4/20/04
Weekly Release Roundup
It's a pretty good week for DVD, especially for the Criterion and
TV fans. There's not a lot of titles, but what there is today is
interesting. Plus there are some good library titles. Let's just
jump in, the water seems fine.
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Master
and Commander: The Far Side of the World
And speaking of water, that's the subject of the big title of
the week. Fox's Master and Commander
is available in a single-disc movie-only edition, as well as a
2-disc collector's edition. But because of my schedule these
past few weeks, I have neglected to check it out. Never fear
though... I can tell you that it's worth picking up, and Bill
will be posting a review of it later this week. |
 |
3
Women
3 Women is Robert Altman's
dream-like look at the relationship between two women working at
a geriatric spa in the California desert. This relationship
becomes somewhat complicated when a "third woman"
comes into the picture. It's not a typical Altman film, but
features a brilliant performance from Shelley Duvall. Criterion
releases this one for Fox with a gorgeous transfer in anamorphic
widescreen and a nicely competent mono audio track. The main
extra is a commentary from Altman, in which he discusses the
film and his overall philosophies. You also get a trailer, TV
spots and a vast gallery of stills. |
 |
The
Haunted Mansion
Another Disney theme park ride turned live-action movie. Think
Country Bears more than
Pirates of the Caribbean
and you'll be in the right ballpark. Not a totally bad film, but
not a good one either. On DVD it looks as good as you'd expect a
new Disney film to look on disc. The sound and transfer are both
THX certified. It's a polished turd. The extras are nice though,
with plenty of fun stuff for kids and adults. There's a "tour
of the house" game that is fun, a nice making of
featurette, commentary with the director and writer, deleted
scenes, outtakes, trailers and DVD-ROM based extras. Not a bad
disc if you're a fan. |
 |
King
of New York: Special Edition
Independent filmmaker Abel Ferrara's most commercial film is
about a one-time underworld boss who's spent some time away at
prison. He returns to take full control back and brings peace to
the crime world, policing it himself. But redemption is hard
earned and bad things happen to bad men doing good things. This
DVD presents the film in full frame and anamorphic widescreen on
two discs. The widescreen version gives us the film with two
commentary tracks. One is with Ferrara, the other with his
prized crew. Both are good and worth listening to. There's also
a pair of very good long-form documentaries: one about Ferrara's
career and the other on hip-hop legend Schoolly D. You'll also
find a Schoolly D video, TV spots and trailers. A great DVD,
actually. Check it out. |
 |
A
League of Their Own: Special Edition
It's a two-disc special edition re-boot of an early DVD title.
Tom Hanks is the manager of a ragtag group of women playing
baseball while the boys are off at war. Both anamorphic
widescreen and full frame are on board and both look way better
than the original disc. The sound is basically the same as the
first release though. Extras include commentary with director
Penny Marshall and two actors from the film (it's fine, nothing
to write home about), a very well produced long form documentary
about the film, 15 deleted scenes with introduction, a Madonna
music video and trailers. If you're a fan of the film, you'll
want this set. |
 |
Reefer
Madness
What can be said about a cult film about the evils of
marijuana? Yeah, I dunno either. This release looks better than
any version that has come before it, available in both the
original black and white, as well as a colorized version. It
also sounds good. Supposedly, there's a remixed 5.1 track, but
it doesn't have much range to back that claim up. Extras include
two commentaries (including one with MST3K's
Mike Nelson), a short film and a re-release trailer. Seems like
a lot of work for a silly film. But Reefer
Madness has its fans, so they should be pleased. |
 |
A
Story of Floating Weeds
Criterion has another release this week: Yasujiro Ozu's two
films on the same subject A Story of
Floating Weeds and Floating
Weeds. Both films concern a travelling troupe of
actors in Japan who come upon the village of their leader, where
he must come to grips with his lifestyle, his present life, and
his past. The 1934 version (A Story
of) is in black and white and silent (this DVD has a
new piano score by Donald Sosin) and looks wonderful. It's very
Donald Richie-heavy (and that's not a bad thing), with a
commentary discussing both films and the differences and essay.
The 1959 version is in color with a mono soundtrack and both are
Criterion quality. Roger Ebert provides the commentary on the
new version, which is more fan-like and appreciative rather than
informative. It's a good listen though. These two film make for
a great DVD and a worthy follow up to Criterions two other Ozu
discs Tokyo Story and Good
Morning. |
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Suckers
Bits buddy Roger Nygard's
film about car salesmen and the evils that they do (at work and
at play) is a pretty darn good flick. You'll actually be
surprised at how good the film is, so be sure to check it out.
The DVD presents the film in non-anamorphic widescreen and looks
okay. Probably would have looked better anamorphic, but it looks
good for what it is. Audio is presented as a full stereo. Extras
include two commentaries (one with the Nygard and his crew, the
other with Nygard and the actors). Both are free-flowing fun
(more for them than us, sadly). There's also a short film by
Nygard from his youth, a trailer for Roger's Synapse released
Six Days in Roswell, the
trailer for Suckers and,
best of all, co-screenwriter and former car salesman Joe
Yannetty's hints for not getting screwed when buying a car. It's
a good disc, but if it were anamorphic it would have been great. |
 |
Win
a Date with Tad Hamilton!
What a boring flick. I really hoped this was a fun film, but
it's a sack of nothing. Too bad. Topher is fine, Kate Bosworth
is beautiful, and Josh Duhamel is alright. But together, there's
nothing. It's just your standard flick about a girl who wins a
date with a desperate Hollywood bad boy while her true love
pines at home. The disc is just... every bit as "eh".
Looks and sound fine, but no real extras save for some deleted
scenes and a gag reel that is funnier than the film. This will
be a rental for most of you. |
Here
are the TV titles hitting shelves this week:
 |
Helter
Skelter
The classic 1976 TV miniseries is finally on DVD. You can all
stop scratching X's into your foreheads now. No extras, and a
full frame transfer from a flawed master. Probably the best it
can look, so for that it looks alright, but still. |
 |
The
King of Queens: The Complete Second Season
I'm not a fan of the show, so I could care less that two
seasons are on DVD. But it's not all about me, is it? The set
looks a lot like the one for Season
One in terms of quality and extras. You get a funny
commentary with star Kevin James and creator Michael Weithorn on
one episode ("Net Prophets") and a documentary (this
time focusing on James). It looks and sounds like a TV show on
DVD. You likey, you buyie. |
 |
The
Office: The Complete Second Series
The brilliant BBC reality spoof series just keeps on trucking
on DVD. Season Two (or
Series Two as they say in
the U.K.) is just as good as Season
One and looks and sounds even better on DVD. This is
a funny show and if you like funny, you'll like this. The DVD
has only a few extras (which include some hilarious deleted
scenes, a video diary and outtakes), but pick it up for the show
anyway. |
 |
Sweeney
Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
This is a pretty good disc to get. Stephen Sondheim and Hugh
Wheeler's Broadway production of Sweeney
Todd has been one of those titles that we've wanted
on DVD for a while now. It's a lot better than having the
original audio recording on CD, because the performances are
what make this chilling musical everything it is. Oh, how I wish
Tim Burton did this ten years back when he was suppoda. The DVD
is pulled from an older video source but looks good. There are a
few video artifacts here and there, but overall not bad. The
sound is nice, with a new DD 5.1 track. No extras to speak of,
but just getting this on disc is a nice thing. |
Also
available this week:
How not to review a DVD: see page 176 of
Dianetics:
Visual Guidebook to the Mind (or "Mind-head: by the
Guy Who Brought Us Battlefield Earth"). Paul McCartney asks
that we
Give
My Regards to Broad Street for him. The fine documentary
Incident
at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story comes out today.
MGM's properly done
Ingmar
Bergman Collection sees the light of day. The re-release
of Rachael Leigh Cook in
The
Hi-Line. Cult fave
The
Last of Sheila hits shelves. Fill your library with Fox's
newest set of Marilyn Monroe Collection
titles:
As
Young As You Feel,
Let's
Make It Legal,
Love
Nest and
We're
Not Married. Pick-up the inspiration for
Chicago -
Roxie
Hart. Julie Andrews is a
Star!.
Finally, check out the unrated
Wild
Things which joins the sequel/remake
Wild
Things 2.
There you go. Choose your titles and be back here next week.
Hangin' tight.
Todd Doogan
todddoogan@thedigitalbits.com |
