Wednesday, June 3, 2009: Slumdog Millionaire (BD, Region A, USA) Tuesday, June 9, 2009: Monsters, Inc. (BD, Region ABC, Japan) Friday, June 12, 2009: The Unborn (BD, Region ABC, UK) [review copy] Tuesday, June 16, 2009: Gran Torino (BD,...

Posted at 11:59 PM in Blu-ray

Experience has taught me that, with anything computer-related, it's a bad idea to assume that everything will work out just hunky-dory first time. Even if you think you've prepared for every eventuality, there's a strong chance some unpredictable problem will...

Posted at 4:50 PM in Technology

It had been a few years since I'd last watched Bound, and I'd forgotten how funny it could be, traipsing playfully through the conventions of film noir and gangster movies, turning them on their heads in this potent cocktail of...

Posted at 11:27 AM in BD Impressions

Having now seen Giallo, I think the time is ripe for me to update my ranking list for Dario Argento's films. In order of favourite to least favourite, they are: Suspiria ***** Deep Red ***** Opera ***** The Bird with...

Posted at 9:05 PM in Cinema

Note: the following is a review of Dario Argento's latest film, Giallo, from its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. This review is also posted at DVD Times. A sadistic killer is terrorising Turin. Posing as a taxi...

Posted at 12:30 PM in Reviews

Well, I'm off to Edinburgh to catch the premiere of Dario Argento's latest film, Giallo. As with any new project from the maestro, it's difficult to have any idea of how it will turn out in advance, but it should...

Posted at 8:29 PM in Cinema

Well, this is a bit of a pain: my PC's Blu-ray/HD DVD combo drive, an LG GGC-H20L, is having problems reading certain BD titles. It simply doesn't recognise them, acting as if there is no disc in the drive. So...

Posted at 1:38 PM in Technology

Franklyn (BD, E1 Entertainment, Region B, UK)...

Posted at 1:22 PM in Blu-ray

I had my last meeting of the academic year with my PhD supervisor today, at which we discussed my goals for the next few months and also completed my yearly progress report. Result: I've got the go-ahead to proceed to...

Posted at 10:49 PM in PhD

Despite half-heartedly attempting to be something more than just another generic possession movie by substituting the usual Catholic mumbo-jumbo with mumbo-jumbo of a different denomination, The Unborn is as unimaginative and forgettable as they come. The AV presentation is top-notch,...

Posted at 7:30 PM in Reviews

The Art of the Title Sequence, a web site dedicated to celebrating - did you guess right? - title sequences in movies and television series, has put together a very interesting piece on the imaginative and rather artsy end credits...

Posted at 8:50 PM in Animation

True Blood: The Complete First Season (BD, HBO, Region ABC, USA) I've heard mucho great things about this vampiric drama series from Alan Ball, the brains behind American Beauty, Six Feet Under and Revolutionary Road. Updated Sunday, June 21,...

Posted at 10:21 PM in Blu-ray

I must admit that Gran Torino slightly disappointed me, particularly given the strengths of Clint Eastwood's previous film, Changeling, which I personally thought was terrific. The jury seems to be out on which of the two 2008 offerings from the...

Posted at 9:56 PM in BD Impressions

Bound (BD, M6 Vidéo, Region ABC, France) The Wachowskis' first and still their best film, in my opinion. This French release is much cheaper than the Japanese version that has been available for several months now. It's coded for...

Posted at 2:06 PM in Blu-ray

The other day, I completed my first playthrough of Bethesda Softworks' Fallout 3, which I previously discussed just under a month ago when I first picked it up. Because of a myriad of other commitments, including my university work and...

Posted at 12:39 PM in Games

Yesterday, the British Board of Film Censors lost out in a bid to become the state censor for all computer and video games. All ratings duties will instead be carried out by pan-European body PEGI, which already rates the majority...

Posted at 10:23 AM in Games

Oof! Well, that was pretty underwhelming. This evening, we watched The Unborn, the latest offering from Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay's PG-13 horror-lite factory. Written and directed by David S. Goyer, the screenwriter behind the Blade franchise and Batman Begins, to...

Posted at 11:51 PM in BD Impressions

Gran Torino (BD, Warner, Region ABC, USA) Clint Eastwood's last ever acting role, apparently. After the terrific Changeling, I can't wait to see the man's return to quasi-Dirty Harry territory....

Posted at 10:24 AM in Blu-ray

I've taken an in-depth look at Mondo Vision's North American DVD release of Andrzej Zulawski's L'important c'est d'aimer, released in two days' time at Amazon.com, stacking it up against the three previous editions most readily available: the French version from...

Posted at 12:39 AM in DVD

"Pleasant" is a fitting adjective to describe Vicky Cristina Barcelona. "Insubstantial" is another. When the lights came up at the end of Woody Allen's latest romantic drama - or should that be dramatic romance? - I was very much left...

Posted at 12:30 AM in Reviews

Rewatching Monsters, Inc. last night for the first time in a few years, my brother commented about how "overbearing" the film felt at times. I'm inclined to agree: this is the most frenetic of Pixar's films in terms of its...

Posted at 12:41 PM in BD Impressions

A few miscellaneous observations about the recently released Japanese Monsters, Inc. Blu-ray Disc: Bear in mind that I haven't watched the entire disc yet, but from what I sampled, the image quality looked impeccable - possibly the best-looking digitally-sourced material...

Posted at 7:56 PM in Blu-ray

An addendum to yesterday's post about the recent Playstation 3 firmware update that locks out discs with 50 Hz content: it appears that the situation may be slightly less clear-cut. Land of Whimsy reader FoxyMulder reports that some discs that...

Posted at 7:21 PM in Blu-ray

Whoever heard of an upgrade that actually removes features rather than adding them? That's exactly what has happened with the latest firmware for the PlayStation 3, that ugly-looking console that a large number of people happen to use as a...

Posted at 6:52 PM in Blu-ray

Does anyone use Google's Chrome browser? I've just downloaded it for the first time and I must say I'm very impressed. It has a slick, minimalist interface, very similar to Apple's latest iteration of Safari. More importantly, while I haven't...

Posted at 5:28 PM in Web