Buying Blu-Ray (HD) Movies in Vietnam [More on Piracy]

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

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Blu-Ray Disc logo

Image via Wikipedia

This blog has never been afraid to discuss piracy openly. (Notice I mention “this blog”. I, however, do not condone piracy in any way or fashion. “This blog” made me do it! I am innocent!)

Some examples: How to be a Digital Pirate in Vietnam, My Torrent Guide for You, The Escapist : Sony Invades Vietnam with PlayStations

Today, I want to share about the world of network media tanks, getting HD-quality movies on the cheap, and how to make this all happen. I won’t talk too much about the situation of piracy, having discussed those in detail in other articles. I also won’t get too technical about the discussion, just what 99% of the people reading this need to know to get things done.

The lowdown: getting HD movies in Vietnam can be quite affordable. Will these movies be the exact same quality as buying a Blu-Ray disc in the US? No. But pretty close for most concerning eyes (if you’re reading this article here of all places, you probably cannot tell the difference. I don’t even know if I can, for that matter, and I have a HD Player and Movies for my Xbox 360)

Getting movies basically gets down to getting a player for them (media tank), the movies (movie copy service), and of course, the TV.

Buying Movies:

3 Steps:

  1. Buy a Media Tank
  2. Buy a Hard Drive to Attach to Media Tank
  3. Buy Movies

Step 1, Buy a Media Tank:

A media tank is like a DVD Player or VCR. You connect it to your TV and it has the ability to play media. I have a WD TV hooked up to a Seagate 1.5 TB Drive. If you want to know more scroll to the bottom of post.

For a full list of Media Tanks available at Halo Shop in Saigon, see here: Media Tank List, Halo Shop. I generally recommend them for any purchases. They can speak English and they’re not so full of BS so you can take their advice for an easier process.

If you’re from Hanoi, sorry, I don’t know of any places in Hanoi, though I’m sure they exist- ask a local Home Theater shop, and they should be able to point you in the right direction.

A few more notes: Don’t bother getting HD movies unless you have an HDTV. There will be no benefit. Also, use an HDMI cable to connect the Media Tank to the HD TV. HDMI Cables should cost less than $10 USD- don’t be tricked into paying more. Lastly, if you’re not going to hook up a 5.1 (or 7.1/8.1/etc.) sound system to your TV, you should make sure the audio will be ok if you connect the Media Tank to your TV. Just ask “Can I use this Media Tank with my TV speakers?” With the WD TV, this isn’t a problem unless you are playing DTS movies, but scroll to the end of this post for more on that.

Step 2, Buy a Hard Drive to Attach to Media Tank:

You can buy these anywhere. I would suggest getting a package deal when you get your Media Tank, minimum 1TB Hard Drive, get 2TB if you can afford it. Remember, movies are 5-10 GB each, so a 1TB Hard Drive will store only 200 movies. Tank + Hard Drive may cost $400 to $500 depending on what you buy. Sounds expensive, but the movies themselves are extremely cheap.

Step 3, Buy Movies:

image thumb Buying Blu Ray (HD) Movies in Vietnam [More on Piracy]There are basically 3 types of content: 480P (DVD quality), 720P (Hi Def), and 1080P (Bad ass Hi Def). You, for practical purposes, want 720P content. If you really think you need 1080P, read the section about buying a TV below. I do have a 32” 1080P TV, but I also sit less than 3 feet away from it.

One other thing to consider is that not that many movies are available in 1080P here, so not necessarily worth the extra cash.

There are two places that I consider:

  1. ChepPhim.Net: 199/19 Duong (Street) 3/2 F11 District 10, TPHCM. Movie List, ChepPhim.Net
  2. Halo Shop: 82 Pasteur, District 1, TPHCM. Movie List, Halo Shop

ChepPhim.net is cheap, fast, and has much more content available compared to Halo Shop. You can get 1TB copied for about $10 USD in less than two days. They update their movie list about twice a month and even have TV sets like Lost and Prison Break.

Buying a TV and Home Audio:

TV:

image thumb1 Buying Blu Ray (HD) Movies in Vietnam [More on Piracy] I’ll make this simple- get a 720P TV. If you really think you may want a 1080P, read this article first: 1080p Does Matter – Here’s When (Screen Size vs. Viewing Distance vs. Resolution). If you have a family or plan to share the TV with someone else, unless you are just rich, get a 720P. A bonus about having a 1080P TV, though, is that you can use it as a 1920 x 1080 PC monitor.

For the record, I have a 32” 1080P from LG, and like I said before, I have to sit less than 3 feet away from it to take full advantage of 1080p movies, of which there are few. Most video games also max out at 720P.

Retailers:

Home Audio:

This one’s a bit tougher. I can’t really help here in terms of where to buy in Vietnam or what to buy. Try HD Vietnam if you can read Vietnamese. Otherwise, stick with the stereo TV speakers.

———————————————————–

About the Western Digital WD TV: [Quick Review and Tips]

I have the WD TV, the original version.

image thumb2 Buying Blu Ray (HD) Movies in Vietnam [More on Piracy]

Some notes on it:

  • It’s cheap. I expect the original can be had for about $100 USD now in Vietnam. I don’t think the WD TV is sold at Halo Shop anymore.
  • Supports most video formats, but surprisingly, not .FLV or .WMV. I don’t use it for audio or pictures.
  • Overall, it’s okay. Not great. But a solid value for $100. The HDMI connection on mine is a bit loose, so sometimes there’s no signal, and the remote can be frustratingly spotty. Sometimes, for whatever reason, the machine won’t turn on or off, even when the remove is right next to the sensor. Once the machine starts recognizing the remote that particular day, everything is great.
  • Getting the new version (Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player) or the original (WD TV Live) is fine for most purposes. The 2 main additions in the WD TV Live are 1) DTS support and 2) Networking support. Networking support means you can hook it up to another computer and stream stuff rather than have to connect a Hard Drive to it. The DTS support, for me, is a bit more important, because many movies that I’ve purchased here are DTS-only and therefore result in no audio when using the original WD TV. There is a fix – you’ll need this to convert those movies with the PopCorn MKV AudioConverter (along with Tutorial for converting audio tracks with HeartWare MKV Audio Converter).
  • There’s an issue with some 1080P movies on the WD TV with movies that have too many Reference (Ref) frames. This is where we get a bit technical. If you run into this issue, you’ll have to re-encode the entire movie, which is a two day process. If you get a 1080P movie that seems to stutter, try to find a 720P version. Or get a different media tank. If you really need help with this, you can find the solution on forums online. My hint: I used a combination of MediaInfo and RipBot264 to fix The Dark Knight. I haven’t fixed any other movies yet.

Links:

  • Official Firmware: WD TV Product Update – you can probably ask whomever you buy this from to install it for you if you are non-technical, but it also isn’t so difficult.
  • Unofficial Firmware: B-RAD (Don’t worry about using this unless you want to spend a lot of time on techie stuff. A note about the unofficial firmware is that I still can’t it to work right with all the extra functionality people have developed for it)
  • More talk about Firmware and Stuff: WDTV Forum Homebrew / Custom Firmware

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Sorry if this post got a bit crazy, but hopefully it’s useful to someone out there. If you have any questions or want to send in your own recommendations and tips, please leave a comment!

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09.02.2010 Movies, Reviews, Tech, Vietnam View Comments

Me at the Clash Red Carpet Premiere [Wannabe Moments] (Bay Rong)

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010

(Thanks to Norey for the pictures, thanks to bigwig Jenny for the invite!)

769758974 tNTuC M Me at the Clash Red Carpet Premiere [Wannabe Moments] (Bay Rong)

Somehow, I got lucky enough to sneak my way in (ie Jenny) to the Clash (Bay Rong) Red Carpet Premiere last month. In the picture, I am neither the suave Vinh (left) or hilariously dapper Jimmy (right), but as usual the center of attention alongside Ngo Thanh Van. (btw, despite being very tired from the night, Van was very nice)

After hearing some stories of how not-so-red carpet the red carpet premiere of Johnny Tri Nguyen’s last movie, Nu Ho Than Chet was, I wasn’t expecting a ton, but this was a great event. (Yikes, what a sentence) Not that I would know, being a nobody, but I would be happy to cheat my way in to other events like this in the future.

There was an actual red carpet in front of the Paragon in Q7, people waiting outside (not USA levels, but respectable), pictures at the entrance, gift bags for the VIP attendees (not much inside, though), stars (models, singers, rich people) and wannabees (me), and free Johnny Walker (advertised as Blue Label, given out as Gold) for all with a special (again, thanks to Jenny) invite-only after party at Khai Silk’s Cham Charm (known for the $40 weekend buffet).

The movie itself? Good! It’s action heavy, plot-light, but that’s what you would want and hope for. The movie has good pacing and doesn’t try to do too much, ending when it should. A good mark for Vietnamese cinema, for sure. I gave it a 7/10 on IMDB.

Other pictures from the night: (gallery on Smugmug)

769759028 EFHBw S Me at the Clash Red Carpet Premiere [Wannabe Moments] (Bay Rong)769759026 7duUo S Me at the Clash Red Carpet Premiere [Wannabe Moments] (Bay Rong)769759014 XjDJz S Me at the Clash Red Carpet Premiere [Wannabe Moments] (Bay Rong)769758939 JJmF7 S Me at the Clash Red Carpet Premiere [Wannabe Moments] (Bay Rong)

Ah, and trailer for Clash:

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23.01.2010 Movies, Vietnam View Comments

Star Trek Exhibition at the Tech Museum San Jose [Review]

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Star Trek ExhibitOne of the first things I did after coming back to the US was go to the Star Trek Exhibition at the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose. Here’s the official information:

STAR TREK: THE EXHIBITION – the world’s most comprehensive collection of authentic Star Trek objects – features over 200 artifacts including:

  • An authentic replica of the bridge from the U.S.S Enterprise NCC-1701 as featured in the original Star Trek television series
  • Iconic gadgets from the Star Trek universe: a tricorder; a phaser, and a communicator – all from the original series. Devices that have inspired innovators of today.
  • The actual shooting model for the Borg Cube, as seen on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager and in the movie Star Trek: First Contact
  • A chance to ride through a Star Trek adventure in a full-motion flight simulator (extra fee)

Sounds good right?

Unfortunately, I left disappointed. Even Mike, who is a much bigger Star Trek fan than me, wasn’t too happy with it.

  • I think the biggest negative to the exhibition is its price, $25 per person. That is a lot for a museum.
  • While it does have a lot of the gadgets and a ship bridge and the transporter, you’re not allowed to take photos anywhere. My sister snuck one in (above), but the security told her to stop. They offer a service to take photos at the bridge and the transporter for you, but those cost $28 EACH. To me, if you’re paying $25 per person, one picture should be free. I really wanted to buy a photo, but $28! I would have done it for $10.
  • It’s supposedly a 2 hr exhibit, but that’s only if you read everything. Carefully. It took us 45 minutes max, but maybe more like 30 minutes. 15,000 square feet for an exhibit is not as much as you would think when it’s mostly used for free roaming space.
  • There is not as much stuff as you would think.
  • I wanted to go on the flight simulator, but after seeing how much the pictures cost, I got disheartened.
  • The $25 per person does include the normal Tech Museum stuff, but after you do the Trek stuff, you so thoroughly feel like you were ripped off, you just want to go.
  • The gift shop is a great way to get people to buy stuff, but they were charging $40 for the normal bare bones edition of the DVD. You can imagine what other things might cost. My sister ended up buying a $3 can of Vulcan Ale (energy drink), but that’s it.

The price of having just one memoir (28 + 25 = $53) to remember the day was enough to make me not recommend this to others.

Star Trek Tech Museum

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23.12.2009 Movies, Reviews, Travel View Comments

GI Joe Promotions at Megastar, Hanoi [And Movie Review]

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

619991306 roMUk M GI Joe Promotions at Megastar, Hanoi [And Movie Review]

For the launch of GI Joe in Vietnam (Friday, August 14). Megastar hired models dressed as the characters to pose on stands at the theater. They had to hold their poses for 10-15 minutes a time, like statues, great for people to take pictures. It was a pretty unique promotion, I haven’t really seen anything like it where the models (also called PGs/Program Girls- PBs for guys I guess) stay still instead of interact with the crowd. I saw GI Joe at Vincom yesterday with Jimmy and Ha, and while Jimmy liked it, I thought the second half of the movie was just boring. I can’t imagine wanting to see sequels of this, and I’m disappointed how Destro and Cobra Commander came out. Even the movie’s special effects weren’t so good- I’m not sure if I’ve just become eagle eyed over the last few months but bad special effects or green screen work is becoming so obvious and annoying to me now.

Anyway, I thought GI Joe was a 5/10. Strangely though, while Jimmy liked GI Joe, Jimmy hated Transformers 2 (like most people). I actually enjoyed it more than the first one, so I am no judge on quality either.

To see all the pictures, visit my album on Smugmug. (Thanks to Ha for the pictures.)

619988554 PVJMD Th GI Joe Promotions at Megastar, Hanoi [And Movie Review] 619989684 CNKX2 Th GI Joe Promotions at Megastar, Hanoi [And Movie Review] 619989107 3YuFb Th GI Joe Promotions at Megastar, Hanoi [And Movie Review] 619990742 FEk7c Th GI Joe Promotions at Megastar, Hanoi [And Movie Review] 619990206 X2ckA Th GI Joe Promotions at Megastar, Hanoi [And Movie Review]

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16.08.2009 Movies, Vietnam View Comments

My Top Five Movies of 2008

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
Rachel Getting Married

Image via Wikipedia

I started writing this post way back in December. I noticed I had watched a good deal of movies from 2008 and I figured I’d summarize the best of what I’d seen. Then I thought, why not make an effort to see almost everything substantial from the year and post the article later.

It’s now basically June. Oops.

So that took a while, not because there were just so many movies, but so many movies that I didn’t feel particularly motivated to see, even if they were considered good. Slow going.

The basic guidelines for me to watch the movie were basically,

  1. I wanted to see it (simple enough) OR
  2. Considered “good”, by IMDB + minimum X thousand voters or received Academy Award consideration

Disclaimers:

  • I am opinionated, but I’m also stupid, so I make no claims to what a good move actually is or should be, these are just things I liked better than others
  • I have a terrible memory when it comes to watching movies- I can barely remember why I gave The Bank Job an 8, and am almost inclined to drop it to a 7- scores definitely depend on my state of mind and mood

So let’s revisit 2008, based from my IMDB vote history:

My top 5 movies:

  1. The Dark Knight (ranked 10/10): Completely implausible in a real world sense, but absolutely plausible in a super hero world sense. Got snubbed in the Oscars because it was a super hero movie, but it’s much more than that- it’s the true nature of good and evil, there really is no “good” and there is no “evil”. It’s just relative to any given person or situation, in that moment of time.
  2. Slumdog Millionaire (9/10): I thought Vietnam was poor. Not even close. A great soundtrack, story, and hero you want to root for. Even Mike, the anti-romantic, liked it a lot.
  3. The Wrestler (9/10): Will convince you Mickey Rourke is not an absolute scumbag, and teach you everything you’ll ever want and need to know about pro wrestling. RIP Ultimate Warrior.
  4. Revolutionary Road (9/10): Will someone give Leo an Oscar? I liked Kate Winslet more here than in The Reader.
  5. Gran Torino (9/10): Let the racist in me like and appreciate the Hmong. Felt real.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order, I mention these because they left a particular impression on me):

  • Death Race: I really liked this. I ranked it a 7 on IMDB, yet gave Statham’s other movie The Bank Job, an 8, but would definitely rather see Death Race again before it. It’s just a well done action movie, I loved the spectator sport style (you’re the spectator), with ESPN and pay-per-view overlays.
  • Definitely Maybe: I love Ryan Reynolds. Mancrush love.
  • Kung Fu Panda: Surprised me how many Vietnamese people enjoyed this movie, clapping and going hysterical at the theatre. What jokes were lost in translation were somehow made up by hilarious reinterpretations along the way.
  • Taken: Full bore action with a simple lot. Not a dumb plot, just simple. Liam Neeson is a bad ass.
  • Get Smart: Really surprised me how much I enjoyed this. I really like Anne Hathaway.
  • Iron Man: In my book, it earned an extra rating point on just how well it ended. Why can’t more movies do something like that? It ended when you didn’t want it to end, not when you knew it was coming.
  • Redbelt: The last scene is just incredibly intense. And no dialogue!
  • Rachel Getting Married (poster pictured above): Along with Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Anne Hathaway puts in the best female performance I saw last year. Had no idea of what the movie was like going in.

Here are my rankings for movies released in 2008 (73 in all):

Movie Title Rating
The Dark Knight (2008) 10
Definitely, Maybe (2008) 9
Gran Torino (2008) 9
Revolutionary Road (2008) 9
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 9
The Wrestler (2008) 9
Bolt (2008) 8
Changeling (2008) 8
Frost/Nixon (2008) 8
Get Smart (2008) 8
Iron Man (2008) 8
Kung Fu Panda (2008) 8
Milk (2008/I) 8
Nothing But the Truth (2008) 8
Punisher: War Zone (2008) 8
Rachel Getting Married (2008) 8
Redbelt (2008) 8
Taken (2008) 8
The Bank Job (2008) 8
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) 8
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) 8
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) 8
Death Race (2008) 7
Defiance (2008) 7
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) 7
Hancock (2008) 7
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) 7
Horton Hears a Who! (2008) 7
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008) 7
In Bruges (2008) 7
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) 7
Man on Wire (2008) 7
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (2008) 7
Ong bak 2 (2008) 7
Pineapple Express (2008) 7
Role Models (2008) 7
Speed Racer (2008) 7
Step Brothers (2008) 7
The Incredible Hulk (2008) 7
The Reader (2008) 7
Traitor (2008) 7
Tropic Thunder (2008) 7
Tyson (2008) 7
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 7
WALL·E (2008) 7
Yes Man (2008) 7
Appaloosa (2008) 6
Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) (V) 6
Be Kind Rewind (2008) 6
Cadillac Records (2008) 6
Maradona by Kusturica (2008) 6
Pride and Glory (2008) 6
Quantum of Solace (2008) 6
Rambo (2008) 6
RocknRolla (2008) 6
Seven Pounds (2008) 6
Sex and the City (2008) 6
Sex Drive (2008) 6
The Edge of Love (2008) 6
The Escapist (2008) 6
The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008) 6
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008) 6
21 (2008) 5
Burn After Reading (2008) 5
Eagle Eye (2008) 5
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) 5
Semi-Pro (2008) 5
The Duchess (2008) 5
Transporter 3 (2008) 5
Wanted (2008) 5
Yonkers Joe (2008) 5
Max Payne (2008) 3
Street Kings (2008) 3
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27.05.2009 Movies, Reviews View Comments

Attending The Star Trek Premiere at Megastar Hung Vuong

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

P090509_21.55 (Medium) Last night I attended the unofficial Star Trek premiere here in Vietnam along with Bi and Jimmy (That’s me on the right, Bi’s on the left).

It was unofficial because it’s actually not supposed to be released here for another two weeks, but Megastar did a semi-secret premiere event last night that I was able to attend- one screen for paid customers like myself, and the other for VIPs of Vietnam. Ended up seeing people I know like [name dropping] Aryeh and Landon on that side, and then later saw Johnny Tri Nguyen, Ngo Thanh Van, Dustin Nguyen, and other stars/rich people whom I simply don’t recognize. [/name dropping]

I’ll talk more about that later, but first the movie.

The Movie:

Star Trek – It is fantastic! It is truly an adventure, a roller coaster ride, whatever superlatives you see on typical BS reviews of so-so movies, Star Trek earns them. I really felt at times, watching on the big screen, this is what the movie theater is all about, the presentation, the experience, the visceral thrill. It is non-stop action, not even taking the time to have cheesiness built in (Michael Bay). It’s always serious, and it’s always fun. The movie is smart without being over your head sci-fi. Visually it is amazing, and something you can’t appreciate on a small screen, one of the few movies I truly feel this way about.

Before you think I’m just going off on exaggeration, I wasn’t really into seeing this movie before seeing the early reviews. I like Star Trek, at least the Next Generation decently enough, and have seen all the movies except for Insurrection. Of all those movies, I really only like Wrath of Khan and First Contact. I like JJ Abrams, but am not really a huge fan. Then, as the reviews came in, the consensus was this was quite good. My sister loved it as well. And then I got excited.

That said, whatever you currently believe that Star Trek is, this is not it. The essence of the characters is still there, but everything, you will be surprised. You will be delighted. It is a hero movie, but everyone takes part. This is a team. Every main character has a moment where he keeps the mission alive by doing something extraordinary. Not something extraordinary because the characters tell you it is, you can see it for yourself. You can tell that person is just amazing, and that it’s not just the Spock and Kirk show. It’s that true Communistic sense of Star Trek that was always implied, but perhaps never really executed that well in the show.

Jimmy says that Star Trek is action movie for an Obama time, positivity in contrast to the dark depressing moods of The Dark Knight. I agree and ranked Star Trek 9/10 on IMDB. It’s going to sell Blu-Ray players this Christmas, guaranteed.

The Premiere Event:

As great as the movie was, the execution of the premiere was lacking. I didn’t know yesterday was going to be a VIP event. In fact, I didn’t even know of the event. I just happened to be in Hung Vuong on Friday seeing Slumdog Millionaire with Thuy, and then I saw a poster for the premiere. No one else knew about it either; I was the first person to buy tickets to the show, and yet this was just 24 hours before the event!

That night, I went on the website to see if there was an announcement for the show. None at all. What’s odd is that the Megastar now (today on Sunday) has an advertisement for the Sneak Preview, which was probably put up last night or this morning. It’s advertising another sneak preview, though, one for May 19th, though it does mention the one I went to as well.

These previews aren’t cheap by any means. They’re roughly double normal ticket prices (which have been going up lately), close to US prices at 150K VND ($8.50 USD). I am okay to pay it, and I am sure there’s enough of an audience who can afford to pay those prices as well, but Megastar makes it so hard to actually attend.

They don’t:

  • Advertise the premieres well. Or at all. Almost in the sense they don’t really want your business.
  • Let you buy in advance, even at the theater itself. In Hanoi, I wanted to go on Wednesdays to buy tickets for a movie on Friday. Most of the time, they refused and said they couldn’t book tickets 2 days early. Are you crazy? I am willing to give my money now, and you’re saying no? Sometimes, I would come in Friday morning, and they still wouldn’t let me buy tickets.

Plus, as well as Megastar is doing in Hanoi at Vincom, they’re doing as bad in Hung Vuong in TPHCM. I’ve been here a few times on Friday nights, typical peak times. In Hanoi, it’s absolutely packed. If you’re trying to get tickets to see a hot movie 15 minutes before showtime, no way, go get a neck brace, and sit in the trash seats. At Hung Vuong, no problem. The facilities are just as good, if not better, but there is no way Hung Vuong is doing well. Slumdog Millionaire is supposed to be their #2 most popular movie right now, and I bought the first tickets for an 8:30 PM showing on Friday just two hours before showtime.

I have absolutely no brand loyalty to Megastar, even though I would want to. I want to give them my money, I want them to treat me like I matter, but they just don’t care! I go to Megastar because they’re my best option for now, but as soon as someone else does it better (not difficult), I’m gone.

Anyway, back to the event itself. When we got there, we realized there were quite a lot of people. I started to think that maybe in fact they really had advertised the premiere really well. The press was here, they tried to do a red carpet sort of thing and talk to various supposed celebrities I did not recognize. Before you came in, you had to hand over your cell phone. The reason for this, they said, was they didn’t want anyone leaking footage from the movie since the premiere time was the same time as in the US . He even said the Vietnamese equivalent of “syncing” premiere times. While I’m guessing this was at Paramount’s request, it seemed silly because 1) there already was a CAM version you could download by last night 2) no one is going to hold up their cell phone for 2 hrs to record the movie, it is impractical for a number of very obvious reasons 3) the release was not at the exact same time as in the US. My sister saw it a few days before me.

When we gave our tickets, they said we had the wrong screen, even though it was obvious we did not. Then, they said, they had switched our screen, so then we realized that all these other people in line had not paid for tickets, had just been invited for some PR purposes. Landon and Aryeh are famous VIPs, I am not.

That’s when we saw how many regular people really knew about the premiere. 25.

Fail.

Right before the show started, Johnny Tri Nguyen (#1 male star in Vietnam, by income) came in with Ngo Thanh Van and his entourage and sat 3 rows in front of us, probably sitting with us because there weren’t any good seats left in the other screen. Ngo Thanh Van is not so pretty with short hair, and was actually unrecognizable to me. The only reason I assumed it was her was as far as I knew, Johnny and her were dating. I didn’t think to myself, hey, it’s a really pretty girl, that must be Ngo Thanh Van! (At the end of the movie, when we went back to the lobby, we saw Dustin Nguyen talking to Johnny and other pip- probably important people)

The staff then came in to give away a Star Trek t-shirt and mouse. The man to my left won the mouse, and Jimmy and I were going to ask him if he would sell it to us. Right as he went back to his seat, though, before I could ask, he gave it to the kids behind us! Poop!

These same kids talked noisily throughout the movie, providing incredibly wise insights (“It’s Leonard Nimoy!”) as you might expect, and the one behind me kept kicking my chair. I wanted to wheel around and say something to him and his mother, but decided to leave it. That type of stuff, I expect out of Vietnamese people, truly, but this was a European family. What is wrong with people these days?

When I watched Slumdog the night before, the Vietnamese man to my left had terrible breath (or it could have been his feet, I really don’t know), and gave his director’s commentary to his wife next to him.

See, Megastar? You don’t really expect me to be loyal do you? I am almost happy to pirate something and watch it at home because the way you run your business, you deserve it.

Typical Vietnamese.

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10.05.2009 Movies, Vietnam View Comments

Tyson [Review]

Sunday, April 12th, 2009

image thumb6 Tyson [Review] Tyson is a basically a video recording of one and a half hours of Mike Tyson talking about himself spliced with footage from Tyson’s life, such as his boxing fights and news reports. It tries to tell the story of Mike Tyson chronologically, but purely from his eyes.

That doesn’t mean it’s not interesting. It is, but while it’s fascinating to hear Tyson talk about himself and explain his life and choices and errors, it’s hard to say this feels like a documentary. Oftentimes, it seems like Tyson’s reading off of a script, and the directors doesn’t seem willing to force Tyson to address some of the tough things he may be in denial about or unwilling to admit such as beating Robin Givens and the rape trial. From Tyson’s mind, he essentially claims he never beat Robin Givens and he never committed the rape. He basically denies those things happened. While he does admit his last fights were purely for the money, that he slept around on his girlfriends and wives, and has the wisdom to reflect and understand things better than in his younger days, he still ultimately feels he is a good guy. Almost a soft guy who just fights. Someone who claims he has found some happiness, some peace, some wisdom, but in the back of your mind, we ask have we really heard the last from him?

Perhaps though, that is the point of the movie. Maybe it’s not the story of Tyson’s life, but actually just a closer look at the man that we’re supposed to pay attention to. I think I can understand that, you see a human in front of you, incredibly flawed, but someone beyond the punching monster we saw only previously depicted through HBO and gossip columns for so many years.

Basically, if you interested in Tyson, you’ll find this worth watching. I gave it a 7/10 on IMDB.

(Even though it won’t be released in the US until starring April 24, Tyson’s available on torrent already. This is one of those movies, however, that would never be released in theaters here in Vietnam or sold here legally.)

Early on, there’s footage of young Tyson (when he’s around 20) practicing his combos in a gym. To see his speed and know his power is really scary. If he had thrown one combo at me at that speed, I know I would be dead. I have no doubt, I couldn’t survive it, it’s just when you hear about his power and then see how fast he unleashed it, it’s a scary sight, and you can start to understand why he was so dominant when he was young.

See below for the the official trailer:

video86751fdc44ce1 Tyson [Review]
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12.04.2009 Movies, Reviews, Sports View Comments

X-Men Origins: Wolverine [REVIEW - Spoiler Free]

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

x_men_origins_wolverine_posterIf you’re not aware, the big news regarding the piracy scene and movie industry lately was the Internet release of an early workprint of Wolverine, which won’t be released in US theaters until May. The workprint’s basically close to DVD quality, but missing some effects, perhaps 15 minutes of footage, and doesn’t have its own music in there- I read a comment on VCD Quality that said the music was taken from Transformers and is in there as a placeholder, a common practice for works in progress.

As someone’s already been fired for reviewing this, I don’t want to stress how much of a pirate I am, but I will say that I did argue whether I should download it. I had read an article a couple of weeks ago that discussed Gabe Newell’s (he’s the head guy at Valve, makers of the Half-Life franchise and the Steam gaming service) thoughts on piracy, and he felt that a lot of piracy comes from people just not being able to get what they want when they want it. An example he gave was with regional releases- if you’re in the UK, you might have to wait an extra few months for its official release (even if you’re willing to pay) there when you could just pirate the US release right now.

This is what influenced my decision. I didn’t know if I was so into viewing a unfinished version, but then I looked at Megastar’s release calendar, and you don’t see Wolverine listed at all (movies are often listed 2-4 months in advance, so it’s not that Megastar lists later). Some movies come to Vietnam theaters quite quickly; Watchmen came here one week after the US release. But others take quite a while; Dark Knight came 6 weeks after the US release, and Slumdog Millionaire is finally coming here at the end of April, over 4 months after I watched it in the US, 5 months after it was first released in the US, and 1 month after it will have been released on DVD. And a good quality bootleg of that has been available since January, thus greatly negating the motivation for moviegoers here to want to wait it out.

Taking those into consideration, and some positive impressions of the workprint I’d read, I decided to check it out.

I liked it. Wolverine really surprised me, and this is coming from someone who had no particular inclination to go watch it before this. I really thought it would be a dud.

I don’t want to go into extensive details or give you my rating for it, since it wasn’t a final version, but here are some notes:

  • The music, even if it was taken from Transformers, fit the movie well enough. Wasn’t a problem. So I imagine the final version with the real music will be good.
  • Intro parts of the movie to introduce the character were very well done.
  • Liev Shreiber as Victor Creed was a great character. He’s fleshed out well here, while in the comics and cartoon, I tend to think of him more as a dumb Wolverine knockoff.
  • It’s cool to see the partly finished special effects. You can learn a little bit more about how movies are made. I know that some movies have released green screen versions of their movies (Sin City), but maybe this is something more and more action movies should consider doing.
  • The plot is much more complete and well thought out than I was expecting. It made me want to rewatch X-Men and think about how this all connects, and there are a lot of appearances from other comic characters.There’s also an emotional depth that I think is deeper than in any of the X-Men movies.

Knowing that this version isn’t complete and there’s potentially more footage actually excites me. Instead of watching this and thinking, well, I’ve already seen it, no need to see it in theaters, I think of this version as more of an extended trailer. So while before this pirate release, I really wasn’t interested in the movie, now I definitely want to see it whenever it comes out to Vietnam. Will go invite the team at work as well, I think they’d really enjoy it.

See the official trailer below:

video2591268e7ede X Men Origins: Wolverine [REVIEW Spoiler Free]

Update, May 18, 2009: Ended up seeing Wolverine in its premiere weekend at Vincom in Hanoi. Since I originally posted this, I, like Jin and Tu, now believe the leak may have been a PR hoax. Of course, I am not sure why (why release an almost-final version instead of a half finished version with promise) or how they could get away with such a thing (think of their partners), but Wolverine has done pretty well at the box office, so maybe it was quite brilliant. The ironic thing is that Fox initially said that the leaked movie was quite different from the final one, and that’s what made me see it, knowing I could see an even better version once it came out to theaters. The reality is, the two versions are essentially identical. I wasn’t going to see it in theates once I found this out, but ended up giving up my money when I was hanging out with a friend in Hanoi, and there was nothing else decent we could see. In the end, I did like the movie- I gave it a 7/10

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07.04.2009 Books/Comics, Movies, Reviews View Comments

Johnny Tri Nguyen as Johnny [REVIEW]

Monday, April 6th, 2009

q-q-JohnnyTri

Johnny Tri Nguyen (above) is the number one movie star in Vietnam. Is that saying much?

Ah, maybe not. But he has been in two of the more notable local-Vietnamese productions, Nu Hon Than Chet (Death’s Kiss) in 2008, and The Rebel in 2006. NHTC broke all the local box office records here, even running a successful viral marketing campaign on Cyworld.

You might say Johnny is the Vietnam equivalent of Thailand’s Tony Jaa, the movie star best known for his breakthrough role in Ong Bak. Both Johnny and Tony are action specialists, and Johnny used to compete on the US Wushu team. But just as with most Thailand to Vietnam comparisons (football team, economy, travel, lady boys), Thailand wins. At least in action.

I recently saw Ong Bak 2, which is completely unrelated to Ong Bak aside from name, but does a good job of showing Jaa at his best, his frenetic action pace without any pretense that we need to care about the plot. I gave it a 7/10 on IMDB, and then noticed that both of Thailand and Vietnam’s best had faced off in Tom Yum Goong (translated as The Protector), released in 2005.

It’s gotten solid reviews on IMDB, averaging a 6.9 after more than 13,000 votes. Sounds good right?

Wrong.

This is an atrocious movie. Of the nearly 450 movies I have rated on IMDB, I gave this my worst rating ever, a 2/10. Awkwardly ridiculous with silly fight scenes, confusing itself between comedy, action movie, and tearjerker. Worst of all, it runs at nearly 2 hrs. Ong Bak 2, despite all its faults, focuses on the fighting, and stops at 1:30. Much more watchable, more more reasonable. Tom Yum Goong, on the other hand, was so bad even from the start that I had to start writing notes to remember this full retard.

Tom Yum Goong, My Movie Commentary Track:

(as live blogged while watching, chronological order from the start of the movie)

There’s a joke in this movie where a random passer by says something like, “You got a pirated movie movie? Don’t ever do that again!”. I wonder if somehow I got an intentionally bad pirated version of the movie, and there’s actually a much better version out there for legit owners. Unfortunately, even if there is, unlikely I can buy it.

Starting:

  • First 30 minutes:
    • OK, got it. Tony Jaa loves his elephant.
    • WTF is going on here? (movie introduces random character)
    • WTF is going on here now? (another random character)
    • WTF IS GOING ON HERE? Who is he? Who is she? (MORE random characters)
  • Ok more Tony Jaa. When is this guy going to actually do a non-totally fake seeming fight?
  • Define “Fake Fight”: you know, like when people somehow hit each other from five feet away. The kind of punches you see on Saturday Night Live, where the camera angles hide the fake action, and they add the oomph sound created by hitting watermelons.
  • Johnny Tri Nguyen’s character is named Johnny. I guess acting only goes so far.
  • An X-Games street gang is now after Tony Jaa; a gang with football jerseys, dirt bikes, BMX bikes, and ATVs. Hai ya, my ATV shall chop you!
  • The movie sets for the fighting scenes and situations seem obviously made for only Tony Jaa to use and escape from harm. Like these guys want to lose.
  • This movie isn’t purposely bad?
  • This is an action movie?
  • Johnny is as good an actor in English as he is in Vietnamese. FAIL.
  • His English sounds as good as his Vietnamese does. FAIL. (I’ve watched most of The Rebel as well)
  • Johnny speaks Vietnamese to his gang, who laugh with him. His gang is partly white.
  • Johnny Tri is not as good looking as some in VN claim him to be.
  • Tony has become the One. By wearing a bell around his wrist. He seems to change from being absolute crap, like Neo pre-Matrix, and the becoming The One. It’s a cycle he repeats over and over. He just needs motivation, apparently.
  • Tony Jaa is the Monica Seles of fighting- creating your own sound effects when doing anything. Ya! Uh! Hai ya!
  • Note to self. When attacking someone from behind with a butcher knife, do not karate-yell right before you unleash the attack, notifying the other person that you are behind him.
  • I’m hungry. It’s 2AM. There’s still 30 minutes in this movie left?
  • Why can’t anyone in this movie speak English? Even the English speakers can’t speak English!
  • Watching this movie makes me think I can handle watching Street Fighter, the Legend of Chun Li

rottenSF

  • Prachya Pinkaew- the director of this movie also directed Ong Bak? And Ong Bak was before this? I don’t think he got the performances he was hoping for, either out of himself or Tony or Johnny.
  • This is a temple that is on fire. At the same time it is flooded. At the same time, it is completely on fire?

I should write a post on FMyLife that I had to watch this movie. People on IMDB claim that the longer director’s cut is much better than the apparent US version I watched in terms of a fleshed out storyline. But those fans also thought the action was great, while I thought the action was sluggish and predictable. Poeple walk into Tony Jaa so they can be beaten up, it doesn’t seem like fighting. There’s a huge difference between the Ong Bak movies and Tom Yum Goong.

My rating: 2/10.

But here’s the trailer:

video18d44274d5a7 Johnny Tri Nguyen as Johnny [REVIEW]
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06.04.2009 Movies, Reviews, Video Games View Comments

My Torrent Guide for You

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Yes, as I have said before, I am a digital pirate.

I won’t try to defend myself. In some ways and interpretations, it’s stealing, and I admit to it. At the same time, I do buy stuff, though much less so since I’ve moved to Vietnam and been surrounded by piracy along with more limited work wages. But still, if you take any machine that I have, whether it be game console like the XBox 360, or DVD player, I guarantee that I have bought at least the average amount (also called the “attach rate”) that a customer will buy for that machine, and most of the time, much more so. I’ve bought many games, dvds, and even music cds that I never opened or played.

Torrents do have its more “gray” uses, though. Like watching basketball when it is impossible to do so in your country (Vietnam). Or checking out old tv shows or games that aren’t really sold anymore. Moving on….

Torrents, What are and How to:

A torrent is basically a file that points to other files. Almost like a map. If you download a torrent, you actually haven’t downloaded anything, just directions to some files. You actually need something that can figure out how to read those directions, like uTorrent.

Download µTorrent – Powerful BitTorrent Client

utorrent My Torrent Guide for You

If you’ve ever downloaded files with your browser, think of uTorrent as a download manager for torrent files. It knows how to find all the files you want. I don’t want to get too detailed on how to set it up, but here are some general tips once you’ve installed it.

Setting a download location:

utorrent003 thumb My Torrent Guide for You

Once you have uTorrent installed, go to the menu bar (up top), click on Options and then Preferences. (You can also click Ctrl-P).

utorrent004 thumb My Torrent Guide for You

Under directories, choose a location for your files (this is where the actual files will be stored. Remember this directory. Click OK to save.

Back to the uTorrent interface, look at the bottom, right:

utorrent005 thumb My Torrent Guide for You

You will find some funny numbers with D: and U:

D: means your download rate, U: means your upload rate. Normally, if you don’t change these settings, uTorrent will use all your bandwidth, which could upset your housemates, wife, etc., and interfere with normal internet usage. You can adjust these by right clicking on the D: to adjust the download rate (I suggest 10-20 kB/s) and then U: for the upload (match the download rate if possible).

Oops, one more thing. When you download torrent files from your browser, make sure when you get prompted if you want to download or open them, open them. Downloading them will do nothing, so open them like I show you below. If you have uTorrent installed, uTorrent will automatically handle it for you from there.

utorrent006 thumb My Torrent Guide for You

Torrents, Where to find:

Here are my recommendations, the sites I use:

General/Everything:

From movies to music to ebooks to games to tv shows. If you’re looking for movies try axxo or klaxxon in the search- results with those tend to be legit. The Pirate Bay is likely the most famous torrent site out there, but I much prefer Mininova and BtJunkie. You can also try Demonoid, but it’s not easy to get an account there.

Anime:

Comics:

Games:

Sports:

Other:

Last Notes:

Since many torrents link to files that are considered piracy or illegal, you do have to think about whether you’re ok with that. Depending on where you live, there may be repercussions. Mike, for examples, does not torrent anymore now that the various industries have started suing users. If you want to make sure there’s no chance of legal consequences, just don’t torrent. Simple.

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31.03.2009 Books/Comics, Movies, Music, Tech View Comments

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