By Peter M. Bracke

May 5 through 7 : This week's indie wrapup

It's Friday, so you know what it is time for, the indie roundup, or as some of you cynics have emailed, "the news no one cares about." Hey, there's gotta be someone out there who does...right?

First up are a couple of new announcements from HBO. Coming on 10/10 is ESCAPE UNDER PRESSURE, starring Criag "What the heck happened to my career?" Wasson, and then on 12/5 comes the fan fav FORT APACHE THE BRONX. Alas, while the former was shot full frame, the latter was widescreen theatrically, but is pan & scan only on the disc. Both are $19.95.

Then, on 7/25 from Trimark is THE 70'S, and then a week later the "epic miniseries" JESUS, which hasn't even been aired yet. Both are in their original full frame aspect ratios, and 2.0 surround tracks. Retail is $29.95 each.

Coming from Pioneer in July are a number of new titles. Due on 7/18 is GUNDAM WING: DVD OPERATION II, which features five new episodes in full frame and 2.0 stereo. Also due is HOROWITZ: THE LAST ROMANTIC, HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS - ROCKPLAST LIVE and SANTANA - BEST OF MUSIKLADEN. All are full frame, 2.0 stereo and $24.95 except the Santana disc, which is $19.95.

Finally, from Vanguard on 6/27 comes two foreign films, WHITE LIONESS and LILLIAN'S STORY. Both are $29.95, full frame and in English dubs except WHITE LIONESS which also has the original Swedish 2.0 track.

May 4 : News on BUFFY, Warner postponements

MGM adds two new reissues for August

As MGM continues to release new titles from their massive back catalog, they are also releasing a wealth of acquired product in new reissues. Coming on 8/15 are new versions of FARGO and PLATOON. However, aside fro the dates, we've gotten no specs on the actual features, or if these two titles will get new transfers (the previous releases were non-anamorphic) or feature any special features. Also, we've received a few emails that some retailers are preordering an MGM reissue of THE GAME for 6/6. However, we have received the full press releases for MGM's June and July slates, so as far as we know, there is no set date yet for any new MGM version of THE GAME, at least as of today...

More odds & ends on BUFFY, Warner delays, POCAHONTAS and APOCALYPSE NOW

For you BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER fans out there, check out The Watcher's Web, who have a very good interview up with series creator Joss Wheldon, who talks about the DVDs "being planned," as well as the widescreen possibilities of the show. Looks like Fox is really getting into TV stuff on DVD...hope any Buffy sets are as good as the recent X-FILES COLLECTION...

From the postponed department, news has come that two Warner titles have been postponed indefinitely due to transfer/element issues. While you're probably already aware that we won't see Roland Jaffe's THE MISSION on DVD this year, Warner has also put on hold THE KILLING FIELDS as well. Both of these titles have no set date, but of course if any new info comes in, we'll post it...

Speaking of delays and uncertainty, we have finally received concrete info from Buena Vista on the POCAHONTAS DVD(s). The movie-only Gold Classic Collection version will now debut on its original 6/6 date, but the special edition version has been pushed back with no new date. So, sigh, hopefully this will be it, though a solid date for the SE would help those not sure what to purchase in the meantime...stay tuned, of course.

Finally, Salon.com has put up a good interview with sound wizard Walter Murch, who helped create some of the highly impressive sound effects for Francis Ford Coppola's war epic APOCALYPSE NOW. But another quite interesting bit of news in the story is that Murch is currently going over extensive outtakes and additional footage from the film, for a new edition of the film, possibly for theatrical rerelease and eventually DVD. Is it too much to ask that if they are going to do some new special edition, that they just wait and do the DVD right the first time!?

May 3 : ARTISAN unleashes Roman Polanski's THE NINTH GATE; UNIVERSAL bows Ang Lee's RIDE WITH THE DEVIL

ARTISAN unleashes THE NINTH GATE

Roman Polanski's long-awaited return to horror cinema THE NINTH GATE opened and closed rather quickly this past winter, and now on 7/28 comes Artisan's new special edition DVD. The disc features an anamorphic transfer, 5.1 mix, an audio commentary with Polanski, production footage, a still gallery and the usual cast bios, production notes and trailer. Retail is $24.95, and there is no full frame version included.

UNIVERSAL bows Ang Lee's RIDE WITH THE DEVIL in July

Ooops, one more Universal title for July that wasn't mentioned in yesterday's update. Look for Ang Lee's Civil War drama RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (costarring Jewel of "my hands are small I know" fame) on 7/18. The 2.35:1 anamorphic disc features English and French 5.1 tracks, cast & crew bios, production notes and the trailer. There are no other special features nor a DTS track, and retail is $24.95.

Also, speaking of DTS, just a brief note that we received our review copy of SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, and despite what the initial press info said, there is no DTS track on the disc. Watch for a full review soon...

(By the way, I put up some late-breaking Paramount July title news yesterday, so check that out below if you missed it...)

May 1 : BUENA VISTA's July slate; New UNIVERSAL news; BUENA VISTA adds third version of BUG'S LIFE; and LAST TEMPTATION reader woes?

BUENA VISTA announces JULY slate

The folks at the Buena Vista web site have sent off a list of their July titles. However, watch for the Gold Collection editions of MARY POPPINS, ALICE IN WONDERLAND and a Collector's Series edition of SCREAM 3 on 7/5 (even though 7/4 is a Tuesday, but it falls on a holiday), DOWN TO YOU, MANSFIELD PARK and WISHFUL THINKING on 7/11, CRIME STORY, Kirk Douglas' acclaimed performance in DIAMONDS, and KISS OF FIRE on 7/18.

All the titles are widescreen except ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and are anamorphic to boot (including SCREAM 3). Extras on these are just the usual trailers, though SCREAM 3's features include an audio commentary with Director Wes Craven, 3 featurettes, a music video, a trivia game and "more to be announced." Stay tuned, and note that despite some email we received, SCREAM 3 was not a theatrical THX EX Surround title, so the DVD will be straight up 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Beware the UNIVERSAL 'HURRICANE'!

Coming on 7/11 is Norman Jewison's THE HURRICANE. A "sleeper" box office hit, it also features an Academy Award-nominated performance by Denzel Washington, and enough controversy for ten other films combined. The DVD includes an 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, 5.1 English and French Dolby Digital mixes, an audio commentary by Director Jewison, "Spotlight On Location" and "The Rubin Carter Story" featurettes, cast bios, production notes and the theatrical trailer. Retail for the dual-layer disc is $26.95. Sounds like another winner from Universal.

BUENA VISTA does A BUG'S LIFE...again

Just a quick note on this week's new Gold Collection reissue of A BUG'S LIFE. While this is the movie only edition (the previous version of which has been discontinued, though the two-disc collector's edition will remain available), there is something different about this new version aside from just the box art. While the first edition was non-anamorphic, this new Gold Collection disc does feature both full frame and anamorphic 2.35:1 transfers at the behest of Pixar. So, if you have the old version, you might be a little miffed, though if you have the Collector's Edition, you aren't missing anything...

LAST TEMPTATION woes?

Finally, we have gotten quite a bit of email regarding Criterions fine new disc of THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST that streeted last weekend. Some readers have had problems with three areas of the disc. First, the English Captions are encoded as a subtitle stream, but strangely there is no menu option for them, and even stranger they don't work in 16x9 mode. I recall this happening on DreamWorks' Dolby Digital version of AMISTAD as well, and I have no idea what authoring reasons there why subtitles would be disabled in 16x9 mode. Hopefully, in our upcoming authoring article, we can find out.

Second, there is a missing line of dialogue that drops out in one scene. It wasn't intentional, and it is an error that Criterion is aware of. Finally, the biggest problems some readers have had is with the aspect ratio, which some have said is not in the labeled 185:1 but actually cropped to 4:3. Luckily, this "problem" can be solved. The disc was authored with the "center pan/scan" mode engaged. Most people have actually been intrigued by this problem, because many are not aware that all DVD players have two 4:3 modes, pan & scan and letterbox. If a player is set to 4:3 and is playing an anamorphic disc, it will downconvert either a widescreen image or crop it if the disc is authored with pan & scan instructions. However, since most discs don't use 4:3 pan & scan "on the fly" (except for menus), it usually doesn't matter if you set your player to 4:3 pan & scan or letterbox mode, since you all always get a widescreen image. There aren't too many discs out there encoded this way, so the LAST TEMPTATION disc is rather novel in that regard. Since this is easily fixable by the user (just set your player to 4:3 widescreen mode, check your manual for instructions), Criterion is not going to recall the discs, though I hear they will correct the problem on future runs. For more info, see our complete review of THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, up today.