The Media Guru

Dec 28, 2008

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Movies

The good thing about holidays is that you get to watch movies which you missed during the year. :)
& I've been watching (or eating) lots of them. Here are some short reviews...
As usual, Spoiler Warning if you haven't seen those flicks.

The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk

The Hulk (2003) was the worst movie I've ever seen! That film left me incredibly frustrated, so fricking angry at myself - why? Why? Why did I watch that movie?

The Hulk

The Incredible Hulk thus is a reboot of the Hulk franchise but fortunately it does not tell the same story. It's like a sequel, but with a much better storyline.

The Abomination

The Hulk still looks fake, but at least he doesn't have super-elastic medium-sized shorts! The Abomination being a stronger adversary, the film delivers some fantastic action scenes.

Betty - Liv Tyler

The beautiful Liv Tyler is the right choice as the damsel in distress but most credit goes to Edward Norton for really embodying the role of Bruce Banner.

Tony Stark

Oh yeah, Tony Stark (Iron Man) makes a special appearance at the end to talk on a team he's assembling - The Avengers.

The Principal

As for the sequel, it looks promising with Bruce trying to control his transformation via yoga. Do you remember Mr. Blue having his brain deformed - he'll become the Leader.
Verdict: Awesome blockbuster on par with Iron Man.
Wiki: The Incredible Hulk

 

Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace

To watch this new James Bond movie, you need a background knowledge of Casino Royale – which I didn't have. :(

Aston Martin DBS

The Aston Martin DBS makes it appearance only in the first 5 mins... & then it's gone!

Eco-Hotel

The plot is complicated (something about water?), James Bond uses no gadgets & his injuries heal fast enough for the next scene. But all these negative points are covered up by some great action scenes - although I do hate those abrupt scene changes during fights... 
Verdict: Average movie with some good bang-bang stuff.
Wiki: Quantum of Solace

 

Death Race

Death Race

With a scenario straight off a videogame - prisoners doing races on prison grounds in deadly cars.

Frankenstein's Mustang

Sounds crap? Not really - it does have some wonderful car action & you'll like it if you are a Jason Statham fan.

Dreadnought

Verdict: Love those death races, especially the Dreadnought!
Wiki: Death Race

 

Wanted

Wanted

Again another action movie. As in death race, plot is kinda stupid - 1000 years ago, weavers invented binary code from cloth which tells fate killings!?

Wesley

But given that we're dealing with assassins here you can expect some damn good action. Adrenaline allowing heightened senses to slow down time! Firing bullets in curves - bending bullets is possible... with supercomputer calculations!

Fox

Verdict: Great action movie which makes you overlook the fake plot & bad narration. Special supporting appearance by Angelina Jolie.
Wiki: Wanted

 

Eagle Eye

Eagle_Eye

That's one fricking hell of a movie. It's like I-Robot in a 2008 setting, much closer to reality.

Eagle Eye

It really raises some serious questions about who's watching over Big Brother. We are being monitored 24/7 but do we really know what's being done with all that data?

Guillotine

It may be centuries before we invent an AI of the same level as ARIA, but there's no doubt only a computer can "think" to such extent, calculating every single possibility.

Eagle Eye 2

The intrigue & the non-stop action in Eagle Eye keeps you entertained while you keep quizzing yourself - who's behind this? Terrorists?
Verdict: Fantastic movie! Shia LaBeouf doing what he's best at - saving the world!
Wiki: Eagle Eye

 

The Dark Knight 720p

3526b

I've always wondered if I'll be able to watch HD content one day... & if there was a movie which I would have wanted on Blu-Ray, it would have been The Dark Knight - one of the best movies ever!
But since I do not have an HDTV nor a Blu-Ray player, I have satisfy myself with 720p rips. Btw 720p has a massive resolution of 1280x720.

CoreAVC

Playing 720p rips requires at least a Core 2 Duo. Anything less means some serious concessions in terms of quality. That's why we need the best x264 codec available - CoreAVC. CoreCodec CoreAVC reduces CPU usage by up to 50% for x264 playback. It can be configured as an FFDShow codec or directly in KMPlayer or MPC.

Even then my CPU (P4 3.06HT) ran at 100% to play a sample of the Scene version of TDK (DVD9) on the CoreAVC codec. My dream of watching insane quality stuff seemed to be broken until a 3GB 720p re-encode of 1080p TDK was released. Having much lower bitrates, I knew that this would definitely play on my PC.

The Joker

The quality is awesome. Every skin detail, every background effect, the scars on the Joker, the structure of the Batpod - near-perfect quality! (Click on those pics!)

IMAX

& since The Dark Knight has all action scenes in IMAX, this is 10x better.

Batpod

Sound? Digital Theatre System (DTS) makes you enjoy ultimate auditory experience.

The Joker Clapping

CPU usage was 85-90%, but with CoreAVC, that dropped down to 70%. If you still have any doubts about the insane quality, check back my The Dark Knight review - I've replaced all screencaps with 720p ones. :)

Behind The Scenes

I also downloaded The Dark Knight extras - the immense hard work they've put into that movie reinforced my conviction that TDK is the best movie ever!

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Comments 13 comments
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Yashvin said...

No one wants to make his PC a server for local downloads?
btw, thnk to sailesh if he is reading this :P

carrotmadman6 said...

@Yashvin
Unfortunately I've 128k upload speed... not 2Mbps! :P

GameHackor said...

Nice Post...
All of these movies are awesome besides the hulk! lol
eagle eye really got me thinkin there...

Anonymous said...

I watched wanted. The movie is really nice. I think tushal gave that to me in a dvd where i was asking for microsoft office lol. Thanks kan mem :P

Anonymous said...

hi there, if you liked the work of Edward Norton, then try watching The Illusionist, hope you'll like it, cheers.

carrotmadman6 said...

@simplecotton68
Thanks for the suggestion.
I'm already a fan of Edward Norton, having recently watched his great performance in The Italian Job & Kingdom of Heaven. :)

Anonymous said...

Death race...eagle eye..wanted..the best..

Anonymous said...

dites moi pas que c'est pa vrai. t'as eu le temps de regarder tous ces films pendant les vacs? j'ai environ 100gb de films sur mon pc mais malheureusment pas de temps pou m'amuser avec les films :(

carrotmadman6 said...

@Yasir
For movies I don't get time to watch, I convert it for watching on my mobile when I'm free. :)

Anonymous said...

720p doesn't look that great on big screen. Download high res BR rips.

BTW, movies which I shall watch this year. Make your list too:

Crank 2 High Voltage! (F*** you, Chellios! - sentence which is being repeated over and over again in the trailer lol)
Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
Fast & Furious 4 (Vin Diesel is back! He comes back when the price of oil is going down! There must be a link between him and oil…hmm..)
Ninja Assassin (Rain is in it!! He’s my fav. Korean actor. I loved him in Full House TV series and in Speed Racer.)
The Proposal (It’s about “marriage blanc” (french) - whereby a foreigner marries a native to gain citizenship. Sandra Bullock stars in it. BTW, does anyone want Mauritian citizenship. I’m up for marriage. :P Kidding.)
The Box (it’s about a box with magical powers - classic sci-fi with some thrills.)
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (Barbie rules in my book.)
Fanboys (it’s high time for it to be released.)
The Wolf Man (I’ll watch it but X-Men Beast PWNS Wolf Man.)
S. Darko (Donny is back!)
Dorian Gray (Awesome movie - if you read the book, it’s a must for you to watch it)
Sherlock Holmes (It’s a cult! We must watch it.)
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Bride Wars (already out but not on DVD. I love Anne Hathaway.)
2012 (I want to know of the end of the world and how the olympics games survived because of Zeus’ power….LOL)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (not on DVD yet)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (I want a geeky girl on the show. If I need air bags, I’ll go in a car and not touch Megan’s breasts LOL)
Transporter 3 (awaiting DVD)
Terminator Salvation (X-tian Bale!!!)
Monsters vs. Aliens (I so want to watch it! Dr. Cockroach is funny.)
Avatar (Sigourney Weaver is back!)
Angels & Demons (No Amelie Poulain*yay* Ewan McGregor is back. Time for him to use some Jedi tricks LOL)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Women love him. Men need him as a model in order for women to love them back.)
Watchmen (I’m not fan but I’m ready to become one. But it won’t be better than my Justice League or Legion of Superheroes.)
Star Trek (I hope it’s good. And Mr. Sulu, where’s Kumar?)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (My sister will probably drag me to the pictures to watch it even though I prefer the books.)

carrotmadman6 said...

@Shah
I'll watch almost all of the above... but Transformers 2 & Terminator Salvation are my fav.
You can also add:
- DragonBall
- Up
- Bolt
- The Pink Panther 2
- The Descent 2
- Friday The 13th

Anonymous said...

Holy! I forgot DragonBall!

Carrotmadman6 - Cranking Up MT :P

Anonymous said...

Transporter 3 is also cool man!

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