Pete's Write

Mockingjay Part II review When you have a movie that goes on for four parts you usually want to see it to the end. The question is more about whether it is just a stretched out conclusion to milk more money or a roaring finale ? Well unfortunately this installation falls more into the first camp .. Now that I have settled that, let me explain why .. Hunger Games was the main vehicle that inspired a whole bunch of movies with a similar plot: Young hero in a post apocalyptic world fighting against the establishment. Typically young, often female the protagonist inspires the rebels to rise up against the odds. You have the divergent series, maze runner, even Jupiter Rising amongst recent offerings with a very similar idea. So there is great expectations for the finale to this series. The good thing is that there are ATMOSpheric action scenes to keep fans happy. Surround action is sterling in keeping with a recent show. But the action is not unlike past ones and one d...

Been using a 1.6l tdi qashqai .. What a wonderful ride! The high torque makes the response solid and overtaking is easy. FC is good. The QQ is a well equipped car and pretty well built. The main issue is the interior space isn't that big, even though the external dimensions are quite large. Boot space is also not impressive. I can lie a trolley bag lengthwise in my civic but I can't here. There's a distinctive diesel clatter too and road noise is obviously not like a Lexus. If they brought this engine over it will be highly successful. The 1.2 petrol turbo is no match for this. But what impressed me most was the ride on the highway which feels like a larger more solid car and the torque. There are also nice little features which are usually only found on a conti car. After getting more familiar with this turbo diesel, I took it on some nice windy A roads and even a few B roads. Being quite a bit higher than a sedan, you can't throw it into the corn...

This is our first stay here and it's a bittersweet experience. The hotel is located in a side lane with a few useful parking lots. Firstly Marko the man at the reception was effervescent, energetic and effusive. He was helpful with the bags and let us keep the bags in the hotel whilst we went to get our car. However there are a few things you should know about the hotel. First there's a slope up from the main road to the car park and then a flight of stairs to the main door. Then there's no lift, only a narrow flight of stairs. So if you have heavy bags or aren't very fit then should be something you should know and this is not posted on their website that there's no lifts and there is no alternative to reach the main door. Secondly I wonder if boutique is a euphemism for small as the room is of modest proportion. It is well equipped. However the walls are wafer thin and you hear all the noises or conversations in the hotel. You will also hear a...

London has fallen movie review Firstly I should say that I am no connoisseur of art house movies so blockbuster movies like this are right up my alley. Put your brain aside and watch the bombs, bangs and babes. But even then the best movies will have a wonderful blend of action, humor and maybe romance. Die Hard is the gold standard and I have to say this one tries hard but falls short. Gerard Butler tries hard and he did reasonably well in the first edition of 'Olympus has Fallen'. He returns with more potus in peril, but the location is London instead of Washington. The concept isn't too different and there is plenty of action and the surround action works well but sadly there isn't a great deal of chemistry and it shows. Both main actors seem to be sleep walking and keys doing enough to collect their pay checks. Movies tend to demand that you suspend your believability index but you have to work harder here. A buy for the action and sound, but o...

5th Wave movie review Interesting concept, good effort by Chloe Moritz but the execution and editing killed this. Halfway I felt that it was like a hunger games / divergent side plot movie with elements copied from many alien invasion plots. The love interest felt artificial and the use of kids as the front line troops is also not new. Action fans will find some cheers but it's a rental at best. 2.5/5 Sent from my iPhone Sorry for brevity of message

Just a little something on the "Prime Offer" transformations.. Each week, something will come up for a special price, eg "13 Hours" was previously at USD 19.99, and dropped to 12.99 for a while - almost a week to be exact. Now it's only for Prime Members. Likewise, "Band of Brothers" is corralled for Prime Members only.  So will it turn back to 'regular'? Yes, but not for the offer price. So if you snooze, you lose :)  Sometimes if something grabs your attention, grab it! Otherwise if it's not really a big deal, wait for the next price drop. 

It's been an overload of superhero movies in the past few months, beginning with Batman Vs Superman, then Captain America Civil War and now this. Can Bryan Singer bring this franchise to great higher heights? Or as Jean Grey remarked in an inside joke - that the third instalment is always the worse? First, I think that this will make a very decent demo disc when it comes out on a Blu Ray. And yes, it was filmed on 6k.. but the VFX was 2k and so YMMV: http://realorfake4k.com/my-product/x-men-apocalypse/ The surrounds and the subwoofers were working overtime here, and there are so many good fight scene to make the action aficionado happy.  There are also plenty of new characters, in this second reboot of the franchise, reset after Wolverine did his time altering effort, thereby allowing some new cast members, which I suspect the producers planted to carry this franchise forward into the new few movies. How about the plot? Well as a standalone movie, there's quite a bi...

Demo Disc 2016: short review/synopsis Welcome to the demo disc 2016. This is a disc  created for our community at xtremeplace.com to share. No one should sell it, but instead distribute it amongst our community to enjoy these demo clips, which will showcase the best that Atmos and DTS-X can offer. Please refer to our forum to understand how to setup your speakers, the positions and what are the prerequisite speakers and amps to fully enjoy this before you begin. Take some time to understand the nomenclature of Top speakers, Front and Rear Heights, and the Dolby Surround or DSU as well as the DTS Neural X upmixing formats too. Try listening to the scenes with and without the use of the overheads to appreciate their action. Remember a good home theatre experience is more than loudness and bass. One will feel like they are part of the movie, sitting right in the middle of the action where the director and sound engineer intended, giving you the ambience, the suspens...