Samsung's LN55A950 seems destined to generate controversy among the videophile community. Some will insist that it's the best-looking LCD TV on the market; others will say, well, otherwise. Both arguments are likely to revolve around the LED-backlighting technology that differentiates this high-end model from nearly all other currently available LCD TVs.
As the DTV transition looms in February 2009, some TV stations are worrying that their signal dispersion pattern may shrink or change shape. To deal with that potential problem, the Federal Communications Commission has green-lighted distributed transmission systems (DTS). This is essentially a fix that would allow the usual single broadcast tower to be supplemented with additional transmitters.
Video: 3.75/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 2/5 In "Paris Je T'aime", celebrated directors from around the world have come together to portray Paris in a way never before imagined. Made by a team of contributors as cosmopolitan as the city itself, this portrait of the city is as diverse as its creators' backgrounds and nationalities. With each director telling the story of an unusual encounter in one of the city's neighborhoods, the vignettes go beyond the 'postcard' view of Paris to portray aspects of the city rarely seen on the big screen.
Video: 3.75/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3/5 In the blockbuster "Romancing The Stone", novelist Joan Wilder and wanderer Jack Colton went sailing off into the sunset together. In this thrill-packed sequel, Ralph is back on their trail and they're back in the fast lane on a perilous trek through the fierce North African Desert. Not even treacherous tribes, deadly dungeons and seemingly endless villains can stop this trio from finding, once and for all, that mysterious "jewel".
Video: 3.5/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 2.5/5 It made overnight stars of Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, shocked film critics everywhere and became one of the biggest cult classics of the '80s. Twenty years later, "Heathers" remains the only brilliantly black comedy about peer pressure, malicious croquet and having a brain tumor for breakfast. At Westerburg High where cliques rule, jerk jocks dominate and the most popular girls are all named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and the mysterious and possibly psychotic new kid J.D. to give teen angst a body count.
Video: 4.25/5
Audio: 4/5
Extras: 3.5/5 Will Smith stars as Hancock, a sarcastic, hard-living and misunderstood superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public. When Hancock grudgingly agrees to an extreme makeover from idealistic publicist Ray Embrey, his life and reputation rise from the ashes and all seems right again - until he meets a woman with similar powers to his and the key to his secret past.
Video: 4.25/5
Audio: 3/5
Extras: 2.5/5 The time is now. The place is aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz, America's mightiest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier on maneuvers in the Pacific Ocean. Suddenly, a freak electrical storm engulfs the ship and triggers the impossible: The Nimitz is hurtled back in time to December 6, 1941, mere hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As the enemy fleet speeds towards Hawaii, the warship's Captain, a Defense Department expert, a maverick Air Wing Commander and a desperate Senator in the Roosevelt administration must choose between the unthinkable. Do they allow the Japanese to complete their murderous invasion or launch a massive counter-strike that will forever change the course of history?
Video: 3/5
Audio: 2/5
Extras: 3/5 The Christmas spirit isn't served up with more heartfelt warmth or observant hilarity that in this beloved adaptation of Jean Shepherd's holiday story. In 1940s Indiana, nine-year-old Ralphie dreams of his ideal Christmas gift: a genuine Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine Action Air Rifle. But when gruff dad and doting mom regularly respond with "You'll shoot your eye out!" Ralphie mounts a full-scale, hint-dropping, Santa-begging campaign. He also endures all kinds of childhood calamities from snowsuit paralysis to the yellow-eyed Scotty Farkus affair to the dreaded tongue-on-a-frozen-flagpole gambit. We triple-dog-dare you to unwrap a more welcome Yuletide classic.
Video: 4/5
Audio: 4.25/5
Extras: 3.75/5 A prominent banker unjustly convicted of murder spends many years in the Shawshank prison. He is befriended by a convict who knows the ropes and helps him to cope with the frightening realities of prison life.