Saturday, September 20, 2014

My Favorite Movies of 2013

While we're well past the half-way point of 2014, I just realized I never came up with my favorite movies of 2013. "Favorite Movie" lists are, by their nature, controversial, because so many people use different criteria for what "Favorite" means. For this list, the biggest factors were how much I enjoyed it while I was watching and how much I would like to see it again. These take precedence over the actual quality of the filmmaking as well as the art of the film itself (which is why this isn't called the "Best Movies"). All in all, it comes down to my own personal tastes and what I respond to most in a movie:


1. Upstream Color
2. Coherence
3. Thor: The Dark World
4. Captain Phillips
5. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
6. Philomena
7. The Wolf of Wall Street
8. The Wolverine
9. Her
10. Gravity
11. Twelve Years A Slave
12. Saving Mr. Banks
13. The Conjuring
14. Man of Steel
15. Iron Man 3
16. Star Trek Into Darkness
17. Nebraska
18. Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
19. The Bling Ring
20. Pacific Rim
21. This Is the End
22. Under the Skin
23. Dallas Buyers Club
24. All Is Lost
25. Bad Grandpa
26. The World's End
27. The Uknown Known
28. American Hustle
29. Despicable Me 2
30. Free Birds


Movies From 2013 That I Will Probably Be Seeing Very Soon:
Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Frozen
Monsters University
Now You See Me
42
Oblivion
Ender's Game
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
47 Ronin
You're Next
Before Midnight
Much Ado About Nothing
Blackfish
Kon Tiki
Short Term 12
The Act of Killing
Ain't Them Bodies Saint

Saturday, March 1, 2014

My Oscar Predictions 2014

This year has more debatable predictions than any Oscar telecast in the past several years. While one part of me is glad for the unexpectedness, this other part of me hates that my ballot isn't assured as I wish it were. Keep reading for my commentary or skip to the bottom for my picks.

Let's get the technical awards out of the way: Gravity will get a LOT. Great Gatsby may get Production Design/Costume. My gut is going with American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave somewhere in there, but my ballot is going with Gatsby and Gravity.
 
Close Calls (descending from "hardest to predict" to "more assured pick"):
 
1. Best Documentary Short - This is the one I grappled with the longest. Almost all my sources said Lady In Number 6 will get it. But I feel like they may be relying too heavily on its Holocaust theme. One source (who had seen all of them) said Prison Terminal was the most well-made and aimed most at Academy voters. I'm sure they're right, but I'm going to go with Lady In Number 6. This year, I'm betting on my sources rather than my gut.
 
2. Best Short Film (live action) - Everyone who's seen them says Just Before Losing Everything is the most powerful, but Helium has the most heart. The Voorman Problem has the most recognition apparently and stars Martin Freeman. I finally just had to decide on one and went with Helium. Academy voters like their heart strings pulled, right?

3. Best Actor - Leo, Chiwetel, or McConaughey. I was championing Leo all the way, but *everyone* is saying McConaughey. My gut says Chiwetel for 12 Years A Slave. It's a three-horse race, so I'm going with the "wisdom of crowds" on this one.
 
4. Best Documentary - A lot of my sources are saying Netflix's The Square. 20 Feet From Stardom has the same appeal as last year's Searching For Sugar Man (which people attribute to mass voting rather than select voting [the same thing being done this year]). I'm going with The Act of Killing though, because it seems everyone who's seen it is just blown away by it, even though Academy voters may find it too difficult/controversial.

5. Best Original Screenplay - I got it down to American Hustle or Her. I'm going with Her because of the awarding of originality and Jonze. If it were Russell, it'd be honorary for American Hustle not getting Best Picture or Best Director.
 
6. Best Foreign Film - My sources are split among Broken Circle Breakdown, The Great Beauty, and The Hunt. But The Great Beauty is getting the recognition only slightly more than the other two, so that's who I'm going for.

7. Best Supporting Actress - My sources are split between Lupita and Jennifer Lawrence. I'm going with Lupita beacause Lawrence won last year, doesn't have the new talent attraction that comes with the award (which seems more fitting for Lupita), and, well, politics.
 
And now for my predictions (indicated by *):
 
Best Picture
  • *12 Years a Slave
  • The Wolf of Wall Street
  • Captain Phillips
  • Her
  • American Hustle
  • Gravity
  • Dallas Buyers Club
  • Nebraska
  • Philomena
Best Director
  • Steve McQueen -- "12 Years a Slave"
  • David O. Russell -- "American Hustle"
  • *Alfonso Cuaron -- "Gravity"
  • Alexander Payne -- "Nebraska"
  • Martin Scorsese -- "The Wolf of Wall Street"
 
Best Actor
  • Bruce Dern -- "Nebraska"
  • Chiwetel Ejiofor -- "12 Years a Slave"
  • *Matthew McConaughey -- "Dallas Buyers Club"
  • Leonardo DiCaprio -- "The Wolf of Wall Street"
  • Christian Bale -- "American Hustle"

Best Actress
  • Amy Adams -- "American Hustle"
  • *Cate Blanchett -- "Blue Jasmine"
  • Judi Dench -- "Philomena"
  • Sandra Bullock -- "Gravity"
  • Meryl Streep -- "August: Osage County"
 
Best Supporting Actor
  • Barkhad Abdi -- "Captain Phillips"
  • Bradley Cooper -- "American Hustle"
  • Jonah Hill -- "The Wolf of Wall Street"
  • *Jared Leto -- "Dallas Buyers Club"
  • Michael Fassbender -- "12 Years a Slave"
 
Best Supporting Actress
  • Jennifer Lawrence -- "American Hustle"
  • *Lupita Nyong'o -- "12 Years a Slave"
  • June Squibb -- "Nebraska"
  • Julia Roberts -- "August: Osage County"
  • Sally Hawkins -- "Blue Jasmine"
 
Best Original Screenplay
  • American Hustle -- David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer
  • Blue Jasmine -- Woody Allen
  • *Her -- Spike Jonze
  • Nebraska -- Bob Nelson
  • Dallas Buyers Club -- Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
 
Best Adapted Screenplay
  • *12 Years a Slave -- John Ridley
  • Before Midnight -- Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater
  • The Wolf of Wall Street -- Terence Winter
  • Captain Phillips -- Billy Ray
  • Philomena -- Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
 
Best Animated Feature
  • The Wind Rises
  • *Frozen
  • Despicable Me 2
  • Ernest & Celestine
  • The Croods
 
Best Foreign Feature
  • The Hunt (Denmark)
  • The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
  • *The Great Beauty (Italy)
  • Omar (Palestinian territories)
  • The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
 
Best Music (Original Song)
  • *Frozen: "Let it Go" -- Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
  • Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom: "Ordinary Love" -- U2, Paul Hewson
  • Her: "The Moon Song" -- Karen O, Spike Jonze
  • Despicable Me 2: "Happy" -- Pharrell Williams
 
Best Music (Original Score)
  • *Gravity -- Steven Price
  • Philomena -- Alexandre Desplat
  • The Book Thief -- John Williams
  • Saving Mr. Banks -- Thomas Newman
  • Her -- William Butler and Owen Pallett
 
Best Cinematography
  • *Gravity -- Emmanuel Lubezki
  • Inside Llewyn Davis -- Bruno Delbonnel
  • Nebraska -- Phedon Papamichael
  • Prisoners -- Roger Deakins
  • The Grandmaster -- Phillippe Le Sourd
 
Best costume design
  • *The Great Gatsby -- Catherine Martin
  • 12 Years a Slave -- Patricia Norris
  • The Grandmaster -- William Chang Suk Ping
  • American Hustle -- Michael Wilkinson
  • The Invisible Woman -- Michael O'Connor
 
Best Documentary Feature
  • *The Act of Killing
  • 20 Feet From Stardom
  • The Square
  • Cutie and the Boxer
  • Dirty Wars

Best Film Editing
  • *Gravity -- Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Sanger
  • 12 Years a Slave-- Joe Walker
  • Captain Phillips -- Christopher Rouse
  • American Hustle -- Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
  • Dallas Buyers Club -- John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
 
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
  • The Lone Ranger -- Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny
  • Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa -- Stephen Prouty
  • *Dallas Buyers Club -- Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
 
Best Production Design
  • 12 Years a Slave -- Adam Stockhausen and Alice Baker
  • *The Great Gatsby -- Catherine Martin and Beverley Dunn
  • American Hustle -- Judy Becker and Heather Loeffler
  • Gravity -- Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
  • Her -- K.K. Barrett and Gene Serdena
 
Best Visual Effects
  • *Gravity
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
  • Star Trek Into Darkness
  • Iron Man 3
  • The Lone Ranger

Best Sound Mixing
  • *Gravity
  • Captain Phillips
  • Lone Survivor
  • Inside Llewyn Davis
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Best Sound Editing
  • *Gravity
  • All Is Lost
  • Captain Phillips
  • Lone Survivor
  • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Best Short Film, Live Action
  • Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)
  • Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)
  • *Helium
  • Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
  • The Voorman Problem

Best Short Film, Animated
  • Feral
  • *Get a Horse!
  • Mr. Hublot
  • Possessions
  • Room on the Broom

Best Documentary Short
  • CaveDigger
  • Facing Fear
  • Karama Has No Walls
  • *The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
  • Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall
 
 
Alright, folks! See you Sunday, 4pm PST/7pm EST on ABC!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

My Oscar Predictions 2013

Yes, it's the day before the Oscars, and I'm just NOW putting in my guesses. I've been busy getting engaged and starting a new job, I haven't had much time to do this. But I've made it just in time, so let's do this!

Best Picture: 
"Argo"
"Argo" has been winning everything in the preliminary award ceremonies. This is to rub it in the faces of the nominators over Ben Affleck's directing snub.

Best Director: 
Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
This should be Affleck or Kathryn Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty"), but both were snubbed. Spielberg is the default here, though it could go to Michael Haneke ("Amour").

Best Actor: 
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
A shoo-in.

Best Actress: 
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Pretty confident here, though Emanuelle Riva ("Amour") could narrowly edge her out.

Best Supporting Actress: 
Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"
If you guessed anyone else, then you're probably new at this.

Best Supporting Actor: 
Robert De Niro
This is the closest race this season since all the nominees have won before. I've been saying Tommy Lee Jones the whole time (even moreso after seeing both nominees' movies), but I'm changing it at the last minute. I'm personally rooting for Jones or Christoph Waltz.

Original Screenplay: 
"Zero Dark Thirty"
This is a two-horse race. Again, Haneke ("Amour") could easily win, but word on the street is that, politics aside, "Zero Dark Thirty" is the better screenplay. I'm personally rooting for Quentin Tarantino ("Django Unchained").

Adapted Screenplay: 
"Argo"

Best Foreign Film: 
"Amour"
Nothing is more certain this season than this category.

Best Animated Film:
"Wreck-It Ralph"
It just about swept the Annies (the "animation Oscars") and rightfully so. "Brave" was lackluster compare to Pixar's previous greats. Fortunately, the Pixar braintrust stepped in and made "Ralph" an extraordinary movie.

Best Cinematography: 
"Life of Pie"

Best Documenary: 
"Searching For Sugar Man"
It's won everything up until now. It's pretty much a shoo-in.

Costume Design: 
"Anna Karenina"
I don't care that much, but if Eiko Ishiko ("Mirror, Mirror") won, it'd be the first posthumous Oscar since Heath Ledger's in 2009.

Best Editing: 
"Argo"
Editor Dylan Tichenor is nominated twice (also for "Zero Dark Thirty"). Also, this category typically goes hand-in-hand with Best Picture.

Best Song: 
"Skyfall"
Adele is destined to bear the moniker "Oscar winning singer".

Production Design:
"Anna Karenina"

Best Score: 
"Life of Pie"

Best Visual Effects:
"Life of Pie"
I want "The Hobbit" to win, because it deserves it as well as the fact that every Lord of the Rings movie has won this category. "The Avengers" would be more than worthy too.

Best Animated Short:
"Paperman"
I have a soft spot for "Fresh Guacamole", but the Disney short "Paperman" is a beautiful short worthy of an Oscar.

Best Documentary Short: 
"Open Heart"
It's the same subject matter as last year's winner but with children this time.

Best Makeup and Hair:
"The Hobbit"
Or "Les Misérables". It's really hard to tell.

Best Live Action Short: 
"Curfew"

Best Sound Editing:
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Sound Mixing:
"Les Misérables"
The only movie I can think of where sound mixing has ever been watercooler conversation.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Which First? Book, Movie, or Remake?

I've finally cracked the code. When faced with a movie based on a book, which do you consume first? The Answer: movie. ALWAYS the movie. Why? Because it is inferior. But what if there's a remake as well? Tonight, I've finally cracked the code. If you have to take one thing from this article let it be this: For the safest journey of maximum enjoyment, start with the most inferior and work your way up. I still want to watch "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", but until tonight, I haven't known whether to start with the book, the original Swedish version, or David Fincher's American remake. Remakes are generally inferior, so I should start with that. It was David Fincher's amazingly deft directing style that has allowed me to believe it may be superior than the foreign version. But the safest way (i.e. maximizing the least disappointment) is starting with the remake. THEN I should watch the original. Then, if I have time, I will read the book. If I put one of these steps out of order, the superior will be the one to always fall back on. For a book, your imagination's cinematographer, director, and actors will always be better than your average blockbuster (typically speaking), and you are given the time to explore details the movie would never have the time for. That's why you save the book for last. Otherwise, you can join the echoing cliche of the multitudes: "Oh, the book was SO much better."

Monday, February 27, 2012

All of what I've seen in 2011

I would love to give an in-depth review of all the movies I saw last year. Unfortunately, I'm still in the middle of a move and have much to do, so the list below will have to suffice. I have ranked them according to both how much I enjoyed watching these movies and how much I want to see them again. Here are all 22 movies I saw from 2011 (so far):

A:
1. Moneyball - Superb underdog story. Jonah Hill sells it.
2. Bridesmaids - Kristen Wiig at her finest.
3. The Artist - One of the most delightful movies I've seen in years.
4. Thor - Probably more of a guilty pleasure. I really had a lot of fun.
5. Tree of Life - The Waco, TX stuff with Brad Pitt is genius.
6. Super 8 - Loved every minute of this 80s homage but pretty forgettable.

B:
7. The Muppets - Fun from the beginning to end but not a lot of substance.
8. Life In A Day - Really captures the heart of a human on the planet.
9. Captain America: The First Avenger - Lots of spectacle and action.
10. X-Men: First Class - A lot of fun but too many stories are trying to be told.
11. Source Code - Flawed but really fun sci-fi film.
12. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Very well done but I'm not a big HP fan.

C:
13. Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Monkey movie with some fun action.
14. Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon - Greatest spectacle of the year with little else.
15. Green Lantern - Character development is very flawed. A sequel will be better.
16. Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - Insightful and funny documentary on a workaholic-egomaniac with a heart of gold.
17. Paul - Deserves more recognition for the talent involved but pretty much fizzles out.

D:
18. Cowboys & Aliens - Yep. That's exactly what that was.
19. Sucker Punch - Best visuals of the year. So many flaws elsewhere.
20. Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 - No comment.
21. Rango - Something about Gore Verbinski's style rubs me the wrong way.
22. Water For Elephants - Chick flick that wasn't horrible.

I still have MANY more movies that I WILL see. Most notable titles include "Drive", "50/50", "The Descendants", "Hugo", "Young Adult", "Sherlock Holmes 2", "Paradise Lost 3", "A Separation", "The Help", and "Midnight In Paris".

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

This SHOULD be a movie!

Today, I read one of the funniest things I've ever read. It comes from Reddit user RubyRhod. I'll let him tell his story (Warning: NSFL):

"When a kid is being a brat in a noisy and public area, I casually get close to them and fart on their head/face. I'm really tall so it's usually a direct hit."

"It's funniest when the kid notices and doesn't know what to do because I'm a fucking giant and I'LL EAT THEM IF THEY TELL THEIR MOMMY."

"If I decide to stare it's usually with a, "Yeah, what the fuck are you gonna do about it?" look.
I'm about 6'7'' so even when I'm just trying to be friendly (i.e. not farting on a stanger kid's head) and meeting a family member's or friend's kid for the first time, I've noticed they get very 'hide between their mother's legs' intimidated on sight if I'm not sitting down. So it's not hard for me to silence/intimidate a child, especially when I'm trying to.
However, a few times I've been called out. One time I was pretty drunk with a friend at a Target buying Risk (and no, we never finished playing the whole game). This little mexican 5-7 year old with a mohawk, was being an insufferable little shit in the action figure section. I heard him from like 5 aisles over and it was like nails on a chalkboard. I tell my friend, "I'm gonna fart on this kids head. Watch and learn."
I saunter on over to the aisle in question and see the vile little prick calling his mom an "idiot" for not buying him a huge fucking G.I. JOE The Movie vehicle (which pissed me off even more considering how awful that movie was. BUY SOME GOOD TOYS!) "I already bought that one for you and you broke it by throwing it down the stairs" "SHUT UP. I NEED IT. IT'S THE ONLY ONE I DON'T HAVE NOW." The mother was younger than me (I'm mid twenties) and gave a defeated look, "I don't have enough money right now." "YOU ARE AN IDIOT," and continued to just berate and publicly shame this woman.
At the time, I was on a strict Chipotle carnitas burrito diet. And while I was watching all this, my stomach gave me an initial warning gurgle (very courteous stomach) telling me I was about an hour away from punishing the toilet. Serendipity! Destiny!
I inch a bit closer to my prey, inspecting some wrestling toys and pondering the weird homoeroticness of the whole 'sport' in general. The kid shouts "FUCK YOU, I HATE YOU!" The mom rolls her eyes and turns her back to the kid to ignore him. And could you believe it, the kid gets on his hands and knees and starts taking the toy out of the box. It's go time, motherfucker.
I position my back towards him and at this point am like 2 feet away from him. His head is down, getting frustrated with those god damn twisty tie things, and I go for the kill. I bend down to reach for the one of the toys on the lower shelf. At this point, my ass is INCHES away from this kids head.
Now, generally speaking, the best way to go about this is to act casual, drop your belly bomb, then walk away after a few seconds like nothing is out of the ordinary. I usually go one aisle over and listen to the kid's reaction in delight. However, today I couldn't help myself. I have my head tilted back looking at this kid out of the corner of my eye, to ensure accuracy.
I'm so close that from a distance it looks like I'm about to sit on him,. My friend sees this happening and can no longer contain himself. He's covering his mouth, but his 'hee-haw' hyperventilating donkey chortle is fairly audible over the late 90's pop muzak playing on the loudspeakers.
The kid immediately looks up towards the laughter, but can't help but notice there is an ass now directly in his face. Now, I'm trying not to laugh but also panicking as I just made eye contact with him. He furls his brow and I look over in the mother's direction, still back towards us. I relish in the moment and the look on this child's confused and naive face.
The initial blast was mighty and boisterous. I swear I saw his hair blowing in the wind (so to speak). If I wasn't wearing jeans, I think it could have probably blown over an empty soda can. I would call it "a very fun fart" (A++ would buy again). However, what immediately followed that out the chamber was truly horrifying. The fart's implication changed without notice and swiftly. It went from a joyous, dry airhorn squeal to a nefarious, hissing mephitis. I think the little moppet noticed the hateful metamorphosis before even I did because he wretched his neck violently trying to get away from the personified evil being fumigated into his soul. Because of his positioning (hovering over the toy, hands and knee), it was all in vain as the only way out was forward...and forward would mean certain death. I had positioned myself well on the higher ground, free to escape or relent at any time and him, poor and immobilized: biding his time until the cruel attack was over. Obviously, this child needed to re-read Sun Tzu.
In total, it lasted about 4 seconds but for that kid, it must have seemed like time was frozen. The long-term severe brain damage which he no doubt suffered, only added to that effect.
When finished with my bidness (i.e. forcing a little boy to huff my farts), there was a silent, pregnant pause. The kid was clearly shocked and stunned. No one had ever stood up to this dwarf sociopath in his whole life. I had taken the words out of his mouth and filled it with fart.
I make my move first, picking up the toy I was "reaching for" off the low shelf, take a few steps forward and stare at it for a few seconds. On '2 alligator,' the only thing the kid could manage to do was burst into tears. My friend senses danger 'the jig is up' and his head darts for cover. The mom turns around to see her kid with an open toy, crying on the floor and me minding my own business.
She walks up to him and asks what's wrong but the kid can't speak. All he gets out is, "BAWAWAAAWAFARTBAWAWA." It took every fiber in my body not to laugh. I put the toy back on a middle shelf, turn around, give a final nonchalant looksy and then begin to take my exit.
Sensing that his assailant was getting away scot-free, he somehow managed to compose himself for a moment. He shouts, "HE FARTED ON ME!" I could feel him pointing at me but I continued to act like I was just browsing. I was ALMOST around the corner when the mom goes:
"Excuse me....sir....SIR!"
I turn around nonplussed, "Uh...who? Me?" while pointing to myself.
"Yes. Did YOU just FART on my son?"
Weighing my options, I played dumb. "What? I mean, I did fart."
"On my son?"
"Well, I mean, technically speaking...I mean...what is 'on'?"
"Why did you fart on my son?"
At this point the little kid has the look of schadenfreude on his face, happy to see me in trouble. Fuck you, I'M A MAN! I WILL FART ON YOU IF I PLEASE! I turn my attention to the little kid and stare at him, "Because the whole store could hear him being a little, rotten asshole to his mother so I thought I'd come over here and treat him like one."
The mom looks at me, her son and the scattered GI JOE/wrappers/box on the floor. The mom is puzzled as to what to do and says, "Just..just go." That's my cue! I turn around, walk away with little extra step. I look up to see the black orb of security cameras and all the stories on reddit about unjustly having to register as a sex offender flash before my eyes. As soon as I turn the corner, I book it outside as fast as I can while dialing my friend. Like a true friend, he is right out front with the engine running and Risk in the trunk.
We laugh on the car ride back about the whole scene. With a slight hint of seriousness in his tone, my friend asks me:
"Do you do that a lot?"
"Ahhh, not that much. Like once every 6 months or so."
We both knew I was lying. We got to our other friends house, played risk until 4 in the morning while drinking scotch. Overall, I would say it was a preeeetay preeeeetay good day."

Originally from from this link found here.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Why You Want A 3D TV

I won't bury the lead, so I'll say this: You can watch ALL your favorite movies you have on dvd (and blu-ray) in 3D. Think of your favorite movies. Got it? Now, imagine being able to watch them in 3D. You don't *have* to watch *all* of them that way. But I bet there's quite a few you'd get a real kick out of.

Today, I decided to try out the 2D-to-3D conversion. If you're worried about price, just know that the tv I demoed this all on is the best 50" in-store tv Best Buy has and it retails for $1,249. That's cheap enough to get some 3D glasses too! I actually got giddy watching. True 3D can extend pretty far, but simulated 3D starts with the screen and creates depth to everything behind it. From what I saw today tho, it gets closer than expected! It still can be flat by comparison, but it's amazing to think you can watch a 30 year old movie in 3D at the push of a button. I don't know how the technology works but I can tell you it does work surprisingly well. Esp considering it hit every curveball I tried to throw at it (more on that later).

I knew it was gonna be a slow day, so I brought about 8 dvds with me to test. The results were... astonishing. I didn't bring any blu-rays with me btw. And yet these all looked very good because of the upconverting. I'm not sure my brain could handle all this in blu-ray! Here's a quick break-down of what I tested:

First up! Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - The first couple scenes I selected were cramped and didn't allow much depth. But then I found Aragorn & Theodin preparing for a battle. I couldn't believe it! The extras walking in front of the cameras were really close! And the extras in the back gave it all some real depth. The camera pans about, surveying the dozens (or hundreds) of extras, and it was quite expansive. Best was when they looked down from a mountain top and you could see the whole battleground stretched miles away!

Next! X-Men - I think I would've liked this one had I sat down to watch from beginning to end. Some things stood out, but nothing to write home about (except for perhaps the landscape Logan's Winnebago drives through where the trees start close and stretch out to the horizon). Also, one moment had trouble focusing on Rogue. Again, prob best to watch beginning to end.

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith - If I have a 3D tv by the time this comes out in theaters in 3D, I will not need to go cuz this does the job! The opening space fight is primo demo material, and it did not disappoint. Prob my fave scene out of everything I watched. I'm telling you this movie was designed to be in 3D... and I never realized it! At one point, the camera zooms head first into an exploding ship and the fire gets closer to anything else that I demoed. I may keep this one on-hand just to wow customers.

Empire Strikes Back - If I had to pick a 2nd place for demo (ROTS being 1st), it'd be the AT-AT attacks on Hoth. The A-Wings are flying all over the place taking down giant scale models (). Interestingly, the cockpits are some of the most effective 3D effects. Prob cuz the hull reaches close to the camera and you have the pilot sitting back with the added element of stars, space, and spaceships behind that:


Back To the Future - This worked waaay better than I expected it to. First, the dvd is actually kinda murky compared to the clean-up done for "Empire", so I thought that'd make it hard to work with. Nope. This had the most close-ups of any movie I demoed. When Marty is late and Doc Brown goes into his "Damn... Damn Damn" part, he is quite close to the camera which makes him stand out considerably. But of course, I wanted to see the climax in 3D. Easily the best 3D conversion I saw for the movie. That, and the very end:

"Where we're going, we don't need... roads."

Then I tested a home movie from 2003. Yep. It worked. Surreal.... and cool!

Finally, I tried a Donald Duck cartoon. Wasn't sure what would happen. It was mostly flat. So then it occurred to me: Of course! The animation cells were still 2D but raised from the painted backgrounds. These are layered cells, so of course that's the dimensionality it took! Gotta bring in "Fantasia" for the Ava Maria scene. Best use of multi-layering animation ever done. Should be interesting to see all the layers there.

Next chance I get (hopefully tomorrow), I'm gonna try a 1950s b&w, some home movies from the 80s (and 70s, if I can find some), an old sports event, and a tv show. And for everyone else, ask your local Best Buy home theater rep if it'd be ok to bring a movie or two from home to test it out for yourself! :D