 WORST
DVD - OVERALL |
Book
of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (Artisan)
Okay, the movie sucks. That's just a given. What really
clinched BW2 as the Worst
DVD of the Year was its status as the first (and, as far as we
know, only) DVD/CD hybrid. Assuming you can get the CD side to
work on your CD player (and that's not a given... check out the
warning about attempting to play this on a car stereo), you're
rewarded with one of Carter Burwell's least impressive scores
and a handful of the worst tunes from the rock soundtrack. Since
you could have put an isolated music track on the DVD side,
there's just no reason for this to exist. If that's not
frustrating enough, there's bonus footage accessible only
through the DVD-ROM section. If you want to put a script or
website on DVD-ROM, fine. Go ahead. Knock yourself out. But if
it's video footage, we want it on our TV. Period. Oh, and just
so there's absolutely no confusion... the movie itself? Not
good. |
|
| WORST
DVD - SPECIAL EDITION |
Patch
Adams: Ultimate Edition (Universal)
Let's ignore for the moment the fact that Patch
Adams is quite literally the last movie on Earth to
deserve a special edition treatment of any kind. Adding a second
disc with a pan-and-scan version of the movie and a smattering
of half-hearted features like Words
of Inspiration from Patch Adams to an existing
special edition doesn't make something "ultimate". We
could lodge this same criticism against Universal's other "Ultimate
Editions" for American Pie
and The Mummy, but come
on. It's Patch Adams! What
do you think we're gonna choose? |
|
| WORST
DVD - STANDARD EDITION |
Frank
Herbert’s Dune (Artisan)
Frank Herbert's science fiction classic finally gets a faithful
screen adaptation and this is the disc we get? A subpar
non-anamorphic digital transfer and a standard Dolby Digital 2.0
audio track just doesn't cut it with a program like this. |
|
| WORST
DVD - BOXED SET |
The
Best of Hitchcock, Volumes 1 & 2 (Universal)
Now don't get us wrong, the discs in these two boxes are
generally very good, indeed. They even include bonus discs of
Hitchcock-directed episodes of Alfred
Hitchcock Presents... and that's the problem. Volume
1 of Alfred Hitchcock
Presents is available only in a three-disc set
released back in 1999 containing Psycho
and Vertigo. Volume
2 is available only in an expensive 8-disc set...
which also contains Psycho.
Volume 3 is available only
in another equally expensive 8-disc set... with Vertigo.
While Volume 4 is
available only in yet another 3-disc set with Rear
Window and The Man Who
Knew Too Much, which are... you guessed it... in that
big and mighty 8-disc set you have to buy if you want Volume
2. Look, we don't necessarily mind having to purchase
a boxed set in order to get an exclusive bonus disc. We just
don't want to have to buy the exact same discs over and over
again. |
|
| WORST
DVD - VIDEO |
Manhunter:
The Director's Cut - Limited Edition (Anchor Bay)
Michael Mann's Manhunter
is a great movie, no matter what anybody says. When Anchor Bay
released both the original version and the director's cut on
disc, we were thrilled. But the director's cut couldn't possibly
look any worse. Dull, lacking detail and unnaturally red, it's
almost impossible to tell from this that the director's cut is
actually better than the theatrical version. A huge
disappointment. |
|
| WORST
DVD - SPECIAL FEATURE |
Book
of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (Artisan)
Well, here's a shocker. Turns out Book
of Shadows is full of all sorts of subliminal
messages. If you check out the The
Secret of Esrever, you can unlock the code in the
movie... which of course means you have to watch the movie
again. No thanks. Jeez, you'd think if the filmmakers were going
to put subliminal messages in this thing, they'd have to do with
convincing the audience they were actually watching a good
movie. |
|
| MOST
DISAPPOINTING DVD |
Frank
Herbert’s Dune (Artisan)
Not to keep beating a dead horse but this really was a shame,
especially if you believed what it said on the packaging and
thought you might be getting an anamorphic transfer. Thank God
Artisan went back to the drawing board on this one and made
things right in 2002. |
|
| DIGITAL
IN |
George
Lucas
Hey, Georgie! Welcome to the club! We knew you'd make it sooner
or later. The Phantom Menace
may have its problems as a movie, but as a DVD, it's top of the
line. Now that you know what the format can do, let's hope you
don't drop the ball when you get around to the original trilogy.
We know that's not gonna happen for awhile, so we'll put our
pitchforks and torches away for the time being. But if you don't
do right by the Big Three, rest assured we'll be storming
Skywalker Ranch in a big way. However, The
Phantom Menace goes a long way to reassuring us that
the future DVDs of Luke, Han and Leia are in very, very good
hands. |
|
| DIGITAL
OUT |
Infinifilm
(New Line)
New Line has been a leader in DVD since the format's inception.
So what the hell's this all about? So far, Infinifilm
has been a clumsily executed hodge-podge of tangential details,
superfluous trivia, commentaries and featurettes that aren't all
that different from any other DVD. Guys, there was and is
absolutely nothing wrong with the discs you've released as part
of the New Line Platinum Series.
And you know what they say: If it ain't broke... |
|
| WORST
TREND IN DVD |
Nuon
Did anybody anywhere ever actually use this thing? Were you
even aware of its existence? We're 100% behind innovation and
experimentation in DVD features, but not if you have to buy a
specially-outfitted player to use them. At any rate, Nuon may or
may not have represented a quantum leap in DVD technology. The
world will never know. Since its inception was so clumsily
executed, the whole thing never even got off the launching pad. |
|
| WORST
USE OF DVD FEATURES |
Boogeymen:
The Killer Compilation (FlixMix/Universal)
A compilation of horror's greatest hits isn't exactly a new
idea. But let face it... if you don't have the patience to sit
through all 80 minutes of a Child's
Play movie just to get to Chucky's best lines, you
either have no interest in the genre or serious Attention
Deficit Disorder problems. And why exactly does Robert "Freddy
Krueger" Englund provide a commentary? His devotion to the
genre that bought him a house is touching, but he's far from an
expert. If you're gonna do something like this, why not just
release the 1984 flick Terror in the
Aisles? At least then we'd get to see the late Donald
Pleasence one more time. |
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