Cinematical

• Is Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak Becoming a Reality?
  

  Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Tech Stuff, Harry Potter

  I recall reading about real-life experiments with invisibility a couple years back, and I could have sworn I blogged about them here on Cinematical. But I must have decided to keep Harry Potter fans from getting their hopes up, despite the fact that the original article I read had specifically mentioned Potter's invisibility cloak. Plus, I must have been hesitant to attempt to explain the science behind it.
  
  Well, now that more news has come out about the development of materials that may be able to render people and other three-dimensional objects invisible, I figure it's time...
  



• Latest Movie Streaming Site: Amazon Video on Demand
  

  Filed under: Tech Stuff, Home Entertainment

  With the popularity of those new Netlix-playing Roku devices and this week's news that Xbox will also work with the Netflix Watch Instantly service and yesterday's launch of the documentary site SnagFilms and the fact that everyone including your grandma has a site that streams movies, it's no surprise that Amazon has finally also launched a stream service called Amazon Video on Demand. And it's got its own special Roku-type device to be manufactured by Sony, only it's much more expensive at $300 (compared to $99 for the Roku). And it seems you also need a Sony-made hi-def television to...
  



• 'Meatballs' Will Rain Down in 3-D
  

  Filed under: Tech Stuff, Exhibition, Family Films

  As anyone who went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D last weekend knows, a viable, attractive, non-headache-inducing 3-D technology now exists for feature-length films in regular theaters (albeit ones outfitted with a special projector). Unfortunately, it's still not being used as a storytelling tool so much as an attempt to impress people -- look, it's Brendan Fraser, spitting water in your face! -- but maybe James Cameron will fix that soon, what with his plans to film a low-key drama in 3-D after he finishes Avatar. In any case, now that Journey has proven the mettle...
  



• The Exhibitionist: Journey to the Cinema for an Astonishing 3-D Experience
  

  Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New Releases, New Line, Tech Stuff, Exhibition, Family Films, Columns

  
  
  I don't know the last time I felt like a kid at the movies, but while watching Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D this past week, I honestly reverted to my 8-year-old self. That isn't to say the movie is necessarily as good as the movies that astonished me as a kid -- because of the subject matter, I'd think about comparing it to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, both of which came out...
  



• Discuss: Are Studios Ruining Older Films on Blu-ray?
  

  Filed under: Tech Stuff, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Home Entertainment

  There's a very interesting discussion going on over on Hollywood Elsewhere today about whether studios re-releasing older movies on Blu-ray are going too far in tweaking the originals to make them look "better." At the center of the discussion is the Dirty Harry Blu-ray DVD. Glenn Erickson, writing for film.com, points out that the Patton Blu-ray DVD was "enhanced to minimize the natural grain," but that in that case, the altering makes it look more like the theatrical 70mm presentation, so he doesn't take issue with that one. The Dirty Harry Blu-ray, however, Erickson considers "more complicated."...
  




• What's The Deal With: Roku's Netflix Player
  

  Filed under: Tech Stuff, Home Entertainment

  
  
  
  A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a Netflix Player by Roku -- a little box that lets Netflix subscribers watch the company's video-on-demand selections on a TV set. We already had a media computer hooked up to our TV, but it runs on a Linux platform so we couldn't use it to Watch Instantly on Netflix, which is Windows-only. The Roku player was priced at $99, which is a little steep for a gamble on whether the quality would be acceptable and whether we could make it work with our increasingly bulky TV/media setup, but we decided to give it...
  



• The Exhibitionist: Window Shutting, Sky Falling
  

  Filed under: Tech Stuff, Distribution, Exhibition, Home Entertainment, Columns

  
  
  As usual, I'm not going to pretend to understand the technologies behind modern home entertainment. And so, before I begin, I'd like to prematurely thank any commenters who choose to weigh in on things such as "selectable output control," "the analog hole" or any other terms I might misuse or incorrectly explain. The only thing I comprehend about those electronic doohickeys in my living room is that they each somehow connect to my antiquated analog television and through the magic of, well, I don't know, I'm able to watch the occasional classic movie and mindless cake design...
  



• Cinemas to Encourage Text Messaging
  

  Filed under: Tech Stuff, Exhibition

  Who of us hasn't been annoyed by young teens texting during the movie? Even if the kids have the sound turned off on their phones, the light from the displays are enough of a distraction to take our eyes off the bigger screen in front of us. Hollywood has made it clear, too, that text messaging is a problem for the movies. But for studio execs, the issue is with people texting their friends about how the new movie they're watching is not worth seeing. Bad buzz travels fast these days, and part of it's thanks to cell phones.
  
  But cinemas will soon embrace texting...
  



• 'A Star is Born' Into a New Resolution
  

  Filed under: Classics, Warner Brothers, Tech Stuff, Home Entertainment

  I love seeing old film. I'm glad that I first saw Touch of Evil in an old theater with a gritty and grainy copy. I wouldn't be too thrilled to see a current film that way, but there's just something about the mixture of squiggles and grains on a piece of old film that makes the oldies pop and become a whole different experience.
  
  However, the more time that passes, the more damaged film becomes, and restorative measures have to be taken. And of course, not everyone wants those squiggles. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Warner Bros. Technical...
  



• 'Sleeping Beauty' Gets Fancy on Blu-ray
  

  Filed under: Animation, Classics, New Releases, Disney, Tech Stuff, Home Entertainment

  I'm beginning to believe that no one really wants to watch movies anymore. Or, at least, they don't want to actively watch them. Big movie theaters are hurting with the advent of saucy home theater systems, and it seems like most people would rather curl up on their couch then head out for the big community experience. We've already heard arguments about the mass distractions that are attached to home viewing, but I never thought that it would become part of the movie experience.
  
  The Hollywood Reporter posts that Walt Disney is...