Tag: Amazon Instant Videos

Lena Dunham Is A Lying Liar Who Lies

Lena Dunham is a very clever writer, a brave actress and an intelligent woman with some insightful things to say about relationships. Relationships between: parents and their adult children, bosses and employees, husbands and wives, friends, roommates, idol-worshipped heroes and their worshippers, and between romantic or hook-up partners. She is also a savvy businesswoman who’s adroitly navigating the entertainment business. For all of these things, I greatly admire Lena Dunham. However, Lena Dunham is also a lying liar who lies. In her breakout hit HBO series Girls, which Dunham writes as well as sometimes directing and producing, Dunham casts and writes herself in the role of Hannah Horvath: the Regular Girl, the Smart Girl, the Not-Hottie, if you will. Hannah is smart and funny, and prone to bouts of neurosis and narcissism, but no more so than anyone in their 20s who lives in New York (or L.A., or Chicago, or London, etc….

4/3/17 Movie Monday: Flight of the Conchords

Welcome to DMM’s 4/3/17 Movie Monday, where I’ll help you tackle movie night with brief reviews of movies and videos you may have missed. This week, I’m spotlighting the work of New Zealand musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. Everything featured here is currently rated 4.5/5 stars; these guys are good! Most people here in the U.S. got their first exposure to this musical comedy team in HBO’s One Night Stand: Flight of the Conchords (NR). This clip from YouTube captures their quirky style far better than any description could.

3/27/17 Movie Monday: New Releases

Welcome to DMM’s 3/27/17 Movie Monday, where I’ll help you tackle movie night with brief reviews of movies and videos you may have missed. This week, I’m sharing my  take on two recent releases.   Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (PG-13) – currently only available for purchase, not rental. From Lucasfilm comes an epic adventure – Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. In the first Star Wars movie ever released, A New Hope, Princess Leia hid the plans to the Death Star in R2D2, and the rebellion used them to destroy the Death Star. This movie tells the backstory of how the plans were stolen. It’s big and noisy, and all the critics who described it as first and foremost a war…

2/20/17 Movie Monday: Tom Hanks Comedies

Welcome to DMM’s 2/20/17 Movie Monday, where I’ll help you tackle movie night with brief reviews of movies you may have missed that are worth the rental or purchase. This week’s focus is on lesser-known Tom Hanks comedies. Hanks has been known primarily for his dramatic roles for quite some time, but he got his start in comedies and all of these are winners.

2/13/17 Movie Monday: Anti-Valentine’s Day Movies

Welcome to DMM’s 2/13/17 Movie Monday, where I’ll help you tackle movie night with brief reviews of movies you may have missed that are worth the rental or purchase. This week’s theme is geared to those who aren’t feeling the hearts and flowers this Valentine’s Day. Funny, scary or thought-provoking: hopefully there’s something for everyone here.

2/6/17 Movie Monday: Three Takes On Snow White

Welcome to DMM’s 2/6/17 Movie Monday, where I’ll help you tackle movie night with brief reviews of movies you may have missed that are worth the rental or purchase. This week’s theme is three takes on that fairy tale classic, Snow White. Whether you’re looking for bright family fun, action and adventure or something a little darker, one of these is sure to suit the bill. Mirror Mirror (PG) One of the most beloved tales of all time comes to life in the spectacular Mirror Mirror, starring Lily Collins as Snow White and Julia Roberts as the evil Queen. A fresh and funny retelling of the classic fairy tale, the film also stars Armie Hammer Sean Bean, and Nathan Lane. This candy-colored version is directed by Tarsem Singh, the visionary auteur behind the painterly indie masterpiece The Fall, bold Immortals and spine-tingling The Cell. Like all of Singh’s films, this one is a beauty to…

1/23/17 Movie Monday

Welcome to DMM’s 1/23/17 Movie Monday, where I’ll help you tackle movie night with brief reviews of movies you may have missed that are worth the rental or purchase. This week, I’m featuring a few lesser-known horror movies that offer some big names and are better than critics’ reviews would have you think. I’m not a fan of gratuitous gore, so while any R-rated horror movie will of course have some splattery deaths, none of these linger too long or lovingly on the blood and guts. Ghost Ship (R) In a remote region of the Bering Sea, a boat salvage crew discovers the eerie remains of a grand passenger liner thought lost for more than 40 years. This movie stars Juliana Marguiles, Gabriel Byrne, Karl Urban and Ron Eldard, and includes Emily Browning in one of her first big-screen roles. It’s hard to say much about the plot without spoilers, but…

New Feature: Movie Monday!

Since Music Monday has been getting pretty repetitive, with lots of Classical music and not much else, I’ve decided to introduce a new feature: Movie Monday. On Movie Monday I’ll help you tackle movie night with brief reviews of movies, TV shows and other digital videos you may have missed that are worth the rental or purchase. This week, it’s all about the action movies. Escape Plan (R) One of the world’s foremost authorities on structural security agrees to take on one last job: breaking out of an ultra-secret, high-tech facility called “The Tomb.” Sylvester Stallone stars as Ray Breslin, the world’s top expert in structural security. When he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit, his skills are put to the ultimate test in an attempt to break out of one of his own prisons. Co-stars some pretty big names: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Sam Neill, Vincent D’Onofrio and 50…

Amazon’s Actually Free Apps: What’s The Catch?

Ever since Amazon launched its Underground program for apps, through which consumers can get “Actually Free” versions of popular apps, app fans have been wondering how this is possible. After all, all Actually Free apps are free to download and include in-game items like power ups, hints, extra turns and other upgrades (that the user formerly had to buy with real money) at no charge. Who’s Paying For This? Amazon. If you’re thinking the catch must be that somehow, some way, at some point you are going to be charged for using Actually Free apps, you can stop worrying about that. They are really, truly, Actually Free. With a regular, not Actually Free app the app developer makes his money through up-front purchases of apps or in-app purchases paid by app users. In an Actually Free app, the developer gets paid by Amazon on a sort of commission basis that’s tied to…

Alexa Voice Service, Amazon Echo, Amazon Instant Videos, Fire TV, Kindle Fire, savvy consumer

I just posted about the new tablets for another site so I’ll reproduce that same post here, then add the new Fire TV details. Here’s the rundown on the new models, from Amazon: All-New Fire Tablet ($49.99, available for order today, ships 9/30/15): This is a groundbreaking new tablet for under $50. The new Fire tablet includes a quad-core processor, 7” IPS display, front- and rear-facing cameras, up to 128GB of expandable storage, exclusive Amazon features and services, and access to the world’s best content ecosystem—all for just $49.99. Customers can also choose to buy Fire as a six-pack for less than $250. My take: the specs on this $50 tablet are surprisingly good. Its display is a bit lower in resolution than the current HD6, and its processor speed and battery life are both a little lower than the HD6 as well. But it’s not a dramatic difference, and the new…