Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans stars Nicholas Cage and Eva Mendes. The story takes place in the ravaged city of New Orleans after the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. As you can probably tell from the title of the movie, Terence McDonagh (Nicholas Cage) is a crooked cop who does everything and anything in his power for personal gain. A drug user, gambler, and womanizer are just a few adjectives that describe Detective McDonagh.
Married to a prostitute girlfriend (Eva Mendes), McDonagh even uses her to shake down customers for drugs after they have completed their transaction. As the movie progresses, McDonagh gets more into gambling debt and more in trouble with the New Orleans police department for various incidents with civilians. There's nothing that surprises you about this character by the time this movie is over. Even things like cutting off a old woman's air supply to get some information are common occurrences.
The majority of this movie was slow and dull with a few scattered moments of action and excitement. Since McDonagh is high on drugs, random vodooish incidents will occur that make you feel like you're on crack (not that I know). If I wanted to watch a Cage stumble around on the verge of a drug induced coma mumbling random things, I would have just rented his biography from the video store.
If you've watched television lately, you may have seen a commercial for Samsung's new LED 3-dimensional televisions. Just to clear up rumors, even though it is a television that can display 3-dimensional images, that doesn't mean everything is always in 3D. You can't watch sports in 3D for example. The only way you can utilize the 3D feature is if you own a movie that is in 3D, which at this point in time is very few.
This is brand new technology so it can be quite confusing. Here's how it works. Most consumers confuse LCD (liquid crystal display) and LED (light emitting display) technology. LED is the newest technology to be used in televisions, which was originally developed by Samsung. Picture quality is often determined by the combination of two factors: Contrast ratio and hertz rate (how often the TV refreshes the image).
In a top of the line LCD HD television, your contrast ratio is roughly 120,000:1 pixels. The bottom of the line LED televisions produce a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio. If you want to spend significantly more money on a LED TV, then you can purchase Samsung's Series 8 LED televisions which carry a 10,000,000:1 ratio. Now this information may make you even more confused about LED technology but in laymens terms, the more pixels you have the better your picture quality.
Also due to the high contrast ratio, you get more accurate colors. The colors are deep and rich rather then faded and washed out as on normal HD televisions. The picture quality is absolutely breathtaking. My job in the media means that I've seen hundreds of hours of HD footage, but the first time I watched Planet Earth on Bluray on my new LED TV, I was literally at a loss for words.
The second component to having great picture quality is your televisions hertz rate. My LED TV (Samsung Series 6) has a refresh rate of up to 210hz. The Series 8 televisions have up to a 240hz rate. The higher the hertz rate the more often the TV refreshes the picture. The easiest way to notice the difference between an LED TV and a normal HD television is by watching something with fast moving action, such as sports. When viewing fast action sequences, you may notice the picture tends to streak or blur horizontally. The reason for this being is that the TV is not refreshing fast enough to keep up with the action. When blurring occurs on a television, you are losing video frames. The content you're viewing may be broadcasting in up to 60 frames per second, but your television's low hertz rate is only allowing it to display around 30 frames a second. Hence the blur or jitter effect with your picture.
The key features besides the picture quality with the LED televisions is its sleek design. Whether you purchase the 40" or the 52" TV, both are only 1.2 inches thick and weigh exactly the same as the box it comes in. Another remarkable feature is that it is the first energy efficient television. When operating at full capacity it is only using 120 watts of power. About the same power as a lamp.
LED technology is well worth the money when buying a new television; however, there are some issues that Samsung hasn't fixed yet. One of the main problems with the LED televisions is that you often get a buzzing noise coming from the right speaker. Many owners of Samsung LED TVs have reported this issue. In my case, the buzzing is sporadic and faint when it does occur. Nothing extremely distracting but still pretty annoying.
Since the TV is ultra thin, there isn't a lot of room to install all the electronic components. The problem is caused due to the power supply board and speaker being mounted to close to each other. When playing something on your TV at high volumes, the sound will rattle the power supply giving off a buzz or faint humming noise. There is no way to fix this so if you're planning on buying a LED TV wait for Samsung to fix the problem or buy a different brand.
Here are some buying tips you should know about when purchasing a new television. Samsung does make a 32" LED TV but you should NOT purchase this size unless you have a size restriction in the area your new TV will be sitting. The Samsung 40" LED TV is the same price as the 32" so go with the bigger size. Personally I wouldn't recommend getting bigger then the 46". The best plan is to scout electronics stores before you buy. Go to Best Buy and see the TV in action next to all the other styles of televisions. Then head over to Ultimate Electronics and purchase your new LED TV. They are cheaper then Best Buy and you may even be able to talk them down more on the price. No one ever goes there so they'll sell you stuff dirt cheap. The 40" Samsung LED televisions are currently selling around $1500.
How far will you go to save someone you love? This question will be etched in your mind as you experience Heavy Rain, a crime mystery/thriller game developed by Quantic Dream exclusively for PlayStation 3.
The story begins with Ethan Mars, one of the characters you will control, at home on one of his son's birthdays. Right away tragedy strikes as the son is hit and killed by a car while crossing the road. This leaves Ethan with only one remaining son, Shaun Mars. The story now fast forwards 2 years and we meet up with Ethan spending time with his son Shaun. Tragedy strikes once again for Ethan as his remaining son is kidnapped by the Origami killer.
Ethan Mars with his son Shaun shortly before being kidnapped by the Origami killer
The Origami killer is responsible for a string of child kidnappings and murders that have taken place recently. The killer locks the kidnapped child in a drain exposed to the elements. The more it rains (hence the title) the less time the child has to live. The killer uses origami figurines as clues to the where a bouts of the kidnapped child. Ethan Mars is forced to carry out a series of physical and mentally demanding challenges in order to receive the next clue from the Origami killer and save his son in time. As the story progresses you will play as many more characters who have a role in the story. Nothing is what it seems so attention to detail is a must.
What clues does the origami figure give about Shaun's location?
The story plays out like a movie and along the way you are given button prompts. The easiest way to describe this element is that it is very similar to those mystery novels you read as a kid where you could choose the path of the story (i.e. turn to page # for action 'A' or page # for action 'B'). In some scenes the button prompts you choose have your character say different things where in other cases the prompts cause your character to perform certain actions. It's like watching a Martin Scorsese movie but being in control of the plot rather then just observing.
In a particular scene while playing as the FBI agent investigating the murders, I arrived at an apartment to question a suspect only to find he wasn't home. I was presented with the option to leave the location or kick the door down. I think you can guess what option I chose. After entering the apartment and searching for clues for a couple minutes the suspect returned. He noticed I was in his apartment, became angry that I broke in and pulled a gun on me. Now the button prompts were asking me to perform a conversation rather than physical actions. I chose the "Accuse" button prompt and my character began his statement accusing the suspect of being the origami killer. This only made the suspect more angry and through a string of picking the wrong things to say the suspect ended up shooting me and escaped. I replayed the same scene again choosing different things to say and taking a more calm approach to the situation. In the end, the suspect surrendered his weapon and let me arrest him to take to the station for further questioning.
Conflicts are common occurrences in Heavy Rain. Make a bad decision or say the wrong things and the story can quickly take a turn for the worst. Seemingly meaningless decisions end up costing you big time later on in the story, making you wonder what if I had chose that other option. Depending on your choices, Ethan Mars may die during one of the challenges leaving Shaun hopeless and condemning him to die as well or your decisions could lead to one of the other characters finding Shaun. That's the beauty of this game. It encourages exploration and leaves you wanting to experience the story over and over. There are numerous outcomes and possibilities to the ending of this story.
Playing this game is unlike anything I've ever experienced. It doesn't have the typical video game feel where you play it for a couple hours for some relaxation time. Unless you experience this phenomenal game you can't understand how revolutionary it is. Intense emotional situations create a gray area between virtual reality and actuality. The combination of button prompts and an intense story line make you feel as if you are a character in the story experiencing the same pain, terror, and stress as the other characters. The fate of their story is in literally in your hands.
The breathtaking graphics only add to the realism. Making the experience more believable.
Should I play it safe and escape the burning apartment of the origami killer or risk everything by staying a few minutes to acquire the evidence left behind? Hundreds of question like this will race through your mind leaving you only seconds to make a serious decision that could help or hinder you later. Playing this game is not entertainment but rather an experience that you will not soon forget.
A band I've recently discovered that I absolutely can't get enough of is a band from Chicago named Madina Lake. Their newest album entitled "Attics to Eden" is a combination of Alternative and Hard Rock songs. By far the best song on the album is "Never Take Us Alive". I recommend downloading this song at the very least if you decide not to buy the album.
Matt Damon (Bourne Trilogy) and director Paul Greengrass return to the screen for another exciting action/thriller. The pair starts right where they left off in their new film entitled "Green Zone". Although parts of the movie may remind you of the Bourne trilogy, don't let that keep you from seeing this movie. Greengrass intricately weaves fact and fiction together to tell a story that quite possibly could have happened overseas.
Following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon) and his men are charged with finding the so-called weapons of mass destruction, whose existence justified American involvement. Each mission becomes more and more dangerous. And continuous raids of believed weapon store houses turn up nothing. According to the Pentagon and their man in Baghdad, veteran CIA operative Marty tells Miller that there are no weapons and that it is deceiving to allow the Americans to take over the country and install a puppet leader. Miller takes matters into his own hands and attempts to find out the real reason for America's presence in the region.
At times the plot becomes quite predictable and feels to much like a repackaged Bourne film, but the inclusion of factual events and information keeps its head above water. It's hard to find a character you can empathize with in this film as Damon's character is far too arrogant and all the other characters talk the big talk but never really amount to much. Bottom line, if you enjoyed the Bourne films, "Green Zone" is worth a watch or two. Lets just hope Greengrass doesn't make a trilogy out of this film.
Posts
