Although it first appeared that the CM1 would only be available in certain European markets, in the days leading up to this year's CES tradeshow, Panasonic announced that the CM1 would become available to US customers sometime during the summer of 2015.
Just in case you need a refresher on what sets the Panasonic CM1 apart from the multitude of 4K-capable smartphones on the market today, here are some videos along with some specs.
1-inch 20 Megapixel sensor
Leica DC Elmarit 10mm f/2.8 (28mm equivalent)
2.3GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 801 CPU
4K Video and Photos
Full Manual Control during Videos/Photos
4.7-inch 1080p Display
16GB Internal Storage
Micro SD card slot
Android 4.4 OS
2600 mAh battery
Availability: Summer 2015
Price: About $1,165 (900 Euros)
Although I've railed against camera phones in the past (the hardware limitations usually make them useless for people who care about image quality), there truly is something to be excited for with the Panasonic CM1 because of its photography-centric features. By taking the approach of building an Android phone into a highly-capable and small profile point-and-shoot camera body -- instead of the other way around like other manufacturers tend to do it -- Panasonic has made something legitimately appealing to those who want a higher quality stills camera with them at all times. The CM1 is definitely not something that you would shoot a feature film with (unless you were really determined to do so), but it seemingly bridges the quality gap between smartphone cameras with tiny sensors and plastic lenses and point-and-shoot cameras with much higher quality components.
Like I mentioned before, the Panasonic CM1 is expected to land in the states this summer and should be available through T-Mobile and AT&T for a street price of just above $1100.
Some of the best horror movies ever made take something innocent and unassuming and make it scary as all heck. Toys? Chairs? Cars? Or, perhaps the scariest, regular human people? You name it; there's likely a spooky movie out there that's gonna make you afraid of something you never saw coming. The latest on this list of scaries? Why, the act of smiling, of course.
Paramount'sSmile franchise has taken the world by storm, turning one of the purest expressions of human joy into a nefarious act of fear. Where Parker Finn's first Smile followed the laid-back, traumatized therapist Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), Smile 2 stepped it up a notch on every level with the tortured pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott). Fans of the first Smile were treated to escalation of scale in every way and delivered one heck of an ending to show for it.
The ending isn't particularly vague, but the Smile monster (or "The Entity" as we know them as) works in mysterious ways, potentially leaving the casual viewer with a question or two once the last terrifying frame cuts to the credits. If you were left frowning with questions, we're here for you to break down what exactly happened at the end of Smile 2.
The Rules of the Smile Monster, The Entity
Smile
Paramount
If there's any human notion the mysterious Entity haunting the psyche of our heroes in the Smile-verse knows, it's that trauma begets.
The basic rule of The Entity is that it lingers in its victim's brain, essentially gaslighting them with a false reality that drives them mad. Once you're infected—or, perhaps, possessed—by the entity, the world around you starts to crumble, and you start to more-or-less hallucinate terrible things at every turn. Only The Entity's victim is able to see these haunted images (often times stranges creepily smiling at them), making it super weird and uncomfortable for anyone that might be in their presence freaking out.
In a sense, The Entity is ruining your life up until your final moments.
The "final moments" of it all is a key factor to The Entity's terror. See, the way the entity possesses new hosts is once it's current host is driven completely mad, they take on the "Creepy Smile" (coined by No Film School, LLC) they become suicidal, and anyone that sees their totally F'd up suicide is now The Entity's host.
Scary stuff!
'Smile 2' Premise
Smile 2
Paramount
So, a banger pop star named Skye Riley is possessed by The Smile Entity. How did we get here? Why is our pop diva icon tortured so?
Jumping off from the events of Smile, Smile 2 opens in an expertly crafted one-shot cold open that could work as a standalone short film. At the end of Smile, Kyle Gallner's nice guy cop Joel is possessed by The Entity when he bears witness to his ex-lover Rose committing Creepy Smile hari-kari after her feature-length mental anguish. Poor Joel.
In the opening scene of Smile 2, we check back in with Joel, who is strategically attempting to pass off and ultimately kill The Smile Entity for good in a ring of shady, bad-guy drug lords. His plan almost goes as planned, until Lewis (Lukas Gage) stumbles in and The Smile entity is passed to him.
Cut to our heroine Skye Riley, recovering from a tough time after a tragic accident killing her partner and leaving her to survive and bear the guilt. She is (mostly) sober, chugging bottles of water in one long gulp to curb drinking, but still uses a bit of Vicodin to deal with her trauma and anxiety from both her tragedy as well as the unbearable weight of being a very famous popstar. And guess who she gets her Vicodin from? You'll never guess, unless you guessed Lewis. It's Lewis she buys her Vicodin from.
And while we're guessing, yes. You're right. Lewis Creepy Smile kills himself, passing The Entity to Skye. This induces a terrible time for Skye, seeing visions of her ex-boyfriend who perished in the car accident, as well as seeing fans at shows and her backup dancing ensemble Creepy Smiling and acting super weird at her.
How does it end? What does it mean? Let's talk.
'Smile 2' Ending Breakdown
Now that our inciting Smile incident has occurred, we're in it for the ringer now.
As Skye is processing her previous with the additional baggage of The Entity's gaslighting ways, she finds solace in reconnecting a fractured friendship with her former BFF, the ever-charming and down-to-Earth Gemma (Dylan Gelula). She comes over for a sleepover, they hang out, etcetera, and Gemma pulls through for her bud full-stop.
At least, so we think—it wouldn't be a Smile without some proper gaslighting from the monster behind the smiles.
It's revealed near the end, close to Skye's big concert, that Gemma hasn't spoken to her since their friend breakup. Gemma was in Skye's head the whole time. Dang. This also comes with the reveal that the time passed in Smile 2—which, in Skye's head, was weeks—wasn't so many weeks after all. This takes us to the big concert, where, well...
Yes, you're right. The Smile Entity does not only Skye, but the entire audience dirty, as hundreds to thousands of people watch Skye Creepy Smile kill herself in front of them. And what does that mean? It means that now The Smile Entity has possessed everyone at the show. And that is not good!
With the recently announced Smile 3, we'll inevitably learn more about The Smile Entity's master plan and how the effects of possessing a mass group of victims plays out. Until then, just be safe out there. The Smile Entity is a bad... um... thing, and you never know when it could get you.
