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USA delivers 'Nurse Betty' Coming on 4/3 from USA is the dark comedy Nurse Betty, complete with anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 and 2.0 surround mixes, an audio commentary with Director Neil LaBute, deleted scenes, DVD-ROM features including the screenplay, and the trailers. Retail is $26.95. Two from Dreamworks Finally, on 3/6 from Dreamworks comes a two-pack of Prince Of Egypt and Joseph King Of Dreams. These are the Dolby Digital versions, with all the same features, and price for the 2-pack $34.95. New batch from Trimark Trimark has announced a new batch of indie titles due this Spring. First up is Gravity Games: Summer 2 on 3/13, which features "never before seen footage" and is full frame and 2.0 stereo. Then we have the drug drama (and actor Laurence Fishburne's directorial debut) Once In The Life, in full frame and 5.1 surround, along with an audio commentary by Fishburne and an isolated music score. Then we have the "locked in a convenience store and smokin' weed" comedy Killer Bud, in widescreen and 2.0 stereo surround and deleted scenes as well. Finally, there is the hit art house film Urbania, which is in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, 5.1 surround and featuring a host of extras including an audio commentary with director Jon Shear and actors Dan Futterman and Alan Cummings, deleted scenes, two making-of featurettes and the trailer. Retail for all of the above is $24.95. Then, on 4/17 we have the indie comedy What's Cooking?, which includes an audio commentary with director and the cast, "cinematic recipes" and the trailer, Love Honor & Obey, featuring the trailer, and XChange, also with a trailer. All of the above are in 1.78;1 anamorphic widescreen and 2.0 stereo surround, and retail for $24.95.
January 18 : Fox April catalog announcements; 'Krull' and 'The Natural' special editions in April; Buena Vista March titles A little fox sneak preview Looks like Fox is having a serious case of "Girl Power!" in April, with a pretty dang good lineup of catalog favorites. Coming on 4/17 is For The Boys, Nine Months, Norma Rae, The Truth About Cats & Dogs, Working Girl and one I'm totally excited about, 9 To 5. All of these titles are in anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 surround, except Norma Rae and 9 To 5 with mono tracks, and include the trailers. Except the full press release on these soon, and retail is only $24.95 each. Then on 5/15 comes a special edition of the classic The Sand Pebbles, also in anamorphic widescreen, stereo surround and including a commentary with Director Robert Wise, Candice Bergen, Richard Crenna and Mako! Retail is $24.95. Lastly, the upcoming releases of Chain Reaction, Unlawful Entry, Point Break and the 2-disc set of Big Trouble In Little China will have DTS tracks. Expect the full specs, release dates and press release for these titles soon. 'Krull' special edition due this April On 4/3 from Columbia TriStar is a special edition of Krull. The disc includes a new anamorphic widescreen transfer and 5.1 mix, an audio commentary with Director Peter Yates and cast, the "Journey To Krull" documentary (which originally aired on broadcast TV),a video montage of images from the Marvel comic with sound from the film, no less than four still galleries with cast photos, production stills, merchandising, behind-the-scenes and the costume design, a audio essay from Cinefantastique, talent files and trailers. Retail will be $24.95. Also on 4/3 is The Natural special edition, with anamorphic widescreen transfer, a making-of featurette, talent files and trailers. Retail is also $24.95. Rudolph the shiny-gun gangster On 3/27 from Buena Vista (finally) comes the Reindeer Games Director's Cut. This anamorphic widescreen disc features an audio commentary with Director John Frankenheimer, making-of featurette, and the trailer. Retail $29.95. Buena Vista also has more titles on the way on 3/13, including Immortality, which features an a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 track, making-of featurette and the trailer; Jackie Chan's The Legend Of Drunkenmaster, in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1, and including an interview with Jackie Chan, outtakes, the trailer and TV spots, and finally the comedy The Crew, in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1, and with a making-of featurette, cast & crew bios and the trailer. Retail for all of the above is $29.95.
Just a quick note to make sure and check yesterday's release news, there was a early afternoon announcement from Anchor Bay on a repressing of the John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, which had a problem with the audio tracks. I must say, while no one ever likes such errors to happen, I'm impressed Anchor Bay acted so swiftly and appropriately to resolve the matter, unlike some other studios who ignore such problems for months, or don't bother to recall it at all. Ahem.
Fox has announced the 4/3 arrival of a three-disc set of the legendary Hollywood production of Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Though often thought of as a bomb, this film actually made quite a bit of money in its day, but it just cost so damn much! Fox is pulling out all the stops for this Five-Star Collection title, and given the film's 4-hour length, three discs are necessary just to hold it all. The DVD includes a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, audio commentary (participants TBA), the all new documentary "Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood," the original featurette "The Fourth Star Of Cleopatra," rare archival footage of the Hollywood premieres, trailers, a historical timeline and a collectible booklet. In all the promo flyer promises over 7 hours of extras, and stay tuned for the full press release for all the specs. Retail price is $34.95. Columbia scrubs up for 'Anatomy' A new announcement from Columbia, also due on 4/3, for the arrival of the German horror import Anatomy. I actually saw this last fall (in a theater with about 12 people) and the English dubbing was so bad I think I might enjoy now more on DVD with its original language track. The disc features an anamorphic widescreen transfer, an English 5.1 and German, English and French 2.0 surround tracks, a director's commentary, deleted scenes, two featurettes on the making of the film and the make-up, a music video, storyboard to screen comparison, talent files and the trailer. Retail is $29.95.
New Line has just announced a couple of "art house" releases due 3/30, highlighting the work of indie filmmaker Harmony Korine. Due on 3/6 are the controversial Gummo, which includes an animated production photo gallery with commentary by director Harmony Korine and cast and crew filmographies, and Julien Donkey-Boy, with two deleted scenes, cast and crew filmographies and "Confessions of Julien Donkey-Boy" a documentary. Both discs are in anamorphic widescreen and retail for $24.95. It has returned... In a release I bet no one wanted, Warner has issued a late announcement for the 2/6 arrival of Election 2000. That's right, if you didn't get enough of dimpled chads, endless lawsuits and Katherine Harris, now you can relive one of America's finest hours on DVD. Crisp full frame video, 2.0 stereo, and with no trailer in sight, who could ask for more? And all this can be yours for the low, low price of only $19.95!
'A Better Tomorrow' fix An official statement has just come in from Anchor Bay regarding the audio problems with the new release of John Woo's A Better Tomorrow, streeting today. In regards to the Cantonese rescored audio tracks, Anchor Bay had this to say: "We regret that this situation has occurred, and we apologize to anyone who was disappointed or inconvenienced. This matter came to our attention very early this morning (January 16th), and we immediately set about to determine the best course of action in rectifying the problem. Currently all replication of the current DVD version of A BETTER TOMORROW has stopped. We are going to be repressing the title using the original Cantonese Mono audio track which will replace the existing Cantonese tracks on the DVD. The English audio on both the DVD & VHS editions are not affected by this. We expect to have corrected copies of the DVD the first week of February. Procedures for the return and/or exchange of the copies currently on the market will be announced soon. Again we regret that this situation has occurred, and we will correct it as soon as possible." Stay tuned for any future updates... Columbia announcements A few new goodies from Columbia today. On 3/20 comes the David Lean classic A Passage To India, just in time for the other David Lean classic, Lawrence Of Arabia in early April. The India disc includes an anamorphic widescreen transfer, English, French and Spanish 2.0 surround racks and subtitles, talent files, production notes and the trailer. Retail is $24.95. Also on 3/20 is The Tao Of Steve, in anamorphic widescreen and English 2.0 surround, with a cast & crew commentary, trailers, talent files and a weblink to the "Steve Test." Retail is $24.95. You can't handle the truth Part 2 Just a quick update on the final specs for DreamWorks' January 30, 2001 release of What Lies Beneath. The disc contains an anamorphic widescreen transfer in the film's 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 5.1 tracks in both Dolby Digital and DTS (which was never indicated on the original announcement) as well as a 2.0 surround track, and though not even indicated fully on the menu, a screen-specific audio commentary with not only director Robert Zemeckis but also producers Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke. Other supplements include the "Constructing The Perfect Thriller" featurette, theatrical trailer, cast and crew bios and production notes. The next question you might be asking is, "when can I read a review of this title?" Unfortunately, DreamWorks has instigated a new policy on certain DVD screeners, forcing subtitles to appear over the screen image at various intervals. (Perhaps in an effort to thwart whatever piracy they thought might exist two weeks before a title's release?) Unfortunately, these subtitles cannot be removed, and such discs thus do not represent the final product consumers will be buying. We here at DVDFILE, along with other cooperating sites like The Digital Bits and The Big Picture, will not be reviewing these discs or any others like it that alter or mar the picture or soundtrack. When DreamWorks makes final product of these tiles available, only then will we promptly review it.
January 15 : New Top Pick contest; 'Few Good Men' and Disney update Given the MLK holiday today, not too much release news. So , in addition to our latest Top Pick contest, we've resorted to...non-Region 1 coverage! Expect our regularly scheduled programming starting tomorrow... New Top Pick Contest This week's Top Pick contest is extra special this week, 'cause we're giving away not one but 10 DVDs...The Oliver Stone Collection 10-pack to be precise. This mega-set includes new 2-disc sets of Any Given Sunday, JFK, The Doors and Nixon, as well as other Stone favorites like Wall Street, Heaven And Earth, Natural Born Killers, Born On The 4th Of July, Talk Radio, U-Turn and the bonus documentary Oliver Stone's America. Enter here for your chance to win. And congrats goes out to last week's winners of the MGM romantic two-pack When Harry Met Sally and Autumn In New York. The lucky winners are Mike Craig of Seattle, WA, Ken Larsen of Ann Arbor, MI, Jay Cash of Sacramento, CA, Lori O'Donnell of Omaha, NE and Jenny McGinnis of Las Vegas, NV. Great job! You can't handle the truth Since the current movie-only edition of A Few Good Men from Columbia TriStar looks good but lacks features, many have hoped a new special edition with lots of extra goodies would someday be released. A few details have leaked out on the upcoming DVD special edition in Region 2, and we were told back at Studio Day that a Region 1 special edition would surface in late May. So expect these features to be a good preview of what to expect, and include the usual anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 Dolby surround mix, an audio commentary with Director Rob Reiner and a second audio commentary with Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, the original making-of featurette, an isolated score, talent files and trailers. Expect a press release in the weeks ahead. Disney spec update Just a couple of notes on two Disney titles. First, despite what the Disney press information said, the new Pete's Dragon DVD is not full frame as originally reported, but actually 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen, and it also includes a 5.1 surround track. Let's hope this remastered transfer is sign of things to come on future Disney animated titles. Also, Disney's overseas official website has issued a number of dates for upcoming animated classic favorites on DVD. Snow White would be the biggest of them, and is scheduled as of now for October 17. Other titles include Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Oliver & Company and Doug's 1st Movie, all this summer. Thanks to all the readers who sent this info in...as we heard at VSDA (see the January 11 post below), Snow White is expected here in Region 1 as well this October. Let's hope it lives up to its potential!
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'Cleopatra'
mega-set
New
Line to the second power