We knew Xbox 360 would only be backward compatible with some regular Xbox games, the question was which ones.  The list has been released and it’s a big-un.  A hell of a lot of games including some real prizes like Kabuki Warriors, absent however are titles having to do with the sport of Hockey.  A sad state if you just picked up EA NHL2006. 

The good news is we’ll see an emulator available for 360 that will make the 360 emulate the old Xbox so you can play any of the games.  It’ll be interesting to see how well the emulator performs, not to mention how long it’ll be before the hackers have it reverse compatible to Windows, Linux et all. 

* Airforce Delta Storm
* Alias
* Aliens vs. Predator: Extinction
* All Star Baseball 2003
* Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
* Army Men: Sarge’s War
* Atari Anthology
* ATV Quad Power Racing 2
* Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance II
* Barbarian
* Barbie Horse Adventure
* Batman Begins
* Battle Engine Aquila
* Battlestar Galactica
* Blinx 2
* BMX XXX
* Brute Force
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Chaos Bleeds
* Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts
* Cabela’s Outdoor Adventures 06
* Cabela’s Deer Hunt 2005
* Cabela’s Deer Hunt: 2004 Season
* Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth
* Call of Duty: Finest Hour
* Casino
* Catwoman
* Chicago Enforcer
* Circus Maximus
* Close Combat: First to Fight
* Colin McRae 4
* Combat Elite
* Commandos 2
* Conflict: Desert Storm
* Constantine
* Crash Bandicoot: Twinsanity
* Crash Nitro Kart
* Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
* Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
* Curse – The Eye of Isis
* Dark Angel
* Darkwatch
* Deathrow
* Digimon Rumble Arena
* Dinotopia
* Dead or Alive 3
* Drake
* Egg Mania
* ESPN MLS Extra Time 2002
* Euro 2004
* F1 Championship Season 2001
* Fable
* Fable: The Lost Chapters
* Fairly Odd Parents: Breakin’ da Rules
* FIFA 2003
* FIFA 2004
* FIFA Street 2005
* FIFA World Cup 2002
* Fight Night 2004
* Fight Night Round 2
* Ford Mustang Racing
* Ford vs. Chevy
* Forza Motorsport
* Freedom Fighters
* Frogger
* Futurama
* Fuzion Frenzy
* Genma Onimusha
* Goblin Commander
* Grabbed by the Ghoulies
* Grand Theft Auto III
* Grand Theft Auto Vice City
* Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
* Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt.
* Grooverider: Slot Car Thunder
* Half-Life 2
* Halo
* Halo 2
* Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire
* Harry Potter & The Sorcerer’s Stone
* He-Man: Defender of Grayskull
* Hitman: Contracts
* House of the Dead 3
* IHRA Drag Racing 2005 Sportsman Edition
* IHRA Professional Drag Racing 2005
* Jade Empire
* James Bond 007: Nightfire
* Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
* Judge Dredd: Dredd vs. Death
* Jurassic Park Operation Genesis
* Kabuki Warrior
* Kelly Slater’s Pro Surfer
* Kids Next Door: Operation VIDEOGAME
* kill.switch
* Legends of Wrestling
* Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events
* Loons Fight for Fame
* Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
* Manhunt
* Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX 2
* Max Payne
* Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
* Medal of Honor 3 Rising Sun
* Medal of Honor Frontline
* Medal of Honor: European Assault
* Mega Man
* Metal Arms: Glitch in the System
* MicroMachines Odyssey
* Mike Tyson Heavyweight Boxing
* Monster Garage
* Mortal Kombat: Deception
* MTV Music Generator 3
* Murakumo
* MX World Tour - featuring Jamie Little
* Namco Museum X Next Generation
* NBA Live 2003
* NBA Live 2004
* Need For Speed: Underground 2
* NFL Blitz 2002
* NFL Blitz 20-03
* NFL Blitz 20-04
* NHL 2004
* NHL Hitz 20-03
* Ninja Gaiden
* Ninja Gaiden Black
* Outlaw Golf 2
* Outlaw Volleyball
* Pariah
* Phantom Crash
* Pinball Hall of Fame
* Pitfall: The Lost Expedition
* Predator
* Prince of Persia 4: The Sands of Time
* Pro Evolution Soccer 5
* Pro Race Driver
* PUMP IT UP
* Pure Pinball
* Puyo Puyo Fever
* Quantum Redshift
* Rayman Arena
* Raze’s Hell
* Red Dead Revolver
* Red Faction II
* RedCard 20-03
* Robotech: Battle Cry
* Rocky: Legends
* Rogue Ops
* Rugby 2005
* Samurai Jack
* Samurai Warriors
* Scooby Doo: Night of 100 Frights
* Scrapland
* SeaWorld: Shamu’s Deep Sea Adventures
* Sega GT 2002
* Shadow the Hedgehog
* Shellshock:Nam ‘67
* Sid Meier’s Pirates!
* Simpson’s Road Rage
* Simpsons: Hit and Run
* Sneakers
* Sniper Elite: Berlin 1945
* Soccer Slam
* Sonic Heroes
* Sonic Mega Collection
* Speed Kings
* Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
* Splat Renegade Paintball
* SpongeBob Square Pants:Battle for Bikini Bottom
* Spy Hunter 2
* Spyro: A Hero’s Tail
* SSX 3
* Stake
* Star Trek: Shattered Universe
* Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
* Star Wars: Clone Wars
* Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter
* Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic
* Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic 2
* Street Racing Syndicate
* Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse
* Super Bubble Pop
* Super Monkey Ball DX
* SX Superstar
* Tecmo Classic Arcade
* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
* Terminator : Dawn of Fate
* Test Drive: Eve of Destruction
* Tetris Worlds
* The Great Escape
* The Incredible Hulk
* The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
* The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
* The Thing
* Thief: Deadly Shadows
* Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon
* Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon 2
* Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3
* Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland
* Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
* Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
* Tork
* Toxic Grind
* Ty The Tasmanian Tiger
* Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2
* Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 3
* Urban Freestyle Soccer
* Vexx
* Volvo: Drive for Life
* World Series Baseball 2K
* Worms 4: Mayhem
* Worms Forts Under Siege
* WWE Raw 2
* XIII
* Yourself!Fitness

Time for me to spend some time slamming audiophilism again, it’s been awhile.  To the left is a picture of a DVD with a Shakti stone on top of it.  The stone is bringing out unsurpassed clarity and imaging, a wider soundstage and more dynamic range than owner of this humble DVD player ever thought possible before using the miracle stone.  And if you believe that, God help you. 

Poking around for audiophile scams I stumbled across this page.  It’s by a reformed audiophile named David Stark, he has a hilarious collection hi-fi foibles people must be spending money on.  The hi-fi knobs are classic!

First let me define audiophilism.  An Audiophile (note capital A) is someone who buys into the “perfect sound” paradox, that there exists this unattainable ideal called perfect sound reproduction. It’s an unattainable principle to the Audiophile because it exists just around the corner of the next expensive upgrade to their system.  While constantly upgrading their gear and buy into questionable electronics science.  A few main areas of pseudo science the Audiophile believes in include:

Cable Theory:  The belief that expensive cables and wires make your system sound better, or worse that an aural property can be associated with specific cables.  IE, “These cables sound bright.”  Subsets of cable theory include a variety of other Audiophile myths including

Jitter:  The belief that bits can be scrambled, disordered or lost as they pass through a digital cable.  It was borrowed from IT networking.  Large networks might have a problem with jitter in something like a print spool queuing thousands of print jobs at a time.  But in networks, jitter is not being caused because they’re not using expensive RJ-45.  If jitter can afflict the short of an optic cable between components in your system, how do Hard Drives work?

Resonance:  An unsightly disaster to your analogue audio signal inside your RCA cables, the Audiophile believes he needs expensive cables made with exotic minerals, extemporaneous networks attached to your cable run or a host of other things to prevent other phantoms like strand jumping due to skin effect all of which contribute to cabling problems.  All hogwash!  Resonance does affect an audio signal traveling inside a run of speaker wire, but well beyond the audible range.

Golden Ear:  The belief that some people can hear more details in sound that you can and therefore need more expensive equipment to be satisfied.  It’s funny how the golden ears are usually over 40, which means their hearing has degraded to where they probably can’t hear anything above 15KHz.  It also stands to reason that most audiophiles are music fans and spent a lot of time at live concerts or music clubs where music was amplified near or above 100db.  This would mean their hearing is even worse than a normal 40 year olds and are liable to be slightly hearing impaired.

Amplifier Theory:  The same as cable theory but for amps, the belief that amplifiers contribute to sound quality or coloration of your audio in any way.  “This is a warm sounding amp.”  “Tube amps have a mellow laid back sound.”  “Transistorized amps are cold and harsh sounding.”  You don’t hear an amp, you hear speakers.  There is only one way an amp can acoustically color the sound you hear, it’s called distortion.  Yes, the whole MOSFET amps that produce a ‘warm’ sound is actually a type of distortion you can re-create on any amp using 100 ohm resistors connected to your speaker leads.

I might add that many respected engineers believe in Amp Theory, including the esteemed Bob Carver (founder of Carver audio and Sunfire) who has been quoted as such in editorials I’ve read.  I liken this to a cop or a Marine who is really kind of a dick but damn good at their job.  You might not want him around for tea but when the stuff hits the fan there’s nobody else you’d rather have around.  There have been ABX tests that have removed any doubt that a human can perceive differences between amps, in extreme examples panels of audiophiles haven’t been able to distinguish, at any greater than 50% consistency, between a $200 Pioneer receiver and a $12,000 tube amp array with separate power supplies.

EMF:  Electromagnetic frequency is the ultimate insidious phantom.  Imagine a force that surrounds everything, given off by anything, floating through the air, everywhere that does nothing more than damage audio signals traveling through shielded cables.  The audiophile believes this nefarious energy can only be defended with exotic using rare minerals.  Silver helps, gold is even better, and of diamond is better still; what about a page from the Dead Seas Scrolls?  To block out negative EMF the Audiophile must surround his gear with Shakti stones and use $30,000 worth of Transparent cables to prevent it from getting into your cabling runs.  But then you still have EMF getting in through your AC line in the form of backwash noise so you must use an exotic power conditioner that gives your equipment the cleanest 60Hz AC possible.

My own admission of audiophilism, yes I did at one time dabble in the cult.  I really could never afford to buy the big stuff I might have been tempted to once upon a time.  Yes, I have polished analogue leads, meticulously chopped speaker wire and rearranged cabling so as to avoid EMF interactions.  I certainly believed in amp theory, but all of this is simply because it’s what I’ve been told was true by people who should know.  Hi-fi magazines, editorials etc all write in a fantasy world where a $6,000 multi-channel power amp is a bargain.  This instantly gives you a sense of inferiority with your mainstream electronics; you feel you’re missing something. 

The reality of Audiophilism is that its closer related to the mental illness suffered by gambling or drug addicts than an innocent quest for perfect sound.  It’s a persistent inner-disquiet, a dissatisfaction that perhaps should be addressed elsewhere in your life and not at the local hi-fi salon.

Despite it all, I would still rather own a Rotel receiver than a Sony receiver.  I believe in a point of diminishing returns on your investment in hi-fi and for my part, I believe for a receiver it occurs around $2000.  Good clean power to all channels with plenty of overhead for spike with no clipping, no distortion is all you need.  Since receivers do so much more it’s difficult to toss a number out there (like $2000) considering there are audio standards that are forever changing, new connection standards in audio/video.  A complete array of HDMI connections in a receiver would cost you plenty more than $2000 by today’s pricing, and that’s a good practical feature, were it priced within reach.

I’ve been researching new features in receivers lately and I found some interesting stuff on JVC’s website.  I was at JVC’s site to read more about these new digital receivers that can do HDMI upconversion using Faroudja processors.  I initially found it here yes, it’s old news from the last CES but still interesting.  What’s even more interesting to me is the new breed of digital amplifier.  No, they haven’t exactly taken off, not in the car audio realm and especially not in home theater.  This receiver almost made my recommended list, hey, I personally wouldn’t own a JVC receiver but then I’m kind of a dick that way, not everybody has to be.  What impresses me about this is the use of Faroudja processors (which their website doesn’t even mention, this should be a huge selling point IMHO) to perform HDMI upconversion.  Okay, why is HDMI upconversion a big deal?  What is HDMI upconversion?  If these questions are relevant to you read the next paragraph, if not, just skip the next paragraph:

HDMI upconversion is cool if you have NTSC sources that produce video in old fashioned 480i.  These would be VCRs, old DVD players or a cable/satellite box that didn’t have component video, HDMI or DVI outputs.  This receiver would be a great boon to those with older source equipment, Faroudja is recognized as being one of the best video processors ever, letting this name handle your video’s de-interlacing is a great deal.  But even that’s suspect, seeing the Faroudja name on a sub $500 JVC component makes you wonder if Faroudja has tried to mass market itself, or maybe it’s just an older series of processor, these things do get cheaper all the time so no harm done.

Here is the bad news, I’m reading the specs on this receiver, because after all it’s going to do some amplification duties, it’s not simply a video de-interlacer or dedicated processor box.   

• Stereo: 110 watts per channel, 6 ohms, from 20Hz to 20kHz, with 0.8% THD
• Surround: (Front) 110 watts per channel, 6 ohms at 1kHz, with 0.8% THD; (Center) 110 watts, 6 ohms at 1kHz, with 0.8% THD; (Surround) 110 watts per channel, 6 ohms at 1kHz, with 0.8% THD; (Surround Back) 110 watts per channel, 6 ohms at 1kHz, with 0.8% THD

These specs are horrible!  No, the numbers aren’t really bad (if I even knew what they really were) it’s the blatant deception and marketing BS obscuring the truth to boost the numbers.  All channels are rated at 6ohms, this isn’t a good sign for JVC’s integrity.  Through a six ohm load the watts per channel would be lower, not too much lower but it would be under that magic number 100WPC that marketers of mainstream product seem to insist everything has to be.  A 70WPC amp is perfectly respectable for most homes with moderately sized speakers. 

The worst crime is the surround channel’s specs.  Rated at 1kHz!?!  So, you only get that much power (110Watts) through six ohms (nobody uses 6 ohm speakers, they use 8 ohm speakers) and only if you’re listening to a single frequency, like a test tone.  Natural sounds we hear occur in ranges of frequencies at once, not a single frequency.  Granted some of us have more limited range perception than others, but you can’t hear anything at 1hKz.  It’s just a lie, a way to boost the numbers. 

The sad thing is that the specs posted on their website are the product of some board room, guys in suits decided they need to have numbers that look impressive when spouted off by sales people to undead zombie customers visiting Best Buy for to suck on some brains.  That 100 Watt per channel spec that every manufacturer feels they must meet even if they have to lie (technically not lie per-se but stretch the truth) is meaningless anyway.  Watts aren’t the end all spec, they’re only part of the story.  Take a 100 watt amp and compare it with a 50 watt amp, many would be surprised that the 100 watt amp is capable of only a mere 3 decibels more than the 50 watt amp through a given load.  The watts must double to give you 3 more decibels.  So, running around with an 80 watt amp or a 100 watt amp is not even any difference, barely worth mentioning.  Besides, good manufacturers (IE NAD, Denon, Onkyo) routinely exceed their specs in real world use and cheaper audio manufacturers (IE Sony, JVC) routinely don’t quite measure up to their gear’s specs in real world conditions.

That’s all for now, have a great weekend and look out for Tuesday.  The REAL Home Theater geeks will be lined up at their local DVD retailers with their Storm trooper costumes on next Tuesday.

Doom staring the ROCK and Karl Urban who was Eomer from Return of the King.  Of course I didn’t recognize him I only read later who he was, all those white guys look like Tom Hanks to me.  Doom gives you exactly what you wanted out of a Doom movie, tons of kick ass zombie killing violence, some gross out scenes with some pretty messed up anatomy and of course monsters, scary monsters.  Oh, they got me with that monkey thing.  The Faux scare early on, of course I should have known but I jumped!  There is even a first person sequence to give you a cinematic feel for playing the game.  Is the story any good?  Diehard unswerving fans of the game who don’t know about things like artistic license won’t be able to handle the dynamic changes to the story and yeah they’re pissed off that they abandon the supernatural and Hell idea for a purely scientific extraterrestrial genetic experiment basis for the story.  Hell would have been more plausible but I guess they didn’t want to mix any religion with their story.  But the science was pretty shaky.  According to the movie we humans came from Mars through that teleporter thingy they discovered in Arizona.  I don’t want to think too hard on that aspect of the story, it ruins it for me when stories try to tidily explain very complex questions like the origins of mankind.  Mission to Mars with Tim Robbins and Tom Hanks did that and it was a horrible ending on an otherwise decent movie.  But, if your as squeamish about Hollywood science as I am, cover your ears when the blonde chick talks, she’ll try to make you believe we went back on our genome mapping project, completed in 2003 and dismissed 10% of the work.  She will try to convince us that a Marine can recognize how many chromosomes are visible on a slide and will give a cheesy line like…”What was the first thing dad taught us.”  Owch, dad must have been an overachiever, drilling DNA mapping into his kids heads.  But forget about any semblance of a story.  All the story you need is in Rock’s tattoo as the movie opens…. Semper Fi! The only other part you need to know is that the BFG stands for Bio-Force Gun, but Rock will call it something else and when he does you should shout in your loud disruptive theater voice.  “YEAH!!!”

Would I recommend this movie to anyone who doesn’t play the game?  As long as you know it’s a mindless action flick with some terrific action.  The characters are all quite plastic, the only pre-designed to be somewhat plausible is Karl Urban who plays the Marine with smarts, wait, did he was plausible?  I guess I take that back.  What’s the big deal with Marines in the movies anyway?  There was a trailer for a movie about the Marines that looked to me like a recruitment drive, and Jamie Fox was in it and I think that was Tom Hanks in there also. 

Doom takes place in claustrophobic corridors, well armed Marines walk along planks with a grill pattern underneath that ring metallic and hollow with their footsteps, the perfect place for genetically mutated boogey men to grab you from below.  When they’re doing surveillance of an area, flashlight sweeps, of course they never consider including the floors as part of their surveillance no matter how hollow the floors sound or how many times they’re ambushed from below or from the obligatory air vents above.  But oh well.  The monsters were well done, the scares were scary, the mutated albino pig looking thing was particularly creepy.  Oh and the Rock, he was good.  I like the Rock, you holier than me real  film fans can dismiss him as an action icon.  I think he’s a good actor, if limited he plays a likable and believable character.  He’s the new Arnold but he’s actually a better actor than Arnold in humble opinion.

So, go see Doom!  And quitcher cryin’ about how they changed the story, I’ve read way too many complaints on the internet about it.  You make a movie to appeal to computer geeks and they still get bent out of shape.  Here’s an important tip though, stick around after the credits roll for some great retro-CGI real time hallway clearing too.  A NIN tune kicks in and the remaining credits are run over a FPS perspective.  It’s a treat for those of us who don’t have to rush out of the theater at the first sign of text.

You talkin' ta me?  Sound off on the forums if you have any feedback on a post here.  I was getting spammed and had to take down the comments, sorry about that.  Make an account and tell me how full of crap I am, I could use a good lesson, and thank you.  Someday I might fix the forum so I stop getting spammed.  Just as soon as I attach these wings to this pig I've been working on.

Microsoft executives have predicted that shortages of the first next gen console by Microsoft will outstrip supply.  It was initially announced they’d make 2 million units to be shipped worldwide.  Estimates by industry analysts like P.J. McNealy of American Technology Research () have dropped expectations to about 1.8 million still others say there could be as few as 1.4 million going out this Christmas season.  Since these number are spread across the world it’s possible that as few as 300,000 units could find their way across North America.

We’ve seen these shortages before, when Nintendo DS launched last Christmas and who can forget the huge shortages of PS2 when it launched Q4 2000.  The excuses given are problems with parts suppliers getting product to assembly.  Since these parts (notably the central processor and graphics processors) are on the front edge of the technology they’re quite expensive to make.  It’s been estimated that Microsoft is subsidizing the Xbox 360 to the tune of $76 dollars per unit.  That’s a loss they’re willing to take for a chance at making Xbox 360 the #1 (or even #2) game console of the coming generation of game machines.

The tangible evidence we have that these shortages are for real is the price gouging for pre-orders.  Sure you can stand in line at Wall-Mart to get one at retail when it first comes out.  But some retailers aren’t selling them this way.  GameStop for instance is only selling Xbox 360 as part of pricey bundles that include extra hardware but the cheapest you’re going to leave GameStop with a 360 for is $700.  Even more overt price gouging has already started on eBay where on Oct. 19^th it was reported that an Xbox 360 pre-order was sold for $1500.  Here is a pre-order currently at $622 for a machine that will retail for almost half that price.

Yes, it’s the true spirit of Christmas on display at eBay.

Batman!  Batman! Batman!

It’s officially the DAY of Batman!  Oh, it’s not just one of those lame Batman days where we get a rerun of that campy old show on basic cable.  This is the day the best Batman movie ever made hits DVD format, so you can take it home.  But wait, there’s more!  You didn’t think you were in for just one Batman movie did you?  As a matter of fact there isn’t just one Batman movie hitting store shelves this fine Tuesaday, it’s the day we have the opportunity to buy ALL OF THEM!  Not only are Tim Burton’s Batman movies hitting DVD, completely re-mastered with an all new Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, but we’re also in for the never before seen on DVD, 1943 Batman serial.  Yes, these are the serial movies that came out soon after Bob Kane wrote the first comics.  Serial movies are a quaint little thing in our cinematic history, they’re movies that went to theaters in matinee for the kids to watch.  Generations of kids (many are now directors too) grew up on these movies that usually featured cowboys or some other form of masculine man-hero that had this sort of hook that roped in the kiddies to the next installment that would come out soon after the first.

I am particularly excited about the ’43 Batman serial because I am a kind of closet old movie fan.  Old black and white movies, I love ‘em.  I never really get time to watch them because there are so many new ones but so many older titles are new to me because I haven’t seen many of them.  In fact I don’t really understand them all that well, but I understand there are many good ones and I’m eager to “play it” as Humphrey Bogart would say.  Well, I’m not going to compare the Batman ’43 serial to anything Bogie ever did, but it was the same timeline so I’m sure there are smiliar conventions. 

For fear of rambling like some lame Joker I am going to be on my way to begin the Batman festivities.  Have Alfred show you to your coat and boots, good bye for now.

It’s Halloween season again, the perfect time for some frightful horror movies. 

I viewed and reviewed for another website the DVD release of Undead which came out last Tuesday and will be sitting on the shelves of the local video rental super-markets this weekend.  It’s actually a bit funny to me because people are probably going to rent this film thinking it’s a straight zombie horror flic, perhaps images of the recent remake of Dawn of the Dead still fresh in their minds.  This isn’t one of those Zombie films.  I can’t repost the review I submitted but if they ever decide what to do with it I’ll link to it here, they run a tight operation over there and I should hear back in about two weeks.  The funny thing about the Undead DVD rental by the unsuspecting renter will be that they’re not expecting anything like this.  Undead is an Austraillian movie that brings absolutely nothing original in terms of plot and story to the old zombie genre, unless you count the sort of muddled extraterrestrial ending which was more confusing than anything.  But the whole thing is played with a wink to the camera, there is a tongue in cheek humor element that is sometimes actually funny.  I don’t know if I can recommend this movie, unless you’re the sort who can see humor in some of the gory but imaginative ways people err…zombies die … err re-die.  Which, I do have that sort of sick sense of humor so there were a few chuckles in it for me personally, but not enough to really recommend the movie.  However if you’re a fan of indie film and perhaps an aspiring film maker yourself you’ll find this DVD a boundless source of inspiration.  The Spierig brothers are the directors, producers etc of this film and they did so with only a shoestring budget that was blown after the first few scenes.  Yes, it looks like a campy B movie, but it’s not a blockbuster special effects movie anyway, it just looks good for the kind of budget they had.  And you can certainly tell the making of this film was a labor of love from two young directors that are sure to be seen from again later.