Adrienne Maxwell

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The Last King of Scotland—20th Century Fox
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Jul 02, 2007  |  Published: Jun 29, 2007
Video: 2
Audio: 3
Extras: 4
The Last King of Scotland isn’t the first film to weave a fictional story around real-life people and events, but I struggled with this one’s questionable dramatization of some actual events. As a piece of fiction, though, it’s a gripping tale of a young Scotsman who becomes Ugandan president Idi Amin’s personal physician and witnesses Amin’s transformation from visionary to madman.
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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou—Buena Vista
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Jan 11, 2006  |  Published: Jul 11, 2005
Video: 3
Audio: 4
Extras: 5
For The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, writer/director Wes Anderson found a new writing partner. Gone is Owen Wilson (as writer, but not as actor), who helped him pen Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums—replaced with Noah Baumbach, writer/director of one of my all-time favorite indie films, Kicking and Screaming. Add Bill Murray as the title character, and I couldn't wait to see what kind of exquisitely wry tale lay ahead.
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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe—Disney
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Mar 23, 2007  |  Published: Jun 23, 2006
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 5
As I watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and made my way through the new Special Two-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD, there was something so familiar about it all. Maybe it was the fact that I’ve read C.S. Lewis’ book several times in my life, and director Andrew Adamson (Shrek) wisely chose to remain faithful to the original story, fleshing out certain details but never embellishing. Maybe it’s the archetypal good-versus-evil theme or perhaps the Christ allegory: A powerful but gentle hero chooses to sacrifice himself to fulfill the law and save others. Or maybe it was just so darn similar to The Lord of the Rings in its themes, music, locales, special-effects artistry, and even its DVD packaging.
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The Prestige—Buena Vista
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Jun 19, 2007
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 2
In the world of magic, nothing is as it seems. It’s only fitting that the same would be true of The Prestige, a film about two rival Victorian-era magicians determined to learn each other’s secrets, regardless of the cost to those around them. Based on a novel by Christopher Priest, the film has been carefully crafted by screenwriters Jonathan and Christopher Nolan to be its own magic trick. Even if you believe (as I did) that you’ve figured out the trick halfway through the film, Chris Nolan’s artful direction—or, more appropriately, misdirection—cleverly toys with you, pulling your attention elsewhere without ever losing its grip on the story.
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V for Vendetta Two-Disc Special Edition—Warner Brothers
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Apr 24, 2007  |  Published: Oct 24, 2006
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 3
Is it frightening or reassuring that the themes explored in V for Vendetta are as relevant now as they were when the graphic novel was first penned in the 1980s? Alan Moore and David Lloyd created the story about an antihero’s attempts to bring down a fascist government. In their film adaptation, the Wachowski Brothers didn’t have to veer too far from the original to strike a modern chord. It manages to address all the hot-button topics residing on our cultural and political plates—terrorism, immigration, gay rights, censorship, biological weapons, and how a government should best balance freedom and security—while remaining an engaging piece of fiction.
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Walk the Line—20th Century Fox
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Feb 02, 2007  |  Published: May 02, 2006
Video: 4
Audio: 5
Extras: 3
The hardest decision a filmmaker has when creating a biopic is deciding what events to include. It may be easy to pare down the sum of my existence into a tidy, two-hour package, but I’m no Gandhi…or Richard Nixon or William Wallace or Mozart. These men led complicated, dense lives, and their biopics reflect that complexity with running times of three hours or more. In Walk the Line, director and cowriter James Mangold shows remarkable restraint in telling the story of his idol, Johnny Cash, in just over two hours. Cash’s life was no less dense, no less complicated. But Mangold chose to focus on the events leading up to 1968, a pivotal year in which Cash recorded At Folsom Prison, kicked his decade-long drug habit, and married June Carter. Up to that point, Cash lived a troubled, haunted existence, but, in 1968, he found redemption. That, for Mangold, was the story to tell, and he tells it very well.
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A Black Tie Affair
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Jan 09, 2008
Vizio showed off their 2008 HDTV line today at the Wynn. The company is jumping on the 120 Hz bandwagon with their new SV Series of 1080p LCDs. Dubbed the Black Tie Series, the 42-inch SV42LF and 47-inch SV47LF use 120 Hz processing and MEMC (Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation) to reduce judder and motion blur, and the company showed an effective before/after comparison. The new models also sport a more attractive gloss-black frame and four HDMI inputs. To enjoy 5.1 sound, you can purchase the optional $299 Jive SV5.1 enhancement kit, which includes surrounds and a wireless subwoofer. The LCDs be available in July for $1499 and $1899.
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LCD TV Reviews
A Perfect Fit: Three 1080p LCDs
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Jun 04, 2007  |  Published: May 04, 2007
We look at three 1080p LCDs that offer a little something for everyone.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: The performance gap between LCD TVs is shrinking. Of course, there are enough differences to keep us reviewer types employed (at least for now); we see variations in color temperature, black level, light output, and processing. Still, it's been a while since I encountered an LCD that simply performed poorly, at least from a reputable manufacturer. Let's face it—you really have to screw up to make HDTV and high-definition DVD look bad. As you try to decide which LCD deserves your money, it has become less a question of good versus bad performance and more a question of fit and price: Which model offers the performance and features set to suit your needs at a price you can afford?

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The S&V InterviewCustom Installation How-To
Ab Fab Prefab
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Dec 07, 2007
Technology and green living converge in the LivingHome.
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And There Was Much Rejoicing
Adrienne Maxwell  |  Jan 10, 2008
We've been waiting for Escient, one of the major names in the music-server market, to offer a true video-server solution. At CEDIA, the company showed off its new Vision Series line of video playback and distribution products, but there was no way to directly import movies from the disc drive to the hard drive. Happily, that issue has now been addressed. Escient is releasing two true video servers/players: The VS-100 sports dual 500GB drivers, and the VS-200 has dual 1TB drives. Then there's big papa, the VX-600 media server, which has four 1TB hard drives. The line also includes the VC-1 networked client, to which you can stream movies, photos, and music stored on the servers over a home network. The Vision Series allows access to the Rhapsody online music service, and the players all have HDMI 1.3 connections and 1080p upconversion. The products certainly aren't cheap -- $3,999 for the VS-100, $5,999 for the VS-200, $7,999 for the VX-600, and $1,999 for the VC-1 -- but they're not as bank-breaking as other video servers on the market. Look for the Vision Series in February.
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