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OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 2002 27th November 2002
The series starred Michael French (recently seen alongside James Bolam in the Sunday evening drama series Born and Bred) and Red Dwarf's Chloë Annette. The series, about a detective (French) and a scientist (Annette) who solve and prevent crimes using a time machine, was written by Anthony Horowitz, who recently created the excellent Foyle's War.
26th November 2002 I've updated the Scooby-Doo review to note that it's been cut by the BBFC. 25th November 2002 About a Boy, a very appealing light comedy about a Hugh Grant sort of chap who's chrome and Ikea breezeblock lifestyle is disrupted by the arrival of a boy and his fruitcake mother, is the subject of our latest review. The disc contains a featurette that seems to be exclusive to the UK version (there's no word on the Region 4 spec's, but they're expected to be similar, if not identical). Have you entered our Ali G competition (above) yet? The response hasn't exactly been overwhelming, so you stand a pretty good chance of winning something! 21st November 2002 How would you feel if you were arrested for a crime you hadn't yet committed? That's the ethical conundrum underpinning Steven Spielberg's fabulous science fiction action movie Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise and angelic British actress Samantha Morton. Fox are releasing a very nice two-disc special edition on December 2nd, which is examined in our latest in-depth review. The Big Trouble in Little China review has been updated, to make note of the deletion of the superior Region 1 version. Fans of the film might like to know that a range of Big Trouble... action figures are now available from specialist dealers. You can find more details here: Action-Figure. 19th November 2002 I haven't seen this picture of the Minority Report packaging anywhere else, so I thought I'd share it with you folks. Lookin' good! (Especially that cool DTS logo...) Touch wood, our review should be online by the end of this week.
I've also added a review of the UK Scary Movie 2 disc. It's a good disc to watch on a Friday night with a few buddies and your beverage of choice. 18th November 2002 Click the link above to enter our Ali G Indahouse competition! Respect!
16th November 2002 Ali G. You probably either love him or loathe him, but there's certainly no escaping the impact he's had on our cultural landscape. Click here to read our review of the Ali G Indahouse movie. We'll soon be adding a competition where you can win an Ali G standee! 14th November 2002 - Another update! One of the things I wanted to do with this website was to provide reviews of a few obscure or unusual DVD titles (like the French version of Cube, or the bootleg Millennium TV series box set), especially if there wasn't another web review that potential buyers could consult. So I'm very happy to add another oddity, a review of a Japanese ER disc that contains both versions of an episode that was performed live. 14th November 2002 Here's a look at the UK sleeves for three forthcoming Columbia Tristar releases. Mysterious Island is the last of Ray Harryhausen's movies owned by the studio. Their Harryhausen releases haven't been universally greeted (there have been complaints that some of the letterboxed titles, like The 3 Worlds of Gulliver and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, have been over-cropped, and that some of the US releases, which haven't been presented in widescreen format, aren't in their correct ratio). It seems that whatever Columbia does, it can't win! The disc features the usual array of bonus material, as well as an exclusive nine-minute Making of Mysterious Island featurette. Mysterious Island is released on December the 12th, and will probably get completely buried in the Christmas mêlée. Also released on December 12th is the lavish 1971 historical epic Nicholas and Alexandra, about the downfall of Russia's last czar, and his family. It features my favourite actor, Lord Tom Baker as Rasputin ("the Mad Monk", according to the Hammer version) The supporting cast (including Michael Jayston, Harry Andrews, Timothy West, Jack Hawkins, et al) isn't too shabby, either. The 2.35:1 anamorphic disc should be a treat for anyone who's seen the film in pan-and-scan format over the couple of decades, but it looks like Columbia are dropping the contemporary eighteen-minute Making of... documentary (narrated by the late Lynne Frederick) from the UK version. A week later Columbia are releasing the much maligned remake of Rollerball. The film was released on DVD by MGM in the US, and that version contains a couple of features that haven't been included on the UK release, (a twenty-minute featurette on the film's stunts and a music video). The UK disc will, however, feature the commentary track and the relatively worthless Rollerball Yearbook interactive scrapbook. If only Columbia had added a DTS soundtrack, they might have been able to tempt potential customers away from the Region 1 disc...
12th November 2002 A new review! Here's our look at the Scooby-Doo movie. I would have gotten away with it, if it hadn't been for you pesky kids. Zoinks. Etc, etc... 10th November 2002 I've updated the review of the Millennium Season One DVD Box Set to include screengrabs of the Japanese subtitles, and of a couple of the menu screens, which indicate that the set might not be entirely legitimate! 5th November 2002 Only one new review today, but it covers three movies, so that counts as three, right? Click here to read about The Exorcist - DVD Trilogy box set. 4th November 2002 I've updated the A Warning To The Curious review to add The Signalman, too. Cracking stuff! I've also amended the E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial review to mention the belated announcement of a three-disc Region 2 version that will contain the original version of the movie. There should be a few new reviews tomorrow... nothing too exciting! 1st November 2002 The sleeve for the next Tomorrow People DVD, The Doomsday Men is available here. The disc is being released on November 25th, and will feature a commentary track from Homo Superiors Nicholas Young, Peter Vaughan-Clarke and Elizabeth Adare. 30th October 2002 Just in time for its tenth anniversary, we present a review of the BFI's much-anticipated Ghostwatch disc. The programme whipped up a storm of controversy when it was originally shown - will it's reappearance on DVD live up to its fan's hopes? We review a couple of favourite Ray Harryhausen movies today: First Men in the Moon and Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers join our DVD reviews. First Men in the Moon is a terrific adventure yarn, and one of the best science fiction films of the 60s, and Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers is a terrific popcorn B-movie. 29th October 2002 A word of warning to those of you considering buying the Region 2 Suspiria DVD, which was released yesterday. On some discs the DTS track is several seconds out of sync. Here's their official statement: We have just been informed that there there is a technical fault on the Double Disc edition of Dario Argento's Suspiria which was released on Monday.
Due to a mistake by Anchor Bay's DVD authoring company Visart, the wrong DLT master was delivered and some discs were replicated with an out of sync DTS soundtrack. For those who have already purchased the DVD they should return it (with their address details) to:
VIS ART THE STUDIOS 8 HORNTON PLACE KENSINGTON LONDON W8 4LZ
It will be replaced free of charge with a newly authored DVD. Anchor Bay UK sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this has caused. Here's the schedule for the rest of Carlton's Carry On... series: 12th May Carry On Dick Carry On Behind Carry On Emmannuelle Carry On Camping
7th July Carry On Up The Jungle Carry On At Your Convenience Carry On Loving Carry On Up The Khyber Carry On Henry Carry On Matron Carry On England
28th October 2002 A review of the BFI's first A Ghost Story For Christmas disc, A Warning To The Curious, due for release on 25th November, has been added here.
The first batch, being released on 17th February, comprises of Carry On Don't Lose Your Head, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Follow That Camel, Carry On Abroad and Carry On Again, Doctor. More titles are planned for May and July. The discs will include "star and cast profiles with stills, cast commentaries, movie trivia, special documentaries on selected titles, theatrical trailers, stills gallery and a collector's edition booklet". The discs will have an RRP of £12.99. The discs will also feature new, especially-created sleeve images. 25th October 2002 Hot off the presses, a review of the UK E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial 2-disc set, due out on Monday.
24th October 2002 As promised, here's another couple of new sleeve images, this time for two eagerly anticipated BFI Archive Television releases, of two of the BBC's fabulous A Ghost Story For Christmas plays: The Signalman (adapted by Andrew Davies, from the Charles Dickens story) and A Warning To The Curious (based on the 1925 M.R. James tale). Both discs are being released on November the 25th. 23rd October 2002 Finally! Some proper news! Here's the sleeve for the BFI's forthcoming Ghostwatch DVD. There should be some more new sleeves in the next day or two - stay tuned! I've also added a review of the the fine Futurama Season Two box set. 22nd October 2002 Fixed the aspect ratio of the Brotherhood of the Wolf review screen-grabs. I thought they looked a bit squiffy! 19th October 2002 In the last week I've added reviews for the Hammer version of Dracula, David Fincher's taut thriller Panic Room, the ground-breaking special effects movie Tron, and the Canadian 3-disc version of Brotherhood of the Wolf, one of my favourite films from the last couple of years. I've been tweaking some of the pages, trying to improve the layout for users working in 800x600, and hopefully making the navigation a bit clearer. I've also dramatically reduced the size of some of the images, which should help users with dial-up access. I'm still open to offers of help, if you're an HTML guru with a little time to spare! If you have any comments on the site, or corrections, please drop me a line. I know that there's someone out there... reading! There's an email link at the bottom of this page. Thanks for your continued interest and support. 12th October 2002 Well, everything's new at the moment, since the site's only just opened. Please excuse the odd broken link or HTML snafu - frankly, I'm more interested in content than in coding! I apologise to those of you who are viewing at low-resolutions. I've done my best to make things as compatible as possible, but the layout might be a bit screwy. Incidentally, if anyone's interested in helping with helping out with coding, I'd love to hear from you! There won't be anything in the way of financial remuneration (unless you count the odd freebie DVD), but hopefully this modest site might lead to something bigger! This is where you'll find the latest announcements, and new DVD sleeves. You can find the latest DVD reviews listed here. Please have a browse around, and feel free to send me any comments about the site...
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Revelation
has signed the rights to the underrated 1997 BBC science-fiction series Crime
Traveller, and will release it as two 2-disc sets, beginning in March
2003. A box set containing all eight fifty-minute episodes will be
released in October. No extras have been announced.
Carlton
have announced that they're issuing seventeen of the Carry On... films
as Special Editions during 2003. 
Some
terrific news for fans of 80s TV - Satellite channel Challenge? is
reviving two classic cult programmes, The Adventure Game and Knightmare
as part of a 'Christmas Cult Selection' strand. A handful of vintage
shows, also including Larry Grayson episodes of The Generation Game and
Henry Kelly's Going For Gold, will be shown between 2pm and 5pm,
and 9pm and 12am each day between Monday 23rd December and Wednesday 1st
January. VCRs at the ready!
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* I'm kidding!
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