By Peter M. Bracke

Chicken Run gallops to a DVD near you this November

Alright, I lied, I said there would be no updates here until Monday, but I just had to get this one in real quick. Watch for Dreamworks' wonderful Chicken Run on 11/21, which looks to be quite the feature-loaded DVD. Complete with 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and DTS ES soundtracks, two featurettes including NBC's "The Making Of Chicken Run" and HBO's "The Hatching of Chicken Run, an audio commentary with Nick Park and Peter Lord, a Read-along, the trailer, a "Screaming Chicken Panic Button" (?) and more DVD-ROM features. Retail is only $26.95 for this puppy, so who can say no?

September 13 : Fox November catalog titles; quick clip fix

Fox debuts Wall Street SE and sets Romper Stomper and Me, Myself & Irene dates

Not too much release news on the last day before my medical leave of absence. Fox has announced a couple of new November titles due on 11/7, a special edition of Wall Street, complete with new anamorphic widescreen screen transfer, English 5.1 and 2.0 surround mixes, English and Spanish subtitles, an audio commentary with Director Oliver Stone, cast biographies and the trailer. Retail is $29.95, and word to us is that this title will not be included in Warner's upcoming Oliver Stone collection due around the end of November. Also due on 11/7 is the Australian import Romper Stomper,and then on 12/5 comes the Farrelley Brothers comedy Me, Myself & Irene. Full details are not yet known for either title, but stay tuned...

Quick clip fix

Just a note that there were some problems with the Cameron Crowe clip that we put up Monday, which has been fixed now. A weird embedded link error forced the clip to reference a nonexistent file. The problem is now corrected so just click on the box to your right to check out the roughly 1-minute segment...

September 12 : More 'Storm' on the way; Jennifer Lopez goes digital; Godzilla 2000 news

How many 'Storms' are enough?

Proving that the "let's repackage this disc in some giganto box set" trend continues unabated, Warner and Creative Design have teamed up for not one, not two, but three new Perfect Storm collector's box sets. Aside from the disc itself, the $49.95 Platinum Mini-Box Collector's Edition is packaged in a "luxury" fitted slipcase and includes a senitype, 35mm film clip and 8 lobby cards. The next step up the ladder is the $79.95 Collector's Edition, which has the same extras as the mini-box but also includes 6 black & white stills and a 27" x 40" original one-sheet movie poster (yeah, sure, I bet it is reprint.) Finally, for those of you who just have to own a piece of George Clooney, the Autographed Collector's Edition retails for a cool $199.95 and includes the full Collector's Edition contents plus Clooney's signature. All three boxes street on 11/14, courtesy of Warner and Creative Design.

Lopez without Puffy = a dog without a bone?

That acting and singing dynamo Jennifer "Friend Of Puffy" Lopez now gets her own DVD, courtesy of Sony Music. Jennifer Lopez: Feelin' So Good (I'll bet) features a full frame transfer and 2.0 PCM stereo mix, and including a mix of live performances, music videos and behind-the scenes and interview footage. All her hits are here, along with a look at the making of her last album, a photo gallery and discography and biography. Retail is $24.95, and street is 10/10.

Godzilla 2000 to roar on DVD...

The cool fan site extraordinaire Fandom.com held a live chat last week with Godzilla 2000 producer Michael Schlesinger, who talked about the latest adventure of Mr. Big Green Radioactive Guy, and revealed some details on the upcoming DVD release. Looks to be a good disc including a commentary with the filmmakers, and apparently is slated for early 2001. Check out the full transcript for the details, as well as more cool stuff on Godzilla...

September 11 : New Top Pick contest; Cameron Crowe talks DVD; MGM December title details

This week's Top Pick

We have a very special episode of this week's Top Pick contest, with not one but two great DVDs to give away. Our Top Pick proper for the week is MGM's new special edition of This Is Spinal Tap, which streets Tuesday and features a new anamorphic widescreen transfer and 5.1 Dolby Digital mix, an audio commentary, deleted scenes and more. Click here for your chance to enter and win.

Also, in honor of yesterday's special in-store appearance by Academy Award-winning director (and birthday boy) Robert Wise and Charmain Carr yesterday to sign copies of The Sound Of Music, we have a special autographed copy of the disc to give away, courtesy of the fine folks at Sharpline Arts and Robert Wise Productions. Click here to enter and win and read more about the event and see a picture or two of the event, and you can also stop by Sharpline's web site to find out even more about the signing as well. Good luck to all who enter!

Also, congrats goes out to last week's winner, Dwayne Dickerson of Austin, Texas, who snagged a copy of Columbia's double-disc limited edition of Men In Black. Great job, Dwayne!

Cameron Crowe talks DVD

If you're a Cameron Crowe fan, you're in luck, because a number of the filmmaker's best works look to be getting the special edition treatment on DVD in the coming months. Our roving reporter Mike Cidoni, fresh from some on-the-job assignments (i.e., flying around and meeting stars and getting free food!) has delivered the latest Clip of the Week for us, and Crowe talks not only about the upcoming special editions of Jerry Maguire and Say Anything (complete with such goodies as rehearsal footage and a planned commentary with John Cusack), but also a 2-hour and 50-minute extended cut of the current theatrical release Almost Famous. I had the opportunity to see a preview of this film recently, and loved it. This extended cut even has a different name, "Untitled," and Crowe is planning to include it on the eventual Almost Famous DVD. Cool stuff, so check out the Clip Of The Week to your right, and for more movie news, you can visit Mike at The Movie Place.com.

MGM's December slate specs

MGM has issued the full specs for their December titles, and while low on features, MGM at least is really begin to support anamorphic widescreen presentations in a serious way. All of the December titles - The Alamo, At Close Range, Bat 21, Breaker Breaker, Breakheart Pass, Rancho Deluxe, Gorky Park and a movie-only reissue of Sid & Nancy - are anamorphic widescreen and also feature full frame versions and trailers, except for The Alamo and Gorky Park which are anamorphic widescreen only. However, that John Wayne classic also features the documentary "John Wayne's The Alamo." MGM's other December releases include House Of Games and Mouse On The Moon, both in non-anamorphic widescreen and full frame, and Kill Me Again, which is full frame only. All feature English, French and Spanish audio tracks, though oddly no surround formats are specified(?) Street date is 12/19, and retail is $19.95 each.