Guest TSMAdmin Report post Posted October 2, 2002 In the player: Shrek (the good disc) On the box: Wimbledon, baby! Yo yo yo. Big up to my homies that ain’t here and word to your mother biyatch. Welcome to another week of TheSmartMarks DVD News a very special welcome, in fact, to what I’m humbly calling the ultra-exclusive, super-patented, HALFASSED EDITION~! Yup, since I’m off to Edinburgh (that’s “EDD-IN-BRUH” if you’re English, “EDD-IN-BURR-OH” if you’re American) tomorrow, I have ironing, finding, fetching, packing, cleaning, and about a million other things to do before my 4am departure, which means there’s neither the time or incentive to do that great of an update. Of course, underachieving isn’t just a passion, IT’S A WAY OF LIFE, BABY, so I’m gonna do my best to make Dolmio out of dogshit, despite having no idea what’s out this week or what the hell is going on the world f DVD. However, I just bought Jackass on VCD, so, um… ON WITH THE CONTENT~! WE’RE ALL GOING ON A SUMMER HOLIDAY Fans of wrinkly British crooner Sir Cliff Richard are in for a treat the man is staging a one man invasion of the DVD format. Okay, it’s not quite that extravagant, but it’s certainly distressing enough. August 5th 2002 is D-Day, with The Cliff Richard DVD Collection hitting unsuspecting streets Region 2-wide for £24.99 (around $35). The digi-pack contains The Young Ones, Summer Holiday and Wonderful Life in their original 2.35:1 ratio and mono soundtrack. Mono! It’s a bloody music DVD and it’s in mono! Well, if it was Elvis, I’d be up in arms, but given that it’s CLIFF FUCKING RICHARD… I care this much. The only extras are a Theatrical Trailer (!!!!!) and Director’s Commentary (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) whoa, look out Fight Club. Incidentally, I was watching the Last Action Hero DVD the other day (yeah, fuck you too), and that six-minute “Behind-The-Scenes-Featurette” was one of the most insulting, yet entertaining, supplemental features I’ve ever seen. The only redeeming aspect of it is seeing Arnie absolutely mesmerised by the concept of the film (“It’s an action movie WITHIN an action movie!!”) and utterly convinced of the brilliance of the script. Seriously, it’s worth getting the DVD just to see the look on his face the same wonder in his eye as a five year-old meeting Michael Jordan. Fuck Cliff Richard! And thanks to The DVD Times for the “story”. PANIC ATTACK Did you know that the Atkins’ Diet is actually supposed to remedy panic attacks? Crazy. The rather splendid David Fincher flick Panic Room is getting the DVD treatment on September 17th, as I dutifully revealed here last week (I think). What I didn’t mention, is that the disc will be a bloody bastard SuperBit disc. Anamorphic and 5.1 are all well and good, and higher bitrates are great for those that enjoy them. The problem is, I’d rather have a shitload of extras than any of that garbage. Which is why a SuperBit Deluxe edition of the flick (the flick on one disc with an extra disc of extras) is planned and on the way towards the end of the year. Great, but that still means that a commentary track what is usually the main reason to buy DVD features is likely out of the question. I seriously hope that this isn’t a trend that other big releases follow. I’m all for SuperBit editions, really I am, but in addition to not in place of regular editions. When it gets to the point that the vast majority of people who simply don’t have the technology to benefit from the (admittedly vastly) improved audio/visual glory would almost be better off just buying the VHS, there’s something up. Maybe I’m overreacting, and maybe they’ll manage to squeeze a commentary onto the SuperBit disc (in which case I am both a dick and an apologetic one), but hey, at least I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong. IS THE DVD INDUSTRY? We’ll see baby, we’ll see. Thank who? The Times, of course. NO MORE CAPTIONS BACK TO THE FUTURE I’m sick of gabbing about this frigging DVD, so here’s the skinny straight from the press release. "It's a blast from the past, present and future this holiday season as Universal Studios Home Video releases the Back to the Future Trilogy on DVD for the very first time on December 17, 2002 for $39.95 MAP. An absolute must-have for any collection, the three-disc boxed set contains Back to the Future, Back to the Future II and Back to the Future III with newly re-mastered audio soundtracks and is fully loaded with an array of never-before-seen bonus features. Pre-order close is October 29. In addition, the VHS boxed set is priced at $24.95 MAP with an order close date of November 12… "The magic and wonder of the entire Back to the Future trilogy films is explored in the three disc set that includes over 10 hours of all-new, never-before-seen bonus materials. Presented in a holographic foil embossed pack that communicates the fun, exciting, fast-paced breakthrough adventure-comedy of the films, the collection is sure to please the most demanding fan. Trilogy bonus features include the Universal Animated Anecdotes, in which consumers can watch the feature film and simultaneously learn over 150 fun facts, including trivia and hilarious bloopers; Storyboards to Final Feature Comparison will allow viewers to experience the filmmaking process through storyboards and compare storyboards to the final feature sequence. In addition, the unique DVD-ROM destination, Universal Studios Total Axess, will provide viewers the opportunity to see behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, original scripts, and participate in fan mail and sweepstakes." Bonus Material: - All new audio commentary with actor Michael J. Fox, director Robert Zemeckis, producer Neil Canton and producer and screenwriter Bob Gale. - Hilarious outtakes from all three films - Deleted scenes - The Hover Board test - The Making of Back to the Future Featurette - The Secrets of the BTTF Trilogy - Special Segment, Universal Animated Anecdotes - Fun and interesting facts about the film - Huey Lewis Music Video - Production archive - Teaser, original theatrical trailers and much more. Thanks to, um, IGN. I think. KEEFER SUTHERLAND IN GOOD CAREER MOVE SHOCKER Hot on the heels of their previous Region 2 announcement, 24 has now received an official Region 1 release date from the minions at Fox. The entire season can be found in the boxset that will retail at $59.99 on September 17th. No word on whether the series will receive individual episode releases, but it isn’t really that kind of show. Anamorphic widescreen and Dolby 5.1 has been confirmed, as have select episode commentaries, two featurettes, episode details/synopsis and Easter Eggs, with more extras to be confirmed. A few details have emerged on the Region 2 release, which streets slightly earlier on 29th August. While the set will be anamorphic, only Dolby 2.0 has been confirmed thus far, although two extras which aren’t (officially or announced) on the R1 set will be included; a Season 2 preview and an alternate ending (YES~!). While these will probably appear as Eggs or some of the to be confirmed extras on the Region 1 set, it’s worth bearing in mind that they’re on the R2 version for collectors and completists (check out Play.com (cheap plug, thumbs up) as always). Like I get my news from anywhere else. "DVD ROT" A very interesting newspiece from over at the Times - it's worth going over to the article and reading all the comments, as there's a pretty interesting discussion about the situation which you should all at leats be aware of. "We're getting widespread reports of problems with a number of high-profile MGM releases including The Terminator and Silence of the Lambs. It appears that these discs are suffering from what has been termed 'DVD Rot' - and this actually appears to be caused by a problem with the glue holding the two layers on dual-layer discs together. We have been in touch with MGM's PR company regarding this and as soon as we have any official word we'll post it here. This appears to be a similar problem to that which was reported to affected early Region 1 and 2 copies of The Matrix last year. What to look out for: 'DVD Rot' is usually visible on a disc to the naked eye. What you can expect to see is a 'milky' patch on the disc's surface where the bonding that holds the layers together is failing. However, it's common for perfectly good discs to show similar light-coloured swirls even if they are not affected so don't panic if your copy looks like this - as long as it plays there's nothing to worry about." <A HREF=HYPERLINKS AHOY> Couple of nice links for you to check out, since I was too lazy to bother writing them up. IDLENESS WILL GETYOU A JOB IN JOURNALISM, KIDS. Over at the almighty Criterion palace, word is that Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound as well as the mockumentary Man Bites Dog are getting the blessed Collection treatment in September. Criterion website Check out the brand spanking-new site dedicated to the upcoming Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown Special Editions. He’s the only famous person called Quentin! a new website Meanwhile, over at StarWars.com, ol’ pottymouth Rick McCallum has been wittering about Droids and the Ewoks features getting DVD’d. on the official Star Wars site And geez, if you’re REALLY bored, you can go check out my Alien Legacy DVD covers I made last year. HUGE FUCKING .JPGs HAVE ATTUTUDE~! And with that, I bid thee farewell. Oh, while I’m thinking about it, I can’t figure out how to see the signal being output by my DVD player on my PC. It’s all connected through S-Video, so I dunno. I can output from my PC to the TV fine, but do I need software to open a window to let me see the DVD signal or what? Ah well, I’ll keep fiddling, I guess. Anyway, take care folks, see you in seven. Peace. Jay Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
