Whiggles.com Compact: August 2006

Thursday, August 31, 2006

DVDs I bought or received in the month of August

- The Amicus Collection (R2 UK, SD DVD)
- Casualty: Series 3 (R2 UK, SD DVD)
- The Fifth Element: Superbit (R1 USA, SD DVD)
- Hannibal: Superbit (R2 UK, SD DVD)
- The Idiots (R1 Canada, SD DVD)
- The Norman Warren Collection (R2 UK, SD DVD)
- Sleepy Hollow (R0 USA, HD DVD)
- Spooks: Season 4 (R2 UK, SD DVD)
- Strictly Ballroom (R1 USA, SD DVD)
- The Tigon Collection (R2 UK, SD DVD)
- Unleashed (R0 USA, HD DVD)

RIP Ed Benedict

Ed Benedict, one of the greatest layout artists who ever lived, died last Monday at the age of 94. Go and read John Kricfalusi's excellent post on him and marvel at samples of his phenomenal work.

Tom Cruise's latest tomfoolery

You know the phrase "You can't polish a turd"? Well, it looks as if it has just been rendered redundant.

nVidia - I'm impressed

My XFX GeForce FX5200 arrived this morning. Tossed out the broken Radeon, popped in the shiny new card and fired up the machine.

Obviously, I spent most of the time working on my dissertation (which, barring a final proof-read and last-minute revisions, is now in the can), and I don't have any games installed on my bedroom machine, so I can only give a cursory overview, but so far, I have to say I really like what I see. The user interface is well laid out, comparable to ATI's Catalyst Control Centre, only it doesn't use the pointless .NET framework and, as such, runs much faster. The biggest difference, based on my brief testing, however, lies in the card's deinterlacing capabilities. Simply put, it blows away ATI's horrible "line-jumping" deinterlacing, instead using a much superior (I'm guessing) motion adaptive algorithm which, while not perfect, looks a lot smoother and has considerably fewer artefacts. Yes siree bob, I'm definitely considering nVidia hardware for the next major video card upgrade in my main (downstairs) machine. Obviously, that won't be happening for a while, though, as I garrotted the thing just over a year ago and did an almost complete overhaul of its contents. Contrary to popular belief, I ain't made of money.

PS. Kudos to XFX for using an image of a rather strange-looking cat on the packaging rather than the usual heaving-bosomed CGI women. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

Home Alone SE in time for Christmas

Source: DVD Times

Home Alone, probably my favourite Christmas movie ever, currently only available in a hideously poor quality bare-bones release, is to get the full-blown special edition treatment in time for Christmas. Hitting shelves on November 21st, this so-called "Family Fun Edition" will feature:

- 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- English DD5.1 Surround
- French & Spanish Dolby Surround
- English & Spanish subtitles
- Audio Commentary by Director Chris Colombus and Macaulay Culkin
- Smell-O-Vision
- The Making Of Home Alone
- How To Burglar Proof Your Home
- Home Alone Around The World
- Where's The Buzz Now?
- Angels With Filthy Souls
- Deleted Scenes
- 3 Trailers
- Set-Top games: Battle Plan, Trivia Game, & Head Count

Needless to say, I'm there.

Update, 22:32: In the last hour, the cover art has been revealed and the specs revised. The list of bonus features now reads:

- 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- English DD5.1 Surround
- French & Spanish Dolby Surround
- English & Spanish subtitles
- Audio Commentary by Director Chris Colombus and Macaulay Culkin
- 1990 Press Featurette
- The Making Of Home Alone
- Mac Cam: Behind The Scenes With Macaulay Culkin
- How To Burglar Proof Your Home: The Stunts Of Home Alone
- Home Alone Around The World
- Where's The Buzz Now?
- Angels With Filthy Souls
- Deleted Scenes/Alternate Takes:
-- The Silent Treatment (0:43)
-- Buzz Off
-- Frank's Yank
-- Undercover Crook
-- Criminal Decency
-- Hungry Alone
-- Final Judgement
-- Close Encounters Of The Marley Kind
-- Hello...Goodbye!
-- Do You Speak French?
-- A Very Harry Christmas
-- Marv's Christmas Coffee
-- Sleepless In Paris
-- A Savvy Shopper
-- Christmas Is About...
- Blooper Reel
- Trailers
- Set-Top games: Battle Plan, Trivia Game, & Head Count

No Smell-O-Vision? Too bad.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 11: Doomed

Written by Marti Noxon, David Fury & Jane Espenson; Directed by James A. Contner

Whenever I see a film or an episode of a TV series with multiple credited writers, and it turns out to be disappointing, I'm never sure how to react. On the one hand, it's tempting to question how the combined efforts of many people can result in such a mess. On the other, there is the old adage "too many cooks spoil the broth". All three writers of this episode are competent in their own right, but here they somehow turn what should have been two major events - a return to the ruined high school and an attempt to reopen the Hellmouth - into filler material for an episode that, I'm guessing, was churned out to fill the schedule. As with most of the episodes this season, there are little moments which advance the characters' storylines, so it's not as if you could cut it out completely and not miss it, but the main "case of the week" seems very much like an afterthought.

Overall rating: 5/10.

Next time: A New Man.

When computer parts fail

Over the last few days, I've been experiencing random crashes, reboots and BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) errors on the computer in my bedroom. It turns out that the video card seems to be failing. Luckily, it's just a crummy £20 ATI Radeon 7000, and I've had a year's use out of it, but it's annoying nonetheless, not least because I've been doing most of my dissertation work on that computer, and I was extremely lucky in being able to copy it to my memory stick before the machine refused to boot up at all.

In the meantime, I've ordered another cheapo video card, this time an nVidia GeForce FX5200 (£30 including shipping from Dabs). For all my distrust of nVidia (stemming mainly from their Sony-style fibbery and perceived unfair practices), I've never actually owned one of their video cards, and I have a sneaking suspicion that, when I eventually upgrade to a new video card in my main machine, I may end up going with one of theirs' due to the supposed high definition playback prowess and HDCP support of their most recent line-up of high-end cards. (In any event, ATI recently merged with AMD, a company whose hardware I am in no great hurry to buy from again after my disastrous experience with one of their processors.) A budget card for my upstairs machine, therefore, seems like the perfect opportunity to give nVidia components a whirl and see if their drivers are really as bad as some people have made out.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

DVD updates

Just got time to swing by for a few DVD-related updates. Generally speaking I'm considerably less enthusiastic about standard definition DVDs nowadays, given the monumental leap in quality that HD DVD constitutes, but a couple of titles have recently been announced that I'll definitely be buying. The first is Asterix and the Vikings, which is getting a release in France on October 25th from M6 Vidéo. I've no idea whether or not this will include the original English-language audio or just the French dub, but either way I'm very anxious to pick it up. The second is Operation Crossbow, one of my favourite WW2 movies, which I've been hoping would get a DVD release for ages. It's coming out in the US from Warner on December 19th, just in time for Christmas, and is part of a scheme launched by Warner earlier this year to allow fans to choose which catalogue titles would be released. I voted for Operation Crossbow, and I'm exceedingly glad that it was selected for release.

DVD

I also bolstered my DVD collection with a free copy of Lars von Trier's The Idiots (R1 Canada). Thanks, Noel!

Oh, and the DVD release of Garth Marenghi's DarkPlace has been delayed. Again. The speculated release date this time ranges from January 29th 2007 to March 26th 2007. What are Channel 4 playing at? This is beyond a joke.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Hi

Sorry about lack of updates. Busy. Dissertation. Reviews, news and general bitching very soon. Arrivederci amore, ciao.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 10: Hush

Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

The first 10/10-rated episode of the season, and one that puts to shame every single 10/10 episode before it (maybe I need to revise my ratings?). Hush was conceived by Joss Whedon as an antidote to what he considered to be rote television directing - at its worst, two people standing talking to each other using a simple "shot/reverse shot" structure. And it works: featuring 30 minutes of material completely devoid of dialogue, the visuals become absolutely paramount, and, for the first time, we have an episode of Buffy that looks more like a film than an episode of television (this is especially true of the UK releases, which are in widescreen, even if it's "fake widescreen"). The actors, too, are called upon to deliver much more than usual, and the deliberately theatrical performances, stressing hand gestures and facial expressions, are a delight to behold (and frequently extremely funny).

And as for the Gentleman, the episode's villains - wow. It's extremely rare that I find anything in horror movies remotely scary, and then along come these delightfully twisted creations that creep me out no end - in an episode of a show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer! Whedon says in his audio commentary that part of what makes them so disturbing is that they're cold-blooded killers but are 100% polite about the whole thing. Add to that the creepy Tim Burton/Danny Elfman-inspired music and you have an episode that really is like nothing else in the series. If I was to compile a life of my favourite Buffy episodes ever, this one would almost definitely be #2.

On a side note, this episode is remarkable for another unrelated reason. It marks the initiation of what was, at the time, US network television's only long-standing lesbian relationship. The interesting thing about the Willow/Tara pairing is that, unlike every other one on the show, there is no clear point at which it stops being friendship and becomes something more. For that reason, there is a level of mystery and, I must admit, believability about it that the others lack. (And the fact that the only truly "normal" relationship in the show involves two people of the same sex is not lost on me.) Of course, at the time, Fox and/or Warner were extremely edgy about the notion of a same-sex relationship on TV (they weren't even allowed to use the word "lesbian" until over a year later), so a lot of the mystery of this relationship comes from the fact that, for a considerable amount of time, it was played entirely as a metaphor, with the subtext not becoming text until episode 19 (New Moon Rising). Looking at it in retrospect, of course, it's blatantly obvious what's going on (just look at their "How long have you been practicing?" conversation near the end of the episode), but it does result in one of the best ever metaphors in the show ("doing a spell"), which is wonderfully paid off in the final episode of the season. The emergence of the hyper-shy, reclusive Tara also serves to highlight just how much Willow has changed since the beginning of Season 1 - a change that has been so gradual that it's only when we see someone close to the "original" Willow that we become aware of it.

Overall rating: 10/10.

Next time: Doomed.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 9: Something Blue

Written by Tracey Forbes; Directed by Nick Marck

A fan favourite, this one, and I can see why. Not only is it extremely funny, it's one of those episodes that gets its humour from making characters do things they normally wouldn't do. Specifically, having Buffy and Spike be betrothed. Apparently, this episode was a sort of test screening for the Buffy/Spike romance (if you can call it that) that consumed a considerable portion of Seasons 5 through 7, although it's rather different to its final form in this episode. I've not got overly much to say about this episode - it made me laugh, and it made me forget the sour aftertaste of Tracey Forbes' previous episode, Beer Bad.

Overall rating: 8/10.

Next time: Hush.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 8: Pangs

Written by Jane Espenson; Directed by Michael Lange

There's some good stuff in this feel-good Thanksgiving episode, but unfortunately it's a little hard to notice when the idea itself is so bad that it should never have been attempted. Didn't you always want to watch Buffy fighting Native American spirits? Or how about Willow lecturing us about how terrible genocide is? And hey, one of the Indians turns into a flock of birds in a special effect so bad it will give you nightmares for a week. This, by the way, is the first part of a crossover with Angel, but it's not a very good one. Angel shows up in town because Doyle has had a vision of Buffy in trouble. He skulks in the shadows and shows up to throw a few punches - hey, it's like he never left. The Angel half of the crossover, in which Buffy heads to LA, is better, but it's still nothing special.

On the other hand, I really appreciate the way this episode highlights the extent to which the gang's friendship is reaching breaking point. Everyone is arguing and doing their best to ignore the fact that there's a serious problem, and the extent to which the writers manage to thread multiple simultaneous conversations together is impressive. In fact, it reminds me of Christmases aboard the HMS Whimsy of old, when all four grandparents got together and attempted to hold four conversations at once. And we get to see Spike tied to a chair in the middle of Giles' living room with several arrows protruding from him.

Overall rating: 6/10.

Next time: Something Blue.

Bleeding hell, that was quick!

Guild Wars: Factions, the second Guild Wars campaign, has only been out for a little under five months, and ArenaNet is already planning to follow it up with the October 27 release of Guild Wars: Nightfall.

According to Gamespot, "this chapter is set in a North Africa-like setting, with sun-drenched coastlines and dry, desert interiors". In addition, two new character classes - the angelic Paragon, who provides ranged support and verbal chants, and the scythe-wielding Dervish, who gets right into the thick of things - will also be thrown in. As with Factions, Nightfall will operate as a stand-alone game, which doesn't require the original Guild Wars to play, but is sold as a fully-priced game (which is offset by the lack of monthy fees).

I've been playing the original Guild Wars again recently (got my character to level 14 the other day), and I'll probably pick this one up too. I just wonder how far ArenaNet will milk this franchise before either coming up with something new, or at least moving on to Guild Wars 2 with a new engine and gameplay features. That said, it's definitely one of the best games I've played in recent years, and it puts the boring, rip-off World of Warcraft to shame.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 7: The Initiative

Written by Douglas Petrie; Directed by James A. Contner

This is a really solid episode that finally kicks the main plot into gear and has some wonderful character development, but is marred by some moments of extreme cheese. Unfortunately, the cheesy bits are almost entirely related to the season's "Big Bad", the Initiative. I've probably mentioned before that science and Buffy don't mix, and this is the perfect proof of it. The Alien-like stronghold beneath the college campus, and the "sir yes sir" army boys that inhabit it, feel like something out of a completely different show.

On a related subject, I suppose I should say a thing or two about Riley. Nice guy, but as boring as a plank of wood. As the only "normal" long-term significant other Buffy has during the course of the show, he's interesting by virtue of the fact that he wants so very hard to be the traditional man in the relationship and protect the little woman, but Buffy, as we all know, is herself a protector, not a protectee. This is another example of a reasonably happy, settled relationship getting boring fast, and it's almost enough to make me wonder if Joss Whedon's "pain is gain" mantra has some truth in it. But then I think of Xander/Anya, and Willow/Tara, each of whom remained relatively settled for a good two years without becoming boring, and I think that, ultimately, the problem with Riley is that he's just a bit of a chump.

Oh yeah, lots of funny, funny stuff in this episode: Xander and Giles going on a reconnaissance mission, Xander's "fight" with Harmony, Spike trying and failing to bite Willow ("It's me, isn't it? Maybe you're just nervous - we could try again in half an hour"). This episode really sums up the season for me: great character development, highly flawed Big Bad.

Overall rating: 8/10.

Next time: Pangs.

PS. I think I'm going to give up watching Angel all the way through and just pick out the Buffy crossover episodes. It's just becoming a chore to follow each Buffy episode with an unrelated one on Angel, and I'm watching and reviewing these things for fun, not because I feel obliged to. By my reckoning, there are three Angel episodes this season that I need to watch: I Will Remember You (1.08), Five by Five (1.18) and Sanctuary (1.19). Maybe I'll go back to the other episodes at a later date... or maybe not.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Samsung Blu-ray player can't play dual-layer discs

Source: AV Science Forum, quoting The Digital Bits

And get this: Sony STILL can't get their 50GB dual-layered Blu-ray Discs to work right on the existing and prototype players. The current Samsung player, as shipped, will not play them. How do you like them apples? Ouch.

I'm not going to say much, just chortle a little. Looks like Sony's hopes for Blu-ray are dissipating in a puff of smoke almost as quickly as their famous batteries.

Angel: Season 1, Episode 6: Sense and Sensitivity

Written by Tim Minear; Directed by James A. Contner

It is my honest opinion that Tim Minear emerged as one of the best Buffyverse writers - perhaps the best after Joss Whedon - and Angel's fourth and fifth seasons suffered considerably due to not having him as their deputy showrunner. His first episode as a writer, however, is hardly stellar. Unlike most episodes of the show, this one really plays up the crime aspect that, normally, is only a small part of it, and as a result it feels something like NYPD Blue with a bit of supernatural material built in. There are some funny moments - Kate and Angel under the influence of the sensitivity spell being the highlights - but overall it just feels a bit "bla" and not particularly worthwhile.

Overall rating: 6/10.

Next time: The Bachelor Party.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 6: Wild at Heart

Written by Marti Noxon; Directed by David Grossman

When Seth Green suddenly announced that he was leaving to pursue a career in the movie business, the writers basically had one episode in which to manufacture a convincing exit for a character who had been in the show for just over two years. Not an easy task, as I'm sure you'll agree, and so, the fact that the end result is not only powerful but also thematically logical has got to be something of a miracle.

We'll never know precisely what Joss Whedon had planned for the Willow/Oz relationship before this drastic rewrite took place, but either way, I have a feeling we got the better end of the deal. Green was apparently bored of playing the character, and to be honest it shows. Oz's "trademark stoicism", to quote Buffy, was beginning to feel more like complete disinterest rather than cool, and, while I'm not one of those people who feels that a show can only be entertaining if it's continual gloom and heartbreak, the relationship wasn't really going anywhere and, to be honest, was becoming a little tiresome. Props, therefore, to all those involved for creating a thoroughly emotional conclusion (although, given that Oz returns for two more episodes later in the season, it's not quite the end yet).

On a side note, this is definitely some of Alyson Hannigan's finest acting in the entire series. I'm amazed she continues to languish in comedy roles rather than getting offered anything more dramatic.

Overall rating: 9/10.

Next time: The Initiative.

IE7 - good, but not enough

Around this time last year, I downloaded a beta version of Internet Explorer 7, the latest version of Microsoft's insecure and non-compliant web browser. After only a few minutes' testing, I came to the conclusion that virtually no progress whatsoever had been made in terms of compliancy, and that Microsoft was simply content to arrogantly push their own "standard" (note the quotes, because, even within its own system, IE sees fit to ignore its own rules when it feels like it).

Fast forward 12 months or so, and Release Candidate 1 is made available to everyone with a genuine copy of Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later. As a Mozilla Firefox user, I have little to gain either way by downloading a new version of IE, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try, and, in the best case scenario, might even convince me to jump the proverbial fence.

In fact, I'm distinctly more impressed than I was last year. It's clear that some progress has been made, with little niggles like line spacing, borders and padding being rendered much more accurately. Furthermore, if the security has really been improved as much as has been claimed, then IE should finally be a viable browsing option for those who don't want their computer to become riddled with spyware and tracking cookies. However, there are still major problems, generally relating to silly things like font sizes and rollovers, which, as far as I'm concerned, means that IE has a long way to go before I would consider returning to it as my primary browser.

I think that Paul Thurrott puts it best when he says that he doesn't "think there's enough there to sway Firefox users quite yet--maybe IE 8?--but IE 7, even in RC1 garb, is looking good". Basically, IE 6 users should be happy with IE 7, but those who use a browser like Firefox or Opera will be expecting somewhat higher standards than what Microsoft is currently offering.

Irritating packaging redux

Look: it's the packaging for my review copy of Spooks: Season 4 (R2 UK). Seems pleasant enough once you figure out that yes, the overly tight plastic sleeve does slide off. Until, that is, you try to figure out how to access anything other than the first disc:

What the hell is this? I mean, seriously, who in their right mind thought that this would be a good idea. To access the final disc, you have to fold the entire package out, quadrupling the amount of space it takes up. Seasons 2 and 3 at least had the right idea, where the individual disc trays operated like pages of a book. But this? Who gets paid to design these?

Thursday, August 24, 2006

And the award for most irritating packaging of the year goes to...

My three British horror bonanzas arrived from Play.com this morning. I've made a decision not to watch them until the final draft of my dissertation is in the can and I've shifted through the pile of purchases, trades and loans sitting on my desk (I'm making Black Sunday and Hatchet for the Honeymoon a priority, Lee!), but that didn't stop me from unwrapping the cellophane and taking a look at the contents.

Part of what motivated me to crack these open was the rather unsettling rattling sound coming from inside both The Tigon Collection and The Norman Warren Collection. Assuming that it would be a simple case of a disc having come loose from its spindle, I set to work on Tigon and soon had it open.

Bad move. The manner in which the packaging for these sets has been designed is difficult to describe if you haven't actually seen it for yourself. Each set comes in a coffin-shaped box, which opens out like a book. There are then five separate "sleeves" inside, each with a disc attached to a spindle. Or that's the theory. When I popped open The Tigon Collection four of the six discs flew across the room in all directions, while a fifth was wedged firmly inside the box, distinctly not attached to its spindle.

Rinse and repeat. The Norman Warren Collection was similarly affected, with only The Amicus Collection getting off relatively lightly, with two discs loose, but no flying tricks.

Look, I appreciate the effort that must go into designing these ornate custom boxes, and I can name a number of examples that have been both aesthetically pleasing and under-friendly. The French Ultimate Edition of Danny the Dog, for instance, or the Walt Disney Treasures limited edition tins. Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection is also very nice, as is the oversized Hong Kong limited edition of House of Flying Daggers. But, all too often, when someone gets it into their head to do something different, the results end up being clumsy in the extreme. These Anchor Bay boxes are worse than the British Buffy book-style cases (now out of print), which held each disc inside a cardboard "page" sleeve, and more often than not would scratch them during the process of removing them. I have to ask: is there something so wrong with a standard amaray case? By all means go for something unique if you can pull it off, but if you're going to frustrate the viewer in the process, and even potentially damage the contents of the package, then why bother?

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

UT2007 looks neat

I don't normally get particularly excited about computer game graphics, especially if they are 3D (as they invariably are nowadays), but I have to say that Unreal Tournament 2007 is looking quite spectacular. Whereas the previous instalment in the series, Unreal Tournament 2004, was merely Unreal Tournament 2003 with new maps and some weapon tweaks, it looks as if the three-year break has allowed developer Epic MegaGames to go back to the drawing board and come up with all manner of new ideas. More than any gameplay changes, though, I'm sure the new engine will be the main focus for many people, and no doubt it will become the de facto engine for high-tech action-based games for some time to come. I just shudder to think what the system requirements will be like, and this is coming from someone who, this time last year, had what would be considered a high-end machine.

Angel: Season 1, Episode 5: Rm w/a Vu

Teleplay by Jane Espenson; Story by David Greenwalt & Jane Espenson; Directed by Scott McGinnis

A good enough standalone episode, but the lack of a proper seasonal arc is beginning to cause the show to suffer overall. The characters are, admittedly, developing in subtle ways - here, for example, we learn that Cordelia believes her "riches to rags" situation is some sort of punishment for the way she behaved in high school - but it lacks the glue that makes Buffy, and later seasons of Angel, with their well-developed season-long "missions", so much more rewarding in the grand scheme of things. Like I said, this episode, which sees Cordelia moving into a haunted apartment, is fun, but ultimately fairly inconsequential. Also, the subplot involving Doyle owing money to a spiky-faced demon doesn't really go anywhere or connect with the main storyline in a meaningful way.

Overall rating: 7/10.

Next time: Sense and Sensitivity.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 5: Beer Bad

Written by Tracey Forbes; Directed by David Solomon

I'm not sure how much of the Oz/Veruca storyline was always intended to take place and how much was made up at the last minute when Seth Green suddenly announced that he was leaving, but the existence of much foreshadowing in this episode seems to suggest that there was always some attention of having him become attracted to a fellow werewolf. Unfortunately, most of the good stuff going on in this episode tends to be overshadowed by the absolutely ridiculous storyline of Buffy drinking beer and being reduced to a Neanderthal state. To some extent, Buffy has always been about overdone metaphors, but this one takes the cake. Yes, it's true that there are few sights more pathetic than that of a crowd of college/university students pissed out of their skulls, but even so, this is overkill. Presumably it works better in the US, where you have to be over 21 to buy alcohol, but over here, where certain people seem to consider drinking yourself into a stupor to be a mandatory component of any college/university curriculum, I suspect it would have been greeted by most viewers with gales of laughter, and not the sort of laughter the writers were intending.

Overall rating: 5/10.

Next time: Wild at Heart.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Angel: Season 1, Episode 4: I Fall to Pieces

Teleplay by David Greenwalt; Story by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt; Directed by Vern Gillum

This is the first Angel episode that's inferior to its Buffy partner, and once again it's interesting to look at the differences between the two of them. Chiefly, while Buffy and co were out celebrating Halloween in true Sunnydale fashion, it's just another day at the office for Angel Investigations. The actual case this week, meanwhile, is an interesting idea - a stalker who detaches various parts of his body in order to prey on his victim - but the execution tends to become a little clichéd. The bad CGI disembodied eyes are especially cringe-worthy, although the individual hands scuttling about are pretty neat.

By the way, the victim, Melissa, was played by Tushka Bergen, who had various roles in British TV series throughout the 80s and 90s.

Overall rating: 7/10.

Next time: Rm w/a Vu.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 4, Episode 4: Fear, Itself

Written by David Fury; Directed by Tucker Gates

On the surface of it, this is just another fun but throwaway Halloween episode, but, watching it again, I was struck by the way in which it plays out a greatly condensed version of the seasonal arc of each of the main characters. The Fear Demon warns Buffy that her friends will all abandon her (she doesn't listen, of course), Willow struggles with her growing magical prowess and lack of control over it, Xander finds himself alone and ignored by his supposed friends, and Oz struggles to control the werewolf in him. And Giles wears a sombrero. Oh - we also get the first mention of Anya's fear of bunnies. More broadly, we see the main characters get split up because of their inability to see eye to eye, and then finally come back together in the end. For all the problems with Season 4's main plot, the character arcs at least were extremely well-developed.

Beyond the clever foreshadowing, this is a very well-directed and at times even slightly scary episode. There is some extremely creative use of camera angles and lighting effects, while a number of shots seem to be clear homages to the work of prominent horror directors, including Sam Raimi and Lucio Fulci.

Overall rating: 9/10.

Next time: Beer Bad, frequently considered to be one of the worst episodes of all time.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Aieee!!!11~ Buying too much!

I've updated my DVD Collection page to include the three upcoming HD DVD releases I've pre-ordered. Red Dragon is released on September 12th, followed by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the unrated director's cut of Land of the Dead on September 19th (the latter is a double-sided HD DVD/SD DVD combo). All three are Universal releases, so I'm expecting top-notch transfers. In the case of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, it will be nice to finally see a watchable version, given how bad Criterion and Universal's standard definition releases look.

It recently occurred to me that I've seen very little of the horror output of the fair shores of Great Britain, the country in which I happen to live. Generally speaking, I don't think much of British films (there's only so many depressing trudges through the lives of gifted working class northern boys and their unemployed alcoholic fathers I can take), but I've tended to look more favourably on the horror output I've seen. Therefore, taking advantage of the unusually good prices at Play.com, I've ordered three of Anchor Bay's British horror box sets: The Tigon Collection, The Norman Warren Collection and The Amicus Collection, which apparently constitute some of the absolute best and worst of the industry in the 1960s and 70s. Of course, I probably won't have much chance to watch them as I try to scrape together the final draft of my dissertation, but they'll make a most pleasant treat once I'm finished.

I really need to get round to putting some of my older DVDs up on eBay soon, so I can recoup the costs.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Unleashed comparison update

My DVD Image Comparison of Unleashed has been updated to include the standard definition side of the HD DVD/DVD combo release. Obviously, it would have been nice to have included the HD version in the comparison just to show how much of a gargantuan leap it constitutes in terms of detail and clarity, but that's impossible at the moment, since I don't have a PC-based HD DVD drive or the appropriate software, so you'll just have to make do with plain old standard def.

Anyway, enjoy!

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Unleashed

For Unleashed's high definition debut, Universal have served up an excellent audio-visual presentation of one of the strongest films yet to appear on HD DVD. The limited bonus materials, and the inclusion of only the American cut of the film, however, make this release more disappointing than it should have been. Still, those who are happy with an excellent looking and sounding presentation of the R-rated version should be more than happy with this release.

The standard definition side, meanwhile, has absolutely nothing to offer that is not already included on either the R-rated or unrated stand-alone DVD releases that have been available in the US for the last year. As such, there is nothing of interest here for those who already own either of these releases and don't yet have an HD DVD player. Those intending to upgrade to HD DVD in the future and who don't already own a copy of Unleashed, though, will perhaps be interested in picking up a copy of this release, from the point of view of it being future-proof.

It's a double review extravaganza today! I've reviewed Universal's HD/standard definition combo release of Unleashed, the Jet Li vehicle known in other territories as Danny the Dog. The R0 HD DVD side doesn't contain any extras and only features the US cut of the film, but has a superb transfer and audio mix.

Depending on your orientation, you can choose between one of the following (or both, if you swing both ways):

- The HD DVD side (includes comparison between the two sides)
- The standard definition side

Friday, August 18, 2006

New version of Blogger coming soon

See how out of the loop I am? After moaning so much about how Blogger doesn't support categories, I happen to chance by Blogger Forum and discover that the next version of the blogging platform is currently in beta, and, in addition to a number of other additions, includes a feature called "labels", which is essentially categories under another name.

According to the official buzz,

with the beta you can:

* Integrate Blogger account with Google account (etc: Gmail)
* Customize your template by dragging and dropping page elements. Change the appearance and content of your blog with your mouse instead of HTML; there are also new templates from which to choose.
* Create a private blog by editing your permissions to control who can view and contribute to your blog.
* Add category labels to your posts – at long last!
* More feed options are now available, including RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 (instead of just Atom 0.3) – and also feeds for your blog comments, even on a per-post basis!
* Updated Dashboard to check blog's activity and make managing your blog easier.
* Instant publishing whenever you make a change.
* Incorporates Google Data API (still in early stages i think)

However, raw template editing functionality (editing HTML) is not yet available but coming soon.

It all sounds great, and I'm looking forward to this being fully implemented into Blogger, but at the same time I'm slightly worried. Essentially, I'm a little concerned as to what all these changes are going to do to customised templates (as you've probably noticed, Whiggles.com uses a somewhat modified version of the TicTac Blue theme), in addition to the news that not all of the new features are going to be available to those who serve their blogs on their own web space, rather than at [sitename].blogspot.com. At the very least, I hope that labels will be available, although it wouldn't surprise me if they rely on the "new dynamic serving capabilities of Blog*Spot" mentioned in the latest announcement.

Happy belated fifth birthday, Whiggles.com!

Holy crap! Whiggles.com recently turned 5, and I completely forgot. As it so happens, the site was originally set up on August 9th 2001, under the name of Whiggles.da.ru (because I was too cheap to pay for a proper domain name).

Unleashed gets unleashed in HD

My review copy of the recent HD DVD release of Unleashed (Danny the Dog in its native France) arrived from DVD Pacific this morning. Since I've already reviewed the French Ultimate Edition DVD, I only needed to do a technical/extras review of this release, so I spent the morning watching the high definition side (this is a combo release, with a standard definition version on the flipside), and have already written my review, which goes up at midnight.

So, how is it? In a word, excellent. Universal have yet to let me down with an HD DVD release, and this one is no exception. The film has a deliberately stylised appearance, with a heavily manipulated colour palette (which, interestingly, is far more apparent on Universal's US and UK releases than EuropaCorp's French release - see comparison here), and all of this is conveyed well, with the almost monochromatic sequence's in Bart's world contrasting with the warmer hues of Sam and Victoria's home. Detail is also superb, especially in the close-ups, where the individual pores of the actors' faces can be seen. Wider shots tend to look slightly more diffuse, but this seems to be a result of the cinematography rather than any tampering at the encoding stage. I spotted no edge enhancement at all (which was the biggest shortcoming of the French DVD), and, despite the film being stored on a single 15 GB layer (as has been the case with all HD DVD/DVD combos so far), the compression is handled magnificently.

Another "perfect" HD transfer from Universal. I must say that this bodes extremely well for their upcoming release of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a title that, in standard definition, frankly looks like crap (on both the Universal and Criterion releases).

Afterwards, for review purposes, I turned the disc over and took a look at the standard definition version. Yeesh! I knew the difference would be huge (we're talking 1920x1080 versus 720x480, after all), but not that huge. Colour and contrast levels are identical to those of the HD DVD version, implying that the same original source was used both, but the level of definition is like night and day. Whereas the HD DVD version is perfectly crisp and without a hint of edge enhancement, the standard definition variant is rather soft, with thick edge enhancement halos on display at all times.

Of course, pitting a standard definition DVD against an HD DVD is hardly realistic, so a more worthwhile comparison would be to see how it measures up against the current best standard definition release: the French 2-disc Ultimate Edition from EuropaCorp. Even here, the comparison is not exactly favourable. While the French release is edge enhanced, it at least looks detailed and reasonably filmlike.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Image Entertainment goes HD

Source: High-Def Digest

Image Entertainment has thrown its hat into the high definition ring by pledging to release three HD DVD titles on November 7. Unfortunately, the trio - all music videos - are not exactly my idea of a brilliant night in front of the TV. Still, it's good to see another indie label getting off the fence and actually releasing something instead of pulling out the "we'll wait and see which way the format war goes" card. And it's nice to see that they have a reasonably low RRP of $24.99.

It's done!

Well, the first draft at any rate. I signed off on my dissertation yesterday, sent my supervisor a copy and am now just waiting for her comments so I can begin making my final revisions.

If anyone wants to read it, please let me know.

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

I've been doing a bit of movie trading of late and have managed to get my hands on some obscure titles, among them Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, a 1970 Italian police procedural by Elio Petri. I have to say it really is very good and well worth watching if you can get hold of a copy.

"You can commit any crime you want, you know. You really could."

This is the central premise of the film. A celebrated police inspector (Gian Maria Volontè) murders his mistress, Augusta Terzi (Florinda Bolkan), and intentionally leaves a trail of evidence proving his guilt, but, because of his status, he is never considered a suspect, even when his fingerprints are all over the woman's apartment and he has actually told various people that he is the killer. A farcical plot played straight, this backwards police procedural (the element of mystery is whether the inspector will be caught, not whether he is guilty) heads along at a meandering pace and yet never feels over-long, thanks to the intense performances of Volontè and the magnificent Bolkan, and some rather obvious but well-intentioned social commentary (at one point the deranged inspector, practically slavering at the mouth, lumps prostitutes, Communists, murderers and homosexuals together as examples of "subversives" whose activities must be stamped out).

Great offbeat score by Ennio Morricone and simple yet precise photography by Luigi Kuveiller. Oh, and I was amazed to learn that this film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of 1972. It's nice to know that the Hollywood crowd was not completely ignorant of what was going on in Italian genre cinema at the time.

8/10

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

As one of Paramount's HD DVD launch titles, the visual presentation of Tomb Raider is problematic but essentially faithful to its origins. As a catalogue title, the "only" element it offers over its standard definition counterpart is essentially the improved image quality, and I can't imagine too many people rushing out to buy this, but if, like me, you enjoy the film as something of a guilty pleasure, you could do far worse in choosing this from the current high definition line-up.

Your friend Captain Whiggles, who actually likes Tomb Raider, has reviewed the 2001 summer cheesefest starring Angelina Jolie, making its debut on HD DVD courtesy of Paramount.

Blue-ray blunders, but HD DVD is full steam ahead

Some high definition news for you today:

Just days before its release date, and shortly after a flurry of reviews damning its poor image quality, Sony has cancelled its Blu-ray edition of Robocop (source: The Man Room). The official statement regards distribution rights for the title (it's an MGM release, but, despite MGM now being owned by Sony, any future home video releases from the studio will be released by Fox, although Robocop was supposed to be part of an initial smattering of titles released by Sony... my head hurts), but the sceptic in me wonders if it has anything to do with just how badly the review sites were savaging it.

Oh, and both Black Hawk Down and Sense and Sensibility, two other Blu-ray exclusives, join the likes of Resident Evil: Apocalypse on the "delayed indefinitely" rota (source: High-Def Digest). Still having trouble with those phantom 50 GB discs, eh Sony?

Meanwhile, five new HD DVD exclusives have been announced by Universal with a release date of October 24th: 12 Monkeys, The Interpreter, Out of Sight, Spartacus and John Carpenter's version of The Thing (source: DVD Times), while Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's rumoured street date is August 29th (source: AV Science Forum).

Monday, August 14, 2006

Final Destination 3

Final Destination 3 continues New Line's tradition of disappointing image quality but great audio and extras, which have come to define their special editions and standard releases alike. While a number of the bonus materials are a bit too weighty for a film that aims to be nothing more than light entertainment, there is plenty of variety in this package, meaning that there should be something of interest for everyone. It's just a shame the transfer doesn't do the rest of the package justice.

I've reviewed the Region 1 US release of Final Destination 3, the latest in the derivative but highly enjoyable franchise. New Line's standard definition 2-disc "Thrill-Ride Edition" release features a wealth of extras and a great DTS track, but disappoints in terms of image quality.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

It's chilly up in Icewind Dale

I decided to take a break from Baldur's Gate II and dip my toes into one of its stablemates, Icewind Dale II. This was the last game to be made using the Infinity Engine, and it was also the last title created by Black Isle Studios before the entire team was laid off. I went as far as to import the game from the US when it was released, incurring a hefty customs charge in the process, and yet, for a multitude of reasons, out of the entire series, it's the game I've played the least.

The original Icewind Dale had the odds stacked against it when it was released back in the Summer of 2000. The idea was to take the Infinity Engine and create the polar opposite of Planescape: Torment: a hack and slash game with a minimum of plot development and as much dungeon-crawling as possible. All well and good, but the game had the misfortune of being released on the same day as Blizzard's Diablo II, sequel to the game that pretty much single-handedly made RPGs popular again. (The hard-core D&D crowd probably wouldn't like to admit it, but Baldur's Gate and its successors probably wouldn't have existed without Diablo.) Yes, Diablo II - the most eagerly anticipated hand and slash dungeon crawler of all time. Not very good odds for Icewind Dale.

Surprisingly, though, it performed well, some might say because of rather than in spite of Diablo II, and a sequel was commissioned. For Icewind Dale II, Black Isle heavily modified the aged Infinity Engine, streamlining the interface, adding a handful of useful new features and, most drastically, replacing the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition rules with the new D&D Third Edition rules.

It took me ages to get to grips with the AD&D2 rules. The manuals always state that you don't have to know anything about them to enjoy Baldur's Gate and its ilk, but in reality I've found that this simply isn't the case. Things like THACO, Saving Throws, Critical Hits and negative armour classes, not to mention the infamous 20-sided dice, are enough to send a neophyte screaming for the hills, and they almost got the better of me. Still, I persevered, and found that, as I began to understand the mechanics of the game, I became better at it and got considerably more enjoyment out of it. The D&D3 rules, however, throw caution to the winds and completely revise the manner in which many of the familiar aspects of the game function. And, try as I might, I still can't understand how it's supposed to work.

In theory, the Third Edition rules are supposed to make the game more open-ended and give the player more choice. In practice, however, it just results in confusion. You can now level a character up in any different class you like (so you can have a Warrior-Rogue-Monk-Paladin-Wizard-Ranger), but doing so throws into play a whole number of internal catches that serve to complicate things. Add to that the inclusion of new abilities, called Feats and Skills, which you sometimes get when you level up and sometimes don't, and I just find the whole thing mind-boggling. The Third Edition rules take an already complex game system and push it further than I'm willing to go.

Part of the problem, I think, is that, for all intents and purposes, this looks and feels like one of the AD&D2 ruleset games. It reuses character art, sound and animation from Baldur's Gate, and retains the setting and storyline of the original Icewind Dale. (At least Planescape: Torment changed everything, from setting to art to sound.) And yet the mechanics differ, in many ways substantially. It's just too confusing, and I find it virtually impossible to get my head round it.

Icewind Dale II will, I suspect, forever languish on my shelf as The Game I Don't Get. It's a shame, because I really like elements of it. The character portraits are neat, the northern, snowy setting is cool, and the whole vibe really appeals to me. There's always the original, I suppose, but I hate the idea of having a game that I can't play simply because I find it too complicated.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

DVD debacle

Strictly Ballroom and the Superbit version of The Fifth Element (both R1 USA standard definition DVDs) both arrived yesterday.

Superbit, according to the packaging,

"...will set a new benchmark in high resolution DVD picture and sound, creating the ultimate in home entertainment."

"Use[s] your existing home theater equipment to its optimal capacity."

"Is pure picture and sound with no limitations."

"Delivers the best picture and audio quality available on the market today."

Right, then I suppose all that filtering and edge enhancement is the height of technology, then?

Shame on Sony for putting this out, and shame on idiot reviewers for being suckered into the marketing hype and praising this disc to high heaven.

Robert Harris on Sleepy Hollow

Source: Home Theater Forum

I hope it's okay to repost this here, but I thought it was worth repeating, because it consists of comments by the famed film restorer Robert A. Harris (the man responsible for the restorations of Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus and Vertigo) explaining the look of the Sleepy Hollow HD DVD:

Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, a 1999 production, appears to have been mastered from a film element to 1080p HD. As such it should not be compared to other productions that are sent through the DI process, thereby yielding a digital element to take directly to video mastering.

That said, as one of Paramount's initial offering of high definition DVDs, Sleepy Hollow magnificently represents the brilliant cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki in a home theater format.

While a terrific piece of entertainment on all counts, it is Mr. Lubezki's work, which looks akin to the three-strip Technicolor productions of the 1930s and early 1940s, which still used the silver key image to both add contrast, control the black level and tone down color, which is also a star of this film. To the best of my knowledge, the process was last used by John Huston in Moby Dick (1956).

There isn't a great deal more that needs to be said here.

Paramount has hit the ball out of the park with Sleepy Hollow. If the point to be achieved is to replicate the look of the film, they have done it to perfection.

While I can't say I share his overall enthusiasm on the encoding of this disc, I think we can agree that the film at least looks the way it was supposed to look. So please, guys, no "Waaaa! It looks grainy! This is not high def!" comments. It looks the way it looks, and, whatever mistakes Paramount may have made with the encoding, they have at least delivered a product true to Tim Burton's intentions.

HD DVD rankings

Now that I've seen a grand total of six (six!!!) HD DVDs, I thought it was time to rank them, from best to worst, in terms of image quality. So here we go:

1. Serenity (Universal)
2. The Bourne Supremacy (Universal)
3. Constantine (Warner)
4. Million Dollar Baby (Warner)/Sleepy Hollow (Paramount) [TIE]
6. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Paramount)

What should immediately be apparent is that the list is clearly tiered in terms of the studio responsible for the release. While it's obviously difficult to draw any conclusions based on this smattering of examples (only two titles from each studio), it does suggest that some companies have got themselves sorted out considerably better than others. In some cases, this is clearly due to superior treatment of the materials (for example, both Warner titles have a small amount of noise reduction and edge enhancement that is completely absent from the Universal titles), but in others, the issue may be down to choice of titles rather than the quality of the mastering, making the situation more complex (for example, the crisp, DI-sourced Serenity was always going to look perceptually "better" and be easier to encode than the grainy, contrasty, deliberately archaic-looking Sleepy Hollow or the blurry-because-the-director-is-a-dingbat Tomb Raider).

Still, food for thought. Hopefully this comparison will be augmented, before too long, with additional titles from these three studios (a review copy of Luc Besson's Unleashed is on its way to DVD Times courtesy of DVD Pacific), as well as offerings from Studio Canal in Europe.

Sleepy Hollow HD DVD - mixed feelings

Sleepy Hollow (R0 USA, HD DVD) arrived yesterday. Unfortunately, due to my aforementioned dissertation deluge, I wasn't able to give it more than a brief glance, but first impressions are that its transfer is several notches above that of the previous Paramount HD DVD that entered this house, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

Like Tomb Raider, Sleepy Hollow's colour timing was done in the lab rather than on a computer, and as such, a digital intermediate never existed, so the source is, again, a 35mm film print rather than a digital master. To achieve the film's desaturated, archaic look, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki used a process not widely used since the 1940s, and as a result it really does look like the product of a different era. It's grainy and extremely contrasty, and for the most part the HD DVD captures this faithfully. In contrast to Tomb Raider, it looks nicely detailed, leading me to believe that the problem with the Angelina Jolie was the way it was shot rather than anything to do with Paramount's transfer process. The slight edge enhancement that bothered me on that title is also not present here.

What mars Sleepy Hollow's presentation is the encoding. Some shots look nice and grainy, whereas others, in particular wide shots, instead render the grain in a rather mushy way, a bit like an over-compressed JPEG. This is especially noticeable on the Paramount logo at the very start of the film, which has an extremely crushed look to it. It's hard to describe this to someone who hasn't actually seen HD DVD content, since VC1 compression artefacts don't look like those of MPEG2. They are, on the whole, less invasive, but they are noticeable nonetheless. The grain tends to clump and smear, looking a bit like a watercolour painting: notice, for example, the establishing shot at the start of Chapter 15, where the sky takes on an "oily" look (click for a larger version):

And then compare it with this close-up of Johnny Depp's face, where both the grain and the overall detail are much more defined:

Obviously, these crummy digital camera pictures don't even begin to do justice to how good this disc looks (the grain in the second picture is simply not being rendered accurately, and the colours are very off in the first shot), but the first shot, at least, should give you something of a rough idea of what I've designed to term the Oil Effect.

On the Whiggles HD scale, this transfer is probably a high 7, or possibly a low 8, whereas Tomb Raider was a high 6 or low 7. Ironically, as a faithful representation of its original look, Tomb Raider is probably actually the better of the two, since at least it can be agreed that it was always soft, whereas my gripes with Sleepy Hollow are almost certainly a result of the encoding. Paramount really haven't given themselves an easy ride: while Warner and Universal have mainly been releasing crisp, almost grainless digital intermediate material, Paramount seem to have gone for "problematic" titles that most people are unlikely to consider to show the format off to its full potential. (Perhaps they deliberately decided to select difficult films to give them a chance to get all the kinks worked out as early as possible?) Personally, I believe that if had Sleepy Hollow been better encoded it would have become a reference disc on the same level as Serenity, which did a wonderful job of handling is sometimes grainy source material, but, as it stands, Sleepy Hollow doesn't really live up to potential.

Perhaps I've mischaracterised the transfer with all my nit-picking. It really does look very, very good, and seriously, if anything looking remotely like this had existed on standard definition DVD, it would undoubtedly have found its way into the 10/10 Hall of Fame. It's just that, when you compare it to the best of HD DVD (a much more realistic comparison than pulling out the "Wow, I can't believe it looks better than standard def!" card), it lacks in some areas.

Dissertation update

Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday. I spent the entire afternoon slaving away at my dissertation, finally completing Chapter 7 (the conclusion) and beginning the long, arduous task of trying to somehow shave off 1,600 words. Much of this, I suspect, will be achieved when I do my extensive rewrites of Chapters 2 and 4, which can hopefully be completed before I hand it in to my supervisor on Tuesday (or Wednesday at the absolute latest).

French HD DVD titles from Studio Canal in November

Source: DVD Times

Ecran Large recently announced the November 20th release of various HD DVD titles in France from Studio Canal. Cover art was available for a brief period, but was swiftly pulled. Luckily, however, one quick-thinking member of the AV Science Forum had the sense to save copies, and they are now available online here.

For those who are wonderimg, the following titles are being released:

- Basic Instinct
- The Elephant Man
- The Fog (1980 John Carpenter version)
- La Haine
- King Kong (1976 version with Jeff Bridges)
- The Pianist
- Rambo: First Blood
- Rambo: First Blood Part II
- Rambo III:
- Total Recall

The next batch of titles, by the way, will be comprised of:

- Ali
- Arizona Dream
- L'Armée des Ombres
- Brotherhood of the Wolf
- Le Cercle Rouge
- La Cité des Enfants Perdus
- The Deer Hunter
- The Graduate
- La Grande Vadrouille
- Million Dollar Baby
- Mulholland Dr.
- Ran
- Serpico
- Stargate
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Blu-ray exclusive in the US)
- Three Days of the Condor
- Traffic
- We Were Soldiers

All in all, this strikes me as being a far more eclectic and ambitious list than what the US studios have been releasing so far, which have tended to be box office failures or films not regarded particularly highly (or both) that they hope to sell to early adopters while there is a dearth of titles. On the other hand, I see plenty of titles on that list that will go down a treat with many viewers. Myself, I'm hoping they announce a date for Mulholland Dr. soon, so I can finally own one of my Top 20 (Top 5 actually) favourite films of all time in high definition.

By the way, Amir from Microsoft has confirmed that all Studio Canal European titles will be encoded at 24p.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Asia Argento in Mother of Tears... and Daria Nicolodi

Source: Dark Discussion

Finally, we have confirmation from Asia Argento herself that she will be starring in Mother of Tears:

i've been in Hong Kong for a while and i didn't bring my computer with me. I am now writing you from the "business center" of my hotel. God, you're always ahead of everyone, yes I am going to be in my dad's new movie (the script is brilliant!) and I am happy to tell you before anyone else that my mother is playing a role in it as well! How exciting! The family reunited. My heart is so mushy. And no, Sienna Miller ain't gonna be in it.

Good god. Did Hell just freeze over?

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