Greetings! Savant's new reviews today are
THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW (Universal),
LOONEY TUNES PREMIERE COLLECTION (Warners),
BROADWAY'S LOST TREASURES (Acorn Media) ,
STORYVILLE (Columbia TriStar),
and a Region 2 release by Stuart Galbraith IV,
THE SORCERERS

Stuart Galbraith is a relatively new reviewer at DVDTalk, and a good one. His review-ography can be found on the DVDTalk review page

In addition to the Savant reviews above, I've added a short notice to the DVDTalk review database only: THE ANNA NICOLE SHOW, first season.

My hypothesis about serialized two part movies garnered two more examples from readers - JEAN DE FLORETTE and MANON OF THE SPRING, and the original THE DAY AFTER, which would certainly be long enough to break into two parts. Some people thought I had said there was a version of THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE on film, and no, there's not ...

Also, some people asked what I thought of the Academy Screeners debacle. In my opinion, Valenti won't back down from his decision (nobody admits the slightest mistake any more) and the Oscars are going to be messed up this year. Personally, when I think of the millions in postage and duplicating costs associated with the mailings of screeners, it all seems like a waste to me ... they should go to the academy voters and we critics need to fend for ourselves. But that makes no allowance for the critics in outlying markets, and the fact that screeners level the playing field. Without them, films from the major studios have a distinct advantage. Moving the Oscars up a month to February also makes things more convenient for the majors (I think I'm right - they did move up this year, didn't they?). Anyway, I like screeners but here in Los Angeles all the studios are generous with screenings, so I really don't feel like complaining. I do admire the Chicago Critics' stand - they responded to Valenti with a broadside of their own: they don't like being scapegoated as the source of piracy, and for that insult they're not going to vote for the best films this year at all. That's pretty nervy. Thanks for reading, Glenn Erickson