MCT Images

New Wedding Templates

Posted by Martin:

I have put up new wedding templates designed for Encore.  These are sized for 4:3 NTSC and PAL projects.

Click here for the auction.

Iron Man-Look out Spiderman! Iron Man is Way more interesting

Posted by Martin:

Iron Man

Grade: A-

I'm not a comic book junkie.  I'm not a comic book geek.  My comic book knowledge really rests on Saturday morning cartoons and summer movies.  Other than Underoos from the 1980s I have never heard of Iron Man.

But I have heard of Jon Favreau and I have liked his work so far.  I have also heard of Robert Downey Jr. and have thought of him as a good actor, especially in Chaplin.

I am now officially a fan of Iron Man.  Favreau seems to know this character, and he respects him.  Downey seems to love him, let me rephrase that, he loves playing Tony Stark.

The Interesting Identity

Tony Stark is infinately more interesting than most other super hero secret identities.  Stark fights for good out of experience and a change of heart, not out of revenge a la Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker.  Stark also LIKES being a super hero, to him this isn't a dead weight hanging around his neck.  Heck even Superman was sad being Superman in the Bryan Singer version.  Tony Stark likes being Tony Stark and seems to love being Iron Man.  Tony Stark is a secret identity that I would like to hang out with on the weekend, Peter Parker not so much.

The weakness in this movie is with the villain.  Obidiah Stane, played by Jeff Bridges, is an interesting bad guy espcially since he is very close to Stark.  But when a villain is bad simply because they just want to make more money makes them seem very bland.  The Joker is interesting, Lex Luthor is interesting, The Green Goblin is interesting because they all simply want to destroy their archnemsis, making more money is boring in a villan. 

The attractive Gwyneeth Platrow plays the card board cut out, Pepper Potts, the standard love interest.  But admitedly Pepper Potts is quite possibly the most interesting names of all side kicks.

An Iron breath of Fresh Air

Since my comic book knowledge is weak I've been wondering what else big was coming down the pike.  I know of Batman, and love the new versions, I know of Superman and found Superman Returns to be a little blah, but Iron Man was a great surprise for those of us who like Summer movies, but aren't comic book scholars.

Related Articles:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull-Grade D

Cloverfield-Movie Review

Elizabeth:The Golden Age

Indiana Jones-Terrible Grade D

Posted by Martin:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Grade: D

I saw this mess on Saturday.  I've been too disappointed to even approaching writing about it.  I've read the Talk Back on Aintitcool, I am not on the lukewarm side of this mistake. 

Unless you like to watch car wrecks don't see this movie.

The Paramount symbol in the previous movies fades onto a huge mountain.  Here though it fades onto a mole hill that immediately gets run over.  Not a good omen.

There are UFOs in this movie.  X-Files sort of stuff. I wish someone had told me that so I would have been prepared.  So therefore I'm writing it here.

Yeah, yeah all of the previous movies have unexplained elements.  Roger Ebert writes that this movie fits the previous movies rules, but the rules that were set in the previous movies were that they were supernatural elements, not extraterrestrial in nature.  And yes there is a difference.  The Ark, The Stones, the Grail all come from the past, and come from human history.  Aliens come from "out there" and are not a (proven) part of our history.  Indiana Jones is supposed to be doing archeology from Earthly objects, not outer space objects.  This movie does not follow the same rules as the previous films and that why it fails.

The humor seems very forced.  Using the great John Hurt as comic relief is painful to watch and confusing to understand.

Shia LeBeouf does a good job as Indy's son, but he has two of the most forced "humor" scenes in the movie.  First he is regulated to a CGI America's Home Video kick in the nuts "joke."  Seriously, the nuts.  Lucas and Spielberg have fallen to nuts jokes. 

And then he suddenly is able to swing on vines like Tarzan, maybe they were trying to make a comparison to the Bullwhip, but this is just silly and distracting.

The middle third of the movie is simply too muddled and complicated.  Trying to increase the mystery by talking and talking and talking is not helpful.  Previous entries were simple and to the point, this one is not.

The CGI in this movie is sloppy and obvious, and that is sad coming from Lucas and Spielberg.  Spielberg wrapped shooting earlier this year.  At least Lucas spends a year in post production.  Maybe he should have spent more time in front of the Mac and made it more likable.

The Good

Cate Blanchete is great in this movie, she makes a great villian.  It is almost like she was acting in a different movie from the rest of the cast. 

The motorcycle chase with Mutt and Indy with the KGB is very good and enjoyable. This scene is where the real humor of Indiana Jones exists.  Unfortunately in this movie it only exists in this scene.

The opening feels like an Indiana Jones movie and it is pleasing, but as soon as you realize they are looking for an Alien corpse from Area 51, the Indiana Jones feeling goes right out the window.

The End

Indiana Jones did end with The Last Crusade and let's visit with him on DVD, not in the Kingdom of the silly skull.

Other related Articles:
Elizabeth DVD review
Movies I'm looking forward to '08 (I now admit I got Indy wrong)

Wedding Templates for Adobe Encore CS3

Posted by Martin:

I'm trying something new.  I've created ten menus in Photoshop CS3 for use in Encore CS3 and I am selling a CD of them this week on eBay.  Since they are Photoshop files, they should work in any authoring format that accepts layered Photoshop files.  Click here for the auction.

Photography sale to support Habitat for Humanity

Posted by Martin:

I have some new photographs up in my Ebay store.  Sale of these prints support Habitat for Humanity.

    Click on the images purchase a copy.

Using the edit in Photoshop command in Lightroom

Posted by Martin:

This video podcast comes from Above TV, which I am finding to be an incredible resource.  This podcast teaches the basics of the edit in Photoshop command in Lightroom.  It will also teach you how Lightroom handles your original file when editing.

Okay. Now. Lightroom 1.4 is ready

Posted by Martin:

Lightroom 1.4 has been fixed and is now ready on the Adobe site.  According to the Lightroom Journal blog the issues have been fixed.

Video Tutorial on Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and Panasonic P2

Posted by Martin:

Adobe TV has just launched and I am very much impressed, nay!, in love with this so far.

Here is a great video on Premiere Pro CS3, which is my editing weapon of choice, and the NATIVE editing of Panasonic's P2 format.  Check it out!

Adobe begins Adobe TV

Posted by Martin:

This looks pretty cool.  Adobe.com has begun Adobe TV.  A video site for education of on their products.  Which is cool, because I seem to learn better from videos as opposed to books.  But I still use books, so don't here me say that.

As an example here is the first episode of Adobe Beginner Classes.

Hat Tip to iJustine for this one.

My new photoblog-Tiller Photography

Posted by Martin:

I'm starting a new photoblog to link with this blog.  The point of the photoblog is just that. Photos.  I hope each week will be a different theme.

Click here to view.

Thanks for checking it out.

More Behind the scenes with 007 on Quantum of Solace

Posted by Martin:

Here is another video from behind the scenes of the next Bond movie.  I'm liking this Reelzchannel site.

Quantum of Solace

Click here to see more behind the scenes of the next Bond movie

Get rid of Lightroom 1.4 and go back to 1.3.1

Posted by Martin:

I recently have begun working with Adobe Lightroom.  I upgraded to 1.4, but Adobe just recently removed that update from their site.  And according to Adobe itself you need to uninstall 1.4 and go back to 1.3 until they fix 1.4.

Blu-Ray page in my aStore

Posted by Martin:

Now for complete advertising.

I've been working on an Amazon aStore to complement this site.  In honor of the end of the format war, click here to see my Blu-Ray section!

Elizabeth:The Golden Age-DVD Review

Posted by Martin:

The Movie: B

The first Elizabeth was made nearly ten years ago, I guess I find that hard to believe because I was in college at the time.  That movie was a classic, the sequel Elizabeth-The Golden Age is a good movie, but not the classic the original was.

The romantic tension is here, as it was in the first movie, but this time around there is a strange love triangle between Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh, and another Elizabeth on the Queen's Court.  In the first movie the tension was to get the Queen married, that isn't the focus this time around.  The focus is for Elizabeth to be loved just as a regular human being, and to me that is a boring story.  You can see that in any movie, but to marry for royal and political purposes is not an everyday story.  And the filmmakers didn't focus on that this time around.

The crux of this movie focuses on Prince Philip of Spain's invasion of England and the failure of the Spanish Armada to crush the English navy.  Unfortunately this was very passed over.  In fact I found it down right confusing.  Elizabeth's rise to the golden age is grounded in this event, yet there is very little screen time dedicated this battle, very strange to me.

But having said that, this movie still makes you respect the Queen that Virginia was named after.  I guess because I am a Virginian I may some sort of soft spot for Elizabeth in my psyche.  Clive Owen as Sir Walter Raleigh is a case of great casting, as is Samantha Morton as Mary Queen of Scots.  And it is the story of Mary that really makes this movie tense and gives the movie its best scenes.  The debate to behead Mary lies in the idea that Royalty is Divinely given, thus to behead Mary would be for Elizabeth to admit she was human and not there to divine intervention.  Yet to keep the kingdom together Mary needed to die.  This is the tension and conflict that makes this movie.

The Disc itself-Video A; Audio B

The video transfer here gets an A.  This is a well photographed movie and it comes across on the DVD.

The audio is only Dolby Digital and it is a good spacious sound space, but I still would like to see a DTS track.  There is a commentary track by the director.

Extras B-

There are four different short making of features.  The most interesting one is about the art director and the details he brought to the set.  But the others are fairly typically filler and talking heads, interesting but not really something to purchase the disc for.

UPDATE:

This post is now listed on the Movie Monday Carnival.  Thanks!

Photoshop Quicktips-Cross Processing

Posted by Martin:

In this podcast Justin talks about using a curves preset to get a nice cross processed look.  You can visit his website at http://www.photoshopquicktips.com.

 

You can also see other tutorials here.

Creating Keyboard Shortcuts for Adjustment Layers-Quicktips Podcast

Posted by Martin:

In this episode Justin shows how to make keyboard short cuts for adjustment layers in Photoshop CS3.  A much needed tip in my opinion.

Behind the scenes with 007 on Quantum of Solace

Posted by Martin:

I am such a big fan of Casnio Royale, that I can't wait for November for the next 007 offering.

Quantum of Solace

Quick Touch Ups in Raw-Quicktips Podcast

Posted by Martin:

Here is a quick video by Justin Seeley on touching up photographs in RAW format.  Which is important because this is nondestructive editing.