By Peter M. Bracke

I can see right through you...

Leave it to Paul Verhoeven to mix sex, death, gratuitous gore and invisible men all together. A late August hit, Hollow Man arrives on DVD on 1/2, with tons of great features, including a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 surround mix, audio commentary with Verhoeven, Kevin Bacon and Andrew Marlowe, Jerry Goldsmith's isolated score with commentary, the HBO Making-of Special: "Anatomy of a Thriller," "Fleshing out the Hollow Man: 15 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes," three deleted scenes, "X Picture in Picture" Comparisons, talent files, production notes, the trailer and weblinks to the full Hollow Man web site. All this for only $24.95.

Buzz, Woody, close your eyes!

Here's a funny story (well, I thought it was kinda funny). Poor Disney seems to be having some problems with some of their just-released Toy Story discs, which includes a layer from the R-rated film High Fidelity. When the disc gets to the layer change, instead of continuing on with the story of Woody, Buzz and the gang, instead you're transported to an expletive-laced scene from the John Cusack comedy! Oh, leave it to those Disney folks, they really know the value of a good joke! Anyway, expect a recall or a least some way to exchange your faulty discs. Stay tuned....

Is that a rubber suit you have on, or are you just happy to see me?

Ahhhh, Godzilla, good to have you back old buddy! I don't want no CGI trickery, just give me a guy in a rubber suit and I'm happy. From Columbia on 12/26 comes Godzilla 2000, what may be Japan's answer to that abysmal Hollywood Godzilla remake from 1998. This new disc features a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Japanese and English dub 5.1 mixes, an audio commentary with Producer Michael Schlesinger, sound designer Darren Paskal and editor Mike Mahoney, along with talent files, production notes and the trailer. Retail is $24.95.

7 Days Of 007 - The Fourth Winner

For Day 3 of our 7 Days Of 007 contest, we have the next of our 7 winners of the Wave 3 Bond Collection from MGM. Congrats goes out to Vincent Wallace from San Bernadino, California, who snagged a copy of the set. But don't worry, you still have three more chances. Keep those entries coming!

October 19 : Universal's January slate; third Bond winner

Universal's January slate

First, the bad news. Yes, the long, long-awaited special edition of Legend due from Universal this November has been "indefinitely postponed." No word was given as to why, but I just hope it isn't a long wait...I've been anticipating this one forever, and have been lucky enough to s see bits and apices of the transfer and the supplements, and it looks great. My mouth continues to salivate...

Also announced is Universal's full January lineup. Man, is it weird...2001 is almost here! Anyway, some good titles in there, including the guilty fun of Bring It On, with a 1.85:! anamorphic transfer and English 5.1 mix, the Spotlight on Location: The Making of Bring It On featurette, a screen-specific audio commentary with Director Peyton Reed, deleted and extended scenes, Never-Before-Seen Home Movies of the "Car Wash Scene," wardrobe and makeup tests, "Did you Know That?" Universal Animated Anecdotes, the Blaque "As If" music video, and DVD-ROM features including a screen saver, cheer quiz, the theatrical web site and the trailer, Retail is $26.95 and street 1/23.

By contrast, the box office disappointment Rocky & Bullwinkle won't get the full collector's edition treatment, featuring only an anamorphic transfer, spotlight on location featurette, cast bios, production notes and the trailer. Retail is also $26.95. A comedy of a different kind is the documentary The Eyes Of Tammy Faye. I saw this and found it most entertaining! Street is also 1/23 and retail $24.95,and the disc is full frame, 2.0 stereo, and features the trailer. Lastly we have the "star on the rise" Billy Crudup in Jesus' Son, which features a 1.85:! anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 2.0 mix and the trailer. Retail is $24.95.

Finally, we have two more "art house" type features, the relatively featureless Cotton Mary, and the engaging fantasy Starry Night, which comes with "The Making of Starry Night," and audio commentary with Director Paul Davids and co-producer director of photography David W. Smith, an historical overview of Vincent Van Gogh, and production notes, cast and filmmakers bios and DVD-ROM weblinks. Retail for both is $24.95.

7 Days Of 007 - The Third Winner

For Day 3 of our 7 Days Of 007 contest, we have the next of our 7 winners of the Wave 3 Bond Collection from MGM. Congrats goes out to Michael Cook of Salt Lake City, Utah, who snagged a copy of the set. But don't worry, you still have four more chances. Keep those entries coming!

October 18 : 'Way Of The Gun' and 'Buck & Chuck' special editions; 'Toy Story' delay; more MGM January specs

Two new art-house special editions from Artisan

Though it didn't last long at the box office, Artisan's The Way Of The Gun should make an interesting DVD, due on 12/19. The disc includes two audio commentaries, one with Director Christopher McQuarrie, the other with "The Fat Pack" (i.e., McQuarrie's friends), a making-of featurette, full storyboards and script notes of a deleted scene, an interview gallery with the cast & crew, isolated score with composer commentary, and finally production notes, cast bios and trailers. The disc is in anamorphic widescreen and English 5.1, and retails for $24.95.

Also coming on 12/19 is a very interesting film, Buck & Chuck. The disc is 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (though I believe it was shot on DV video), and features an audio commentary with director Miguel Arteta , a making-of featurette, deleted scenes, the trailer, production notes, cast bios, and something called "The Games People Play." Retail is also $24.95.

Oooh, the claw!

Just a note of warning for our Canadian readers, unfortunately due to "production delays," The Ultimate Toy Box remains unavailable in Canada until next Tuesday, though the 2-Pack is currently available. This doesn't affect consumers in the U.S., but if you're living up north, sorry to say you still have a few more days wait if you were anticipating picking up the set. However, sales here in the U.S. seem to be very brisk...we've received some emails that they are selling out, and with Best Buy selling the 3-pack for only $40 and the 2-pack for on $20, don't expect them to last much longer...

More MGM January titles

Day three of the MGM January announcements is here, and if this keeps up, I'll have new MGM news to print all month long! The rest of their "Avante Garde" and "World Cinema" specs have been released, and there is less anamorphic support for these titles, though they are relatively inexpensive at $19.95. Coming on 1/23 are American Buffalo, Babette's Feast, Bride Wore Black, Camille Claudel, I Shot Andy Warhol, Jean De Florette, Longtime Companion, the 1977 Truffaut version of The Man Who Loved Women, Manon Of The Spring, Mississippi Mermaid, Small Change, Story Of Adele H. and finally Suture. Unfortunately, out of this whole bunch only American Buffalo and I Shot Andy Warhol are anamorphic, the rest are only non-anamorphic widescreen. All feature trailers except for Camille Claudel, The Man Who Loved Women and Story Of Adele, though there are no more extra features.

7 Days Of 007 - The Second Winner

For Day 20 of our 7 Days Of 007 contest, we have the next of our 7 winners of the Wave 3 Bond Collection from MGM. Congrats goes out to Todd Kimmelman of Los Angeles, California, who snagged a copy of the set. But don't worry, you still have five more chances. Keep those entries coming!

October 17 : MGM Bond recall?; 'Frosty' problems; new contest winners

From MGM with love

Uh-oh, here we go again. After some problems with the subtitles on the This Is Spinal Tap last month and the subsequent recall, it seems the problem has cropped up again on three new MGM releases. Both Octopussy and The Living Daylights in the Bond wave 3 set as well as the recent Delta Force all are lacking the proper subtitles as seen on the theatrical prints. We've finally heard back from MGM regarding the problem, who are aware of it. According to a spokesperson, the wrong masters were used on all three titles, all of which lacked burned-in subtitles, thus rendering some scenes difficult to understand.

However, unlike Spinal Tap, MGM will not be issuing a formal recall of these discs. Instead, all further runs will be corrected, and anyone wishing to return a faulty disc can do so through MGM's consumer hotline number, 877-MGM-4YOU (no jokes, please.) Note that the corrected versions of these discs will feature the missing subtitles as a new subtitle stream, and will not actually include true burned-in subtitles.

Finally, the just-released Never Say Never Again disc is faulty as well, featuring a 4-minute scene entirely deleted. We have yet to hear from MGM on this matter, but will post as soon as any information comes out way...

A mislabeled Frosty

Speaking of problems, MGM isn't the only studio with faulty disc shipments. We've been alerted that some of shipments of the new Frosty The Snowman DVD from Sony have mislabeled discs. Though the label says "Frosty The Snowman," the actual disc contains a demo for a line of Sony Physics DVDs! Weird. We haven't heard back yet from Sony on this matter yet, but we'll post more if and when we do...

More MGM January titles

Boy, it sure is shaping up to be an MGM day week, isn't it? You know a studio is putting out a lot of titles in one month when it takes more than one day to get all the announcements. Anyway, MGM has the first in their "avante garde" line of DVDs on 1/23. Watch for Dance With A Stranger, River's Edge, Alice's Restaurant (with commentary by Director Arthur Penn) and Desert Hearts (with audio commentary by Director Donna Deitch). While all are only $19.95, only River's Edge is anamorphic. Finally, watch for MGM's "World Cinema" lineup specs tomorrow...

7 Days Of 007 - The First Winner

Since this is Bond week here at DVDFILE, we have the first of our 7 winners of the Wave 3 Collection from MGM. Congrats goes out to Adam Dennis of Phoenix, Arizona, but don't worry, you still have six more chances. Keep those entries coming!

Also, just a correction on yesterday's contest winners post. I switched the winners by mistake. It was James Bethany of Taylorville, IL, who snagged the copy of Fox's The Rocky Horror Picture Show, while Gerald Myers of Sparks, Nevada, won Anchor Bay's limited edition tin of Two-Lane Blacktop. Sorry for the error.

October 16 : 7 Days Of 007 contest and video clip; 'Wonder Boys' gets another spin; MGM heats up January

7 Days Of 007

This week's TOP PICK is an extra special one this week, our Seven Days Of 007 contest. That's right, each day this week you have a brand new chance to win a copy of the full wave 3 James Bond Collection from MGM. Featuring the last six remaining unreleased Bond DVDs, this is a great set, and of course we know you want it! Since this is a special contest, it requires special rules. Usually, we only pick one winner per week. But this time, you are allowed to reenter EACH DAY, for up to (00)7 chances to win! Just check out the box to your right to find out how to enter. Good luck!

Also in honor of Bond, and to fill a lull while we work up another original video clip of the week, we've put up a little bit of Bond 80's video fun to whet you're appetite for the Wave 3 set, Duran Duran's music video for the title cut from 'A View To A Kill'. View it via the box to your right, and next week watch for a new video interview with Director Harold Ramis talking about DVD, and more new clips in the weeks to come...

Finally, we have the winners of our last week's contests. Congrats goes out to Max Lansky of Redmond, Virginia, who snagged a copy of the Jurassic Park and Lost World 2-pack, and James Bethany of Taylorville, IL, who picked up the limited edition tin of Anchor Bay's Two-Lane Blacktop. Congrats to both!

'Wonder Boys' gets a second life?

Released theatrically last spring to critical acclaim but little box office, Paramount is aggressively giving The Wonder Boys another push this winter, both theatrically to drum up Oscar interest, and then again with the 1/9 bow of a feature-laden special edition DVD. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and wit English 5.1 and 2.0 surround tracks, the disc also includes some diverse extras, including an audio commentary with Director Curtis Hanson, interviews with Michael Douglas, Frances McDormand, Tobey Maguire, and Hanson, the Bob Dylan music video "Things Have Changed," a "Pittsburgh Interactive Location Map" and "The Singer and Songwriters of 'Wonder Boys'" both with commentary by Curtis Hanson and the theatrical trailer. Retail is $29.95.

MGM heats up January

Announcing the full specs for their mega-January lineup, MGM seems to finally be supporting anamorphic enhancement a bit more, adjusting prices for value and including some solid extras as well.

The Cutting Edge and Man In The Moon are both only $14.95 and due 1/9, and though featureless, are both anamorphic widescreen. MGM's $19.95 lineup includes Mystic Pizza, Untamed Heart and Moll Flanders, all in anamorphic widescreen, 2.0 and with trailers, and Love Field, which is non-anamorphic widescreen.

Also on 1/9 is a trio of Sidney Poiter titles, including They Call Me Mr. Tibbs, The Organization and a special edition of the classic In The Heart Of The Night, which features a commentary with Director Norman Jewison, Lee Grant and Rod Steiger. All are $19.95. Then comes a gaggle of "Soul Cinema" titles, including Sheba Baby, Black Mama White Mama, Friday Foster, Slaughter and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off in anamorphic widescreen, and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Cotton Comes To Harlem and Truck Turner in non-anamorphic. Black Caesar, Foxy Brown and Coffy will include audio commentaries, and are also anamorphic widescreen.

Also for only $19.95 is a special editions of Benny & Joon, which includes extras from the previous laserdisc special edition, including commentary with Director Jeremiah Chechik, deleted scenes, a Proclaimers music video, the trailer, stunt reel and costume and make-up tests.

Also, the already-announced When Harry Met Sally special edition is due on 1/9, and retails for $24.95, and watch for more specs on MGM's "World Films" lineup tomorrow. Lastly, MGM is reissuing The Silence Of the Lambs in January to tie in with the pending release of Hannibal, but it will be VHS only...