Colin Farrell has a decent resume, and his supporting cast in Fright Night aren’t exactly chumps, which makes it all the more confusing as to why I wasted 90 minutes watching one of the worst 3D Blu-ray movies ever released. Fright Night is a reimagined version of the 1985 classic, but it’s been reimagined to such a degree that the term “classic” will never be uttered again in the same sentence. Fright Night follows a boy named Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin), who discovers that not only is his neighbor Jerry (Colin … [Read more...]
Peter Gabriel: New Blood – Live in London Blu-ray 3D Review
Peter Gabriel has more “quirky” songs that have gone mainstream than perhaps any musician, highlighted by “Sledgehammer,” and his movie-soundtrack work has ingratiated him with multiple generations (“In Your Eyes” from Say Anything, and “Love Town” from Philadelphia). Yet it’s Gabriel’s desire to try new things, be it unique topics, innovative sounds or, in the case of his newest recoded concert, cutting-edge technology, that have helped him stand apart as a solo artist since breaking from Genesis in the 1980s. Peter … [Read more...]
TriOviz 3D Glasses — See 3D on Even 2D HDTVs! — Free Contest
For at least the past 18 months, TV manufacturers have been espousing the virtues of 3D TVs, even as the movie studios merely dabble in Blu-ray 3D releases while blasting the theatrical screens with 3D big-screen productions. As a result, millions of HDTV owners are interested in 3D but unwilling to take the plunge. A company called TriOviz has a possible solution: glasses that turn even 2D content into 3D presentation. And we have TWO of these innovative Inficolor 3D glasses to give away. TriOviz's Inficolor 3D … [Read more...]
Kinect Star Wars in 3D: Pod Racing Hands-On Preview
There are a few parallels between Kinect Star Wars and Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which opens today in 3D. The most obvious is the connection to Episode I content and characters, which so far have driven all of the Kinect Star Wars game demos. The most surprising parallel, though, relates specifically to the 3D release of The Phantom Menace: a poor first impression. The 3D film's first 10 to 15 minutes are frankly a visual disappointment. Sitting through the opening scenes of the Episode I 3D midnight showing, I … [Read more...]
Nintendo Gets a New Spokesman — Sort Of
Nintendo's had several "pseudo-official" public faces over the years, highlighted of course by Shigeru Miyamoto and Mario, but for the month of February, Nintendo's marketing team has pulled an arguably weird stunt by making a dog the company's public face. That's because February is Responsible Pet Owners Month, you see. As if that justifies the decision.... Today, Nintendo of America announced it's teaming up with Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier "co-star" of The Artist, who will act as Nintendo’'s "spokesdog," … [Read more...]
The Smurfs Blu-ray 3D Review
I am a child of the ‘80s. Memories of my childhood include The A-Team, Battlestar Galactica (the original), Buck Rogers in the 21st Century and The Smurfs -- and that was just Saturday’s TV lineup. Hearing that The Smurfs were making a theatrical comeback with Doogie Howser, er, Neil Patrick Harris, in a lead role stirred-up mixed emotions. On one hand, watching The Smurfs could be a great trip down memory lane, and Hank Azaria as Gargamel could inject a nice dose of slapstick. On the other hand, mixing live-action and … [Read more...]
Tekken Hybrid Review
The Tekken series was a mainstay during my time in college and even though it was a long time ago, I still remember using all the classic characters like it was yesterday, and I am bad now as I was then. It’s been a few years since home consoles have seen Tekken come back, and just in time for the arcade version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (in Japan at least) comes this strange ‘collection’ of the Tekken series. Tekken Hybrid isn’t a new game in the series – but more a glimpse of the future, a visit to the past and … [Read more...]
LG CES 2012 Press Conference and Booth Overview
Home to the first press conference of CES 2012, LG Electronics tried to be the pace car for the rest of the day’s (and show's) proceedings. No matter how hard a slew of bad jokes tried to bring them down, LG largely succeeded with enough innovative products to justifiably own your entire home electronics ecosystem. They covered essentially everything from the man cave (nice TVs) to family essentials (smart appliances) to the everyday (smartphones), and I came away impressed each time. LG’s 3D Cinema line of 3D TVs … [Read more...]
Toy Story 3 Blu-ray 3D Review
As a parent, I find Toy Story 3 to be an incredibly sad movie. Well scripted, meaningful and great, to be sure, but emotional and sad nonetheless. As a so-called graphics whore, I find Toy Story 3 to be one of 2011’s benchmark CG films, with animations and textures so refined they’d make granular sugar cry. Yet as a fan of the Blu-ray 3D format, I find Toy Story 3 to be a bit disappointing. The technological jump from the first to second film was remarkable, as I noted in my Toy Story 2 Blu-ray 3D review, and the impact … [Read more...]
Toy Story 2 Blu-ray 3D Review
Pixar is always one to make evolutionary leaps in technology, with subtle changes between in films that somehow make all the difference. Yet when it comes to the Blu-ray 3D presentations of Toy Story and Toy Story 2, the jump is more drastic than any Pixar has taken to date. The straight-up graphical improvements cannot be denied, but it’s the little nuances between the first and second outings of Buzz Lightyear and Co. -- things like depth of field and improved animations -- that help make the 3D effects so much more … [Read more...]
