Recommendation
Intriguing Looking Movies catching my eye as we head into the 3rd Quarter of 2020!
Two great actors in Henriksen and Mortensen
I always want to like Christopher Nolan’s films, but more often than not I don’t. Not a fan of MEMENTO, BATMAN BEGINS, THE PRESTIGE, INCEPTION, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, INTERSTELLAR— not a fan of any of them. I like THE FOLLOWING but don’t love it. I’m looking forward to trying DUNKIRK eventually. The only film he has done that I think is a masterpiece is THE DARK KNIGHT. So as you can see, Nolan is far more miss than hit for me, but I’m hoping TENET is a hit. I don’t love the trailer, but I go into a film always hoping it is going to be great.
I would like it to be good, but none of the trailers I have seen fill me with confidence.
I read these books when they first came out (yes I am ancient) and absolutely loved them. I still remember the blurb on those grisly and beautiful paperbacks (which I am happy to say I still have). Stephen King’s quote on the cover of the book was ” I have seen the future of Horror, and his name is Clive Barker.” He was right.
The movies made from those books have been hit and miss, but I am always happy to see someone take a try. So really looking forward to seeing this, and seeing if they can do the books justice this time out.
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Amazon Item of the Day : Multi-region Bluray Player
LG BP175 Region Free Blu-ray Player – If you need an affordable multi-region Blu-Ray that also supports 3D discs, than this is a solid, well rated option.
Now regarding 4K.
I personally find very little need for 4K, as I do not have a 70″ or larger screen and I’m not sitting 2 feet away from it inspecting pixels. And the difference between 4K and 1080p, while substantial in pixels (ie inreal estate), in real world picture quality is minuscule. It is not the kind of quality jump that you got from DVD to Blu-Ray.
I have 20/20 vision, and see better than most people I know, ie I don’t need glasses or contacts, so at 1080p on a 60″ or less screen, from a recommended 8 feet or more viewing distance you are talking the threshold of what the human eye can differentiate in regards to pixel count/real estate.
That is where other considerations such as how well the source is mastered ( a huge consideration, I have some DVDs that provide a better picture than Blu-ray simply because they were well mastered and the Blu-rays were not) , and contrast and dynamic range and brightness, and frame rates all come in to play to provide you a superior picture.
But as far as chasing real estate, resolution, HD to 4K to 6K to 8K to 16K, that is a meaningless numbers game in a consumer setting. Unless you are projecting on a movie theater sized screen this chasing of resolution/real estate it just so manufacturers can continue to sell you the new hotness. The new player, the new tv, the new discs.
However if you are somone who has the disposable cash, and want the latest and greatest, so a 4K player to go with your 4K tv, well then the following is the one to get.
Sony X800 – UHD – 2D/3D – SACD – Wi-Fi – Dual HDMI – 2K/4K – Region Free Blu Ray Disc DVD Player – PAL/NTSC – USB – 100-240V 50/60Hz for World-Wide Use & 6 Feet Multi System 4K HDMI Cable
This one will do 4K (if you have a 4K tv as well), Bluray, Super Aucio CD, and 3D (If you have a 3D TV or Projector).
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Thanks and have a great day! See you next installment!
Blog Post of the Day : FERGUSON THEATER
Blog Post of the Day: FERGUSON THEATER does a great job of putting a neglected Wild West Lawman on my radar. Will definitely hunt down the book he recommends on Marshal Bass Reeves.
Today’s STREAMING VOD TV Guide Roku Recommendations: Netflix Edition!
BLACK MIRROR like most anthologies is decidedly hit and miss for me.
More miss than hit for me, to be accurate.
Director David Slade and Writer Charlie Brooker’s METAL HEAD falls decidedly in the Hit camp. Skewing, to its benefit, more toward the horror genre.
It is a well made little tale of machines killing men, and sadly is a little too close to where we are in reality to be enjoyable. With a significant amount of tax dollars going into creating just such killing machines, this cautionary tale is uncomfortably too close to science fact to be entirely enjoyable science fiction.
But definitely worth a look, and one of the better BLACK MIRROR episodes.
The Problem with Disney+?!!!
The above video is from a Youtuber called CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT. This Youtuber’s channel was unknown to me before stumbling over this post. However, I looked at his content and some I agree with some I don’t; but this one on Disney + seemed relatively even-handed and informative.
Take a look and decide for yourself.
My take away on his video, and you guys know I am not a Disney fan, is given the price point, and the slate of shows and movies that will be available on Disney+ when it gets into full swing, it is definitely one to sign up for… eventually.
Providing they can keep this price point for the foreseeable future. I am in no rush to join the 10 million early adopters of Disney, but I will eventually jump in.
I just am not in a rush. Would be nice for it to have something other than the MANDALORIAN, that I am interested in, currently available.
But as more original Marvel and Star Wars content starts dropping in 2020, it will be a more and more attractive service, provided the shows are good, and the price point remains low.
I hope Disney, does follow-thru with releasing these shows also on physical media/Blu-Ray, for the disc heads like myself, who maintain streaming is a good option for discovering items, but no replacement for re-watching and owning the actual disc. For watching content your way, rather than the quality of your viewing at the mercy of licensing deals, or the weather, or Disney, or your ISP, or time of day.
What are your thoughts? Feel free to leave a like and or comments.
Best Comic Book Covers of All Time: Joe Kubert’s LOSERS run
What makes a great comic book cover, in this age of virgin variants and gimmick covers, is the same thing that has always made a great cover. When all these flash in the pan virgin covers, are resigned to the 50 cent bin (where most of them belong), the really great covers, will still be… great covers.
They will still have stunning typography, married to great art, with great placement of the various parts, and together the whole, in one moment, both tells a story and sells a product. It is not just this lazy and brainless current fad of a pretty image, but with no context to the story or to the storytelling. Today’s cover artists and editors and art directors, and buyers, confuse a pinup with an effective and affecting cover, and the two are not the same.
Now that is not to say there are not exceptions, where the pinup is so good that you want it for eye candy’s sake alone. That does happen, and is fine, but in my experience it is rare, and is not conducive to books you are actually buying, serialized entertainment you are actually buying,… to read. In that case a pretty picture does not cut it, you need a storyteller as an artist and an art editor, to design a cover that tells a story.
And like i said it is a marriage of many things, some of which are not in the artist’s hands. But when all those disparate elements come together, you have have some of the greatest covers of all time.
There were a lot of people I could have started this new segment with, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, Berni Wrightson, Jack Kirby, but for my money the best cover artist of all time very rarely worked in Superhero Comics, and that is the great Joe Kubert.
Kubert had many magnificent cover runs to choose from but the one that launches this segment is the work of his that made me a Conflict Comics collector. His run on OUR FIGHTING FORCES AT WAR. Not the whole run, because while he did hundreds of covers not all of them have the elements that make an iconic cover. I mentioned a great cover having to do with things sometimes beyond the artists control such as typography and placement of disparate elements on a cover. But Here, for this run of issues, Kubert had complete control over the typography of his covers, and completely integrated that typography into his artwork, in a manner that would have made Eisner impressed. Creating a brilliant image AND telling a story and selling a product.
In the 181 issue run of OUR FIGHTING FORCES AT WAR, all of which had good covers, there are nineteen covers that stand out as masterpieces… only nineteeneighteen. They are not ‘key’ issues, they are seminal issues in the history of comic book cover design. The following scans were the best I could find on short notice, and do not do the books justice. But they give you a taste of the brilliance that make these 19 consecutive issues of OUR FIGHTING FORCES AT WAR a milestone of cover design, and worth owning.
They are…
Issue 142 would signal the end of the ground breaking covers, as well as heralding the end of Joe Kubert as editor on the series (his name would officially be removed as editor two issues later). Archie Goodwin would take over for a while as editor, followed by Jack Kirby(with all due respect to Jack Kirby, I am not a fan of his work on this book). And while Kubert would continue to do covers sporadically for the series up till the end, never again would the typography and mast-head be part of the story-telling. 141 would be the last of that wild imaginative experimentation with art and typography, the last of nineteen issues of the best and longest consecutive run of great covers by one creator in the history of comics. Pick them all up today, while they can still be had affordably.
Use the link below to get your issues today:
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=180611&AffID=200301P01
If you enjoyed this post and would like to see more like it, please subscribe, leave a like and comment. And what are your favorite cover runs, or cover artists/artwork?
Till next time… be well!!
VOD Streaming Watch 19 Jan- Currently Watching : THE HIVE on Amazon Prime
Called a cross between EVIL DEAD and MEMENTO, Director David Yarovesky’s 2014 Debut film earns its comparisons. Not in terms of plot, plot-wise it has nothing to do with either MEMENTO or EVIL DEAD, but the tone and beats, and film-making conceits recalls those two films… in a good way. Indeed perhaps a more apt comparison would be INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS meets the BLOB, but whatever the surface comparison, this film is very much its own thing, and earns a welcome spot amidst those aforementioned influences. For the most part a likeable cast, a talented director and a smart monster/antagonist, this film is well worth your time. B/B+.
Podcast of the Day : KNIFEPOINT HORROR
KNIFEPOINT HORROR PODCAST– This sporadic Horror audio podcast, KNIFEPOINT AUDIO, is a gem. These no-preamble, largely unadorned narrative tales of unease and the weird and eldritch, deliver some of the strangest and most captivatingly written and performed audio dramas on the net.
Very reminiscent of the best of Old Time Radio, particularly shows like the excellent BEYOND MIDNIGHT and the classic LIGHTS OUT, When it’s great, KNIFEPOINT AUDIO Is very great. Three standout and highly recommended episodes are THE CORPSE and POSSESSION and PRESENCE.
All three will make believers out of you, not in the supernatural but in the PODCAST! Highly Recommended!
TECH TIPS: ROKU Cable Digital TV and You!
After probably a decade without having a cable bill, and no issues doing so, I’m happy to still be cable bill free, but… you knew there was a but coming. 🙂
I was quite satisfied for 10 years doing without Television as a medium, and doing DVD rentals (typically for no or low cost at the library) or DVD purchases. But more often than not just spending far more time consuming books, and audio programs, and traveling.
So I’m happy to say I am still cable bill free, however of late I’ve become aware and become a dabbler in this… Roku thing.
Most of you are probably long time adopters of Roku, but for those of you who aren’t, Roku is both a company and a product. Roku is an American based company that produces a device, not much larger than a pack of cards, that allows you to stream channels, internet based stations, offering streaming TV shows, movies, documentaries, virtually everything you can find on cable, and much you cannot, in an on demand model to make traditional cable green with envy.
In a sentence, Roku is a wi-fi device that allows you to bring internet based channels and programming, content optimized for your computer, easily to your TV.
Internet access to your favorite TV/cable show is nothing new, however the Roku’s ease in consolidating all that content in one location and bringing it all to your TV, without the need of a cable bill is nothing short of amazing.
Of course utilizing your internet bandwidth there are obvious drawbacks, such as that as a whole the quality and speed is reliant on your broadband connection, and does not match the quality of cable.
But that given, Roku picture and sound quality is surprisingly good, and far better than the embarrassment and rip-off that is free digital TV in the United States. The garbage the FCC left us with when they stole the analog waves from the American people and gave it to big business and the military.
The 2nd problem is the Roku device upon first use/registration looks to collect your credit card and personal info by default in order to activate/use the Roku device.
That is a major problem. Especially if you only intend to use the free channels it is a huge potential and unnecessary privacy and security issue, particularly in this day of rampant hacking and identity theft.
Thankfully you can bypass the requirement to give your credit card number by calling customer service direct, but it is a hassle.
But those major problems acknowledged and bypassed, for between $60 and $100 depending on model (I recommend the Roku 2 XS, I’ll give a detailed breakdown of why next column), this wireless consolidator of online digital channels that streams easily to your tv, and easily lets you add and remove channels yourself, is (as long as the free channels last) nothing short of a marvel.
So yeah, until such time as the Roku concept stops being as awesome as it currently is, I’m going to enjoy having 1000s of hours of movies and television and music at my fingertips, for $0 a month.(Just like conventional cable you can add pay premium channels if you choose, but there is so much impressive free content out there that you definitely do not have to)
So if you are currently paying over $100 for cable or direct TV and locked into a contract, as most people are, and are looking not to do that anymore, I highly recommend taking the Roku for a spin. All you need is high-speed broadband internet to make use of it.
Well hope this article helps some of you who may have been seeking more info on Roku and alternatives to conventional cable. Come back next TECH TIPS as I provide you my favorite Roku channels as well as a weekly recommendation list for this week on Roku!
See you then, and feel free to leave comments if you are already a Roku convert. I’d love to hear a list of some of your favorite things about the Roku.
Okay, That’s all for now!
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Heroic Times 