the IMAX version. On a side note, if you can get to an IMAX screening of this film, get there early because one of the previews they are showing with this movie is a 6-minute prologue for the new Batman movie: The Dark Knight and I must say, I AM IN! The instant I find a link to this content, that isn’t a bootleg copy, I will post it myself! I remember not being very excited about Batman Begins, I ended up waiting until it made it to DVD before seeing it, but boy was I wrong with that expectation.
Thanks to Wost Previews for the above picture.

Dany

Dexter Morgan works for the forensics devision of the Miami Police, he is a blood spatter expert. His step father, Harry, was a cop who taught Dexter everything he would need to know to survive in this world and his step sister, Deb(ra), is a cop who works in his department. He has a lovely girlfriend, Rita, and he adores her two kids. He is quiet, polite, handsome, almost everyone likes him and is good at what he does. He sounds perfect, right? Well, not EVERYONE likes him, one of the other cops in the precinct is suspicious of him, he knows something is wrong, but can’t quite figure it out… So what’s wrong? Dexter is serial killer and is good at what he does. He kills people who have murdered others and have gotten away with it, he kills VERY bad people, he’s the kind of man who would kill Frank Lucas. Turns out HE is a bad person… right? Maybe just doing bad things to bad people MAKES him a good person. Well, what’s so intriguing about the show is that we LIKE him.

Season 1 is already on DVD and at the moment, we are square in the middle of season 2, if you get Showtime, find someone who already gets the channel or stumble across it at the local video store, check it out.

Thanks to Yahoo! TV for the pic, I may hate their updated page they created for tv listings, but they do post good photo galleries.

Dany

I don’t buy DVDs very often, but when I do, I usually end up getting a whole lot at one time, because of this, I have amassed around 200 DVDs.

I just finished sifting through a big columbiahouse sale and ended up ordering the most movies at one time ever up to this point… I ended up ordering 20 DVDs!

A few of the movies I ended up ordering were: Total Recall, Annie Hall, Black Snake Moan (a movie I have not seen it yet, but heard good things about), The Goonies, Closer, Transformers (2007), Pan’s Labyrinth (if you haven’t seen this film, just stop reading this and go see it right NOW), Flash Gordon (one of, if not THE best camp movie of all time), Singin’ in the Rain and Serenity.

Thanks to Cinema Blend for the sweet DVD cover.

Dany

Thanks to movies.about.com for the pic. I just got back from watching both
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and The Bourne Ultimatum.

Let me begin with the new release. The Assassination of Jesse James was a movie I should have gone with my baser instincts with. When I heard about the film a few weeks ago, I had no inclination to see it, I thought the title alone was so absurd and told the entire story… well, the title didn’t tell the ENTIRE story, but what story was told outside of the title had nothing to do with the plot and felt like a waste in the end. It needs to be said that this movie tries to be a biopic unlike most biopics, in that it only deals with the final years of the subject’s life. Even with the truncation to the end of Jesse James’ life, the film still runs a noticeable 160 minutes, a good movie that happens to be over 2.5 hrs long is a pleasure to watch and is missed when it finally ends, the problem is that that is not THIS film, this is more of a meandering morass of a movie.

The film begins by quickly (the only thing this film does quickly) introduces us to Jesse James’ new rag tag gang for his last heist at a time when most of his brothers were either dead or in jail. It is here where we meet Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Rockwell, as well as the rest of the new incarnation of the James gang. The film also features Sam Shepard and Mary-Louise Parker.

Let me start with what I did like about this film, since it will be short. There were some wonderful character performances, Casey Affleck steals almost every scene he’s in (by playing this character who just has something off putting about him), even from Rockwell, who also gives a strong and layered performance (especially towards the film’s end). The way Garret Dillahunt just encompasses a slow witted, yet wise bandit just floored me. Lastly, Paul Schneider gets some of the best lines as the silver tongued bandit, he provided some of the only smiles and laughs of the entire film.

Now for the problems. I don’t think I can say this enough, the film is TOO LONG. The director, Andrew Dominik, chose to make this film very deliberate, letting scenes go on and on, with gaping pauses and long interstitials to show the passage of time and too many scenes that had nothing to do with the main story arc. All the while, Brad Pitt gives a terrible performance, fidgeting his way through Jesse James, after seeing Russell Crowe as Ben Wade (pretty much a Jesse James type character in the prime of his career), this performance by Pitt was noticeably lacking.

The film basically had me bored thoroughly enough that I contemplated leaving, if it wasn’t for some of those character driven scenes by the supporting cast, I might have done just that. Lastly though, the only real positive about this film is that it shows just how good an actor Casey Affleck is, he seems to have completely overtaken his older brother Ben now in acting ability, after seeing him in Good Will Hunting and really taking notice of him in Ocean’s Eleven, I have been hoping to see him mature this way.

Now to a much more fun review (thanks to indie cinematical for the pic), albeit an extremely late review, considering the film was released at the end of July!

The Bourne Ultimatum is the third installment of the series and it is actually more like most trilogies’ opening movie, in that this feels like the origins tale unfolding and oddly enough, the more films that come out in this franchise, the more I am interested in the entire series. I remember watching the Bourne Identity when it first came to DVD and I didn’t really enjoy it and because of that, I waited until only a few months ago to see the second installment, but this time I enjoyed it enough to revisit the original and this time, I appreciated it a lot more.

The action, like the other two movies before it, is filled with fast paced and intense hand to hand fight scenes and quick thinking problem solving by our one -man, calculating, wrecking ball, Jason Bourne. At times, the film flashes back to scenes from the previous films, but this movie feels like it can be taken in quite well for people being initially introduced to Jason’s life.

This film was refreshing and fun (a great combination after what I went through with the other film I saw tonight). I also enjoyed when the film brought some of its action up into the heart of the neighborhood in Manhattan I live in, here on the Upper East side. I remember a few months back, when all the film crews and movie trailers were camped out up here and on one of the days after I got out from work and was walking to my friend’s house, I walked up 2nd avenue in the mid 70’s and passed by Matt Damon on the street as he was in between shots, taking pictures with some very sexy female fans, it was at that point that I realized all the trucks were for the latest Bourne movie shoots, based on his hair and makeup. Seeing Doc Watsons on screen was a very entertaining payoff to all that.

The performances, even though some see it as JUST an action movie, were fun to watch. Joan Allen reprises her CIA role from the previous film and Julia Stiles comes back for the second time, but this time, she seems to play her part in a similar fashion to how Franka Potente played against Matt Damon, especially from the first film, which made the character a bit more interesting to watch, especially after her scene in the bathroom. Not to mention the strong performances by David Strathairn and even by Albert Finney who sort of swoops in at the end with a memorable role.

I would definitely recommend you catch this film, I feel its the best Bourne film thus far, a very unusual feat for a movie that is the third installment of a series. If you haven’t already seen it, see it while it is still in theaters. It was very entertaining.

I also realized that the combination of the two movies was almost like a Silence of the Lambs reunion, with Ted Levine getting a bit part in Jesse James and Scott Glenn getting only a slightly larger part in Bourne.

Dany

I went into this movie with such high expectations after the last collaboration between David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence) and watching the trailer. I wondered though, if all that excitement I was bringing with me would ruin my experience with this movie, in the event it wasn’t up to my expectations.

Now that I’ve seen the film, I can’t wait to buy the film on DVD! The movie shows a side of London that isn’t really talked about. This isn’t the touristy or historical London, us Americans are used to seeing. Instead it is a dirty and dangerous view that feels like only locals would be familiar with.

I don’t really know who I would be able to recommend this movie to though, maybe someone who saw A History of Violence and thought it needed more violence? This movie has some of the most viciously brutal hand-to-hand fight scenes, sometimes making you cringe and other times being so brutal, you need to either laugh or get sick (I’d recommend laughing though). Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel support Mortensen’s strong performance quite nicely too. I was not sure Cassel would be able to do this, just about the only movie I thought he was good in was Irréversible, but that too was another movie I enjoyed immensely, but would also hesitate to recommend, due to the sheer violence visualized on screen in that movie.

Thanks to imdb for the poster picture.

Dany

In the coolest vaporware news today, Sony’s new concept notebooks with a clear screen and all slick black keyboard while the computer is turned off, is fully holographic when turned on and from the pictures look just slightly thicker than the DVD, that may or may not fit in the notebook without connecting it to a docking station.

Whatever the details really are with this notebook, we don’t know when it is coming out and it will probably be wallet blisteringly expensive.

Dany

After watching A History of Violence in theaters when it first came out in 2005 and buying it immediately once it came to dvd made me very excited for the director’s (David Cronenberg) next movie. He did direct eXistenZ in 1999, which I really enjoyed, but before that, the last movie I enjoyed from Cronenberg was The Fly, yes, the creepy movie with Jeff Goldblum turning himself into a man-fly and Geena Davis but that was WAY back in 1986. 13 years between good movies is a long time to wait for a director.
Now, after seeing the HD trailer for Eastern Promises, which reteams Cronenberg with his star from A History of Violence, Viggo Mortensen I am VERY excited! A History of Violence was the first movie I really liked that Mortensen starred in (yes, yes I know he was in Lord of the Rings 1, 2 and 3, but I didn’t enjoy ANY of those movies, they were FAR too long).

Dany

If want to watch the trailer and you don’t care about HD, here you go

I wasn’t sure if I should really even review this film, it got so much press and most people who were going to see it have already done so.

The movie got great reviews, but when I saw it I realized that I my favorite Judd Apatow film is still The 40 Year Old Virgin. I feel that Apatow’s most recent 3 movies (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad) are for progressively younger and younger audiences. The 40 Year Old Virgin was solidly an adult movie, probably funniest for older audiences (I guess older young adults?…), with Knocked Up’s prime audience seemed to be 20-somethings and now Superbad’s prime audience seemed to me to be teens.

This movie was very funny, but I thought the funniest scenes were when McLovin and the two police officers were on screen. I know this sounds odd, but I thought the movie’s language was TOO vulgar. I think it was more that they tried to introduce new vulgar slang to try and START new cool trends.

If you thought Apatow’s movies have only improved over time (from The 40 Year Old Virgin to Knocked Up) then hurry and check out this movie in theaters while it’s still there, otherwise, watch it once it hits DVD with a group of friends, this really isn’t the type of movie that you need to see in a theater (although watching it with an audience does help most comedies).

Dany

Watch the trailer here from youtube or watch a higher quality version