In a summer full of sequels, who would have thought the best one would show up in September? Well, as the saying goes, "save the best for last," and writer/ director Robert Rodriguez certainly has with the final installment of the El Mariachi series: Once Upon A Time in Mexico our featured review in this week's The Aisle View. Also film critics are jumping up and down and shouting, "Best Picture! Best Actor! Best Director!" for Matchstick Men. No, no, no, no, no. It's not all that. Nicholas Cage is great in this film. It's one of his best performances. Sam Rockwell, is also very good. But this is no best picture. Read our Complete run down of Matchstick Men. Want to get The Aisle View BEFORE it's published on the site? Interested in exclusive movie giveaways and sweepstakes ONLY announced in the newsletter? Sign Up to get The Aisle View delivered free to your email box!

This week the DVD Savant takes a look at Shout! Factory's Groucho Marx You Bet Your Life The Lost Episodes, 18 never-syndicated original episodes on 3 packed discs. The shows are great and the extras terrific - including the original commercials, gag reels, outtakes, auditions and a behind-the-scenes show. Criterion shows how serious it is once again with a comparison disc of two versions of a Vittorio De Sica film, His own Terminal Station that was already crippled by the 'hands-on' contribution of producer David O. Selznick, and the retitled mess Indiscretion of an American Wife. Finally from MGM comes Witness for the Prosecution -one of Billy Wilder's more entertaining features. Read all this and more in this week's DVD Savant.

What do you get when you combine visionary William S. Burroughs, Director David Cronenberg and Criterion? The answer is one amazing DVD release: Naked Lunch Criterion Edition. Set for release on November 11th Naked Lunch a 2 disc special edition, will be presented in a New high-definition digital transfer - approved by director David Cronenberg and enhanced for widescreen televisions, Dolby 2.0 audio and feature: Audio commentary by David Cronenberg and actor Peter Weller, A Special effects stills gallery, Production stills gallery, Examples of the marketing campaign for Naked Lunch, including a featurette, B-roll montage, TV spots, and theatrical trailer, Excerpts from the novel Naked Lunch read by author William S. Burroughs and more! Pre-Order Naked Lunch Criterion Edition at: Amazon.com, DVDEmpire, or DeepDiscountDVD

Writer Neil Gaiman's 20-year plus career has spanned every form of media imaginable, from radio to comic to film. DVD Talk writer Phillip Duncan had a chance to chat with the charming and polite Gaiman about the upcoming DVD release of his BBC series Neverwhere as well as some of his other upcoming projects in the development. Gaiman also talks about directing his first short film and his preparation for directing the big screen adaptation of his graphic novel "Death: The High Cost of Living." Read and listen to the complete DVD Talk interview with Neil Gaiman. Also be sure to read our review of the Neverwhere DVD

Disney Home Video has announced the DVD release for Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl. Set for release on December 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl a 2 Disc special edition will be presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and feature: 3 audio commentaries: one with Director Gore Verbinski and Star Johnny Depp, another with Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Stars Keira Knightley And Jack Davenport, and a third with Writers Stuart Beattie, Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio and Jay Wolpert, the documentary An Epic At Sea: The Making of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl", the featurette Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates, "Moonlight" Scene Progression, Deleted Scenes, and a Blooper Reel Pre-Order Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl Now at DVDEmpire, Amazon.com, Buy.com or DeepDiscountDVD. You can also read our theatrical review for Pirates of the Caribbean

Monty Python fans have yet another reason to fret. We've received numerous reports of problems with Universal Studios Home Video's DVD release for Monty Python's The Meaning of Life: 2-Disc Collector's Edition. Apparently there are some compression issues which effect 2 out of every 5 consecutive frames, this results in a shaky or blurry image on some DVD Players (not all). This issue is being discussed at length in the DVD Talk Forum (see this thread), but no formal statement has been released from Universal. If you bought the Monty Python's The Meaning of Life: 2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD and are having issues with it, be sure to report it to Universal.

A good mix of notable DVDs this week including: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind with a genius performance by Sam Rockwell as Chuck Barris and a fantastic directorial debut by George Clooney, Russian Ark [Review] from Wellspring, a 96 minute film done in one single shot that must been seen to be believed, Disney's fantastic DVD for the classic Sleeping Beauty, Paramount's disaster flick ; The Core [Review] - which thankfully never takes itself seriously, Fox's next chapter in ther TV to DVD success story Family Guy Volume 2 [Review] and a 'little film that could' from Columbia Tri-Star called The Debut [Review] - exactly the kind of gem we love to discover on DVD.

Francis Ford Coppola's next "Director's Audio Commentary" has popped up in an unlikely place - A DVD companion to the latest installment of the popular literary publication McSweeney's. Although Coppola didn't have any involvement with the production on the DVD they asked him, as a 'director' to give a 'Director's Commentary'. The result is HILARIOUS as Coppola comments on footage he's never seen with long tangential tales spawning off some of the most mundane aspects of the segment. Aside from the fantastic segment with Coppola, the McSweeney's DVD is packed with goodies (running at 2 hours) including readings by this issue's author's, a take off on MTV Cribbs - "Literary Cribs", and Interview of Denis Johnson by David Eggers and much more. You can order McSweeney's Vol 11 w/ the DVD at Powells.com.

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