"I'm not really a wicked fairy. I'm just wicked."
"Bitter Dregs" is kind of in transition right now...I've moved it over to the UofM libraries Moveable Type system, so expect the look to change a bit here and there. I'm hoping that it'll work out. This system has a lot more flexibility and I can send email notifications to multiple addresses (those of you not on MGROE who get this and don't want the notifications, let me know)! Anyhow, here's today's update:
Coming on September 7th is the next in the Fox Studio Classics series, Alexander's Ragtime Band. Presented in remastered 1.33:1 full screen and Dolby 2.0 stereo, extras include audio commentary by Ray Faiola, the 45-minute Biography: Alice Faye" TV special, three deleted scenes, a still gallery, premiere footage and theatrical trailers.
Lost in Space: Season 2 Volume 1 hits stores on September 14th and includes 16 episodes, each presented in 4:3 full screen and Dolby mono. There are no extras, and list price will be $39.95. And, Angel: Season 4 will boast 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfers, Dolby 2.0 surround tracks, plus a host of extras: audio commentary on six episodes, the "Prophecies: Season 4 Overview," "Angel and the Apocalypse," "Unplugged: Season 4 Outtakes," "Last Looks: The Hyperion Hotel," "Fatal Beauty and the Beast" and "Malice in Wonderland: Wolfram & Hart" featurettes. List price is the nominal $59.95.
Details are surfacing on an upcoming Matrix Ultimate Collection box set? U.K. retailer HMV has posted details on what would be a 10-disc set, which would include:
1 - The Matrix (with all-new transfer & audio commentary)
2 - The Matrix Revisited (the original version with behind-the-scenes footage)
3 - Matrix Reloaded: Extended Version (new cut with 55 minutes of new footage inserted back into the film)
4 - Matrix Reloaded Revisited (all new interviews, scene dissections and more)
5 - Matrix Revolutions (original cut with audio commentaries)
6 - Matrix Revolutions Revisited (a host of all-new extras)
7 - The Animatrix
8 - The Roots of the Matrix (3 hours of features)
9 - The Burley Man Chronicles (the people behind The Matrix discuss their work)
10 - The Zion Archive (a tour of Matrix design concepts, storyboards & drawings)
Chances are a similar set will be announced shortly here in region 1.
Sony is getting around to releasing Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: The Complete Second Season on 8/31.
On other news, word has it that Sony has been very interested in acquiring MGM to get ahold of its extensive library of films (ca. 4,000 features and 10,000 TV shows). The reason: Sony is revving up for a format war with other other companies over the next generation high-definition DVD format (Blu-Ray) and the more software it controls, the better chance it has of pushing its format of choice. Now Time-Warner is also bidding for MGM and guess what? They're behind the other format (HD-DVD). As an aside, if Warner manages to get control of MGM, it would clear up a lot of the rights confusion that's kept Peter Jackson and New Line from going ahead with a film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. New Line is a Time Warner company, and while the studio owns the rights to produce a film of The Hobbit, MGM currently owns the rights to distribute it.
Reviews:
DVD Savant takes a look at Warner's The Tarzan Collection which includes Tarzan the Ape Man, Tarzan and His Mate, Tarzan Escapes, Tarzan Finds a Son, Tarzan's Secret Treasure, Tarzan's New York Adventure
The Name of the Rose (out on 7/6
And....Who's the Boss?: The Complete First Season I KNOW you've all been waiting for that one!
Have a great 4th of July...and what better way to celebrate than to sing along with Bing in a rousing rendition of "Song of Freedom"?!
Freedom, freedom
That's my song for today
Listen to this American troubador from the U.S.A.
I'm singing a song of freedom
For all people who cry out to be free
Free to sail the seven seas
Free to worship as we please
If the birds up in the trees can be free
Why can't we?
I'm bringing a song of freedom
To all people wherever they may be
Free to speak and free to hear
Free from want and free from fear
Sons of freedom far and near who agree
Sing with me
That all God's children shall be free
[As sung in film:]
-Freedom! Freedom!
-Here comes the Freedom Man
On this day of independence
On this Independence Day
Listen to an American troubador from the U.S.A.
I'm singing a song of freedom
For all people who cry out to be free
Free to sail the seven seas
Free to worship as we please
If the birds up in the trees can be free
Why can't we?
I'm bringing a song of freedom
To all people wherever they may be
Free to speak and free to hear
Free from want and free from fear
Sons of freedom far and near who agree
Sing with me
That all God's people shall be free
Comments
I just read an interesting article in Newsweek about the former head of Warner Home Video, I forget his name, who apparently was one of the major reasons the DVD format was so successful. He helped drive the concept while it was in development, and then made sure there were plenty of titles released fairly quickly from Time Warner's library, so some have even called him The Father of the DVD, or something like that. Anyway, it looks like Warners is banking they can do it again with HD-DVD (the article also mentioned Sony's bid to buy up MGM, which was the first I'd heard of that).
Sony is always in the forefront of every new format developed, then someone else always battles it out with them!
Posted by: Shawn Cassity | July 2, 2004 7:56 PM
Yes indeed you're right and his name is Warren Lieberfarb. He's no longer working for Warners; forced out in some political battle. It is indeed a clash of the titans. Let's hope they do better than they did in hi-rez audio...
Posted by: Doc Dregs | July 3, 2004 9:05 AM