Archives For December 2007

OotP DVD Technical Opinion

December 15, 2007 — 1 Comment

Ok, I admit it. OotP is the first Harry Potter film on DVD I’m not buying, as well as the first HP soundtrack that I’m not getting…

I didn’t even remember the DVD came out this past week, so I decided to check some of the reviews. It was interesting to see some complaining about the technical aspects of the discs, so I thought it important to write about.

wakecowboy writes about buying two different copies just to see if his dvd was damaged.

i bought another widescreen harry potter dvd from a different store, the first came from wall-mart, the second from best-buy.
same thing…at times, the images are so bad, faces are blurry and unrecognizable, sometimes the background wall-paper is over their faces.
terrible, terrible job of dubbing.

Ryan Rowley writes about how bad the video quality is, even if he enjoyed the film.

I thought I knew what I was getting when I bought this movie. I had watch it in the theater and was excited to watch on the big screen in my home. During the opening sequence I knew something was amiss and it just got worse from there. The video quality is the worst I have seen on a recent release highly touted movie.

Descent also writes about the technical aspects.

As for the DVD itself, generally you will see a smattering of special features on a primary disc with additional details added to a second disc. Not the case here. There is absolutely nothing on the primary disc but the film itself. This would be acceptable if the technical quality of the film was outstanding. It’s not. Far from it.

HPFan wrote too…

Think twice before ordering the two-disc Special Edition Order of the Phoenix in wide screen;
the DVD-Rom stuff works poorly or not at all on Macs; the menu designs are terrible;
there is no director or actor commentary; there is no real addtional information on the movie
except an extended piece of fluff with the character Tonks; a cheesy edit your own movie bit
is a waste of space. This DVD seems really thrown together in a hurry.

Important to note that I’m not even posting reviews based on the film, but the DVD in itself. I think one of the users pointed out that maybe this is happening so users are encouraged to get the HD version instead. However, the HD version seems as poorly transfered.

GG nods were announced this morning, see complete list here.

Marion Cotillard got a nod, WOOO for Best Actress Comedy/Musical – WOOOOOOO. Allez, allez, Marion! x’D Julie Chrisie for Away from Her got a nod for Best Actress Drama, so there won’t be any competition there, haha…

Also nominated WOOO are Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd, Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl, Ellen Page for Juno, Amy Adams for Enchanted… Juno got a nod in the Screenplay category, and Best Picture… Sweeney Todd got a Best Picture (Comedy/Musical), and some Best Foreign nods go to Persepolis (!!), The Kite Runner and Lust, Caution…

LOL’!

For real, did a quiz a while ago (meaning 2 days) – and supposedly got top scores!

wtf_is_this_no_topscore.jpg

See there… 100% in 1min 35secs… WTF is that! Feeling cheated xD

Film Listing 2007 Update~

December 10, 2007 — 1 Comment

Follow up to this post~

This is the current list:

  • Across the Universe (2007)
  • The Other Boleyn Girl (Hopefully 2007)
  • Goya’s Ghost (2007?)
  • My Blueberry Nights (2007?)
  • The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
  • I’m a Cyborg, but it’s OK (2007???)
  • Martian Child (Oct 26, 2007)
  • The Savages (Sept. 7, 2007)
  • Fido (Jun. 15th)
  • Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman (Jun. 1st)
  • Becoming Jane (Aug. 3)
  • Rocket Science (Aug. 10)
  • Margot at the Wedding (Oct. 19)
  • Paprika (out now)

Adding these titles…

  • Persepolis
  • No Country for Old Men
  • Juno
  • Gone Baby Gone
  • Lars and the Real Girl
  • El Orfanato

Been meaning to update my list for a long while…

Currently Playing…

December 9, 2007 — Leave a comment

Currently playing Darren Hayes with On the Verge of Something Wonderful.

On my most recent iTunes library, are:

  • Akira Mitake
  • Amel Bent
  • Backstreet Boys
  • Celtic Woman
  • Christophe Mae
  • Christophe Willem
  • Chromeo
  • Eberg
  • Five for Fighting
  • Juanes
  • Justice
  • Kent
  • Los Campesinos!
  • Maria Mena
  • Radiohead
  • Rajaton
  • St. Vincent
  • Tegan and Sara
  • Vanessa Paradis
  • Westlife

This is a follow-up of these posts:

Loads of Music

P2P, Torrents, Legal Downloads, Oh My!

From Sweden to Peru with loads of Love~~

From Peru to Sweden~~

We love you back~~ =D

Forever and ever and always~~

Sassa Brassa Mandelmassa – JURYSSA, JURYSSA, JURYSSA!!!! xD

I did a 2006 Best Songs List from the music I had been listening to on my iPod, Internet, or even CD… no radio for me.  – so I thought I’d post this year’s also. In no particular order:

BEST 2007  SONGS

  • Antigone – Funky Dancers
  • Tegan and Sara – The Con
  • Green Light Go – E Ha’i Ana Wau
  • Shitdisco – OK
  • Quad Riot – Johnny Negro
  • Operator Please – Just a Song about Ping Pong
  • Michael Buble – Everything
  • Los Campesinos! – You! Me! Dancing!
  • Justice – D.A.N.C.E
  • Juanes Feat. Campinos – Bandera de Manos
  • Christophe Mae – Spleen
  • Backstreet Boys – Trouble Is
  • Hanson – Been There Before
  • Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankolov – Water
  • Ayaka & Kobukuro – WINDING ROAD

Uber SPECIAL mention for Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova for the Soundtrack of the film Once. Including all the album in this list xD
BEST 2006 SONGS

  • Dixie Chicks – Ready to Make Nice
  • Corinne Bailey Rae – Put Your Record On
  • KT Tunstall – Black Horse & the Cherry Tree
  • The Raconteurs – Steady as She Goes
  • Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
  • Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Phenomena
  • Keith Urban – Once in a Lifetime
  • Rascal Flatts – What Hurts the Most
  • CSS – Lets Make Love and Listen to Death from Above
  • The Sounds – Night After Night
  • Sunset Rubdown – They Took a Vote and Said No

Grammy Nominees were announce, but won’t post (full list here)

Music was pretty much disappointing this year, only counting with what’s nominated, xD~ However, still decided to pick some… starting from the categories at the bottom of the list… the ones no one cares much about, but I do.

Producer of the Year Non-Classical – I’m guessing Timbaland… but would like seeing Mark Ronson there.

Best Song for Motion Picture – It so totally has to be Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova from the Once Soundtrack.

Best Score – It probably is Babel, but I would like Pan’s Labyrinth.

Best Soundtrack – ONCE… like, TOTALLY.

Other winners would be, Vince Gill for Country Album if wanting a chance to win the nod on Album of the Year. Dierks Bentley for Country song, if winning Best Male Country… though Stupid Boy by Keith Urban would be cool~ Duo country, Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson with their cooler version of Clarkson’s own Because of You.

The Eagles, because… well, it’s them. Would love Alison Krauss winning Female Country, but probably Carrie Underwood will get that if she wants a chance at Song of the Year. Kanye West will probably dominate the Rap category… I’m suspecting Foo Fighters winning in the Rock categories to up the chances of them winning Album and Record of the Year~~~ Also White Stripes for Icky Thump (even though I would like Lily Allen or Bjork for Alternative Album)… Feist for Pop Album, to up her chances for Best New Artist – I just don’t like Amy Winehouse, but she’s got the most chances solely based on buzz.

Would love love Christina Aguilera for Candyman… but would settle for Feist with 12345 if that means that would up her chances at beating Winehouse for New Artist. Timbaland’s song with Furtado and Timberlake is probably a shoo in…

Justice for D.A.N.C.E – awesome song from Cross… hope that also wins for Video because that video is so rocking! Michael Buble for Pop Vocal or Traditional yara-yara Album Call Me Irresponsable even though he’s an ass for cheating on Emily Blunt.

U2 for Windows in the Skies… which should’ve also been nominated for the video.

Song of the Year, Like a Star by Corinne Bailey Rae just because I dun want any of the others winning. xD

Becoming a Model 101

December 7, 2007 — Leave a comment

u know the basics.
1. throw up everything u eat
2. pout. always. period.
3. squint ur eyes. squinty eyes makes mysterious.
4. pose in the most asymmetrical pose u can still stand on.
5. naked portraits are art.

Golden Compass hits Lima!

December 6, 2007 — 3 Comments

Northern Lights - Golden Compass - PosterOh, yeah! And Amy was there for the 4.20pm show~~ Amy needed her fix of Northern Lights. There weren’t many people then, and even though it was a subtitled version, there were a few kids… one of them was annoying! Talking all throughout the film… kinda cute (bordering on ‘I want to kill that kid’), but really bad-looking on the parent there who couldn’t shut him up.

Quick facts about Amy and His Dark Materials Trilogy:

  • Northern Lights (aka Golden Compass) was suggested by a friend who knew I liked Harry Potter.
  • After a while, I finally got the books at the beginning of the year.
  • Couldn’t control myself, and had to read one after the other.
  • Amy’s not a die-hard fan of HDM Trilogy, but it’s become her favorite series overall.
  • Amy liked the series so much, she gave her friend the trilogy as a gift. She liked it too.

Overall, the film was pretty good, except for the Flash pace. It is not as much as an editing fault because the film is not jumping, but many of the scenes don’t really flow… as, let say – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban artistically flows… or how Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is so choppy it makes you feel there’s a whole scene missing in between.

Now, onto the good stuff. Effects are pretty good. Iorek is great, though I think Ragnar (aka in the book as Iofur) looked better. The bear fight had me gasping, even though there was no blood… if there had been blood, I would’ve been even more so. I loved Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala… and oh! the Witches are so cool!! They flew and fought with such elegance, it left me in awe. I also loved Nicole Kidman as Mrs. Coulter… evil or not, you have to love her. Dakota Blue Richards did pretty great as Lyra, there were times I thought it was not as good, but scenes like the one in Bolsvangar were very dramatic.

I enjoyed the confrontation at Bolsvangar, even though it’s not quite epic… it was quite thrilling. The kids running, about to be attacked then Iorek shows up and BAM! SNAP! The Witches show up, arrows begin flying… golden sparkles, SWOOSH! And the Gypsies SNAP SNAP!

Would love to watch that again… or wouldn’t mind some blood on the bears, uncensored version, non? x’D How about a Director’s Cut?? Because I would’ve love to have 30min more of it… especially since the film didn’t include the OH SO OMG ending chapter (or chapters…) but I guess it would’ve been unfair to have movie-goers wait for The Subtle Knife to hit theaters in 2009… or maybe even forever if GC bombs at the Box Office. Better leave this with no cliff-hanger…

Grade: 3.5/5 – (docked a whole point for fast-pacing)