Intro

In terms of Box Sets, HBO has impressed with the Sopranos DVD Collection. Season One was a pure treat on DVD. From the packaging, the layout, the quality, and the content, the First Season was a beautiful DVD release. HBO has pleased again with the release of Season Two. The quality standards have remained impeccable, and the content is as good as ever…

Hoooo boy! I bet you had forgotten what movies were like in 1979, right? Let me sum it up for you then: slow moving, and brown. The contrast in cinematic styles alone is shocking – this movie is full of long, long, long 20 second shots accompanied by ear-straining orchestrals; contrast this to the frenetic pace of today’s movies where camera angles change every three seconds and you’ll see how film styles have evolved in the 20 years since this movie was made to match waning attention spans. The highlight of this fil... for me was Spock uttering “Resistance would be futile, Captain…” Now we know where today’s producers get their ideas.

Enough about the style though, let’s get digital: this is a great DVD release. Trek fans should buy it, without question. The movie features new scenes in the “Director’s Cut,” new visual effects, and a mountain of extras. One of the best things about this release is that the production crew worked with the mandate that they wouldn’t do anything that couldn’t have been done in 1979; as such the new scenes blend seamlessly with the rest of the movie. Contrast this with the Star Wars re-releases of a few years back where painfully new looking CGI animations attempted and failed to co-mingle with original footage; seamlessness makes this re-release a masterpiece (see the “Redirecting the Future” documentary included on the second DVD for more on this).

Just in case you thought war propaganda was incompatible with good filmmaking, here’s this release in Fox’s War Classics series.

Synopsis

Intro

Weary of 24-hour CNN war coverage? Want to see a more emotionally satisfying version of war? Then look no further than this 1944 Oscar nominee.

Fans of Saving Private Ryan are hereby advised to look in to this 1950 effort, one of the original platoon films.

Synopsis

Intro

We’re all pretty familiar with Demi Moore shorn of hair in GI Jane. But do you remember her with a blonde wig? No? Time to refresh your memory.

Intro

Even though I expected a little more from this film, I must say that the DVD release is wonderful. Paramount has put together a jam-packed Special Edition, which should be enjoyed by all. For those who are not familiar with the Tomb Raider premise, here is a little synopsis for you…

I must say that upon learning about the SuperBit Series from Columbia-Tristar, I was very intrigued. I did not know what to really expect… no special features? I must say, that at least for Fifth Element: SuperBit, I am very impressed. Fifth Element was originally released on DVD a few years ago with no special features and very good video and audio quality… similar to the SuperBit ideology. Before I get into this disc, here is a bit about the plot…

Synopsis

Intro

Here we have perhaps the most ambitious of all the biblical epics. John Huston’s film isn’t content with dealing with just one story from the Bible. Oh no. This is the first 22 chapters of Genesis. Needless to say, the scope is BIG.

Intro

For you British comedy fans out there, do I have a treat for you? The BBC has released the complete Fawlty Towers collection on DVD, and it is a very nice 3-Disc set.