Blog Posts

Highly Defined – The World of High Definition

Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on August 7th, 2006

In what universe is a weekend jail visit considered a “family emergency” when it comes to missing your job? Can anyone answer this for me? By all means, send your answers (or curious situations) to yours truly. I’m curious to hear what the responses are.

The big news in the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray battle is that Training Day, Rumor Has It and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang arrived on Blu-Ray this week, after being available in HD-DVD for a little while now. And the verdict? Well, at least according to Pet…
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What happened to Hudson Hawk?

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on August 4th, 2006

Reader Brian asks:

What happened to the HUDSON HAWK: 15TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION dvd? It was supposed to come out on July 25th and now it doesn’t appear to be available anywhere … Including Amazon.com. Can you research it and let me know as I seriously (seriously) would like to get it.

Anyone have a clue? Comment it on this post!

Brain Blasters

Posted in Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on August 4th, 2006

Without question, the most celebrated bad director is Ed Wood. He is the portal through which so many people discover the joys of the terrible film. He stands out from so many contenders because his films are not ordinarily bad. They are deeply felt, deeply earnest. He meant what he was saying, whatever that was. And his style, particularly his screenwriting style, is unmistakeable. Insanely purple, banal, and incomprehensible, it cannot be mistaken for anyone else’s work. It is as individual as the writing of the Co…
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Old School Demo

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on August 3rd, 2006

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Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.

Ang Lee’s Hulk got a bad wrap.

When it was originally released in 2003, it was endlessly criticized for replacing action with a “boring” psychoanalysis of Bruce Banner.

I think there was a mutated poodle in there somewhere, too. But I could be wrong.

Despite all of its flaws — and it has quite a lot of them — I always enjoyed Hulk. I foun…
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Dare to Play the Game

Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on August 2nd, 2006

Rising from Your Grave, You’re about to Die, and E3 coming to an end, Welcome to the the family pet corpse that you keep buried in the backyard known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I’m your host that knows Stone Sour is a condition that you encounter with eating gummi worms while you are smoking pot. Seriously, go get their new cd this week, its called Come What(ever) may. Supposed to be pretty good. I tried win…
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Highly Defined – The World of High Definition

Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 31st, 2006

What’s that thing on your shoulder? Oh yeah, it’s almost the end of fricken summer, go out and play already!!!

Well, after my proverbial guts had been spilled on the floor last week, let’s look at news and notes on the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray fronts, shall we?

Warner Brothers teased HD supporters by promising a release of Good Night and Good Luck on the same day as it’s Blu cousin, but is holding off for now, for reasons unbeknownst to be as of this writing. At least there will be a Blu-R…
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Brain Blasters

Posted in Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on July 28th, 2006

Let us sing a hymn in praise of bad movies. Not ordinarily bad, of course. There is very little joy to be had in anything touched by Martin Lawrence. No, the crap that brings warmth to the heart of the badfilm fan can be the B-movie so inept that the set falls down. But there is also the big-budget, A-lit pic that pulls a Hindenburg, and those are to be treasured as well.

I have this latter type of badfilm in mind because I saw Lady in the Water over the weekend. Now, I cannot recommend this film if …
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Old School Demo

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 27th, 2006

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Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.

It doesn’t get much better than Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It’s an excellent movie filled with gutsy performances, swashbuckling adventure that doesn’t get corny or cheesy, and it’s received one of the best A/V treatments in DVD history.

Every big film like Master and Commander should receive a treatment like this. Upon its release on DVD, i…
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Dare to Play the Game

Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on July 26th, 2006

Busting your Shinobi, Squaring yourself up to abuse, and Smacking yourself down, Welcome to the blistering quart of Vaseline known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I’m your host who is always two cents short of well, two cents. Seriously, we need to keep the penny; cause that’s about all I got. Yesterday was also my wife’s birthday, everybody rejoice.
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Highly Defined – The World of High Definition

Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 24th, 2006

OK, so after a brief disruption of service, there’s a new blog author in town for the Highly Defined column, and he’s me. To just do a quick intro on the author of the column: this is me!

No wait, that probably won’t suffice. But to assuage those videophiles in the house, here are a few things about the gear I watch this stuff on. I’ve got a Toshiba HD-A1 (I had the XA1 for a couple of weeks, then I came to my senses and realized that this was WAY too much money to spend on a DVD player, hence the ex…
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Brain Blasters

Posted in Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on July 21st, 2006

In our last thrilling episode, I talked about Vampyres as being one of the pinnacles of European erotic horror. I felt that I couldn’t very leave the topic without saying a few words about the man whose lengthy career has largely been built around this form: Jesús (Jess) Franco. Cult movie connoisseurs will already be very familiar with him, and should feel free to stop reading now. For the rest of you, consider this a brief, guarded, introduction.

The word “prolific” hardly begins to describe Franco…
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Old School Demo

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 20th, 2006

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Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.

For such a low budget film, Pitch Black made a pretty big impact on DVD. Its success eventually lead to a sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick. The superb DTS track also leads to a solid demo quality disc that may not be in the realm of the Star Wars and King Kongs of the world, but is still a worthy addition to your demo disc collection.

Unfortunately, Pi…
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Dare to Play the Game

Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on July 19th, 2006

Phantasy,a Monster release and Wrestling with something huge, Welcome to the carafe of luke warm coffee known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I’m the beetle with the skeetle, YO! I kinda feel like I’m one California roll short of a sushi plate. This would assume of course I tried sushi and if I ever had the notion to discover asian food outside of chicken or crab ragoon. Well, what are you waiting for, lets check out relea…
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Highly Defined, a.k.a. wait, who the hell is this guy?!?!?

Posted in Highly Defined, News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 17th, 2006

Well, let’s skip the pleasantries (besides, I’ve got a whole big introduction lined up and can save for a week anyway) and let’s get down to business.

The last couple of weeks have seen a decided uptick in HD and Blu-Ray news and notes, perhaps most significant among them is that Warner Brothers has decided to release some of the same already available HD-DVD titles on Blu-Ray, so come August 1, there will be a lot of people frantically getting their screenshot comparisons up and ready to go. Of course, tho…
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Brain Blasters

Posted in Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on July 15th, 2006

Let us consider the term “erotic horror.” This sub-genre doesn’t have a very strong tradition in North America, despite the best efforts of Seduction Cinema and Misty Mondae. I exempt the films of David Cronenberg from this consideration, as they are hardly designed with titillation in mind – they are much colder, analytical works, and the label once applied to them – “venereal horror” – is still more appropriate. No, there just hasn’t been that much on this side of the pond, relatively speaking. Perhaps in its stead…
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Old School Demo

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 13th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.

If you’re like me, then you have an old pair of jeans or shoes that need to be thrown out and replaced. But for the love of God, you just can’t bring yourself to do it.

There is too much of an attachment.

That’s how it is for me and the DVD. I’ve never double-dipped or upgraded a DVD in my collection. First of all, the original release still sounds and looks good enough to…
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Thank You for Smoking

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 12th, 2006

Fox Home Entertainment will release Thank You for Smoking (starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, William H. Macy, and Robert Duvall) in separate widescreen and fullscreen releases on October 3rd. Extras will include an Audio Commentary (by Director Jason Reitman), Deleted Scenes, Two Featurettes (“Making-of” & “America: Living In Spin”), and a Charlie Rose Interview with the cast.

Dare to Play the Game

Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on July 12th, 2006

Homers, Player Hating, and Swinging the ole Battle Axe, welcome to the weener dog that was left on the grill an hour too long known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I’m your host that wishes he could hit a ball like Ryan Howard. Specifically the one where he hit that sign that some lucky soul won 500 round trip tickets to places like Rome, Georgia and Paris, Texas (I’m thinking the Leaning Tower might be an Oil Tower or Peanu…
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Brain Blasters

Posted in Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on July 7th, 2006

It lurks behind a poster whose taglines are deliciously over the top, arguably meaningless, grammatically dubious, and utterly misleading: “BEHIND THIS MEMBRANE… you will be driven to a point… midway between LIFE and DEATH!” (?!?!) Further: “The only people who will not be STERILIZED with FEAR are those among you who are already DEAD!” Now, there have been many films to promise/threaten heart attacks/strokes/what-have-you in their ad campaigns, but The Flesh Eaters (1962) is, to my knowledge, the on…
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Old School Demo

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 6th, 2006

Buy at Amazon.com

Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.

Hello all. Another week and another time-sensitive demo disc to discuss.

Last week it was Superman: The Movie just as Superman Returns hit the theater.

With Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest coming out this week, I figured it would be worth going back and re-watching selected scenes from the original film to see whether or not it’s still one o…
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Dare to Play the Game

Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on July 5th, 2006

Ultimatiums, High Prices, and Barely Nothing to Show For Your Fourth of July weekend, welcome to the drunken firework spectacular known as Dare to Play the Game.

Welcome to another edition of Dare to Play the Game. I’m your partially brain-dead host going through news and gaming features for your pleasure. That’s right for your pleasure! While you sit there with marshmallows and hot chocolate sauce waiting for Adrian to join you in a festive celebration of lights you ge…
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Just My Luck

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on July 4th, 2006

On August 22nd, Fox Home Entertainment will release the Lindsay Lohan teen comedy Just My Luck on DVD. This disc will inclue both anamorphic widescreen and fullscreen transfers, along with a Dolby Digital 5.1 (English) audio track. The extras will include three deleted/extended scenes, two featuretets (“Look of Luck” & “McFly Behind The Scenes”) & a trailer.

Brain Blasters

Posted in Brain Blasters, News and Opinions by David Annandale on June 30th, 2006

Herewith begin my weekly musings on the field of cult movies. As an opener, it would probably behoove me to define exactly what is meant by a “cult movie.” I’m going to be a bit disingenuous here, and provide a definition arguably so nebulous that some might consider it useless. That’s fine. There have been many attempts at this sort of definition, and most founder on specifics once one moves much beyond the “I know one when I see one” type of description often applied to porn. That said, here goes. Generally speakin…
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Old School Demo

Posted in News and Opinions by Archive Authors on June 29th, 2006

Discussing the old school DVD’s that still sound and look great in the era of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD technology.

I’ve been having a hard time of it lately.

I consider myself an up-to-date guy. I was the first in my group of friends to get a big-screen HDTV and pro-scan DVD player. I love movies, and I love home theater systems. So you’d think that I’d already have a Blu-Ray / HD-DVD player, right?

Wrong.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not too happy with this new wave of …
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Dare to Play the Game

Posted in Dare to Play the Game, News and Opinions by Michael Durr on June 28th, 2006

Legal briefs, Hot Coffee, Street Fighting, and a Chic. It’s a new column, yeah babyie yeah!

Welcome to Dare to Play the Game. This is the weekly column/blog where we explore the world of gaming from the view of a very demented and emotionally insecure 30 something year old man. But since Tom Cruise is too old and Adam Sessler doesn’t have any time on his hands, you got me, Kedrix. I hope every week to explore a few news stories, do some regular features, get all retro and…
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