It's no small task bringing the history behind the legend of King Arthur to the big screen. Now imagine being half way through directing the 'gritty' history behind the legend and finding out that you've got to change your film drastically to get a PG-13 rating. Director Antoine Fuqua (best known for Training Day) spun his film around 180 degrees half way through production, but is now able to spin it back to it's 'R' Rated roots in an Unrated Director's Cut DVD. DVD Talk Editor Geoffrey Kleinman had the opportunity to speak with Antoine Fuqua about his experience making King Arthur, how things got changed back for the DVD and what exactly it was like working with Keira Knightley. Read our complete interview. Also be sure to Read our review of King Arthur: Extended Unrated Edition DVD.

A top of great clips this week including: A look at the shark infested waters of Open Water, a sneak peek at Harold and Kumar go To White Castle including a deleted scene and a clip from the behind the scenes feature. Previews for: Battle Star Galactica: The Mini- Series, Shaun of The Dead, The Village and The Miyazaki Collection Wave 2. Some deleted scenes from The Simpsons: Season 5 including Barbershop Quartet, Bart's Casino Grandpa Simpson and Nerds and Bullies. Finally, two clips from notable surfing DVDs Riding Giants and Ride the Wild Surf.

It's the final week of 2004, and surprisingly it's a week packed with notable DVDs including: Garden State [Review] - Zach Braff is well focused in his directorial debut, in a film absolutely worth catching on DVD, Battlestar Galactica - The Mini-Series - embarrassing the 'cheese' factor of its predecessor this mini-series delivers, Anchorman - The Legend of Ron Burgundy - another love it or hate it film with some painfully funny moments, Open Water [Review] - relentlessly realistic shark movie , Resident Evil: Apocalypse [Review] - more zombies and more Milla Jovovich and did we mention more Milla Jovovich? Twilight Samurai - a beautifully made film that definitely deserves to be seen, Sex and the City: S6 P2 [Review] - not the most satisfying end to a landmark series, but still heads and shoulders above the rest and Wicker Park [Review] - the darker side of love and a good weekend rental. Read our List of Top Upcoming DVDs for more great DVDs out this week, and visit our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

Undead and out of work? Fire your agent! Behold the Year of the Zombie! Dawn of the Dead: Ultimate Edition sinks its choppers into the CineSchlockers' Choice award as 2004's fan-fave release! Now the geek'd out horror hoot Shaun of the Dead takes its 5-star bite! (Win your copy in our zombirific DVD giveaway.) In another feeding frenzy, Open Water does plenty of splashing around, but is it all wet? Plus, the much-anticipated Best of Schlock 2004, responses to reader emails and the ever-vigilant CineSchlock-O-Rama's Most Wanted.

On this month's DVD Talk TV Segment on ABC TV's AM Northwest we took a look at 4 Notable DVDs: Lord of The Rings - The Return of The King: Extended Edition - the grand finale for one of the best film trilogies ever, I, Robot - more than just another 'big dumb summer action film', Mary Poppins 40th Anniversary Edition - she's 'practically perfect in every way', even after 40 years and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story - the perfect DVD if you're looking for some great laughs. Watch this show (which runs about 7 mins) in Windows Media High Bandwidth or Low Bandwidth. Also watch past month's segments.

Didn't get what you wanted this holiday season? Or have a gift card buring a hole in your pocket. Be sure to finish the year off right and pick up DVD Savant: A Review Resource Book, you won't regret it! Also with the year wrapping up The DVD Savant has posted The DVD Savant's Most Impressive DVDs of 2004. We've got a ton of 'Best of Lists' landing on the site in the next two weeks, so stay tuned. Savant also has reviews up for Gunga Din, Mary Poppins, Mikey and Nicky, Fanny and Alexander and I Remember Mama. Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

Who would have ever thought the week leading up to Xmas would have so many notable DVDs? This week we're especially excited about the DVD release for Shaun of the Dead [Giveaway] - a perfect zombie-romantic-comedy-satire-horror film, we can't recommend it highly enough, The 4400 [Review] - one of those shows you'll watch 5 hrs straight, Napoleon Dynamite [Review] - an absolute "love it or hate it" DVD, Manchurian Candidate [Review] an exception effort by Jonathan Demme, The Simpsons: S5 [Review] - what more can you ask for?, King Arthur: Extended Unrated Edition [Review] is a gritty look at the 'history behind the legend' but perhaps not the director's cut as billed. Other notables this week include: Stander, Where the Red Fern Grows, Two Brothers [Review], De Lovely [Review], and Surviving Christmas - notable for signaling the end of Ben Affleck's career. Read our List of Top Upcoming DVDs for more great DVDs out this week, and visit our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

This week we have a fantastic giveaway from Buena Vista Home Entertainment to celebrate the 40th Anniversary DVD Release for Mary Poppins [Review]. We've got 10 Commemorative Mary Poppins Umbrellas and 5 copies of the DVD we're giving away. The Mary Poppins 2 Disc Special Edition features: Commentary by Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Karen Dotrice, composer Richard Sherman, "The Cat That Looked Like A King" new animated short, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: The Making of Mary Poppins" - new 50-minute documentary, Deleted song "Chimpanzoo", "A Musical Journey with Richard Sherman", "A Magical Musical Reunion" with Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and Richard Sherman and more. Enter now for your chance to win. Also be sure to read our review of the Mary Poppins DVD written by The DVD Savant as well as our coverage of the Mary Poppins DVD Premiere in Hollywood.

Sometime at DVD Talk we find great DVDs in the unlikeliest places. DVD Talk writer Daniel W. Kelly stumbled on a hidden gem of a horror film called Monster Man. His raves caught the attention of Director Michael Davis who offered to sit down and give some fascinating insight into the film. Michael Davis talks about his experience making Monster Man, his work on Michael DavisEight Days a Week, 100 Girls, and 100 Women and the amazing impact of the DVD format. Read our complete interview with Michael Davis.

Often there are things that happen in the DVD world that just don't seem to fit into our 'standard' coverage of DVDs, so we thought an occasional 'Bits and Extras' update could help capture some of these interesting stories/bits/etc that often seem to slip through the cracks. This week we talk about: the fantastic menus from Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, rant about the wave of Unrated Director Cuts (which is really just an excuse to show the proceeding Keira Knightley frame), proclaim DualDisc DOA, flip through the pages of Paste Magazine to find... a DVD, and take an advance look at an upcoming They Might Be Giants DVD for kids. Read the first instalment of Bits and Extras From The DVD Front. Also if you've got a bit or extra you'd like to see us cover or general feedback let us know.

With literally thousands of DVD Reviews (over 10,400 reviews!) in the DVD Talk Review Database it's easy to miss some of the notable reviews written by our staff. Some notable reviews you may have missed: Two Brothers - a very enjoyable film that can speak to movie viewers of all ages, History of Iron Maiden Part 1: The Early Days - a metric ton of material guaranteed to please even the most discriminatory of Maiden fans, Quantum Leap: Complete Second Season - refreshing in its approach and its actual content, Garden State: Special Edition - an enjoyable debut from Zach Braff, with fine performances and an involving take on a familiar tale, The 4400: Season 1 - a fantastic and rewarding sci-fi mini-series and 3 - The Dale Earnhardt Story - even if you aren’t a fan of NASCAR, it’s hard not to like 3. Visit the DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

On this week's The Screen Savers (G4/TechTV) DVD Talk reviewer Kim Morgan takes a look at several Notable DVDs including: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Extended Edition - the best trilogy of all time? It's a smack down of the LOTR vs. the Star Wars, Family Guy - The Freakin' Sweet Collection - 5 of the best Family Guy episodes is sweet by anyone's definition. Top Gun: SE - a homo-erotic subtext to this seminal 80's film? Could be... Watch this show (which runs about 5 mins) in Windows Media High Bandwidth. Also watch past DVD Talk TV segments.  
 

Even with the release of his book The DVD Savant has been hard at worth with a ton of new reviews including Roseland - The Merchant Ivory / Jhabvala team come up with an artistic gem about the habitues of Roseland, a dance hall catering to older couples and aspiring pro ballroom dancers, Tanner on Tanner - Robert Altman and Gary Trudeau's followup to their 1988 cable hit sends the wrong messages if it's supposed to support the democratic side of American politics, A Star is Born William Wellman's Hollywood success tragedy was a big early hit for David O. Selznick, "M" - Criterion revises their earlier disc of the 1931 German Fritz Lang classic and comes up with a much better transfer, with extras to write home about, Short Cuts - Robert Altman assembles a stack of moody short stories into a satisfying ramble through an LA of unsettled misfits in search of love and Racing with the Moon - Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage demonstrate A+ acting chops, with Elizabeth McGovern not far behindRead all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

A great batch of notable DVDs this week including the highly anticipated Lord of the Rings: Return of The King - Extended Edition [Review] - with over 50 mins of new footage edited into the film, it's the crown jewel of the trilogy, Mary Poppins [Review] - still practically perfect after 40 years, The Yakuza Papers [Review] - Japan's equivalent of the Godfather series, I Robot [Review] - a surprisingly good action film that hints at something deeper, Breaker Morant - the latest addition to Wellspring's Masterworks series with an exceptional transfer, The Door in the Floor [Review] - more character study than thriller but still worth checking out and The Rocky Anthology - MGM spiffy's the Rocky series with a whole new set of digital transfers. Read our List of Top Upcoming DVDs for more great DVDs out this week, and visit our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

Looking for last minute holiday gift ideas? Be sure to check out our DVD Talk TV special Gift Guide segment on ABC TV's AM Northwest. We take a look at a wide range of gift ideas: great DVDs for kids - SpongeBob SquarePants: Season 1 and The Lion King Box Set, high impact box sets - Freaks and Geeks Fan Edition, The Docurama 12 disc Academy Collection and The Complete Star Trek - Next Generation Collection, great TV on DVD - The OC and Boomtown, and some great hidden gems - The Return, Super Size Me and Hero. Watch this show (which runs about 7 mins) in Windows Media High Bandwidth or Low Bandwidth. Be sure to also check out our Online Holiday DVD Gift Guide as well as watch past month's TV segments.

This week we have a very special giveaway from Home Vision to celebrate the highly anticipated DVD release of The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor and Humanity. We have 5 fantastic Home Vision prize packs featuring the work of Kinji Fukasaku to giveaway, including copies of: Blackmail Is My Life, Graveyard Of Honor, If You Were Young Rage, Street Mobster and the first volume from the box set Yakuza Papers Vol. 1: Battles Without Honor And Humanity. Enter now for your chance to win
 

This week we have a ton of great DVD clips, including a six minute preview of the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King Extended Edition with scenes from the over 50 mins of additional footage edited back into the film. Also this week, we have an exclusive clip from Shaun of The Dead - a look at what a 'Breakfast Club Edited for TV' like version would be, as well as the Shaun of The Dead DVD trailer. We also have clips from Time of The Wolf, Door in The Floor, Quantum Leap: Season 2, Dodgeball (Clip 1, Clip 2), 24: Season 3 (Clip 1, Clip 2, Clip 3 and Clip 4 ), Thunderbirds, Two Brothers, We also have a ton of music on DVD Clips: Eric Clapton Sessions for Robert J, Live Aid including clips of U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday", Eric Clapton "Layla", David Bowie "Heroes" and an 11 minute look at the Live Aid DVD and Stop fromErasure - 'The Tank, The Swan and The Balloon Live'.

Take a good gander at two sequels the world wasn't exactly clamoring for: Natasha Henstridge gets put out to pasture in the unrated Species III. While Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid tries to cash in on the creature feature crush it sparked seven years ago. Polling has also begun for the CineSchlockers' Choice award for 2004's best genre DVD. Plus, responses to reader emails and the ever-vigilant CineSchlock-O-Rama's Most Wanted.
 

With literally thousands of DVD Reviews (over 10,300 reviews!) in the DVD Talk Review Database it's easy to miss some of the notable reviews written by our staff. Some notable reviews you may have missed: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Region 3) - a stunning and brilliant film from Oldboy director Chan Woo-Park, Napoleon Dynamite - a film about a geek's geek, a lanky, four-eyed, awkward, carrot-topped mess in moon boots and weightlifting pants, Carnivale: Complete First Season - an incredibly ambitious undertaking that demands more from its audience than many are willing to invest, Springtime in a Small Town - a quiet, inner film that you'll be thinking about long after the credits roll, Mickey Mouse in Black & White:Vol 2 - a great set, and one that all animation fans should run out and purchase and Top Gun: Special Collector's Edition - a solidly entertaining look at one of the defining movies of the 1980s. Visit the DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

This week Silent DVD looks at the Criterion's release of Cecil B. DeMille's silent epic The King if Kings. Hailed as the greatest depiction of Christ's life ever to be filmed, this two DVD set includes the 112-minute general release version of the film, which is what most people have seen over the last 75 years, as well as the seldom viewed 155-minute original cut of the movie. With a great picture and three audio tracks to chose from, Criterion has put out another quality release. Read Silent DVD's complete review. Also in case you missed them, be sure to read Silent DVD's coverage of Gay-themed Films of the Silent Era, The Fritz Lang Collection, The Parson's Widow, Fractured Flickers , The Girl with the Hatbox, More Treasures from American Film Archives and Arbuckle and Keaton - Volumes One and Two .

Even with the release of his book The DVD Savant has still been hard at work with another great bunch of reviews including: The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection - a giant gift box with "special Christmas gift" written all over it, A Farewell to Arms - this Pre-Code weepie reinstates about ten minutes of material from old TV showings, and comes off as a very good old-fashioned romantic tragedy, Once Upon A Time in Mexico - Superbit - Robert Rodriguez can seemingly do every job in movies except punch out the sprocket holes, but this flashy action extravaganza is cynical and empty, The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor and Humanity (The Box Set) - Kinji Fukasaku's gory epic marked the end of the formal Yakuza genre in Japan, and it's a complicated saga of four decades of gang warfare in Hiroshima after WW2, Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

We're excited to announce that DVD Talk will be a regular contributor to G4/TechTV's The Screen Savers (Every Tuesday at 4pm PST). On this week's segment DVD Talk reviewer Kim Morgan took a look at several Notable DVDs including: The Ultimate Matrix Collection - 10 Discs, 35 hours, 100 new featurettes and one week of your life, The Bourne Supremacy - the return of big car chases makes us pine for The French Connection, Wild at Heart - behind the scenes stuff with David Lynch, pinch us we're dreaming and Gargoyles: The Complete First Season - great anime you should run out and buy and more. Watch this show (which runs about 6 mins) in Windows Media High Bandwidth. Also watch past DVD Talk TV segments.

The cold hard truth is that most DVD fans didn't wait till the Holiday season to buy some this year's top DVDs. So while giving someone The Star Wars Trilogy might be a nice idea, odds are they might already have it. Unfortunately the same goes for titles like Shrek 2, Alias and 24. But don't fret. DVD Talk is here to help with some quick and easy holiday DVD gift ideas that are sure to go over well including TV on DVD, High Impact Box Sets, Hidden Gems, Great Classics , Naughty DVDs for Those Who Have Been Nice , Gifts for Your Region Free Friends and ideas for you if you Just Won The Lottery or Are Independently Wealthy. Check out our complete Holiday DVD Gift Guide now .

An absolutely fantastic week for DVDs including: Bourne Supremacy [Review] - Matt Damon an action star? Stranger things have happened, but this worthy Borne Sequel is definitely worth checking out, Carnivale: S1 [Review] - HBO's Lynchian series is even better the second time around, Dodgeball [Review] - a simple pleasure, a comedy that delivers on many levels, M: Criterion [Review] - a breath taking restoration, and we've got the pictures to prove it, Maria Full of Grace [Review] - you owe it to yourself to watch raising star Catalina Sandino Moreno in this simple and perfect character driven story, Wild at Heart [Review] - 'Lulaaaaaaa!' one of David Lynch's classics comes to a Special Edition DVD, 24: S3 - Jack's back but we still watch it for Elisha Cuthbert, and Ultimate Matrix Collection [Review] - Whoa! We're blown away by one of the best DVD Collections of the year. Read our List of Top Upcoming DVDs for more great DVDs out this week, and visit our DVD Talk Review Database for all the latest reviews including an entire section devoted to reviews of DVDs out this week.

We're extremely excited to announce the publication of the first DVD Savant book, entitled DVD Savant: A Review Resource Book. The book (available now) contains some of the best from over 1370 columns and reviews written by The DVD Savant including the extraordinarily well regarded piece on The Good, The Bad and The Ugly DVD. Read more about this new book from the Savant himself. Buy DVD Savant: A Review Resource Book now at Amazon.com, Barns and Noble or Booksamillion.com.  
 

If you think you know the whole story about Hellboy, think again. The road from comic book to screen for this uncommon hero was a lot longer and complicated that you might imagine. Peter Briggs knows the story all too well. In 1997 Peter Briggs penned the first script for Hellboy and started what would become a wild ride for the project. DVD Talk writer Joshua Zyber sat down with Peter Briggs to talk about his experience with Hellboy, what exactly didn't make it on to the DVD and what it's really like being a screenwriter. Read our complete interview with Peter Briggs.  
 

"Whoa!" That's one of many words you might use to describe Warner's exhaustive film-school treatment of the Matrix trilogy in its new 10-disc Ultimate Matrix Collection. And even if you use four-letter words when you talk about the seminal first film's sequels, you may not be able to resist the extreme coolness of this comprehensive DVD behemoth, which plugs you in to a brand-new visual presentation of the first film and assembles a vast array of probing special features. And speaking of "comprehensive," DVD Talk boasts the Web's most detailed and informative review of the Ultimate Matrix Collection. We peered into all its nooks and crannies and came away stunned by depth of attention paid to that uniquely innovative sci-fi techno wire-fu cerebro-noir saga called The Matrix. Read our review for The Ultimate Matrix Collection in the DVD Talk Review Database now with over 10,300 reviews!

If you immediately think of The Golden Girls whenever you hear Betty White's name then you're not alone. She honors her golden period and isn't afraid to say so. DVD Talk Writer, Danielle Henbest had the opportunity to interview Betty White at a recent roundtable for the DVD Release of The Golden Girls: Season One [Review]. In the interview, Betty White, talks about the rumors of a Golden Girls reunion, why she's picked edgy roles (like the dark role she had in Lake Placid) and what it was really like on the set of Golden Girls. If you think Betty White is the naive St. Olaf blonde native then think again. This woman won't let her Emmys collect dust any time soon. Read our complete interview.

It's been forty years since Mary Poppins first premiered in Hollywood, and to mark the occasion (and the launch of the Mary Poppins: Special Edition DVD on December 14th) Buena Vista Home Entertainment held a 'Re-Premiere' for the film at the historic El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard complete with live penguins, chimney sweeps, and a band that played Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious more times than you would ever believe. In attendance, most of the surviving people involved with the making of Mary Poppins including: Karen Dotrice (who played the Jane Banks), Glynis Johns (Winifred), animator Ollie Johnston, designers Bill Justice and Xavier Atencio (the guy who wrote the song "Yo Ho - A Pirate's Life for Me"), choreographers Dee Dee Wood and Mark Breaux, composer Richard Sherman and of course Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews. Read our coverage of The Mary Poppins Re-Premiere

It's the chosen few DVDs released each year which receive DVD Talk's Highest Rating: DVD Talk Collector Series. Recent DVDs to get this extremely high rating include: The Ultimate Matrix Collection: Limited Edition - a spectacular achievement in comprehensive DVD film study, Hero - an elegantly paced film that is eminently re-watchable, offering as much delight on the second viewing as on the first, Short Cuts: Criterion - a film that sums up what's great about American moviemaking, American acting and American life, The Return - one of the best debut films since Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows, The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 6 - the best release from this series yet and The Saddest Music in the World - an absolute hidden gem of a film, one of the year’s best films. Finally, it's extremely rare we give our highest rating to adult DVDs which makes Eye Of The Beholder and Ass Worship 6 2 extremely notable exceptions. See the complete list of all DVDs given DVD Talk's Highest Rating.

On this month's DVD Talk TV Segment on ABC TV's AM Northwest we took a look at 4 Notable DVDs: The Chronicles of Riddick - Vin Diesel stars in this a big fun sci-fi film with a director's cut really worth watching, Gone With The Wind - Warner Bros. hits a home run with one of the best restorations we've seen yet, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban - a much darker and complex installment in the Harry Potter series shines on DVD and Spider Man 2 - a terrific superhero movie which gets added to the short list of sequels which are better than the previous film Watch this show (which runs about 7 mins) in Windows Media High Bandwidth or Low Bandwidth. Also watch past month's segments.

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