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Saturday, May 1, 2010: AVATAR (USA/UK, 2009) 6/10 Monday, May 3, 2010: THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS (UK/Canada/France, 2009) 6/10 Wednesday, May 5, 2010: THE GOLDEN COMPASS (USA/UK, 2007) 7/10 Wednesday, May 12, 2010: THE TRANSPORTER (France/USA, 2002) 6/10...

Posted at 11:59 PM in Cinema

Wednesday, May 12, 2010: THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (BD, Region B, UK) Wednesday, May 12, 2010: DISTRICT 9 (BD, Region ABC, UK) Wednesday, May 12, 2010: THE HURT LOCKER (BD, Region B, UK) Friday, May 14, 2010: WEEDS:...

Posted at 11:59 PM in Blu-ray

There's a good film buried somewhere in MINORITY REPORT, but it gets lost amid a cacophony of muddled action and information, tasting suspiciously like the cooking of a few too many chefs. It also ends about half an hour after...

Posted at 3:57 PM in BD Impressions

Thought for the day: mobile phones ruined horror movies. Discuss. Even if you don't like THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, you've got to give writer/director Ti West one thing: he pulled off the 80s look more or less perfectly, getting...

Posted at 4:44 PM in BD Impressions

Click image to enlarge. I'm intending to make this tonight's viewing. Three cheers for Spielberg and his high standards for home video presentations!...

Posted at 2:19 PM in Blu-ray

Within about five minutes of starting to watch FEMALE AGENTS, I found myself experiencing pronounced feelings of déjà vu. I recently read a novel by Ken Follett called JACKDAWS - an espionage thriller about an all-woman team of agents who...

Posted at 2:03 PM in BD Impressions

Once again, I'm somewhat late to the party. Virtually everyone I know has seen DISTRICT 9, and given what a major talking point it has proven to be, having to patiently explain to people that I hadn't actually seen it...

Posted at 6:11 PM in BD Impressions

FEMALE AGENTS (BD, Revolver, Region ABC, UK) DJANGO (BD, Blue Underground, Region A, USA)...

Posted at 2:57 PM in Blu-ray

On a handful of occasions in the last six months or so, I've furtively mentioned trips to London and Bristol relating to what I rather cryptically described as an "employment opportunity". Having now clarified matters, I'm now in a position...

Posted at 5:04 PM in Television

I was very impressed by MASS EFFECT, BALDUR'S GATE creator Bioware's rabidly successful foray into the world of highfalutin space opera. I didn't think it was perfect, agreeing with those who accused the developers of railroading the player too much,...

Posted at 11:59 PM in Games

Sorry about the total lack of posts recently. This past week has been the busiest I've experienced in a long time, and to be honest I haven't had a chance to watch any BDs or come up with any other...

Posted at 8:42 PM in General

MINORITY REPORT (BD, 20th Century Fox, Region ABC, UK)...

Posted at 10:31 PM in Blu-ray

WEEDS: SEASON FIVE (BD, Lions Gate, Region A, USA)...

Posted at 10:31 PM in Blu-ray

Q: What's funnier than Jason Statham trying to act? A: Jason Statham trying to do an American accent. At least he makes up for his lack of skill as a thesp with his physicality and apparent willingness to try pretty...

Posted at 11:04 PM in BD Impressions

Liberal Democrats in Number 10 - my God, did I go to sleep and wake up in some fantasy dimension? I find myself in a rather bizarre situation in which the outcome I wanted least - the Conservatives in power...

Posted at 2:38 PM in General

Picked up the following at HMV today at a decent discount: THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL (BD, Metrodome, Region ABC, UK) DISTRICT 9 (BD, Sony Pictures, Region ABC, UK) THE HURT LOCKER (BD, Lions Gate, Region B, UK)...

Posted at 6:01 PM in Blu-ray

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS is typical Terry Gilliam: imaginative, unconventional and downright frustrating. I've only seen a handful of the man's films, but I can't recall ever liking a single one of them unconditionally. For me, they all contain...

Posted at 7:29 PM in BD Impressions

How anyone can take seriously a system that allows a result like this is beyond me. Source: BBC News...

Posted at 8:45 PM in General

Today's your lucky day (potentially). I have two invites to the STARCRAFT II: WINGS OF LIBERTY beta test to give away to those whom I deem worthy. In order to participate, you must have a Battle.net account (don't worry, it's...

Posted at 9:38 PM in Games

Q: What happens when you have a hefty video card that generates a great deal of heat directly under your hard drives? A: The hard drives get very hot indeed. Despite findings by Google which suggest that high hard drive...

Posted at 5:31 PM in Technology

I see no point in making all the predictable "DANCES WITH SMURFS" and "POCAHONTAS II" jokes that I'm sure you've all heard a hundred times before. Yes, AVATAR's script is incredibly derivative. Let's move on. Unlike just about everyone else...

Posted at 8:19 PM in BD Impressions

Well, my new system is now up and running, and stable to the point that I'm happy to leave it as it is. It's currently overclocked to 3.77 GHz (from the default 2.8 GHz), and while I could go higher...

Posted at 2:09 PM in Technology

UNREAL TOURNAMENT III at constant 60 fps with all details maxed out is niiiice. More thoughts to follow....

Posted at 6:48 PM in Technology