By Peter M. Bracke

MGM July announcements

MGM has just announced their July slate, and as usual there are tons of titles across all genres. Due on 7/24, the following are all in nonanamorphic 1.66:1 widescreen, with English and French mono tracks: the 1988 version of Chocolat,; Wild Child and La Cage Aux Folles and La Cage Aux Folles II. Also due on 7/24 in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen are The Hotel New Hampshire, Bagdad Cafe, Marat / Sade, Lieberstraum; Hollywood Shuffle, Cutter's Way and Who'll Stop The Rain. All feature English, French and Spanish mono tracks, except Hotel New Hampshire and Bagdad Cafe which have English 2.0 surround mixes. All feature the trailer, and retail is $19.95 each.

Arriving on 7/10 in non-anamorphic widescreen is The Black Robe with a 2.0 surround track and the trailer, Go Fish in full frame and English and French mono, and Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey in full frame and 2.0 stereo. Retail is also $19.95 each. Finally, on 6/12 comes All Revved Up, in full frame with a 2.0 stereo track and no extras.

New from Buena Vista

BV has just announced a few new titles for 6/12. First up is something called Hard Core Logo, from Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder productions, in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, English 2.0 surround, and with the trailer. Also coming is Essex Boys, also in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and the trailer, but with a 5.1 tracks. Also, Buena Vista has announced a change in the features of the upcoming Unbreakable disc, due on 6/26. The set will no longer have the audio commentary with composer, and the remaining features will be "The History of The Comic Book Superhero" and "The Making of The Train Station Sequence" featurettes, 8 deleted scenes, an M. Night Shyamalan "Home Movie," trailers and TV spots. Retail remains $29.95.

Crow fans missing out?

Hey, Crow fans, here's something you should really read. Check out this interesting expose by David J. Schow on some internal wrangling behind-the-scenes of The Crow DVD, just released from Miramax. Seems the disc might have been quite a bit better, but as is often the case in Hollywood, egos, economics and politics got in the way. Assuming this is all true, this is a very good example of some of the issues involved in putting together extensive, feature-laden DVDs. Check it out.

APRIL 5

The two Cs from MGM

MGM has just announced a couple of new titles, both starting with the letter "C." First up on 7/10 is Francis Ford Coppola's underrated The Cotton Club, in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, with a new 5.1 surround track and the original 2.0 stereo track, and some extras including deleted scenes, production notes and the trailer. Retail is $26.95. Due on 6/26 is The Claim, which came out last winter and quickly disappeared, though I thought it was a fine drama vastly overlooked by just about everyone. The disc features a 1.77:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English and French 5.1 surround tracks, a collectible booklet and the trailer. Retail is $26.95.

Why isn't THAT on DVD yet?

Since it is yet another slow, slow news day, I thought we'd take up the slack but introducing another new little feature here today. Needless to say, there are always those certain B-I-G titles that everyone wants on DVD, but aren't out yet. Over the past three years, we've counted the emails, watched the message forums and read the trades, and have now picked what we think are the Top Ten most requested DVDs still unavailable on the format (bet you can guess what No. 1 is!) Since not a week goes by that we don't get someone asking about one of these, we're introducing our new feature, the Status Report, to give a quick rundown on what's up with these titles.

You'll find the Status Report box at the top left of this page (right under the "On The QT" press releases and above the "Top Ten" sales chart.) Each title gets its own entry, and features all the info we know about these titles at the moment. Longtime readers to this site probably won't find much new here, but hopefully it will help out all you newbies puzzled as to why you can't find E.T. at Wal-Mart. Note that this information is not necessarily everything there is to know about these titles; rather, it is just the information we could confirm ourselves on these titles. So hope you enjoy this new feature, and watch for updates in this space as the news comes in. Here's to hoping we get to knock a few of these titles off the list by the end of 2001!

APRIL 4

Jennifer Lopez gets Snatched!

Columbia has just announced three new titles for a 7/3 arrival date. First up is a special edition of Mr. Madonna's Snatch, which comes loaded with goodies. In addition to a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and English 5.1 and 2.0 surround mixes, extras include an audio commentary with director Guy Ritchie and producer Matthew Vaughn, deleted scenes with optional commentary, a 25-minute making-of featurette ("Inside Snatch"?), cast and crew interviews, outtakes, storyboard-to-screen comparisons, a still gallery, talent files, production notes, trailers and teasers. Retail for the set is $29.95.

Columbia has also announced two more titles due on 7/3, though all the features have not been announced. Jennifer Lopez stars in the hit comedy The Wedding Planner, which features a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer English 5.1 and English, French and Spanish 2.0 surround tracks, and other extras TBA. Finally, there is a film I've never heard of, The Body, which looks to be a straightforward release with anamorphic widescreen and full frame transfers, talent files and trailers. Retail is $27.95 and $24.95, respectively.

Morre than meets the eye

Rhino has just announced good news for fans of robots, two new episode collections of The Transformers due on 5/8. Villains features three episodes "The Ultimate Doom" parts 1, 2 and 3, while Heroes features "Rebirth." Both discs are priced at $19.95, feature full frame transfers, and English 5.1 surround tracks.

Rhino has more classic TV on the way as well, with The Monkees Volume 1 and Volume 2. Each 50-minute disc features full frame transfers and 2.0 stereo tracks, and Volume 1 features the episodes "Here Comes the Monkees" and "Picture Frame," while Volume 2 features "Alias Micky Dolenz" and "Hillbilly Honeymoon." Retail is $19.95 each.

Another ho-hum, really slow disc news day...let's hope things pick up. Hey, studios, where's all the big summer announcements already!?

American's sweetheart

Perhaps hoping to cash in on the big success of Sandra Bullock's latest comedy smash Miss Congeniality (due on DVD May 1 from Warner), Fox will be raiding the vaults for a double helping of vintage Bullock on 5/1 as well. IN addition to dropping the price on Hope Floats to $22.95, Fox will also release the little-known comedy Love Potion No. 9. The disc features a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English and French 2.0 surround tracks, English and Spanish subtitles, and trailers. Retail is $22.95. (And just to prove we're not above a little bit of shameless self-promotion ourselves, check out our new review for Miss Congeniality right here!)

Artisan gets educational

Those education-consensus folks at Artisan have just announced a batch of June titles that are not only fun for the whole family, but darn good for you, too! Coming on 6/19 are a number of "Discovery Channel Presents" titles, including Amazing Earth, Africa's Elephant Kingdom, Dolphins: The Ultimate Guide, Great Planes: 747 and 777, Sharks: The Ultimate Guide, Understanding The Universe and Wolves At The Door. Each disc is full frame with 2.0 tracks, and come complete with facts and history notes. Retail is $14.95 each.

Last but not least are three titles that are undoubtedly to part of the Discovery Channel lineup. Far From Home is an old late 80's Drew Barrymore thriller, while Raw Justice is a Pamela Anderson masterpiece. Both are full frame and 2.0 stereo, with no extras. Retail is $14.95. Finally, we have the 2000 remake of the Gary Cooper classic High Noon, starring Tom Skerritt and Maria Conchita Alonso(!?) The disc is in anamorphic widescreen with an English 2.0 surround track and the trailer. Retail is $24.95.

APRIL 1 and 2

Last dance

Paramount has just announced a couple of new titles, including a past Oscar hopeful and a box office sleeper hit. On 6/26 comes the critically acclaimed art circuit hit You Can Count On Me, featuring Oscar nominees Laura Linney and writer and director Kenneth Longergan. The disc features a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 and 2.0 surround tracks, an audio commentary by Lonergan, cast and crew interviews and the trailer. Due a week earlier on 6/19 is the MTV Films hit Save The Last Dance, which is "a Footloose for the new millennium!" The disc also includes a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 and English and French 2.0 surround mixes, and plenty of goodies including "The Making Of Save The Last Dance" featurette, deleted scenes, audio commentary with director Thomas Carter, cast and crew interviews and the "Crazy" music video by K-Ci and JoJo. Retail is $29.95 apiece.

X-Men return

Universal has just announced two more volumes of animated X-Men adventures, both due on 6/5. X-Men disc No. 2 includes "Reunion (parts 1 and 2)," "Out Of The Past (parts 1 and 2)" and "No Mutant Is An Island," while X-Men disc No. 3 includes "Sanctuary (parts 1 and 2)," "Proteus (parts 1 and 2)" and "Weapon X, Lies And Videotape." Each disc is very straightforward, with full frame transfers, English 2.0 stereo and French 1.0 mono tracks, and nothing else but production notes. Retail is $24.95 each.

More from Anchor Bay in May

Anchor Bay has just announced the rest of the May DVD slate, which is the usual mix of the weird and the wonderful. All are due on 5/29 and include new anamorphic widescreen transfers, talent files and trailers. Coming up is A Blade In The Dark, with the "Behind The Blade" featurette with Director Lamberto Bava and Writer Dardano Sacchett; a remaster of Diva, with English and French 5.1 surround tracks, an interview with Director Jean-Jacques Beineix and a Beineix bio; Macabre, with "A Head For Horror: Lamberto Bava on MACABRE" featurette and Bava bio; Manhattan Baby, which includes an interview with Writer Dardano Sacchetti; the Fulci favorites The Black Cat and The House By The Cemetery; and finally The Last Tattoo and Too Late A Hero. All retail for $29.95, except the last two, which are $24.95.