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Today, DVD Verdict posted reviews of BLINK, CITIZEN TOXIE: THE TOXIC
AVENGER PART 4, DANE COOK: HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED, A FREEZERBURNT
CHRISTMAS, .HACK//SIGN VER. 01: LOGIN, OKLAHOMA!, SEE NO EVIL, THE
SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION, SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT / SILENT NIGHT,
DEADLY NIGHT PART 2, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, and VEGAS VACATION:


BLINK (reviewed by Michael Rankins):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/blink.php

CITIZEN TOXIE: THE TOXIC AVENGER PART 4 (reviewed by Patrick Naugle):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/citizentoxie.php

DANE COOK: HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED (reviewed by Rob Lineberger):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/danecookharmful.php

A FREEZERBURNT CHRISTMAS (reviewed by Bryan Byun):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/fr...tchristmas.php

..HACK//SIGN VER. 01: LOGIN (reviewed by Bryan Byun):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/hacksignlogin.php

OKLAHOMA! (reviewed by Bill Treadway):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/oklahoma.php

SEE NO EVIL (reviewed by Mike Pinsky):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/seenoevil71.php

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION (reviewed by Adam Arseneau):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/sh...collection.php

SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT / SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT PART 2 (reviewed
by Patrick Naugle):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/sndn.php

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE (reviewed by Eric Profancik):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/unconditionallove.php

VEGAS VACATION (reviewed by Patrick Naugle):

http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/vegasvacation.php


Mike Jackson
Editor & Webmaster, DVD Verdict
www.dvdverdict.com

> OKLAHOMA! (reviewed by Bill Treadway):
>
> http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/oklahoma.php
> Mike Jackson
> Editor & Webmaster, DVD Verdict
> www.dvdverdict.com


_OKLAHOMA!_ You had me going there for a minute. At last -- I hoped --
Fox has decided to do a decent DVD presentation of this classic musical
from the 1950's. Then, to my disappointment, I discovered that you were
only reviewing the original, lackluster DVD that was released over 4
years ago. (Oh well, Warner has done the same thing with its re-release
of _Cabaret_.)

Since this movie was released on DVD 4/27/99, I was hoping that Fox had
finally decided to give _Oklahoma!_ the DVD presentation that it
deserves. In April of 1999, Fox had been releasing Region 1 DVDs for
only 5 months and Fox was still totally committed to Circuit City's DIVX
proprietary, digital disk rental format. Fox finally began to release
anamorphic movies here and there with such titles as the _Alien_ series,
but all of the widescreen Fox musicals released along with _Oklahoma!_,
( _The King and I_, _South Pacific_, and _Carousel_) were nothing more
than recycled, non-anamorphic, LaserDisc transfers. At this time, Fox
was not fully committed to the DVD format and Fox was still entertaining
the fantasy that the DIVX perpetual rental disc system would replace
DVD.

From your review:

"Fox presents the film in 2.20:1 non-anamorphic widescreen. Trust me
when I tell you that this is the finest transfer I have ever seen. The
Todd-AO photography, with its faster projection rate of 30 frames per
second, is often rich and stunning in its clarity. If you can't see
Oklahoma! on the big screen, then this is the next best thing. There are
no scratches and specks to be seen. No grain is visible at any point in
the 145-minute film. The picture has a nice, silky sheen that is like
nothing you have ever seen before, which is shocking considering that
this was filmed in 1955 and even the best restorations tend to leave a
few tell-tale signs of age. Wonderful work to whomever supervised the
restoration. Some critics have complained about the boldness of the
colors. Todd-AO's faster projection rate enhances the colors, making
them bolder, sharper, and more eye-popping than standard 35mm
projection. Anyone who complains that the colors are too bright is not
to be trusted."

What you have said about the Todd-AO version of _Oklahoma!_ would be
true if you were reviewing a LaserDisc. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma! DVD
falls far short of its potential.

If only Fox had had the common decency to release this masterpiece as an
anamorphic DVD presentation, it really would have been "the finest
transfer I have ever seen." As it is, Fox screwed over its customers
with most of its early Region 1 DVDs, including _Oklahoma!_.

> _OKLAHOMA!_ You had me going there for a minute. At last -- I hoped --
> Fox has decided to do a decent DVD presentation of this classic musical
> from the 1950's. Then, to my disappointment, I discovered that you were
> only reviewing the original, lackluster DVD that was released over 4
> years ago. (Oh well, Warner has done the same thing with its re-release
> of _Cabaret_.)

We had a new reviewer (Bill Treadway) join the staff, and before he got his
review screeners he decided to review a few things in his collection that we
didn't have in our review database; even with 3400+ reviews, there's still a
few holes. I turned down his review of one of the public-domain releases of
Roger Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors," so it could be worse He's
still getting his feet wet, which may explain the over-enthusiastic review
of the video elements.

Mike Jackson
Editor & Web Developer, DVD Verdict
www.dvdverdict.com

"Mike Jackson" <> wrote in message
news:...
> _OKLAHOMA!_ You had me going there for a minute. At last -- I hoped --
> Fox has decided to do a decent DVD presentation of this classic
> musical from the 1950's. Then, to my disappointment, I discovered that
> you were only reviewing the original, lackluster DVD that was released
> over 4 years ago. (Oh well, Warner has done the same thing with its
> re-release of _Cabaret_.)

<<We had a new reviewer (Bill Treadway) join the staff, and before he
got his review screeners he decided to review a few things in his
collection that we didn't have in our review database; even with 3400+
reviews, there's still a few holes. I turned down his review of one of
the public-domain releases of Roger Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors,"
so it could be worse He's still getting his feet wet, which may
explain the over-enthusiastic review of the video elements.>>

Mike Jackson
Editor & Web Developer, DVD Verdict
www.dvdverdict.com


Over-enthusiastic? He was positively gushing in his bubbling,
effervescent review. But even thought Fox had the 30 frames-per-second
Todd-AO elements, they stopped short of doing a high-bitrate re-master
for the DVD. This has been a big disappointment.

If Mr. Treadway is interested in seeing the finest DVD presentation of a
movie from the 1950's, I have found nothing to equal the incredible
picture found on Paramount's 2-disk version of _The Ten Commandments_.

Here is what one reviewer had to say about this film:

"The new DVD edition of The Ten Commandments is nothing short of
amazing. Never in my experience has this film looked this good. As with
so many of the early Technicolor films, the production design was
intended to make full use of the glorious Technicolor palette. No one
can argue that video, even very good video, can match a decent
Technicolor film print, but this DVD transfer doesn't miss by much.
Colors are bright and intensely saturated yet retain very good stability
with little or no smearing. There is no evidence of video noise, even in
the brightest reds and oranges (check out the shot of the Hebrew slaves
towing the Egyptian statue in the opening sequence...gorgeous). Even
fine details within the brightest colors are still visible, something no
other video version has been able to accomplish. The image is
consistently sharp and detailed. For the most part, there is no apparent
grain in the image except for an occasional optical effects shot. Black
level and contrast are also excellent with good shadow detail."

http://www.digitaleyes.net/Reviews/S...alog=155087DVD