DVD Talk: March 9, 2003 - March 15, 2003 Archives

This week, the Aisle View takes a look at The Hunted, director William Friedkin's attempt to reclaim the action glory of The French Connection. In case you missed them also be sure to check out The Aisle View's take on Bruce Willis in Tears of the Sun and Atom Egoyan's Ararat, Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her and Kurt Russel in Dark Blue. Also be sure to check out DVD Talk's latest Theatrical Reviews.

Heather Locklear discovers veggies do wonders for her love life in The Return of Swamp Thing. Bar the door for John Carpenter's raucous Assault on Precinct 13 -- enter to win one of five copies in this exclusive giveaway! Colin Malone may not cook worth a dang, but it's tough to look away when Colin's Sleazy Friends Rocks. Speaking of the kitchen, reefer madness ensues as High Times presents Watermelon's Baked & Baking. CineSchlocker idol Lance Henriksen stares down Sasquatch. Sex siren Misty Mundae makes her directorial debut with Lustful Addiction. Plus, responses to reader emails and Soylent Green joins CineSchlock-O-Rama's Most Wanted.

This week The DVD Savant takes a look at a deluxe disc set from Criterion of a Sam Peckinpah classic Straw Dogs one of Peckinpah's best-realized film in a contemporary setting, Home Vision Entertainment's The Valley (Obscured by Clouds) a weird safari film, following a sextet of French flower children into the highlands of New Guinea - It's a very original, very different French counterculture film, the rare kind that's not an embarassment. Also in case you missed it, be sure to check out DVD Savan't scoop on an exciting restoration of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

Columbia Tri-Star has officially announced the DVD release for Adaptation (Superbit). Set for release on May 20th Adaptation (Superbit) will be presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio. As with the other Superbits Adaptation (Superbit) does not feature any special features aside from the film's trailer. We're hoping to see a Special Edition of Adaptation in the future, but nothing has been confirmed. (We're STILL waiting for an SE of Panic Room as well!) Pre-Order Adaptation (Superbit) at: DVDEmpire, DVDPlanet or DeepDiscountDVD

With Warner Bros canceling The Matrix:SE DVD the DVD Matrix fans should eagerly look forward to is The Animatrix. Set for release on June 3rd The Animatrix is a collection of nine short animated films created by seven of the worlds leading Anime directors. The Animatrix provides back story to the Matrix universe as well as fills in some of the gaps between The Matrix and The Matrix:Reloaded. The Animatrix will be presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and feature: Scrolls to Screen - The History and Culture of Anime, Seven "making-of" featurettes, Four audio commentaries , Enter the Matrix Game Trailer and more! Pre-Order The Animatrix Now at DVDEmpire or DVDPlanet .

MGM has announced the DVD release for the latest James Bond flick Die Another Day. Set for release on June 3rd Die Another Day will be the first Bond film to be given a 2 DVD Special Edition treatment. Presented in separate widescreen and full screen editions, Die Another Day will feature both Dolby Digital EX and DTS ES audio and feature: two audio commentaries - one with Director Lee Tamahori and one of the producers and the other with Pierce Brosnan and Rosalind Pike, a 'branching' text commentary with related mini-featurettes, a Die Another Day Documentary, Storyboard to Screen comparisons, multi-angle featurette on the stunts, an effects featuette and much much more! Pre-Order Die Another Day Now at: DVDEmpire or DVDPlanet

HKFlix.com has a number of special offers Exclusively for DVD Talk Readers: Save on Crying Freeman [DTS] the region free edition of the acclaimed film starring ("Brotherhood Of The Wolf", "Cradle 2 The Grave") as a lethal samurai assassin for a secret Chinese organization. La Dolce Vita Fellini's masterpiece about a thrill seeking journalist in Rome at its mopst desirably decadent. Finally SAVE $40 on The Malata DAV-3600 a region-free DVD Player with an integrated 6-channel amplifier, digital tuner, 5 satellite speakers and a subwoofer!

This week we've got a very special Giveaway from HTMarket.com who has provided some great prizes for us to give away. Enter for your chance to win the Home Theater Master 10 Device Remote the ultimate way to control your entire home theater with just one remote, or one of 5 Penguin Media Storage 180 DVD Rack with aluminum rod shelving and wood panes - these racks are a stylish way to organize and display your DVD collection. This is a great opportunity to pick up some fantastic Home Theater Accessories, so enter for your chance to win now!

Several solid DVDs released this week, many of them would easily be overlooked. Short lived at the box office Below [Review] brings together Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) and David Twohy (Pitch Black) in an enjoyable submarine thriller. Michelle Pfeiffer is good but Allison Lohman is even better in the "and you thought your life was hard" film - White Oleander [Review] a dark and complex movie that shouldn't be written off because it's based on an Oprah Book Club Book. Another dark and brooding film filled with great performances is Moonlight Mile [Review] which takes a unique approach at grief and does it oh so well. To lighten the week Lion's Gate has Sol Goode [Review] which somehow manages to leap over many of the genre's pitfalls. Finally this week we recommend you resist the temptation to sneak a peek at the train wreck of a movie I Spy [Review] - it really is that bad.

Twentieth Century Fox has announced the DVD release for 2 very well loved Coen Brother movies: Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing. Set for release on May 20th both films will be presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio Barton Fink will also feature eight deleted scenes and Miller's Crossing will feature interviews with the cast. Pre-Order Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing now!

Overstock.com has a red hot deal on the DISCONTINUED 2 Disc Special Edition for Cast Away for only $9.49! The 2 Disc Cast Away Special Edition features Commentary by director Robert Zemeckis & Crew as well as features no longer available on the current in-print single DVD edition: The Charlie Rose Show interview with Tom Hanks, Wilson: The Life and Death of a Hollywood Extra featurette, The Island featurette, HBO First Look Documentary, Surviving as a Castaway Survivalist Documentary Special Effects Vignettes, Concept Art Gallery, and Storyboard-To-Film Comparison. Quantities are limited so jump on this fantastic deal for Cast Away 2 DVD SE Now!

Columbia Tri-Star has announced the next batch of titles for their popular Superbit Series. [Superbit DVDs utilize a special high bit rate digital transfer process that optimizes video quality and offers a choice of both DTS and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. All Superbit DVDs start with high definition masters and double the bit rate of the original release but with none of the special features]. Set for release on May 13 the new Superbit DVDs will be xXx (Superbit), Men In Black (Superbit), Men In Black II (Superbit) and Bad Boys (Superbit) . Also announced (but not up for pre-order yet) are Adaptation (Superbit) set for May 20th and Charlie's Angels (Superbit Deluxe) set for May 27th (Superbit Deluxe = Superbit plus the special features).