 WORST
DVD - OVERALL |
Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Warner Bros.)
Harry Potter is currently
one of the crown jewels of Warner Bros. It's the one franchise
that, so far, they seem incapable of screwing up. And this is
how they treat it on DVD? An overly dark transfer and a second
disc full of extras that don't even have enough replay value for
an eleven-year old? Let's hope they pull it together in time for
The Chamber of Secrets,
because this was an awfully inauspicious digital debut for the
world's favorite boy wizard. |
|
| WORST
DVD - SPECIAL EDITION |
South
Park: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros.)
If Cannibal! The Musical
taught us anything, it's that Trey Parker and Matt Stone give
good commentary. So getting them to record a track for every
first season episode of South Park
was a brilliant move. So brilliant that Warner's legal
department got cold feet and yanked it from the discs. Guys,
have you even seen South Park?
Comedy Central gets bonus points for making the commentaries
available on separate CDs, but come on... let Trey and Matt have
their say! |
|
| WORST
DVD - STANDARD EDITION |
The
Final Countdown (Pacific Family Entertainment)
What a joke this thing was. Initially advertised as being in
anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 surround, the disc was delayed
over and over again and eventually showed up as a letterboxed,
non-anamorphic presentation with 2.0 sound and no extras - not
even in chapter stops! We'd have seen a better disc if Final
Countdown associate producer Lloyd Kaufman had
acquired the rights for Troma! At least then there'd have been
plenty of no-holds-barred, Tromatic extras. |
|
| WORST
DVD - BOXED SET |
The
Back to the Future Trilogy (Universal)
There are three trilogies DVD fans have been clamoring for ever
since the format's inception: Star
Wars, Indiana Jones...
and this one. So you'd think that Universal would take the time
to get things right. You know, little things like framing the
picture on Parts II and
III correctly. Nope. And
to add insult to injury, they'd already released the set in
Region 2, and they KNEW it was wrong. Is Universal just trying
to create busy work for their customer service department or
what? |
|
| WORST
DVD - VIDEO |
Back
to the Future, Parts II & III (Universal)
See WORST DVD - BOXED SET.
Or better yet... don't. |
|
| WORST
DVD - AUDIO* |
A
Hard Day's Night: Miramax Collector's Edition (Buena
Vista/Miramax)
This isn't a bad disc in general, but the 5.1 "digitally
restored" soundtrack is a real distraction. It's not a
full-fledged remix or restoration, but a weird reassignment of
sounds to places where they were never meant to be. At the very
least, Miramax should have included the original mono track in
addition to this redone version.
* (Not to be confused with
WORST DVD-A) |
|
| WORST
DVD - SPECIAL FEATURE |
Y
Tu Mamá También (MGM)
Not to sound xenophobic or anything, but shouldn't a commentary
on a Region 1 disc either be in the language most folks in that
region speak or at the least be translated into it? Or at the
very least, feature subtitles? Or at the very, very least,
shouldn't the packaging warn you that the commentary is in
Spanish? We hear that actors Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna and
Andrés Almeida do the commentary entirely in character.
Sure would like to know what they said... |
|
| WORST
USE OF DVD FEATURES |
Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(Warner Bros.)
Memo to anybody producing a disc of a movie aimed at kids: We
know they look alike, but DVDs are NOT video games. We don't
want to solve brainteasers and puzzles just to see deleted
scenes. That's why we now use Disc Two of Harry
Potter as a coaster. They look like DVDs too. |
|
| WORST
DVD - MENUS |
Memento:
Limited Edition (Columbia TriStar)
These may well be the most intricately designed menus in years.
But man oh man... are they frustrating! And God help you if
you've got a small-screen TV. Patterning the menus after a
battery of psychological evaluations is a clever idea, sure. But
they shouldn't actually drive the user insane. |
|
| MOST
DISAPPOINTING DVD |
Spider-Man:
Special Edition (Columbia TriStar)
Back in 2001, while Spider-Man
was still being shot,
we
interviewed Javier Soto, head of DVD Development at
Columbia TriStar, and discovered they were already hard at work
on this disc. Uh... we don't mean to be rude, but what exactly
were you guys doing that took so long? Spider-Man
typifies the new trend of hollow two-disc sets that promise the
world but end up delivering so much studio puffery. Sam Raimi's
movies deserve, and usually get, better treatment than this. |
|
| DIGITAL
IN |
Peter
Jackson
It took a visionary director to bring The
Lord of the Rings to life, so it should be no
surprise that it also took a visionary director to realize the
full potential of DVD. The only drawback to Jackson's
involvement with this series is that it has rendered him too
busy to participate in discs of his earlier movies, like Heavenly
Creatures and Dead Alive.
But if that's the price we pay for movies as wonderful (and
discs as complete) as these... then so be it. |
|
| DIGITAL
OUT |
Barry
Meyer (Warner Bros. CEO)
Barry, Barry, Barry. Warner's taking home three Bitsy's
this year: WORST DVD - OVERALL,
WORST DVD - SPECIAL EDITION
and BEST DVD - MUSIC (NON-LIVE).
Only one of those ISN'T a dubious honor. The studio is still
clinging to those stupid Snapper cases that every single person
in the world hates. Even New Line, your sister company, doesn't
use 'em anymore. And then you capped off a great year by firing
Warren Lieberfarb, the man who almost single-handedly
introduced, promoted and stood by DVD, nurturing it into the
home video revolution it is today. Y'know, Warner Bros. was a
pioneer in this format. You're supposed to be leading the way.
Instead, it seems like you're actively trying to derail the
train just as it's getting up to full speed. |
|
| DVD
STUDIO TO WATCH |
Blue
Underground
Every year seems to bring a new upstart indie studio, dedicated
to preserving cult cinema. This year, Blue Underground joins the
ranks of Synapse, Fantoma and All-Day Entertainment in this
elite crew. You'd think these guys would start stepping on each
other's toes, but we say the more the merrier. There's plenty of
weird and wonderful movies out there just waiting to be
rediscovered. With releases like Shock
Waves, The Toolbox Murders
and Jess Franco's Eugenie and Justine,
Blue Underground looks to be a major contender. |
|
| DVD
STUDIO WE WANT MORE FROM |
Universal
Here's another once proud studio that just couldn't seem to do
anything right this year. First off, there's the Back
to the Future debacle we mentioned above. Then
there's the whole E.T.
situation. Kudos to Steven Spielberg for forcing Universal into
including the original version of the movie on the two-disc set.
But one step forward, three steps back. The documentary gets
dropped off the two-disc set, the DTS track on the 1982 version
gets dropped off the three-disc set, and don't even get us
started on the packaging. No title on the spine of the two-disc
set, and none of the packages accurately state what's actually
on the discs. All of these releases were just a mess. How many
more "Ultimate Editions" of previously released DVDs
does ANYONE want? And whatever happened to their great Classic
Monsters line? Is it any wonder why Universal doesn't want any
more advance reviews of their titles on the web? |
|
| WORST
TREND IN DVD |
The
Studio Exec DVD Bandwagon
Nobody's happier than we are that DVD has taken off and become
the mainstream format of choice. But now that the studio execs
are noticing that their coffers are being lined with a lot of
money coming from the home video department, it seems like
everybody with a suit and a cell phone is trying to climb aboard
the DVD money train. Hands off, slick. We know you want to look
cool and forward-thinking and all by grabbing some of the credit
for this format. But leave the DVD production to the
professionals. If we get too many cooks in this kitchen,
everything we love about DVD is going to slowly slip away. |
|
| TREND
WE'D LIKE TO SEE IN DVD |
HD-DVD
- One Format Only!
The next step in home video evolution is HD-DVD, but until the
studios and consumer electronics manufacturers stop trying to
develop competing technologies, the whole idea is going to go
nowhere fast. You've probably seen our little logos around the
web, but in case you've forgotten what this is all about, go to
www.dvdsite.org. |
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