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Gizmo returns! - 10:41am Well, talk about scary! It's about time Warner opened their vaults and released some of their genre classics, and here's the kind of announcements that, personally, warm my heart! Let's star with everyone's favorite Mogwai, Gizmo, who arrives on DVD on 8/20. Gremlins features a remastered 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby 5.1 surround mix, audio commentary by director Joe Dante, a second commentary with the cast, an all-new documentary, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, and trailers. Gremlins 2: The New Batch, makes its first-ever DVD appearance complete with 1.85;1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 Dolby digital surround track, audio commentary with director Joe Dante, a music video, trivia game, and trailers. Retail is $19.95 each.
On 8/6, Warner will release a slew of horror, sci-fi and adventure goodies. Let's start with Clash Of The Titans, presented in a new 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, along with an all-new introduction by Ray Harryhausen, the "Map of Myths and Monsters" gallery, and trailers. Next up we have another favorite, the Jack the Ripper time travel adventure Time After Time, also presented in anamorphic widescreen and English 2.0 surround, with a new audio commentary by director Nicholas Meyer and actors Malcolm McDowell and David Warner, and the trailer. More sci-fi comes in the way of V: The Final Battle, the complete miniseries presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, though no extras to speak of aside from some promos. Retail is $19.95 each, except for V which is a two-disc set and $24.95.
On the horror end, 8/6 will also see the release of the classic Them!, in full frame and mono plus the trailer, a 156-minute "Expanded Edition" of the cult fave The Swarm in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and English 2.0 stereo, with a new behind-the-scenes documentary, a first-ever audio commentary by actor Michael Caine, "Genre Notes" on big bug movies, and the trailer. Another long-awaited fan favorite is the 117-minute version of the misbegotten sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic, presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby 2.0 surround, and includes an alternate ending and the trailer. The 1981 eerie werewolf drama Wolfen also arrives on 8/6, in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby 2.0 surround, with a new audio commentary by Albert Finney, Diane Venora and Edward James Olmos, and the trailer. Retail is $19.95 a pop.
Do the revolution - 12:04am Two new announcements just in from Columbia, including details on the long-awaited DVD debut of Peter Hunt's epic 1776. Arriving on 7/2 in an all-new Director's Cut, the disc features a new 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, audio commentary with Hunt and screenwriter Philip Stone, filmographies, production notes and the trailer. Retail is $29.95. Arriving two weeks later on 7/16 is the swashbuckling adventure Robin and Marian, starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn. Thankfully, the disc is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with an English mono track and bonus trailers. Retail is $24.95. Fire with fire - 12:04am Just announced from Fox are more action hijinks this summer. Debuting on 7/23 is the martial arts spoof and box office bomb Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby surround tracks, extras include an audio commentary by Steve Oedekerk, an alternate dub track, foreign language clips, making-of featurette, and the trailer. On 8/6 comes another recent box office disappointment, the comedy Super Troopers. Also presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby surround tracks, extras include a making-of featurette, deleted and extended scenes with commentary, an alternate ending, outtakes and the trailer. Retail is $24.95 each. Last but not least on 7/16 we have another direct-to-video masterpiece from auteur Jay Andrews, Ablaze, starring Ice-T and Tom Arnold! Presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby surround tracks, extras include audio commentary with Andrews, filmographies, and the trailer. Retail is Fox's usual high $34.95 direct-to-video price. And in some Fox street date news, looks like that Simpsons Season 2 box set has yet another new date, 8/6. Specs and list price remain the same...let's hope it makes it out this time.
Maximum overdrive - 12:02am It's old news and this point, but Universal has finally issued the full press release for the "Awards Edition" of last year's undeserving Best Picture Oscar winner A Beautiful Mind, so check out the announcement for all the specs. In other Universal news, looks like that long-awaited Duel collector's edition originally due on 5/21 is now postponed until further notice. Watch for a new date soon, and hopefully it won't be long... Giallo's humor - 12:02am More fun abounds on 6/25 from Anchor Bay, with three new titles in their horror-ific Giallo Collection. All three of the new additions to the collection - Short Night of Glass Dolls, The Bloodstained Shadows and Who Saw Her Die? - feature 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers and mono tracks, plus trailers, filmmaker bios and three featurettes - "Strange Days Of The Short Night," "Solamente Bido" and "Death In Venice," respectively. Each retails for $19.95, or $39.95 for a 3-pack set. Also on 6/25, Anchor Bay will release individual versions of House and House II: The Second Story, previously only available together as a two-disc limited edition set (apparently not that limited, eh?) Features are the same as the previous version, and retail is $14.95 a pop. Feel the love - 12:02am Finally in today's news, significantly lighter fare than Anchor Bay horrors are four new family releases arriving on 7/9 from MGM. Available as two-packs only are The Care Bears Movie and Water Babies, and the adventures True Heart and Courage Mountain. All are presented in full frame only, and retail is $19.95 per set.
Cruise control - 11:32am Well, it's about time. Finally, cruising onto DVD on is the long-awaited new Five Star Collection edition of the hit Speed on 7/30, as well as a new remaster of the bomb sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control and a special 2-pack. Check out the press release for all the details, and this set looks mighty good. Also on 7/30, Fox will debut MASH: The Complete Second Season. Features are the same as the first season collection, with all episodes presented in full frame and English mono, and with our without a laugh track. Retail is $49.95. Gridlock'd - 12:40am It's only been a couple of weeks since the dissolution of USA Home Entertainment, but already Universal has begun to announce new reissues of past USA titles. First up will be a repackaging of Steven Soderbergh's Oscar-winning hit Traffic on 5/14. The disc is exactly the same as the previous USA release (which is now discontinued), including a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, featurette and the trailer, and retail will be $24.95. Meanwhile, the Criterion Collection two-disc special edition of Traffic is still set for release on 5/28 and is not affected by the USA/Universal merger. In more Universal news, if you're a Canadian resident and picked up a copy of the Spy Game DVD, which some Toshiba, Sony and Pioneer players have trouble playing (the subtitle tracks inadvertently pop up and won't turn off) you're not out of luck. Universal will also be offering exchanges for a newly repressed disc by calling 1-866-532-2202. Universal will send you an envelope to send the disc back in, and new discs are expected to arrive in 6-8 weeks. Good luck! At the movies - 2:14pm My, isn't this confusing? First it was Image, then Rhino, now it seems Warner Special Projects has got the distribution digs on the Mystery Science Theater 3000 franchise? On 6/11, Warner Music will release two more volumes in the comedy series, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Hellcats and Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Crawling Hand. Each is presented in full frame and 2.0 stereo, and retail is $19.95. Make mine music - 2:14pm A number of music titles have just been announced in the past few days, so here's a quick rundown of what's coming up in the months ahead. Warner Music/Special Projects has also just announced four new 5/28 titles Alejandro Sanz: El Alma Al Aire: En Directo, Alejandro Sanz: MTV Unplugged, Mana: Exitos En Video, and the documentary on Japanese baseball, Rising Sons: Major League Baseball. Coming from Universal Music/MCA are Blink 182: The Urethra Chronicles 2 - Harder Faster Faster Harder and 98 Degrees: The Collection on 5/7. Jimi Hendrix: The Dick Cavett Show on 5/14, and Elvis: His Best Friend Remembers on 7/30. All are presented in full frame (the Blink 182 and 98 Degrees collections also feature some non-anamorphic widescreen video clips) and 2.0 stereo tracks. Retail is $24.95 a pop. On the video singles front, Sony Music has announced two new ones for release on 5/28, Celine Dion: A New Day Has Come, Play: Us Against The World, Nas: Stillmatic and Lil Bow Wow: Take Ya Home. The extras on each of these mere singles puts most full-length music releases to shame, including biographies, discographies, videographies, a still gallery and, on the Dion single, some behind-the-scenes footage. Retail is $9.95 each. Last but not least, on 5/21 from Music Video Distribution comes Synthcon 01, a look at last year's Synthcon convention and featuring performances from many up-and-coming synth-pop bands. Presented in full frame and 2.0 stereo, extras are minimal aside from production notes. Retail is $19.95. Last but not least, still on the Warner "TBA" schedule are Enya: the Videos and a still untitled Tori Amos collection, which given her recent label troubles, may never end up seeing the light of day? Stay tuned...
Scary summer - 12:03am The scares are coming early from Buena Vista this year just in time for Halloween, with a new line of repriced horror hits on 8/13. Reduced to $19.95 are Hellraiser: Bloodline, Halloween 6 and Halloween H20, all three Scream, From Dusk 'Til Dawn and Crow films, and Children of the Corn V and Children of the Corn 666. Titles new to DVD include Hellraiser: Inferno, The Minion, and Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering. Each is presented in anamorphic widescreen with English 5.1 Dolby surround tracks, trailers and other promos, and Hellraiser Inferno also includes the "Secrets of Pinhead Revealed" and "A Conversation With Doug Bradley (Pinhead)" featurettes. Retail is also $19.95 a pop. To boldly go...again - 12:17pm Just in are the specs for the latest Star Trek The Next Generation collection, The Complete Third Season. After the truncated (22 episode) Season Two, Season Three is back up to 26 full-length episodes spread across seven discs, and all episodes are presented in full frame with English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Surround tracks. Extras include a collectible booklet plus four featurettes: "Mission Overview: Year Three" on major changes that occurred in Season Three with both old and new interviews, "Selected Crew Analysis: Year Three" - an in-depth look at the continuing characters with a closer look at returning crew member Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), "Departmental Briefing - Year Three: Production" - a behind-the-scenes look from the production crew's perspective, and "Departmental Briefing - Year Three: Memorable Missions" specific anecdotes about Year Three episodes. Retail is a suggested $149.95, and street date 7/2.
'War' and remembrance - 2:45pm Just announced from MGM is the Bruce Willis action dud Hart's War, due on 7/9. Presented in anamorphic widescreen and full screen formats along with English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital surround tracks, extras include two audio commentaries by star Bruce Willis, director Gregory Hoblit, producer David Foster and writer Billy Ray, deleted footage, production notes and trailers. Retail is $26.95. The show must go on - 2:45pm First the good news...Buena Vista is unleashing a huge slate of its most-requested catalog titles throughout 2002 as part of its Disney Movie Showcase, and has issued this press release with details and a full list of the titles. The bad news? While most will be presented in widescreen, a few pan & scan only titles will be included in these waves, with "family" titles being the main victims. As of now, only the Muppet titles have been confirmed to be full frame only, but my guess is that The Mighty Ducks and Honey, I Blank The Kids franchises are also likely candidates. Stay tuned for further details in the weeks ahead, and check out the press release for more info.
'Ran,' don't walk - 12:04am Not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Wellspring Media and Amazon.com have just announced a new exclusive that will either delight or really annoy Akira Kurosawa fans. Debuting on 9/9 is The Akira Kurosawa DVD Collection, a 3-disc box set very limited to 5,000 copies, and only available for purchase via Amazon.com. The set contains the Masterworks Edition of Ran, presented in a new 1.85;1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, the master's final film Madadayo, and the documentary Kurosawa (in full frame.) Extras in the box include a Ran mini-poster, four 5x7 photographs, a multi-page booklet, and the Japanese-style miniature shoji screen and certificate of authenticity. Full specs for the individual discs are not yet available, and the set will retail for $99.95. While no plans have been announced by Wellspring to release these titles separately, I'd be surprised if they weren't at some point in the future. Stay tuned... 'Spy' hard - 12:04am Having problems with your new Spy Game DVD from Universal? Well, you're not alone. We've received numerous reports of difficulty turning off the included "English Titles For The Hearing Impaired" on most Toshiba players and select Pioneer and Sony players as well. If you've got one of these defective discs, never fear. Universal is accepting exchanges, so the instructions we were give are to mail your DVD without the case along with your name and correct mailing address to:
Returns should take between 4-6 weeks (but as we all know, that probably means 6-8 weeks, right?) For a quick workaround to the subtitle problem, you can watch the film in the "Clandestine Ops" branching mode, but you'll still be plagued with interruptions to the film, so your best bet is to mail in the disc. Good luck.
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