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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
In the Mood for Love
Fred Kaplan  |  Mar 26, 2013
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Wong Kar-wai, the greatest living Hong Kong filmmaker, is a weaver of smoldering dreams, and In the Mood for Love is his masterpiece. He may be the most intense practitioner of pure cinema. Very little happens in this film, but his brash colors (like something out of a Matisse painting), arch compositions (long shots at slightly off angles, slow tracking shots signifying the passage of time and the ache of waiting), and use of music (a languorous, longing string motif) sow a hypnotic tension and a charged passion (though its beautiful lead actors, Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung, barely touch each other and show not a smidgen of bare skin).
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Little Shop of Horrors
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 26, 2013
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When Seymour Krelborn, a schlub working at Mushnik’s Skid Row Florists, finds a strange and exotic plant, his life suddenly takes a turn for the better. But when the plant begins to speak, it offers him a Faustian bargain, promising Seymour fame, fortune, and Audrey, Mushnik’s flower arranger and Seymour’s secret love. In exchange, Seymour must provide the plant, which he has named Audrey II, with the food it needs to grow—human blood.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Empire Of The Sun
Thomas J. Norton  |  Mar 26, 2013
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It’s 1941. Eleven-year-old Jamie Graham is living a privileged life in Shanghai’s International Settlement with his English parents. Japanese troops have occupied much of mainland China over the previous four years but remain outside of some of the country’s major population centers, including Shanghai. Following Pearl Harbor, however, the Japanese move into the city. Panic erupts and Jamie becomes separated from his parents and ends up in a Japanese prison camp for Allied civilians.
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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Monitor Audio Bronze BX1 Bookshelf Speaker
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 26, 2013

More than any other speaker in this group except perhaps the Polk, the BX1 ($379/pr) looks like a high-end product, with its walnut finish; its 1-inch, gold-finish C-CAM (composite ceramic metal) tweeter; and its 5.5-inch C-CAM woofer. Unusually, the woofer is attached to the back panel, not the front, so its vibration won't be as easily transmitted to the front panel.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Klipsch Reference RB-41 II
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 26, 2013

Usually, a sub-$400/pair minispeaker is part of a manufacturer's entry-level line, but the RB-41 II ($299/pr) is part of Klipsch's Reference line. It uses the horn-loaded tweeter that has been a Klipsch hallmark since the 1940s - in this case, a 1-inch titanium-dome model - and a ceramic/metallic-cone 4-inch woofer in a rear-ported enclosure.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
KEF C3 Bookshelf Speaker
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 26, 2013

Audio cognoscenti won't recognize the C3 ($350/pr) as a KEF because it doesn't have KEF's trademark concentric tweeter-inside-woofer design. Its 0.75-inch aluminum-dome tweeter sits above its 5.25-inch polypropylene-cone woofer in an 11.4-inch-high front-ported cabinet.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Hsu Research HB-1 MK2 Bookshelf Speaker
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 26, 2013

Hsu Research ranks high on home theater enthusiasts' "most favored brands" list, largely because of its high-performance, low-priced subwoofers. Indeed, the HB-1 MK2 ($318/pr) seems to be designed primarily as a home theater bruiser: At 15.4 inches high, it's the largest speaker in this roundup, and its 6.5-inch, polypropylene-cone woofer gives it more bass real estate than any but the Axiom M3v3.

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Bookshelf Speaker Reviews
Axiom Audio M3v3 Bookshelf Speaker
Brent Butterworth  |  Mar 26, 2013
A longtime fave of home theater enthusiasts, Axiom sells its speakers direct through its Web site. The M3v3 ($378/pr) features a 1-inch titanium-dome tweeter and a 6.5-inch aluminum-cone woofer, crossed over at 2.2 kHz and mounted in a rear-ported cabinet. At 13.5 inches high, it's one of the largest speakers in this roundup.
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Vintage Gear
The Grado Phono Cartridge: A Classic Lives On
Steve Guttenberg  |  Mar 26, 2013  |  First Published: Mar 20, 2013
In the days before the CD arrived in 1982, LPs were the format of choice for music lovers. While the turntable played a significant role in determining sound quality, you also needed a great phono cartridge to get the music out of the grooves.
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This Week
This Week in Movies & TV, March 26, 2013: Presidents, Popes, & Prisoners
Josef Krebs  |  Mar 26, 2013
January 1865, with the American Civil War in its fourth year, two months after Abraham Lincoln's re-election, there is much to be done, a nation to be remade in a new form. Lincoln - directed by Steven Spielberg from Tony Kushner's screenplay, based in part on a biography by Doris Kearns Goodwin - depicts the true events confronting the president and his monumental political challenge to amend the United States Constitution to permanently abolish slavery.
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