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Columbia has issued final specs for the hotly-anticipated DVD release of Memento, due out 9/5. In addition to the 2.35;1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and English 5.1 and 2.0 surround mixes, the extras include an IFC interview with filmmaker Christopher Nolan, Tattoo gallery, the theatrical website, filmographies a and two trailers and one TV spot. There will be no audio commentary on the disc nor a "chronological" reedit of the film. Retail is $24.95. Columbia has also just announced full specs for the Circuitry Man and Circuitry Man II DVD. This double feature arrives 9/25 and includes widescreen transfers and 2.0 surround tracks for each film, an audio commentary with filmmakers Steven Lovy, Robert Lovy, Vernon Wells and Debra Holland on the first film and an audio commentary with filmmakers Steven Lovy, Robert Lovy, Vernon Wells and Tim Kelly on the second, as well as production notes and theatrical trailers. Retail is $24.95 for the whole deal. Street date alert A few new street date announcements just in. MGM has set a 10/2 street date for the recent Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer "Love" Hewitt comedy Heartbreakers, while USA has announced a 9/25 arrival for the recent One Night At McCool's, starring Liv Tyler and Michael Douglas, and the acclaimed "real TV" parody Series 7. Watch for full specs soon... Two from Criterion Hitting shelves on 9/18 from Criterion are two new Best Foreign Language Academy Award winners. Closely Watched Trains picked up the Oscar in 1967, and features a new 1.33;1 transfer, a Czech mono track with English subtitles, and the domestic trailer. The Shop On Main Street took home the gold a year prior, and the DVD also includes a new 1.33;1 transfer, a Czech and Slovak mono track with English subtitles, and the domestic trailer. Retail is $29.95 each. Who's zoomin' Who? Proving even aging rockers can get the hi-tech DVD treatment, Image will release a new two-disc set of The Who: Live At The Royal Albert Hall on 9/25. The set features 22 tracks in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround tracks, and extras include a new documentary with Roger Daltry, a multi-angle sequence and backstage and rehearsal footage. Retail is $24.95.
This is not a joke Really, I swear, I'm not making this up. Universal has just announced a batch of October titles, led by (drum roll please) the Cats Ultimate Edition! Never thought I'd see it, but on 10/30 all this can be yours: a 1.77:1 non-anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 surround track and even more, according to the press materials. "The DVD special features include interviews with composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, stage director Trevor Nunn, choreographer Gillian Lynne, set designer John Napier and producers Cameron Mackintosh and Gerry Sheonfeld. In addition, makeup designer Karen Dawson Harding will discuss her approach to creating the stunning Cats character makeup while illustrating her techniques by making up three of the actors on camera. Catch the wave of excitement generated by the national tour and stock up on the perfect holiday gift for the ultimate CATS collector!" Retail is $26.95. Also coming on 10/30 is Andrew Lloyd Webber's Royal Albert Hall Celebration for $24.95, though specs are not yet available, as well as Andrew Lloyd Webber's Spotlight Performances Collection for $89.95 featuring Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Burn The Floor and Cats. Other October titles include the thriller Beautiful Creatures (not to be confused with the Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures) on 10/2, which includes a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround tracks, cast and filmmaker bios, production notes, and a theatrical trailer. Retail $26.95. Then on 10/16 comes Rat, "the hilarious tale of a simple man turned into a rat and how his family responds to his condition." Sounds like a barrel of laughs for cats everywhere. The disc specs are strangely absent from the press release, but retail will be $24.95. Last and certainly least is the "sexy thriller" Stardom, in 1.85;1 anamorphic widescreen with English and French 5.1 surround tracks though no extras, not even a trailer. Retail is $24.95.
Some final specs and updates have come in for Universal's September "thriller" wave, with some good news and some bad news for fans. In good news, An American Werewolf In London will now sport a DTS 5.1 track in addition to the Dolby Digital, and will be anamorphic widescreen (the previous Artisan release was not.) The 1991 version of Cape Fear will also include a "matte painting montage" as well as the complete script with scene accessible available to DVD-ROM users, while the 1963 version will be in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, not the full frame as previously announced. And the Play Misty For Me final specs include a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, new Laurent Bouzereau documentary on the making of the film featuring new interviews with Clint Eastwood, Donna Mills, Jessica Walter, producer Robert Dailey, screenwriter Dean Reisner, film historian/critic Richard Schickel, two still galleries with production stills and poster concepts, filmographies and the trailer. On the bad news front, the Blood Simple and Halloween II releases have been "downgraded" to standard editions. Both feature new anamorphic widescreen transfers (and Blood Simple is the 96-minute cut) and 2.0 Dolby surround tracks, production notes, filmographies and trailers. (Sources say the lack of features on Halloween II - including the much-discussed alternate ending -resulted in the unavailability of director Rick Rosenthal, currently finishing Halloween 8.) In any case, despite the new anamorphic transfer, the $24.95 tag for Halloween II seems a bit steep with no features, especially given the fact that the Goodtimes non-anamorphic version recently retailed for only $9.95. But so it goes, and street date on all of the above titles is 9/18.
Starring Heath Ledger, whom David Manning calls "This summer's hottest star!" Columbia has just released the full specs for the upcoming special edition of A Knight's Tale. The disc is billed as a special edition and is presented in anamorphic widescreen with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and subtitle tracks, an audio commentary with Brian Heglend and Paul Bettany, the HBO making-of special, no less than eleven deleted scenes with filmmaker intros, a music video, production notes, filmographies and trailers. DVD-ROM enabled users can also access the theatrical website and an exclusive 3-D screensaver. Retail is $27.95 and street date 9/25. In other Columbia news, Sony announced some ambitious plans last week for the Final Fantasy DVD during the press junket for the film. In addition to a proposed two-disc set of the groundbreaking all-CGI film, Sony announced there would also be a special Playstation 2-tooled DVD of the film that would take full advantage of the game system's capabilities. As you Final Fantasy fans know, the film is based on the popular video game series and this second DVD (to be released months after the initial DVD-Video version) would allow viewers to manipulate the film like a videogame and other cool things. Check out this store from Video Business for more on Sony's plans. Four Grant classics Just announced from Artisan and Republic Pictures are four Cary Grant classic, all due on 9/18. Indiscreet and Operation Petticoat are both presented in full frame, Father Goose in 1.85;1 non-anamorphic widescreen and The Grass Is Greener in 2.35:1 non-anamorphic widescreen. All feature mono tracks and cast filmographies, and the latter two include trailers. Retail is $19.95 a pop.
Simpsons specs Fox has unveiled the full specs for The Simpsons: The Complete First Season, due on 9/25. Spread across three discs, the set features the thirteen episodes. Disc one: Some Enchanted Evening, Bart The Genius, Homer's Odyssey, There's No Disgrace Like Home, Bart The General, Moaning Lisa. Disc two: The Telltale Head, Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, Call of the Simpsons, Homer's Night Out, Life In The Fast Lane, Krusty Gets Busted Disc three: The Crepes of Wrath. Each episode is presented in 4:3 full frame with English 5.1 and French 2.0 surround tracks and English and Spanish subtitles. Also included a wealth of extras. Each episode features audio commentary, and there are the original scripts for "Bart the Genius," "Bart the General," "Moaning Lisa" and "Some Enchanted." Disc three also includes a complete unaired episode with optional commentary, the "Bart The General" animatic with commentary, an Albert Brooks outtake reel, the "America's First Family" BBC special, a segment from ABC News on the "Bart T-shirt Controversy," "Goodnight Simpsons" clips from The Tracey Ullman Show, seven foreign language clips, a still gallery with 100 early sketches, and an additional still gallery with twelve stills and magazine covers. All this can be yours for the low, low price of $39.95. Fox has also issued a couple of new Phantom Menace DVD pics, including box art with a portion of the two disc labels revealed, as well as a menu screen. Clip on the images below for blowups. This highly-anticipated two-disc set arrives on 10/9.
New Columbia announcements Just announced from Columbia are some new titles and street dates. First up on 8/21 is a Godzilla rip-off with the great title Reptilian. The disc includes a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and English 5.1 and 2.0 surround tracks, and trailers for two Godzilla films. Retail is $24.95. Arriving on 10/2 is a monster of a different kind, Sarah Brightman In Concert, presented in full frame and 2.0 surround, with no additional extras. Retail is $19.95. Columbia has also announced a few street dates for upcoming titles: a double feature of Circuitry Man and Circuitry Man II arrives on 9/25, Muhammad Ali plays himself in the drama The Greatest due 10/2; and The Crimson Rivers hits shelves on 10/16. Watch for full specs soon...
Z marks the spot Finally, after numerous postponements, a special edition worth all the delay! Columbia has just "upgraded" the long-in-coming Mask Of Zorro special edition, now due on 9/25. Available for quite a while now overseas, the Region 1 edition will include all the previous announced features, but is now a two-disc set. Columbia is adding a DTS track, pan & scan version and bumping most of the supplements to the second disc. Check out the press release for the full details! More French Connection Fox has just issued the full press release for the upcoming French Connection and French Connection II DVD releases, debuting 9/25. This looks like a great set, with tons of extras and Fox sent along the new cover art, too. Check out the release for all the details. The list is life Just announced from Warner is the acclaimed Holocaust documentary Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories Of The Kindertransport. Arriving on 8/28, the disc sports the special edition banner and includes two feature-length "interactive" commentaries with the filmmakers that branch to additional video segments, interviews with Lord Richard Attenborough and other "Kindertransport" participants; footage from the London and Berlin premieres, a still gallery with historical artifacts and the theatrical trailer. The disc is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital, though no aspect ratio information is yet available. Retail is $24.95.
Originally announced for release this past winter then postponed, Paramount has just announced a new 8/14 release date for Robert Redford's 1980 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Ordinary People. Though a new commentary with director Robert Redford was hoped for after the delay, the specs for the disc remain the same as previously announced and do not include any extras aside from the trailer. The film will be presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen with English and French mono tracks. Retail is $29.95. Then, on 8/28, Paramount will release a new pan & scan version of Charlotte's Web, recently released in a widescreen version only. The pan & scan version features the same extras and retail price of $29.95. The widescreen release will remain on the market as is. Bag of bones Reportedly the biggest-selling miniseries ever on home video, Artisan had quite a hit with the VHS, laserdisc and DVD editions of Stephen King's The Stand, so it is perhaps a foregone conclusion that they'd start raiding the vaults for anything King-related. On 8/21, Artisan will release a collection of episodes from the short-lived King series Golden Years. The disc is presented in full frame and English 2.0 surround, and the runtime is listed as 232 minutes. No exact episode specs are yet available, and retail is $19.95. Dino-mighty If the nine or ten existing DVD releases of Jurassic Park and The Lost World are not enough, a new repressing of the DTS version of Jurassic Park is now shipping to retailers, just in time for a big Jurassic Park III tie-in. The original Jurassic Park DTS release drew criticism for using a reconformed master different from the previous laserdisc. The soundtrack was recorded 4dB lower, thus resulting in lower apparent bass than the laserdisc, and was also conformed for downmixing to those without full 5.1 setups. This new repressing goes back to the laserdisc master, which was a remix created for home theater and some (though not all) seem to prefer. How to tell this newly remastered version? The sticker on the top of the keepcase (not on the actual label) has been altered. The old sticker read "Jurassic Park (WS) DTS." The new version reads (now pay attention) "Jurassic Park (WS) (DTS)." Both the WS and DTS now have parentheses. Note the catalog number is exactly the same, so make sure you look at the labels carefully before ripping open the package! These newly remastered versions are hitting store shelves now, and Universal will not be offering any sort of exchange or rebate to purchasers of the old version. |
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Deja
voodoo
Universal
September title spec update
He
will rock you
Just
like ordinary people