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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 16, 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 16, 2005
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The big news this week is that Halle Berry stars in "Catwoman," which comes to DVD in widescreen and full screen editions.
It's the story of a meek, mild-mannered artist who works for a mammoth cosmetics company on the verge of releasing a revolutionary anti-aging product. When she inadvertently happens upon a dark secret her employer is hiding, she is attacked and killed.
But a supernatural cat intervenes and brings her back to life as "Catwoman," with the strength, speed, agility and ultra-keen senses of a cat... and the skin tight leather wardrobe and cracking whip of a dominatrix.
Putting Berry in that outfit was the best idea the producers had, however, as the rest of the movie is far from purrfect. It's poorly plotted and scripted, with overly simplistic characters and cheesy special effects.
"Cellular," on the other hand, plays a lot better than it should and provides the adrenaline rush lacking in "Catwoman." A random wrong number on a man's (Chris Evans) cell phone sends him into a high-stakes race against time to save a kidnapped woman (Kim Basinger).
With no knowledge of her other than her hushed, fearful voice on the other end of the phone, he is quickly thrown into a world of deception and murder in a frantic search to find and save her.
"Cellular," which also stars William H. Macy and Jason Statham, comes fully loaded with deleted and alternate scenes, three in-depth behind-the-scenes featurettes and feature-length commentary from the filmmakers.
Also quite effective is "Friday Night Lights," an underdog sports movie about high school football.
The players, coaches, mothers, fathers, pastors, boosters, fans and families struggle with ongoing personal conflicts while their team, the Permian High Panthers of Odessa, Texas, fights for a state championship. Based on the best-selling book by H.G. Bissinger, "Friday Night Lights" stars Billy Bob Thornton, Tim McGraw, Derek Luke and Jay Hernandez.
On the other end of the spectrum is "The Cookout," a comedy about a young basketball player who strikes it rich on the NBA draft and must learn to deal with the consequences of his success. The film is filled with cruel stereotypes about African Americans and white folks, but little actual humor, which would seem to be an essential ingredient for a comedy.
On the heels of the successful DVD debut of "Aladdin" a few weeks ago, Disney launches the "Aladdin 2 & 3 Collection" on Tuesday. This puts Aladdin's two direct-to-home-video sequels, "The Return of Jafar" and "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" together in one value-priced package.
But the former is simply four episodes of the "Aladdin" television program on DVD for the first time, while the latter is in fact a pretty good film and marks the return of Robin Williams as the overly energetic genie.
Also available this week is another collection of two popular films, the musicals "Kiss Me Kate" and "High Society."
"The Forgotten" is a badly crafted psychological thriller starring Julianne Moore, Dominic West and Gary Sinise. The movie gets off to a promising start, with a distraught mother's search for a son that her husband swears she never had, but becomes more preposterous and less watchable as time wears on.
"Goldfish Memory" takes a lighthearted look at the dangers and delights of dating (straight, gay and in-between) in contemporary Dublin, Ireland.
We really wanted to like "Stella Street," a mockumentary based on the British sketch comedy show of the same name. The basic premise here is that A-list celebrities - Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci - descend upon suburbia. (Please note: those stars don't appear in the movie, they're impersonated by Phil Cornwell, John Sessions, and Ronni Ancona.) But the joke rapidly wears thin, and the impersonations are - at best - hit and miss.
"Who's Your Daddy" is apparently about the complications and hilarity that ensue when a teenage boy becomes the owner of a naughty magazine. We say "apparently" because it was unavailable for screening, which is usually not a good sign. The film evidently had a theatrical release early in 2003, but somehow slipped right by us.
We're excited to see the Third Season of the HBO comedy series "Curb Your Enthusiasm" making its way to DVD this week. The show earned the 2002 Golden Globe Award as "Best Comedy Series" and remains one of the most consistently entertaining shows on television.
The boxed set includes ten episodes on two discs, plus a "stop and chat" discussion with the cast and crew of CYE. The Third Season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was nominated for 10 Emmys and won "Best Directing for a Comedy Series."
The show stars Larry David (as himself) and guest stars in the Third Season include Ted Danson, Joan Rivers, Richard Lewis, Paul Reiser, Cheri Oteri, Alanis Morissette, Martin Scorsese, Wanda Sykes and Martin Short.
If you're new to "Curb," you can catch up by ordering the Gift Set, which includes the first three seasons.
Also from TV this week comes the Second Season of "Kung Fu," "Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars" and two original movies from the Lifetime cable network, "Gracie's Choice" and "Sex and the Single Mom."
And our old friends Tom and Jerry are back in an all-new feature-length movie called "Blast Off To Mars," this time assisted by the voice of “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Brad Garrett.
That's it for this week, but we'll be back next Sunday with more news and reviews of the latest DVDs!
Regards,
DVD Direct 4 Less
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| This Week's New DVD Releases - Street Date: January 18, 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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"Finding Neverland," tells the true story of the man who created “Peter Pan” and the family that inspired him to write that enchanted play. The acclaimed film comes to DVD March 22nd.
Johnny Depp stars as J.M. Barrie, a respected playwright who finds both his career and his marriage crumbling around him. After writing a complete flop, Barrie struggles with his producer (Dustin Hoffman) to create a hit.
Upon meeting the beautiful widow Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her four boys, Barrie discovers inspiration and a happiness he has not previously known.
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Barrie becomes fast friends with the family, especially young Peter (Freddie Highmore), and through their adventures together he forms the magical stories that would become his best known play, "Peter Pan."
"Finding Neverland" also stars Julie Christie as Sylvia’s jealous mother and Radha Mitchell as Barrie's wife.
The DVD release will include the following extras: "The Magic of Finding Neverland” and “Creating Neverland" (two behind-the-scenes featurettes); deleted scenes with optional commentary from the producer, writer and director; outtakes from the film; “On The Red Carpet” which takes you to the film’s Hollywood premiere; and a feature-length audio commentary track with director Marc Forster, producer Richard Gladstein and writer David Magee.
"Finding Neverland" will be available in both full screen and widescreen editions.
Preorder "Finding Neverland" today and save 30%.
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"Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" stars Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, all reprising the roles they originated in "Bridget Jones's Diary." The film arrives on DVD March 22nd in both widescreen and full screen editions.
Based on author Helen Fielding's best-selling novel of the same name, this sequel is only marginally successful at rekindling our interest in the 30-something, self-doubting, self-analyzing, career-minded, calorie-counting London singleton played by Zellweger.
The film lacks imagination and is overly predictable (you certainly won't be on the edge of your seat waiting to see how it ends).
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The real problem here is a lack of faith in the characters and the core material, the very things that made the first film so watchable. In "Edge of Reason," Bridget's become a silly caricature, bumping and stumbling through the film as if she were auditioning for a Mack Sennett comedy.
All this slapstick - and the rest of her ridiculous behavior - has been designed simply to get cheap laughs at Bridget's expense. But we don't want to laugh at Bridget. We like Bridget! We want to laugh with her, just like we did in the first film.
Sadly, "Edge of Reason" doesn't allow us the pleasure.
Preorder "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" and save 30%. |
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| Yet Another Online DVD Rental Update |
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In recent issues of The DVD Dossier, we told you about the price war that's broken out among the top online DVD rental companies, especially Netflix (the internet pioneer), Blockbuster (the bricks and mortar rental champ) and Wal-Mart, the rival upstart (at least in this arena).
Netflix - for now - is standing firm at a price of $17.99 a month for their 3-at-a-time rental plan, even though Blockbuster lowered their price to just $14.99. This past week, Wal-Mart announced that they, too, were lowering their price on what they describe as their "most popular" plan to just $12.97 (it had been $15.54).
Wal-Mart's discount price, though, is actually for their 2-at-a-time service. They have not lowered the price on their 3-at-a-time plan, which remains at $17.36 (competitive with Netflix, but a couple of dollars more than Blockbuster).
In other news, Blockbuster quietly announced that they were eliminating their two week free trial and replaced it with a further discount on the first month of service, reducing it to just $9.99.
We expect further developments as the online DVD rental marketplace shifts and evolves; we'll continue to keep you informed.
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| Preview of Next Week's Releases - Street Date: January 25, 2005 |
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Coming next week, two sci-fi icons battle it out in "Alien Vs. Predator," Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law star in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow," Katie Holmes is the "First Daughter," a show biz has-been fakes his suicide in "Pauly Shore Is Dead" and James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson all return in "The Warner Brothers Pictures Gangsters Collection."
Also on tap... Saturday Night Live's salute to Jimmy Fallon, new seasons of "Saved By The Bell," "Married with Children," "Soap," and "The Dukes of Hazzard," plus the Second Season of the often overlooked HBO drama series, "The Wire."
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Please note: all DVDs were available for sale as of the original publication date of this newsletter. Some may no longer be in inventory at the present time and preorder savings may not be in effect. If you're you're having difficulty finding a particular title, you can search current availability for any DVD here.
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