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" The Gravel Pit "
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Entertainment
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Movies / TV
The DVD Discharge
Posted by Alex Padrino on Feb 23, 2004, 18:09
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Out with the old and in with the new. That timeless adage certainly rings true in this case. Greetings one and all, I�m Alex Padrino and my presence has been requested to fill the large void left by the freshly retired Jay Spree. While Jay has decided to enter cyber retirement so that he may spend his days yelling at ruffians to get off his lawn and reminisce about the good old days of 1988, he has undoubtedly left some large shoes to fill. Being the braveheart that I am, I�ve accepted to task of doing just that.
Before we get rolling, perhaps we should breeze through the introduction process. For you longtime readers of the site, you may remember that I�ve actually been a part of the staff in a small capacity since last summer. My repertoire in regards to this site is limited to a pair of WWF Coliseum Video reviews, a WWE Confidential recap, and a review of Dawson�s Creek: The Complete First Season (along with O.R. Polk Jr.). Looking through this hypertext-filled paragraph, two things are apparent: 1) I�m extremely sporadic with my contributions to the site and 2) I�m a liar when it comes to posting old tape reviews. Regardless, this position will require me to nix the former and hopefully, doing that will help take care of the latter in due time.
This all brings us to the question I�m sure many of you are barking at your monitor at this moment, �Why the hell would a guy who�s written two WWF tape reviews and filled in for a week to recap a C-rate WWE show be asked to take over the god-like Jay Spree�s DVD column?!� Well, maybe that�s not an exact quote, but I�m sure I paraphrased it nicely. The answer to the question is simple, really. Over in another corner of cyberspace resides a message board quite fond to my heart known as SNKT. It is this diamond in the rough of a message board that I often posted what I dubbed Bruiser�s DVD Discharge. It was within these posts that the week�s new releases were given a look at, as well as weekly deals around the circuit. So despite me posting these pretty infrequently, as well, it was primarily because of these that Dr. Tom asked if I�d like to take Spree�s place.
Although my schedule over the past month has just been insane (which has made my posting habits at SNKT and TSM almost non-existent), I�ll do my best to bring you all the DVD Discharge that you�ll soon learn to love and adore each week.
For those of you who�ve actually checked out any of the DVD Discharge posts, you know that my style is a bit different than Spree�s. I�ll be giving the format I used a bit of a facelift as the weeks roll on, but don�t reach for the tissues just yet, as great as Jay�s column were, I�m sure we�ll grow to love each other. Enough of the sappy Full House-like banter, though, let�s get down to business.
One aspect of Jay�s columns I was always fond of was the little section that greeted you each time and informed you what he was feeling in the way of TV, video games, music, and DVDs that particular week. I�ll be keeping that aspect alive within my own columns, although I�ve decided to drop the video game section, since I�m not a video gamer by any stretch of the imagination (I know, I know. What sort of Internet writer am I?). Instead, I�ll be introducing Pop Nausea, a little section where I may pick a hot single, TV show, movie, or part of pop culture that�s really gotten under my skin. After all, writing on the Internet and being cynical at almost every turn go hand-in-hand. So let�s give this a try, shall we?
Idiot Box: King of Queens syndicated reruns (like most, I�m only now experiencing the greatness that is this ingenious show thanks to syndication)
Heavy Rotation: The Grey Album (a genius concept from DJ Danger Mouse, who samples The Beatles� White Album and melds it with Jay-Z�s The Black Album)
Digital Viewing: Disc Three of The Critic: The Complete Series set (Family Guy has nothing on this show in regards to obscure pop culture references)
Pop Nausea: Eamon�s I Don�t Want You Back. An okay tune the first couple times around, but after that, you start to think this whiney guy needs to shut the hell up and get on with his life.
Okay, so I�ve already lied once about getting going with the actual DVD content of this column, but the wait is over.
Notable New Releases
Plenty of sketch comedy relief for consumers this week, with Chappelle�s Show � Season 1 and a handful of new SNL �Best-of� releases dropping in stores. Chappelle�s Show, a hot 2003 mid-season replacement, stars comedian Dave Chappelle in an array of hilarious skits, many bordering on controversial. Nevertheless, the show instantly became a smash hit with viewers, which explains the quick release of the complete first season a year after its debut.
I'm Rick James, bitch!
Spread out over two discs, the set contains all 12 episodes that made up the first season, all of which are uncensored. Chappelle and fellow creator Neal Brennan drop in on five of these episodes to deliver commentary, which will be interesting, no doubt. Additional features include a 30-minute deleted scene and gag reel, as well as an Ask a Black Dude with Paul Mooney featurette, which clocks in at about 20 minutes. With a price tag of less than 20 bucks at most outlets, this set is definitely worth your cash.
The aforementioned SNL titles include Saturday Night Live - 25th Anniversary, Saturday Night Live - The Best of Chris Rock (Bonus Edition) , Saturday Night Live - The Best of Eddie Murphy (Bonus Edition) , Saturday Night Live - The Best of Mike Myers (Bonus Edition) , Saturday Night Live - The Best of Phil Hartman . The supposed �Bonus Editions� are re-releases and while that would suggest there�s something that makes them different from their original version, the cover art seems to be the only element that isn�t the same. The 25 Anniversary and Phil Hartman discs are both specials that have aired on TV (much like the rest of the SNL titles) and don�t seem to offer any extras, which may leave only the die-hard fans having any interest in them.
Sci-fi geeks will surely have their weekend full, as the first season of Star Trek Voyager hits shelves as part of a five-disc set. Actually, scratch that. I�m sure just about anyone who picks this one up will do so Tuesday and have it polished off by Thursday at the latest, leaving their weekend wide open for, well, uh, whatever it is that Trekkies, Trekkers, Truckers, or whatever the hell they want to call themselves, do on the weekend.
 Bye-bye dating
In all seriousness, this set (like anything else with the Star Trek name on it) is pretty loaded with additional features. Clocking in at over 12 hours, the set contains all 15 episodes of the first season, as well as extras such as eight behind-the-scenes featurettes, photo galleries, Real Science with Adam Bormanis, and more.
Never seeing the appeal of any of the Star Trek shows or movies, I�ve got nothing really to add to this one. I guess this is considered one of the weaker shows when compared to the others, but no doubt it has its audience.
If you�re itching to take a look in on the prison system but don�t feel like leaving your coach, you�ll be pleased to know that Oz: The Complete Third Season drops tomorrow. The three-disc set is sparse on the features (22 minutes of deleted scenes and one commentary being the only extras to speak of), but delivers all eight episodes of the show�s third season. Much like all of the HBO original TV series sets on the market, this set carries a fairly hefty price tag of about $45, although people will surely still make the purchase, as they have with previous sets.
 Better than a carton of smokes
Speaking of premium channel original TV series, the complete third season of Showtime�s Queer As Folk is also on tap this week. Spread over five discs, the set carries a fairly heavy price tag of around $77, but delivers nicely on the bonus material. Included in the set are such features as Behind the Camera, Hot Summer Days, Wrap Party Reel, Enter Babylon, Los Angeles, a music video, Meet the Folks, an animated photo gallery, a commentary track, and a Season 4 sneak peek, among others. I�m not a huge fan of the show, so I can�t really elaborate on any of this, but it�s obviously got a following if complete seasons are still being released.
Matchstick Men, starring Nicholas Cage, has been generating a bit of a buzz since the street date of the DVD release was announced. Obviously if I�m talking about it here that means it drops Tuesday, along with some modest features. A commentary track featuring director / producer Ridley Scott, writer Nicolas Griffin and writer / producer Ted Griffin and a featurette with Scott highlight the bonus material section. For all you true DVD aficionados, you�ll be pleased to know it�s coming to you in Widescreen anamorphic format.
The prestigious Criterion Collection adds a pair of titles to its library tomorrow, with the 1956 Richard III and the 1962 Salvatore Giuliano being the lucky inductees. As you�d imagine, both releases are stacked with an assortment of impressive-sounding extras. As per the usual with Criterion, they both contain new transfers, commentaries, documentaries, and essays, among other things.
Changing gears a bit here, the often-forgotten, but stellar 1985 teen flick Just One of the Guys finally finds its way to DVD, but like so many movies of the genre from the era, there�s a downside to it. First of all, Columbia TriStar continues its quest to release as many anticipated titles with little or no extras as humanly possibly. With this flick, it�s the latter. Even worse is the fact that it comes to us in the dreaded Full Screen format, which should appease the rubes out there who think that Widescreen cuts out parts of the picture. The final kicker is even after all of this, the disc still carries a price tag that would suggest that it didn�t absolutely suck. You can bank on this one going through a significant price drop within the next year, much like the equally underrated and forgotten 1985 film Secret Admirer, which was also served the same injustices when it made it to DVD in January of 2003.
That�s basically it in the way of notable new titles, although there�s a handful of History Channel titles being released, although my Early Western Civilization teacher has reminded us many times that pretty much anything on the channel is sensationalized tripe. There�s also a Super Bowl XXXVIII DVD out for those of you who care (I don�t, but my opinion rarely matters). And finally, for you fans of garbage, there�s one of those Spy Kids movies out this week (the third one, I believe, although they�re all really the same). So now that you know what�s out, you probably wanna know where to buy it, right? As always, I�ve got you covered.
Price Tags from Around the Circuit
The standard price for Chappelle�s Show looks to be $19.99, a steal as I said earlier. If you�re looking for Star Trek Voyager, Best Buy seems to be the place to be. The set can be had for $99.99 and there�s also a limited edition bonus disc thrown into the mix when you buy the set there. I�m almost tempted to go buy the set just for the bonus disc, simply because the set itself can easily be resold for about the retail price and these Best Buy bonus discs (which are almost always fluff pieces) bring in mad cash on eBay just a couple weeks after the discs are all gone.
Oz carries a $49.95 price tag at Circuit City, as opposed to Best Buy, where it�s calling for $54.95 of your hard-earned dollars. The price difference is likely a result of Best Buy giving you a $20 discount when you buy two seasons and $50 off your purchase when you buy all three.
Matchstick Men is two bucks cheaper at Best Buy in comparison to Circuit City (with the price for the former being $17.99). Target jumps in the mix by offering the title for $16.99. But Target sucks, so a dollar difference is meaningless to me.
Both Best Buy and Circuit City are running price specials on the Spy Kids movies if you�re actually interested. If you are, though, I�ll kindly ask you to look it up yourself, as I don�t feel I should aide such a foolish purchase.
As most of you know, most of these stores usually run weekly specials where they offer catalog titles at special prices (i.e. 2-for-$20). Sometimes they�re good deals, but they�re usually nothing to give a second look at. Nevertheless, I feel I should at least let you know what they are this week, as to not discriminate (although I just did that a paragraph ago).
At Best Buy, the following titles are 2-for-$15: Hoosiers, West Side Story (single disc edition), A Chorus Line, River's Edge, The Cutting Edge, Legally Blonde, A Guy Thing, Thomas Crown, Affair, Colors, Great Escape, Dark Blue, Rocky, Barbershop, Red Dawn, Navy Seals, Manchurian Candidate. A couple of decent titles, although I�m pretty tired of seeing a few of these clunkers always showing up in these specials.
I�d be remiss if I didn�t mention that the following titles are $9.99 each at Best Buy this week: Purple Rain, Grease, Titanic, Saturday Night Fever, Bodyguard. So if you�ve got a thing for Prince and John Travolta, I�d imagine you�re pretty happy right now.
Never ones to accept defeat, Circuit City is offering the following titles at $7.99 each this week: Any Given Sunday, Replacements, Reservoir Dogs SE, Black Sheep, Planes Trains & Automobiles, Face Off, Patriot Games, King Of Comedy, Footloose, Shaft, Exit Wounds, The Wedding Singer, Tomb Raider, City Of Angels, Something To Talk About. Circuit City definitely has Best Buy beat here, as there are quite a few excellent titles in that list for the asking price. That�s a damn fine price for the special edition of Reservoir Dogs, considering that not too long ago, you couldn�t get the old, inferior edition of the film for that price. Of course, you won�t get one of those boss slipcases that all of us early birds got when they released the special edition a year and a half ago. Black Sheep is a cult favorite of just about any guy who isn�t lacking a sense of humor, and while the Wedding Singer is almost always on these lists, there are worst Adam Sandler flicks out there. And let�s not forget that you can celebrate the last week of Black History Month by copping that Shaft disc.
That rounds out the main specials this week. These deals should be good all over the country, but don�t start tipping over display stands if your Circuit City won�t sell Footloose to you for $7.99. Now, how about some DVD news?
Paramount Makes Offer Not Hard to Refuse
After much speculation over the past several months, it�s official: Paramount is planning on re-releasing the original Godfather on DVD this spring. Lifted from DVD Debate.com:
�We have had confirmation that Paramount plan to re-release Francis Ford Coppola's classic The Godfather in May. Previously only available in The Godfather Trilogy box set, this release will be virtually identical in content to the box set's first disc, including the Coppola commentary track.
The only major difference that this single disc release will have over the box set, is that the transfer for The Godfather has been digitally enhanced by a team at Lowry Digital Images, the very same guys responsible for the outstanding Indiana Jones DVD transfers released last year.�
For those who don�t own the trilogy set, this may not be a bad pickup, but for those who do, it�d be hard to justify the purchase. Yes, a new transfer is great, but you have to be one major DVD buff to be willing to shell out around 20 bones for a DVD you basically already own. At this point, those who don�t own the original box set might as well hold out, as I�m sure we�ll see all three movies re-released in the near future.
More Simpsons Season 4 Details that Aren�t a Release Date
I think just about all of us are fully aware of the unofficial release pattern that the Simpsons DVD sets have taken since the first one dropped in 2001. Like it or not, one season a year appears to be all we�re getting. So in between those approximate 364 days we�re sitting around on our hands waiting for the next season to drop, we�re forced to accept news tidbits about the sets to tide us over. With that said, here are a couple of said tidbits that have been going around this past week (courtesy of TVShowsonDVD.com):
- It looks as if Jon Lovitz, who was a part of several episodes of the fourth season, will be doing commentary for them, despite not being able to do any for his own short-lived animated series, The Critic, which got its own DVD release a couple of weeks back.
- Conan O�Brien fans will also be happy to hear that he�s recently recorded commentary tracks for the episodes that he penned during his time on the show, including the legendary Monorail episode.
A lot of people gripe about the commentaries not being worth the wait of only getting one season a year. Personally, I�m in the small minority that can (barely) handle the wait because the commentary tracks add an entirely new dynamic to the set, especially for hardcore fans of the show. I�ve heard complaints about them not being that good, but I guess I haven�t heard those ones, as I�ve enjoyed all of them. When it comes down to it, I�d rather wait and get excellent sets than get thrown-together barebone releases every six months.
Toons for the �Sophisticated�
This past November, we saw Cartoon Network issue �best of� compilations of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Those were obviously a success, as we�re slated to get more. Volume Two of ATHF and Volume One of Sealab 2021 will be coming your way June 15, with each offering 13 episodes and plenty of features spread out over two discs (credit: TVShowsonDVD.com). Great news for fans of anything Adult Swim and Cartoon Network is clearly on to something with these DVD sets. We�ll close this week with some news that I�m quite happy to finally here.
Bitches Leave (but the Robocop Trilogy Can Stay)
I�m sure that�s what Clarence Boddicker would have said had he just taken a peek at this latest news from DVD Angle.com:
�From MGM, look for a special edition of Robocop to arrive as part of the Robocop Trilogy on 06/08 for $39.96. Robocop (the 102-minute theatrical cut) will be presented by way of a new hi-def anamorphic widescreen transfer with DD 5.1 audio. There will also be a commentary (with Paul Verhoeven, producer Jon Davidson, and writer Edward Neumeier), a new 36-minute documentary Flesh And Steel: The Making of RoboCop, 4 deleted scenes, a 6-minute film-to-storyboard comparison with optional commentary by Phil Tippett, 2 vintage featurettes, 101 stills, 2 trailers, and a TV spot. Also included with this set will be MGM's debut of Robocop 2 and Robocop 3. Both will be movie-only discs with anamorphic widescreen transfers and DD 5.1 audio (Note: the old, out-of-print, Image releases were letterbox with 2-channel audio). Robocop 2 and Robocop 3 will be available individually for $14.98 each, but Robocop: Special Edition will be exclusive to this box set.�
Excuse me while I totally lose it. This sort of set has been rumored for quite some time (folks within Region 2 have already had it for over a year), but it�s great that there�s finally some solid factual information that takes the set from being a pipedream and makes it a reality.
Like most folks who adore the original film as much as I do, the Criterion Collection release of it is stored away nicely among our other DVDs. However, that release is barely up to the standards of your typical special edition of today, so it�s nice to see the movie finally get the proper treatment (especially since the Criterion disc has long since gone out of print and the two MGM releases of the movie are horrible).
So June 8, you can count me there, and my hat�s off to MGM for making anyone who wants the first movie buy the other two, as well. It would�ve been nice to see the sequel get better treatment, but to hell with the third one. I can�t believe anyone would even consider buying that one by itself. And thanks to DavisDVD.com, we've got a look at the tenative cover art for the set:
 Straight up ownage
Okay, folks, it�s time to say goodbye. Pretty sub-par week in the way of new releases, but hey, I�ll be here when there�s an even worse crop to choose from. I hope you enjoyed this, especially since I sacrificed some much-needed studying for my first major Early Western Civilization exam to complete this bad boy in time. I�ll be sure to let you all know of my triumphs or failures in regards to that next week. If the latter�s true, I can always tell my professor that it�s all Dr. Tom�s fault, at which point, I�m sure she�ll proceed to smack with across the face with a replica of the Kritios Boy�s head.
And even though I still don�t have an email account on this site, you can still drop me a line and tell me how awesome my work is or how much you miss Jay and I�ll never live up to his legacy. Either way, it�s all gravy.
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