This week’s column is gonna be really abbreviated. I will be checking into the hospital over the weekend and don’t know what is going to happen after that, so I’ll just run down what to expect from the weekend.
SAME OLD CRAP
This week marks the release of Norbit. Hallelujah and Praise the Lord. Eddie Murphy in a fat suit. Well, the movie comes out and includes such extras as The Making of Norbit, Man of a 1,000 Faces featurette, Power Tap featurette, The Stunts of Norbit featurette, 14 Deleted Scenes and a Photo Gallery. That means it is more stacked than The Fountain. Fuck the DVD manufacturers in this case. Makes me hope that Aronofsky’s wish for Criterion to swoop in to buy his DVD comes true. Anything is better than this shit.
The Messengers also comes out this week and I can’t help but look at it and think of The Grudge, Dark Water, The Return, Darkness Falls, They – oh hell, just about every low budget ghost movie to come along the last 6 years or so. This one stars the little kid from Panic Room and another kid who sees things. Directed by those wacky Pang Brothers, this DVD will include cast and filmmaker’s commentary and "Exhuming The Messengers", a series of 7 behind-the-scenes featurettes.
TELEVISION SHOWS
A couple of fantastic television shows are being released this week as well. First up is the first season of The Henry Rollins Show. Nick ran a pretty fair review of it on the site (read it here). While his review was not too great (he liked it but found it lacking) and the DVD set has nothing for extras, I think it might be worth picking up. Rollins is fascinating and the shows that I caught on IFC were great. He is just so great to listen to, and while his interview subjects don’t always match up to him, he alone makes it worth watching. (note: his guest on this week’s show is William Shatner. Must Watch Television.)*
Another show released this week is the Denis Leary hit Rescue Me, Season 3. Now, I remember a time when Nick seemed to hate television, or at least most the things on it. Well, in a short time he reviewed The Henry Rollins Show (7.5/10) and also reviewed this disk (9.0/10) – read it here. I guess TV is winning the boss over. Or at least it is a hell of a lot better than it used to be. The season was great, as all three of them have been top notch. FX puts out some of the best television there is right now. This DVD also is filled with extras: Behind the Hose, Behind the Smoke – Behind-the-Scenes Featurette, Being Denis Leary, Deleted Scenes, Fighting Fires in a Vertical City, Gag Reel, Going to the Gay Place, Location Tour, Rescue Me Comedy Short, Rescue Me Season 4 Preview and The Bravest Traditions. It is stacked. **
The Dead Zone is a show that I have always loved. Yeah, sometimes it gets a little formulaic, but it is still great television. Anthony Michael Hall is a great lead man for the show and his supporting cast is top notch. I really am interested to see how the story turns out with the main plot line involving Sean Patrick Flanery’s Greg Stillson. Being a huge Stephen King fan, I look forward to seeing if the show keeps the gloomy, downer ending that the book ends with for such a popular show. The Dead Zone, Season Five will include all eleven episodes and a ton of extras, including audio commentaries, deleted scenes, and two exclusive behind-the-scenes featurettes: "A Day with JLA" – a guided tour of a typical day on set with series star John L. Adams, and “The Other Side of the Camera” – explores the directorial debut of series stars Chris Bruno and John L. Adams and their move to the director’s chairs for Season Five.
Lots of other television releases as usual including CHiPs Season 1, season’s 3 and 4 of The Cosby Show, Dante’s Cove Season 2, The Fall Guy Season 1, Hex Season 1, The Complete Series of Hogan’s Heroes, Mission Impossible Season 2, The Outer Limits Volume 1, Robin Hood Season 1, Seinfeld Season 8, King of Late Night: The Best of The Tonight Show featuring Johnny Carson, and two WWE wrestling DVDs: WWE Ladder Match and The Most Powerful Families in Wrestling.
* also available this week is Henry Rollins: Uncut from NYC
** also available this week is Denis Leary: The Ultimate Collection
RE-RELEASES
Cinema Classics Collection is releasing another group of movies this week. You can expect to find some great Special Editions of some film classics coming this week. First up is a threesome of Voyage flicks. Fantastic Voyage, Neptune Factor and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea: Global Warning Edition will all hit the shelves filled with extras.
FANTASTIC VOYAGE
- Commentary by Jeff Bond
- "Lava Lamps & Celluloid: A Tribute to the Visual Effects of Fantastic Voyage" Featurette
- Whirlpool Scene: Storyboard-to-Scene Comparison
- Screen Test with Tina Marquand and Stephen Boyd
- Deleted Scene – Script to Storyboard
- Storyboards- Pre-Miniaturization Sequence
- Production Art
- Production Stills
- Studio Archives
- Original Props (with video & stills)
- Marketing Materials
- Theatrical Trailer
- TV Promo
- 2 TV Spots
- Poster & Lobby Card Gallery
NEPTUNE FACTOR
- Ernest Borgnine on The Neptune Factor
- TV Spots
- Trailers
- Radio Spots (Audio over stills)
- Photo Gallery
- Theatrically Released Isolated Score & F/X Track by Lalo Schifrin
VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA: GLOBAL WARNING EDITION
- Commentary by Tim Colliver
- Barbara Eden Interview (w/optional PLAY ALL)
- Production Art
- Production Stills
- Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea Comic Book
- Collectables
- Production Code documents
- Original Props (w/video & stills)
- Theatrical Trailer
- Original Exhibitor’s Campaign Manual
- Poster & Lobby Card Gallery
Three War movies will also be released by Cinema Classics Collection including The Sand Pebbles, Twelve O’clock High and Von Ryan’s Express. These discs are packed as hell.
THE SAND PEBBLES
- Audio Commentary by Director Robert Wise and actors Candice Bergen, Mako & Richard Crenna
- Isolated score and FX with commentary by Music Producer Nick Redman, Film Music Historian Jon Burlingame, Screenwriter (The Limey, Dark City) and Film Historian Lem Dobbs
- Roadshow Version Feature
- Robert Wise Roadshow Intro
- Richard Zanuck Roadshow Intro
- "The Making Of Sand Pebbles" Featurettes (view individually or play all)
- Side Bars: Steve McQueen Remembered, Robert Wise In Command, China 1926
- A Ship Called SAN PABLO- Narrated by Richard Attenborough
- The Secret of the SAN PABLO- Narrated by Richard Crenna
- Radio Documentaries Narrated by Richard Attenborough:
- Changsha Bund and the Streets of Taipei
- A Ship Called SAN PABLO
- Radio Spots
- Theatrical Trailer
- Still Galleries
- MAD Magazine’s THE "SAM PEBBLES"
TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH
- Commentary by World War II Film Historian
- General Frank Armstrong: The Inspiration for General Savage
- The Legacy of the Eighth Airforce
- Memories of Twelve O’Clock High
VON RYAN’S EXPRESS
- Commentary with WW II film Historian
- Isolated Score Track with Commentary
- Von Ryan’s Express: Reliving the Adventure
- Hollywood and World War II Films
- The Music of Jerry Goldsmith
- "Bringing Movies to Life: The Legacy of Jerry Goldsmith"
- Theatrical Trailer
- Spanish Trailer
- 3 TV Spots
- Interactive Pressbook Gallery
- Gallery
There are also two box sets coming out (with the choice to buy the movies separately as well). The first is The Sergio Leone Anthology (A Fistful Of Dollars / For A Few Dollars More / The Good, The Bad And The Ugly / Duck, You Sucker) with the second being Heroes Fight for Freedom: World War II Collection, Volume 2 (36 Hours / Air Force / Command Decision / Hell to Eternity / The Hill / Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo). Available in the UK since April 2005 the re-mastered and feature packed editions of A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and Duck, You Sucker (A Fistful of Dynamite) are finally headed to Region 1 DVD as Two-Disc Collector’s Editions alongside a newly packaged and Fox distributed The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Collector’s Edition). The Good, The Bad and The Ugly offers the same bonus features as the last MGM Collector’s Edition DVD release. Here are the extras for the others:
A Fistful of Dollars
- Audio Commentary by film historian Sir Christopher Frayling
- A New Kind Of Hero Featurette
- A Few Weeks In Spain Featurette – Clint Eastwood on the experience of making the film
- Tre Voici Featurette – Three friends, Alberto Grimaldi, Sergio Donati and Mickey Knox, remember A Fistful Of Dollars
- Not Ready For Primetime Featurette – Monte Hellman discussion on The Prologue Shot for the first TV release to legitimize The Man With No Name’s immoral killing
- Additional Scene – The Network Prologue (with Harry Dean Stanton)
- Location Comparisons: Intercutting Film Clips with Current Footage Of Locations Used Featurette
- 10 Radio Spots
- Double Bill Trailer
- Eight-page booklet
For A Few Dollars More
- Audio Commentary by film historian Sir Christopher Frayling
- A New Standard Featurette – Frayling on For A Few Dollars More
- Back For More Featurette – Clint Eastwood remembers For A Few Dollars More
- Tre Voici Featurette – Three friends, Alberto Grimaldi, Sergio Donati and Mickey Knox, remember For A Few Dollars More
- For A Few Dollars More: The Original American Release Verions Featurette – alternate scenes/alternate releases
- Location Comparisons: Intercutting Film Clips with Current Footage Of Locations Used Featurette
- 12 Radio Spots
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Double Bill Trailer
- Eight-page booklet
Duck, You Sucker (A Fistful of Dynamite)
- Audio Commentary by film historian Sir Christopher Frayling
- The Myth Of Revolution Featurette – Frayling on Leone’s political leanings and his
maturing method and style - Sergio Donati Remembers Duck You Sucker Featurette
- Once Upon A Time In Italy Featurette – Behind-the-scenes of putting together an exhibit on Leone
- Sorting Out The Versions Featurette – A look at the different versions of the film including the originally released 100-minute version and the 157-minute version included on this disc, the long flashback scene and United Artists’ decision to rename the film
- Restoration Italian Style Featurette – John Kirk discusses restoring the original Italian version for the first time on DVD
- Location Comparisons: Intercutting Film Clips with Current Footage Of Locations Used Featurette
- Six Radio Spots
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Eight-page booklet
In the Heroes Fight for Freedom: World War II Collection, Volume 2, you get the Howard Hawk’s directed Air Force, Clark Gable staring in Command Decision, Sean Connery staring in Sidney Lumet’s The Hill, James Garner staring in 36 Hours, as well as Hell to Eternity and Thirty Seconds over Tokyo. All six movies will be enjoying their Region 1 DVD debut and includes trailers and short films spread throughout the collection. Some of the shorts includes Oscar-nominated Technicolor drama short Women at War and Academy Award-nominated Pete Smith Specialty Short Movie Pests.
In the not really classic’s category we get double dips with The Fantastic Four: Extended Edition, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Extra Frills Edition and Meatballs (Special Edition). Fantastic Four is being released just in time for the sequel to hit theaters. Most of the special features are the same ones that hit the non-US special edition, but the extended cut version is unique to this DVD. I have no clue why they are re-releasing Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The Meatballs release is following in the footsteps of other 80’s releases over the last few months (Coming to America, Porky’s, etc…)
FANTASTIC FOUR: EXTENDED EDITION
- U.S. Theatrical Version (105mins):
- Cast Commentary by Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis
- Commentary by director Tim Story, writers Michael France and Mark Frost, producer Avi Arad and executive producer Kevin Feige
- Seamlessly Branched Extended Cut (126mins)
- Commentary by director Tim Story, writers Michael France and Mark Frost, producer Avi Arad and executive producer Kevin Feige
- 19 extended/deleted scenes
- Two alternate Main Title sequences
- Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer trailer
- Silver Surfer featurette
- Trailers
- TV Spots
- Heroes Are Born: Making Of Fantastic Four documentary
- The Baxter Building: Declassified featurette
- The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine featurette
- Jack Kirby: Storyteller featurette
- From Comic Book to Film featurette
- Multi-Angle Animatic-to-Scene Study
- Visiting the Stately Ross Museum featurette
- Collectibles Gallery (50 stills)
- Stills Gallery
- Behind the Scenes
- Concept Art
- Character Sculpts
- Costumes
- Characters
- Human Torch Flame Tests
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: Extra Frills Edition
- Audio Commentary by Director Stephan Elliot
- Birth of a Queen Featurette
- Deleted Scenes:
- How Trumpet Got His Nickname
- Check-in At The Checkers Motel
- An Outtage Before Dinner
- Auntie Picks Up The Pieces
- Tidbits from the Set (13)
- Blooper Reel – The Bus from Blooperville
- Fabulous Photo Gallery
- Theatrical Trailer
- Theatrical Teaser Trailer
MEATBALLS (SPECIAL EDITION)
- Commentary with Ivan Reitman and Writer/Producer Daniel Goldberg
- Three-Part Making-of Documentary
Finally, there are a bunch of movies being released with new covers. Coming in the new Linticular covered editions are single disc editions of Terminator, The Abyss (Director’s Cut), Robocop and Alien vs. Predator. Which movie is not like the others? Don’t waste your money on the Robocop DVD, as a real nice Steelbook special edition is coming in a couple of months with all new extras.
These titles are being released in Special 2-Disc Steelbook editions this week: Fight Club, Platoon, Hannibal, X2: X-Men United, Die Hard, Man on Fire, The Day After Tomorrow, Cast Away and The Omen. I am pretty sure there is not much differance between these and the special editions already out except for the cover, so they might be for collector’s only (or those who don’t already own them).
Here are the discs coming in High Definition this week:
- Coming to America (Blu-Ray)
- Trading Places (Blu-Ray)
- Hellboy (Blu-Ray)
- Blood Diamond (Blu-Ray)
- Rio Bravo (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD)
- The Cowboys (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD)
No coming soon or bargain bin this week. There is a 20% off sale over at DeepDiscount.com, so check it out. Use the code "DVDTALK" when you check out. Hopefully things go well at the hospital and I can get a real column out next week. See you then.