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The DVD Dossier is the free newsletter published weekly by DVD Direct 4 Less.
This is the archived issue for April 18, 2004.
Click Here To Subscribe To The DVD Dossier Newsletter
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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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April 18, 2004
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There's a large number of top-quality DVDs being released this week, offering a variety of really terrific choices: recent box office hits, classic films, award-winning TV shows, and lots of artsy-fartsy stuff, including the Ingmar Bergman Collection boxed set and "Sweeney Todd," a stage musical not seen on home video for a couple of decades.
The major theatrical release is "Master And Commander - Far Side Of The World," director Peter Weir's seafaring adventure about a British naval hero, with Russell Crowe at the helm. This tale of nautical warfare is available in three editions: the "Regular" Widescreen Edition and Full Screen Edition contain the film, the trailer and little else.
The "Special Widescreen 2-Disc Edition" adds additional trailers, TV spots, six deleted scenes, a sound design featurette and interactive sound recording demo, four multi-angle studies, a split-screen vignette, four art galleries, the "HBO First Look" promo and more.
"Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!" has a formulaic plot about a big screen idol who allows himself to be the prize in a contest in which one of his fans wins a date with a Hollywood Hunk. The star winds up falling in love, much to the dismay of the winner's best friend, who is hopelessly, secretly in love with her.
We've seen this love triangle play out a thousand times before, but the screenplay for "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!" is very clever and Josh Duhamel (as Tad) and Kate Bosworth (as the lucky winner) are both fun to watch. Sean Hayes, Ginnifer Goodwin, Gary Cole and especially Nathan Lane steal the show in supporting roles.
"Pirates of the Caribbean" isn't the only recent movie based on a Disney theme park ride, but it's the only good one. "The Haunted Mansion," out this week on DVD, didn't do all that well in theatrical release and for good reason... it's sophomoric, cliché ridden and tries much too hard to be funny. Young kids might enjoy it, but it also might scare them silly. Older kids will probably just think it's silly.
A great ensemble cast (Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Steenburgen, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rita Moreno, Daryl Hannah, Lili Taylor, and Susan Lynch) and terrific writing and directing all contribute to making "Casa de los Babys" well worth a look. There's no real plot in this John Sayles film, just the inherent drama in watching a group of women waiting to adopt babies in an unnamed South American country.
The hugely popular and aptly named "Step Into Liquid" is a documentary that explores the surfing scene from Hawaii to Costa Rica, as you'd expect it to, but also takes you to Lake Michigan and Ireland, which might be a revelation for some. Greatly expanded for DVD, the 2-disc set includes extensive deleted scenes and outtakes, surf lessons, "Making of a Surfboard," "Surfing Etiquette" and "Capturing the Wave" featurettes, multiple interviews and commentaries with the surfers and filmmakers, a music video montage and the complete video game of Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer.
The Complete Second Season of the hit CBS sitcom, "The King of Queens" is out this week, as is Series 3 of the PBS mystery "Cracker" and Series 4 and Series 5 of "Prime Suspect." The best TV show coming to DVD this week, however, is definitely "The Office," the Golden Globe Award-winning comedy series seen on BBC America.
The show, about the banality of office life, is often compared to "This is Spinal Tap" and "The Larry Sanders Show." Series Two of "The Office" is being released this week, but you can play catch-up with a complete set that includes both Series One and Series Two. And in case you're confused by all the references to "series"... that's simply how the British refer to what we in the United States call a "season" of a TV show.
Our favorite release this week is "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," a 1982 TV production of the landmark Broadway musical, taped before a live audience in Los Angeles. The show is a macabre tale of a barber named Sweeney Todd (George Hearn), a man unjustly imprisoned and who - upon his return to London in 1846 - seeks revenge on those who have destroyed his life. He acquires an ally in Mrs. Lovett (Angela Lansbury), a lusty woman who uses rather unorthodox ingredients in the meat pies she bakes and sells. The stage production won 7 Tony awards and this TV version won 3 Emmys and 3 CableACEs.
And that wraps it up for this week.
In case you haven't noticed, we're using a new HTML format for our newsletter. Please drop us a line and let us know what you think
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See you next week with more DVD news!
DVD Direct 4 Less
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| This Week's New DVD Releases |
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Street Date: April 20, 2004
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Shipping is FREE when your order totals $25 or more.
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Visit us online to see a comprehensive list of new DVD releases for the next six weeks.
The links above are for Region 1 (USA) Editions. Availability and release dates elsewhere may vary.
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| Lord of the Rings: Return of the King |
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The concluding tale in the Lord of The Rings Trilogy comes to DVD May 25th with an impressive record: 11 Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and over 1 billion dollars in box office revenue worldwide.
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" will be available in both widescreen and full screen editions and comes complete with hours of behind-the-scenes features, documentaries, TV spots, and trailers.
Also announced for May 25th: a boxed set collection of all three films, released in widescreen and full screen editions. The discs will include all the special features you get when you buy the films separately.
Best of all, you can save 40% by ordering any of these prior to release.
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"Band of Brothers" is one of the top-selling DVD boxed sets of all time. With the show now being rerun on The History Channel, there is renewed interest in owning "BOB" on DVD.
Based on the best-selling book by Stephen Ambrose, this epic 10-part miniseries tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, "Band of Brothers" chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. This popular boxed set features all 10 episodes on 6 discs and comes packaged in a commemorative tin.
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| Netflix To Raise Monthly Fee |
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Netflix surprised everybody this week by announcing a $2 hike in the price of their most popular monthly subscription plan for online DVD rental. The price of their "Standard" plan goes to $21.99 beginning June 15th. For that fee, you can have as many as three movies out at a time, with no due dates and no late fees. They'll continue to offer three other plans, including an "Economy" plan at $14.99 (formerly $13.95), that lets you have two DVDs out at a time.
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News of the price increase - and the expectation of short-term subscriber losses - caused the Netflix stock to lose 17% of its value on Friday. It's not our place to comment on the financial viability of the company, but as subscribers, we still think it's a heck of a good product.
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As they pointed out in their press release, Netflix has added over 20 new distribution centers recently, which means most members get delivery in only one business day. And they've held the line on the price for four years, even though postal rates have risen. Plus, they now offer over 18,000 titles!
We're big fans of Netflix and will likely remain so, even with the modest price increase. If you haven't yet tried online DVD rental - or would like to learn more about it - start here.
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| Preview of Next Week's Releases |
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A bunch of popular titles hit the street next week, including "Love Actually," "Big Fish," "The Cooler," and the "Monster Legacy Collection Gift Set," a complete set of all the films in Universal's "Legacy" series.
Order this one and you'll get thirteen films on six discs, plus exclusive hand-cast collectible busts of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolf Man.
Save 30% when you pre-order now.
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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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