Reporting from the motherland

So the little asian kid near me on the plane was watching me play FF 7 and sneezed on me and I subsequently got sick somewhere over Alaska. The following conversation more or less took place over Siberia:
me: Can you buy me dayquill and a bottle of water when we get to the airport?
mother: no i don't think they have it and i'm not going to look
me: OMFG I'M GOING TO SHOOT MYSELF AND IT'LL BE LIKE YOU PULLED THE TRIGGER.

in HD related news I saw ads for Bravia and Aquos plastered all over Beijing Airport so HD does exist in China... somehwere. As for Blu-ray and PS3, I will be doing some investigative journalising. So stay tuned.

Albert's Top 10 Films of the Year

Top 10 Films of 2007

#10: 3:10 to Yuma


Originally, I despised this movie because I'm not a huge fan of Westerns, but this was just a kickass movie with two incredible actors.

#9: The Bourne Ultimatum


The perfect ending to the Bourne Trilogy.

#8: The Darjeeling Limited

It's Wes Anderson. That is all.

#7: Michael Clayton

Another political thriller that distinguishes itself from the many others.

#6: Knocked Up

Apatow's second film direction and he succeeds once again. It was the perfect mix of the outrageous comedy of Apatow and decent narrative.

#5: Gone Baby Gone

I'm surprised by this Affleck Brothers collaboration. A well-constructed mystery/thriller, which is a triumph for Ben Affleck's directorial debut.

#4: Eastern Promises

Viggo Mortenson puts on a stellar performance in another Cronenberg masterpiece.

#3: Juno

I walked in with high expectations and walked out with these expectations met. Sure, the pregnancy story has been done, but film is about Ellen Page crafting a wildly awesome character. She is so lovable, and her performance is far better than any of her bigger Hollywood co-actors/actresses in the movie, nearly outshining them by miles. It made me laugh. It made me smile. And it is the year's best comedy.

#2: Sunshine

Probably the best experience I've had in an empty theater. The emptiness of the audience helped create the solitary emotions of outer space. While the film itself has some glaring issues with the actual narrative itself (plot holes and a ridiculous third act), it kept me at the edge of my seat. But most importantly, I fell in love with the visual art direction. It has a distinct 2001: Space Odyssey semblance that reminds me of the sheer beauty and loneliness of space. Not to mention, the gold suits are totally kickass.

#1: Once

I call this "Damien Rice: The Movie". While some of Damien Rice's tracks are questionable, he captures me through his raw emotion, and Once is filled with musical warmth. Despite the fact that the two actors have no training whatsoever, their performance is the most realistic portrayal of their own characters I've seen in years. Shot in the stylistics of a documentary, everything is more believable as I feel like I'm watching the blooming of an upcoming artists from behind the scenes, or even a two hour music video. In addition, Glen Hansard being a real musician of The Frames who wrote the entire soundtrack, the music is beautifully arranged, creating possibly the best OST in ages. A touch of passion, intensity, and heart makes this film my favorite film of 2007.

Barely missed the cut

- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
- Hot Fuzz
- 1408
- Superbad
- Walk Hard

Movies I missed

- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
- Perseopolis
- No Country for Old Men
- Rescue Dawn
- First Snow
- Sweeney Todd
- Lars and the Real Girl
- I'm Not There
- There Will Be Blood
- The Assassination of Jesse James

The State of Blu-ray

Looking back at it 2007 will probably be the year HD began to sink into people’s consciousness, and 2008 will be the year HD goes mainstream. The state of Blu-ray and Albert’s HD set up will be much different by this time next year.

The United States Congress has ordered that by mid February 2009, analog television broadcast must stop this means digital television sets with digital receivers will be mandatory by early 2009. You bet retailers are going to be pushing sales of new televisions this next year. The largest roadblock to an easy transition of HD home video is the lack of a unified front. Here the problem, movie studios were hoping consumers would decide which format to favor and consumers are wary to invest in either format until there is a clear winner.

Enter Warner and CES 2008. There have been rumors in recent weeks that Warner is ready to announce exclusivity soon. As the last of the major studios to be format neutral why would Warner pick? And What would it pick? The answers to both questions are of course related. Making two formats is expensive and a hassle. It has always been the expectation of Warner that at some point it would only have to make one format, but so far it’s been making 3 (including of course regular DVDs). Choosing to go Blu-ray exclusive effectively end the format war. Immediately it would divide the studios into Fox, Disney, Sony, and Warner vs Paramount and Universal. It would also give Blu-ray in terms of releases a 3 to 1 margin, not to mention movies released on both Blu-ray and HDDVD sell better on Blu-ray on similar margins. With that kind of lead it would be quite near impossible for HDDVD to survive to see 2010. Should Warner choose to go HDDVD it will drag this format war out indefinitely, splitting film studios down the middle.

Beyond the technological arguments for either format, beyond how spiffy “picture in picture” is, these are the most compelling arguments for why Blu-ray is the prudent choice in 2008. By ending the format war as soon as possible Warner can facilitate a speedy transition to HD home entertainment. (Obviously this helps their bottom line, they’re not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts)

So those are my thoughts. Will I be crying tears of joy during CES 2008 or will Albert? Tune in to redvsblu on Jan 8^th 2008!

Siyu's Top 10 Films of 2007 (the year in retrospect pt. 1)

10. Spiderman 3



While it definitely did not live up to the hype, I assert that if the right 20 minutes of material were cut from this film it would be much higher on this list. I don't want to make excuses for this film, but mistakes were made. Because of fan pressure to include Venom, Sam Rami did not get to make the third chapter he wanted. Maybe he should have resisted and had just Sandman, but then everybody would now be complaining how the film was missing Venom. He was Catch-22'ed but I still think there was a lot to like.


9. Sicko



Yea yea, I'm over Michael Moore too, but his movies are always entertaining. I know I used to be one of the Michael Moore fanatics, but my official stance is that while he's good at calling attention to worthy issues, you're still not going to get the whole story with him. So watch his movies and be entertained but don't make opinions on issues until you do research of your own.

8. Becoming Jane

I think this movie is only on this list because I'm a little smitten with Ann Hathaway (and her boobies).

7. Knocked Up

It was a solid movie and it made me feel good inside.

6. The Host

This was a really fun movie. Yay for Korean cinema! Too bad for every one of these there's a Dragon Wars.

5. Charlie Wilson's War


For me I didn't notice the story, it was all about watching the actors/characters interact from scene to scene. (If that makes any sense at all)


4. Juno

The soundtrack to this movie really annoyed me in the beginning but I got used to it. (The whiney 'indie' music) I really enjoyed the adults in this movie a lot more than the kids. I thought Jason Bateman's character was interesting, and I was not expecting that in this movie. I also really liked Mannifer Garner, which I was also not expecting. I thought it was really interesting that the two big movies about unplanned pregnancies this year both had really conservative messages of keeping the baby and giving it a good home. But then, I guess if both women went with abortions neither film would make it past the first act.


3. Superbad

I met Michael Cera because of this movie.

2. Beowulf

This is the first film where I really liked it for what it represents/could be than what it is(the other one is obviously the next movie on the list). Going to the movies should be an experience, and with Blu-rays and HDTVs watching movies at home just became a better experience than going to the theaters in terms of both comfort and picture quality. Beowulf represents risks that I wish more movies would take. I think Zemeckis showed that the technology is ready, and you can make a decent movie with enough care. I know this movie didn't make the boatloads of money Paramount was hoping for, but I would love to see movies do truly new things like this one. I don't think I'm over hyping it when I say some aspects of Beowulf offers a glimpse into the future of movies and I hope it comes faster. Oh yea, the movie it self was pretty entertaining.

1. Sunshine

Sunshine was not a perfect film, but I've already written a whole entire entry on why I loved the movie so I will try not to repeat too much. The reason I can forgive the third act is that it was a risk taken to further develop the story and the world of the movie. It adds dimension by being a physical manifestation of the crew's mental fears. Though it did not work out as well as it should have, it was a mistake that was made for a reason as opposed to killing Professor Xavier and then bringing him back after the credits. I've already said I loved Sunshine for the way it grabs a hold of you, for the way it makes you feel as a natural byproduct of the story and feeling like part of the movie's universe and not like the film makers have manipulated you into feeling certain things.

Finals suck.

Finals suck, and while I can literally feel my body breaking down, hopefully I will be reborn Thursday morning in a drunken haze out of the ashes of my crusted vomit from the night before.

After my rebirth and hopefully before 2008 I will make the following posts:
The State of Blu-ray (and Sony)
Siyu's Top 10 Films of 2007
Siyu's Top 10 Things of 2007
Together these 3 posts will constitute my "Year in Retrospect" series. Hopefully it will inspire Albert to contribute some sort of editorial voice to this blog. Anything... seriously, it's been like months.

until then... T-8 hours until maximum pwnage.
IT'S THE FINALS COUNTDOWN

it used to be a 2:1 margin

Propelled by strong sales of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,' Blu-ray software sales topped HD DVD by more than a 3:1 margin for the week ending December 9, 2007.

Going Green

So a few weeks ago NBC made a big deal about going green, and there was some press release over the summer about how 24's production would be zero-emission and Jack Bauer was going to fight global warming somehow. But, I'm not Al Gore (I would just vote for him) so what's been on my mind is the ever increasing use of green screen in movies. Well okay green screens have been heavily used in movies for over 10 years, I'm talking more specifically about films that don't even bother with real sets.

Sin City and 300 are the obvious things that come to mind, but both those movies are obvious examples of style over substance. Green screen is an attractive choices for directors mainly because of the ease of making a film look stylized. However can a movie have significant character development and still use this type of filmmaking? Sin City was arguably a character movie, but with three separate chapters each with its own protagonist its hardly a model of feature lenght character arcs. I think the best argument against complete green screen is that it makes it especially diffuclt for actors. Peter Jackson had Rohan and the Shire built for a reason, and I'd say it was pretty effective. I'm thinking about all this mainly because images from Speed Racer came out today, and as I am loathe to be interested in anything related to Wychosvki, after last season's LOST i'm ready to watch anything with Jack Shepard in it. This is however another movie of style, and while I'm not expecing to be espeially moved, I am hoping like the original it'll give me a seizure 15 minutes in.

I must also must say, the sets for The Watchmen that were released a few weeks ago looked really good. I loved the saturated colors, I'm worried only that it all looked too clean. When I first heard about the Watchmen movie, obivously I was excited for another Snyder comic movie, heavily stylized with green screen. Then I read Watchmen. It is a massive character study, more dense anything in contemporary lit really. For Watchmen to succeed the special effects will still have to be amazing but it has to take a backseat to the characters. While Zack Snyder seems very passionate about Watchmen; I have no doubt he "gets it", I still have to question his ability to control material with this much heft, and dialogue that doesn't invovle Gerald Butler yelling at Persians because seriously, we can all agree he can direct the shit out of Gerald Butler yelling.

and yes i realized i started talking about one thing and ended up talking about something completely different but i'm the only one updating this blog