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Musical Charm
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The Chorus earned two Academy Award nominations (Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Song, 2004) and was nominated for a Golden Globe award as Best Foreign Film, 2004. On May 3rd, Miramax will release the film on DVD for an SRP of $29.99. Paraphrasing the description from Buena Vista's official press site. . . In the tradition of such music-themed hits as Mr. Holland's Opus and Music of the Heart, this is the inspirational story about one man whose love for music transforms those around him. An unsuccessful composer, Clement Mathieu (Gerard Jugnot) takes a teaching position at a school for troubled boys. He's not prepared for the harsh discipline the school's headmaster enforces on the students and the school's depressing atmosphere. Using unconventional teaching methods, Mathieu is able to spark his student's interest in music and, for some, change their lives. But this doesn't sit well with the headmaster and Mathieu is locked in a battle between politics and his passion for bringing joy to his students through music. The film's 1.85:1 aspect ratio will be presented in anamorphic video. The audio will be in Dolby Digital 5.1 in both English and French.
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Rescheduled Charm
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Warner Home Video has rescheduled the postponed A Very Long Engagement for July 12th. For those who may have missed it, I'll paraphrase our original news story here. Audrey Tautou once again dazzles with a wonderful performance in A Very Long Engagement. Warner Home Video releases this critically acclaimed and popular film with an SRP of $29.95. Tautou reunites with her Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet for a story described as a "young woman's relentless, moving and sometimes comic search for her fiancee, who has disappeared. He is one of five French soldiers believed to have been court-martialed under mysterious circumstances and pushed out of an allied trench into an almost-certain death in no-man's land. What follows is an investigation into the arbitrary nature of secrecy, the absurdity of war, and the enduring passion, intuition and tenacity of the human heart." The DVD will have a 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation and a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track supported by English subtitles.
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Inebriated Charm
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Warner Home Video has also announced the release of The Complete Thin Man Collection, due on August 2nd for an SRP of $59.92. In my review of the delightfully droll original film of this series, I recommended the disc. Now Warner is offering the entire series on a seven-disc set. The set includes The Thin Man, After The Thin Man, Another Thin Man, Shadow Of The Thin Man, Song Of The Thin Man, The Thin Man Goes Home, and on the seventh disc, a bonus documentary entitled Alias Nick & Nora. From 1934 to 1945, no crime solving characters brought to the screen were as witty or as charming as novelist Dashiell Hammett's perpetually inebriated moneyed couple of crime, Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy). Trivia: The series takes its name not from Nick's character, but from the first film's murder victim, who was literally The Thin Man.
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They could have used a good luck charm
Details are incomplete, but this September, expect ABC's hit show Lost to be released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment as a Season One six-DVD box set. J.J. Abrams, creator of "Alias," seems to have struck a nerve as he appealed to primetime audiences. An ensemble cast marooned on a mysterious island fight for survival amidst secrets and suspense. The set is reported to include over five hours of bonus features, including: the never-before-seen, extended uncut version of the original pilot; exclusive, in-depth behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the show; backstage with Drive Shaft all-access pass behind the music; The Art Of Matthew Fox featurette; Before They Were Lost original casting tapes; blooper reel; rare deleted scenes; and multiple filmmaker audio commentaries. Fans should be delighted.
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