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Deep Impact

Plasmas have gotten a bum rap in the market for all sorts of nutty reasons. They break when shaken? No, not unless you’re talking about dropping them off the delivery truck, or them falling off the wall in an 8.0 trembler. In either case, you can kiss any flat-panel set goodbye. They leak plasma gas and need to be recharged frequently? A big-box retailer reportedly started this rumor several years ago, apparently in an effort to sell a special power conditioner that was said to eliminate the need for regular plasma transfusions.

Jennifer Aniston's venture into feature films hasn't been a resounding success thus far, but this may be her best project. The chemistry she and Bateman share is outstanding and there are some serious laugh-out-loud moments starting with the crazy homeless man in the first scene of the movie. When the kid (Thomas Robinson) enters the picture it can get a tad sappy, but that's OK because he's adorable and the relationship he develops with Bateman's character is very touching.

Why does Jake Gyllenhaal suddenly find himself on a commuter train headed to Chicago? And why is Michelle Monaghan so interested in him?

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At A Glance: Instant streaming • Easy installation and operation • Simple, user-friendly interface • Access to multiple services, paid and free • 1080p/24 compatible

Roku’s players have come a long way since I reviewed the first Roku device in our November 2008 issue. All that player did was stream Netflix movies. You had to go to Netflix.com to queue up your movies before you could stream them from your Roku box to your TV via your wireless network. Since every major Blu-ray player now offers Netflix streaming, Roku had to make its box more competitive, and it did. There are three Roku products; for this review, I’ll focus on the XDS, Roku’s high-end unit at a whopping $100.