A Scanner Darkly

Advantages: Good Special Effects
Disadvantages: Not many

..."A Scanner Darkly" is based on the novel by Philip K Dick. Richard Linklater's film stars Keanu Reeves as undercover narcotics policeman; Bob Arctor. This is an interesting film but it didn't really move me deeply. There was some good acting but the story line was simply not exceptional. On deep reflection it is not a film that I would recommend. But if you want to watch it do so at your own risk. 1 hour forty mins Rating (15) The Product details The Actors: Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., Mitch Baker, Keanu Reeves, Sean Allen (II) Directors: Richard Linklater Format: PAL, Widescreen Language English Region: Region 2 ( DVD formats.) Aspect Ratio: Wide Screen:1 Number of discs: 1 Classification: 15 Studio: Warner Home Video DVD Release Date: 22 Jan 2007 Run Time: 120 minutes...

Nazuku 13.12.2007 (21.12.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of A Scanner Darkly (DVD)

Great Scanner

Advantages: good quality scanning
Disadvantages: software is rubbish, can take for ever to scan an image

...I bought myself this to scan various things (old photos, documents and some sheet music) and this does the job pretty well. It was a bit on the expensive side but I needed something that would give me good quality and I could trust that it would work well so I went for HP as they are well known for good quality products. TECHNICAL INFORMATION It can scan at up to 4,800 dpi (dots per inch) It has 96 bit colour It has a 216x311mm scanning screen Connects by USB It is 303x508x108mm (wxdxh) It weighs 5.2 kg So it can give you very good quality, it gets a lot of colours, it's got a decent sized scanning screen, it's pretty big and it's not a light weight utility. There is nothing in there to put me off though because I still bought it. A LITTLE BIT ABOUT IT Scanners have been dying out because they are getting beaten by...

dbirse 11.03.2007 (11.04.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of HP ScanJet G4050 Photo Scanner

A Scanner Darkly

Advantages: Very Stylistic, gerat soundtrack
Disadvantages: difficult to follow

...Having read Philip K Dicks book, A Scanner Darkly, I was eagerly awaiting the film adaptation. Upon hearing that George Clooney had optioned it no less, and that Richard Linklater was down to direct it I was kind of ecstatic. I have a lot of respect for George Clooney, following his efforts to turn out less main stream Hollywood films, in favour of thought provoking and interesting films. So when I heard that Keanu Reeves had go the lead role as Bob Arctor, my heart sank. To be fair to Reeves, his last couple of films have been stinkers. Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions were not bad down to his acting, more to the clunky direction of the Wachowski Brothers. But the lead character for A Scanner Darkly, in my opinion would always have needed someone who had a half decent range, and not someone who cam across as a bit of an airhead...

Lloyd1979 26.01.2007 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of A Scanner Darkly (DVD)

Konika-Minolta Magicolor with magical printed colours

Advantages: Vivid colours, reliable, prints beautifully
Disadvantages: Photo printing quality is only 7/10 in my rating

...We bought our Konika Minolta Magicolor 2350 laser printer four years ago. We use it at home but I print quite frequently. We decided to buy this printer because it is specially designed for optimal performance in Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, and other environments as well. This was important for us, as I use Windows but my husband is an IT professional and uses several other operation systems on his computers and sometimes also he wants to print something. He worked for a company where there were a lot of printers of this type and he had really good opinion about them. This opinion hasn?t changed since then. Price of the printer and cartridges When we bought it, it was on offer, so it was ?only? £650. It was a serious discount because its full price is £900. There are four cartridges in it plus the drum cartridge, we had to change...

D_i_a_n_e 18.08.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Konica Minolta magicolor 2350

A Scanner Darkly

Advantages: Interesting depiction of future drug use and relationships
Disadvantages: Slightly dated dialogue, introverted like all Phillip K. Dick

...'A Scanner Darkly' is sci-fi, to be sure, and it's good sci-fi, no doubt about it- it gels together fantastic concepts and well thought out ideas with the mores and values of modern society, creating a fairly seamless blend of present and future. But mostly, it's about drugs. And that is partly why I would recommend it. The writing is classic Dick- snappy, looping dialogue, themes of paranoia, conspiracy and shifting interpersonal relationships. But the autobiographical element of the novel is what is most interesting, and that is largely centered around drug use. Despite a final epilogue where Dick laments the effects of drug abuse on himself and his circle, the writing is remarkably even handed during the novel itself. The side affects of 'Substance D' are the real driving force of the novel and its effects on the drug users...

earthbound23 19.06.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick

More Scanners, not quite as good though

Advantages: Some good plot twists
Disadvantages: Doesn't add anything new to the previous movie

...The great thing about the original Scanners movie is it was a totally new idea combining elements of horror & science fiction with telepathy & telekinesis which gave the sinister but rather compelling story of good versus evil and brother against brother. Throw into that mix one of the first film roles for the awesome Micheal Ironside (as the evil brother) as well as the great film making ability of David Cronenburg and it made for a great underground cult horror 80's video nasty. The Scanners ability was caused by pregnant mothers taking a drug called Ephemerol, the child becoming a Scanner was its side effect. In this 2nd movie we mainly follow a lone good Scanner called David Kellum who it turns out is the son of the 2 surviving Male & Female Scanners from the original movie, he struggles to contain his power as we also see...

atytyut2434 02.05.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Scanners 2 - The New Order (DVD)

Konica Minolta 2550 - a step up from the entry level printer

Advantages: Quality prints, quiet
Disadvantages: A little expensive to run

...The Magicolor 2550 is positioned as one of Konica Minolta's entry level colour laser printers, well almost entry level, as it offers some very nice features without taking the price of the device too high. The specification on offer from this full colour model is a cracking 20ppm (pages per minute) in monochrome and 5ppm in full colour. The native resolution is 600dpi with a x4 dithering method which beefs this up to an effective 2,400dpi. The model on review here is the standard model, which has 128MB of memory, is network ready and offers Postscript 3 printer language in addition to PCL6 and PDF support. The 2550DN which is the next model up adds a built-in duplexer and has 256MB of memory, it also adds Pictbridge support for direct connection of a compatible digital camera. Both models are capable of handling a monthly duty cycle...

davomrmac 06.06.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Konica Minolta magicolor 2550

HP Improves There Scanners

Advantages: Very Good Quality, Excellent SilverFast Software
Disadvantages: Abit Large, Dust Removal Software Not Good

...The HP ScanJet 8300 is a Professional Image Scanner from HP's Scan jet series. This is one of the top end Scanners HP manufacture and is ideal for the business domain. There is also an 8300gp model of this scanner which is a Graphic Arts scanner and has a monitor color-meter calibrator as a added feature ideal for graphic designers. Now about the HP ScanJet 8300, the scanner has an OR (Optical Resolution) of 4800x4800dpi and will scan high dynamic range in 48bit colour. This is fine for transparency and negative scanning. The scanner has a max reflection area of around A4 size. HP includes film holders which will hold 3 strips, 6 frames of a 35mm film. The holders can be placed in the base of the scanner for storage. The ScanJet 8300 is supplied with HP's own photosmart software. I wasn't impressed with the scan pro scanning...

Surj1 04.02.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of HP ScanJet 8300 Professional Image Scanner

Why the Pro's ignore Minolta

Advantages: None - judgment is somewhat clouded
Disadvantages: Please provide larger area the write in!

...I've been a pro photographer for over 10 years. Mainly I have used Nikon, but during a lean period in my career I update my cameras to Minolta due to cost reasons. Big mistake. I bought a 700si and a 9xi. The 9xi was released as a professional camera. It seemed sturdy and very advanced for its time. The 700si had similar features but was less sturdy, it was to be my back up camera. Just over a year after purchase, ie just out of guarantee the 9xi failed with a sticking shutter. It was repaired twice, by reputable repair centers. The final failing was whilst on a shoot in Bergen Norway, when the mirror actually fell out. A few weeks later, the back up 700si failed to rewind the film automatically. Unpeturbed, I used the liitle rubber button underneath to manually rewind. But as you can imagine this soon wore out. The result, no cameras. I...

Jasonrow 01.03.2001 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Minolta Dynax 700si

Minolta's best yet

Advantages: Same fast printing in COLOUR as well as black
Disadvantages: Can not reduce quality to save toner

...Minolta 3100 colour laserjet printer is the flagship of their range. For small workgroups it's ideal. I personally use it to print a regular magazine, in superior quality, for subscribers. After using my inkjet printer for a few months and being frustrated at not being able to print both sides of the paper automatically, I decided to upgrade my whole output to colour laser. I first tried a budget laser printer from Minolta but found it very slow and noisy. On looking through their brochure, my attention was drawn to the 3100, priced at £1500.00 this was the best of the bunch for me. There were higher priced units but they were more suitable for large corporate businesses rather than my 'work from home' business. With a printing speed of up to 16 pages per minute, duplex printing, high capacity toner cartridges...

Pazadov 16.09.2004 (17.09.2004) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Minolta-QMS Magicolor 3100