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Aaron's Sundance 2012 Journal: Day 2[teaser]People up here are much more talkative than, I assume, they normally are. It's just the environment of the festival that brings it out of them. They're ready and willing to share any experiences or advice they have with perfect strangers, although sometimes, the discussion really is unwarranted...[/teaser] I started off my morning waiting for the bus into town. Since it wasn't going to be by for another 30 minutes or so I decided to walk across the street to the local Starbucks. At least wait in someplace warm, right? It's around 7:30 in the morning and I'm sitting at my table half asleep and not really paying attention to everyone around me. Suddenly this man sitting on the couch in front of me does a complete 180 to stare me down. He then launches into a stream of expletives about this horribly written article he's just read in the newspaper. "Can you believe it?!" he said, and then he went on to tell me how incensed he was that the writer in the newspaper commented on the Elizabeth Smart wedding by saying that the affair wouldn't rival that of the royal wedding a few months ago. Surprised, I nodded my head and chuckled. Then the guy ended with, "I don't normally read the Tribune. I read the New York Times." The great thing is that the polite, helpful, and friendly people outnumber the cranky self-privileged up here. I know it's hard to believe after seeing all the reports about parties and celebrity watching up here, but what you don't hear about on the entertainment news is that many of the people that travel up to Sundance are just looking to take in a few great movies. I was still laughing about the guy in Starbucks when I met two very nice ladies at the bus stop. They were waiting for the same bus I was. They asked me if I ski, since I'm from Utah. They were surprised when I answered no. I think this is akin to asking everyone in California if they surf. One of the ladies was a curator for the film portion of a museum in Connecticut. These are the kind of people I love talking to at the festival. They want to know what you've seen and what you've liked, especially when they find out you're a critic. My first movie of the day was entitled 'Celeste and Jesse Forever.' I met up with resident HDD reviewer Luke Hickman who had no idea that he actually had to have a hard ticket to the movie. After seeing our press badges they let us in through a door around the corner, away from the general public. I don't know if they were supposed to do that, but they did. We had another friend from Utah with us, Blogcritics.org writer Brooks Bird. He didn't have a hard ticket either. Luke walked in, they looked at his press badge and let him in. I gave them my ticket and they let me in. As we walked in to find seats we noticed Brooks wasn't behind us. He'd been stopped because he had a ticket, whereas Luke had snuck his way in. We still don't know how it all worked out, but it made for a good laugh. Brooks had to run outside and procure a ticket from the movie's publicist waiting outside. We sat front row for the screening. The front row in the Eccles theater is great, because the screen is pushed back on the stage just enough that you don't have to crank your head straight up to see. Also, when you're in the front row you're dead center for the question and answer session that follows the movie. The entire cast, minus Emma Roberts, was there to talk about the movie. Andy Samberg hammed it up most of the time. Elijah Wood was asked where he "channeled his gay" from, which made him laugh to the point that it was hard for him to answer the question. Rashida Jones talked about her process in writing the movie and how much she cares about it and how they shot the entire movie in 22 days. All in all, a great little Q&A session. Once we walked outside we found out that Snowpocalypse had arrived in Park City. The snow was coming down hard and fast. It didn't stop. Park City would soon be buried in over a foot of snow. Good thing I spent most of my time in warm theaters. However, a personal emergency arose when my wife, who was coming up to visit me, had slipped off the road in her car. She's okay now, and was helped back onto the road, but it was a trying few hours. I was stuck about an hour away from her and couldn't do anything for her. Much of the rest of the day was uneventful in the way of stories or anecdotes. I went to see 'The Pact' which is an absolutely laughable, and utterly terrible horror film that was crafted from a short film that played at the festival last year. The short film, while rough, was much more subtle and worked much better than this full-length hilarious atrocity. Then it was on to 'The Raid.' Wow! Just wow! Now that's a movie. Everything you've been expecting and hoping about 'The Raid' is true. It's a symphony of punching, kicking, head-butting, shooting, stabbing, and ax chopping. It's 100 minutes of pure unfiltered awesome. The premise is just like a video game. There's a crime lord at the top of an apartment building, only the entire complex is full of thugs, criminals, and murderers all beholden to their criminal landlord. So this swat team must fight their way through every floor in order to get to the boss man. It's unlike anything you've ever seen. It's one of those movies where you're flabbergasted while watching it because you have no idea how they filmed this without actually hurting, maiming, or even killing some people. It's completely and utterly insane. It's everything I'd thought it would be. I finished off the night with 'Filly Brown' starring Lou Diamond Phillips. It's a sleep-inducing Lifetime movie of the week only with more swearing. Blech. It was time to head back to my car that was parked at a Park and Ride in the adjacent town. After I got off the bus I noticed that my car had been buried in about a foot and a half of snow. I left it there and a relative picked me up. Snowpocalypse ate my car. Day 3 is chock-full of movies once again. I think I'm going to end up skipping my 10:00am screening of 'The End of Love' because I need sleep, desperately. The first movie I hit up will be a teen comedy called 'The First Time' followed up by a supernatural thriller starring Cillian Murphy and Robert De Niro called 'Red Lights.' Later that night I'll catch Stephen Frears' new film 'Lay the Favorite' and then cap off the night with a late showing of 'Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap.' It's only been two full days, but I feel like I've been here for 10. I wouldn't have it any other way.Posted Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 02:00 PM PST by: -
Aaron's Sundance 2012 Journal: Day 1by Aaron Peck Today I got up bright and early, 6:00 am to be exact, and packed up my car for the short two-hour drive from my home in Logan to Park City. Being a local is nice. No airplanes, taxis, or hotels to deal with. I’m simply here for the movies and that’s it. So begins my fourth year at the Sundance Film Festival. [teaser]These daily journals of my festival experience have less to do with movies and more to do with the goings-on of a film festival like Sundance. Yes, I will be discussing my thoughts on some of the movies here (but for more in-depth film analysis check out my individual reviews on The Bonus View), but I’d like to take you on a journey with me through the festival.[/teaser] Nine complete days of movies requires a lot more than just standing in lines – although that’s a big part. There’s a certain spirit at a festival like Sundance. A love of film and stories that doesn’t exist in your normal everyday theater. The people here are actually excited to view films that not many people will end up seeing. Sure, some films will be bought and distributed, but compared to the ‘Transformers’ of the world, their audiences will still end up being miniscule. Even the movies that gain traction and notoriety at the festival will come out of it and still get relatively limited releases. Still, the journey of finding and seeing new films is an enjoyable one. At a festival like Sundance you get to see films before they’ve been touched by marketers or studios. These are full, unaltered cuts. These are the exact movies, for better or worse, which the directors intended you to see. Those are the main reasons I keep coming back to the festival. There’s just something about being around groups of honest-to-goodness film lovers that makes watching unknown movies that much better. I got to Kimball Junction (a city just outside of Park City) at around 8:20 am and boarded my first bus to travel into Park City. If you ever find yourself in Park City during the festival you’ll be amazed by the bus drivers. I always am. Park City has a city-wide free bus service and the drivers couldn’t be nicer. You’d think that they’d get mad being asked the same questions over and over by out-of-towners, but they’re always courteous and polite. They never get enough credit as far as I’m concerned. On the second bus I boarded, as I was heading over to claim my credentials from the Festival Headquarters, one of the bus drivers noticed my Utah State University beanie and launched into a conversation about going to the same school. That’s the way it is around here, if you stay off Main Street where all the celebrity hype is, you’ll meet some of the nicest people ever. Festival Headquarters was abuzz with all sorts of journalists, volunteers, and people lugging around boxes of sponsor booze. With my credentials finally in hand I headed over to the Press Ticketing Station where press members can request tickets to public screenings. I had my heart set on seeing the premiere of ‘Your Sister’s Sister’ (starring Emily Blunt, written by Mark Duplass) tonight, but premieres are usually hard to get into. However, with a bit of luck I was able to secure a ticket to tonight’s premiere without any hassle. I also got a ticket for the 9:00am screening of ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’ (starring Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones). I hadn’t even seen my first film yet when I decided to switch up my schedule and catch the documentary ‘The Ambassador’ instead of ‘This Must Be the Place’ (starring Sean Penn). I made the decision based primarily on the fact that I thought fellow HDD writer Luke Hickman would be there. Was he? No. He ditched out on even coming up to the festival today. Guess he couldn’t handle it or something. I immediately regretted my decision to switch movies because ‘The Ambassador’ a story about a Danish journalist who pays a lot of money to become a Liberian diplomat, turned out to be a road to nowhere. That’s the nature of the festival though. Sometimes you switch up your plans and it works out, and sometimes you sit through 90 minutes of “I wish I had that time back," – actress Brie Larson just walked by while I was writing this part of the journal. After 'The Ambassador' it was onto a deeply frustrating, but very good documentary called 'The Queen of Versailles.' Billionaires whining because they lost all their money and they couldn't finish their 90,000-square-foot home. It was disgusting and fascinating all at the same time. Finally, it was on to the last stop of the day the premiere of 'Your Sister's Sister' starring Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass, and Rosemarie DeWitt. While sitting in line I started chatting with a woman next to me who wanted to know the movies I'd already seen. This is what's great about Sundance (and probably any film festival for that matter). Strangers will talk to you in line and suddenly you're embroiled in deep conversations about film. It's completely unique to the film festival experience. While we were waiting in line actress Malin Akerman walked up beside us. People swarmed her for pictures. She obliged. From there the entire screening was full of notable faces. I spotted Ron Livingston in a breezeway as we were ushered to our seats. Andie McDowell walked in after I'd found my seat and sat two rows directly behind me, and may I say, she smelled amazing. The stars from the movie came in next. Emily Blunt walked in, right past me and found a seat about three rows behind me as did Mark Duplass and Rosemarie DeWitt. Quite possibly my favorite thing about Sundance is the question and answer sessions after the movies are over. The entire cast and crew get up and the audience lobs questions to them. From here we found out that the great little character piece 'Your Sister's Sister' was largely improvised – only about 20 percent was actually scripted. They shot the movie in a little under two weeks. Four hours after meeting each other Duplass and DeWitt filmed a sex scene and a very intimate drunken conversation together. This was one of the more informational and interesting Q&As I've ever been to. It's events like this that really set the film festival experience apart from plain old movie-going. I finally caught a bus back to where I'm staying and wrote reviews into the wee hours of the morning only to get up at 6:00am tomorrow and do it all over again. I'm planning on seeing a new comedy starring Andy Samberg and Rashida Jones called 'Celeste and Jesse Forever'; a fledgling horror film called 'The Pact'; a coming-of-age drama about a young hip-hop artist in L.A. called 'Filly Brown'; and my most anticipated movie of the festival, 'The Raid.' Make sure to join me for Day 2!Posted Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 01:25 PM PST by: -
TiVo Premieres Get Multi-Room Streaming and More in New Update[teaser]You'll also find user interface tweaks and search improvements across the board. [/teaser] Some lucky users have had the latest update to the TiVo Premiere for a while, but they can't lord it over you anymore - the update has gone live for all TiVo users. Update 20.2 brings plenty to the table for Premiere, Premiere XL and Premiere Elite boxes, but first and foremost is a nice facelift. Both the Grid Guide and Live Guide are finally in HD. They now also feature a picture-in-picture view of the show you're watching in the upper right hand corner. Search has also been improved and now includes selections from Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster and Hulu Plus. The really big news though is the option of multi-room streaming, which TiVo doesn't really highlight as much as they should. If you have two Premiere boxes on the same network, you can stream a show directly from one to the other - no need to transfer. Source: EngadgetPosted Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 11:00 AM PST by: -
Time Warner Cable - Now Streaming to Your iPhone[teaser]The company has finally rounded out its mobile apps to include the iPhone. [/teaser] When creating mobile apps, companies have an order that they tend to stick with. it comes out for the iPhone, then Android phones and then the iPad. Sometimes it gets switched around, but the iPhone is almost always the first. Time Warner Cable, as it turns out, does things differently. TWC TV, Time Warner's streaming app, is finally available on the iPhone, ten months after the same app was released on the iPad. Downloading it to your phone will allow you to manage your DVR, search through programming and, of course, watch TV on your phone. There's no word from Time Warner on when the Android version of the app will be updated to include live streaming. Source: EndgadgetPosted Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
Bonus View Digest - January 20, 2012We've had another very eventful week at The Bonus View. We had dozens of readers show up for our second annual Golden Globes Live-Blog, which was a great success. There were a ton of contests, and people walked away with brand new Blu-rays to add to their collections just for joining in on the chat! If you didn't get in on this Live-Blog we'll be doing another one when the Oscars roll around, so stay tuned! We'll have just as many contests and we hope to see just as many of you there with us. [teaser]This week was shortened by the holiday weekend, so instead of making our way through our normal format of specific categories, I'd instead like to direct your attention to a few of my favorite posts this week.[/teaser] This week was full of mid-season TV premieres, so we've got a few series premiere recaps for you to enjoy. Want to know if 'Alcatraz' or 'The Finder' are worth your time investment, then check out their respective premiere recaps from Aaron and Josh. This week's most commented on post was the Weekend Roundtable where we all took turns discussing our worst theatrical experiences. Whether it is talkers, texters, or annoying teenagers, everyone weighed in on what was their worst experience at the cinema. Need a place to vent about a terrible movie-going experience; this is the place for you. Join in on the comment section and share it with us, believe me, it helps. The Sundance Film Festival swings into full gear this week and Aaron and Luke will be there taking it all in. To kick off Aaron's Sundance coverage he posted a detailed listing of all the films he plans on seeing. Can he actually see the 30-plus films he's planning on before burning out? Follow along with the coverage to find out. This week we actually had a book review from DVDTalk reviewer Adam Tyner. Check out his review of 'The Hammer Vault.' E continued updating us on his HTPC progress with Part 3 of revamping his home theater system. That's what happened this week on The Bonus View. We want to thank you again for making our Golden Globes Live-Blog a huge success. Have a great weekend everyone!Posted Fri Jan 20, 2012 at 11:00 AM PST by: -
NPD Expects 600 Million Wi-Fi Home Theater Devices by 2015[teaser]It's not hard to imagine, considering the surge in connected devices over the last few years. [/teaser] Just a year or two ago, only the top of the line Blu-ray players and TVs had wireless capabilities built in. Not much before that, it was unheard of to have a service like Netflix embedded into a TV. Things have changed dramatically and the NPD Group says this growth is only going to continue. Wireless networking functionality is becoming increasingly common, to the point that you can find it in low priced set-top boxes and entry level Blu-ray players. According to the NPD, we're going to end up with somewhere around 600 million Wi-Fi capable units shipped to retail by 2015. "Wi-Fi has moved from a nice-to-have feature to a must-have feature as it provides the connectivity necessary to support IP-based video content," says NPD's Frank Dickson. "It is important to note that Wi-Fi is growing from being simply about getting content from a network to device." In addition to streaming from internet based sources and home computers, Wi-Fi may be one of the technologies that helps enable streaming directly from your laptop's screen to your computer. It also helps to enable smartphone and tablet control options. Source: Home Media MagazinePosted Fri Jan 20, 2012 at 10:45 AM PST by: -
Wealth TV Launches a 24/7 3D Channel for Roku - More Connected Devices Coming Soon[teaser]The channel brings documentaries, racing, boxing, vacations, and plenty of expensive homes and toys to your TV, all in three dimensions. [/teaser] 3D televisions have been out for a while now and there still isn't that much content for them when it comes to traditional TV viewing. If you're into checking out luxury vacations and multi-million dollar homes in 3D, you'll be happy to know that the latest channel from Wealth TV brings you just that. They're calling it Wealth TV 3D and it's available to watch now. "Our goal for the network," says Wealth TV VP Cameron Westfall, "is to allow every 3DTV owner to experience the American Dream regardless of their economic status." The channel is available now but only through Roku boxes. It's coming to more connected devices soon and is cable-ready, should a provider wish to pick it up. Source: PR NewswirePosted Fri Jan 20, 2012 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
Simaudio Launches High-End Phono Amp, DAC and Streamer[teaser]The components are all packed with impressive specs and are drop dead gorgeous. [/teaser] Some of us are home theater system type people and others of us step it up to separate components. Still others take things to the highest level and shell out thousands of dollars for very specific products like those offered by Simaudio. The company's new Moon 810LP phono preamplifier, for example, does just what it sounds like. It's a preamp that's made just for use with a record player. It has a dedicated circuit board on a gel-based floating suspension, specific voltage regulation, adjustable impedance, capacitance and gain with plenty more to add. It's out next month at $12,000. The Moon 380D digital to analog converter is built around M-AJiC32 circuitry that allows it to perform in 32-bit fully asynchronous mode. It's practically jitter free and features eight different digital inputs including USB, optical, S/PDIF on BNC, S/PDIF on RCA and AES/EBU on XLR. It's out in April at a price of $3,900 for the base version. Finally, Simaudio has announced the Moon 180 MiND music streamer. It handles the usual sources for streaming music - your computer, internet radio, subscription based services, UPnP devices and a computer or NAS device. It supports a wide range of file formats and gives you the power to select, name and group zones. The Moon 180 will be available for $1,250 this April. Source: eCousticsPosted Thu Jan 19, 2012 at 11:16 AM PST by: -
Sharp Announces a 1080p 3D Home Theater Projector[teaser]The DLP projector provides a 50,000:1 contrast ratio and 1600 lumens brightness. [/teaser] Sharp's latest projector, the XV-Z30000, is capable of giving you a 1080p picture and plays nice with all your 3D devices to boot. It's a DLP front projector that Sharp says uses light more effectively than competitors and produces a better 3D picture. The XV-Z30000 offers a center-mounted lens with both vertical and horizontal shift functionality and 2x optical zoom so installation is fairly flexible. It comes equipped with V-Stretch as well, which lets you switch to a 2.35:1 aspect ratio at the touch of a button. Sharp's XV-Z30000 will be available in March at the price of $4,999. Two sets of 3D glasses will be included with it as well as an IR emitter and a remote. Source: eCousticsPosted Thu Jan 19, 2012 at 10:45 AM PST by: -
Paramount Turns 100 - Gives Away Trips to Anywhere in the Continental U.S.[teaser]Every month Paramount will be giving away a trip to a destination of your choosing via their Facebook sweepstakes. [/teaser] Paramount turns 100 this year and they're geared up to celebrate. In addition to the first time releases of classic movies on Blu-ray, the studio will be giving you a chance to win a trip to any U.S. destination of your choosing except Alaska and Hawaii - the freak states. In addition to round trip airfare, you'll get three nights hotel stay wherever you end up. There aren't any limits on where you can travel, but the folks at Paramount suggest somewhere with a movie theme, maybe even a Paramount movie. Source: Paramount FacebookPosted Thu Jan 19, 2012 at 10:15 AM PST by:
