 WORST
DVD - OVERALL |
The
Masterworks of the German Horror Cinema (Elite)
We can't say anything more than this... please stay away from
this piece of crap. Image just released a beautiful edition of
Nosferatu that outshines
the one on this DVD like the sun. Image's Cabinet
of Dr. Caligari is also much better than the version
here. And Der Golem isn't
even worth seeing the way it's presented on this disc. Buyer
beware. |
|
| WORST
DVD - SPECIAL EDITION |
Romper
Stomper: Special Edition (20th Century Fox)
This is a great film and it deserves to be seen. But for some
reason, its special edition treatment on DVD features too much
talk and not enough punch. The extras refer to extended scenes
and an alternate opening... and yet all we get is talking head
material (twice covered on the commentary track) and a loop of
annoying "before and after" restoration footage. It's
a nice try, but this disc is ultimately a failed attempt. |
|
| WORST
DVD - STANDARD EDITION |
Touch
of Evil (Universal)
This was originally supposed to be a collector's edition, but
ended up a disappointing movie-only disc. The more we think
about it, the more we wish Universal never released this disc at
all. Why not include the original version of the film, along
with the restored cut? Why not include a commentary track on the
restoration? And what happened to prevent the terrific
documentary that was supposed to be included from being used?
All you get on this classic is the trailer and Welles' memo
requesting the changes he wanted made. Lame. |
|
| WORST
DVD - BOXED SET |
Planet
of the Apes - The Evolution (20th Century Fox)
The transfers aren't anamorphic. There are no commentary
tracks. And there are essentially no extras aside from the bonus
disc, which features the AMC/Fox documentary on the making of
these films. Somehow... we have to believe that a better version
of this box set will be released on DVD one day. And to all the
folks who shelled out $100 for this one, all we can say that is
we feel your pain. Fox even blows the twist ending of the
original Planet of the Apes
on the disc's cover. Ouch. |
|
| WORST
DVD - VIDEO |
The
Sound of Music: Five Star Collection (20th Century
Fox)
Take a classic film, find the original laserdisc transfer, piss
on it and then release it on DVD. That seems to have been the
approach here, which is surprising, given how good most of Fox's
other DVDs have looked. What's even more puzzling is that this
DVD features the THX stamp of approval. The film is presented in
anamorphic widescreen, but the video suffers from WAY too much
edge-enhancement. It's almost as if whoever handled the transfer
thought he was working on a laserdisc. The picture is also
sometimes hazy and unclear, and film grain distracts more often
than you'd like. What a shame. Hopefully, Fox will go back and
redo this one properly. |
|
| WORST
DVD - MENUS (TIE) |
The
Abyss: Special Edition (20th Century Fox)
The Abyss is a
non-intuitive, interactive nightmare. We really like the special
edition content. But seriously... no one should EVER have to use
something called "The Drill Room" to navigate special
features on a DVD. Has anyone EVER gone through every page of
this disc's features (other than the producer)? These are cool
extras, but we gave up after the 5th hour's worth of text pages.
We've heard that a picture of the producer's dog is hidden
somewhere on the disc as an Easter egg. We haven't even bothered
to try and find it. Gasp!
Buck Rogers (VCI)
Okay... you can tell they were trying to create some nifty
menus, with old-style rocketship models on wires buzzing around
the screen. But you have to wait much too long before you can do
anything. And, to be honest, the animation isn't THAT good.
Worse yet is the ponderous VCI logo animation, during which all
your remote's buttons are disabled. Blech.
The Perfect Storm (Warner
Bros.)
It's as simple as this: what menu screens? Don't you just love
having to sit through what seems like five minutes of overly
compressed video before you can even select an option on the
DVD? It's a cool disc otherwise, but if we see another
artifact-ridden movie trailer used to intro a DVD, we'll have a
meltdown. |
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| WORST
DVD - SPECIAL FEATURE |
Pitch
Black (Universal)
What the hell is this crappy, 20-minute, Raveworld.net music
video and why should ANY fan of this film care? It's basically
poor-quality, home movie-style footage of a trio Pitch
Black-themed rave parties that were held to promote
the release of the film. Excuse me?! We get THIS instead of,
say... a special effects breakdown of the film's ultra-cool
crash sequence? We'd pay good money to find out which marketing
yahoo had the idea to include this on the DVD. This is
absolutely the most brainless DVD extra we've ever seen and is,
all by itself, enough to merit Universal's inclusion in our DVD
STUDIOS WE WANT MORE FROM category (see below). |
|
| MOST
DISAPPOINTING DVD |
The
Princess Bride (MGM)
We waited three years to get this film on DVD, and MGM has long
stated it was their most requested title. So what do they
release? A bare-bones, non-anamorphic, movie-only edition. LAME.
Word is director Rob Reiner wasn't available to work on the DVD
last year, so the studio decided to release this disc as is. MGM
has promised that a special edition DVD is coming soon. We wish
they'd just waited and done it right the first time. |
|
| DIGITAL
IN |
David
Fincher
His Fight Club and Se7en
special editions simply rock. Rumor is that The
Game is in the works. Fincher understands what we all
want on DVD and he works with people who take the time to get it
right. Now if we could just get him to do that Alien
3 director's cut… |
|
| DIGITAL
OUT |
George
Lucas
2 years running! Sorry George - we know you're busy with Episode
II and all, but do you really expect us to believe
that American Graffiti is
the best you've been able to do with DVD in 4 years? Hire some
producers man! Rest easy though… your upcoming Episode
I DVD should be enough to keep you from winning this
dubious award next year. As long as it isn't another 4 year wait
until the next Star Wars
DVD, anyway… |
|
| DVD
STUDIOS TO WATCH |
20th
Century Fox
Fox worked like gangbusters on their DVD product last year, and
2001 promises to be even better. After a rough start, Fox has
become truly dedicated to this format... and their staff loves
movies as much as we do. They've released some of their biggest
films as Five Star Editions, with several more on the way this
year (Cleopatra anyone?).
They're going back and upgrading their early, movie-only discs
and they've pioneered doing TV on DVD with The
X-Files. Plus, they have Phantom
Menace in the pipe for Thanksgiving... and we KNOW
that's going to be cool. They misstep occasionally, but their
successes are truly amazing.
Columbia TriStar
They're releasing TONS of great catalog titles on DVD (most of
them worth looking at), they do some of the best anamorphic
transfers and they're upgrading early, movie-only releases as
well. MiB was a very good
limited edition release in 2000. And with titles like Lawrence
of Arabia and Close
Encounters coming in 2001, they should continue to
impress. |
|
| DVD
STUDIOS WE WANT MORE FROM |
Universal
There isn't a studio that disappoints us more. They've released
a few high profile films, but could've done a lot more with them
(Jaws and the Jurassic
Park films definitely deserved 2-disc special
editions). Do we really need a more "ultimate" reissue
of The Mummy: Collector's Edition?
A more offensive reissue of The Nutty
Professor II? What about the Touch
of Evil: Collector's Edition that became a Touch
of Evil movie-only edition? And why so many
cookie-cutter discs? We've definitely seen one Spotlight
on Location, EPK-style fluff piece too many. And
here's the clincher - Ravenworld.net party video. We dug
Universal's Classic Monster and Hitchcock collections, but
overall... MUCH work needed.
Paramount
We said it last year, and we'll say it again this year...
Paramount does a fine job with the movie-only format, but we'd
definitely like to get a lot more from them. Steps in the right
direction where taken with Mission:
Impossible 2, but Braveheart
should have been just as loaded. Hopefully, we'll see some TRUE
special editions in 2001, particularly with The
Godfather Trilogy and Forrest
Gump in the works. And please... give us more than 2
episodes of Star Trek per
disc! |
|
| WORST
TREND IN DVD |
Calling
menu screens, chapter selection, cast and crew bios and trailers
special features. Those things are STANDARD features guys. The
word "special" should mean something when you put it
on the package.
Issuing a much-desired film on DVD as a movie-only disc…
only to re-release it as a special edition a few months later.
Universal & MGM most guilty. DVD fans REALLY hate this. We
say… do it right the first time.
Defective discs and how the studios handle them. We don't care
if it's a player problem, an authoring problem, a replication
problem or what have you. If a consumer has a disc that doesn't
work, make sure they get one that does. EVERY studio should have
an 800 customer support number, where people can get help from
someone who understands what a DVD disc is. |
|
| WORST
USE OF DVD FEATURES |
Using
the DVD release as a reason to edit, cut, trim or digitally
erase so-called "offensive" material from a film.
Disney and Warner most guilty.
Lame DVD-ROM extras, including screensavers, web browsers,
weblinks and other materials used to advertise products that
have NOTHING whatsoever to do with the film. What the heck was
the deal with that Ground Control
PC game demo on New Line's Frequency:
Platinum Series? You marketing guys need to chill. We
made this point in last year's Bitsys
and the studios STILL haven't gotten the message. If it doesn't
enhance our experience of the film, leave it off the disc.
Period. |
|
| TREND
WE'D LIKE TO SEE IN DVD |
| Mail-in
rebates on new special edition titles released within two years
of an earlier edition of the same film. If you're gonna be made
to buy a movie twice, you ought to at least get a few bucks off.
Enough said. |
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