Sunday, March 29, 2015

Home Theater: Christopher Nolan's bold, offbeat 'Interstellar'

Interstellar: 
Paramount, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
Available on VOD Tuesday


When Christopher Nolan was promoting this film last fall, the "Dark Knight"/"Inception" director promised a more heartfelt, less cerebral movie than his usual brainy blockbusters. There's definitely a lot of talk about love and family in this story of a NASA pilot (played by Matthew McConaughey) who agrees to travel through a wormhole to save humanity. But "Interstellar" is also highly wonky and philosophical, filled with speculative science and deep considerations of whether mankind can ever be selfless enough to survive. In short: This is another bold, offbeat and entertaining genre film from modern Hollywood's most consistently visionary mainstream director. The DVD and Blu-ray come with featurettes that cover everything from the magnificent special effects to the extensive research that went into the project. 

Wild: 
20th Century Fox, $29.98; Blu-ray, $39.99
 

  
Screenwriter Nick Hornby, "Dallas Buyers Club" director Jean-Marc VallĂ©e and producer-star Reese Witherspoon bring a rare sensitivity to this adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's inspirational memoir. Witherspoon plays Strayed, a woman who reacts to her mother's death by plunging into heroin and sex addiction before deciding to right herself by hiking more than 1,000 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail. "Wild" follows Strayed's progress from frightened novice to lean, hardened adventurer, and Witherspoon gives her all to a role that requires her to be prickly in the flashback sequences and a plucky feminist heroine in the wilderness. The film is engineered for maximum uplift but so well crafted that the shamelessness is forgivable. The DVD and Blu-ray add a commentary track, deleted scenes and featurettes. 

Silicon Valley: The Complete First Season: 
HBO, $39.98; Blu-ray, $49.99
 
"Office Space" creator Mike Judge applies his dry satirical style to California's computer culture in this HBO sitcom, a smart and funny look at how the kind of misfits who develop apps for a living have built their own cutthroat corporate culture. Taking on everything from the sweatshop conditions for coders to the way ruthless bosses are treated like gurus, "Silicon Valley" has a keen awareness of the interpersonal challenges, innate misogyny and aggressive hucksterism that results when hordes of sweaty nerds gather and try to impress one another. The second season will begin soon; until then, the eight-episode first season is available on DVD and Blu-ray, with commentary tracks and featurettes. 

Cries and Whispers: 
Criterion, $29.95; Blu-ray, $39.95
   
By the early 1970s, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman was recognized worldwide as important and influential, but his movies weren't being seen or talked about as much as they once were. And then he made another masterpiece, 1972's "Cries and Whispers," and had one of his biggest hits. Set in the 19th century at an elegant country mansion, the film follows a woman who's dying of cancer as her two sisters and her maid struggle to comfort her in her last days. Bergman contrasts the classy surroundings with the ugly realities of the human body, creating a movie that has the complicated structure of a novel, the intimate drama of theater and the vivid light and color of great cinema. Criterion's new DVD and Blu-ray edition include new and vintage interviews, plus a video essay.

And…

The Imitation Game:
Starz/Anchor Bay, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.99
Available on VOD on Tuesday
Outcast:
E1, $29.99; Blu-ray, $29.99
The Rewrite:
Image, $29.96; Blu-ray, $29.97
Veep: The Complete Third Season:
HBO, $39.98; Blu-ray, $49.99
Wild Card:
Lionsgate, $19.98; Blu-ray, $24.99

Source:http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-ca-new-releases-interstellar-wild-20150329-story.html

Thursday, March 26, 2015

How to Watch movies on Samsung Gear VR

This tutorial guides you through how to rip and convert Movies to Samsung Gear VR compatible 3D videos so you can watch movies in Oculus Cinema with ease.
 

“ Is there an app that allows you to watch the movies without the virtual cinema surroundings, as in just the movie in 3D? That's basically what I'm buying it for, so it would be good to know if it works without any sort of extra fluff that isn't needed.” 

The Gear VR, Samsung’s first mobile virtual reality headset, has lit up the imagination of both smartphone and VR enthusiasts. If you have lots of Blu-ray, DVD, ISO/IFO files or other video files like: MKV, AVI, VOB, WMV, Tivo, MPG, FLV/F4V etc. which can not playback on Samsung Gear VR. Here, you can convert all your video files to 3D SBS MP4/MKV files with Samsung Gear VR supported formats. And to get the work done, one easy-to-use Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate that supports handling 3D Blu-ray/DVD disc is necessary. Read the review. 

With this all-in-one 3D Video Converter Ultimate for Gear VR, you can easily convert 3D Blu-ray movie no matter from Blu-ray disc, Blu-ray movie folder, DVD disc, MKV, AVI, VOB, WMV, Tivo, MPG, FLV/F4V files and export Anaglyph, Top-Bottom, Side-by-Side 3D video supported by Samsung Gear VR unit/Oculus Cinema with the best quality easily.  If you are a Mac user, then Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac is your first choose. Now, download this professional App and follow below guide to learn How to Convert Your movies to SBS MP4/MKV for Samsung Gear VR. 

Step-by-step: How to Watch Blu-ray/DVD/HD Videos on Samsung Gear VR ?

Step 1: Insert your 3D/2D Blu-ray or standard DVD movie to disc drive, and click "Load from disc" button to load Blu-ray or DVD from ROM. For video file, click the "Add video" button, browse to computer hard drive and import video into this app. 



Step 2: Tap on "Format" bar and find "3D Video", there are a lot of format options for you. "MP4 Side-by-Side 3D Video (*.mp4)" is recommended for Samsung Gear VR. (Read the differences Between Anaglyph 3D and Side-by-Side 3D)


  
Step 3: Click the “Settings” icon and you will go into a new interface named “Profile Settings”. You can adjust codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel or 3D Depth in the interface according to your needs and optimize the output file quality.

Step 4: Click "Convert" button, video to SBS 3D MP4 conversion begins. After the conversion, place your video files into the folder named "My Videos" on your MicroSD card for Samsung devices. Now, transfer 3D video to your Galaxy Note 4/Galaxy S6/S6 Edge and you are ready to watch 3D videos on Samsung Gear VR. 

Read More:  

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Wonderful Movie review: ‘Insurgent’ – on March 23, 2015

Even as it makes no concession for people who may have not read Veronica Roth’s Divergent books, or who may have missed the first movie based on them entirely, Insurgent works better than its 2014 predecessor. 
 


It moves faster, puts Tris (Woodley) firmly at the centre of things, and its action scenes sizzle with thrills and suspense. With all the justifications of this post-acolapyse world dealt with in the first film, Insurgent purely involves three women who are making the world around them spin. A middle film that has no beginning or an end can hardly ask for anything better. 

Having laid the Abnegation faction to dust, Jeanine (Winslet) is hunting for divergents who pose a threat to the world as she knows it. She also wants one divergent strong enough to apply his/her mind’s powers to opening a box that holds the secrets of the founding fathers of this world. Tris, Four (James) and the others who had fled the annihilation of Abnegation last time are hiding out at Amity, before they are forced to make a run for it. 

As they gather the remaining members of the Dauntless faction around them, the problem remains how to hold off Jeanine, who will stop at nothing including embedding transmitters into people to force them into suicide. In the meantime, Four, who guards Tris with his heart and all his well-muscled body, has a crucial reunion with the head of the faction-less (Watts). 

The “remainder of humanity” confined to one city (Chicago), enclosed within a wall and divided into factions Erudite (the learned scientists), Candor (the honest jurists), Amity (the kind cultivators), Abnegation (the selfless administrators) and Dauntless (the fearless protectors), is surprisingly 20th century about its idea of clothing. All the fighters wear tight leather and fitted dresses, the more laid-back can be found in loose overalls. The lawbreakers lie somewhere in the middle. 


The architecture is uniformly tall and colourless, except Amity’s people who stay in round, wooden structures. 

Schwentke, who takes over from Neil Burger as director, knows how to tweak the story well enough to keep it running at a good pace into the third and fourth instalment. Deadly encounters are shot with minimal fuss, talk is kept to the adequate little, and Watts and Teller as the untrustworthy Peter bring in enough unpredictability to serve the story well. This also helps keep the plot from turning too maudlin which it threatens to become every time Woodley comes on screen, or even James. 

Woodley is not bad, but she isn’t Jennifer Lawrence, who brings in just the right rebellious, resentful, angry streak to make us cheer for Katniss in The Hunger Games. James, for his part, is meant to just play second fiddle. 

And that is perhaps the biggest thing to celebrate in Insurgent. It may be long before you continued…

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/movie-review-insurgent/

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Fast way: Rip 3D Blu-ray to Galaxy Note 4 via Gear VR

This tutorial will explain how users can use Galaxy Note 4 to play 3D Blu-ray movies in Samsung Gear VR for enjoying on the go.


  
Consumer virtual reality is coming of age, at least Samsung thinks it is, and a tie-in with Facebook -owned Oculus and the new Samsung Gear VR for the Galaxy Note 4 is how it will deliver it. It's an adapter to turn a smartphone into a 3D wearable. The Gear VR it's actually an accessory for just one Samsung phone: the Galaxy Note 4. Snap the phablet into place, and it donates its 5.7-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display for media purposes. 

Nowadays, Most of the people would like to go the theater to watch the 3D Blu-ray movie with the fine spectacle in their spare time. However, frustratingly, people do not have enough time to go the theater most of the time. Well, if you have no time going to the theater, watching 3D Blu-ray movie on your Gear VR or smart phone on the go will be the best choice. If you think so, follow this page to get the guide on how to watch 3D Blu-ray movie on Galaxy Note 4 in Gear VR freely. 

In order to get 3D Blu-ray ready for Samsung Galaxy Note 4, I think an easy-to-use third-party 3D Blu-ray ripper for Galaxy Note is the key. Here, we suggest you the Pavtube BDMagic for Windows or Mac. 
  
After read the top 3D Blu-ray ripper for Samsung Review, you will know the reason why I suggest you Pavtube BDMagic. With it, you can rip and convert 3D Blu-ray movie to Samsung Gear VR unit/Oculus video format as Anaglyph 3D MKV at super fast speed with the NVIDIA CUDA and AMD APP (ATI Stream) acceleration support. I’m sure this tool can bring you good experience with its clear interface and easy-to-use functions even if you are a beginner. 

[Step-by-step:]-Convert 3D Blu-ray movies on Samsung Gear VR with Galaxy Note 4

Step 1: Load 3D Blu-ray movie to the 3D Blu-ray Converter.

Insert your 3D Blu-ray movie to disc drive, and click “Load Disc” button on Pavtube BDMagic interface to load Blu-ray from ROM; it also support importing Blu-ray ISO and Blu-ray folder. 



Step 2: Select format and set profile.

Click “Format” bar and find “3D Video”, there are a lot of format options for you. “MKV Side-by-Side 3D Video (*.mkv)” is recommended for Samsung Gear VR. Read the Galaxy Note 4 Supported video format. 



Tip: If you have special requirements on target video, click “Settings” to customize video size, bitrate, frame rate and sample rate. 

Step 3. Start to convert 3D Blu-ray to Gear VR

Click “Convert” button, 3D Blu-ray to Samsung Gear VR converter will start to work. Just be patient, it will not take you long time. After the conversion, place your video files into the folder named “My Videos” on your MicroSD card for Galaxy Note 4. Then, you can Transfer Videos, Photos, Music to Galaxy Note 4. 

Now, you can get your 3D Blu-rays into Samsung Gear VR head set. You will like that Pavtube copyed DRM Blu-rays without a hassle.
  
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Sunday, March 15, 2015

Moonwalkers first look review – Kubrick myth becomes misfiring comedy

Rupert Grint and Ron Pearlman star in tall tale of CIA agent employed to find Stanley Kubrick and pay him to create moon landing footage. 


 
Details: 
Comedy  |  14 March 2015 (USA)
Director: Antoine Bardou-Jacquet
Writer: Dean Craig
Stars: Ron Perlman, Rupert Grint, Robert Sheehan |See full cast and crew 
   
Conspiracy theory has it that Stanley Kubrick was employed by the CIA to fake the Apollo 11 moon landings. This is the jumping off point for the dodgy comedy Moonwalkers. Set in 1969 (obviously), it stars Hellboy’s Ron Perlman as Kidman, a CIA agent searching for Kubrick in Swinging London, and ending up with a hapless band manager played by Rupert Grint masterminding the footage America needs in case the real-life space odyssey goes awry.  

It’s hard to imagine a film less like one of Kubrick’s, an idea which must have tickled director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet. Sadly, Moonwalkers is not just a mile from its inspiration in style, but in quality. Despite some decent performances from Gint as Jonny, the hapless manager of a terrible rock band, a swivel-eyed Pearlman afflicted by flashbacks from Nam and Robert Sheehan as the permanently wasted friend Leon dragooned into standing in for Kubrick, the film is only intermittently funny, and its targets – camp experimental filmmakers, meatheaded Hell’s Angels, deluded wannabe rock stars – are not so much tired as catatonic.  
  
When things look in danger of flagging, which is frequently, Bardou-Jacquet adds a lavish sprinking of topless women and throws in yet another drug-taking scene, culminating in the inevitable apocalyptic acid trip. While celebrity rubberneckers may enjoy seeing Harry Potter star Grint getting in amongst it, that’s the only note of subversion the film contains. Billed as an action comedy, Moonwalkers is also incongruously violent, with (for instance) a public-toilet beating too brutal for hilarity, though Bardou-Jacquet has fun with the Performance -style Cockney gangsters led by a godfather who’s making a matchstick model of the Tower of London, before Perman furiously smashes it to smithereens.  



The funniest bits play on the differences between the Brits (effete, stoned and useless) and the Yanks (macho, ernest and dim), and there’s a decent joke about 2001: A Space Odyssey. But what sinks Moonwalkers is not that it’s broad and crude, but that it fatally lacks decent gags. 

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/15/moonwalkers-first-look-review-kubrick-myth-becomes-misfiring-comedy#img-1