Comments are closed! Congrats to the winner!

Welcome to Blu Monday! The Geekadelphia crew get sent a lot of Blu-rays and just don’t have the room to keep ‘em all. Plus, I’d rather share them with you, dear readers. Today, we’ve got The Matrix Reloaded.

Ah, the Matrix trilogy, the utterly brilliant piece of cinema that we pretend the Wachowski Brothers made without directing anything else. Seriously. Let’s just imagine that Speed Racer never ever happened. Okay? Moving on.

You’ve seen the film in theaters, possibly on DVD or television… but you’ve never really seen the Matrix: Reloaded (or the other two) until you’ve witnessed it in high definition. The picture is crisp and the special effects are absolutely stunning. Watching any of the Matrix films on Blu-ray is reminder of why you should own a Blu-ray player to begin with.

The Blu-ray is loaded with a lot of the same special features available in the already released trilogy box set, including nine featurettes documenting the epic car chase, a documentary on the teahouse fight, theatrical trailers, television spots, commentaries, a documentary on the Matrix video game… and over a dozen MORE featurettes. A DOZEN. The disc packs a ton of content.

Is this worth purchasing? Sure, if you’re not interested in picking up the trilogy box set. And I can certainly understand that, since the box set includes the Animatrix and other content you might not be into.

Do you want to win a copy of the Matrix: Reloaded on Blu-ray? Sure you do. Just leave a comment with the name of your favorite Matrix character for a chance to win. I’ll close the thread on Friday and email the winner, who will be chosen at random.

The Matrix: Reloaded on Blu-ray [ Amazon ]

This Thursday, Philadelphia’s chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts is hosting yet another fantastic lecture, entitled Design Business: Contracting Survival Skills.

Leading the talk? Frank Taney, an attorney with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. To read Frank’s detailed (and impressive) bio, visit the AIGA’s official website.

According to a press release from AIGA, “Frank will identify the key contracting issues that give rise to potential disputes or exposure for your company. He will also teach you some techniques for avoiding and minimizing these risks while preserving your relationships with your current and prospective clients.”

Entrance to the lecture is $30, and it’ll take place in the Caplan Auditorium at the University of the Arts. Faculty, staff, and students at UArts can get in for free, so go get your learn on, kids.

Design Business: Contracting Skills Lecture
Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
$30
http://bit.ly/9e5a9x

Guest Post by MA

Season six of Grey’s Anatomy starts with a crash, and ends with a bang.  What comes in between is the continuation of the story twitter user Shonda Rhimes (@shondarhimes ) created seven years ago about a resident and attending surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital who fall in love.  Or really, how Patrick Dempsey went from uber geek to one of the hottest actors out there.  This season sees Seattle Grace merge with a competing hospital, and of course, drama ensues.  Of note, former Journeyman Kevin McKidd joins the cast as Seattle Grace’s troubled trauma surgeon.

The DVD set as in previous seasons, provides the viewer with some extended episodes of scenes that were not seen in the original broadcast.  Unlike the rest of the DVD offerings from ABC TV this year, Grey’s Anatomy is a full size box set.  It’s obvious that an effort was made not to cram as many episodes on a disk as possible.  This in my opinion, is a good thing.  It makes for a better picture, better authoring, and a better watching experience.

While I watched the extended episodes, I wasn’t able to recognize any of the scenes that were added in.  Another feature worth mentioning of the set was the feature on Chandra Wilson, who won an Emmy in the last season, and who also spent some time on the other side of the camera in the director’s chair.  She plays Miranda Bailey, Seattle Grace’s  resident geek and lover of science fiction – who will throw out a geek reference when you least expect it.

Season Six of Grey’s Anatomy is released on DVD in most stores on September 14, and season seven starts on ABC on September 23.  If you are a fan, this is an excellent addition to your Grey’s Anatomy collection.  If you haven’t seen the show, it’s worth checking out to see how Shonda Rhimes managed to create one of the most popular shows on television.

Easy A hits theaters today and I was lucky enough to get a few minutes to speak with the lovely and talented Emma Stone who was enjoying her first starring role after co-starring in such great films as Superbad, The House Bunny and Zombieland.

If you’re not familiar the story of Easy A it’s actually a rather intriguing update on the literary classic The Scarlett Letter, with a modern twist. In order to help her gay best friend who is being bullied in school Olive (Emma Stone) feigns losing her virginity to the boy to save him from ridicule. When more boys trying to up their social standing approach Olive for her services as well, she opens for business pushing the high school rumor mills into overdrive.

While the film does hearken back to the teen craze of the late 90s this film takes a slightly more realistic and jaded approach to high school life.

What drew you to play the role of Olive?

First of all, it’s really rare to read a really well-written, fleshed-out, funny character that’s female, especially in a comedy, and so that’s exciting right off the bat.  Then I just thought the script is so clever, and I really liked Olive’s perspective on things.  She’s no damsel in distress, so I just really liked her all around as a character and loved the script itself.

Did you have any experiences in high school that are similar to that of your character? Were there any particular traits that you felt you had in common with the Olive?

Well, circumstantially, I really didn’t have anything in common with Olive because I was homeschooled for most of high school.  So, I was kind of on my own for most of that experience.

As far as personality goes, I think she and I are pretty eerily similar in a lot of ways.  That might be one of the reasons I responded so quickly to her when I read the script.  I could kind of understand her viewpoint and where she was coming from and what it was like to have a family like that because I have really open, straight parents that we talk about everything.

So I liked seeing that kind of cool relationship she had with her family.  Yes, I feel like we have a lot in common personality-wise, but I did not have her high school experience.

The story seems to take several stereotypical teen clichés and flip-flop the roles, empowering what is usually simply a supporting character and making her the main protagonist.  Do you think a film like Easy A could have been made like say ten years ago?

A big part of it—even beyond the character roles or flipping certain stereotypes on their ear—is the speed of technology now and the digital age and text messaging and Twitter and that type of communication and her being able to not atone but explain everything that’s happened into her webcam and having people be able to see it.

So, I’m sure there could have been some differences ten years ago that would have been similar, but to me, it feels so kind of time sensitive, the issues that we’re dealing with, so it feels like a kind of modern-times movie to me.  But in terms of the characters, I would hope that those are relatively timeless.

More after the jump!

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Wow. Seems like this is the month for launching new publications.

First we talked about Tek Lado, a new magazine for Philadelphia’s techie / geek community… and now, we’ve got APIARY, Philadelphia’s first arts and letters magazine for people of all ages. And like the Tek Lado bash, you’re invited to a festival to celebrate the launch.

APIARY is being launched by Philadelphia writers Michelle Crouch, Tiana Pyer-Pereira, Nick Forrest, Tamara Oakman (who I went to Arcadia University with… represent!) and Lillian Dunn. To celebrate their new magazine, they’re hosting the first Light & Honey Multi-Arts Festival in University City. It takes place on Sunday, September 26th, at the University City Arts League.

They’ve got over 40 poetry and literature geeks lined up to perform, as well as musicians of all kinds. Want to learn more about this new magazine that anyone can be published in and their upcoming launch event? Visit their official website and scope out the event on Facebook.

Light & Honey Multi-Arts Festival
Sunday, September 26th, 2010
www.theapiarycorp.com
www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=153789711300332

I’ve been really looking forward to Catfish, the reality thriller documentary about Nev Schulman, a man who begins a relationship with a woman he met on Facebook, who he has never met in real life.  Nev’s brother Ariel filmed the documentary throughout the process, and you get a very intimate look at dating in the digital age as the relationship progresses.

The film has been currently been making the rounds and getting good buzz on the festival circuit. If there is one thing I have heard about this film, it’s the less you know when you walk in, the better off you are. I actually stumbled upon the trailer before the contest and totally agree with this.

There was even a small backlash when the film was picked up by Rogue Pictures and a trailer was cut for the film exposing a little more than the film makers would have liked you to know. So with that in mind I will put the trailer after the jump.

We are having an advance screening for the film which opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, September 25th, and I have 25 passes to give away for a showing on Tuesday, September 21st at the Ritz 5 at 7:30pm. To enter simply comment with a piece of online dating advice and the first 25 will get passes!

If you don’t live in Philadelphia and still want to see Catfish feel free to click here and request that the film play in your area!

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Remember those arcade games with the massive guns attached to them that came out in the mid 90′s? Sure you do.

Thanks to the kind folks at SEGA, I recently had the opportunity to play the bundled arcade pack Gunblade NY and L.A. Machineguns for the Nintendo Wii. It’s a release of 2 of SEGA’s fast paced light gun shooters exclusively for the Wii.

Now, when I say fast paced, I’m not joking. The camera in the game is CRAZY. I barely had time to register the enemies all over the screen. Eventually I just gave up trying to aim and just held the trigger down so it peppered everything in sight with bullets — including civilians. Thankfully the bullets are endless.

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With the print media in a swift and inevitable decline, it takes real guts to launch a new print magazine… especially one that’s so niche like Philadelphia’s new Tek Lado mag. And the Geeks here at Geekadelphia respect that. Kudos, Bartash Inc.

That’s why we’re a media partner for the new mag, and teaming up to help promote their launch party. See that little ad up in the corner there? Bam.

Tek Lado’s launch party goes down at the end of the month, on Thursday, September 30th, and guess what? You’re all invited. Other media partners include our homeslices Technically Philly and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Co. The space? TRUST in Old City (249 Arch St) Philadelphia. And like all of our favorite events, this one is free.

Expect live music, free hors d’oeurves, fancy drinks, gaming stations, giveaways, and more. You can sign up to secure a spot on the VIP list at Tek Lado’s events page, here. Get on that, kids.

Want to learn more about this new magazine? Our friends over at Technically Philly have an interview with Liz Spikol, a former editor at the Philadelphia Weekly, who will be taking the reigns as EIC of the new mag. Read up, it should come as no surprise that Chris Wink’s article is great. Also, try not to crush too hard on Liz Spikol. We’re already doing that. Swoon!

September 30th. TRUST. Be there.

Tek Lado Launch @ TRUST
Thursday, September 30th, 2010
6PM – 9PM
www.tek-lado.com/events-2

With Let Me In’s October 1^st release date quickly approaching the Strange Promotional Material game still isn’t over yet, which is evidenced by a new package from New Mexico I received last Friday night.

While the copy of Romeo and Juliet is kinda a “Duh!”, and the Rubix cube does factor into the film, the only thing that has me stumped is the delicious package of watermelon Now and Laters. Any thoughts? Check out the video above for my unboxing.

I really dug Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time when first I reviewed it here back in May, and when Disney asked if I also wanted to check out their 3 Disc: Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy Edition I simply couldn’t resist. The film had some great special effects eye-candy that I didn’t mind checking out again on Blu-ray.

After watching Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time again, my opinion really hasn’t changed about the film. It’s still a lot of fun to watch and surprisingly holds up well on repeated viewings. Looking back I still don’t get all the “controversy” about Jake Gyllenhaal not being race correct for his role, after all you’re watching a film about a magic dagger that allows you to travel through time. Come on.

One thing you do pick up the second time around is how the ending of the film might have been the result of the writers getting trapped in a corner. You can see they were trying to take the story someplace darker, but still at the same time trying to sneak in a Disney ending. Nonetheless it’s still one of the best video-game flicks I have seen in a while and I highly suggest you check it out if you didn’t get to see it in the theater.

Check out the review after the jump!

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Comments Closed! Congrats to the winner!

Welcome to Blu Monday! I get sent a lot of Blu-rays, and honestly, I just don’t have the room to keep ‘em all. Plus, I’d rather share them with you, dear readers.

So, starting today, I’ll be dishing out a free Blu-ray with a quick review, every single Monday…. well, unless I don’t have any to dish out that particular week. First one up? Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!

I feel like almost every Tim Burton movie is meant to be seen in high definition. His films are always visually arresting with fun soundtracks. Mars Attacks! definitely falls into this category, chock full of great, campy visuals and wacky special effects. It looks great on Blu-ray, though the CGI is certainly showing its age. But I won’t hold that against the release. Remember when Independence Day looked awesome?

One thing that this release is several lacking though… special features. The whole point of a high definition re-release of a film is to include sweet extras, right? Nothing. Not even a trailer. There’s so much in the movie. SO MUCH. An enormous cast, a great soundtrack, wild characters… why no extras to discuss any of these?

Still, a great movie is a great movie. Definitely worth a purchase if you catch it on sale on Amazon.

Now, to win this Blu-ray, just leave a comment, mentioning your favorite cast member and why. Mars Attacks! has an incredible ensemble cast, so it shouldn’t be too hard to think of one.

I’ll close the comments on Friday and select a winner at random. Good luck, commenters!

Mars Attacks! Blu-ray [ Amazon ]

Mad scientists, pack your doomsday devices.

This Friday, the Bristol Riverside Theatre invites you out for an evening of fun and film at their Mad Scientist Film Festival. Dishing out two classics pieces of cinematic celluloid, Young Frankenstein and Mary Reilly, this double header is being thrown in connection with the Bristol’s opening of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Hm. Well done, Bristol. You’ve got our attention.

The Mel Brooks classic, Young Frankenstein, starts screening at 7pm, followed by Mary Reilly, which delivers another perspective on the Jekyll & Hyde tale, at 9:15pm.

Oh, and admission to this double screening? FREE.

Now as for the show the Bristol is promoting with this screening, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde runs September 28th through October 17th. For information on the show, or to pick up some tickets, visit the Bristol’s official website.

Mad Scientist Film Fest @ the Bristol Riverside Theatre
Friday, September 17th, 2010
www.brtstage.org