Global Fault Line

BLACK SWAN - Official HD trailer

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:59:00 +0000

A psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet, BLACK SWAN stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company (Mila Kunis). A Fox Searchlight Pictures release by visionary director Darren Aronofsky (THE WRESTLER), BLACK SWAN takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect.

Lindsay Lohan in "Machete"

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:49:00 +0000

Plot: The movie finds Machete (Danny Trejo), a renegade former Mexican Federale, roaming the streets of Texas after a shakedown from drug lord Torrez (Steven Seagal). Reluctantly, Machete takes an offer from spin doctor Benz (Jeff Fahey) to assassinate McLaughlin (Robert De Niro) a corrupt Senator. Double crossed and on the run Machete braves the odds with the help of Luz (Michelle Rodriguez), a saucy taco slinger, Padre (Cheech Marin) his "holy" brother, and April (Lohan) a socialite with a penchant for guns. All while being tracked by Sartana (Jessica Alba), a sexy ICE agent with a special interest in the blade slinger.

"Machete" is written and directed by Robert Rodriguez and is scheduled to hit theaters on September 3rd.

Read more:http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=18356&count=0#ixzz0uCNOeHVl

iPhone comes to Verizon in January 2011

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:59:00 +0000

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Bloomberg says Verizon will get the iPhone... sometime in January. Yep, it's another fuzzy rumor sourced from "two people familiar with the plans," and while we really do believe Big Red will eventually get the iPhone in our lifetimes, at this point we're beyond cynical about pieces like this -- chatter about a Verizon iPhone now regularly reaches deafening levelsbefore crashing down in yet another cloud of AT&T-exclusive dust. However, if you must insist on living this impossible dream, Bloomy's latest rumor does at least line up with the piece from the Wall Street Journal in March claiming that CDMA iPhone would begin production in September, giving Apple plenty of time to ramp up for a January launch.

Of course, we have to wonder if it's the smartest move to announce the hotly-anticipated Verizon iPhone right after the holiday buying season, and we can't imagine all those iPhone 4 buyers who were justenticed into signing new two-year AT&T contracts are going to be happy to discover they could have waited and escaped the Blue, but we'll have to wait and see -- Apple just told us that they "don't comment on rumors and speculation" when we pinged them and asked for comment. Fingers crossed, we suppose.

Bloomberg

5 Ridiculous Gun Myths Everyone Believes

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:43:00 +0000

Even in gun-crazy America, most of us aren't shooting things as part of our day-to-day routine. So most Americans actually know very little about guns. Hollywood writers realized this a long time ago and, being writers, used it as an excuse to never do any fact-checking ever again.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_18576_5-ridiculous-gun-myths-everyone-believes-thanks-to-movies.html#ixzz0sIvZrw8f

Movie: Inception

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:04:00 +0000

Games: Madden NFL 2011 for PS3

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:59:00 +0000

Platform: PLAYSTATION 3

Madden NFL 11 is the 22nd version of EA Sports' classic video game football franchise. Featuring cover athlete Drew Brees, Super Bowl XLIV MVP and quarterback for the New Orleans Saints, Madden NFL 11 incorporates a blend of simpler, quicker and deeper new features with time-tested classic features expected from a game in the Madden franchise. Features included in the PlayStation 3 version include Franchise mode, All-new GameFlow playcall system, dual stick control, extensive online functionality and more.

The Madden NFL franchise regenerated for PS3.
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A Simpler, Quicker and Deeper Madden
Madden NFL 11 redefines the way you experience the game of football. Simpler: from 350 plays down to 1, the all-new GameFlow system puts you in the helmet of an NFL quarterback, to execute an authentic, situational game plan, one play at a time. Quicker: with 60-minute game times reduced to 30, spend more time on the field and less in the playbook. Same drama, half the time. Deeper: Madden NFL 11 is feature-rich, with improved animations and control options, enhanced online functionality, and new broadcast and audio presentation that delivers the NFL experience fans have come to expect.

Key Game Features

From 350 Plays Down to 1 – The all-new GameFlow playcall system puts you inside the helmet of an NFL quarterback like never before, allowing you to execute authentic NFL game plans one play at a time. Add a new level of strategy by customizing your own offensive and defensive game plans, or have plays based on your favorite team’s real-life tendencies called for you.
Play Games in Half the Time – With an all-new playcall system, spend less time in the huddle and more time on the field as you experience the drama and excitement of a full game in less than 30 minutes.
Don’t Just Play, Feel It – All-new Dual Stick Control drastically reduces button dependency for the ball carrier by mapping key moves to the right and left sticks. Run through holes, break tackles, and explode in the open field with a more fluid, intuitive, and responsive running system. All-new locomotion provides true acceleration and deceleration, plus natural planting and cutting, while delivering the authentic-feeling Madden NFL to date.
Play, Learn, Win – Rookies can enjoy success quicker than ever before. New Coaching Tips automatically pause the game at critical points to help explain each situation as it unfolds. A revamped playcall system draws player routes on the field as in-game coach’s audio provides helpful hints to better execute the play.
Redefining Madden NFL Online – Last year we gave you Online Franchise and Online Co-op, now Madden NFL 11 delivers an all-new game mode that will change the online experience yet again.
See It. Hear It. Feel It. – Experience a new level of excitement with revamped audio presentation. From the booth to the field, Madden NFL 11 brings gameday to your living room like never before.

Games: Red Dead Redemption

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:54:00 +0000

Red Dead Redemption is an open-world, third-person, action-adventure game set at the tail end of the American West West era. Action takes place in the first few years of the twentieth century and revolves around the choices that the protagonist, former outlaw John Marston, is forced to make due to his blemished past. The game features a morality system assigning honor and fame points generated through the player's choices. It also features Wild West themed mini-games, new targeting and cover systems, extensive horse riding abilities, a wealth of period specific weapons and more than 40 huntable animals.

Story
Red Dead Redemption is a Western epic, set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age. A follow up to the 2004 hit Red Dead Revolver, this game tells the story of former outlaw John Marston, taking players on a great adventure across the American frontier.

Choose to fight for honor or fame as former outlaw John Marston.
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Gameplay
Red Dead Redemption is a third-person action-adventure game set a fictional open-world American Wild West environment for players to explore. Gameplay area types include frontier towns, rolling prairies teaming with wildlife, and perilous mountain passes - each packed with an endless flow of varied distractions. Along the way, players will experience the heat of gunfights and battles, meet a host of unique characters, struggle against the elements and animals of one of the world’s last remaining wildernesses, and ultimately pick their own precarious path through an epic story about the death of the Wild West and the gunslingers that inhabited it. In their travels throughout the territories of the gameworld players partake in a morality system built on honor and fame, where they gain or lose points in each area based on their actions. The game features an easy to use cover system, a variety of mounts and period specific weapons including a cattleman revolver, a mauser pistol, a repeater rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, a throwing knife, a lasso and more. Western themed mini-games are also available, including showdowns, gambling, hunting bounties, cattle herding and five finger fillet.
Key Game Features

Expansive open-world gameplay set in the final years of the American Wild West.
Massive play area made up 3 unique regions composed of towns and outposts filled with characters with varying looks, accents, etc.
Morality system based on honor and fame generated by the players actions throughout the game.
Loads of unique non-player characters to interact with.
Western themed mini-games including showdowns, gambling, hunting bounties, cattle herding and five finger fillet.
An assortment of period specific weapons including a cattleman revolver, a mauser pistol, a repeater rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, a throwing knife, lasso and more.
The Dead Eye targeting mechanic, allowing the player to slow down time for shot accuracy.
Ridable horses and more than 40 kinds of animals that you can hunt or be hunted by.

Product Description
Red Dead Redemption is a Western epic, set at the turn of the 20th century when the lawless and chaotic badlands began to give way to the expanding reach of government and the spread of the Industrial Age. The story of former outlaw, John Marston, Red Dead Redemption takes players on a great adventure across the American frontier.

Music: Ozzy Osbourne "Scream"

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:33:00 +0000

This will be the SCREAM heard around the world.

OZZY OSBOURNE will release SCREAM—his first album in almost three years and 10th studio album overall—June 22 via Epic Records. Produced by OZZY and Kevin Churko, both of whom did the same honors for OZZY’s 2007 worldwide million-seller Black Rain, the album will feature the first single “Let Me Hear You Scream.”

The multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer recorded most of SCREAM at his Los Angeles home studio, The Bunker, and co-wrote all the songs, primarily with Churko. Notably, the album marks the first appearance of OZZY’s new guitar player, Gus G. OZZY’s band also features bassist Blasko, drummer Tommy Clufetos and keyboardist Adam Wakeman. In addition to “Let Me Hear You Scream,” the album’s confirmed tracks are: “Diggin Me Down,” “Let It Die,” “Soul Sucker,” “Fearless,” “I Want It All,” “Time,” “Crucify” and “I Love You All.”

OZZY will also embark on an 18-month world tour in support of SCREAM including Ozzfest dates in the US this summer.

OZZY recently stormed onto a non-music chart with his autobiography I AM OZZY (Grand Central Publishing)--the rock icon’s unbelievable story told, for the first time, in his hilarious, witty, and inimitable voice--debuting at #2 on the New York Times best-sellers list amid glowing reviews.

Movie Trailer: Splice

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:40:00 +0000

Music: Eminem: Recovery

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:35:00 +0000

Product Description

The much-anticipated new album - EMINEM RECOVERYOn Recovery, his seventh major label studio album, EMINEM has reached out to an exciting list of first-time collaborators, including DJ Khalil, Just Blaze, Jim Jonsin and Boi-1da, among others.
EMINEM releases Recovery just over a year after his last album, 2009's Relapse. Relapse put the cap on an impressive ten years of recorded output, and contributed to EMINEM being the biggest selling artist of 2000-2009. In recognition of this, Neilsen SoundScan named him their Artist of the Decade. Relapse entered the charts at #1 and, at nearly double platinum, was the best selling rap album of last year. It also earned EMINEM his 11th Grammy award, winning in the Best Rap Album category. Relapse's first single, "Crack A Bottle" from EMINEM, Dr. Dre and 50 Cent, soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Eminem's second #1 after 2002's "Lose Yourself") and set a SoundScan record at the time of its release for opening week download sales (418,000). The album also spun off two other hits; the Top 10 "We Made You" and Top 20 "Beautiful."
"I had originally planned for Relapse 2 to come out last year," remarked EMINEM. "But as I kept recording and working with new producers, the idea of a sequel to Relapse started to make less and less sense to me, and I wanted to make a completely new album. The music on Recovery came out very different from Relapse, and I think it deserves its own title."
EMINEM has sold more than 78,000,000 albums worldwide. After 1999's quadruple platinum The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000) and The Eminem Show (2002) became two of the Top 5 best selling albums of the 2000s, with approximately 10,000,000 copies of each sold in the U.S. alone. 2004's Grammy-nominated Encore reached #1 and was certified quadruple platinum. The #1, double platinum, 2005 greatest hits collection Curtain Call: The Hits and #2, platinum, 2006 various artists compilation Eminem Presents: The Re-Up followed.

True Blood: The Complete Second Season DVD

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:30:00 +0000

True Blood's second season, with episodes involving a new cast of monsters invading Louisiana swamp town Bon Temps, is notably gorier and more camp than the first season. While thematically the central focus in these 12 exciting episodes still revolves around faith and loyalty, these questions are complicated by displays of pagan ritual and obsession. Though the vampire/human relationship dilemma continues, spearheaded by lovers Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), there is less emphasis on addiction to V, or vampire blood, and more time dedicated to outsiders whose supernatural talents make some episodes feel like superhero battles.Episode 1, "Nothing but the Blood," sets the gory example with a brutal opening scene in which the local shaman has been eviscerated. While gruesome murders continue throughout the season, we become familiar with a new femme fatale, Maryann Forrester (Michelle Forbes), who hosts bacchanalia, such as the one in episode 4 ("Shake and Fingerpop") that gives Bon Temps a collective hangover. Also developing in this season are relationships between Sookie and Bill's vampire colleagues Eric (Alexander Skarsgård), Eric's master Godric, and a vampire queen who plays Yahtzee throughout episode 11 ("Frenzy"). The ever-increasing vampire interest in Sookie leads to her questioning her own supernatural psychic identity, especially in the final episode ("Beyond Here Lies Nothin'"), a semi-ridiculous, over-the-top segment that is more humorous than scary. Also corny but funny are the episodes featuring Fellowship of the Sun zealots Steve and Sarah Newlin (Michael McMillian and Anna Camp), and Jason Stackhouse's evangelical dedication to them (with Ryan Kwanten as Stackhouse). Perhaps the best episodes are those dedicated to the endangered plights of Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis), and Tara (Rutina Wesley). New characters, like Tara's lover, Eggs (Mehcad Brooks), and the young, tempestuous vampire Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll), also add greatly to an already fabulous cast. Though the extras in this DVD set, "The Vampire Report (Special Edition)" and "Fellowship of the Sun: Reflections of Light," offer lighthearted, pseudo-documentary fun, they feel quaint next to the many wonderful episodes of this horror serial. --Trinie Dalton

Avatar out on DVD NOW!!

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:22:00 +0000

RATING: PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi, Stephen Lang, and Matt Gerald

Jake Sully is a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. But despite his broken body, Jake is still a warrior at heart. He is recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora, where a corporate consortium is mining a rare mineral that is the key to solving Earth's energy crisis. Because Pandora's atmosphere is toxic, they have created the Avatar Program, in which human "drivers" have their consciousness linked to an avatar, a remotely-controlled biological body that can survive in the lethal air. These avatars are genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the natives of Pandora... the Na'vi. Reborn in his avatar form, Jake can walk again. He is given a mission to infiltrate the Na'vi, who have become a major obstacle to mining the precious ore. But a beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, and this changes everything. Jake is taken in by her clan, and learns to become one of them, which involves many tests and adventures. As Jake's relationship with his reluctant teacher Neytiri deepens, he learns to respect the Na'vi way and finally takes his place among them. Soon he will face the ultimate test as he leads them in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world. (20th Century Fox)

Movie Trailer: Iron Man 2

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:27:00 +0000

Hot Tub Time Machine

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 23:12:00 +0000

Source: www.Cinematical.com

Remember what the world was like before Judd Apatow brought back the raunchy, R-rated comedy? Nah, me neither. Oh wait -- I do! Hollywood comedies, for a good long while, were PG-13 at their naughtiest, aimed at as broad a demographic as possible, and they weren't very funny. It was a tough time to be a grown-up with a sense of humor.

But The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up changed all that, and now we're blessed with a wide variety of adult comedies! By "wide variety," I naturally mean "stories about grown men suffering from protracted adolescence." Pineapple Express, Role Models, The Hangover, I Love You, Man ... all very funny. And all, when you think about it, essentially about the same bunch of guys.

Hot Tub Time Machine is rated R, it's very funny, and it once again features the same group of characters, although they're rendered even more sketchily than in any of the above-mentioned films. John Cusack plays Adam, the likable anchor/ostensible main character. He's just broken up with his live-in girlfriend, who we only experience via phone message and Post-Its demanding her share of the household goods. Adam and and his friend Nick (Craig Robinson) reunite at the hospital following a possible suicide attempt involving their loose-cannon pal Lou (Rob Corddry), and they decide to visit the old stomping grounds from their youth, an upstate ski resort called Kodiak Valley. Adam's nephew, Jacob (Clark Duke) comes along, as well.

There is a hot tub. They get in it. And then it's 1986. Advised by a mysterious hot-tub repairman (Chevy Chase) that they must do everything exactly like they did when they were at the resort some 20 years earlier, Adam is charged with breaking up with his girlfriend, Nick needs to perform on stage, and Lou must get the crap knocked out of him by some asshat ski patrol guys. And so, they proceed to do just that, with mixed results.

It would have been prudent, perhaps, to write "spoiler alert" before the above synopsis because, really, that's all there is to the movie. Like The Hangover, which this film seems to admire, what follows is anecdotal, disjointed, and slapdash, more a series of gags inspired by the central premise than a real plot. Yes, it's often very, very funny. Not all of it is, but enough that it makes for an enjoyably stupid experience. Transported without warning to '86 via a hilariously well-crafted time travel sequence, the four understandably freak out. They run down the rules of time travel as learned from the Terminator flicks; Jacob, in danger of disappearing altogether if the boys don't follow the rules, proclaims himself an expert on the subject because "I write 'Stargate' fan fiction; I know what I'm talking about!"

Duke, Corddry and Robinson are reliably funny, no matter what they do, even when a couple of outdated, homophobic scenarios are trotted out. There are jokes about oversized cellphones, leg warmers and Michael Jackson. The soundtrack pulls out some of the most egregious examples of 80's schlock-pop to create a kitsch soundtrack. Through it all, Cusack, working again with director Steve Pink (Pink co-wrote Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity), simply looks tired. It's charitable to say that this is the funniest Cusack comedy in a long time -- but his last comedy was 2005's Must Love Dogs, and he never breaks a sweat in Hot Tub Time Machine, mostly going through the motions and allowing his co-stars to do all the heavy lifting.

Coming very close to stealing the movie is Crispin Glover, as a creepy one-armed bellhop. His surly, antagonistic demeanor when they arrive at the hotel -- followed by his demand for a tip -- is over-the-top and deliriously funny. But it gets even better when he reappears in 1986, chipper, cheerful and possessing all his limbs, then suffers from a series of near-arm-severing accidents.

Women are, of course, mostly set dressing, serving as floozies, bimbos, wives and ex-girlfriends. Lizzy Caplan brings a welcome smart female note to her few scenes as a music journalist who catches Cusack's eye, but otherwise it's a lad's adventure all the way. Given the scattershot nature of the film (and the outtakes/alternate lines that pepper the advertising yet never made it into the movie) there'll probably be a lot of funny extra material on the DVD release. Meanwhile, for those of us old enough to get references to Red Dawn, 80's hip hop, Back to the Future, and Sixteen Candles, there's a fair amount of genuine retro fun to be had here.

Hot Victoria’s Secret Models

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:13:00 +0000

50 Greatest MMA Dominations

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:49:00 +0000

Are they the bloodiest MMA moments? No, but there's definitely some blood. Are they the most gruesome MMA moments? No, but you'll see some limbs get bent in ways that no god intended. Are they the sweetest MMA moments? No, just no. Look, we ain't no MMA experts, but we know domination when we see it, so we've collected (with the help of the dominatingly thorough Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com) theGreatest Dominations in MMA History. You may disagree with our rankings, or even the list itself, but there's one thing we're sure of: you'll get a kick (and a punch, a headbutt, and a knee or ten to the chin) out of our countdown.

Movie Trailer: Sherlock Holmes

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:53:00 +0000

Movie: Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:47:00 +0000

Release Date: December 18, 2009 (conventional 3D theaters and IMAX 3D)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

Director: James Cameron

Screenwriter: James Cameron

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi, Stephen Lang, Matt Gerald

Genre: Action, Adventure

MPAA Rating: Not Available

Official Website: Avatarmovie.com

Plot Summary: "Avatar," a live action film with a new generation of special effects, takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery as he leads an epic battle to save a civilization. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of "Titanic," first conceived the film years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, "Avatar" delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

The story's hero is Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair. Bitter and disillusioned, he's still a warrior at heart. All Jake ever wanted was something worth fighting for, and he finds it in the place he least expected: on a distant world. Jake has been recruited to join an expedition to the moon Pandora, which corporate interests are strip-mining for a mineral worth $20 million per kilogram on Earth. To facilitate their work, the humans use a link system that projects a person's consciousness into a hybrid of humans and Pandora's indigenous humanoids, the Na'vi. This human-Na'vi hybrid – a fully living, breathing body that resembles the Na'vi but possesses the individual human's thoughts, feelings and personality – is known as an "avatar."

In his new avatar form, Jake can once again walk. His mission is to interact with and infiltrate the Na'vi with the hope of enlisting their help – or at least their acquiescence – in mining the ore. A beautiful Na'vi female, Neytiri, saves Jake's life, albeit reluctantly, because even in his avatar body, Jake represents to her the human encroachment on the Na'vi's unspoiled world.

As Jake's relationship with Neytiri deepens, along with his respect for the Na'vi, he faces the ultimate test as he leads an epic conflict that will decide nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

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More stuff HERE

Megan Fox in NY Times Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:41:00 +0000

More pics and full gallery HERE

Music: Rihanna “Russian Roulette” Video

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:38:00 +0000

Movies: Avatar Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:03:00 +0000

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of Titanic, first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.

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Movie Review: 2012

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:14:00 +0000

The most common retort one gets when talking negatively of a film clearly intended to be consumed with a tub of popcorn and a brain switch in the off position is "Why can't you just enjoy the movie?" And I get that. I am the kind of viewer who can absolutely just sit back and let sights and sounds wash over them. But what some fail to understand is that even with the brain turned off, even with disbelief firmly suspended, some movies stink so ferociously that the stench wafts off of the screen, snapping even the most resistant critic to full alertness like a slap in the face by a glove spiked with smelling salts.

2012 is not immune to analysis simply because it is an openly absurd movie. Sure, it's about the end of the world taking place three years from now. Sure, it features some astounding special effects. Sure, it is in every way, shape, and form a popcorn tub movie. And sure, you know from the trailer alone whether or not you're game for yet another disaster porn movie from The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day director Roland Emmerich. But what the willing don't inherently know, and this is the most crucial piece of information one can be equipped with before hand, is that 2012 is 158 minutes long.

Granted, one would expect the end of the world to take more than 90 minutes, but the biggest failing of 2012 is that it barely has enough story to span half an hour, yet alone two more beyond that. Sign up for all the California-sinking, supervolcano-erupting mayhem you want, but what you're signing up for comes packaged with banal, one-dimensional characters who are only ever allowed to spew groan-inducing dialogue like so many fireballs from a, well, supervolcano. And considering the spectacle is unfortunately a fraction of the length, the audience is given more than enough time to wonder how so much mediocrity came to be from such talented people.

Which is a shame, because 2012 opens well enough. Our proxy to the film's special logic is a scientist named Adrian (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who has come to learn that a new batch of sun flares are causing neutrinos to microwave the core of our planet, which will eventually cause the Earth's crust to crumble like a cookie, turning our pale blue dot into an uninhabitable jumble of sinking rocks and soaring tsunamis. He's an empathetic enough character thanks unquestionably to Ejiofor, an actor who can bring any amount of cardboard to life, and through him we get our first hint that 2012 might not be a typical disaster movie when the scientist barges into a black-tie gala to tell a Presidential science adviser that the planet is about to be turned into a bowl of cookies and cream.

Surprisingly the adviser goes against the formula grain and believes the doomsayer for a change, setting up a meeting directly with the President (Danny Glover). Meanwhile, our proxy to the other side of the story is the presumably heroic failed dad and failed author Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), whom Emmerich has decided, unwisely, to saddle with the responsibility of being the comic relief. The problem isn't with Cusack, who has proven himself a great comedic actor, rather with Emmerich assuming that by hiring someone who has been in brilliant comedies he has hired someone with enough Midas touch to turn his written crap into gold. Sadly, that is not the case. Cusack shows none of the enthusiasm he's historically thrown into his roles, which renders our obvious hero character nothing beyond being the guy who keeps narrowly escaping every collapsing road, falling building, and erupting volcano whether he's in a limousine, a prop plane, or a Winnebago.

Despite Cusack's character being the must underwhelming one in the entire production, the first 50 odd minutes of the film are perfectly satisfying. The audience gets to meet and greet with a wide array of ancillary characters in orbit of Ejiofor and Cusack's storylines while also being treated to two outstanding, extended escape-the-apocalypse sequences that are thrilling enough to have you convinced 2012 may not be so bad after all. But then the tension winds down and we get to meet and greet even more ancillary characters, which serves not to provide the extended emotional attachment Emmerich is clearly shooting for. Rather the time spent with them does nothing to propel the core storyline while simultaneously diluting what minimal attachment the audience had with Cusack and his immediate family.

About midway through, 2012 has not only lost its characters but its spectacle trump card to boot. Nothing from that point on comes close enough to even touch toes with the film's first two effects extravaganzas, condemning the remaining hour plus of the film to meandering storylines with wholly predictable resolutions; which is a situation the co-writer/director does not have the skill set to make even remotely interesting. And this is coming from someone who owns and regularly enjoys watching The Day After Tomorrow and The Core, two of the most brainless popcorn disaster movies in existence. Yet even I could not tolerate the droll shenanigans on display.

This is one of those instances I hate in which everyone who saw the trailer for 2012 thought they knew exactly what the movie had in store. Those who thought it looked like CGI garbage are going to cynically cry "Told ya' so!", while those who thought it looked like an unapologetic blast are going to optimistically think "It can't be all bad..." And it isn't all bad, but what little good 2012 has is buried under a pile of cinematic rubble early on, out of sight, and given the length, eventually out of mind, never to be glimpsed again.

Source: Cinematical

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Motorola DROID Review

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:11:00 +0000

Motorola DROID review (Verizon Wireless)

By now you've seen Verizon's iDon't/DROID Does campaign on TV or on the streets. The first commercial can be found here. It's a bit tongue-in-cheek and Verizon has admitted this, but it does highlight a handful of things that the iPhone clearly cannot do. It should also serve as a clear indication that any rumor of the iPhone moving to the network is now squashed. Or they're confident enough that Apple won't hold a grudge. The former scenario is more likely. (See the best travel gadgets of 2009.)
Motorola's DROID has a very industrial look and feel to it. Gone are the days of lightweight and dainty devices. You don't have to coddle the DROID or shell out an extra $30 for a case. Wrapped mostly in metal, the DROID is chock-full of features that have become standard on ‘smartphones' or whatever else you want to call these mini computers. Here's a quick rundown on features and specs:

Network: Verizon Wireless (CDMA 1X 800/1900, EVDO rev. A)
Operating System: Android v2.0
Processor: Arm Cortex A8 processor 550mHz
Memory: 256MB built-in, ships with 16GB microSD card (expandable to 32GB)
Display: 3.7-inch capacitive touchscreen (480x854)
Camera: 5-megapixel with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and image stabilization
Browser: Webkit HTML5, Flash Player 10.1 ready (coming soon)
GPS: aGPS/sGPS
Bluetooth: v2.1+EDR
Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g
Battery: 1400 mAh battery
Sensors: proximity, ambient light and eCompass
Size/Weight: 2.4 x 4.6 x 0.5 in., 6 oz.
DROID's 3.7-inch display is the best looking capacitive touchscreen we've ever seen on any device. It renders images and text beautifully. Colors appear to pop right off the screen. In other words, you can read e-mail, browse Web pages, read eBooks or comics for hours without suffering major eye fatigue. Touch response is good and most taps are registered with very little lag or issue. But the DROID is the only Android device running version 2.0, so it's difficult to say whether or not it's perfect. There's very little evidence to dispute this claim, though.

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11 WAYS WIRELESS PROVIDERS SCREW YOU OVER

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:54:00 +0000

According to Consumerist, several wireless providers (including Verizon) “mark up the cost of text messages by at least 7,314% when compared to their rates for data transfer services.” Assuming a max text size of 160 characters and a transmission of 7 bits per character, that’s 1120 bits (or 140 bytes). Without a text messaging plan in place, you will find yourself paying 15 cents. Conversely, the very same phone can transmit 1024 bytes for just 1.5 cents via its data plan. As Consumerist puts it, “that’s $.015 per data kilobyte versus $1.09 per text message kilobyte.” Put another way, it equates to an eye-popping 7,314% markup!

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HTC DROID ERIS Phone Review

noreply@blogger.com (gfl21) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:43:00 +0000

If recent leaks are any indication, we should be seeing plenty more HTC DROID Eris unboxings any day now, but right now it looks like the Boy Genius Report has scored one of the first courtesy of one its helpful "connects." Of course, there aren't exactly a ton of surprises with the packaging apart from a bright splash of color upon opening the box, but the unboxer does say that the phone itself is thinner and lighter than the Sprint HTC Hero, and generally "feels much better in the hand." Hit up the link below for a few more shots, and watch this space (well, not literally this space) for what's sure to be more Eris news to come.

Keywords: Verizon, GOOGLE, HTC

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