Archives for the Month of February 2009 on media addict
XBOX Repaired
My repaired (ie. replaced) XBOX 360 arrived yesterday. So far I am fairly pleased with the new unit. I'm not sure which version of DVD drive the new 360 has but it is somewhat quieter than the jet engine in my original 360. The power button is also better. My old 360's power switch was squishy and needed to be pressed very hard to turn the console on or off. The new unit has a nice clicky power button that performs much better.
Having read a fair amount about XBOX 360 repairs and the various motherboard revisions it has undergone, I was curious about which version they would send me. Upon inspection via the vent on the side of the 360 I can clearly see the large heatsink used on the 90nm CPU and the extended GPU cooler heatpipe behind it. I had read that sometimes Microsoft replaces original motherboards (Xenon) with boards featuring 65nm CPUs (Opus), however, this doesn't appear to be the case for my unit. So I effectively sent in this
The Godfather Blu-ray
I recently purchased The Godfather trilogy on BD and I finished watching it yesterday. I absolutely love the first two movies and had read good things about this hi-def remastering of the films, so I had high hopes. This set of BDs demonstrate perfectly just how great the format can be. The level of clarity and detail that can now be enjoyed is amazing compared to the old DVD editions. Instead of a soft, muddy appearance The Godfather films now exhibit a stunning amount of texture and color that was missing from previous editions. These films were shot with a high amount of underexposure and the higher resolution of BD really helps to pull the most detail out of the shadows.
I love the fact that in order to make the most of the BD format movie studios, in most cases, need to completely remaster old films like The Godfather. This forces them to repair damaged sections of film and clean up the image and it really shows. Many DVDs simply digitized old prints of movies, resulting in less than stellar picture quality. But to do the same with BD would be painfully obvious, forcing studios to rework their old film footage. I have a few older movies on BD and I think that the visual upgrade for films like these will be a secret weapon for the format. While a lot of new movies look better on BD than on DVD, the difference is not as stark as when comparing the the DVD and BD of a 40+ year old classic. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rio Bravo are just two examples of how big a difference remastering for BD can make to the appearance of a film.
Red Rings of Death
At long last my venerable XBOX 360 succumbed to the seemingly inevitable red rings of death. When I bought it in the fall of 2006 I had heard about this problem, but since the unit wasn't a launch console (8-06 manufacture date) and would be properly ventilated I hoped I might avoid this issue. As the months and years passed, I felt even more confident that my console would survive. Unfortunately I am just like all of the other assholes who bought a 360 and hoped it wouldn't crap out.
The worst part of it is that my 360 red ringed at the strangest time imaginable. It is my understanding that the red rings are caused by the GPU unseating itself from its socket on the motherboard, a result of overheating due to the GPU's inadequately designed heatsink. In my case, however, I had just turned on the console to try out the Resident Evil 5 demo. After completing a couple of updates, I started the game and reached the menu screen before it froze while attempting to load the level. I restarted the console and was greeted by the infamous red rings. Luckily thanks to Microsoft's extended 3 year, billion dollar warranty extension I should get it repaired free of charge, but we'll see how this goes.
Taken
Taken overcomes its plodding start to deliver a great action thriller. Without an original plot or characters Taken has its work cut out for it, however, Liam Neeson brings weight and authority to his role and the movie as a whole.
The movie starts by displaying how hard Neeson is trying to reconnect with his daughter after retiring from the CIA. While not horrible, it is a bit drawn out and takes its sweet time getting to the point. Once the plot picks up, the movie hits its stride. This is the perfect type of part for Neeson and I am surprised it took this long for someone to offer him a part like this. I also appreciated that the action is frenetic without being disorienting. Too many recent action movies (Quantum of Solace) try so hard to emulate the Bourne series and instead end up numbing the audience.
My favorite aspect of the movie is Neeson's consistency. He is uncompromising in his search for his daughter from start to finish and he'll do anything to get her back, including shooting his friends. I found this a much more interesting direction than many movies like this take where characters debate their decisions endlessly. In Taken, he knows what he needs to do and he does it. Definitely worth checking out. 3.5/5