Shane Buettner

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Deep Blue Sea
Shane Buettner  |  Dec 12, 2012
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For those who found Revolutionary Road too upbeat comes its British postwar counterpart in the soul-crushing slog that is The Deep Blue Sea (for those hoping to read a review of Renny Harlin’s guilty pleasure of a shark movie, the title of that is simply Deep Blue Sea, so sorry to disappoint you!). Set in 1950 post-war London, The Deep Blue Sea gives us Hester (Rachel Weisz), a smart, cultured, and ardent woman at a time when none of those traits was apparently valued in British society. Hester leaves her staid marriage to a wealthy judge old enough to be her father (and who looks old enough to be her grandfather), falling in for a fiery affair with a handsome pilot nearer her age named Freddie (Tom Hiddleston, or Loki to Avengers fans out there). The drag is, Freddie’s rather a creep and has issues with both commitment and finding gainful employment.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Departed (HD DVD)
Shane Buettner  |  Mar 03, 2007

What do you say about a Best Picture Winner? For one, I can say I didn't think it was the best movie I saw in 2006, even though I only saw a handful of movies. I can also say unequivocally that I don't agree at all that this is Martin Scorsese's best movie since the seminal <I>Goodfellas</I> in 1990. <I>Kundun</I> and <I>The Aviator</I> were as good or better. But Oscar had some catching up to do, and did so with a vengeance.

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Shane Buettner Blog
The Future Of HDTV, Blu-ray and LCD
Shane Buettner  |  Feb 24, 2009  |  Published: Feb 25, 2009
Is There a Future for High-End Displays? I’ve had a running joke for the last couple of years, that the flat panel TV has ruined the entire industry. It never fails to provoke a reaction. But, people say, there are only two kinds of people in the world- those who want to have a flat screen and those who already have them! The flat panel has become a price-driven commodity. Who needs big screen specialty retailers when your HDTV is just another box you throw in the cart next to the 36-roll pack of TP when you’re at Costco? It’s a funny bit. Then I see Pioneer build the best single-piece HDTVs the world has yet seen, and fail. Not a funny bit. Makes me wonder. Is there a future for high-end displays?
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Game
Shane Buettner  |  Apr 03, 2013
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When your breakout movie, Seven, ends with Gwyneth Paltrow’s severed head in a box, what do you do for an encore? 1997’s psycho thriller The Game is director David Fincher’s emphatic answer. Nobody plays a cold, callous one-percenter better than Michael Douglas. His Nicholas Van Orton here is clearly intended as a through-the-looking-glass play off of his iconic, late-’80s portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.
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Shane Buettner Blog
The Great HT Ratings Debate
Shane Buettner  |  Jul 18, 2008
I admit I’m surprised by the controversy caused by removing the product review ratings. Most who’ve written want the ratings back and accuse HT of running scared from advertisers/manufacturers. I want to set the record straight, elaborate on the reasons we eliminated the ratings, and engage in some meaningful debate about them. I also want to note that while the ratings in their original format will never return, I’m not totally opposed to a revamped system if you readers still think it’s necessary. There are some features coming up that I think will make you miss the ratings less, and I’ll explain those below.
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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Blu-ray)
Shane Buettner  |  Mar 03, 2007

Got your blanket with you? I have barely a passing familiarity with Douglas Adams' <I>Hitchhiker's</I> series of books. So passing that I actually thought it was a single book, and only found out that it was first a radio creation and then a series of books, TV shows, and other media creations when I read the Wikipdia entry before writing this.

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The Holy Grail Of Spouse Approval? Amimon's Wireless HDMI
Shane Buettner  |  Jan 10, 2007

While next-gen disc formats have made big poop at this year's CES, the wireless HDMI demo I witnessed this morning from Amimon is by far the most significant new technology I've seen here in Vegas.

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The Kings Of Leon
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 17, 2006

On the show floor Saturday I spotted industry veteran rep and all around good guy Phil Callahan, who was nursing a bruised ego due to the pounding Notre Dame was receiving from Michigan on the football field. Being the professional he is Phil sucked it up and introduced me to new-ish client Leon speakers and its main man Jeff Gordon (not that Jeff Gordon).

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The Look And Sound Of Perfect
Shane Buettner  |  Jan 13, 2007

Although there was stiff competition Toshiba's HD-A1 walked away with <I>UAV's</I> Disc Player of the Year honors, and garnered serious consideration for overall Product of the Year.

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The Look and Sound of Perfect With Joe Kane
Shane Buettner  |  Sep 17, 2006

On Saturday <I>UAV</I> Editor Tom Norton and I crossed the street from the Convention Center, braving vicious, howling winds to get to HD DVD’s version of the Madden cruiser to get some of that old time religion with the HD DVD camp and video industry icon and iconoclast Joe Kane.

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