Given Warner's difficulty with producing two-disc sets in their standard snap-cases, we would not be surprised to see more of this two-tiered SE marketing down the road (we sort of like the idea of upgrading current discs, too).

This may be one of those cases of Warner taking its lemons and making lemonade. While the obvious excuse may be that snap-cases don't allow two-disc sets, the more insidious side of this strategy is that Warner is selling you the second disc of your "two-disc" special edition set. Take, for argument's sake, the upcoming release of Shrek in a two-disc super special edition ("The DVD offers more than 11 hours of entertainment and features 15 minutes of all-new animated material including interactive menus created by the movie's directors," the press release says). SRP for the set is $26.99, but you can get it on the street for about $20.

Now take this 1+1 Matrix/Matrix Revisited special edition: You can get The Matrix for SRP $24.98, street about $19. You can get The Matrix Revisited for SRP $19.98, street price about $17. Total price for your two-disc Matrix special edition: SRP $44.96, or street price of $36!

— Fred

It's hard to argue with the numbers Fred, but we should note right away that DreamWorks' $20 Minimum Advertised Price for the upcoming Shrek is definitely an unusual price attached to a very popular movie and expansive DVD set — we have no doubt that the low cost of Shrek is part of a strategy to make it the best-selling DVD of all time (besting DreamWorks' own Gladiator). Thus, it's not an entirely accurate assessment of how much two platters goes for nowadays. In fact, at this time virtually all studios are keeping the price-points on their two-disc sets around thirty bucks SRP. Paramount, Universal, Buena Vista, MGM, and New Line list between $29.99 and $29.95, Columbia TriStar generally sets their two-disc price at $27.95, while Fox — the trailblazer of the two-disc phenom — comes in at a nice $26.98. Generally speaking, most street-prices at larger retailers fall between $22 and $26 for these products.

And on that score, you're right. Slap together Warner's two Matrix discs and the best street price is around ten bucks more — and that's hardly a bargain.

So why do we like The Matrix Revisited?

To begin with, revivified DVD products are not going to go away anytime soon, probably never. In part this is because corporations like movie studios and clothing manufacturers and auto companies do a very good job of selling more of their product than consumers actually need — the fashion industry keeps folks (women more than men) in new clothes all the time, and it's not unusual for Americans (men more than women) to buy a new car even though their current one works perfectly. In both cases such consumers might be in the mood to shop, or feel that it's time for "a change." Or they are attracted to some new feature or look or gadget, afraid that the march of progress is passing them by.

By the same token, Hollywood studios have pegged DVD fans as the biggest fashion victims on earth. Even though we may have perfectly good DVDs that flawlessly play movies on our average-sized televisions, it sort of chews us up to know that Paul Thomas Anderson supervised a new transfer of Boogie Nights, or that an "Ultimate Edition" of American Pie is out there. Do some of us keep our original discs? Sure. But a lot of folks upgrade — if that wasn't the case, the studios probably wouldn't bother putting these revised products on the market.

A further point to make about the double-dipped, two-disc SE phenomenon (Boogie Nights, American Pie, et. al.) is that it's driven by both logistics and marketing. On the logistical side, the average window between the time a film leaves theaters and becomes available on home video is just a matter of months. Of course, the studios' home-video divisions can get a head-start on DVD production, even while the film is still being shot. But even then, it's not always so easy to crank out a definitive special edition. Often the actors, director, or other principals are already committed to other projects and can't schedule in time for a commentary track or new documentary. In the case of Paul Thomas Anderson, he didn't get the time he wanted to supervise the first transfer of Boogie Nights, hence the new transfer. Christopher Nolan told Entertainment Weekly that he wanted to record a commentary for Memento but was busy elsewhere; we suspect it was much the same for chat-happy Steven Soderbergh and Traffic. In both of those cases, the DVDs simply have to arrive on the given schedule — the titles can't stay out of Blockbuster for a year or more for just to get a commentary track. But will Memento and Traffic come around again? It would not surprise us. Will they be two-disc sets? All the better, as far as the studios are concerned — two platters help convince consumers that re-releases are tangible improvements.

In addition, marketing can drive a second DVD release. There was no sound reason for Universal to release the two-disc American Pie: Ultimate Edition — no Internet petition, no groundswell of consumer demand. Most folks were happy with the first AP Collector's Edition. But American Pie 2 hit the cineplexes this summer, just days after American Pie: Ultimate Edition arrived. Sure, there's more stuff on the two-disc set, but a lot of that data is an additional full-frame transfer. And while we like the movie and the package, we've advised our readers who own the original American Pie: Collector's Edition to hang on to it and spend their money on a brand-new movie. (The same goes for Universal's two-disc The Mummy: Ultimate Edition, which also promo'd the high-grossing sequel).

But back to Warner — Yes, add up The Matrix and The Matrix Revisited and it costs more than the average two-disc set. Furthermore, while it may have some fun supplements, it also serves as a shameless promo piece for The Matrix 2. But it would have been easy for Warner to come up with a Matrix: Ultimate Edition. You know the drill — claim it's a better transfer, keep all of the original features on board, and pad out the second disc with more goodies and some less-than-subtle advertising. What makes The Matrix Revisited appealing — to us at least — is that we are not being asked to purchase the movie all over again. We've all paid the twenty bucks or so for a perfectly good Matrix disc. Really, it's fine. Anybody who says they can offer a substantially better transfer with current technology is smoking something. So instead of $20 for the original and $30 for the double-dipper, our total upgrade price is $17, and less if we pre-order.

Call it an "aftermarket" add-on. It's not essential, not at all. But The Matrix has been on DVD for nearly two years, and The Matrix Revisited is a welcome arrival, if for no other reason than that it reminds consumers the original Matrix disc was money well spent.

— Andrew

— Fred

— Neal

Thanks for the letters guys — we already knew going in that most folks made up their minds about Forrest Gump a long time ago. Of course, we think it's easily the most overrated film of the '90s, but that's just us. For fans, Paramount's new DVD is sure to be a hit.

Top of the Pops: You picked 'em — here's the most-accessed reviews on The DVD Journal over the past week. Click the links to read our reviews of these discs:

1. Hannibal: Special Edition
2. The Silence of the Lambs: Special Edition (MGM edition)
3. Forrest Gump: Special Collector's Edition
4. 15 Minutes: infinifilm
5. Gandhi
6. Carrie: Special Edition
7. Blow Out
8. My Best Friend's Wedding: Special Edition
9. Kramer vs. Kramer
10. Safe

Bye for now.

— Ed.

Tuesday, 28 August 2001

In the Works: Here's some new disc announcements, courtesy of Image Entertainment and DVDPlanet.com, and additional staff reports:

• So much for the Great Willy Wonka Controversy of 2001. As we predicted (on Aug. 8), Warner will release a widescreen version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, in direct response to consumer demand. "Long-time fans of this timeless gem have expressed great interest in a widescreen release, and WHV is excited to bring it to them," Warner Home Video family marketing exec Ewa Martinoff said in a statement. The new disc arrives Nov. 13, with all of the features that are on the current full-frame edition, including the new documentary and commentary track.

• Also on the horizon from Warner is The Matrix Revisited (Nov. 20), which is sort of like a "Matrix Special Edition" minus the movie. Full of nothing but supplemental features to complement your existing Matrix disc, expect a look at Wu Ping's choreography, a breakdown of two action scenes, DVD-ROM content, a sneak-peek at the upcoming Matrix sequel, DVD-ROM goodies, and lots more. Given Warner's difficulty with producing two-disc sets in their standard snap-cases, we would not be surprised to see more of this two-tiered SE marketing down the road (we sort of like the idea of upgrading current discs, too).

• With Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven on the way, Warner is digging into their Rat Pack files — 1960's Ocean's Eleven will include a commentary track with Frank Sinatra Jr. and Angie Dickinson, as well as a second track from Soderbergh and plenty more features, while 1964's Robin and the 7 Hoods will offer a track from Sinatra Jr. Rounding out the Rat Pack trio will be 1963's 4 for Texas — all three are street-legal on Nov. 20.

• The summer's ultimate grrrl-flick, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, arrives from Paramount on Nov. 13 — we can count on a commentary from director Simon West, four deleted scenes, numerous behind-the-scenes features, a U2 video, and three levels of the Tomb Raider video game as DVD-ROM content. Also expect a whole new way to look at your Star Trek collection, as the arrival of Star Trek: The Motion Picture on DVD Nov. 6 has prompted Paramount to prep a box of all nine theatrical films on DVD to date (Nov. 6 – SRP $183.95). However, since it's been hinted by the folks at Paramount that SEs of the series could be in the offing, that's a chunk of change you might want to think twice about.

• Coming up from Columbia TriStar is 1993's The Remains of the Day: Special Edition, which will include a commentary with director James Ivory and Emma Thompson, a new documentary featuring Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, and Christopher Reeve, deleted scenes, and two featurettes. Also on the way is Martin Scorcese's 1993 The Age of Innocence starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder, which will offer an HBO featurette and trailers. John Singleton's recent Baby Boy will get tricked out with several special features, including a commentary from Singleton, deleted and alternate scenes, storyboards, a featurette, outtakes and bloopers, and a music video. Rounding out the list are Luc Besson's 1985 Subway, Edward Dmytryk's 1968 Anzio, Barbara Streisand's 1991 The Prince of Tides, and the 1982 miniseries The Blue and the Gray. All are set for Nov. 6.

• MGM has a number of interesting titles coming up on Nov. 6, including the 1992 Of Mice and Men starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich, Gregory's Girl, and Dominick and Eugene, while Nov. 20 will see the arrival of 1990's Lord of the Flies, The Dogs of War starring Christopher Walken, and schlock-shockers such as I Bury the Living, Empire of the Ants, Angry Red Planet, Strange Invaders, and War Gods of the Deep.

• Silent fans can look forward to another round of classics from Kino — 1922's Blood and Sand starring Rudolph Valentino and 1928's El Gaucho with Douglas Fairbanks Sr. street on Oct. 9, where they will be joined by the 1920 John Barrymore version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Lon Chaney's macabre 1920 The Penalty.

On the Street: It's nowhere near Halloween yet, but the end of August is when the studios start unleashing the spooky stuff, and Universal leads the way this morning with the third wave of their Classic Monster Collection, all double-feature discs, and they've thrown in Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy for good measure. MGM has a trio of Brian De Palma spins with Carrie: Special Edition, Dressed to Kill: Special Edition, and Blow Out, in addition to late-night treats such as Killer Klowns From Outer Space: Special Edition, Scanners, and The Howling. Columbia TriStar has released an attractive SE of the 1982 Oscar-winning Gandhi, as well as Kramer vs. Kramer and a revised My Best Friend's Wedding: Special Edition, while Paramount's offerings include Forrest Gump: Special Collector's Edition and Marathon Man. Fans of the silents are sure to notice Image's new release of Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse The Gambler; lovers of Ken Burns can find a trio of his documentaries, Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery. Here's this morning's notable street discs, courtesy of DVDPlanet.com and Image Entertainment:

• Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy
• Ancient Mysteries: Myths and Legends
• Anne Frank
• Audrey Rose
• The Avengers: The Complete Emma Peel Mega-Set (16-disc set)
• The Beast Within
• Blow Out
• Breeders
• Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh
• Carrie: Special Edition
• Charlotte's Web (pan-and-scan)
• Civil War Journal: The Commanders
• Company Man
• Count Yorga, Vampire
• Dr. Mabuse, The Gambler
• Dracula's Daughter / Son of Dracula: Classic Monster Collection
• The D.R.E.A.M. Team
• Dressed to Kill: Special Edition
• The Dunwich Horror
• Faust: Love of the Damned: Special Edition
• Fires of Kuwait: IMAX
• The First Power
• Forrest Gump: Special Collector's Edition
• Frank Lloyd Wright
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man / House of Frankenstein: Classic Monster Collection
• Fritz Lang: Circle of Destiny
• Gandhi
• George Carlin Collection (5-disc set)
• Great Escapes of World War II
• Hammer House of Horror
• Haunted Honeymoon
• Hermes: Winds of Love
• The Howling
• The Human Face
• Impressionists: The Other French Revolution
• Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport: Special Edition
• Invaders from Mars
• The Island of Dr. Moreau
• It! The Terror from Beyond Space
• Joe Dirt
• Killer Klowns from Outer Space
• The King's Guard
• Kramer vs. Kramer
• Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery
• Locomotion: The Amazing World of Trains
• Love Light
• Marathon Man
• Mars Needs Women
• Mary Pickford: A Life on Film
• The Monster that Challenged the World
• Mummies Alive!: The Real Beginning
• Mummies and the Wonders of Ancient Egypt
• The Mummy's Ghost / The Mummy's Curse: Classic Monster Collection
• The Mummy's Hand / The Mummy's Tomb: Classic Monster Collection
• My Best Friend's Wedding: Special Edition
• Mysteries of the Bible: The Bible's Greatest Heroes
• The Next Karate Kid
• Planet of the Vampires
• The Rat Pack: The True Stories of the Original Kings of Cool
• The Real Las Vegas: The Complete Story of America's Neon Oasis
• Remnant
• Reptilicus
• Return of the Living Dead 3: Special Edition
• Rock 'n' Roll High School
• Sabrina: The Animated Series: Sabrina's World
• Scanners
• See Spot Run
• Son of Frankenstein / Ghost of Frankenstein: Classic Monster Collection
• South Pacific
• Star Trek TV #31
• Star Trek TV #32
• Tales of the Kama Sutra 2: Monsoon
• The Terror Within
• Theater of Blood
• Thomas Jefferson
• Twice Told Tales
• The Unborn
• Werewolf of London / She-Wolf of London: Classic Monster Collection
• Wicked
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: Special Edition (full-frame)

Peace, out.

— Ed.

Monday, 27 August 2001

Disc of the Week: Brian De Palma may have started his career directing comedies, but he's an unambiguous student of Alfred Hitchcock — the Hitch-flick has been his modus operandi since his first hit, 1973's Sisters. But then again, alongside such notable colleagues as Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg, De Palma was one of the first of the "film school" filmmakers — directors who learned their craft from watching movies, and who made no attempt to hide their influences. Lucas has been filming under the influence of Kurosawa for much of his career, and De Palma has surveyed such predecessors as the Odessa Steps sequence from Eisenstein's Potemkin and Dassin's silent heist in Rififi. And with 1980's Dressed to Kill he pays homage to Psycho, much as in 1976's Obsession he did to Vertigo.

Angie Dickinson stars in Dressed to Kill in the Janet Leigh-esque role as Kate Miller, a lonely mother trying to deal with her frustrations because her husband doesn't take care of her (cough) needs, and while her shrink Dr. Robert Elliott (Michael Caine) tells her to address the issue with her husband, all she wants is a good shagging — no questions asked. Once she gets what she needs from a man with VD (in a bravura dialogue-free sequence through an art museum) , Kate is murdered by a mysterious woman. And then the woman drops her incriminating razor-blade at the feet of Liz Blake (Nancy Allen), an uptown prostitute who's only interested in the stock market. Brought in by the police for questioning, Liz meets Kate's science-geek son Peter (Keith Gordon), who figures — after eavesdropping on Dr. Elliott's interrogation — that the killer must be one of the doctor's patients. Peter photographs Elliott's clientele and shows Liz his findings, but both realize that the killer is now after her, while the cops want to toss Liz in the klink unless she leads them to the killer.

Dressed to Kill's various borrowings from Psycho include (but are not limited to) the killing of the lead early in the piece, the killer's "trick" identity and subsequent explanation, and much of the music (Pino Donaggio's score has a strong Bernard Herman flavor) — making it easy to dismiss De Palma as a rip-off artist better at mimicry than developing his own voice. But — and this is a big but — such does not acknowledge the tremendous talent it takes to do what De Palma does here, and does well. Skeptical? Compare Dressed to Kill to Gus Van Sant's 1998's remake of Psycho. Where Van Sant tried to completely copy a Hitchcockian masterwork, winding up with less-than-inspired results, De Palma employs the "riffing" of a great jazz musician. And like John Coltrane's version of My Favorite Things, De Palma never planned on a remake, but instead took a feel and a form to interpret for himself. Though heavily indebted to Hitchcock, De Palma has tricks of his own, and one must admire the craft of taking old ideas and reinventing them anew — Dressed to Kill is thrilling, and at times ingenious. De Palma has a surgeon's precision at wringing optimal pleasure out of the film's most suspenseful moments, and he really understands how entertaining it is to observe people in peril.

MGM's new Dressed to Kill: Special Edition is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) in two versions: the original R-rated theatrical release, and the uncut European rendition (adding different angles and a couple more graphic seconds to the running time). The audio has been effectively remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, but for purists the original mono soundtrack has also been included. Bonuses include a 45-minute documentary (featuring interviews with De Palma, producer George Litto, Allen, Dickinson, Gordon, Allen, and Dennis Franz, among others) and three featurettes — a comparison of the R, unrated, and TV versions of the film; a look at how much trouble the film earned with the MPAA; and a retrospective by Keith Gordon (as he also did on Jaws 2). Also on board are the theatrical trailer and two still galleries covering on-set shots and promotional materials. Dressed to Kill: Special Edition hits the street tomorrow.

Box Office: Five new films went wide over the weekend, but none could top American Pie 2 and Rush Hour 2, which finished once again in first and second place. AP2 now stands at $109.6 million and is the first movie since Spy Kids to hold the top spot for three weeks in a row, while RH2 has $183.2 million and is poised to break the double-century before much longer. Among new releases, Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back opened strongest with $11.1 million, while Warner's romantic comedy Summer Catch earned $7.5 million. John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars opened poorly for Sony with $3.8 million, despite being shown at more than 2,000 locations, while Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion mustered up $2.5 million in less than 1,000 theaters. But faring worst of all was Buena Vista's Bubble Boy — despite opening at 1,600 locations, it failed to make the chart.

In continuing release, the late-summer heavyweights Planet of the Apes and Jurassic Park III are starting to fade, while Buena Vista's The Princess Diaries is an unqualified hit for Julie Andrews and director Garry Marshall, earning $82.5 million after four weekends. Dimension's old-fashioned thriller The Others is also doing well, with $46.2 million and some good word-of-mouth support. But going into a nosedive is Universal's Captain Corelli's Mandolin, starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz, which is just shy of $14 million after two weeks. And stinko awards go to The Farrelly Brothers' Osmosis Jones, which barely cleared $10 million before its hasty exit, while American Outlaws snared $4.8 million its opening weekend and has since dropped out of sight.

Just two new films arrive this Friday — the Othello-adaptation O, starring Julia Stiles and Mekhi Phifer, and the horror flick Jeepers Creepers, directed by Victor Salva. Here's the top-grossing films at North American theaters from last weekend:

1. American Pie 2 (Universal)
   $12,802,000 ($109,622,000 through 3 weeks)
2. Rush Hour 2 (New Line)
   $11,400,000 ($183,264,000 through 4 weeks)
3. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Dimension)
   $11,100,000 ($11,100,000 through 1 week)
4. The Others (Dimension)
   $8,600,000 ($46,200,000 through 3 weeks)
5. Rat Race (Paramount)
   $8,300,000 ($25,627,000 through 2 weeks)
6. Summer Catch (Warner Bros.)
   $7,535,000 ($7,535,000 through 1 week)
7. The Princess Diaries (Buena Vista)
   $6,700,000 ($82,500,000 through 4 weeks)
8. Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Universal)
   $3,877,000 ($13,963,000 through 2 weeks)
9. John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars (Sony/Columbia TriStar)
   $3,800,000 ($3,800,000 through 1 week)
10. Planet of the Apes (Fox)
    $3,530,000 ($167,786,033 through 5 weeks)
11. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (DreamWorks SKG)
    $2,500,000 ($2,500,000 through 1 week)
12. Jurassic Park III (Universal)
    $2,323,000 ($172,577,000 through 6 weeks)

On the Board: Greg Dorr has posted his sneak-peek of Paramount's two-disc Forrest Gump: Special Collector's Edition, while Betsy Bozdech looked at Columbia TriStar's revised My Best Friend's Wedding: Special Edition, and D.K. Holm spun a George Stevens classic from Paramount, A Place in the Sun. New reviews from the rest of the staff this morning include the Brian De Palma films Carrie: Special Edition, Dressed to Kill: Special Edition, and Blow Out, as well as Gandhi, Kramer vs. Kramer, Beyond Suspicion, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, Wish Upon a Star, and the drive-in double-feature The Giant Gila Monster and The Wasp Woman. All can be found under the New Reviews menu here on the front page, while our DVD reviews database features more than 1,100 additional write-ups.

Back tomorrow with this week's street discs.

— Ed.

Thursday, 23 August 2001
Weekend Dispatch

On the Block: Our latest round of DVD auction rankings at eBay is in, and surging up the chart is a new arrival — a live-performance DVD of Russell Crowe's Aussie bar-band Thirty-Odd Foot of Grunts that's simply entitled Texas and apparently is being sold at the band's gigs during their current North American tour (and yes, TOFOG is playing Portland's Roseland Theater tonight, right across the street from DVD Journal headquarters — should we try to convince Crowe and his mates to drop by for a keg or two of beer?) Criterion titles continue to rank across the chart, and every month that Miramax holds on to A Hard Day's Night is another month the original MPI special edition earns triple digits, getting a top close of $152.50 this time around. Two titles returning to the chart after some absence are Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew and the ultra-rare fifth disc from Fox's Alien Legacy box set. A&E's Pride and Prejudice continues to hang around, but with the re-issue on Sept. 25 we think this is the last we'll see of it. But we're not so surprised that the first edition of Warner's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is on the upswing, with a best hammer-price of $101.13 on Aug. 6 — right about the time we all learned the upcoming Willy Wonka special edition would only offer a full-frame transfer.

Here's the highest recent closing prices of rare and out-of-print DVDs from online auctions at eBay:

1. Salo: The Criterion Collection
   $492.00 (10 bids)
2. The Killer: The Criterion Collection
   $315.00 (12 bids)
3. Thirty-Odd Foot of Grunts: Texas
   $275.00 (1 bid)
4. The 400 Blows: The Criterion Collection
   $250.00 (1 bid)
5. This Is Spinal Tap: The Criterion Collection
   $219.00 (1 bid)
6. Army of Darkness: Limited Edition
   $200.00 (4 bids)
7. A Hard Day's Night (MPI edition)
   $152.50 (28 bids)
8. Seven Samurai: The Criterion Collection (first edition)
   $139.00 (1 bid)
9. The Gospel According to St. Matthew
   $111.82 (12 bids)
10. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
    $110.00 (2 bids)
11. The Alien Legacy Bonus DVD
    $106.00 (16 bids)
12. Sid and Nancy: The Criterion Collection
    $105.00 (1 bid)
13. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (first edition)
    $101.13 (15 bids)
14. THX Digital Video/Audio System Demo
    $100.00 (1 bid)
15. Hard Boiled: The Criterion Collection
    $91.00 (5 bids)

Coming Attractions: We're off to dig through another fresh stack of DVDs, and new reviews on the way include Forrest Gump, some new Brian De Palma spins, and much more. We'll see ya Monday — have a great weekend.

— Ed.

Wednesday, 22 August 2001

Mailbag: It's time to clean out some of the reader mail here at The DVD Journal:

— Christopher

You may be on some bad drugs Christopher, but they have not affected your memory yet. Indeed, A Clockwork Orange, when first released in the U.S. in 1971, carried an X-rating, but as most film fans know an X back then has little bearing on what X means nowadays. When Jack Valenti first took the reins of the Motion Picture Association of America in 1966, one of the first things he planned to do was retire the long-standing Production Code (also known as the Hays Code), which he regarded as barely more than censorship. He also had little choice, as films in America and around the world were starting to outgrow the Code's limitations — two of the earliest pictures Valenti found himself dealing with were Mike Nichols' 1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which contained some stark language from Edward Albee's stage play (the word "screw" presented a problem), while the Michelangelo Antonioni import Blow Up, from the same year, became the first major theatrical release to contain full-frontal nudity.

By 1968 the Code was scrapped and replaced by the ratings system, which at first only had four permutations — G, M, R, and X. The G- and R-ratings are still with us today, while the M rating (for Mature) was abandoned because some parents thought it was more mature than a "Restricted" film, not less. To avoid confusion, the M became GP ("General audiences, Parental guidance"). But, hardly less confusing, it became PG not long thereafter. That PG was expanded to the additional PG-13 in 1984 when Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was considered too intense for youngsters.

But unlike the original G, M, and R ratings, and all of their successors, the MPAA never copyrighted the X rating. Why? Strictly speaking, as the highest restriction there was no need to "qualify" for an X, and thus it could be self-applied by any film. Of course, its original intent was simply to denote films that would not be shown to children under 17, and a good number of pictures in the late '60s and early '70s carried the stamp of adult viewership — including Straw Dogs, Carnal Knowledge, A Clockwork Orange, and most famously Midnight Cowboy, the only X-rated film to win an Oscar for Best Picture. But as the MPAA's X-rating was not copyrighted, it wasn't long before the growing porn industry adopted the label, and even expanded it to the ubiquitous "XXX." By the mid-'70s the X was a double-whammy, since most mainstream theaters would not screen X-rated Hollywood films, and X also had come to mean hardcore porn in the minds of most consumers. With the studios cutting all of their films with an eye for an R-rating at the most, the X fell by the wayside, until it was resurrected in 1990 as NC-17 ("No children under 17") for Henry and June. But the sanitized NC-17, which the MPAA copyrighted, is still feared by studios, who are aware that NC-17 titles will not be screened at the largest cineplexes, nor be available on video at renters such as Blockbuster. Indeed, Stanley Kubrick was contractually obligated to deliver 1999's Eyes Wide Shut to Warner as an R-rated film, and it was modified after his death to achieve that R-rating in the U.S.

Is the altered Eyes Wide Shut a bastardization of Kubrick's vision? It's a question that will be debated for a long time, but it is interesting to note that Eyes Wide Shut is not an exception. As you point out, A Clockwork Orange was altered to get an R-rating, and not in the '80s or later, but in 1972. Kubrick himself modified two sequences — the "William Tell Overture" fast-motion orgy and the "Singin' in the Rain" rape-scene — in order to get an R. The adjustments were minor and did not affect the film's running time. It was in the mid-'90s that the original sequences were restored on home video, this time with a R-rating. We have not been able to compare earlier videos to Warner's Clockwork Orange DVD (first and second editions), but our understanding is that we have the original X-rated version on disc, not the modification.

— Casady

If you have Region 2 capability on your DVD player and you can afford it, there's no real reason to avoid the R2 edition of John Huston's 1951 The African Queen, released by Carlton Home Entertainment on July 16. We are told by friends in the UK that the transfer is very good in the original 1.33:1, while the audio is a remastered two-channel mono. Features include a trailer, two still galleries, and cast notes, but of greatest interest is a commentary from legendary cinematographer Jack Cardiff that's full of on-set details. If the disc did not have extra content we'd advise you hold off until Fox gets a Region 1 DVD in circulation. But it sounds like a good buy, especially if you pay a reasonable price on eBay, say no more than $25. There's no guarantee that Fox will offer North American fans an attractive special edition like this one — and even if the transfer was garbage, that Cardiff track would be worth the price of admission.

— Sluggo

Well, "Sluggo," we're sure you'll love Say It Isn't So — a totally free DVD is on its way to you!

Top of the Pops: Here's the top-selling DVDs last week from our friends at Ken Crane's DVDPlanet.com. Click the links to read our reviews of these discs:

1. Enemy at the Gates
2. Hannibal: Special Edition
3. The Goonies
4. Batman: The Movie (1966)
5. Chocolat
6. The Silence of the Lambs
7. The Mexican
8. 15 Minutes: infinifilm
9. Waiting for Guffman
10. 3000 Miles to Graceland

Bye for now.

— Ed.

Tuesday, 21 August 2001

In the Works: Here's some new disc announcements, courtesy of Image Entertainment and DVDPlanet.com, and additional staff reports:

• It seems that every Trekkie on the planet for years has declared Star Trek: The Motion Picture to be one of the worst films of the series — which may not be a surprise, as the 1979 effort was the franchise's first. But since ST: TMP is the only Trek feature not released on disc, fans have been clamoring for something special. Thus, after what seems like a long delay, Paramount will release a "Director's Edition" on Nov. 6, overseen by director Robert Wise. Audio and visual elements have been tarted up, and features on the two-disc set will include a commentary track with Wise, special effects guys Douglas Trumbull and John Dykstra, actor Stephen Collins, and composer Jerry Goldsmith. Also expect three documentaries and lots of deleted scenes from the 1983 television cut. And don't say we didn't warn you, because Paramount marketing exec Michael Arkin tells Reuters that, with all of the Trek films released on disc in reverse order, the studio may now start working forward through the titles as special editions.

• Okay, we all know that Buena Vista's summer tentpole Pearl Harbor earned back its $140 million production budget, but what about the colossal marketing costs? It comes as no surprise that we're about to get hammered with Harbor-mania on DVD, with a trio of upcoming releases that are bound to delight as many consumers as they confuse. Starting on Dec. 4 we will see the Pearl Harbor: 60th Anniversary Commemorative Edition, with both DTS and Dolby Digital audio, an introduction from director Michael Bay, two documentaries, cast interviews, and a Faith Hill music video. On the same day we also will see the Pearl Harbor: 60th Anniversary Commemorative Gift Set, with all of the features of the initial release, the additional title National Geographic Beyond The Movie: Pearl Harbor, and a National Geographic map. Finally, on Jan. 15 we will see the three-disc Pearl Harbor: Vista Series, which will offer a "director's cut" of the film (yes, it will differ from the theatrical release), a slew of commentaries and featurettes, and additional features that have yet to be finalized. Bombs away.

• Heads up Python fans — Columbia TriStar is upgrading their Sept. 1999 release of Monty Python and the Holy Grail with a long-anticipated two-disc special edition on Oct. 23. Count on a slightly longer cut, a yack-track with Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin, and — quite frankly — a lot of supplements that are just downright ridiculous, such as "Follow the Killer Rabbit," subtitles for "people who don't like the film," the movie short "How to Use Your Coconuts," and the entire feature in Japanese with English subtitles. As we say, it's ridiculous! Stop this silly behavior right now!

• Anchor Bay is retiring their previous DVD release of 1989's Heathers and following up with two new versions — Heathers: Special Edition will offer a new anamorphic transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, and will include a commentary with director Michael Lehmann, producer Denise Di Novi and writer Daniel Waters, a new documentary with actors Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, and others, cast notes, and a screenplay excerpt of an alternate ending. Meanwhile, Heathers: Limited Special Edition will offer all of the above along with a ruler and a "yearbook" in a tin case (of which only 15,000 numbered units will be released). We're headed back to school on Sept. 25.

• We're looking forward to a trio of Jean-Luc Godard titles from Winstar, in particular 1960's seminal Breathless, the film that launched the French New Wave. Also due are Le Petit Soldat and Les Carabiniers — all three street on Oct. 9.

On the Street: If you're looking for something nice to go with your fava beans, MGM has both The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal out today as special editions, and while we prefer the first film over its successor, we found both titles to have good extra features. This week's lineup from Columbia TriStar includes Todd Haynes' Safe and Luc Besson's Le Dernier Combat, while a lot of folks will be picking up Warner's long-awaited Waiting for Guffman and Criterion's Sullivan's Travels. And for nostalgia-trippers like us, Fox's 1966 Batman: The Movie is a treat. Here's this morning's notable street discs, courtesy of DVDPlanet.com and Image Entertainment:

• Amphibian Man
• Babyface: MTV Unplugged NYC
• Batman: The Movie: Special Edition (1966)
• Body Count
• The Carl Theodor Dreyer Collection: The Criterion Collection (4-disc set)
• The Dave Matthews Band: The Videos 1994-2001
• Daybreak: Special Edition
• Dead Silence
• Dead Simple: Special Edition
• Doomwatch
• Le Dernier Combat (The Last Battle)
• Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
• Full Eclipse
• Golden Years (TV series)
• Goonies: Special Edition
• Gremlins
• Hannibal: Special Edition (2-disc set)
• Joe Satriani: Live in San Francisco
• The Last Warrior
• Lil Bow Wow: Beware of Video
• Link
• Live Nude Girls Unite!
• Maniac: Limited Special Edition
• Maniac
• Never 2 Big
• Nightbreed
• Out of Sync
• Phat Beach
• Professor Dowell's Testament
• Reptilian
• Rumpelstiltskin
• Safe: Special Edition
• Say It Isn't So: Special Edition
• Schlock: Special Edition
• Scooby Doo's Spookiest Tales
• The Silence of the Lambs: Special Edition (MGM edition) (widescreen)
• The Silence of the Lambs: Special Edition (MGM edition) (full-frame)
• South of Heaven, West of Hell: Special Edition
• Sullivan's Travels: The Criterion Collection (delayed from July 10)
• Three Stooges: Dizzy Doctors
• Vamp: Special Edition
• Viy, or Spirit of Evil
• Waiting for Guffman
• The Wicker Man: Limited Special Edition
• The Wicker Man
• Wish Upon a Star
• Witchboard 3: The Possession

See ya.

— Ed.

Monday, 20 August 2001

Disc of the Week: Between the sublime and the ridiculous you'll find ... the sublimely ridiculous. And in that wonderfully loopy, dizzy, silly-without-shame place lies Batman: The Movie. This fizzy concoction hit the big screens in 1966, between the first and second seasons of ABC's Batman TV series' three-season run. The movie had initially been created to introduce the series to American audiences, but with one thing and another, the series was already a sure-fire hit before the movie was made. So Batman: The Movie served to keep the Bat-fans happy and hungry for more, and it successfully introduced the show to lucrative foreign markets. The series and its movie are now considered "camp classics," worthy comedies from the mold that later gave us the Zucker Brothers' Police Squad! series and Naked Gun and Airplane! movies. They are well-crafted masterworks of cheese that have for more than three decades maintained a devoted fan following. And Fox's special edition DVD is a product of that following — word is that ardent fans within Fox pushed to get it produced, and it's likely that this disc, with its loving bonus features, will appeal mightily to that Baby Boomer nostalgia kick that has made cable stations such as TV Land, not to mention cinematic "updates" of TV series from the '60s and '70s, viable commercial forces. After all, for Boomers the Batman TV series was a pop-culture staple almost as much as its near-contemporary, the original Star Trek series. Sing two seconds of its theme music and you and your pals would be riffing on how cool Vincent Price was as Egghead or whether Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt was the sexiest Catwoman ever, and just how did the Dynamic Duo change into their Bat-costumes while sliding down that Bat-pole anyway? The Batmobile was the greatest car in the world and "Holy [whatever]!" was an all-purpose exclamation. Sure, even teens or younger knew it was all silly stuff, but it was fun and colorful like a comic book should be. And like Adam West himself, this particular Batman has aged remarkably well — even if we roll our eyes at it a bit more now.

Batman: The Movie was scripted by Lorenzo Semple Jr., who wrote for the TV series and later went on to share script credits on The Parallax View, Papillon, Flash Gordon, and Never Say Never Again. The plot is a TV episode blown up to triple-helping proportions. Within moments of the opening credits, philanthropic millionaire Bruce Wayne (Adam West) and his youthful ward Dick Grayson (Burt Ward) slide down the Bat-pole and, as the Caped Crusaders, speed off in the Batmobile and Batcopter to the site of the latest Bat-emergency. It seems that Commodore Schmidlapp (Reginald Denny), a British distillery tycoon and inventor, is bringing to the U.S. an invention that is purported to be of world-changing importance. The bad news is that the commodore's yacht has vanished — and the culprits behind the kidnapping are no less than four of Batman's most favored fiendish foes: the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and Catwoman (Lee Meriwether, the living embodiment of "lift and separate"). Together, these vile vultures of villainy have teamed up to become United Underworld, out to take over nothing less than the entire world with the Commodore's invention — a Hoover vacuum cleaner that extracts all moisture from a human body, reducing the victim to a handful of powder.

It's the villains — rather, the superb character actors who play them — who add so much of the fun to Batman: The Movie. On display are some of that generation's most watchable television actors delivering lines with full-bore gusto ("We shall spring them from the Joker's jack-in-the-box, through that window, out over the sea, and into the waiting arms of the Penguin's exploding octopus!") Can the Dynamic Duo stop the fearsome foursome in time? Well, naturally, and along the way we're treated to dozens of ludicrous Bat-gadgets, all labeled in big letters, and a script supported with crisp directing (by the inventive Leslie H. Martinson). Topping it all off is wonderful Adam West, who manages to pigeon-hole his career for life with a performance so straight-faced, so deliberately arch and mannered, that one fantasizes about him teaming up with William Shatner for a Vegas lounge act. Batman: The Movie is not all perfect — for instance, once the story reaches its cruising velocity it stays there a bit too long — but it's still good clean fun that's both nostalgic and timeless.

Fox's new Batman: The Movie special edition DVD is a labor of love that adds a trove of goodies to the original movie. The print and transfer are excellent — clean and sharp with vibrant colors and fine gradation, with almost no speckling or blemishes. It has been transferred in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio (anamorphically enhanced). The DVD's primary audio track is in Dolby 2.0 Surround, which offers a slight upgrade from the alternate monaural track. The sound is good, reasonably clear and clean, though it shows its age with some slight hiss and a limited frequency range. The new screen-specific audio commentary track with Adam West and Burt Ward is relaxed reminiscence, offering anecdotes about the making of both the series and the movie and often joking back and forth in Mystery Science Theater style. The flow isn't constant, but it's clear that the two starring actors had a good time recording the track. West and Ward are on screen in a short featurette made specially for this DVD. With self-effacing humor, they give more information about making the series and movie, their perspectives on having Batman and Robin as their day jobs, and about working with the numerous guest stars. "The Batmobile Revealed" is a mini-featurette hosted by George Barris, the Batmobile's designer and engineer, who gives us a guided tour of the now-vintage vehicle and how it came to be the most famous black sedan on the planet. "From the Vaults of Adam West" and "Behind the Scenes" are each click-through galleries of stills that deliver an extensive photo album of production designs, cast and crew candid shots, and promo images. No need to worry about catching this one at the "same Bat-time, same Bat-channel" — Batman: The Movie arrives on DVD tomorrow morning.

Box Office: The past ten weeks have seen ten different films open in first place at the American box-office, but Universal's American Pie 2 has snapped the trend, becoming the first picture since Pearl Harbor to hold the top spot for two weeks in a row. After 10 days AP2 has grossed $87.6 million — strong numbers for an R-rated film — and its second win was helped by a few underperforming debuts. Paramount's comedy Rat Race grabbed $11.8 million over the weekend, but it was only good enough for third place, while Universal's delayed Captain Corelli's Mandolin, starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz, earned $7.1 million for sixth and Warner's American Outlaws $4.1 million for the eighth spot.

In continuing release, Rush Hour 2, Planet of the Apes, and Jurassic Park III are the biggest blockbusters, but Buena Vista's The Princess Diaries and MGM's Legally Blonde are effectively counterprogramming the late-summer spectaculars, with strong totals and less dramatic week-to-week declines. And Dimension's The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, added nearly 500 theaters over the weekend to hold fourth spot with an additional $10.8 million. But headed into the tank is Warner's Osmosis Jones, falling out of the top ten in its second week with $10.2 million — a scrap of its reported $70 million budget.

Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back arrives in theaters this Friday, where it will be joined by such other new arrivals as Woody Allen's The Curse of the Jade Scorpion, John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, and the Disney comedy Bubble Boy. Here's the top-grossing films at North American theaters from last weekend:

1. American Pie 2 (Universal)
   $21,400,000 ($87,600,000 through 2 weeks)
2. Rush Hour 2 (New Line)
   $19,200,000 ($164,800,000 through 3 weeks)
3. Rat Race (Paramount)
   $11,800,000 ($11,800,000 through 1 week)
4. The Others (Dimension)
   $10,800,000 ($32,000,000 through 2 weeks)
5. The Princess Diaries (Buena Vista)
   $9,500,000 ($70,100,000 through 3 weeks)
6. Captain Corelli's Mandolin (Universal)
   $7,100,000 ($7,100,000 through 1 week)
7. Planet of the Apes (Fox)
   $6,872,000 ($160,967,436 through 4 weeks)
8. American Outlaws (Warner Bros.)
   $4,810,000 ($4,810,000 through 1 week)
9. Jurassic Park III (Universal)
   $4,300,000 ($168,200,000 through 5 weeks)
10. Legally Blonde (MGM)
    $2,574,000 ($83,340,000 through 6 weeks)
11. Osmosis Jones (Warner Bros.)
    $2,440,000 ($10,192,000 through 2 weeks)
12. America's Sweethearts (Sony/Columbia TriStar)
    $2,300,000 ($87,800,000 through 5 weeks)

On the Board: Dawn Taylor has posted a double-feature sneak preview of MGM's Hannibal and The Silence of the Lambs, while D.K. Holm is on the board with New Line's 15 Minutes: infinifilm, and Greg Dorr looked at Columbia's Safe. New reviews from the rest of the team this week include Say It Isn't So!, Grey Gardens: The Criterion Collection, Time and Tide, The Hunter, Batman: The Movie, Le Dernier Combat, and Extreme Limits. It's all fresh under the New Reviews menu here on the front page, or use our search engine to scan our entire DVD reviews database.

We'll be back tomorrow with the rundown on this week's street discs.

— Ed.

Thursday, 16 August 2001
Weekend Dispatch

Coming Attractions: New DVD reviews are on the way, including MGM's Hannibal and The Silence of the Lambs, and more. In the meantime, if you haven't entered our totally free DVD contest for a copy of Sullivan's Travels: The Criterion Collection, be sure to visit our contest page if you get the chance, and don't forget to take our monthly DVD poll while you're there. See ya Monday.

Commentary Clip: "I have no idea why people reacted so strongly to (Liz), to the character I play. John (Schlesinger) had a very good piece of music behind my entrance, Richard Rodney Bennett. Beautiful, beautiful piece of music, just perfect. He choreographed it beautifully with the sort of bouncy sort of way that I did the walk into the city. Apart from that, what I think what I saw was a kind of charisma between my face and the screen. It's definitely very vital. There's a sort of energy in my face, and it has absolutely nothing to do with acting what so ever. It's a sort of magic thing, which is maybe what, you know, my whole career's been based on basically, which is that something happens when the camera looks at me. And I think this is true of many people who become film stars. So I think that just that might have been it, it just might have been a little fizzle, you know, (laughs) fizz! Not a fizzle, you fizzle out, but you fizz don't you, yes that's it (laughs). So I think it might have been completely non-specific and non-identifiable."

— Julie Christie,
Billy Liar: The Criterion Collection

Quotable: "Over the last five to seven years the landscape of American cinemas has changed. In the past, when a big movie would open, you might think 'I won't even bother. It'll be sold out. I'd have to get there an hour early.' Now the movie's showing on five screens, so you go. You know you're going to get in. Nobody gets turned away. The result? Movies burn out quicker."

— Warner Bros. film distribution executive Dan
Fellman, discussing moviegoing yesterday and
today.

"It's called a comedy, but we don't think it's funny to make jokes about serious diseases. I spend many hours a month getting transfusions at the hospital so I can try to stay healthy. It would make me really sad to think while I am at the hospital, lots of people are sitting in a movie theater laughing about a serious disease."

— Scott McGuire, 10, in a letter to Disney Chairman
Michael Eisner protesting the upcoming comedy
Bubble Boy. McGuire suffers from primary
immunodeficiency disease (PI).

"There was a time when you couldn't bring my name up without hearing me described as 'the enemy.' I hope people have some understanding of me taking responsibility for that.... Proof of Life was a minor signal to Hollywood, I hope. Maybe they won't let me do what I like to do, but maybe they'll let me participate."

— David Caruso, discussing his infamous 1994 exit
from ABC-TV's NYPD Blue in People
magazine.

"Everyone thinks I've got this big Hollywood career now but I've only made two films in six years (in America). That's all. I did one in Chicago, then a little bit in Savannah, and all the rest were in Europe. So it's just the perception of the kind of films I've done. I love coming (to Los Angeles) and renting a house either on the beach or in the hills, and you enjoy the job and enjoy the time here, and then you go home."

— Jude Law, on "going Hollywood."

"I might like working (in Los Angeles), but I'd never live there. To tell you the truth, the system makes me sick sometimes. They put actors on to A, B and C lists, according to how much money each person can make for the studio, and I just think 'How dare you do that? We're not a bunch of letters to make you money — we're people.'"

— Ewan McGregor, regarding the same.

— Ed.

Wednesday, 15 August 2001

Mailbag: Wednesday is the day we get to our reader mail here at The DVD Journal, and while we aren't able to personally respond to all of your letters, we'd like to let you know that we read everything we get. Here's a few reader comments from this week:

— Scott

No dispute at all — Columbia TriStar owns the rights to Husbands and Wives, which is why it is not included in any of MGMs three box sets, which cover Allen's career from 1971's Bananas all the way through 1992's Shadows and Fog. Allen spent his entire film career between 1971 and 1992 with MGM/UA and Orion, but in '92 he started hopping studios. Husbands and Wives, Manhattan Murder Mystery, and Sweet and Lowdown arrived from Columbia, while Miramax released Bullets over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You, and Celebrity. Deconstructing Harry is Allen's sole New Line film, with DreamWorks handling Small Time Crooks and everything in the foreseeable future. All of the above (save Husbands and Wives) are currently on disc, but since Allen's post-'92 career is owned by a patchwork of studios, it is unlikely we will see any more box-sets similar to MGM's.

As a note, we don't think there's any sort of conspiracy or otherwise as to why Columbia TriStar is sitting on Husbands and Wives — our guess is that it simply has not been slated for DVD production, just like many, many other catalog holdings. But when Husbands and Wives arrives, it will mean that every theatrical film directed by Woody Allen will be on DVD, as his 1969 Take the Money and Run is currently in release from Anchor Bay. Well, there's one more missing title — 1966's What's Up Tiger Lily?, which is really a Japanese film that Allen got the rights for and then wrote new dubbed dialogue. Is it a pure Woody film along the lines of Husbands and Wives? Probably not — but Anchor Bay currently has a license for it on VHS, and it could appear on DVD from the distributor before much longer.

— Lee

Probably more than you'd like. When Lynch's production team first developed the Twin Peaks pilot for ABC, they got additional funding from Warner Bros., who were to distribute the project overseas. The catch? Lynch's pilot episode, as scripted, was too open-ended, so they requested that additional footage be added tie up some loose ends and make it more suitable as a "stand-alone" title. Some of the additional footage eventually made its way into the first episodes of the Twin Peaks series, while Warner released their version of the pilot on video and Laserdisc, although those are now out of print (see inset).

Meanwhile, the Peaks series proper found a home on VHS via Republic, but those rights have since transferred to Artisan. Artisan, along with Lynch, will release Season One in December. And we should be thankful, because most of the Republic VHS versions are recorded at EP speed and reportedly look worse than normal videotape. The entire series was also released on Laserdisc by Image in North America, while a Japanese LD series actually featured an extra platter with some bonus materials (mostly promotional stuff).

In any event, the original ABC-TV pilot has not appeared on home video at any time. And Peaks purists are not happy with the Warner pilot, which doesn't jibe with the series' gradual plot progression. And to make things more complicated, a common item on eBay right now is a Peaks pilot DVD from a distributor in Asia who has adopted the Republic branding. We always urge buyers to beware, but we have heard that this disc is the original ABC-TV pilot, code-free and NTSC, and that it has been transferred from a decent source. Of course, it most likely also has been released without the permission of the rights holders. Most of the sellers are from Hong Kong as well, so anybody who goes for a quick "Buy It Now" auction can assume all of the risks.

As for the North American rights to the Twin Peaks pilot, it's our understanding that Warner has a firm grip on all home-video properties, but not broadcast rights. The original ABC version reportedly aired on Bravo some time ago when the entire Peaks series ran. But a potential DVD remains another matter for the foreseeable future — and as the project was the result of an entirely different financing arrangement, we think it's unlikely the pilot will ever appear on home video alongside the subsequent episodes.

— Jacob

Thanks for writing Jacob — it's good to know that there are cool DVD fans like you out there, so keep rockin' on buddy! And hey, you've just won yourself a free DVD of Say It Isn't So! It stars Heather Graham! Yowza!

— Evan

Well that sure spanks us Evan — so we thought you might want to "spank" a Monkeybone DVD and a fun Monkeybone stuffed toy! You're a winner!!

Top of the Pops: Here's the top-selling action-adventure DVDs last week from our friends at Ken Crane's DVDPlanet.com. Click the links to read our reviews of these discs:

1. Hatari!
2. Die Hard: The Ultimate Collection
3. 3000 Miles To Graceland
4. Cast Away
5. Big Trouble In Little China: Special Edition
6. Reindeer Games
7. Gladiator
8. Jungle Girl
9. Lawrence of Arabia: Limited Edition
10. Zulu

Peace.

— Ed.

Tuesday, 14 August 2001

In the Works: Here's some new disc announcements, courtesy of Image Entertainment and DVDPlanet.com, and additional staff reports:

• As Alec Baldwin says in the opening scene of Glengarry Glen Ross, "Oh — do I have your attention now?" DreamWorks might as well say the same, as their upcoming two-disc edition of Shrek will offer (by their tally) 11 hours of content. And it's pretty obvious DreamWorks is trying to shake up the pre-holiday DVD market, as the title will arrive on Friday, Nov. 2, well clear of the Tuesday discs, and it comes with a "minimum advertised price" of $19.95 — which means you'll be able to get it for around $20 at volume retailers (not bad for two discs). As for the product itself, expect "an all-new, never-before-seen extended ending" specifically developed for home video ("the new footage picks up where the movie left off and continues the party with more than 150 Shrek characters showing us what goes on after the fairy tale ending," the press-release salivates). Count on widescreen and full-frame versions of the film, a filmmakers' commentary, "technical goofs," a "Shrek's ReVoice Studio" as DVD-ROM content (to record your voice to sound like a character in the movie), additional DVD-ROM stuff for the kids, music videos (The Baja Men! Pinch us!), "interviews" with the film's characters, "Hidden Film Facts," storyboards, a behind-the-scenes "The Tech of Shrek" feature, and more. Anybody want to bet against Shrek becoming the best-selling DVD of all time? Think it'll sell more than Monkeybone?

• Our pal Jean Guerin up in Canada dropped us a note recently: "Here's a Twin Peaks scoop I heard straight from Grace Zabriskie (Laura Palmer's mom) on the set of Bob Rafealeson's No Good Deed — She just completed interviews for the DVD release of Twin Peaks and said that David Lynch wants to do all sorts of stuff with it." And sure enough, the first season of Twin Peaks is set to arrive from Artisan on Dec. 4 — we'll let you know about all the extras when we get the spec. We're also betting that Lynch's Eraserhead could find a home on an Artisan DVD if all goes well with this release.

• Terry Gilliam's 1977 comedy Jabberwocky is in prep at Columbia TriStar, and we can look forward to a commentary from Gilliam and star Michael Palin, sketch-to-screen comparisons, a poster gallery and a photo gallery, and the trailer (Oct. 23). Also on the way is this year's Rob Schneider comedy The Animal, with a commentary from Schneider, a second track from director Luke Greenfield, deleted scenes, and more (Oct. 30). And we're looking forward to the release of both On the Waterfront and From Here to Eternity on Oct. 23 — Waterfront will include a commentary with film critic Richard Schickel and Elia Kazan biographer Jeff Young, an interview with Kazan, a featurette, trailers, and a photo gallery. Meanwhile, Eternity will offer a commentary with director Fred Zinnemann's son, Tim Zinnemann, who will be joined by actor Alvin Sargent, and it will include two featurettes and trailers.

• Love him or hate him, Tom Green is coming to a DVD near you, as Fox will street the recent comedy Freddy Got Fingered as an SE with two commentaries, eight deleted scenes, an MTV featurette, TV spots, and an "audience laugh-track" (seriously). It's due on Oct. 23. Also set for the 23rd is Eddie Murphy's Dr. Dolittle 2, with a director's commentary, featurettes, and other goodies. But perhaps a little more high-minded than either is the 1998 baseball documentary The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, which will feature a commentary from director Aviva Kempner, a photo gallery, and more (Oct. 16).

• Also expect some baseball from HBO come playoff time — Billy Crystal's 61*, the story of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle's attempt to break Babe Ruth's home-run record will include a commentary from Crystal and a "making-of" doc. It's here on Sept. 11.

• Returning to disc from A&E is the 1995 miniseries Pride and Prejudice, which went out a print a few months ago and has seen quite a few $100+ auctions on eBay in the interim. Also on the slate is a 10-disc set of the 1967 TV series The Prisoner: The Complete Season with all 17 episodes, Upstairs, Downstairs: The Complete First Season, and the 1993 BBC miniseries A Year in Provence. All are set for Sept. 25.

• The October lineup from Paramount leads off with Woody Allen's 1972 Play It Again, Sam, along with the doubly-directed He Said, She Said (featuring a commentary from directors Ken Kwapis and Marisa Silver), the romantic comedy The Butcher's Wife, and two more Star Trek TV discs. It's all good on Oct. 23.

• Warner's getting ready for Halloween with a bit of classic horror — Hammer Studios' 1959 The Mummy, starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, will appear on Oct. 2.

• Two Dario Agento films will street from Anchor Bay — the 1977 Surpisia: Limited Special Edition will feature the original, uncut version, a 52-minute documentary, a trailer, TV and radio spots, the soundtrack CD, a 32-page booklet, and nine lobby cards, while the film will also be available as a movie-only package with just a few extras. Also set is 1987's Opera: Limited Edition, with a 36-minute doc, the soundtrack CD, and an Argento biography, while a corresponding "Regular Edition" will not include the CD. Be very afraid Sept. 11.

• Documentary buffs will want to keep an eye out for Dark Days, an award-winning look at an underground homeless community in New York City, and it will include a commentary from director Marc Singer, a "making-of" feature, deleted scenes, a history of the New York subway, and more. It arrives from Rykodisc on Sept. 25.

• The longest journey starts with a single step — and New Line's attempt to make back the tens of millions it lost on this year's Warren Beatty farce Town and Country starts with a DVD this Oct. 23.

On the Street: Paramount leads the street list this week with the recent wartime drama Enemy at the Gates, with strong performances from Jude Law, Ed Harris, and Joseph Fiennes, while catalog titles include Funeral at Berlin, Ordinary People, A Place in the Sun, and Steve McQueen's last film, The Hunter. New from Universal is Josie and the Pussycats (which we didn't hate nearly as much as we expected to), while New Line has released their latest "infinifilm" title, 15 Minutes, and musical titles from Kino include Carnegie Hall and The Last of the Blue Devils: The Kansas City Jazz Story. But at the top of our list is the Maysles Brothers' Grey Gardens, out now from Criterion after some delay. Here's this morning's notable street discs, courtesy of DVDPlanet.com and Image Entertainment:

• 15 Minutes: infinifilm
• Blow Dry
• Carnegie Hall
• Celos
• Choke
• Chutney Popcorn
• Confessions of a Psycho Cat / Hot Blooded Woman
• Dancing in September
• Enemy at the Gates
• Extreme Limits
• Flowers of Shanghai
• For The Term of His Natural Life
• Funeral in Berlin
• Get Over It
• Goliath and the Dragon / The Conqueror of Atlantis
• Grey Gardens: The Criterion Collection (delayed from July 24)
• The Hemp Revolution
• House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute
• The Hunter
• I Spy: Philotimo
• Josie and the Pussycats
• K.D. Lang: Live by Request
• Killer Instinct
• Kurt Cobain: Teen Spirit: A Tribute to Kurt Cobain
• The Last of the Blue Devils: The Kansas City Jazz Story: Special Edition
• Ordinary People
• The Perfect Nanny
• A Place in the Sun
• Puppetmaster (1993)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers: Rock Your Socks Off: Unauthorized
• Seven Days to Live
• Something Within Me
• Sorrell and Son
• Star Trek TV #29
• Star Trek TV #30
• Tomcats
• Why Do They Call It Love When They Mean Sex?

Back tomorrow with the mailbag.

— Ed.

Monday, 13 August 2001

Disc of the Week: When Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor arrived earlier this summer, the marketing folks at Buena Vista had a pretty clever way to get folks to buy tickets for the three-hour behemoth: They didn't just tease the movie, or try to pitch it — they made it everybody's Patriotic Duty to see it. The U.S. Navy sent an aircraft carrier to Hawaii for the world premiere. And even after many film critics (and quite a few filmgoers) declared Pearl Harbor to be bloated, overlong, and a tad boring, it still earned back its staggering $140 million budget. This noted, consider Jean-Jacques Annaud's Enemy at the Gates, a film that debuted just a few months before Pearl Harbor, and which also happens to be fairly intelligent and entertaining. But its subject-matter (the 1942 Battle of Stalingrad) is grim. The French director is virtually unknown to Americans. The cast is mostly British. The film's central figures are Russian and German, and there are no American characters at all. And Annaud looks kindly upon the Russian people, who refuse to fall under Hitler's jackboot (although he saves a few barbed criticisms for Soviet bureaucrats). But despite the fact that Stalingrad was just as much a turning point in World War II as Pearl Harbor, Normandy, or Iwo Jima, a lot of Americans skipped over Enemy at the Gates, which cost $70 million to produce but only earned $51 million domestically. Fortunately, that $70 million is all on the screen, and the DVD release is a good opportunity for the film to be rediscovered in home theaters everywhere.

Jude Law stars in Enemy at the Gates as Sgt. Vassili Zaitsev, a young Russian who grew up in a shepherding family in the Ural Mountains, and who became a skilled marksman at his grandfather's knee, learning to shoot wolves that would prey on the flocks. But when the Nazis drive their way into Russia, reaching Stalingrad on the banks of the Volga River, Vassili is conscripted for service — and it's clear that the Russian government considers their inexperienced foot-soldiers as little more than cannon-fodder. But Vassili meets Commissar Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) while hiding from German troops, and after he assassinates five Nazi officers in a matter of seconds, Danilov — a Soviet political officer — decides to make Vassili a hero of his wartime propaganda, getting the young man promoted to sniper duty and publishing accounts of his many kills. And soon Vassili is so successful that the Germans are forced to bring their best sharpshooter, Maj. Erwin Konig (Ed Harris), to Stalingrad in the hopes of killing the Russian.

Vassili Zaitsev was very much a real person, a rural youth who served in the Red Army. Sources vary, but he has been credited with as many as 400 kills throughout his career, and 149 in the Battle of Stalingrad alone. There also was a Commisar Danilov promoting Zaitsev as a national hero during this time. However, whether there ever was a German Maj. Konig is questionable, and while the story of the Zaitsev / Konig duel has been around for some time, most historians dismiss it as Soviet propaganda designed to boost morale. Nonetheless, the semi-mythical rivalry became Annaud's template for Enemy at the Gates (co-written with Alain Godard), and it's not hard to understand why the story has so much appeal. Be it propaganda or major motion picture, the tale effectively reduces two impersonal armies to two recognizable archetypes — the heroic young warrior defending a battered, impoverished nation, and the aristocratic hunter, brought in to coldly dispatch his human prey. Annaud keeps much of the story focused on his two combatants, and while the subplots involving Joseph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz (as Zaitsev's love-interest) tend to pale by comparison, little expense was wasted to get the settings right. Annaud says he scouted locations in 18 different countries looking for a place that could be made to resemble war-torn Stalingrad. Finding nothing of use, all of the settings were built in Germany. Annaud uses this purpose-built rubble to convey his story — everything from the opening sequences (illustrating the wholesale slaughter of Red Army troops by German artillery) to the military's underground bunkers to the methodical sniper missions. Law and Harris are splendid actors put to good use here, and while Law carries much of the film, it must be noted that Harris probably got the more interesting of the two roles. The supporting cast is likewise excellent, with two standouts being Bob Hoskins as a bullying little Nikita Khrushchev, and Ron Perlman as Zaitsev's wry, steel-toothed sniping instructor Lt. Koulikov, who may hate the Soviets as much as the Nazis.

Paramount's new DVD release of Enemy at the Gates features a clean anamorphic transfer (2.35:1) with audio in Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby 2.0 Surround. Features include the 19-min. promotional featurette "Through the Crosshairs," offering plenty of film clips and comments, along with a few behind-the-scenes tidbits; "Inside Enemy at the Gates," a 15-minute collection of various cast and crew interviews (with more film clips); and the theatrical trailer. Enemy at the Gates is on the street tomorrow.

Box Office: It wasn't the nearly $70 million opening weekends we've seen over the past two weeks, but Universal's American Pie 2 definitely had folks coming back for more — the randy teen comedy racked up $45.1 million in its opening frame, more than enough to fend off last week's champ, Rush Hour 2, which held second place with $31.4 million (and has earned $131.8 million in just ten days). Also new was Miramax's The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, which fetched a respectable $13.6 million, although it opened no better than fourth. And is America losing its love for the Farrelly Brothers? Their latest comedy, Osmosis Jones, pulled in just $5.5 million for Warner Bros., coming in seventh.

In continuing release, Universal's Jurassic Park III has cleared $160.2 million, while Fox's Planet of the Apes is now at $148.7 million (both films should finish just short of $200 m). Garry Marshall's G-rated The Princess Diaries starring Julie Andrews is turning into a surprise hit for Disney, earning nearly $52 million in 10 days, which is on track to beat some of the studio's recent animated releases. And Miramax's Spy Kids returned as a "Special Edition" over the weekend in limited release, nearly clawing its way back into the top 10. But tanking badly is MGM's Original Sin, starring Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas, which has earned a mere $12.5 million after its second weekend.

Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz star in Captain Corelli's Mandolin, due to arrive this Friday, while the latest Jerry Zucker comedy, Rat Race, also opens nationwide. Here's the top-grossing films at North American theaters from last weekend:

1. American Pie 2 (Universal)
   $45,100,000 ($45,100,000 through 1 week)
2. Rush Hour 2 (New Line)
   $31,475,000 ($131,883,000 through 2 weeks)
3. The Princess Diaries (Buena Vista)
   $14,100,000 ($51,987,000 through 2 weeks)
4. The Others (Miramax)
   $13,670,000 ($13,670,000 through 1 week)
5. Planet of the Apes (Fox)
   $13,315,000 ($148,729,484 through 3 weeks)
6. Jurassic Park III (Universal)
   $7,300,000 ($160,200,000 through 4 weeks)
7. Osmosis Jones (Warner Bros.)
   $5,575,000 ($5,575,000 through 1 week)
8. America's Sweethearts (Sony/Columbia TriStar)
   $4,600,000 ($83,400,000 through 4 weeks)
9. Legally Blonde (MGM)
   $3,821,000 ($78,743,000 through 5 weeks)
10. Original Sin (MGM)
    $3,051,000 ($12,494,000 through 2 weeks)
11. The Score (Paramount)
    $2,950,000 ($62,347,000 through 5 weeks)
12. Spy Kids: Special Edition (Miramax)
    $1,427,000 ($109,000,000 through 1 week)

On the Board: D.K. Holm has posted a special preview of Criterion's Sullivan's Travels, while new reviews from the rest of the team this week include Josie and the Pussycats, Ordinary People, Funeral in Berlin, Fly Away Home: Special Edition, and Tomcats. It's all fresh under the New Reviews menu here on the front page, or use our search engine to scan our entire DVD reviews database.

Back tomorrow with the street discs.

— Ed.

Thursday, 9 August 2001
Weekend Dispatch

'Wonka' talkback: We received a few letters yesterday on Warner Home Video's upcoming "30th Anniversary" edition of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which will not include an anamorphic widescreen transfer. Here's one that sets (part of) the record straight:

— Michael

Thanks for the note Michael — indeed, our original information was not accurate, as it is now clear that Warner's upcoming Willy Wonka DVD will be an open-matte transfer, which means the film was not shot with anamorphic lenses, and in fact the full camera-ratio is roughly 1.33:1, the same size as our TVs. However, we do not think that the open-matte transfer is an acceptable substitute, nor a compromise. For starters, while the film was shot on standard 35mm stock, it was very much composed for the 1.85:1 frame, and very often we find that widescreen films that are presented open-matte on home-video lose a great deal of impact, with relatively "dead" areas at the top and bottom of the frames, i.e. outside of the "safety area" of the frame where the action occurs.

But even more important, an anamorphic 1.85:1 transfer would offer enormous benefits, as that narrower field of composition would enjoy increased resolution, perhaps 100 lines or so (out of 480). And anamorphic discs represent an important upgrade path for DVD consumers, since many of us will be purchasing widescreen/HDTV sets in coming years. We've been replacing our VHS and Laserdisc collections since 1997 — we certainly do not want to replace our DVDs just yet.

But we're glad you think it's an acceptable compromise, and as we noted yesterday, many parents will prefer to show Willy Wonka to their young children in full-frame. We also agree that there's a little bit too much Warner bashing going on. Really, all we have to do as DVD fans is let the studio know — in a calm, polite manner — that we will purchase an anamorphic widescreen version of Willy Wonka, whenever such may arrive.

— Bob

Can we get an "Amen" from the congregation?

Quotable: "I'm not sorry, because I didn't make the jokes at the expense of the gay community. I made jokes at the expense of two characters who neither I nor the audience have ever held up to be paragons of intellect. They're idiots."

— Kevin Smith, defending his new film Jay and Silent
Bob Strike Back, which has been criticized by the Gay
and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation for using
anti-gay slurs. The picture opens on Aug. 22.

"I had so many basketball scripts, you wouldn't believe. I'm like, 'I'm not doing a basketball movie.'"

— Chris Tucker, who did not appear in any films
between Rush Hour and the sequel, Rush
Hour 2.

"No physical fight ever occurred between us and the idea is as insulting as it is laughable. We finished the film dancing at an impromptu wrap party in high spirits and exchanged gifts and warmest goodbyes. My heart goes out to her and I am praying for her speedy recovery."

— Mira Sorvino, denying a People magazine report
claiming she and Mariah Carey tussled on the set of
the upcoming film Wisegirls.

"I think we're professionals and you do it, you just do it. I don't know what else to say."

— Tom Cruise, speaking at the premiere of ex-wife
Nicole Kidman's new film The Others. Cruise
produced the picture, which opens this weekend.
(Kidman was also at the premiere, but the two did
not cross paths.)

"In the movie, we're going to turn him into a superhero who battles the enemies of the country, in this case the Chinese. We want it to look like a John Woo action movie."

— Matt Stone, explaining the premise of his and Trey
Parker's latest proposed film project, George W.
Bush and the Secret of the Glass Tiger.

Coming Attractions: New DVD reviews are on the way, including an early look at Criterion's Sullivan's Travels, Universal's Josie and the Pussycats, and more. We'll see ya on Monday.

— Ed.

Wednesday, 8 August 2001

Mailbag: It's time to clean out some of the reader mail here at The DVD Journal:

I can't decide whether to be more amazed at or infuriated by this. This has got to be one of the biggest release blunders since the days when we were all cajoling studios like Disney and Fox to get on the anamorphic bandwagon. We used to wonder at the high prices ($100 or more) people were paying on eBay for the original Wonka DVD, because we all knew a newer, better release was coming. Those folks were accidentally quite prescient in this instance.

— Michael

We first caught wind of this yesterday from Peter Bracke and crew at DVDFile.com, and it's one of the most disappointing things we've heard in a while — the much-ballyhooed "30th Anniversary" edition of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (due Aug. 28) will offer new supplements, including a commentary and a documentary, but the transfer will be pan-and-scan and not the 1.85:1 image on the original bare-bones disc (which included 1.33:1 on the flip-side). Of course, we've had our yuks laughing at folks who were paying huge bucks on eBay for that original disc, as those who follow DVD news have been aware that an SE has been in the planning stages for a long time. But now it's our turn to eat crow — we unloaded our original copy of Wonka when it appeared to command the best price. Now it's all but certain that eBay bids will rise again, and that original disc will be hard to replace.

However, while DVD fans all over the Internet are foaming at the mouth over the re-issued Wonka, we have to play devil's advocate for a moment and note that there is a method to Warner Home Video's madness. Yes, you want a widescreen transfer, and so do we, but Warner is convinced that Wonka is, at heart, a "family film," and as such it should be released in a "family-friendly" format, i.e. pan-and-scan. Even in this day in age with rapid DVD acceptance and widescreen films running all the time on cable channels like American Movie Classics and Turner Classic Movies, there are still a whole lot of folks out there who detest widescreen. We all get it, sure, but videophiles are hardly representative of the North American public at large, and for every consumer who demands widescreen, there are many more who complain about the "black bars" and "not using all the TV." Want proof? The inexpensive, tried-and-true VHS format has been with us for a few decades, and the vast majority of VHS tapes sold in the U.S. are, indeed, 1.33:1. It used to be almost impossible to rent widescreen VHS tapes anywhere (a format that has been cannibalized by DVD at this point), and it's likely you could eavesdrop at your local Blockbuster for an hour or two and never hear one patron ask "Excuse me, do you have this video in widescreen?"

As for Wonka, Warner simply believes that the majority of folks who will rent or buy this disc will prefer to see it in 1.33:1, and will not accept the black bars. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong — but since a lot of parents will buy the DVD for their undiscriminating children, they may appreciate not having to offer a standard "Why those black bars are there" lecture to their five-year-old. You see, Timmy just wants to watch the Oompa-Loompas and sing the songs. He doesn't want to think the TV is broken. But if that's the case, why not release both widescreen and pan-and-scan versions of the film on the same disc, as on the original? It's just a guess, but it's likely the extra content got to be too much for a standard single-sided, dual-layered disc. A two-disc set then? Warner has not been strong with this format, having yet to find an acceptable two-disc version of their snap-case. DVD-18? True, Superman: The Movie came with two gold sides — but again, as a "family-friendly" title, perhaps Warner was not willing to abandon Wonka's disc artwork. Dual-sided discs confuse some folks, and others find the inner-ring labeling hard to read.

It was sometime last year that your own editor was replying to a reader's comment about why it was important to proselytize the DVD format, why we DVD fans needed to convince everybody we knew to go out and buy a player and some discs. While this was true back in 1997 and '98 — when DVD faced the scourge of Divx and the reluctance of some studios to adopt the format — the idea nowadays that more player sales is a good thing has become a shibboleth. Your editor was even tempted to describe the year 2000 as the "Golden Age" of DVD, when its small but rabid consumer base ensured reasonable prices, quality products, widescreen transfers, and no rental windows. Why invite the average American consumer to the party?

But DVD's mainstream acceptance was all but assured with the demise of Divx, cheaper hardware, and all of the major studios releasing titles in the format. And while there have been several pan-and-scan-only "family" titles on DVD so far, Warner's revamped Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory indeed marks a turning point in how at least one studio views the DVD demographic — this is the first time (to our knowledge) that a pan-and-scan-only disc is a highly-anticipated title, a DVD re-release, and packed with extra features. And Warner's bean-counters, for whatever reason, think the "I hate letterbox" crowd will be at the front of the queue to get it. We suspect that this is not an aberration, but the start of a new trend that will gradually unfold with plenty more pan-and-scan DVDs out there. Mom and Pop are buying these shiny little tchotchkes too.

Nonetheless, there is a solution, and one that we think (or at least hope) Warner Home Video will adopt sooner or later. We are not about to begrudge WHV for releasing a home-video product in a format that they think is the most advantageous to their business interests — they're here to make money, and God Bless America. But DVDs are supposed to be about choice, and if we can't have a two-disc or DVD-18 version of Willy Wonka, there should be a second, widescreen version of the disc with the same supplements, which has been a common practice of Universal for some time. We'd advise anybody who is planning to write Warner or sign an online petition, rather than getting angry or losing your temper, to simply say that you will not purchase the announced Willy Wonka disc, but you certainly will buy the same title in anamorphic widescreen, whenever it is released. Those of us who love black bars on our TVs are still around, and we've got money to spend too.

— Anthony

Uh, you can put away that crack pipe right now, Mr. Anthony or whatever your name is. We're not just giving away Monkeybone DVDs, but cute lil' toys too! Let the hosannas ring down from heaven!

Monkeybone is a work of art. Do not shun it so.

— John

We certainly do not mean to shun Monkeybone, the utter masterpiece of serio-comic cinema that it is. And in fact John, you've just won yourself a free Monkeybone DVD and a Monkeybone stuffed toy! Wow! That's probably the most exciting thing that's ever happened to you in your entire life!

Top of the Pops: Here's the top-selling dramatic films on DVD last week from our friends at Ken Crane's DVDPlanet.com. Click the links to read our reviews of these discs:

1. Thirteen Days: infinifilm
2. Hanover Street
3. Pollock: Special Edition
4. Sweet November
5. Candy: Limited Edition
6. Unbreakable: Vista Series
7. Traffic
8. American Beauty
9. Mommie Dearest
10. Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

Bye for now.

— Ed.

Tuesday, 7 August 2001

In the Works: If it's Tuesday, this must be the new disc announcements — courtesy of Image Entertainment and DVDPlanet.com, and additional staff reports:

• We just gave away a box-set of The Woody Allen Collection, Vol. 2, and now here comes The Woody Allen Collection, Vol. 3 from MGM — and yes, these are the titles you've all been bugging us about. Count on Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah and Her Sisters, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Radio Days, and Zelig to arrive on Nov. 6, individually or in the box (SRP $99.95). And, as is his custom, Mr. Allen will not be adding any supplements to the discs.

• Steven Spielberg titles keep arriving on DVD in steady fashion — the latest announcement from Warner is 1987's Empire of the Sun, starring Christian Bale, John Malkovich, and Miranda Richardson. The chief supplement will be the documentary "The China Odyssey," which has been previously released on the Warner Laserdisc (Nov. 6). Among more recent films will be this summer's Swordfish with John Travolta, Halle Berry, and Hugh Jackson, which will sport a yack-track from director Dominic Sena, alternate endings, deleted scenes, and behind-the-scenes goodies (Oct. 30). The Jennifer Lopez drama Angel Eyes will street with a commentary from director Luis Mandoki (Oct. 16). And for you Sopranos junkies, the five-disc The Sopranos: Season Two will be good to go on Nov. 6, with commentaries, interviews, and a featurette. Badda-bing!

• This year's animation sensation Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is in prep as a special edition from Columbia TriStar, and we can expect plenty of behind-the-scenes footage and outtakes, commentary tracks, a documentary, and lots more. It arrives on Oct. 23. Also on the horizon are Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront and Fred Zinneman's From Here to Eternity (both Oct. 23), which should arrive under the "Columbia Classics" banner, and both with extra supplements as well. And foreign fans can expect Mathieu Kassovitz's recent thriller The Crimson Rivers (Les riviéres pourpres) with Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel, which will sport a commentary, a documentary, and four featurettes (Oct. 16).

• Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if DVD fans snap 'em up, but on Oct. 9 Columbia TriStar will release the first titles under their new "SuperBit" branding — discs that claim to forego features in favor of improved video transfers and DTS / Dolby Digital audio tracks. Or as CTHE President Benjamin S. Feingold tells us in a press release, "The SuperBit Collection will set a new benchmark in audio and video quality for the DVD format. This new process was developed by our outstanding group of engineers and technicians at the Sony Digital Studios and was designed to give consumers a choice between the highest quality audio and video transfer at a competitive price versus our standard, rich package of value added features." (Hmmm.) Look for Air Force One, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Desperado, The Fifth Element, and Johnny Mnemonic under the SuperBit folio sans extras, and more titles to follow in coming months.

• On the way from our friends at Criterion are the 1966 Czechoslovakian films Closely Watched Trains, directed by Jiri Menzel, and 1965's The Shop on Main Street, directed by Elmar Klos (both Sept. 18). Also on the schedule is George Sluizer's 1988 kidnap-thriller The Vanishing (Sept. 18) and Jacques Becker's 1960 prison drama Le Trou (The Hole) (Oct. 16).

• We're looking forward to a handful of Cary Grant classics from Artisan, including Blake Edwards' 1959 Operation Petticoat with Tony Curtis, Stanley Donen's 1958 Indiscreet, starring Grant and Ingrid Bergman, Donen's 1961 The Grass Is Greener, with Grant, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, and Robert Mitchum, and the 1964 comedy Father Goose, co-starring Leslie Caron. All discs appear relatively bare-bones at this time, and will arrive on Sept. 18. Rounding out Artisan's September slate are Hostage High: Special Edition (Sept. 25), The Luck of the Draw (Sept. 18), the 1997 TV version of The Odyssey (Sept. 18), Poison: Special Edition (Sept. 18), Replicant (Sept. 25), and Scarlett (Sept. 18).

• In the pipe from USA is this year's box-office bomb One Night at McCool's, which will include a commentary from director Harald Zwart and the cast, a featurette, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and more (Sept. 25). Also expect the two-disc The Ultimate Jordan, which collects five Michael Jordan videos — "Come Fly with Me," "Michael Jordan's Playground," "Air Time," "Above and Beyond," and "His Airness" — in one package (Oct. 23).

• We won't get fooled again? Hard to say, but back on the board after getting dropped earlier this year is 1979's Mods vs. Rockers classic Quadrophenia, which is now set from Rhino on Sept. 25. Count on lots of extras, including a trivia subtitle track and interactive maps of the film's UK locations. However, you will have to buy your own Vespa scooter and surplus army coat.

• Three reasons why the five-disc Leprechaun: Pot of Gore Collection release sounds vaguely interesting: 1) The first film stars Jennifer Aniston; 2) One of the sequels is called Leprechaun 4: In Space; and 3) the final offering is simply titled Leprechaun in the Hood. Trimark hopes you'll be after this creepy guy's lucky charms on Sept. 11.

On the Street: Yet again the street list is just ankle-deep, but there are a few items that are worth a spin, in particular Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, out now from Warner (who also have their Any Given Sunday: Special Edition on the board today). DreamWorks has a pair with The Mexican and the Barry Levinson comedy An Everlasting Piece, while new from Columbia TriStar is Time and Tide and the revamped Fly Away Home: Special Edition. And for you horror buffs, the Halloween: Extended Version DVD is fresh today from Anchor Bay. Here's this morning's notable street discs, courtesy of DVDPlanet.com and Image Entertainment:

• 3,000 Miles to Graceland
• Le Amiche
• Annie Liebovitz
• Arnold Schwarzenegger: Hollywood Hero
• Attack From Mars
• Any Given Sunday: Special Edition
• The Best of the Chris Rock Show #2
• Behind The Planet of the Apes: Special Edition
• Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
• Chocolat: Special Edition
• Criminal Lovers
• Double Down
• Echo of Murder
• An Everlasting Piece
• Fly Away Home: Special Edition
• Gato Barbieri: Live from the Latin Quarter
• Halloween: Extended Version
• Harlan County War
• Horror of Frankenstein: Special Edition
• Love Songs
• Manet: Les Silences de Manet
• The Mexican
• Mishima: A Life In Four Chapters
• Poirot: Dumb Witness
• Recess: School's Out
• Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas: Cabo Wabo Birthday Bash Tour
• Scars of Dracula: Special Edition
• Short Circuit 2
• The Show Off / The Plastic Age
• The Three Ninjas Kick Back
• The Three Ninjas Knuckle Up
• Time and Tide (Seunlau ngaklau)
• Vatel
• World and Time Enough

See ya.

— Ed.

Monday, 6 August 2001

And the winner is: Martin Erkamp of Calgary, Alberta, wins the free Woody Allen Collection: Vol. 2 DVD set from our July contest. Congrats, Martin!

Our totally free DVD contest for the month of August is up and running, and we have a copy of Criterion's Sullivan's Travels up for grabs. Be sure to drop by our contest page to send us your entry, and don't forget to take our monthly DVD poll while you're there.

Disc of the Week: Paul Schrader and the movies have never been an easy fit. He tends to take fun subjects that are naturally cinematic (massage parlors, gigolos, rock and roll, revolution) and drain the passion out of them with a flat, almost emotionless treatment. The Grand Rapids native, who was raised as a Calvinist before escaping to college in New York City and then Los Angeles, has always approached the cinema as an intellectual discipline rather than an excuse for hedonism. His one book so far is a dry but enthusiastic study of the religious themes of Ozu, Dreyer, and Bresson. Schrader is also unusual in making a successful transition from screenwriter (Taxi Driver) to director (American Gigolo, Cat People), and, almost unique in America, from movie reviewer (for the L. A. Weekly and Cinema magazine) to filmmaker. After a series of extremely personal projects, Schrader made a couple of films greeted less than enthusiastically by the public and then proceeded to concentrate on literary adaptations, one of which (Affliction) garnered numerous nominations and winning an Oscar for James Coburn. Though many of his films are very entertaining, almost no individual Schrader film is entirely satisfying, except — and Schrader would agree — for his 1985 masterpiece Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, about the career of the (more or less) conservative Japanese novelist who committed ritual seppuku on November 25, 1970.

Based on a screenplay by Schrader and his brother Leonard — a Japan authority with whom the director apparently has since had a falling out — Mishima does indeed recount the life of novelist Mishima Yukio in four chapters, entitled "Beauty," "Art," "Action," and "The Harmony of Pen and Sword." Set to passionate, cascading music by Philip Glass, the film is segmented but perfectly shuffled. There is an account of Mishima's suicide day, in which he breaks into a general's office to stage a military coup with the aid of his own private army, but ends up killing himself, then beheaded by his assistant-lover — the sequence is shot in a grainy, hand-held quasi-documentary style. Then there is the trajectory of Mishima's life up to that moment, shot in black and white. Finally, there are elegant, highly stylized Reader's Digest summaries of three novels by Mishima, with costumes and sets designed by Ishioka Eiko. Schrader views the novels as autobiographical, and it gives him a chance to get into the mind of his subject. But the style and subject matter of Mishima may have been too sophisticated for American audiences. It wasn't much of a hit in America, as the $5 million movie earned $450,000, despite a special award at the Cannes Film Festival. Mishima also had several production problems: The Mishima heirs ceased cooperation after, among many other things, Schrader chose to include a scene in which Mishima dances with a man in a gay bar; and the author of a Mishima bio sued the producers.

Nevertheless, Mishima is a brilliant, engrossing, unique film. It also continues Schrader's cinematic exploration of the role of the loner in a complex society. Mishima, an Emperor-worshipping right-wing radical who deplored the decline in moral discipline and the elevation of capitalism in the postwar years, is only the flip-side of Travis Bickle, as if the self-destructive cab driver had met with a little bit of artistic success and went with it. While many young filmmakers were mimicking Hawks, Cassavetes, or Scorsese, or refashioning noir and other genres, Schrader instead showed a profound European influence, embracing the somber old masters rather than trying to be one of the hyperkinetic kids. And Mishima, in its blend of verité and minimalist artificiality, also reflected or anticipated in an up-to-date way some modern European films such as Germany's The Nasty Girl. Because of this breaking of the boundaries of conventional narrative, Mishima is the most drastic re-thinking of that old cinematic standby, the biopic, ever committed to film, and it's rather sad that Schrader's approach has never been duplicated.

By adding significant extras, Warner's new DVD release of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters is a step beyond the Laserdisc released in July of 1998. Chief among them is Schrader's lispy commentary. Sounding like Truman Capote and seemingly having to scream over the movie's soundtrack, Schrader gives a detailed account, both financial and philosophical, of the film's genesis and making (he laments, for example, that lead actor Ogata Ken lacks the sexual ambiguity of the real Mishima). It's a superb, educational track. The anamorphic transfer (1.85:1) on this release is excellent, capturing the rich variety of John Bailey's cinematography, and in the audio portion of the disc, Schrader has been allowed to correct a great wrong: In English, the film is narrated by Roy Scheider. For the DVD, Schrader has recovered the Japanese narration recorded by Ogata Ken (both English and Japanese are in Dolby 2.0 Surround, while a mono French track is also on board). Other extras include a pleasantly unpolished 10-minute "making-of" featurette by Don Ranvaud, the original trailer (in full-frame), one very short deleted scene, brief production notes, and cast and crew information. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters hits the street tomorrow.

Box Office: Fox's Planet of the Apes had the best opening of the summer just one week ago with a blistering $69.5 million three-day cume, but surprisingly Rush Hour 2 matched those damn dirty apes with $66.8 million in its opening frame — the largest debut ever for a New Line film, the largest raw-dollar opening for any film in August, and the fourth-best opening of any film, anytime, anywhere (just behind, The Lost World, Apes, and The Mummy Returns). Also opening well was Disney's The Princess Diaries, which garnered a respectable $23.2 million and landed in third. However, MGM's Original Sin, starring Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas, floundered with $6.4 million, opening no better than sixth.

We all knew that colossal opening for Planet of the Apes wasn't going to last, and if the weekend's 59% drop-off sounds steep, Tim Burton's revision of the '60s classic now stands at $124.6 million anyway, and it's far from done. Universal's Jurassic Park III has been good for $146.8 million after three weekends, while Sony's America's Sweethearts has found traction, holding fifth place after three weeks and a $75.1 million cume. But off the charts is Sony's animated Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which generated a lot of chatter with its state-of-the-art visuals but will finish with less than $35 million overall.

American Pie 2 arrives in cineplexes this Friday, where it will be joined by The Farrelly Brothers' latest comedy, Osmosis Jones, and the Nicole Kidman thriller The Others. Here's the top-grossing films at North American theaters from last weekend:

1. Rush Hour 2 (New Line)
   $66,800,000 ($66,800,000 through 1 week)
2. Planet of the Apes (Fox)
   $28,450,000 ($124,655,000 through 2 weeks)
3. The Princess Diaries (Buena Vista)
   $23,200,000 ($23,200,000 through 1 week)
4. Jurassic Park III (Universal)
   $12,100,000 ($146,800,000 through 3 weeks)
5. America's Sweethearts (Sony/Columbia TriStar)
   $8,400,000 ($75,100,000 through 3 weeks)
6. Original Sin (MGM)
   $6,400,000 ($6,400,000 through 1 week)
7. Legally Blonde (MGM)
   $6,057,000 ($71,563,000 through 4 weeks)
8. The Score (Paramount)
   $4,950,000 ($57,252,000 through 4 weeks)
9. Cats & Dogs (Warner Bros.)
   $2,250,000 ($86,746,000 through 5 weeks)
10. Dr. Dolittle 2 (Fox)
    $2,050,000 ($105,947,000 through 7 weeks)
11. The Fast and the Furious (Universal)
    $2,000,000 ($136,800,000 through 7 weeks)
12. Scary Movie 2 (Dimension)
    $1,200,000 ($70,000,000 through 5 weeks)

On the Board: New reviews from the team this week include Akira: Limited Special Edition, The Mexican, 3,000 Miles to Graceland, An Everlasting Piece, The Hotel New Hampshire, Liebestraum, and Head Over Heels — all can be found under the New Reviews menu here on the front page, while our DVD reviews database now features more than 1,100 write-ups.

We'll be back tomorrow with the rundown on this week's street discs.

— Ed.

Thursday, 2 August 2001
Weekend Dispatch

Coming Attractions: New DVD reviews are on the way, including DreamWorks' The Mexican and more. This also will be the last weekend to enter this month's totally free DVD contest for a copy of The Woody Allen Collection, Vol. 2, so be sure to visit our contest page if you haven't yet, and don't forget to take our monthly DVD poll while you're there. We'll be back Monday to announce the winner, and we'll have a new contest up and running as well. See ya then.

Commentary Clips: "I never understood how I wound up on a horse in Mexico. But I must say for John (Sturges), he was a dedicated filmmaker. He learned his craft the hard way — he went up the ladder to finally becoming a director. And what I liked as an actor was that he never imposed his choice on the actor. If he liked what was done, we moved on to the next scene. If he didn't like it, he'd say 'Well let's try it again.' I asked him once, 'In every movie I see, the bandits hold up the train or rob the bank or steal things — you never see what they do with the money. Can I show them what they do with the money?' And John says 'Well, yes, let's try it.' I said 'Well, I want two gold teeth, I want a red silk shirt, and I would love the best-looking saddle and horse that you can find.' He said 'You got it.' Once he said to me though, 'Why do you type while riding the horse?' I said 'What do you mean, type?' He said 'You're holding the reins with your right hand, your left hand is flopping around in the air, as though you're hitting a keyboard.' I said, "All right, I won't do that anymore.' That was John."

— Eli Wallach,
The Magnificent Seven: Special Edition

"It was Bobby Vaughn who laid it on me. Bobby and I had gone to school together at L.A. City College at the drama department there.... I was coming out (of a movie studio lot) after shooting something, I don't know what it was, and right across the street (I saw Vaughn). 'Hey man, how you doin', what you been doin', blah blah blah.' He said 'I'm doing The Magnificent Seven' I said 'What? Who's doing it?' He says "Steve's in it, Yul Brynner, Charlie.' I said 'Jesus, y'know, who do I have to see? Is it cast?' He says 'No I don't believe it is yet, but we have to cast it before blah blah blah.' So I told my agent, I said 'Get me an interview with John Sturges.'

"And so I did. John said, 'So, yeah, you're in the picture Jim, I don't know who you're gonna be, and one of the seven hasn't been cast yet — [under his breath] we're having a little trouble with billing and money and stuff — but if it hasn't been cast by 3 o'clock this afternoon, you got it.' And I said 'Really? What character is that?' He says 'That's Britt — the guy with the knife.' I said 'Is that the character that's the counterpart of the greatest swordsman in Japan (in Seven Samurai)?' He said 'Yeah, that's the one.' I said 'That's the character I want to play.' And sure enough, before about 2:30 he called me up and says 'Well, come on over and pick up your knives.' [laughs] The only thing (Sturges) required me to do was — at the railhead — he wanted a shot of me pushing my hat up with one finger and then looking up at Bob Wilke. Y'know, that was the only gesture he required of me. And the rest of the time I took what I could take from the Japanese, y'know, Kurosawa's film, that character was a favorite of mine — when I saw that film for the first time I fell in love with that character, I said 'God, why don't they write characters like that for American films?'"

— James Coburn,
The Magnificent Seven: Special Edition

Quotable: "This movie is all about sophomoric sex, but the moviemakers don't want to be associated with condoms? The irony is that these same studio execs don't seem to have any compunction about making films that glorify gratuitous sex and targeting those films to young people. They only have qualms taking — and talking about — responsibility."

— Ansell Healthcare Inc. marketing executive Carol
Carrozza, after a TV commerical featuring the
company's LifeStyles condoms with Universal's
American Pie 2 was nixed by the MPAA.

"So basically, all I really wanna say is I don't know what's going on with life, and I hope all the fans are good, and I just want you to know that I'm trying to understand things in life right now, and so I really don't feel that I should be doing music right now."

— A somewhat cryptic message from Mariah Carey
on her website, posted just before she suffered a
nervous breakdown this week. It's unknown if Carey
will be able to promote her new film Glitter, due
later this month from Fox.

"You never know. I seen the president of my record company last week and people are always talking. I've met with a couple of interesting people, some hip-hop guys.... (But) I can't live my life like that. I need the discipline of making films."

— Marky Mark (aka Mark Wahlberg), discussing the
possibility of a return to his rap roots.

"I gave up (saying) 'It's an organic part, it'll make your career.' They don't hear that no more. I told her 'You're very good with tiara hair. A lot of people do have hair, but you can do tiara hair. You're the only one.'"

— Director Garry Marshall, recalling how he pitched
The Princess Diaries to Julie Andrews. The new
family film opens this weekend.

"We made the deal on Friday. We're talking about doing it a little bit like The Matrix."

— David Hasselhoff, who apparently will star in an
upcoming feature film of the TV series Knight
Rider (and who apparently just saw The
Matrix for the first time).

— Ed.

Wednesday, 1 August 2001

Mailbag: Wednesday is the day we get to our reader mail here at The DVD Journal, and while we aren't able to personally respond to all of your letters, we'd like to let you know that we read everything we get. Here's a couple of reader queries from this week:

— Paul

Without question, the Region 2 DVD release of Steven Soderbergh's Traffic — which arrived just days ago on July 23 — is a better item, supplements-wise, than the Region 1 edition, and if the lightweight disc from USA Films left Soderbergh fans wanting, that R2 item only rubs salt in their wounds. Released under license by Entertainment in Video, the R2 disc sports 25 minutes of deleted scenes, another 25 minutes of cast and crew interviews (with a subtitle track denoting the interviewer's question), 15 minutes of B-roll footage (on-set videotape not meant for the film itself), production notes, and a theatrical trailer. As it stands, the Region 1 disc (released May 29) is almost entirely different, with the EPK-recycled "Inside Traffic" documentary, a photo gallery, and a collection of trailers.

We have to say that we're a bit dejected to not get the deleted scenes and B-roll footage here in Region 1, but at the same time it should be stressed that the Region 2 Traffic is still missing the most important supplement of all — a commentary track from Mr. Soderbergh himself, who certainly is not averse to spending time in front of the microphone. We also found it curious that USA's Traffic DVD arrived around the same time as Paramount's Catch-22, which Soderbergh recorded a track for with director Mike Nichols — a 30-year-old film he admires, but had nothing to do with. We thus are tempted to speculate (as we have previously) that Soderbergh will want to revisit Traffic on DVD to lay that track down, and the existence of more than an hour of supplements should make the title more than worthy of a bang-up special edition. That said, to the best of our knowledge, USA Films is not planning to revisit Traffic anytime soon, and any forthcoming SE probably will be a matter of Soderbergh's time and inclination.

— Kalen

David Lynch's first feature film, 1977's Eraserhead, has become something of a Holy Grail for DVD fans, as it seems to have been hovering on the edges of potential DVD release for some time, but as of this point there is no clear word on when it will arrive. Financed by the American Film Institute, Lynch, and a few supporters, it took Lynch five years to shoot Eraserhead on a shoestring budget, although when it was eventually picked up for theatrical distribution by Columbia TriStar it established Lynch as new voice of American independent film, leading to such later big-studio efforts as The Elephant Man and Dune — although with Blue Velvet Lynch would re-establish himself as an auteur who could deliver a powerful film with a little cash.

And as Eraserhead was essentially self-financed, it is — and has always been — Lynch's property, at least in the United States. Columbia TriStar released both VHS and Laserdisc editions of the film back in the '80s, but only for a couple of years before they were pulled, and these early editions are rare items indeed — it's unlikely your local Blockbuster will carry Eraserhead, although specialty rental shops sometimes have them (or at least those copies that have not been stolen). To our knowledge, there has not been an official home-video release of Eraserhead in the U.S. for almost 15 years, as Lynch, for his own seemingly inscrutable reasons, has not authorized one. Notably, some fuss was created a while back when Criterion let it be known that they were interested in producing an Eraserhead DVD in collaboration with Lynch, but such never happened, and it appears that release is now very unlikely.

Thus, for those who are interested in adding Eraserhead to their personal collections, there are a few options. A Region 2 DVD was released in January of this year by Universal, who it appears acquired the overseas rights at some point. For those who can convert the PAL signal (and have code-free hardware), it is superior to the original Columbia VHS and lasers, as those were 1.33:1 rather than the correct 1.85:1 ratio, which the Region 2 disc provides; it also carries a trailer and a Lynch biography. But if you want to see Eraserhead with conventional hardware, both VHS and Laserdisc editions have been released in Japan by Comstock Video (see inset), and while subtitled, they are widescreen and NTSC format. We also have seen Video-CDs of Eraserhead crop up from time to time on eBay, but its likely that these are bootlegs and we don't recommend that anybody seek them out — the Japanese widescreen VHS should keep most folks happy until we get a Region 1 DVD.

But as for when that Region 1 disc materializes, it very much is in the hands of David Lynch, and it's possible that he will want to produce his own DVD independently. It's hard to say what it will look like, but there is one tempting carrot to think about — the original print of Eraserhead ran 20 minutes longer than the theatrical release, trimmed by Lynch after just one screening. These deleted scenes may still exist, and if so, they might wind up on the platter.

(And you're a lucky guy today Kalen — your letter has won you a free DVD of Monkeybone and a Monkeybone stuffed toy! You'd better sit down before you have a heart-attack from the excitement!)

Top of the Pops: Here's the top-selling DVDs last week from our friends at Ken Crane's DVDPlanet.com. Click the links to read our reviews of these discs:

1. Akira: Limited Special Edition
2. The Family Man: Collector's Edition
3. The Gift
4. Hatari!
5. My Man Godfrey: The Criterion Collection
6. Paint Your Wagon
7. Die Hard: The Ultimate Collection
8. Thirteen Days
9. Magic User's Club #2: Magic Is So Easy!
10. The Shootist

See ya.

— Ed.

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