Ho, ho, ho! Happy holidays, kiddies! Have you been naughty? Have you been nice? Well, some of the studios sure have! Since they say no good deed goes unpunished, now it is time for judgment day, Santa style. Who deserves a nice big bag of presents for their efforts, or a lump of coal in their stocking? Well, brew up some Egg Nog, snuggle up and let's get into the joy of the season!

So in the spirit of giving (yeah, right) here's our staff picks for the Best & Worst of 2000 and overall thoughts on The Year That Was. Don't worry, we'll try and be nice...

Dan Ramer: Looking Back on DVD's Fourth Year

The major studios seemed to accept the wisdom of investing in new anamorphic or downconverted high definition transfers for their releases. Fox stands as the most dramatic transformation, formally announcing that it is now committed to providing anamorphic DVDs whenever possible. We're even seeing previously released films like Entrapment, Predator, The Seige, X-Files: Fight The Future, and the Die Hard Trilogy being reissued or announced for reissue with reworked soundtracks and new anamorphic transfers. We have Peter Staddon of Fox Home Entertainment to than

DTS, having managed to find a way to accommodate supplements by cutting its data rate in half to 768 Kbits/sec with the release of Saving Private Ryan in November of '99, found its way onto more and more DVDs. Between DVD market acceptance and the availability of DTS (in which he's been reported to hold a 40% share), Steven Spielberg finally opened the vaults to allow films previously withheld from DVD to be released. Jaws, Jurassic Park, Lost World, and Men in Black were most notable.

The addition of a sixth channel of sound, the center surround, proved a great success. No longer did film sound designers have to rely on a phantom rear channel. Now it was possible to smoothly pan sounds through a complete 360-degree circle around the listener. Rear localization is much improved. Dolby's matrixed EX system, co-developed with THX, soon found competition in the form of DTS ES Matrix and DTS ES Discrete. Each has found its way to DVD and hardware required to decode each sound format has been marketed

Delayed due to an initial studio perception that they circumvented copy protection, a nice selection of progressive video DVD players was introduced. Panasonic, Pioneer, Toshiba, and Sony offered players over a broad price range. Second only to a display capable of the anamorphic squeeze, progressive video is the next best thing to improve your video image. It's like having a line doubler built into your DVD player. And suddenly, such arcane terms as the 3:2 pulldown became part of the home theater enthusiast's vocabulary

But as good as DVD is, its 480-line video resolution is only an interim solution. High definition television is slowly finding its way into consumers' homes and, even more interestingly, into electronic cinema and motion picture production. A few months ago, George Lucas finished initial principle photography for Star Wars Episode 2 using Sony 1080p24 recorders and cameras equipped with anamorphic lenses. Motion picture theater resolution and home theater resolution seem to be converging. So if the studios can get over their paranoia concerning the commercial marketing of film-on-video in high definition, HD-DVD will be the logical extension of DVD. (This may be a bit of a challenge. The studios forced Panasonic to remove the FireWire port that interfaced its new terrestrial/satellite combo HDTV set top box to its HDTV VCR. In fact, the PV-HD1000 HDTV VCR was pulled from the market.) Reliable blue lasers with their shorter wavelengths, long thought to be the key to the higher data densities required for HD-DVD, are being developed by several semiconductor companies. But more impressive - and possibly more important - is a system developed by Constellation 3D, Inc., the Fluorescent Multi-layer Disc. DVD stores less than 10 Gigabytes on a side. An FMD disc can hold from 25 to 140 Gigabytes on a side through the use of as many as 100 layers of fluorescent pits. These clear discs hold more than enough data to accommodate HDTV and existing red lasers read them.

But before we can expect HD-DVD to be introduced, HDTV must make a deeper market penetration. Adoption has been slower than the electronics industry and the FCC would like. Over-the-air broadcasters are dragging their feet, delaying the installation of transmitters and infrastructure to increase program resolution to 1080 or 720 lines. In New York City, only WCBS is making a concerted effort to broadcast in HDTV, and possibly only due to Panasonic's underwriting. Fox, too, is broadcasting some material from New York. Across the country ABC, NBC, and PBS have a few high definition shows on the air. We can only hope that manufacturers will make HDTV more affordable and that consumers will fall in love with the remarkable level of detail HDTV provides

And before we can expect HD-DVD to be introduced, an encryption technique that will prevent duplication must be devised that will placate the studios' fears. There have been a few proposals, but no system has been found to be satisfactory

In Part Five of my Mr. Blandings series, I mentioned that there is no edge enhancement in HDTV images. This permits small object detail that greatly enhances the illusion of looking through a window rather than at a television. Edge enhancement is the current bane of DVD. It causes a visible halo around objects onscreen. It mashes together small object details that are of similar size to the thickness of the visible halo. It robs DVD of a film-like appearance. And there's no excuse for it. Laser Pacific Media Corporation's best work has a surprising level of detail with no visible edge enhancement. So we know the technology exists to produce a splendid transfer without mucking up the video. Having won studio support for anamorphic, we now must campaign for visual detail without visual distortions.

George Lucas retains his status as the Grinch Who Stole DVD. Where are the Indiana Jones discs we were told were on the way? Where are the Star Wars films? What happened to Willow? Is anyone negotiating the DVD rights to the superb montage from the THX WOW! Laserdisc? Creating a new transfer and remixing its audio to THX EX? (That montage is the finest little home theater demo piece you could hope to own.) We've seen some wonderful looking DVDs, so we know a fabulous transfer does not need Lucas's personal supervision. Rumors abound that new special effects and even new scenes are going to be added to the Star Wars films as they're prepped for DVD. And Lucasfilm repeatedly stated that the discs are going to be special, with supplements that will dazzle the most jaded DVD reviewer. But why not satisfy us with film-only releases now? Fear of impacting special edition sales? Fear of offending the marketplace with more than one release of the same film? Lucas could have put up a survey page at The Official Star Wars site. He could have asked, "If I were to release film-only DVDs now, would you buy special edition DVDs later?" Or, "Would you be upset if I released DVDs without supplements, only to release supplement-rich DVDs later?" But he didn't. Come on, Mr. Lucas, your fans await

• As DVD grabs a bigger market share, the studios will wrestle with consumer complaints of black bars and tall thin pictures.
• Some long awaited titles will finally be released on DVD
• HDTV will double its penetration
• Expect an announcement concerning an HD-DVD standard

Happy New Year!

Jarod's Quick Picks

1. Fight Club- Setting a new standard for special editions.
2. North by Northwest- Yes, a film from 1959 can look this good on DVD.
3. Se7en- David Fincher does it again.
4. Treasure of the American Film Archives- Variety and quantity.
5. Les Vampires- Entertaining from start to finish..
6. Strike- Impressive all around.
7. The Decalogue- Glad just to have it.
8. I, Claudius- The greatest mini-series ever?
9. Titus- A wealth of extras for one of 1999's overlooked films.
10. The Limey- The commentary track is worth the price of admission.
11. The Sopranos (Complete First Season)- Terrific package of a terrific series.

Best DVD Supporter

Fox-Made a great comeback in the last half of the year. Honorable Mention Image-By far #1 in quantity, though the quality occasionally misses the mark.

Worst DVD Supporter

MGM-Couldn't even get the 007 releases right. Best Censorship by a Studio Buena Vista (Disney), who has butchered too many releases to name.

Dishonorable Mention

Warner, for its idiotic release of the censored version of Eyes Wide Shut.

Most Disappointing DVD(s)

Touch of Evil - What was Universal thinking? We know a documentary exists, and allegedly a commentary track featuring Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh exists, but neither were included on the disc. If legal issues were the problem, then Universal should have held up the release until those difficulties were resolved. And why not release the other cut of the film along with the new cut? And how about Jaws? What was Universal thinking? What do they have against two disc releases? Why was the film's award-winning monaural track not included?

Most Overrated Release

The Sound of Music - A wealth of extras can't hide suspect video quality.

Jim's Hits & Misses

The Best & Worst Best Special Edition: Terminator 2: Special Edition. Sure, Fight Club, Se7en, Men In Black, Boogie Nights and Magnolia are competitive contenders, but damn, T2 fans have wanted this special edition for a long time! Save for a camera going down poor Arnold's esophagus, this special edition probes and usurps the Terminator 2 experience by including a new transfer, two extra alternative endings fans have clamored for, remixed sound in DTS EX as well as Dolby ES and other loaded supplements. Bravo, to Artisan!

Best Transfer: With the wild and extreme cinematography style of Pitch Black captured effortlessly on New Line's DVD, it's a fierce transfer. This slick sci-fi recycling peddled some entertainment, and while I thought I detected some grain during the theatrical presentation, I found this DVD to be crystal clean and smooth like buttah. As a runner up, I think it's fair to say that The Sound of Music may not be a perfect reference disc, but its restoration effort is THE reference of how to restore a print that's 35 years old. It looks terrific and may never look better considering the DVD's transfer was the last given the final, toxic film elements.

Most disappointing Transfer: Baraka (1992). I loved this film and luckily saw it in a Rocky Horror-plagued, clunky, art house theater here in college town, Eugene, Oregon (the beloved Bijou Theater). Baraka has no narrating dialogue and is a sweeping view of different religions around the world. As Frank's review states, I hugely agree that the film is "narcotizing." However, the April 2000 DVD transfer for this beautiful, expensively shot 70MM film appears rehashed from the laser disc transfer. The picture is sometimes unstable and simply lacks the rich detail it was intended to exhibit. The lack of a hi-definition anamorphic transfer is a frickin heresy for such a deserving, glorious film. Hey, MPI Video - go back and just do it, or find a way to do it. Let us give praise to a great future transfer!

Biggest Missed Opportunity: The ultra-supplement loaded Abyss disc that was refused an anamorphic transfer seems like the biggest waste. Clearly, the best quality of this film is it's dreamy if suffocating underwater photography, and for supplements (no matter how terrific) and a fresh sound mix to eclipse the importance of nothing but the best transfer for this film is beyond wacked; it's bizarre.

Best Audio: The Haunting probably can't be beat. Crystal clear, full imaging and the exciting utilization of the 6.1 DTS ES channel makes the sound from this DVD THE reference. I won't be that pretentious, as I usually try, to say that I heard the 6.1 version in a home theater environment - I didn't. But I did see it in a new theater and later heard the more common, 5.1 Dolby Digital version, and the audio was smashing but delicately interesting. And though I'm a fan of the original Ray Wise film, I parked my brain and I enjoyed the update's carnival-like exhibition. And could anyone be more sexually attractive on the big screen than the go-go booted, swangin Catherine Zeta-Jones in this film?

Best Studio: Consistently delivering high quality discs, New Line seems to keep the effort-bar raised the highest. Great transfers, fair prices, great audio mixes, and supplements that usually have some meat for fans to sink their teeth into benchmarks quality. Unless the movie just sucks, New Lines' DVDs consistently promise customer satisfaction relative to the competition. And they also may pay this attention to smaller or cult films. DreamWorks can't be ignored, though. Though their discs may not always boast of loaded, satisfying supplements, the meat and potatoes of outstanding and sometimes reference transfers married with incredible audio mixes (The Haunting) bolster their reputation for producing high quality DVDs.

Most Dubious Studio: Buena Vista. Keeping prices relatively high, and slapping out more than a few Disney favorites without giving the transfers the loving and best transfers their creators most likely would've hoped for is insulting. However, a spotty handful of anamorphic transfers prove that when Disney wants to do it right, they can rise to the occasion with competence such as the special edition of Tarzan. Here's to the hope that 2001 will carry the torch of passion from the Disney creators to future Disney DVD transfers. One word of advice: do it right the first time.

The Most Absent in DVD: Woody Allen. I don't care if you don't like to do audio commentaries, quit whining, and do them anyway; get more involved with your films being transferred to DVD. It's beautiful, baby.

Directors Who Actually Get It: Some that come to mind: Kevin Smith, Greg Harrison, Ridley Scott, John Carpenter, Bill Condon, Anthony Minghella and Paul Thomas Anderson are a few of the growing collection of directors that enjoy and make efforts to utilize DVD's impressive capabilities. Hopefully more of their peers will get jealous and get more intimately involved with DVD. Lascivious fans can never get enough.

What happened to THAT DVD?: The Exorcist. Having recently seen it in the theater again (the "2000" "version that you haven't seen"), and now on DVD, the addition of the spiderwalk, added subtle images and a few other scenes were kind of innocuous to me during the moments of watching the film, though ultimately too explanatory...but ending was indeed too settling. Really...after such a violent and disturbing ending, how can one walk into the sunset and "talk about movies?" Everything's not OK. I say, stick to the 25th anniversary addition DVD, folks.

Best DVDFILE.COM DVD review comment: Stephenson's comment between the content differences of Basic Instinct's region 1 version vs. Japan's region 2 version in the video quality section. Brutally unforgettable. Check out the sentences leading up to the comment of "Gore vs. Bush."

A Look Ahead To 2001

Most Anticipated DVD Milestone: The Star Wars Trilogy. These films have been released so many times on laser disc with the last being the 1997 box set - which was the best looking (save for the arguments pertaining to the CGI additions) and sounding presentations of Lucas' mythological masterpieces. In order to quench deathly thirsts, how about delegating a new, high definition transfer with the decent amount of supplements ported from the 1997 box set onto a nifty DVD? Then, Mr. Lucas, you can still work on that extra-special edition in the future. We've bought before, and we'll buy again. The same goes for Raiders of the Lost Arc and it's offspring.

Most Anticipated Title: Legend and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Both are promising to be fantastic DVDs intended to exceed fans' expectations. Both are bigtime favs of mine, I'm very excited, and for Tom Cruise and Sheryl Lee's sake, they should be too!

Addendum - Jim's Guilty Pleasures

Gluttonous, uncut guilty pleasure wishlist: I want special editions with these supplements - where are Laurent Bouzereau or Michael Matessino when you need them!?

Fright Night: Columbia's October 1998 DVD did have a fantastic anamorphic transfer - no question. But I want more. Though I respect and definitely support a film's original soundtrack version preserved on a track for every DVD, I would die for a 5.1 remix on Fright Night (Evil Dead's 5.1 remix was smooth and flattering). A screen-specific audio commentary and interviews with director/ writer Tom Holland, all deleted scenes, bloopers and test scenes possible, and a fresh, detailed documentary by the terrific Laurent Bouzereau would sure be bloody delicious.

Xanadu: A ton of work went into production of this plot-wobbly film, but I always thought it had a little magic. Oh, and there was a 30 minute documentary that I missed in 1980 because I had little league soccer practice! Though currently released by Universal, a better, cleaned up anamorphic print, an additional 5.1 DTS remix (keeping the 4.0 mix intact), interviews and a screen-specific audio commentary with Livvy and director Robert Greenwald along with a fresh, detailed documentary by the terrific Michael Matessino, plus the original 30 minute TV featurette that I missed would give me wood! And for all the critics out there who consider this film the unpardonable sin right next to Exorcist II: The Heretic, lighten up...in fact, why doncha light a douggie and sit through Xanadu again? Inhale.

Starman: many gossipy stories swirl about this film and its production woes. Still, it remains an intriguing film with an underrated performance by Karen Allen that deserves better treatment. And who wouldn't want to make love on a runaway train? Anyway, the anamorphic print is the best it's looked on video, but the 2.0 Dolby surround audio didn't live up to its original 6.0 track theatrical presentation. Therefore, let's get a fresh audio remix appropriate to the original intention of the film, an screen-specific audio commentary by John Carpenter (where were you this time?), along with a conclusive documentary by Michael Matessino about how the heck this film got finished amongst many reported obstacles.

Poltergeist: MGM's good looking anamorphic transfer and very good 5.1 audio mix would be well served with a special edition. What was the exact evolution of this film? All movie credits report that Tobe Hooper directed this film, which was written and produced by Steven Speilberg, but continued fragmenting reports say that Speilberg took over part way through the film and finished it. Let's lay it on the line with a fresh and thorough documentary by the much needed Michael Matessino to include: interviews, deleted scenes, and screen-specific audio commentaries by the real filmmakers.

Fatal Attraction: Though currently refused a DVD release, the laser discs bleed all over the place, but an anamorphic transfer to DVD, a 5.1 mix, a screen specific audio commentary with Adriane Lyne, along with terrific supplements like the directors series laser disc Paramount released eight years ago would be a gold mine for fans like me. We "won't be ignored," Paramount!

Amityville II: The Possession: Considered a piece of exploitive, worthless trash by many, I still credit director Damiano Damiani with creating an incredible amount of dread and stylistic flair for the first 75% of the film (though the over-the-top ending embarrassingly stole much from The Exorcist). Yet, the film does have its distinct and chilling moments with a subtly prowling demon feasting on sweaty, domestic fights in the crescent-eyed house. And actor Jack Magner's tour de force performance as the disturbed son who kills his family is underrated, I don't care what anyone says (though he's much more melancholy than the real-life and bluntly flippant Ronald DeFeo that Magner portrays...whatever happened to Magner?) This Oscar-ignored masterpiece hasn't been released on DVD, but here's my little vote that hopes it is with an anamorphic transfer, and 5.1 remixed audio (and original in tact) with one of the very best horror movie scores, some kind of screen-specific audio commentary by the Italian director Damiano Damiani and...and...maybe a documentary done by... Michael Matession or Laurent Bouzereau...? OK, I'll go hide. All-righty, then.

Let's go to Part Two!

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