So, I haven’t posted a review in a while but I really had to write about this film after I watched it. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, has probably been the best film I have seen this year so far.

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, ruthless computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet’s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves

Initially it was hard to get into the subtitles, but the film really did rapidly progress to be quite exciting which made the subtitles barrier much easier to bare. I would thoroughly recommend buying the DVD, it is only a few pounds and can be bought via my link above.

Popularity: 13% [?]

*Begin Rant* – Please skip this if you wish and move direct to the main content

Recently I have become a little pissed off with closed ecosystem’s a.k.a Apple’s way of doing things. It has always been a system I have relished and thought was a great idea. Back in the days of the iBook (A machine I adored) there were no issues with your Apple system, it really did just work! Today, things are very different. There are many different hardware configurations, it is now Intel based and we have all these iOS devices popping up like jack rabbits. If you are one of those people that has had a bug (iPhone 3G and iOS 4 for example) then you know how frustrating it is whilst you wait for Apple to sort it out. You are at the complete mercy of a huge corporation!

There have been multiple things that have really started to get to me, if your a regular reader here, you already know what they are. If not, I will recap. When the move to Intel initially occurred, the build quality of the new machines was s**t. I went through 7, yes 7 Macbook’s. One was even quality controlled by Apple in Ireland, and to be frank that was a POS. Thankfully, those days are a thing of the past, Apple build quality really is back to where it was, if not better. Next, ever since the intel move I have found the operating system to be buggier, slower, and generally more windows like every iteration we get. A user should not be left wishing they had stayed on a previous version of an OS. I wish I was on Tiger still, just like I wish I was still on 3.1.3 on my iPhone 3G. Version 4.1 has improved things, but it is still not usable. Add to that the way Steve commented about user feedback on the Apple TV…. either he is telling lies or he has asked a total bunch of muppets. Everything Mac fans have been asking for with that device for years he has negated. We wanted openess, the ability to play any file type, we wanted a blu-ray or DVD drive and we wanted a TV tuner. That Steve-O is what makes a great TV device for your living room.

Why be at the mercy of a company that cares more about money that it does about you? I mean, and I quote:

“we don’t care about existing users, our target is windows movers” – Apple Recruiter 2006.

*End Rant*

So on the back of this rant, I wondered, given how much time and money I have invested in the Mac and iOS platforms whether I could actually make a complete move to open source and like it. From what I can see, it would offer me greater freedom both in terms of hardware and software choices….. it would also free my wallet. I tend to spend quite a bit on Mac applications….. especially with the latest and greatest versions you seem forced to buy to get the functionality you really wanted from day one. This will be a series of posts about my transition to open source, the replacement of all my main apps and how I did it. It will serve as a demonstration to all about how easy it is to do and how you can all give it a go, right now, without any investment on your part at all.

Please subscribe to the RSS feed if you are interested in seeing this series unfold and PLEASE comment on the threads. I want to know what you think, how many of you are open source now and what you think to closed ecosystems as shown in my rant.

Popularity: 20% [?]

The Man (2005) was my most recent movie watch, I discovered it through advertisement from another rental I had made. The trailer made it look hilariously funny which was probably a dead cert given it stars Eugene Levy. Of course you can also tell there is going to be a slightly serious element to it with big Samuel L Jackson’s presence. For the first time in my movie reviews you have the option of purchasing the DVD and helping support my site, simply click on the DVD cover to the left.

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Popularity: unranked [?]

Wahlberg plays an ex USA marines sniper who is recruited to foil a plot to assassinate the president. Essentially the film shows how he is double crossed by the people that have hired him and framed for the assignation. He goes on the run and tries to find the people that have double crossed him.

Shooteris a gripping film that is full of action. It’s one of those movies that unravels and things start to slowly drop into place. Acting by Wahlberg is very good, one of the first movies I have seen him in, the other being the 2003 Italian Job. 

Shooteris based on the 1993 novel Point of Impact, by Washington Post film critic Stephen Hunter, who used Bob Lee Swagger (Wahlberg) in two of his other books, Shooter benefits greatly from having Training Day director Antoine Fuqua who at least has some experience with similar movies.

Michael Pena (Crash, World Trade Centre) who plays Nick Memphis the newbie FBI agent who learns to side with Swagger and become his spotter. Kate Mara (We Are Marshall, 24, Brokeback Mountain) acts as amazing eye candy and as the girlfriend of his dead marines partner who Swagger turns to for help. Still, it’s the villains played by Danny Glover, Ned Beatty, Elias Koteas and Rade Sherbedzija who get the most out of the movie by diving off the deep end along with the script, by Jonathan Lemkin (Lethal Weapon 4).  

In all I think Shooter is a worthy watch if you like action films, something you won’t be blown away by but will enjoy watching.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Released just over one year ago (19th January 2007), Rocky Balboa arrive as part of my movie rentals. Having always enjoyed the Rocky films I was sure I would enjoy this one despite it being the 6th Rocky movie, and with the 5th being what we all thought to be the end!

So what is the film about if Rocky has retired? Well old Rocky comes out of retirement to box the latest world champion one more time. The film spends a long time setting the scene, going through the usual emotional things given the fact Rocky’s wife is now dead. Eventually we get to the usual Rocky fight preparation followed by the big fight. So what is my verdict on this movie?

Stallone is very good in the movie and really plays the emotional scenes well, he interacts well with the other actors. On the flip side, this didn’t have the usual fire a Rocky film has. The training scenes didn’t really get you fired up and the fight scenes didn’t leave you screaming ‘Go Rocky’ at the screen like the previous movies did. In all its a worthy watch but I think the previous movies really set the tone and this Rocky movie has a big history to follow which I don’t really think it did.

Popularity: 3% [?]