DVD Spin Doctor

Pioneering DVD review site calls it quits

The DVD Journal has written its final page, alas. The 9-year-old web site apparently fell victim to the demands of adult life.

"The Editor," hanging on to anonymity until the end, cited "things that happen to sensible people when the subtle business of adulthood creeps up on them unawares." He wrote a long state-of-the-format piece as a farewell, noting that DVDs first hit the shelves just about 10 years ago:

"Since then, we've posted almost 4,000 DVD reviews, watched the retail sheets for the best upcoming DVDs, and hopefully steered a few folks into renting or purchasing movies they otherwise might have overlooked. ... For now, we will leave this website online, and while we won't be posting any regular features, all are welcome to return and get a look at a decade's worth of DVD, in review."

The Journal will be missed. Its main interests seemed the same as this DVD blog's -- high-quality films released to home video with strong supporting extras. Its campaign to put the kabosh on movies on the Divx home video system counts as major public service.

The Journal was one of the first authoritative backlinks I picked up while starting this DVD blog six months ago. Part of my good fortune with Google and its page-ranking system can be attributed to their goodwill. For this and the Journal's tradition of useful and enjoyable content, this blog will remain grateful. Have fun in the real world, guys.

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Top DVDs: 'Wild Hogs' skid marks at No. 1

"Wild Hogs," the world's first and only feel-good biker movie, stayed in high gear for the week ended Aug. 26. The Walt Disney Home Entertainment title starring Tim Allen and John Travolta remained atop both the sales and rental charts.

"300," from Warner Home Video, again defended its No. 2 spot on the charts as the fanboy legions marched on.

"Perfect Strangers," which teamed Bruce Willis and Halle Berry, greeted the third spot in sales. The Sony Pictures Home Entertainment thriller took fifth in rentals. Universal Home Entertainment's "House: Season 3" rode the TV-on-DVD gurney into fourth in sales.

Thomas K. Arnold has the story over on The Reporter's site.

New DVDs: 'Blades of Glory,' 'Heroes' in HD

Pick of the week: Friday Night Lights
Dog of the week: Meatballs 4

Big week for HD DVD.

"Blades of Glory" gets a glittering showcase on Paramount's "Blades of Glory." While the standard DVD looks competition-worthy, the high-def disc skates circles around it. All those godawful glaring costumes, the white ice, sparkling metal blades and tacky pyrotechnics team up to deliver the gold visually. You know you're in for a treat once the gorgeous menu pops up.

The Will Ferrell-Jon Heder farce was skedded for Blu-ray, but that edition went down face-first hard with Paramount's dramatic drop of Blu-ray.

The movie enjoyed some good reviews -- to me it's a slightly above average high-concept comedy. Will Ferrell has made a half dozen funnier movies (whatever, I'm not much of a fan). "Blades" plays like one long chuckle with few big laughs. The premise pulls you in and the fast-moving plot is sharp enough to keep butts in the stands till the medal ceremony, anyway.

Everyone except Ferrell seems to be working hard to make the extras offbeat and improv-funny. Real-world couple Will Arnett ("Arrested Development") and Amy Poehler ("SNL") coolly turn a making-of interview upside down. The impressed interviewer asks if they're the next Stiller and Meara (for once they don't know what to say). The deleted scenes are about as good as the ones in the movie.

Jolly skate legend (and actor) Scott Hamilton weighs in on the possibility of men's couple skating becoming reality: "Highly doubtful."

"Heroes: Season 1" also is kicking butt in HD DVD this week. The NBC hit arrives in a great-looking seven-disc box set. Blu-ray nation isn't pleased, but Universal is HD DVD-only. Along with Paramount.

New and notable:
Air Guitar Nation (Docurama/New Video)
Antibodies (Dark Sky Films/MPI)
Blades of Glory (Paramount)
Dangermouse: Complete Series (A&E Home Entertainment)
Dr. T & the Women (Lionsgate)
The Dog Problem (ThinkFilm)
Flight 29 Down: Vol. 2 (Genius Products)
Friday Night Lights: First Season (Universal)
Heroes Season 1 (Universal)
Kickin' It Old Skool (Fox)
Masters of Horror Season One Box Set (Anchor Bay)
The Odd Couple: The Second Season (Paramount)
Offside (Sony)
3:10 to Yuma (Sony)
Year of the Dog (Paramount)

Complete list of today's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

Disney serves up 'Ratatouille,' 'High School 2'

Disney just sent out invitations for its DVD holiday feast: "Ratatouille" is set for Nov. 6 and the cable sensation "High School Musical 2" comes out Dec. 11. Both titles are going day and date with Blu-ray editions.

"Ratatouille," which charmed pretty much everyone who saw it, comes with deleted scenes; an animated short starring Remy and Emile; a conversation with creator Brad Bird and uber chef Thomas Keller; and the Pixar short "Lifted."

The "Ratatouille" Blu-ray puts the video format's Java capabilities to work, with Gusteau’s Gourmet Game (get the courses to the tables) and Cine-Explore ("in-movie Java feature allows viewers to customize their own behind the scenes experience").

"High School Musical 2: Extended Edition" extras include a sing-along and a karaoke feature; a "rehearsal cam"; bloopers and music videos. The extended footage is the musical number Troy and Sharpay that rehearse in the film but never perform.

The Blu-ray audio on both titles is uncompressed high-def surround (48k HZ/24-bit). Both titles retail for $30 DVD/$35 BR)

Deja Vu review: 'A Hard Day's Night'

It still rings out clear and true, perhaps the most identifiable chord in rock. Created, appropriately, by one John Lennon. The startling collection of notes that open "A Hard Day's Night" -- the movie and the classic Beatles song -- sound at once magical and familiar.

And what is this wondrous strange chord? Gsus4, perhaps? Don't ask George Martin, the group's producer and fifth Beatle (if one ever existed).

"To this day, I still don't know what that chord is," Sir George says. "But it was a very good one."

Martin is one of the many graying talking heads assembled for the DVD of "A Hard Day's Night," the Fab Four's first and best movie.

Respect for the Fabs' film hasn't led to respectful treatment. Legal wrangling followed "A Hard Day's Night" throughout its home video life, resulting in oddities like the "tribute to John Lennon" musical prologue tacked on for VHS. The first DVD version, from MPI in 1997, disappeared after a few months of distribution.

Miramax/Buena Vista finally came to the rescue with a release of 1964 film and its companion anthology ("Give Me Everything!") as a two-disc set designed for collectors. It remains the best in market.

"A Hard Day's Night" looks and sounds about as good as could be expected. The carefully lit black-and-white images should please most viewers -- even though they're on the flat side, with persistent minor speckling. When the high-def camps get around to black-and-white movies, here's a great candidate.

The film, shot in 35mm, is presented in widescreen, letterboxed with a ratio of about 1.66:1, enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The spiffed-up audio travels via Dolby Digital, with the musical numbers in stereo. ...

Read the full review of "A Hard Day's Night" DVD

Update! Apple Corps. and EMI are rereleasing the Beatles' "Help!" DVD on Oct. 30. The restored version of the second movie features a new 5.1 remix of the soundtrack.

About "Deja Vu reviews": As in, didn't I read that before ... hmm.

Top DVDs: 'Wild Hogs' chopping up rivals

Disney's very uneasy riders coasted into the top spots on the DVD sales and rental charts for the week ended Aug. 19.

The Boomer hit comedy "Wild Hogs" -- with John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy -- rolled over "300" en route to the dual wins. "300" continued the good fight for Warner Home Video with a No. 2 showing in sales but retreated to fifth in rentals.

The Anthony Hopkins thriller "Fracture" schemed its way into the No. 3 slot on both charts for New Line Home Entertainment.

Another new title, the motel madness movie "Vacancy" with Kate Beckinsale, checked in at No. 5 in sales and No. 4 in rentals. Paramount's teen thriller "Disturbia" went 2 in sales and 4 in rentals.

"300" continued to rule sales in the high-definition formats.

Sales (week ending Aug. 19)
1. Wild Hogs (Buena Vista)
2. 300 (Warner)
3. Fracture (New Line-WB)
4. Disturbia (DreamWorks-Par)
5. Vacancy (Sony)

Rentals (week ending Aug. 19)

1. Wild Hogs (Buena Vista)
2. Disturbia (DreamWorks-Par)
3. Fracture (New Line-WB)
4. Vacancy (Sony)
5. 300 (Warner)

Thomas K. Arnold has the story over on The Reporter's site.

HD DVD deal doesn't add up

The news that Paramount and "Shrek" house DreamWorks Animation are going HD DVD-only can only mean several more years of format foolishness. Reports circulated Monday that the HD DVD camp paid the studios about $150 million to make this stunner of a deal happen. (Paramount had no comment on the reports.)

The studio chieftains, Paramount's Brad Gray and DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg, both cited the affordability of the HD DVD format. True for now, but not for long. Entry-level player prices are headed straight down in both formats. If you can commit to paying $25-$35 or so a pop for titles, the price difference between lower-priced players can't be all that important. The Blu-ray "300" disc is cheaper than the HD DVD.

Katzenberg said the decision served "a key segment of our audience -- families." Hard to buy that one. If anything, families would be best served by making titles available in the same format that kiddie powerhouse Disney uses.

Update (8/23): I've spiked the rest of this post, which basically said Blu-ray players had frequent problems playing discs and required firmware updates to make these titles work. That is true, but I implied that HD DVD players did not. Unfortunately, I relied too much on personal experience and on a couple of Blu-ray-bashing articles, and not enough on research. HD DVD has similar issues, although I have not experienced a single one in the nine months I've been an owner. With Blu-ray, I've had several disc compatibility issues in a short time. Your mileage probably will vary. I regret the errors. Thanks to the High-Def Digest forum for pointing out the problems in the post.

Related story: Fox skeds 29 Blu-ray exclusives for '07.

New DVDs: 'Serenity,' 'Robocop' return

Pick of the week: Serenity: Collector's Edition
Dog of the week: The Dark Backward
Two cool movies about our planet's unhinged future get double-disc treatments this week: Joss Whedon's exhilarating "Serentity" and the original ass-stomping "Robocop." Both sets add DTS audio to the mix.

The upgrades in Universal Home Entertainment's "Serenity: Collector's Edition" are mostly in the extra features; the film transfer looks good, just as it did in the previous edition. The set does add a stomping DTS track and a new commentary with the director and some actors (to go along with Whedon's original chat of a few years back).

Fox Home Entertainment's "Robocop: 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition" brings back to market the unrated cut of the sci-fi action film, this time with a new DTS audio track. A trio of new featurettes (on disc 2) provide backup for the extras ported over from MGM's "Trilogy" set of 2004 (disc 1). The film's presentation appears to be the same.

It's the same story with both DVD sets: The new versions make the films more attractive to first-time buyers, but owners of the previous editions should check their fan-pulse before investing again. I'd buy either upgrade for a dollar -- or more.

New and notable:
Broken English (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
Dane Cook: The Lost Pilots(Sony)
The Dark Backward: Special Edition (Sony)
The Ex (aka Fast Track) (Weinstein Company/Genius Products)
Exorcism (Exorcismo) (BCI Eclipse)
House Season 3 (Universal)
House of Games (The Criterion Collection)
The Lives of Others (Sony)
The Milky Way (Criterion)
Perfect Stranger (Sony)
Reel Talent: First Films by Legendary Directors (Fox)
RoboCop 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition (Fox)
Serenity Collector's Edition (Universal)
South Park: 10th season (Paramount)
'Til Death: The Complete First Season (Sony)
Ugly Betty: The Bettyfied Edition (Disney)

Complete list of today's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org

DVD review: 'Taxi Driver'

An imaginative extra on Sony's new "Taxi Driver" rounds up hacks who worked Manhattan in the 1970s, just like the movie's sicko antihero Travis Bickle. Some of the taxi drivers remember it as "a great adventure"; others start their stories with something like, "The guy pulls out an ax. ..."

One of the hacks thinks back on the pre-Disney Times Square and comes to this conclusion about the street life: "Mr. Bickle wasn't wrong."

Bickle, of course, is the man who couldn't take it any more, who'd had enough of "all the animals" that came out at night. Thirty years later, Martin Scorsese and Paul Schraeder's portrait of a lonely paranoid driven to multiple murders retains all of its punch. The movie holds up 100%.

Scorsese, unfortunately, doesn't do a director's commentary on Sony's fine new double-disc set of "Taxi Driver: Limited Collector's Edition." He already did one, a decade ago, on Criterion's laserdisc. (The track is out there somewhere in bitstream land.) Not having one of the great directors (and movie commentators) talk about one of his greatest movies is a shame, but there's plenty on this two-disc set here to bring "Taxi Driver" into focus -- starting with Scorsese's 17-minute intro to the movie.

"It was a film that we though wasn't going to be seen by anybody," Scorsese recalls. Still an unproven filmmaker, he was willing to shoot "Taxi Driver" on video tape. "We just had to make it." Then came "Mean Streets" and De Niro's performance in "Godfather II."

Scorsese says part of the pull was his and Schraeder's identification with "loser" Bickle -- who declares solemnly in the script, "I believe that someone should become a person like other people."

"We knew how he felt," Scorsese says. "Maybe it (was) a coming of age thing. ... There's a certain truth that Schraeder hit upon. ... I still can't verbalize it."

Schraeder says in his new feature-length commentary that one of several uncomfortable truths about the character is, "He's not an alien. He's an American kid. ... He's one of us."

Also doing a commentary is Robert Kolker, a film professor who talks about the influences of John Ford and Albert Hitchcock. (Bernard Hermann, Hitchcock's music man, did the unsettling, deeply urban score. Unfortunately the DVD extras don't examine Hermann's role beyond images of his written score.)

Other extras include the solid docu "Making Taxi Driver" (also on the last DVD), "Producing Taxi Driver" with Michael Phillips, an interview with the cinematographer Michael Chapman and a fun interactive visit with the Big Apple locations as they looked in the '70s and today. Sorry, the diner's gone.

The surround audio has plenty of punch if not much of a soundstage itinerary. Hermann's music oozes dread with the strong subwoofer track. All that classic dialogue sounds unusually distinct for films of this era.

The 1:85.1 images look as they should -- few signs of wear; city-streets grain but no unintentional murk. Owners of the previous DVD should pay the upgrade fare without hestitation.

DVD review: 'First Films of Samuel Fuller'

Samuel Fuller did a cameo in Godard's "Pierrot le fou" back in 1965. Biting into a spent cigar, the director told uncomprehending French partygoers, "A movie is a battleground."

Not, as it would seem, a conclusion arrived at after three tough decades of filmmaking. The militaristic mindset was there from the beginning, based on the evidence in "The First Films of Samuel Fuller," the latest DVD set from The Criterion Collection's no-frills Eclipse line. The clashes come fast and furious in all three films.

"I Shot Jesse James" (1949). The first and best of these movies features John Ireland as the "dirty little coward" Bob Ford, betrayer and slayer of the famed outlaw leader. Writer-director Fuller paints a reasonably sympathetic portrait of Ford, a dull and self-absorbed gunman who sees the murder of James as a path to his own domestic bliss. Only when Ford finds himself on a theater stage, re-creating the famous gunshot to the back, does he begin to comprehend how horribly he's gone wrong. The movie's addiction to close-ups seems unremarkable now, but the camera work was revolutionary at the time. A tight, exciting film that gracefully works the gray areas of frontier morality.

"The Baron of Arizona" (1950). Vincent Price plays a big-thinking swindler who tries to steal the entire territory of Arizona by forging old Spanish land grants. Price, towering over the other players, makes an offbeat but convincing romantic lead as he woos his bogus baroness, Ellen Drew. Based on a true story. Well written with lots of cool caper elements. Dramatic visuals. Still, a fairly conventional film.

"The Steel Helmet" (1951). Plays like an uncompromising "Twilight Zone" episode about race in the military. In the early days of the Korean War, a wounded sergeant (Gene Evans, pictured) is rescued by a local boy. They hook up with a platoon that attempts to monitor enemy activity from atop a Buddhist temple. Unfortunately for the exhausted soldiers, that activity is headed their way. Strong performances by Evans and the multiracial cast. Now-familiar Fuller themes. The print is in so-so shape.

Anyone looking for an introduction to Fuller probably should start with his late-life masterpiece, "The Big Red One." Fuller and his star Lee Marvin bring plenty of first-hand WWII experience to the film, which underwent a major "reconstruction" a few years back. Fox recently released another higly regarded Fuller film on Korea, "Fixed Bayonets." Those with more savory tastes should follow up with "Shock Corridor" and "The Naked Kiss."

More Fuller: Read my "Deja Vu" DVD review of "The Big Red One: The Reconstruction."