 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Two from Disney A couple of new announcements from Disney, for two oft-postponed titles. Coming on 6/5 are Oliver & Company and So Dear My Heart, two of Disney's perhaps lesser known titles. Oliver & Company is 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen with just some extras, including the trailer, interactive games and "full color artwork" on the disc. Retail is $29.95 for each. Also, and this is probably old news by now, but on 3/20, Disney will be issuing Toy Story and Toy Story 2 as separate, stand-alone releases. These titles were previously only available as part of the Toy Story 2-Pack, or The Ultimate Toy Box. These new issues will be the same as the versions found in the 2-pack, i.e., relatively featureless aside from the trailers, outtakes and a Pixar short (if you want all the supplemental goodies, you gotta go with the Toy Box.) Each of these standalone discs run for $29.95, and with the 2-Pack retailing for $39.95, go with that one if you can still find it. 'Requiem' for a delay Though originally announced for March, due to production delays, Artisan has announced a new date for Requiem For A Dream. The disc is now due out on 5/22, with the same features - anamorphic widescreen, audio commentary, deleted scenes and making-of featurettes, amongst other goodies. Retail is $24.95. Even better than the real thing? Coming on 5/8 from Sony Music is the DVD I just know you've all been waiting for, 2Ge+her. What, pray tell, is this? Well, if you are a fan of MTV, you probably know that this is a fictional "boy band" MTV put together for their parody series of the same name. It actually is pretty funny, and this DVD features the original MTV movie that launched the series and "the phenomenon." Presented in 1.78:1 widescreen and 2.0 surround, the disc also includes extra footage, photos and "more." Pretty scary, and retail is $19.95. Here's one you might have missed... While most of you probably never heard of the movie Hollywood Boulevard, it is actually a rather funny parody of low-budget filmmaking co-directed by Joe Dante and Allan Arkush. New Concorde is releasing a special edition on 4/24, and it is worth checking out. The disc features a full frame transfer, 2.0 mono mix, and a host of extras including an audio commentary with Dante, Arkush and producer Jon Davison, a live performance by "Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen," and even "classic trailers from other films used for stock footage." Can't beat that! Retail is $19.95. Fox gains 'Entry' Another new announcement from Fox, who have added the thriller Unlawful Entry to their 5/22 slate (that includes the already-announced Point Break, Chain Reaction and Big Trouble In Little China.) The disc includes an anamorphic widescreen transfer, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, and the trailer. Retail is $24.95. Superman box set details For the last update of the week (and I suppose it isn't very exciting,) Warner has announced the full specs for The Complete Superman Collection, due 5/1 along with all four Superman films. Since there is no special content added to this set, is is just the four DVDs in a box, retailing for $79.92, a $5 savings over having to buy them individually. As a side note, I'm not sure why, but we've received some emails asking about the Canadian prices of the Superman discs, which are $5 higher than the U.S. editions ($29.95 versus $24.95 for Superman The Movie, and $24.95 versus $19.95 for the sequels.) Lastly, and I'm sure you've all seen these by now, but below is the box art for the four discs. I just had to weigh in with my opinion...ick, their ugly! Couldn't they have come up with something cooler!? (BTW, according to Warner, as of now the plan is to issue Superman The Movie in the same packaging as the JFK and Oliver Stone Collection 2-disc sets, namely a gatefold snapper case with slide-in pouch for the second disc. Let's hope that changes!)
In case you missed it yesterday, Warner issued the press release for the newly improved Kubrick Collection. Check out yesterday's post for the full details... 
More on Fox's April titles Fox Home Video has just released the full specs for a number of their upcoming April titles. The Men Of Honor special edition, due 4/10, looks especially packed with extras. In addition to the anamorphic widescreen transfer and English 5.1 surround track, features include an audio commentary with director George Tillman, Jr., actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., producer Robert Teitel and screenwriter Scott Marshall Smith, 11 deleted scenes with commentary by Tilman and an alternate ending, a gallery of animated storyboards with commentary by Tillman, the documentary "Master Chief: A Tribute to Carl Brashear," the HBO "First Look" featurette, a Brian McKnight music video, the theatrical trailer and TV spots. All this for $29.95. Also due on 4/17 is Tigerland, which I quite liked but only made about $12.50 at the box office. In addition to the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and audio commentary with director Joel Schumacher, watch for the screen test of today's "It" actor Colin Farrell, the trailer and TV spots. Retail is $29.95. Fox will also be releasing the action thriller Rangers on 4/17, with a 1.77:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and English 5.1 and 2.0 surround mixes, along with an audio commentary with director Jay Andrews, filmographies and the trailer. In one of those weird Fox pricing moves, they have set retail for the disc at $34.95. Finally, on 4/3 Fox will be releasing Soul Food: The Director's Edition. This features a new director's cut of the film in anamorphic widescreen, along with English 5.1 and English and French 2.0 surround tracks, and trailers. Retail is $24.95. New Pearl Jam, Destiny's Child discs announced Two new music titles have just been announced, including what looks to be a pretty impressive release from Pearl Jam. Touring Band 2000 features over three hours of footage, with nearly an hour exclusive to the DVD, and extra goodies include multi-angles, outtakes and 2 music videos. The disc is due 4/10, and check out the full press release here. Then, on 3/6 watch for a slightly different kind of music, Destiny's Child: The Platinum's On The Wall, from Sony Music. The disc features six music videos in Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo, along with a band discography and lyrics. Retail is $24.95. Universal spring titles Universal has just released news on more of the upcoming spring titles, including the long-awaited (well, by some of us!) Jaws 2 special edition on 5/22. The disc includes a new 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English and French 2.0 mono tracks, a new 25-minute documentary on the film by Laurent Bouzereau including deleted scenes and behind the scenes footage, along with the usual Universal production notes, filmmaker bios and the trailer and teaser. Retail is $26.95. Then on 4/10 is another of Universal's "this is just an art film so let's just toss it out there" releases, Loving Jezebel. The film is presented in full frame only, with an English 2.0 surround track and the trailer. Retail is $24.95. Finally, also coming in May are those reissues of the John Hughes favorites The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science. Full specs are not yet available, but in good news for fans, new supplemental material will be included in these releases, and watch for the full details this month. A little Babylon 5 news Last but not least, as you diehard Babylon 5 fans know all too well, for over two years now Warner has been publicly hinting in live chats and at industry events that the series really, truly is coming to DVD. While no official release date or specs have yet to be announced, DVDFILE did receive an interesting proposal recently. As you may have noticed, Warner has advertised on the site from time to time (for titles like Three Kings and The Perfect Storm), and just recently an ad run was floated by us for a Babylon 5 DVD, which would begin this summer. SO, will the series finally show up on DVD? While we can never be certain until we actually have the discs in our hot little hands, this is a good sign. Just thought you'd like to know...
Kubrick returns Warner has just issued the details on the upcoming new Stanley Kubrick box set, which sees a release date of 6/12. Perhaps most exciting aside from the new soundtrack remixes and remastered transfers, is the new 140-minute documentary "Stanley Kubrick: A Life In Pictures." Warner has now issue the full press release, though details on technical specs for some of the titles is not included. We've already requested some more information, but in the meantime, so far we know for sure that 2001 will feature a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, and all the titles have been digitally remastered with new 5.1 remixes. We'll update with eh anamorphic and widescreen specs on the rest of the titles when the information comes in. Also, the version of Eyes Wide Shut is the same version already released in the U.S., and is NOT the unaltered, non-digitally obscured version available in other territories. As for my thoughts, aside from really wanting The Shining in widescreen, I am quite excited to see the new documentary. It will also be nice to have remastered versions of these titles, but with only seven films apparently in the collection the $192.95 price tag for the set seems rather high. Stay tuned for further details... Also, Warner has just announced the 5/1 arrival of Miss Congeniality, the surprise hit of the past Christmas season. The disc features the usual anamorphic widescreen transfer, English and French 5.1 surround tracks, two making-of featurettes, audio commentaries with director Daniel Petrie and producer and star Sandra Bullock, and the trailer. Retail is $26.95. Two new Columbia titles The fun just never stops coming from Columbia TriStar, does it? I must admit, when I heard this news, it brought a tear to me little eye. Remember that pseudo-genre that was so big in the 70's and 80's, the "young lovers torn apart by tragedy" melodrama? I supposed we can blame it all on that maudlin epic Love Story (due on DVD from Paramount in April, by the way), but there were plenty of others that followed in its wake, including Endless Love, Ode To Billy Joe and The Boy In The Plastic Bubble. Anyway, perhaps the greatest of them all is now set to arrive on 5/1, Ice Castles! How can you argue with a movie that stars Robby Benson and Lynn-Holly Johnson? (Okay, don't answer that.) The disc features an anamorphic widescreen transfer, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese mono tracks, talent files and trailers. Can't wait! Also coming from Columbia on 4/24 is Jason Alexander's directorial debut, Just Looking. The disc features anamorphic widescreen and full screen transfers, a 2.0 surround mix, audio commentary with Alexander, talent files and the trailer. Retail is $29.95.
Fox Home Video has just announced a 5/8 street date for The X-Files: The Complete Third Season collection. The 7-disc set contains 24 episodes, the usual introductions and interviews with Chris Carter, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, TV spots and promos, and interactive DVD-ROM features including web links and interactive games. Retail is $149.95. License to disappear Some quick bites on some big titles that are being pulled from distribution that you'll probably want to know about. MGM has just announced that all 19 of the James Bond special edition titles will be put on moratorium effective February 5. (Never Say Never Again will also be taken off the shelves, but not until May). Some may not remember, but MGM did state when the first wave of Bond titles were announced that all would be available for a "limited time only." While I don't think we're going to see even more extensive versions of these anytime soon, we can hope perhaps the next reissues will have better cover art? Anyway, not to worry, because as they say in the movies, James Bond will return... Another "grab it while you can" title is Criterion's special edition of The Silence Of The Lambs, which has been discontinued, effective immediately (and don't bother trying to order it anymore, you can't.) Criterion has lost the rights to distribute the disc, which is now owned by MGM. However, hot on the heels of Hannibal's recent box office success, MGM is planning to release their own special edition of Lambs this year. (And we just finished an interview with the producer of the disc, so watch for that next week.) New Verhoeven on the way Speaking of new special editions of previous DVD releases, Paul Verhoeven fans will have a lot to look forward to in the coming year. In the same upcoming feature story mentioned above, you'll find out some cool news regarding upcoming special editions of some Verhoeven favorites. Some work has already been done on such Verhoeven titles as RoboCop and Total Recall, as well as a new edition of Starship Troopers (including commentary from composer Basil Poledouris, and check out his official web site for more info). Anchor Bay is also set to release some older Verhoeven cult classics including Flesh + Blood and The Fourth Man later this year, so it should be a great year for Verhoeven fans. Watch for the interview next week...
Dreamworks bags 'Vance' Dreamworks has just announced a 4/3 arrival date for Robert Redford's latest directorial opus The Legend Of Bagger Vance, which would benefit from some Oscar nominations but most likely won't receive any, at least according to industry pundits. Anyway, the $26.95 disc includes an anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 tracks, a featurette, cast filmographies, production notes and the trailer. Paramount takes aim Due on 4/24 from Paramount comes the thriller Kill Shot, starring one Ms. Denise Richards (recently seen at the wrong end of a nasty power drill in Valentine). The disc includes a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 and English and French 2.0 surround mixes, a making-of featurette and the trailer. Retail is $29.95. Mine goes up to 11 Warner will be turning up the volume on 3/6 with AC/DC: No Bull. This 1996 concert features 20 hard rock anthems, and is presented in full frame with Dolby Digital 5.0 surround and 2.0 stereo tracks, band interviews and complete lyrics to each song. A little less bombastic is Paul Simon: You're The One - In Concert From Paris. The disc is in 1.78;1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 tracks, as well as a PCM 2.0 stereo track, and complete lyrics. Retail is $24.95 for each. New from A&E Coming from A&E this spring is another batch of notable imports and television programming. Due on 3/27 is the acclaimed series The Jewel In The Crown, presented in full frame and 2.0 stereo. The complete 750 minute series is spread over 4 discs, and includes production notes and historical information. Retail is $79.95 for the set. Also due are Jeeves And Wooster The Complete First Season and The Complete Second Season. Each 2-disc set is presented in full frame and 2.0 stereo, and retail is $39.95 each. Lastly, on 3/27 comes The Prisoner Set 3 and Set 4. Each 2-disc collection features four full episodes, along with a still gallery with production photographs, a trivia game and TV spots. All episodes are presented in full frame with English mono tracks. Retail is $39.95 for each set. Image's April slate Finally, Image Entertainment has announced their full April slate of DVDs, and as usual it is quite a mix. Highlights include The Fall Of The House Of Usher, a "Something Weird" double feature of The Beast That Killed Women and The Monster Of Camp Sunshine, two more EuroShock Collection titles, more episodes of I Spy and The Twilight Zone, The Sorrow And the Pity, and Renny Harlin's first theatrical feature, Born American. For the complete list and specs, check out the Image site here.
Fox May titles Fox has just announced some specs for their upcoming May catalog titles, including a trio of big request titles, Point Break, Chain Reaction and Big Trouble In Little China. Due on 5/22, the Point Break and Chain Reaction discs feature anamorphic widescreen transfers, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 mixes, cast filmographies and trailers. Retail is a nice, low price of $22.95 each. The Big Trouble In Little China special edition is a 2-disc set loaded with cool extras produced by Fight Club and Rocky Horror guru David Prior. In addition to the new 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, the set features Dolby Digital and DTS 4.1 tracks, a new audio commentary with director John Carpenter and Actor Kurt Russell, deleted Scenes and an alternate extended ending, a music video, a making-of, a still gallery with rare photos and promotional materials, magazine articles, multi-angle interview with Richard Edlund and DVD-ROM features. Retail is only $26.95.
Criterion has just delivered the full specs for their highly-anticipated new special edition of Spartacus, due on 4/24. Note that Universal released a movie-only version on DVD back in 1998, that featured a non-anamorphic transfer and little in the way of extras. That version will remain on the market, but if you are a real fan of the film or Kubrick, you'll want to go with he Criterion version. In addition to the new anamorphic 2.20:1 widescreen transfer and Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 mixes, the full specs for this 2-disc set are: audio commentary with producer and actor Kirk Douglas, actor Peter Ustinov, novelist Howard Fast, producer Edward Lewis, restoration expert Robert A. Harris and designer Saul Bass; screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's scene-by-scene analysis; additional Alex North score compositions; a restoration demonstration, rare deleted scenes, vintage newsreel footage, 1960 promotional interview with Jean Simmons and Peter Ustinov, 1992 video interview with Peter Ustinov, behind-the-scenes "Gladiatorial School" footage; 1960 documentary "The Hollywood Ten" plus archival documents about the blacklist; original storyboards by Saul Bass, a still gallery with hundreds of production photos, lobby cards, posters, print ads and a comic book; rare sketches by Stanley Kubrick and the trailer. All this can be yours for $49.95, and it sounds terrific! USA beefs up DVD slate for 2001 Scoring its biggest hit yet at the box office recently with Traffic, USA is becoming the little studio that could. Now, they are also planning to beef up their DVD catalog as well in 2001. Using the recent Superbowl weekend as a launch pad, they announced plans to release more sport-themed DVD titles that were previously only available on VHS, as well as new special editions of David Lynch's Lost Highway as well as Orgazmo. Of course, expect to see Traffic on DVD this year as well. (For more on the story, see this article from Video Business.) New from Anchor Bay Anchor Bay has just added a few new titles to their April slate. On 4/10 comes Max Von Sydow in Pelle The Conqueror, in anamorphic widescreen and English and Danish 2.0 surround tracks, with a poster replica in the insert and the trailer. Retail is $29.95. Also coming are two versions of Candy. The $29.95 standard edition features an anamorphic widescreen transfer, tracks, a still gallery, poster replica, talent bios, radio spots and the trailer. The $39.95 limited edition collectible tin comes with a set of Collector's Cards, and disc contents are the same. Also, some new street dates for Children Of the Corn and That Girl Volume 1, both of which are now 4/10. Note that Children Of the Corn will also feature 5.1 surround track, not 2.0 surround as originally reported. Finally, be sure take note of some recent Anchor Bay catalog titles that have recently been discontinued, but shall return. For horror fans, Halloween 4, Prom Night, Crimes Of Passion and The Stepford Wives will be reissued as new special editions, as will Re-Animator (previously released by Elite), and Highlander, along with the Neil Diamond remake of The Jazz Singer, Plenty, 1985's Bad Boys (uncut) and Tender Mercies (all previously issued from Artisan). Features and street dates have yet to be announced, but Anchor Bay expects to release these titles by the end of 2001. Stay tuned.
|
|
|
|
The
truth is out there...for $149.95
Full
specs for Spartacus