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Short Circuits

New and noteworthy experiences among DVDs, video games, gadgets and the Web.

July 18, 2011 at 8:14PM
"Limitless"
"Limitless" (Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

DVD

No limits to this thrillerIn "Limitless," Eddie (Bradley Cooper) gets hooked on a new designer drug that allows him to access 100 percent of his brain. Almost overnight, he goes from being a scruffy, mumbling novelist with writer's block and a girlfriend (Abbie Cornish) who has just dumped him, to a multilingual motormouth with a successful stock portfolio, a photographic memory, the analytic powers of Watson the supercomputer, the martial-arts moves of Jason Bourne and the pick of every beautiful woman in New York. Soon Eddie is on the run from several disreputable types who also want the drug. Understandably, he doesn't want to share it. But he also doesn't want to die. Director Neil Burger has created an adrenalized, sharply edited and surprisingly engaging thriller. The DVD and Blu-ray (Fox, $30-$40) offer an extended cut of the film with an alternate ending.

WASHINGTON POST

Also out Tuesday: "Hey Dude" (Season 1), "The Reef," "Skidoo," "Take Me Home Tonight," and Blu-rays of "Amélie," "Beauty and the Beast" (1946), "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," "Boyz N the Hood," "Bridget Jones's Diary," "Chocolat," "The Music Room."

GAME

Buy it for the controllerAnother set of lightweight minigames packaged with a Wii Remote Plus controller, "Wii Play Motion" ($50 for Wii; rated Everyone 10+) is not a bad way to spend an extra $10 for those in the market for the $40 controller. The games make good use of the Wii's capabilities and the Wii Remote Plus' enhanced motion sensing. But nearly five years after the console's release, a lot of the novelty is gone, and what's here is pretty simplistic stuff. For example, Pose Mii Plus, one of the weaker offerings, has players rotating their Miis into poses to fit through holes. Teeter Targets is one of the best minigames, as players tilt their controllers to make flippers fling and roll small balls into targets. Other games include a shooting gallery, an ice-cream-cone balancing act, a ghost hunt, a treasure grab, a balloon obstacle course and a trip through space.

SACRAMENTO BEE

GADGET

35% on smartphonesMore than a third of American adults -- 35 percent -- own smartphones, according to a new survey from the Pew Internet Project. The survey also found that the financially well-off, college graduates, those under 45, and non-whites are especially likely to be smartphone owners. Android phones are the choice of 35 percent of smartphone users, while iPhones and Blackberry devices are each owned by 24 percent of smartphone adopters. Android phones are especially prevalent among young adults and African-Americans, while iPhone and Blackberry adopters skew toward those with relatively high levels of income and education, according to the survey.

MILWAUKEE

JOURNAL SENTINEL

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