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The DVD Dossier is the free newsletter published weekly by DVD Direct 4 Less.
This is the archived issue for January 9, 2005.
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Published weekly by DVD Direct 4 Less, the online source for DVD Discounts & Deals
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In This Issue
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January 9, 2005
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M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" is out this week in both widescreen and full screen versions.
Buena Vista Home Video is wise to market this as the new film from the writer and director who brought you “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs” because those films are much better than "The Village" in every way.
The pseudo-suspenseful tale of an isolated village confronting the mysterious danger that lies just outside its borders has a "surprise" ending which could have been taken from a half dozen or more far more interesting "Twilight Zone" episodes. The cast is good, though, and includes Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard, William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver.
Also being released on Tuesday is "The Buried Secret of M. Night Shyamalan," which supposedly lays bare the creative secrets of the filmmaker, with exclusive interviews with childhood friends, neighbors and Hollywood stars.
But this "documentary" is not without controversy. Originally shown on the Sci-Fi Channel in July of 2004, it was billed as an unauthorized biographical look at the writer/producer/director. It was soon revealed that "Buried Secret" was in fact a fully authorized promotional effort for "The Village."
"The Fifth Element," the 1997 Luc Besson film starring Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich and Gary Oldman gets the "Ultimate Edition" treatment this week. The 2-Disc set includes over two hours of never-before-seen exclusive featurettes.
John Sayle's politically charged art house hit, "Silver City," debuts this week. Chris Cooper plays a gramatically-challenged candidate for Governor of the state of Colorado. Any resemblance to another gramatically-challenged former Governor and current President is absolutely intentional.
In "Without a Paddle," three lifelong friends (Seth Green, Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard) find themselves on a canoe trip in search of a $200,000 treasure. They are unaware of the obstacles in front of them, among them a dangerous river and whacked-out mountain men.
Kyle MacLachlan ("Sex and the City") and Jimi Mistry ("The Guru") star in the broad comic clash of cultures, values and sexuality, "Touch of Pink." The story involves a gay man who attempts to keep his boyfriend and his London lifestyle in the closet when his conservative mom pays a visit.
In "Gas," a young man (Flex Alexander) returns to LA for his father's funeral and discovers he has inherited his family-owned gas station and market. There's a catch... so has his brother (Khalil Kain), a former drug dealer who cost him his college scholarship. The terms of the will stipulate that the sibling rivals must run the station together for a year or forfeit the business.
An incredibly talented voice cast (Bernie Mac, William Shatner, Lil' Kim, Ludacris, Rudy Ray Moore, Danny Bonaduce) is wasted in "Lil' Pimp," which wants to be a hip urban "South Park." Badly written, this is an adult-themed animated film that fails miserably.
"Combination Platter" won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival and is about the employees of a New York City Chinese restaurant. One of them, Robert, is an illegal immigrant who seeks to marry an American woman so he can get a green card.
Taking their cue from the folks at Disney, Universal Home Video has decided to put "Back to the Future - The Complete Trilogy" back in the vault. The films disappear February 1st. This week, they're re-releasing the widescreen boxed set at a very low price, generally less than $20 for all three films at most DVD stores and online merchants.
The framing defect that affected certain copies of "BTTF 2" two years ago when the DVDs were first released has been fixed and the 3-Disc set comes loaded with deleted scenes, outtakes and hours of bonus material, now available at a new lower price.
From television this Tuesday comes the Second Seasons of "Monk" and "Gilligan's Island" (available separately), the Fourth Season of the HBO prison drama "Oz," the Fifth Season of "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and Volume 2 of "MI-5," the BBC's high-tech spy series, known throughout the UK as "Spooks."
And now, a correction... (Yes, even we make mistakes from time to time.)
Last week in this space we referred to the noted Irish actor who stars in both "Troy" and "Augustus" as "the late Peter O'Toole."
Oops.
Reports of Mr. O'Toole's death are, as they say, greatly exaggerated.
And we thank one eagle-eyed Dossier reader for pointing that out.
Here's what happened: shortly before we sent out last week's newsletter, a BBC report came across the wire saying that comedians in the UK had named the late Peter Cook, the British satirist and longtime stage partner of Dudley Moore, the "comedians' comedian."
So he was top of mind last week when we wrote that bit of copy, causing us to momentarily mix up our Peters and include the erroneous statement in last week's Dossier.
Our apologies.
We'll be back next week with more DVD news and reviews and will try hard to make absolutely no mistakes. But don't hold your breath.
Regards,
DVD Direct 4 Less
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| This Week's New DVD Releases - Street Date: January 11, 2005 |
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Visit us online to see a comprehensive list of new DVD releases for the next six weeks.
Links above are for Region 1 (USA) Editions. Availability and release dates elsewhere may vary.
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To mark the 40th anniversary of Malcolm X’s death, Warner Home Video will debut a new 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of Spike Lee’s acclaimed film "Malcolm X," starring Denzel Washington in an Oscar-nominated performance.
"Malcolm X" will be released with two and a half hours of extra features including commentary by Spike Lee, additional scenes, two all-new documentaries and the 1972 Academy Award® nominated feature length documentary "Malcolm X."
In celebration of Black History Month, the DVD will be available February 8th.
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Denzel Washington plays the civil rights leader in a powerful performance about which The New York Times’ Vincent Canby said, “Denzel Washington, a fine actor, does for 'Malcolm X' what Ben Kingsley did for ‘Gandhi.’”
In addition to two-time Academy Award winner Washington, "Malcolm X" stars Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo and Spike Lee himself as “Shorty.”
Preorder "Malcolm X" now and save 10%. |
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"Christmas with the Kranks," the film based on John Grisham’s best-selling novel "Skipping Christmas," will be released on DVD March 8th.
Tim Allen stars as grumpy Luther Krank, a man who decides to skip Christmas and all the surrounding trappings and go on a 10-day Caribbean cruise with his sweet wife Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) instead.
But when his daughter, who has just joined the Peace Corps, decides at the last minute to come home for the holidays, he is forced to put Christmas back together.
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Sounds like a promising premise for an offbeat Xmas treat. But under director Joe Roth's misguided direction, this is a fundamentally flawed film, a monumental miscalculation.
When the Kranks decide to go on vacation, their neighbors are up in arms because that also means they have decided to sit out this year's holiday decorating contest.
The neighbors, led by Dan Aykroyd, descend upon the Krank household to berate them for (among other things) not buying a tree from the Boy Scouts, not donating money to the local police or exchanging gifts or sending Christmas cards.
There's just one problem with all this: it's quite obvious to the audience that the Kranks are actually lovely people and quite reasonable neighbors. But nobody in the film cares to recognize that.
This is a truly dreadful and mean-spirited film that makes "Jingle All The Way" look like "Miracle on 34th Street." If, by the time March rolls around, you need some Christmas spirit, please rent "The Santa Clause," a far better Tim Allen vehicle that won't insult your intelligence.
Or if you want a Christmas film with an edge, we recommend "Bad Santa."
But don't go anywhere near "Christmas with the Kranks."
If, however, you've taken leave of your senses and for some reason still wish to buy this film...
You can preorder it now and save 30%. |
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We were all set to announce the February 8th Second Season release of "Chappelle's Show," the popular series starring Dave Chappelle when Comedy Central pulled the plug.
Chappelle has been sick with flu and walking pneumonia, which has impacted his ability to complete production on Season Three, which was to have premiered on the network February 16th, a week after the DVD's planned release.
But Comedy Central and Paramount Home Entertainment both want the extra marketing push that a near simultaneous DVD release and season premiere can provide.
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So they've decided to postpone the Season Two DVD debut. No word yet on a new date, but Season Three will likely be on the air in late April or sometime in May. We'll let you know as soon as we hear something definitive.
Meanwhile, the First Season of "Chappelle's Show: Uncensored," released in February of last year, is the best-selling individual TV DVD set ever, with more than two million sold!
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| Preview of Next Week's Releases - Street Date: January 18, 2005 |
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