nacthenud

Reading this, I almost feel like I'm using my Elite Series 2 controller wrong. My old-man hands don't like the stupid paddles getting in the way of my grip at the back, so I took them off and don't use them. I use the default sticks. I did shorten the travel on the left trigger, but not the right. I tightened both sticks because I like the feel of a firmer analogue stick. So really, I'm not taking advantage of many of the cool features the controller offers. I just love the premium feel of it in my hands. It feels like a more solid controller with premium parts and that's all I was really looking for from it.

I had a 65" LG B7 OLED. Developed some problems in the top left corner of the screen. Fortunately, I had the extended warranty, so it's getting replaced with a CX. I opted to pay the difference in dealer cost and am upgrading to a 77" CX OLED instead of the 65". Should arrive in a couple of weeks due to backorders on that model.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - 8/10 Well I really enjoyed the movie. I went in with reasonably tempered expectations, having heard a bunch of conflicting opinions. I enjoyed TFA and TLJ as well, for reference. The biggest problem with the movie was that it felt rushed. Like JJ Abrams needed to do a bunch of setup to get to the place where he wanted to be to start the third movie from, so he rushed through establishing a bunch of important stuff at a breakneck pace. Like he tried to cram 2 movies' worth of stuff into one. The other big problem I felt was that there's this demonstrable There are some unresolved threads from previous movies as well as this one. The plot sure had some leaps of logic and some "just go with it" required. BUT all that stuff was in service of the heart of the story and in that, I felt like it did a great job. The heart was in the right place. The characters were handled well. At the end of the day, while I can poke holes in it all day, I enjoyed myself all the way through. It gave me the feelings I expect and hope to feel when watching a Star Wars movie. So I'm happy with it. Personal ranking of Star Wars movies without giving it a ton of thought: 1) Empire Strikes Back 10/10 2) The Return of the Jedi 9.5/10 3) Rogue One 9/10 4) A New Hope 8.75/10 5) The Force Awakens 8.5/10 6) The Rise of Skywalker 8/10 7) The Last Jedi 8/10 8) Solo 8/10 9) Revenge of the Sith 7/10 10) The Phantom Menace 6/10 11) Attack of the Clones 6/10 (Subject to change on a daily basis)

Aladdin (2019) – 8/10 – 4K UHD Blu-ray I, personally, really enjoyed this one. I will probably go back and watch it in equal measure with the original animated classic. Will Smith doing his own thing instead of trying to do Robin Williams was a good call. Hi genie is great. The music – after listening to these tracks back-to-back with the originals several times in YouTube, I actually give the nod to the new versions. They are richer tracks and I like the subtle hip hop spice that Will Smith brings to the offerings. The feminist empowerment angle was a little too heavy-handed for its own good. Some of the CG was imperfect in motion. Overall though, it was a fun, colourful good time. I’m glad Disney made this one.

Brightburn - 6/10 - watched on 4K UHD Blu-ray It felt like the first 2 acts of a movie. Great setup, but the ending felt abrupt and unresolved. It was not as creepy as it wanted to be, I don't think, but some convincingly disturbing gore at times. Pretty picture (Sony puts out some of the best looking 4K releases). Overall, can't give it a resounding recommendation, but it was an ok watch.

FINALLY got around to watching The Revenant. I see why people often talk about it as a demo-worthy disc. While it isn't the very pinnacle of the format, IMO, it certainly does consistently impress. What I never really hear people talk about with this movie is the excellent immersive soundtrack. While this is not in Dolby Atmos or DTS-X, the DTS HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track puts a lot of Atmos and DTS-X tracks to shame. The surround use and and immersion are en pointe here. All-around great disc.

I upgraded my blu-ray player this weekend from a Panasonic UB900 to a Panasonic UB820. While the UB900 is a fantastic machine, it came out before Dolby Vision was a thing. The UB820 performs just as well with HDR10 content, but is also compatible with Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG. My TV does not do HDR10+, but that content is pretty limited at this point anyway, while Dolby Vision is on a ton of disks I already own.

Alita - I felt the same way about Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The movie feels like the first two acts of a complete film. The Little Mermaid. I found the 4K HDR version of the film felt much more filmic and less like a little kids' show. The blu-ray has an overall brighter average picture level. The 4K disc has a lot of scenes that are darkened in general while adding more punch to the bright elements within a frame. Some screen comparisons I took are below. 4K versions are on the top and left. Note that my phone camera can't capture the full dynamic range of the TV, so, for instance, bits of the image from the HDR version may show as being clipped to white on the picture, but in person it was a very bright yellow:

For anyone that has the setup to enjoy good HDR on 4K UHD Blu-ray: the 40th Anniversary release of Alien on the format is well worth the upgrade. Holy cow, they did a great job with this restoration! Aside from 1979 special effects and 1979 fashion/hair, you could tell me that this movie released last year and I'd believe it based on what my eyes are looking at. HDR is put to great use with lots of dark scenes with specific light sources and specular highlights everywhere. Heck even the space shots make me smile with the way the stars light up as bright pin-pricks in the black of space. This is what OLED TVs were made for. Audio-wise, the 7.1 track is nothing to write home about. No, super-immersive Atmos or DTS:X tracks here. But it is nice that there are so many audio track options available including the original theatrical 4.1 mix which is a nice little bonus. And there is an isolated score track that removes all the pesky dialogue and sound effects. That's kinda neat. Honestly, as much as I liked this movie before, the picture quality of this release bumped my enjoyment up a notch, from any other time I've watched it, for sure. 9/10

From IGN article Seth MacFarlane's statement:

The most annoying thing with the Matrix movies on 4K UHD is a problem that seems prevalent with Warner Bros. releases. The disc defaults to a DTS 5.1 mix and you have to go into the audio options to select the Atmos mix. I hate that they do this. An Atmos mix will automatically downscale itself to a 5.1 mix if you only have a 5.1 system connected, anyway.

I have pulled out the opening 5 minutes of Matrix Reloaded to demo the Atmos track a few times. Deepwater Horizon is an amazing Atmos demo too. When the crap hits the fan, it's really impressive.

Reasonable, sure, but it fundamentally changes the character in ways that I really do not care for, as a life-long Spider-Man fan. It's like if they did a Batman origin story and he becomes Batman because he's a thrill-seeker who realized he loved violence after watching his parents being gunned down.

I'd rather a slightly messy story than a Spider-man that is driven by revenge for his Uncle's death, rather than learning that with great power comes great responsibility.

Amazing Spider-Man 2 is so much better than Amazing Spider-Man 1, IMHO, for one reason - the characterization of Peter/Spider-Man. It's just all wrong in the first one, but they move to a better characterization in the second. I would personally flip those scores.