New Releases: Rod Steiger films, Golden Pond SE: Updated complete downloadable R1 DVD DB & info list

Adventures Of Captain Marvel represented a now long gone aspect of the local
theater, the weekly serial. Artisan releases all the episodes in this 1941
classic on December 16th for $14.98. Also on that date they have Enforcer
(1951) and Flat Top.

December 16th also brings some more 'Value Pack' double features from
Universal. Beautiful Mind / Emperor's Club (Value-Pack), October Sky / Field
Of Dreams (Value-Pack) and Road To Perdition / The Legend Of Bagger Vance
(Value-Pack) each priced at $32.98.

Image chimes in with their own two film packs. Mostly they are Sci-Fi and
Horror 'B' flicks from the fifties and early sixties. All are due out on
November 25th and retail for $14.98. Included are Basket Case / Return Of
The Swamp Thing (2-Pack), Beach Girls And The Monster / Brain From Planet
Arous (2-Pack), Bride Of The Gorilla / Bride Of The Monster (2-Pack), Devil
Girl From Mars / Women Of The Moon (2-Pack), Kronos / Spaceways (2-Pack),
Mesa Of Lost Women / Beast Of The Yucca Flats (2-Pack), Missile To The Moon
/ Project Moonbase (2-Pack), Monster From Green Hell / Giant From The
Unknown (2-Pack) and Stranger From Venus / The Cosmic Man (2-Pack).

Rhino has Concert For George due out on November 18th. This tribute to the
late Beatle George Harrison will feature Dolby 5.1/DTS audio and has a
suggested price of $29.99. Includes performances by Eric Clapton, Jeff
Lynne, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Monty Python, Anoushka
Shankar, Ravi Shankar and Ringo Starr.

Something a bit strange from Video Naturals Company. For $19.98 you can
watch a picture of wood burning or fish swimming. For those that grew up in
New York City think the old WPIX Yule Log. New Video Aquarium and Original
Video Fireplace will list at $19.98 or you can go for 2 Video Fireplaces On
1 DVD at $24.95. All are being released on October 28th.

Artisan has a number of films set for release on December 16th. Among them
are a couple of films of more than passing interest for film collectors. The
Pawnbroker, the 1964 drama featuring Rod Steiger and Brock Peters as well as
another Steiger classic, this time with Gary Cooper, Court-Martial Of Billy
Mitchell. Both will have a suggested price of $14.98.

Also in that set of releases from Artisan are Cutthroat Alley, Dangerous
Passion, Dark Wind, Dawning, Dead Sleep, The Men, Redemption (2003) and
Shattered Dreams.

December 16th will also see the Artisan release of On Golden Pond (Special
Edition - New Version). This release is listed as featuring anamorphic video
and Dolby EX video. The extras were given as Documentary "Reflections on
Golden Pond" - a tribute to the work of cinematographer Billy Williams;
Commentary Track with Writer Ernest Thompson - author of the Broadway play;
Katharine Hepburn Tribute Documentary; Charles Kiselyak's Documentary
"Loving Against Time." The retail price is listed as 19.98.

Kurt And Courtney (Special Edition) documentary about the ill fated grunge
rock royal couple will street on December 9th. I have received announcements
for this title from both Fox Lorber and Wellspring. The UPC prefix of 720917
has been used by both studios. Extras include Commentary by director;
Interviews; Deleted scenes; Stills gallery.

Stop by for a complete downloadable information list of all region one DVDs
in several formats as well as daily changes. The official list now
features33,970 titles with 478 additions or changes and 356 Pre-Release
announcements. The All Titles list has 34,326 titles. Recent releases
include: Last Week 251, This Week 346 and Next Week 291 titles.

Previews of Taken, Sopranos Season 4, Matrix Reloaded, Hulk, Avril Lavigne:
My World and 28 Days Later. Reviews of Scarface(1983), Scarface (1932),
Smallville, In Cold Blood, Kiss Symphony, Outer Limits Season 2, The Two
Towers, Chicago and All That Jazz. Past film reviews include Wait Until
Dark, Daredevil, Them, May, Phone Booth, Gangs of New York, Spun, Killing
Me Softly, Real Women Have Curves, The Day the Earth Stood Still , Them,
Usual Suspects and Gormenghast . Coming titles listed before all the specs
are in can be found in a new list,
http://www.hometheaterinfo.com/pre-releases.htm

Updated lists for discontinued, cancelled, postponed and rescheduled titles
as well as lists for DTS, ES/EX and Superbit titles. UPC numbers and
original release dates now being added to the database. There is also a
greatly expanded list of titles that were rescheduled or reissued. Search
function for the database, (now including UPC search) complements of site
partner and friend, Michael's Movie Mayhem
(http://kazart.com/mec/DVDList2.html) and DVDLister.

Updates to the DVD database, including release specs usually made twice
daily.

Please stop by and visit.
Thank you.

 

With all due respect. WHy keep mentioning anything released by Artisan. We
all know they release junk copies and have managed to pretty well screw up
everything they've touched. The less mention the better as maybe this will
translate to less sales for them and the eventual heave ho given to whatever
functional illiterate is runing their operation.

 

With all due respect, why quote the guy's whole, big message? What
a waste of bandwidth and server space, with everyone doing this.

 

Yes, but he did very considerately post his text above the original so
that you don't have to scroll past the entire thing! ;-)

Mischa

 

Gee, I don't know. Maybe Doug wants to give us the opportunity
to decide for *ourselves* whether it's something we care about
instead of dictating to us what's worth it and what's not.

-- jayembee

 

Personally, other than the screwed-up Laurel and Hardy release, I've
been generally been happy with Artisan. Lest we forget the incredible
"Terminator II" Extreme and Profound (or whatever <g>) DVD tins are
Artisan's.

. Steve ..

 

I must say...I am looking forward to On Golden Pond.....love that movie

 

Better a less than perfect than none at all.

I've even special ordered some VHS tapes in the past two years
as they were never on anything else and were going out of print.

And buying a tape is a very rare occurance for me - probably about
6 from about 2000 I've recorded off the air in the past 20 years.

Bill

 

How thoughtful of him, eh? )

 

Normally I'd be very much looking forward to this. I have the old version
on DVD, and it's not bad, but could definitely use a re-mastering. Here it
is - from Artisan, which to me means mixed results. On Golden Pond is a
beatiful film that deserves good treatment, but I'm skeptical we'll get it
from Artisan. I guess I'll wait for the reviews and hope for the best.

Mike

 

Problem is that Artisan continues to release good movies available
nowhere else. Sometimes the releases are good.

I am amazed that they still go for pan&scan on unpredictable
occasions, and I despise the have-it-both-ways announcement they put
on the cover (first they claim the film's been adapted from its
original format, then that the standard version is the original
format, each of which is true in some cases, the other being false).

Image or Anchor Bay are always more reliable than Artisan, but Image
puts out rather little worthwhile content these days (there are
notable exceptions), and Anchor Bay can't handle everything.

 

The problem I have with Artisan is their deceptive disclaimers
regarding ratio. They'll often refer to their fullscreen releases as
being in "the ratio in which the film was shot". This is simply
twisting the facts to suit their purpose.

Anyone knowledgable about how films are made knows that matted
widescreen films are *shot* in Academy Ratio, even though they're
*composed* for, and intended to be seen in, a wider ratio.

But anyone without such knowledge would assume from the disclaimer
that the film in question was intended to be fullscreen, which is
often not the case.

-- jayembee