nacthenud

3 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I really like the Elite Series 2 controller. Form factor it is closer to the Series controllers. Then you have all the customizable options and the paddles. 
 

When playing a shooter like Destiny I don’t even use the face buttons any more. 
 

I tighten the righty stick for more accurate, fine aiming, loosen the left stick for quick direction and strafing. I use the convex thumb stick for the Left, and the tall thumb stick for the right. 
 

I lock the triggers to have the shortest travel and remove the dead zone for super snappy aim down sights and firing. 

I had to retrain the muscle memory of my hands, but once I did, my reactions are far quicker and it feels far more comfortable to hold and use. 

 

If I had one want for the Elite controller it would be the ability to use the paddles to set macros. Like where a single paddle could be set to be A+B. So if a game, like Destiny, let’s me customize a control scheme to use A+B for an action, on my controller I can still do it with a single button push. 

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.

8 hours ago, silentbob said:

Alita: Battle Angel 3D 2.5/5

 

visually it is a stunning looking movie, but it was like a disjointed little “extended preview” of a real movie (hopefully) coming out soon. The movie has a big setup of big things to come and it just ends before the real shit is about to happen. I’d compare it to my feelings of Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince. That felt like a long trailer setup for the big 2-part ending. It has burst of “oh that was cool” moments but they were very few real quick in and outs. Maybe another viewing will do me better, but this is my first impression of the film. Happy to see the 3D included for the release (thanks James) Not really any in your face pop outs but the depth is god damn stunning at times. So I’ve seen the “trailer” and here’s hoping we get the movie to go along with it soon

 

The Little Mermaid 4K 4/5

 

Wanted to watch my 3D copy but couldn’t find it, but I had my 4K copy and it is pretty damn stunning. Had problems at first with with my projector and player but got things figured out. So I have had the DVD, initial Blu-ray with 3D disc and now this. Still haven’t watched in 3D but the big difference right off the bat are that the colours look so much better, especially Ariel’s red hair and Flounder’s yellow. The Atmos isn’t a game changer but it was a nice extension to the musical numbers and the occasional stormy scene. If you have 4K player and tv/projector, this is the disc to pick up for the film (until I see it in 3D)

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

Quote

according to a source, "MacFarlane’s current workload and the length of time it takes to finish work on the show’s numerous special effects sequences would have meant that Season 3 would not have been ready for a midseason debut."

Seth MacFarlane's statement:

Quote

“The Orville’ has been a labor of love for me, and there are two companies which have supported that vision in a big way: 20th Century Fox Television, where I’ve had a deal since the start of my career, and Fox Broadcasting Company, now Fox Entertainment, which has been my broadcast home for over 20 years,” MacFarlane said in a statement. “My friends at the network understood what I was trying to do with this series, and they’ve done a spectacular job of marketing, launching and programming it for these past two seasons. But as the show has evolved and become more ambitious production-wise, I determined that I would not be able to deliver episodes until 2020, which would be challenging for the network. So we began to discuss how best to support the third season in a way that worked for the show. It’s exactly this kind of willingness to accommodate a show’s creative needs that’s made me want to stick around for so long. I am hugely indebted to Charlie Collier and Fox Entertainment for their generosity and look forward to developing future projects there. And to my new friends at Hulu, I look forward to our new partnership exploring the galaxy together.”

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.

4 hours ago, silentbob said:

You should try the new Atmos tracks on The Matrix Trilogy. They sound great in TrueHD but the new Atmos track kicks all sorts of ass. Especially the attack on Zion and end fight with Agent Smith

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.

4 minutes ago, johnny said:

Idk, I don’t give a shit about comic Spidey because I don’t read them. I think it’s reasonable for somebody with his powers to be driven by revenge, which he works past. 

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.

24 minutes ago, johnny said:

No way. The story in TAM2 is a fucking mess. Electro should have been the only villain. I thought it was a fun movie but that’s about it. 

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.

On 7/3/2019 at 11:05 AM, johnny said:

Spider-man- 3.5/5

spider-man 2 - 4.5/5

Spider-man 3 - 2/5

the amazing Spider-Man - 4/5

the amazing spider-man 2 - 2.5/5 

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.

4 hours ago, SaysWho? said:

The final 10:

 

 

Oh, wow, I already had this preordered, but this really seals the deal.  Strider is a definite win.  Virtual Fighter 2... nah, I'll just pull out the Saturn.  Alicia Dragoon I had totally forgotten about ever existing, but this reminded me that I rented this game once as a kid and enjoyed it.  Columns I sunk many hours into in the early days of Genesis.  Kid Chameleon is one of THE BEST 16-bit era games ever made.  Monster World IV and Light Crusader were games I wanted to play as a kid, but never did.  Eternal Champions was a fun fighter that I played a bunch of back in the day.

11 hours ago, johnny said:

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World - 4.5/5

 

this might be the best looking animated film on 4K 

picked it up, but haven't watched it yet.  For reference, have you seen Hotel Transylvania 3 on 4K UHD Blu-ray?  That's the one I'd currently give the crown to.

All three Captain America movies have now been released on 4K UHD Blu Ray. One of the biggest draws to the double-dip for me was the collectible Steelbooks that have matching-themed cases, with the same framing on the front covers and iterations of sheilds on the back covers.

Do you even have an opinion of me?

1 minute ago, Reputator said:

 

SoR2 is legitimately my favorite game of all time, I kid you not. Let alone how it stacks up to other beat em ups.

 

And that's saying something because I'm a huge TMNT fan, and you'd think that would tip the scale in Turtles in Time's favor. But that's the level of utter perfection that they achieved with SoR2.

It definitely had more depth to the combat than other beat-em-ups.  It was my favourite of the genre until Castle Crashers came along.

3 minutes ago, Reputator said:

 

Fine, leave out Columns and we're good.

Man, I put so many hours into Columns in my childhood.  I can still hear the music and sounds effects in my head.

2 minutes ago, Reputator said:

I'm sure Sonic 3 is forthcoming, but they also need:

 

Beyond Oasis

Phantasy Star (at least one)

Rocket Knight Adventures

Streets of Rage 1

Strider

Golden Axe (at least one)

 

And they definitely need more SHMUP love. The Genesis was THE best platform for those, and MUSHA and Thunderforce 3 are a good start, but I'd love to see Fire Shark, Truxton, Twin Cobra, Air Buster, and/or Lightening Force (they can use this as an excuse to fix the name ). Maybe even Steel Empire since it was so unique for the time, aesthetically.

I agree on your list other than Streets of Rage 1.  Streets of Rage 2 trumps the original so hard as to render it irrelevant. 

Of the shooters you suggested, I would absolutely go Truxton.  I still play that one every so often because it was so good.

There's some great games in there.  Landstalker is such an underappreciated great game.

Hopefully the include Shining Force II.  The original was good, but the sequel does everything better.

Fingers crossed for Herzog Zwei to make a showing.

10 hours ago, gamer.tv said:

Started watching a BBC comedy/drama called Fleabag. Genuinely very funny and very English sense of humour

I watched a BBC thing recently too, but it definitely wasn't on network television...