Weeping on the wind

Yes folks, it is official. The speediness of theatrical-to-video windows has now reached absurd proportions. Today Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment has announced a June 10th street date for Tears of the Sun, the Bruce Willis action-fest that just debuted in theaters last weekend. Billed as a special edition, retail is $27.95 and specs have not yet been announced, but then do I really need to tell you to stay tuned?

Other new Columbia announcements include the new-to-DVD catalog titles Montana and Experiment in Terror, the latter a rare horror outing for director Blake Edwards. Both feature anamorphic widescreen presentations with mono soundtracks, and the only extras bonus trailers. Retail is $19.95 a pop.

Rounding out Columbia's news is a street date change for Pedro Almodovar's Oscar-nominated Talk to Her, which was previously scheduled to hit stores on March 13th; the new date is March 27th. Features and retail price remain the same.

Polanski on Polanski - 2:21pm

At last dipping into their admittedly slim back catalog, New Line Home Entertainment will finally give four library faves the DVD treatment on June 3rd. From Academy Award nominee Roman Polanski comes two acclaimed adult thrillers, Death and the Maiden and Bitter Moon. Each features a 1.85;1 anamorphic widescreen transfers, English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby surround tracks, and each film's original theatrical trailer. Retail is $19.95 each.

Next we have two action extravaganzas thought sound like titles for heavy metal albums, Detonator and Live Wire, starring Christopher Lee and Pierce Brosnan, respectively. Both feature anamorphic widescreen and full screen transfers of the film (Live Wire also features R-Rated and Unrated versions), plus English 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby surround tracks, and the each film's original theatrical trailer.

Those looking for something new can look forward to the long-awaited return of German auteur Werner Herzog on June 3rd, when New Line debuts his first narrative feature film in over a decade, Invincible. Alas, extras are slim, but we do get an anamorphic widescreen version of the film, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 surround tracks, and trailers. Retail is $26.96.

Last but not least, New Line has announced a number of price reductions on some of their most popular titles. Newly repriced to $19.95 are Rush Hour 2, Jason X, Spawn and The Mask. Dropping to $14.95 are The Long Kiss Goodnight and Turn It Up. Features and specs remain the same, and these new prices go into effect on June 3rd.