Category Review

Sony DSC-W390 720p HD Video Recording Quality

Recently I had the opportunity to finally get a pocket camera of acceptable quality, all while not much larger than a mobile phone a couple of years ago. In this warm climate the perfect thing to put in your khakis. One of the things I had been looking at for a long time was a camera with the opportunity to record 720p movies and after several months of doubting, I settled for a Sony DSC-W390, a 14.1 megapixel camera with panorama sweep and 720p HD video recording.

One detail which might put doubters off is that the USB standard camera won’t output 720p video to your TV or media player but for me that was no issue because I can connect to my Sony HDTV or PS3 via USB (card reader) and generally have all my video on a network drive anyway.

But that’s rambled enough. You obviously want to see how the 720p recording quality is. Here’s a minute of today’s Tour de France stage, recorded live in 720p with fine settings. The TV broadcast is upscaled digital TV quality, transmitted via IP.

0 comments July 22nd, 2010
Filed in Review

Top Gun

When I intoduced this site in the opening post I said things such as “If you like good stuff”. But I also said “eclectic”, so it’s a thin line we’re walking.
To be honest I’m just trying to make up excuses to list this film, because it probably was the first movie ever I liked. And I was 11 when I saw it. 11 and a follower, a wannabe. Of course I wanted to be a jet pilot and would even become one, the first man in my family who wore a uniform AND was a pilot. My destiny if it weren’t for some stupid allergies discovered during the medical some years later when I applied for the Belgian Cadet School.

Needless to say that I loved the movie and knew every move of Kelly McGillis by heart. Shut it, you’ve been a stupid 11-year old kid too!
And to be honest, I still love occasionally watching this film, enough even to have gotten myself the US import on BD, just because this film ~~is a sacrilege~~ bring some hours of easy entertainment certainly better than 98% of the crap which is released nowadays. Read more

1 comment January 2nd, 2009
Filed in Review Tagged with Action•Jerry Bruckheimer•Kelly McGillis•Paramount•Romance•Tom Cruise•Tony Scott

Stephen King’s The Mist

I remember that I was looking forward to this movie when it was announced, but finally I never made it to the theatre and that not just because I loathe paying for the neighbouring disgusting smell of popcorn, can invite my neighbours to come over and kick my in the back of the chair or can make just as much of noise crunching crisps on my home. The real reason I never went or hadn’t purchased the movie on DVD yet was that for me The Mist the strongest story by Stephen King was I’ve ever read . And who wants to ruin that kind of sensation?

But then, some day, browsing through the limited BD offer at the local HMV and saw that the UK release had a 2 discs, the second one with a black and white version of the movie. That concept intrigued me and little later the second disc was in my player.

0 comments December 31st, 2008
Filed in Review Tagged with Frank Darabont•Horror•Stephen King

Casino Royale

This franchise reboot was another movie I would not have watched if it weren’t for boredom and the obsessive maniacal need to spend money. James Bond and I have a long history, well actually James Bond and my father go a long way back. It was unimaginable that my ol’man would miss a Bond movie on the tube, but obviously he would never purchase a copy either. Bond was his little idol, more even than Mac Gyver, The A-Team, Starsky and Hutch or even Hawai Five O were. My father is a cop and obviously jealous of everyone who can resolve a problem in less than 50 minutes. James Bond, Bond just made dad drool.

After Layer Cake and Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels there was no doubt and I knew Craig would become a great Bond, still I refused to watch Casino Royale, until some day I had a dire need. The neeed to get rid of my money and boy am I happy I did.

2 comments December 30th, 2008
Filed in Review Tagged with Action•Daniel Craig•Eva Green•James Bond•Judi Dench•Martin Campbell•Sony•Soundtrack

Apocalypto

Apocalypto certainly was none of the movies I would have purchased if it weren’t for the still poor offer in BD here in the UK. The fact that the movie was directed by Mel Gibson certainly was no help either as I seem to have created a Mel Gibson hate in recent years, probably helped by a quote I read on rec.arts.movies.international:

Mel Gibson is Stanley Kubrick on steroids.

It seems though that The Passion of Christ no accident was and Mel Gibson actually _can_ direct some. Still, I refuse to acknowledge any comparison to Kubrick, the Master.

0 comments December 29th, 2008
Filed in Review Tagged with Action•Adventure•Blu-ray•Buena Vista•Daniel Craig•Mel Gibson

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