Things to add to your Netflix queue
Once again it’s Monday, so let’s see what Netflix has in store for us this week.
The Comebacks - This is another spoof movie, this one pokes fun at inspiration sports movies. On a week where Meet the Spartans just beat Rambo at the box office, this is a suitable release.
King of California - Don’t let the 3 star rating fool you, I really enjoyed this movie. Read my review for details.
The Invasion - It would take a lot to make me watch this one again.. yeck!
The King of Kong - Now this is more like it! We loved this one during it’s limited release and I’ll be watching it on DVD this week for certain. Also check out the MFG interview with Seth Gordon, the director of The King of Kong.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Vol. 5 - It’s Meatwad, Frylock and Master Shake! Do you really need any other reason to pop this one in your queue?
That’s a reasonable selection for this week, and some good stuff to have around the house for next weekend when your buddies are over for the big game.
The Ten on DVD
If you’re in an artsy-fartsy mood, The Ten is coming to DVD next Tuesday. The idea behind the movie is pretty good, divergent stories tied together in relation to the ten commandments.. but for me at least, it didn’t quite work.
Sure, there were funny parts, especially the ones in Mexico, but the overall vibe just didn’t work out. BTW, this picture is of Jesus Christ who came back to Earth as a carpenter in Mexico and isn’t in any hurry to get the whole “end of the world” thing going. He meets Gretchen Mol and delays even more… can’t say that I blame him.
I’m posting this now because the DVD has been added to the prize library over on the mothership, so you have a chance to get it free this coming Monday.
More pictures after the break.
White Noise 2
Alex has checked in his review of White Noise 2 and gave it 3 stars. To put this in perspective, Alex hates horror movies and finds pseudo-science to be really really annoying… so a 3 star rating is actually quite high. I hadn’t planned on watching this one myself, but after this development I think I will.
Course, it could be that the presence of Katee Sackhoff and Nathan Fillion had something to do with it, he is a fan of both of those actors.
Fatal Contact is inbound
A review copy of Fatal Contact is on the way to us, expect a full review one day next week. What is Fatal Contact? From the press info:
A naive young athlete joins an underground prizefighting circuit to earn a little extra money to support his girlfriend. Surrounded by greed and ruthlessness, he is hardened into a brutal fighting machine, defeating opponent after opponent in a series of vicious battles, until he reaches the ultimate showdown where both his life and his soul hang in the balance.
So it sounds like a typical beat-em-up-cause-I-have-to until such time as I-realize-I’ve-been-wrong kind of movie. If the action is good enough, it could be fun. And hey, it’s “unrated” so it’s gotta be good, right?!
More pictures after the break.
Dragon Wars
I just posted a review of Dragon Wars over on the mothership. Honestly, it was much better than I expected it to be. I’ll hopefully never watch it again, but the battles in the streets of LA were fun to watch.
Microsoft adds another nail to the HD-DVD coffin
In the beginning it was a weapon in the console wars… Microsoft used HD-DVD, Sony used Blu-ray. Microsoft took the controversial tactic of making their player an add-on device, meaning that the vast majority of their users would not have it and thus, it was not considered a huge deal to the HD-DVD crowd.. while Sony made Blu-ray standard on all PS3’s.
This hurt Sony in the beginning since it caused the PS3 to be much more expensive than the Xbox 360, but Sony was thinking “war” while Microsoft was thinking “battle”.. or perhaps Microsoft didn’t really care either way as they were concentrating on games instead of movies (Sony being a movie studio and owner of the Blu-ray format had a lot more of a reason to push the PS3’s non-gaming abilities.) If Microsoft had really cared about which HD format would win, they would have gone with a built-in player and helped increase the HD-DVD market share.
It seems Microsoft might have been smart to concentrate more on games and to keep their HD movie player as an add-on as they’ve gained much more market share than Sony, and since the player is external they can change formats at will. Microsoft alluded to that today when Albert Penello said “It should be consumer choice; and if that’s the way they vote, that’s something we’ll have to consider” after being asked about Blu-ray support in the Xbox 360.
You know it would pain Microsoft to pay royalties to Sony to use the Blu-ray technology in any way on the Xbox, but it’s nice to see they are willing to do what’s best for the consumer. It’s also smart business. Offer both options for the 360 and suddenly you neutralize Blu-ray as a weapon in Sony’s PS3 arsenal.
Things to add to your Netflix queue
Another Monday, and it’s time to add items to your queue so you’ll have plenty to watch this coming weekend. Since Netflix has seen fit to remove their “releasing this week” page, we’ll just make it easy for you and cull out all but the good stuff.
3:10 to Yuma. Christian Bale and Russell Crowe make this one worth checking out even though it only received 3 stars from Alex.
Dragon Wars. It’s just gotta suck, but it might suck enough to be enjoyable. This one is iffy though, might want to wait on a review.
White Noise 2. Alex has this DVD in hand but I haven’t heard anything about it yet. Best bet is to wait.
Terry Jones’ Barbarians. A humorous look at Roman history with the wit of Monty Python? We have a review copy inbound and will let you know if this is worthwhile, but if you’re a History Channel fan, go ahead and pop this in your queue.