DVD Talk: June 22, 2003 - June 28, 2003 Archives

Warner Bros. has announced the DVD release for Smallville - The Complete First Season. Set for release on September 23rd, Smallville a 6 disc set will contain all 21 episodes from the first season presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Smallville will feature: audio commentaries on the pilot by executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, as well as pilot director David Nutter. Another commentary with Gough and Millar appears on the show's second episode entitled "Metamorphosis.", deleted scenes from two episodes, including the pilot, a storyboard to screen featurette for the pilot, an interactive tour of Smallville, and more. Pre-Order Smallville - The Complete First Season Now .

Paramount Home Video has announced the DVD release for one of TVs most popular mini-series Shogun based on the best seller by James Clavell and starring Richard Chamberlain. Set for release on September 23rd James Clavell's Shogun a 5 disc set, will be presented in fullscreen with newly remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and feature: Commentary by director Jerry London on select scenes, "The Making of Shogun" a 13-segment documentary, 3 historical perspective featurettes, and more! Pre-Order Shogun at Amazon or DVDEmpire.

The first great summer movie has finally arrived with " Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." Energetic, funny and action packed, it's just as good as the original: check out the full review in This Week's Aisle View. Also this week in The Aisle View is the US release of Danny Boyle's excellent 28 Days Later which imagines a world ravaged by disease and plagued by infected zombie-like humans. Even non-horror fans can appreciate this film: find out why.Want to get The Aisle View right when it's published? Sign Up to get The Aisle View delivered free to your email box!

This week the DVD Savant takes a look Criterion's Il Posto - a charming and rewarding bit of neorealism about a shy young man's entry into the Milan workforce, Wellspring's really good version of Jean-Luc Godard's My Life to Live, Universal's Midnight Run a Savant's favorite mainstream action-buddy film of the modern era (post Sly and Ah-nold), A&E's 5 disc, 39-episode box of Supercar: The Complete Series, Image's Stephen Sondheim's Passion - yet another rare pleasure to put beside Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd, Home Vision's truly strange Warm Water Under a Red Bridge a fanciful drama that combines a fairy story with sex, and lots and lots of water imagery, and Paramount's Popeye - A big, mismanaged mess from Robert Altman with the pleasures of a perfectly cast Popeye and Olive Oyl. Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

Last week DVD studios, producers and press all converged for the Annual Video Store Magazine DVD Conference: 'DVD in 50' which marked 50 Million US homes with DVD players. Issues discussed at the conference include The Future for DVD and HD-DVD, Blue Laser, The Role of Microsoft in the Future of Home Video and what you won't find on Lord of The Rings Two Towers Extended Edition. Get our complete run down on the DVD in 50 Conference and our take on the future of DVD & HD.

This week we've got a very special giveaway for Lost in La Mancha, a unique documentary about a film that never was made. Lost in La Mancha follows Terry Gilliam on his 10 year quest to make a film adaptation of 'Don Quixote' - an almost impossible feat once attempted unsuccessfully by Orsen Wells. Lost in La Mancha is a magnificent look at film where anything that could go wrong did and how one of the most creative contemporary directors copes with complete disaster. Enter Now for your chance to win one of 5 copies of Lost in La Mancha we're giving away this week!

A real solid week of Notable DVDs starting off with the long awaited PT Anderson flick Punch Drunk Love [Review] a quirky film more enjoyed after multiple viewings, Paramount's excellent DVD release of the Academy Award winning The Hours [Review] a staggeringly emotional film. A quick turn from theaters to DVD for Cowboy Bebop - The Movie [Review] is welcomed feat for anime fans in a DVD that is sure to please. Criterion has a busy week with their notable: Ali - Fear Eats the Soul, Night and Fog [Review], Hiroshima Mon Amour, I Fidanzati and Il Posto all we can say is 'Thanks Criterion' for another round of great DVDs. From MGM comes the cop thriller Dark Blue [Review] while not perfect, is engaging, and finally there's Docurama's Lost in La Mancha [Review] a brilliant portrait of a film where everything that can go wrong does.

The long awaited pre-order is now up for Lord of The Rings Extended Edition. This 4 Disc edition is set for release on November 18 will be presented in anamorphic widescreen with both Dolby Digital-EX and DTS-ES and feature: An Extended cut of The Two Towers (with over 40 minutes of new integrated footage), 4 Audio Commentaries by Director & Writers, the Design Team, the Production Team and the Cast, a complete appendices (as with the previous Extended Edition) with features on Adapting the book, Designing Middle-earth, An interactive map of New Zealand Storyboards, Weta Workshop, Sending actors to battle - Preparation for sword fighting, Stories from the set Digital effects, A close-up look at the detailed miniatures used in the film, Post-production, a Sound design demonstration and MORE! Pre-Order Lord of The Rings - The Two Towers Extended Edition at Amazon, DVDEmpire and DVDPlanet .

Best Deal Magazines is running a BLOW OUT Sale on 2 rarely discounted magazine titles. They have by far the best deal we've EVER Seen onEntertainment Weekly, where you get 1 full year subscription for only $3.95! To get the discount you must enter code: ENTWBF629 at check out. It's like getting 1 year of Entertainment Weekly for the price of 1 issue! Another magazine rarely discounted is Time Magazine which you can get a full year subscription for only $5.95, just use code: TIMEBF629 at check out. We rarely see deals on Time Warner Weekly Magazines so be sure not to miss these 2 red hot deals!

Twentieth Century Fox Home Video has announced the DVD release for The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season. Set for release on August 26th The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season a 4 Disc Box set will be presented in full frame with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and feature: Audio Commentary on all episodes, When Flanders Failed, Flaming Moe’s, Radio Bart and Colonel Homer 'Pop-Ups'', Storyboards & sketches, Butterfinger and Toyota TV ads, Baby translator, Audio outtakes and a Jukebox feature. Also available individually is the classic Simpsons's Episode: The Simpsons: Treehouse Of Horror which will be released on September 2nd (and whose only special feature is a Video montage of Kang and Kodo's finest moments). Pre-Order The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season at The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season at Amazon, DVDEmpire or DeepDiscountDVD

Krzysztof Kieslowski fans will be excited to hear that Facets Multimedia will be re-releasing Kieslowski's opus The Decalogue on DVD. Set for release on August 19, The Decalogue: Special Edition a 3 disc set with a dizzying running time of 584 minutes will feature: the complete Decalogue, an introduction by film critic Roger Ebert, three short documentaries about director Krzysztof Kieslowski: "On the Set of The Decalogue," "Kieslowski Meets the Press," and "Kieslowski Known and Unknown," an interview with scriptwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz , a printed booklet with an introduction by Kieslowski and more. Pre-Order The Decalogue at Amazon, DVDEmpire or DeepDiscountDVD. Kieslowski fans, also be sure not to miss the DVD release of Heaven (out now) which was written by Kieslowski and Directed by Run Lola Run Director Tom Tykwer!