Archived On The Mark Updates

January 31, 2007 - I have updated the Upcoming DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc Calendar with new titles. Click here or on the Coming Soon button above.

January 27, 2007 - Here is a Blu-ray Disc review of Buena Vista Home Entertainment's "Pearl Harbor."

Here Now, Are All the Nominees:
Best Picture: "Babel," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Queen."

Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, "Blood Diamond"; Ryan Gosling, "Half Nelson"; Peter O'Toole, "Venus"; Will Smith, "The Pursuit of Happyness"; Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland."

Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Volver"; Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"; Helen Mirren, "The Queen"; Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada"; Kate Winslet, "Little Children."

Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"; Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children"; Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond"; Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls"; Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed."

Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, "Babel"; Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal"; Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine"; Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"; Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel."

Directing: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Babel"; Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"; Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima"; Stephen Frears, "The Queen"; Paul Greengrass, "United 93."

Foreign Language Film: "After the Wedding," Denmark; "Days of Glory (Indigenes)," Algeria; "The Lives of Others," Germany; "Pan's Labyrinth," Mexico; "Water," Canada.

Adapted Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"; Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, "Children of Men"; William Monahan, "The Departed"; Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, "Little Children"; Patrick Marber, "Notes on a Scandal."

Original Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga, "Babel"; Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, "Letters From Iwo Jima"; Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine"; Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth"; Peter Morgan, "The Queen."

Animated Feature Film: "Cars," "Happy Feet," "Monster House."

Art Direction: "Dreamgirls," "The Good Shepherd," "Pan's Labyrinth," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "The Prestige."

Cinematography: "The Black Dahlia," "Children of Men," "The Illusionist," "Pan's Labyrinth," "The Prestige."

Sound Mixing: "Apocalypto," "Blood Diamond," "Dreamgirls," "Flags of Our Fathers," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Sound Editing: "Apocalypto," "Blood Diamond," "Flags of Our Fathers," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Original Score: "Babel," Gustavo Santaolalla; "The Good German," Thomas Newman; "Notes on a Scandal," Philip Glass; "Pan's Labyrinth," Javier Navarrete; "The Queen," Alexandre Desplat.

Original Song: "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth," Melissa Etheridge; "Listen" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven; "Love You I Do" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett; "Our Town" from "Cars," Randy Newman; "Patience" from "Dreamgirls," Henry Krieger and Willie Reale.

Costume: "Curse of the Golden Flower," "The Devil Wears Prada," "Dreamgirls," "Marie Antoinette," "The Queen."

Documentary Feature: "Deliver Us From Evil," "An Inconvenient Truth," "Iraq in Fragments," "Jesus Camp," "My Country, My Country."

Documentary (short subject): "The Blood of Yingzhou District," "Recycled Life," "Rehearsing a Dream," "Two Hands."

Film Editing: "Babel," "Blood Diamond," "Children of Men," "The Departed," "United 93."

Makeup: "Apocalypto," "Click," "Pan's Labyrinth."

Animated Short Film: "The Danish Poet," "Lifted," "The Little Matchgirl," "Maestro," "No Time for Nuts."

Live Action Short Film: "Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)," "Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)," "Helmer & Son," "The Saviour," "West Bank Story."

Visual Effects: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," "Poseidon," "Superman Returns."

HONORARY AWARD (Oscar statuette): Ennio Morricone

JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD (Oscar statuette): Sherry Lansing

January 23, 2007 - Here is a combined Blu-ray Disc set and HD DVD set review of HBO Home Video's "The Sopranos: Season 6, Part I."

January 21, 2007 - Elite Entertainment has announced an interesting three-disc DVD set entitled The Fearmakers Collection that you can read about below.

GO BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE DIRECTORS WHO HAVE CREATED SOME OF MOVIE HISTORY’S GREATEST HORROR FILMS

Three-Disc, 10 Episode Set Available From Elite Entertainment

May 8^th for $29.98

Scarborough, ME – They are considered the true masters of horror, with directing careers that span nearly a century. From “Dracula” to “Cat People,” “The House on Haunted Hill” to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” these illustrious luminaries literally created a film genre. Their fascinating careers and iconic films are showcased in “The Fearmakers Collection,” a three-disc, 10 episode series highlighting some of the world’s greatest makers of classic horror and suspense films. The set will be available from Elite Entertainment on May 8^th at a suggested retail price of $29.98.

“Never before have horror fans had the opportunity to hear stories of the horror genre’s greatest directors, all in one complete DVD set,” said Vini Bancalari, President, Elite Entertainment. “From interviews with some of the directors themselves, to the talent featured both in front of and behind the camera, and those that were inspired by these filmmaking giants, ‘The Fearmakers Collection’ will undoubtedly become a mainstay of any horror film collection.”

Each disc in “The Fearmakers Collection” set highlights an array of interviews with directors, producers, actors, writers and critics that have made their mark in the horror and suspense film field. The half hour episodes feature the careers of:

Jack Arnold—Known for his exotic settings and master of the 3-D shock effect, Arnold’s resume includes such classics as “It Came From Outer Space,” “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and “The Incredible Shrinking Man.”

Tod Browning—Renowned as the director of the original “Dracula” (1931), Browning also made his mark in the horror world with “Freaks,” “Mark of the Vampire” and “London After Midnight.”

William Castle—The master of the promotional “gimmick” (such as attaching vibrating devices to theater seats), Castle directed such popular ‘50s films as “The House on Haunted Hill,” “The Tingler” and “Macabre.”

Roger Corman—Having set a record for the shortest amount of time to shoot a professional feature film (two days, one night to film “Little Shop of Horrors,” which featured a young, unknown Jack Nicholson) Corman went on to have an illustrious career with such films as “It Conquered The World,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Raven.”

Terence Fisher—Fisher got his big break at the age of 52 with “The Curse of Frankenstein,” a shocker that set a new standard for modern horror films. His other works include “Horror of Dracula,” “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Tobe Hooper—Perhaps no modern-day director is more associated with one film than Tobe Hooper and the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

Roman Polanski—Considered a cinematic master of many film genres, Polanski set a high-water mark with his riveting work directing “Rosemary’s Baby.” His other notable horror-themed projects include “Repulsion,” “The Tenant” and the horror/vampire spoof “The Fearless Vampire Killers.”

Jacques Tourneur—French filmmaker Tourneur got his big break in 1942, when noted producer Val Lewton started up the new horror unit of RKO and assigned Tourneur to direct its first picture, “Cat People.” Other works include “I Walked with a Zombie,” “The Leopard Man” and “Curse of the Demon.”

Roland West—Though his directing career was short lived, West was known for such atmospheric, moody horror films as “The Bat,” “The Bat Whispers” and “The Monster” and remains even better known for a real life murder case in which he was a suspect!

Robert Wise—While he’s best known for directing such movie musical classics as “West Side Story” and “The Sound of Music,” Wise is immortal to horror fans as the architect of such genre classics as “Curse of the Cat People,” “The Body Snatcher” and “The Haunting.”

Each episode of “The Fearmakers” also features interviews with a variety of talent connected with these movie masters and the horror film world, including: John Agar, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Dario Argento, John Carpenter, Jeffrey Combs, Joe Dante, Stuart Gordon, Richard Matheson and David J. Skal.

The DVD set is based on the popular book “The Fearmakers,” by John McCarty, who is co-producer, co-director, co-writer, co-editor and narrator of the series. The book profiles about 20 classic horror and suspense film directors (including the 10 featured in the DVD collection).

John McCarty is the author of more than 20 non-fiction books on the film and entertainment industry, including his most recent title, Bullets Over Hollywood: The American Gangster Picture from the Silents to The Sopranos (Da Capo Press). McCarty recently completed a documentary about the late Oscar-winning filmmaker and AFI Life Achievement Award winner Robert Wise, whom McCarty interviewed in 1996.

Elite Entertainment was founded in 1993. The company is currently one of the leaders in the restoration and distribution of horror, science fiction and cult DVD titles, including “Night of the Living Dead,” “Evil Dead,” “Tower of Evil” and “I Spit On Your Grave.” Other titles include the cult favorite “Horror;” a triple feature on the Masterworks of the German Horror Cinema, including the original silent films “Nosferatu,” “Der Golem” and “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari;” the “Drive-In Discsä” series, and the popular Millennium Edition series, including “Night of the Living Dead,” “Re-Animator” and “I Spit On Your Grave.” Visit www.elitedisc.com.

January 20, 2007 - Here is my annual Top Ten DVD-Videos Of 2006 As Reviewed At GENRE ONLINE.NET. In case you are wondering why I have not included any HD DVD or Blu-ray Disc titles here it is because neither format has even been available for retail for a year at the time of this posting. So I feel before I can judge what those top ten titles might be, I think both formats need to be given at least one year to mature a bit before I can responsibly declare any choices or recommendations. Speaking of high definition optical disc formats, a colleague and dear friend of mine in England, who has requested anonymity, proposed a poll asking members of the Video Help.Com website "Would you upgrade to a high def disc if there was no format war?" The poll is still rather small, but I find the results fascinating depending on how one interprets them and I think readers should participate and keep an eye on this poll for future reference. You can check the current results by clicking here.

January 19, 2007 - Here is a DVD review of BBC Video's "Doctor Who: The Complete Second Series: 6-Disc Set." I have updated the Upcoming DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray Disc Calendar with recently announced titles you can check out by clicking here or the Coming Soon button above right..

January 11, 2007 - Here is a Blu-ray Disc review of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's "Alien Vs. Predator."

January 9, 2007 - LATE UPDATE - Here is an HD DVD review of The Weinstein Company's and Genius Product's "Scary Movie 4: Unrated." You all may have noticed a new button choice on the website as well as the elimination of certain pages I had up last year. I am going to be opening a new section on the site that will enable me to write what I call Quick-Views, which are concise bite size media reviews that get straight to the chase without extra details found in a full review. This will enable me to do reviews faster and still have the normal full media reviews you already have seen. I hope that this combination will enable more work to be done in less time. Please note that full reviews will continue for DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles and all TV on DVD and TV reviews in general. This Quick-Views is a way to get more titles covered than I would be able to do otherwise. The section is not open yet, but I hope to open it by the end of the month with some new reviews in that section. In the mean time I have created visual archive pages for the old Additional DVD Reviews Section, Multimedia Reviews Section, and UMD.Video For PSP Reviews Section that are accessible on the Archived Reviews Page through any of the button choices above and below the main site section pages. I have also moved my On The Mark Updates For November and December of 2006 to the Archived On The Mark Updates Page. Thank you.

January 8, 2007 - Here is a Blu-ray Disc review of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's "The Covenant" and an exciting press release detailing Buena Vista Home Entertainment's upcoming Blu-ray Disc releases below.

BUENA VISTA WORLDWIDE HOME ENTERTAINMENT UNVEILS UNPARALLELED BLU-RAY DISC™ RELEASE SLATE FOR

Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Con Air, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Chicken Little, The Rock, Cinderella Man, Face/Off, Crimson Tide, Air Force One, Finding Neverland, G.I. Jane, The Recruit, Open Range, Remember The Titans and Scary Movie 4 among the exciting titles
to be released on Blu-ray Disc

BURBANK, CA, (01/08/07) – Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment (BVWHE) today announced the company’s most extensive Blu-ray Disc slate yet, with action-packed and family titles due for release throughout 2007 in North America, Europe and Asia. Showing its continued commitment to the next-generation, high-definition format, the company has selected a wide range of titles, many 50GB, to showcase the new Blu-ray Disc format, from blockbusters and Academy Award®-winning masterpieces, to popular animated movies for the entire family. In North America, BVWHE will release titles beginning March ’07 to include Chicken Little, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Cars, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock, Finding Neverland, G.I. Jane, The Recruit, Open Range and Remember The Titans. In Europe, titles to be released beginning March ’07 will include Eight Below, Chicken Little, Enemy of the State, Flightplan, Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Pearl Harbor, Scary Movie 4, Sky High, The Wild, Dinosaur, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Bruce Almighty, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock, Cars, Air Force One and Finding Neverland. In Asia, titles to be released beginning March ’07 will include Chicken Little, Face/Off, King Arthur Director’s Cut, The Wild, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Scary Movie 4, Cars, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock and Air Force One. See paragraphs below for complete date listings.

Commenting on the announcement, BVWHE President Bob Chapek stated, “Blu-ray is quickly becoming the high-definition standard on the market today and we are very pleased to add this amazing slate of Blu-ray releases that will appeal to our core demographic. With the dual-layer, 50GB discs, the possibilities for exciting new interactive features and additional bonus content are endless.”

The company has already had tremendous success with the first generation of Blu-ray Disc titles such as Eight Below and Dinosaur, and is releasing most new titles on the new dual-layer Blu-ray Discs that features a massive storage capacity of 50GB, enabling the highest caliber encodes, expanded bonus material and exciting new interactive features.

As part of its worldwide release strategy BVWHE will release Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in all territories May ’07 and Con Air, Crimson Tide and The Rock in all territories beginning June ’07. Cars will also see a worldwide rollout schedule in 2007.

In North America, BVWHE will release Chicken Little and Finding Neverland on March 20; King Arthur Director’s Cut and G.I. Jane on April 3; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in May; Con Air, Crimson Tide and The Rock on June 8; and Cars, The Recruit and Open Range in Summer ‘07.

Europe will see its first Blu-ray Disc titles from BVWHE beginning in March with the release of Eight Below, Chicken Little, Enemy of the State, Flightplan, Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Pearl Harbor, Scary Movie 4, Sky High, Finding Neverland and The Wild. Next up are Dinosaur and King Arthur Director’s Cut in April; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest in May; Bruce Almighty, Con Air, Crimson Tide and The Rock in June; and Cars, Air Force One and Reign of Fire in Summer ‘07.

In Asia, BVWHE will release Face Off in March; Chicken Little and The Wild in April; Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Scary Movie 4 in May; and Cars, Con Air, Crimson Tide, The Rock, King Arthur Director’s Cut, Air Force One and Starship Troopers in Summer ‘07.

Blu-ray Disc is the next-generation optical disc format for high-definition video and high-capacity software applications. A single-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 25GB of data, and a double-layer Blu-ray Disc will hold up to 50GB of data. Blu-ray Disc is supported by the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and gaming companies, and, with seven of eight Hollywood studios releasing their high-definition content on Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray will deliver the widest variety of high-definition, home entertainment content.

Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment, a recognized leader in the home entertainment industry, is the marketing, sales and distribution company for Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista DVD, Blu-ray Disc and electronic distribution product. Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment is a division of Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Three-Disc, 10 Episode Set Available From Elite Entertainment

May 8th for $29.98

May 8^th for $29.98