Archived On The Mark - November, 2003
November 30, 2003 - Here is a multimedia review of LucasArts Entertainment Company's "Secret Weapons Over Normandy."
November 29, 2003 - Here is Part Three of my DVD review of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's "Alien Quadrilogy" DVD Box Set.
November 28, 2003 - Here is a TV review of A&E's upcoming presentations of "Horatio Hornblower: Loyalty," which will premiere on Tuesday, December 2, 2003, at 8pm (ET)/7 (CT) and "Horatio Hornblower: Duty," which will premiere on Wednesday, December 3, 2003, at 8pm (ET)/7 (CT).
November 27, 2003 - Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have no new reviews today, but I will have more tomorrow and throughout the weekend so please keep dropping by daily to check. I have also moved my TV reviews of "Private Screenings With Shirley MacLaine," "Star Wars: Clone Wars," and "National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion" to the Archived TV Reviews Page. Be happy, be well, and be safe. Peace.
November 26, 2003 - Here is Part Two of my DVD review of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's "Alien Quadrilogy" DVD box set.
November 25, 2003 - Here is a DVD review of Docurama's "William Gibson: No Maps For These Territories" and a DVD-ROM review of LucasArts Entertainment Company's "Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy" for the Microsoft XBox.
November 24, 2003 - Here is Part One of my DVD review of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's "Alien Quadrilogy" DVD box set. I have also added a multimedia review of LucasArts Entertainment Company's "Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic" PC CD-ROM.
November 21, 2003 - Here is a DVD review of Home Vision Entertainment's "Naked Lunch: Special Edition Double-Disc Set: The Criterion Collection #220."
November 19, 2003 - Here is a DVD review of Paramount Home Entertainment's "Once Upon A Time In The West: Special Collector's Edition." If you have missed any of the episodes for the first part of the Cartoon Network's and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: Clone Wars" micro animated series, here is your chance to catch up with a marathon showing of the first ten episodes. Read all about it below!
This Friday night, Nov. 21, Cartoon
Network will conclude its initial run of STAR WARS: CLONE WARS by running the
first five episodes from 7:30-8 p.m. This will be followed by the animated
feature, POKÉMON III, from 8-9:30 p.m. And then CLONE WARS episodes #6-10
will run from 9:30-10 p.m.
FYI -- the remaining 10 episodes, #11-20, will premiere in spring '04 on Cartoon
Network.
Star Wars: Clone Wars, presented in 20 three-minute chapters weeknights Nov.
7-21, continues the saga where the live action feature film Star Wars: Episode
II Attack of the Clones left off - at the beginning of the Clone Wars, an epic
civil war that pits the old Republic against a vast separatist movement led by
the forces of evil. The program is produced at Cartoon Network Studios by
an animation team led by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Samurai Jack and
Dexter's Laboratory.
November 17, 2003 - Here is a DVD review of Paramount Home Entertainment's "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life" and a TV review for the upcoming USA Network original movie "Stealing Christmas."
November 15, 2003 - Here are DVD reviews of Voyager Entertainment's "Star Blazers: The Bolar Wars: Series 3 - The Lost Episodes!: Part VI" and "Be Forever Yamato."
November 14, 2003 - GENRE ONLINE.NET proudly presents a review of the Sci-Fi Channel's miniseries remake of "Battlestar Galactica," which will make it's World Premiere with Part One on Monday, December 8, 2003, at 9pm (ET/PT) and Part Two on Tuesday, December 9, 2003, at 9pm (ET/PT). I have also added a multi-platform DVD-ROM review of LucasArts Entertainment Company's "Gladius," which is now available for the Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo Game Cube, and Microsoft X-Box.
November 13, 2003 - Here is a review of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment's "The Outer Limits: The Original Series: The Entire Second Season On DVD."
November 12, 2003 - Here is a review of Anchor Bay Entertainment's "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: Season Two DVD Box Set." I have also republished my DVD review of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's "X2: X-Men United: Widescreen" for those of you who may have missed it the first time around and in anticipation of this upcoming release.
November 10, 2003 - Here are DVD reviews of Paramount Home Entertainment's "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete Sixth Season" and Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment's "Marooned." I have also added 14 new preview shots to the preview gallery for the Sci-Fi Channel's upcoming miniseries remake of "Battlestar Galactica."
November 8, 2003 - Here is a TV review of the Cartoon Network's Holiday Episode of "Justice League" entitled "Comfort And Joy," which premieres on Saturday, December 13, 2003, at 10pm (ET/PT).
November 7, 2003 - Here is a review of Warner Home Video's "Friends: The Complete Fifth Season On DVD" box set.
November 6, 2003 - Here is a DVD review of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's "Christmas With The Simpsons."
November 5, 2003 - Here is a review of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's "King Of The Hill: The Complete Second Season On DVD" box set.
November 4, 2003 - Here is a DVD review of Walt Disney Home Entertainment's "Sleeping Beauty: Special Edition: 2-Disc Set." Fox has officially announced the "Alien Quadrilogy" today and I also have the winners of the 2003 New York Horror Film Festival too. Read about both below.
IN YOUR LIVING ROOM, NO ONE CAN HEAR
YOU SCREAM
A L I E N
QUADRILOGY
BURSTING WITH
45 HOURS OF BONUS MATERIALS AND
NEVER-BEFORE-AVAILABLE VERSIONS OF EACH MOVIE,
THE
DEFINITIVE 9-DISC SET LANDS ON DECEMBER 2, 2003
Fox Home Entertainment Sets The DVD Bar With Ridley Scott,
James Cameron, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Original Film Editors,
Five FX Companies And More To Deliver The Ultimate Alien Collection
CENTURY CITY, Calif., (November 3, 2004) The Alien Quadrilogy is hatching!
The ultimate nine-disc Alien DVD collection, loaded with
never-before-available versions of each movie, plus a bonus disc, explodes
on December 2 from Fox Home Entertainment. Featuring 45 hours of
never-before-seen footage, the Alien Quadrilogy includes the original
theatrical releases of each of the four films in the franchise plus
alternate versions of each film and out-of-this-world bonus features
including new director commentaries, original screen tests and production
footage. A ground-breaking initiative from Fox Home Entertainment, the
significant under-taking marks the first time a studio¹s home entertainment
division has finished a theatrical film (Alien3). Working closely with
Directors Ridley Scott, James Cameron, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, original film
editors, and teams from Fox Restoration, Fox Sound, Visual Effects houses,
TCFHE and the DVD producer coordinated the restoration of original footage,
reconstruction of original audio, new visual effects and foley work, and
much more to allow fans to experience the Alien franchise as never before.
The most highly anticipated box set of the year is set to infiltrate homes
this holiday season with a suggested priced of $99.98.
ALIEN
… The original 1979 theatrical version of Alien and the 2003 Director¹s cut
… An introduction by Director Ridley Scott, Dan O¹Bannon, Sigourney Weaver,
Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt and more
… Brand new commentary by Ridley Scott and the technical crew
… Nine brand new documentaries: ³Star Beast² On developing the Alien
story; ³The Visualists² the direction and design of the film; ³Truckers In
Space² Casting the movie; ³Fear Of The Unknown² Behind the scenes at
Shepperton Studios in 1978; ³The Darkest Reaches² Developing the Nostromo
and Alien planet; ³The Eight Passenger² Creating the Alien; ³Future Tense²
Focusing on the music and editing of Alien; ³Outward Bound² Peering into
the film¹s visual effects; ³A Nightmare Fulfilled² Reaction to the film¹s
opening
… A Multi-Angle Scene Study on the Chestburster sequence with optional
commentary by Ridley Scott and the production team
… Sigourney Weaver¹s original screen test with optional commentary by Ridley
Scott
… Seven deleted scenes with a deleted footage marker and deleted scene index
… The first draft of the screenplay by Dan O¹Bannon
… Ridleygrams Original thumbnails and sketches by Ridley Scott
… Storyboard Archives
… The Art of Alien including a cast portrait gallery, production gallery,
the sets of Alien, H.R. Giger¹s Workshop, continuity polaroids and VFX
gallery
… The original theatrical posters and stills from the premiere
ALIENS
… The original theatrical version - available for the first time ever on DVD
- and James Cameron¹s special edition version of Aliens
… An introduction by Director James Cameron
… Brand new commentary by James Cameron, Michael Biehn, Jenette Goldstein,
Carrie Henn, Terry Henn, Lance Henriksen, Gale Anne Hurd, Pat McClung, Bill
Paxton,Dennis Skotak, Robert Skotak and Stan Winston
… James Cameron original treatment
… Nine brand new featurettes: ³57 Years Later² - Continuing the saga;
³Building Better Worlds² - From concept to construction; ³Preparing For
Battle² - Casting and characterization; ³This Time It¹s War² A look back
at Pinewood Studios, 1985; ³The Risk Always Lives² - Weapons and action;
³Bug Hunt² Creature design; ³Beauty And The Bitch² Power Loader vs.
Queen Alien; ³Two Orphans² Revisiting Sigourney Weaver And Carrie Henn;
and ³Aliens Unleashed² Reaction to the film
… The Art of Aliens including conceptual art portfolio, cast portraits,
production gallery, continuity polaroids, Stan Winston¹s workshop, VFX
gallery and premiere stills
… Deleted footage marker and deleted scene index
… Multi-angle videomatics with optional commentary by Miniature Effect
Supervisor, Pat McClung
… An Easter Egg
ALIEN 3
… The original theatrical version and a restored pre-release version with
more than 30 minutes of never-before-seen footage
… Brand new commentary by Cinematographer Alex Thompson, Editor Terry
Rawlings, VFX Designers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., Visual Effects
Producer Richard Edlund, and actors Paul McGann and Lance Henriksen
… 11 new featurettes: ³Development² Concluding the story; ³Tales Of The
Wooden Planet² Vincent Ward¹s vision; ³Pre-Production III² The making
of
Alien 3; ³Xeno-Erotic² H.R. Giger¹s redesign of the Alien creature;
³Production: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three² Behind-the-scenes on the
production of the movie; ³Adaptive Organism² Creature design; ³Optical
Fury² Visual effects; ³Music, Editing And Sound²; and ³Post-Mortem² A
reaction to the film
… E.E.V. Bio-Scan A multi-angle vignette with optional commentary by Alex
Gillis
… The Art of Alien 3 including conceptual art portfolio, production gallery,
and visual effects
… Furnace construction time lapse
… Storyboard archives
ALIEN RESURRECTION
… The original theatrical version and an extended cut with alternate opening
and ending sequences
… An introduction by Director Jean Pierre Jeunet
… Brand new commentary by Director Jean Pierre Jeunet, Herve Schneid, Alec
Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Pitof, Sylvain Despretz, Ron Perlman, Dominique
Pinon and Leland Orser
… First draft of the screenplay by Joss Whedon
… 11 new featurettes: ³From The Ashes² Reviving the story; ³French Twist²
Direction and design; ³Under The Skin² Casting and characters; ³Death
From Below² Underwater photography; ³In The Zone² Basketball scene;
³Unnatural Mutation² Creature design, ³Genetic Mutation² Creature
design; ³Genetic Composition² A listen to the music; ³Virtual Alien²
Computer generated imagery; ³A Matter Of Scale² Miniature photography; and
³Critical Junction² A reaction to the film
… Multi-angel rehearsal footage
… A Mike Carro photo gallery, a conceptual art gallery, VFX gallery, a
promotional photo archive and continuity polaroids
… Storyboard archives
… An Easter Egg
BONUS DISC
… A brand new Q&A with Ridley Scott
… ³Experience in Terror² A promotional featurette from 1979
… ³Alien Evolution² Channel 4 U.K. exclusive documentary on Alien
… A complete laser disc archive of Alien and Aliens
… Original theatrical trailers and TV spots from all four films
… ³Aliens In The Basement² Inside the Bob Burns ALIEN Collection
… Dark Horse cover gallery Anthology of 11 issues of the ALIEN comics
… DVD-ROM feature Script to screen comparisons
THE NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
SECOND YEAR SCREAMS
New York, NY (Nov. 2003): The best of the horror film world gathered in New York
to celebrate the New York City Horror Film Festival. The festival kicked off
October 21 with a huge party at Don Hills followed by four days of sold out film
screenings, celebrity appearances, and an incredible and informative panel
discussion at the Tribeca Film Center in Lower Manhattan.
The NYC Horror Film Festival presents: "KILLER SHORTS" now on sale:
www.NYCHorrorfest.com for ordering details. A killer compilation highlighting
some of the great short films that screened at the 2002 festival. DVD
extras include the crowd-pleasing festival into!
The NYC Horror Film Festival and The Independent Film Channel awarded horror
legend Tom Savini with the Festival's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
During a special program honoring Savini's career as actor, director and special
effects pioneer, the Festival screened Savini's directorial debut, the
outstanding remake of the seminal horror classic "Night of the Living
Dead". Savini granted the packed house with an entertaining Q&A after
the ceremony.
Fans were also treated to a unique screening of Thomas Edison's original 1910
"Frankenstein" which is available to horror fans worldwide from film
collector Alois F. Dettlaff through http://www.lrsmarketing.com/adventures/index.html
On Sunday, October 26 the second NYC Horror Film Festival announced awards in
six categories:
BEST FEATURE: "MALEVOLENCE" - DIRECTED BY STEVAN MENA
The story begins ten years earlier with the kidnapping of a six-year-old boy
named Martin Bristol, who is forced to witness unspeakable acts of torture and
murder by a madman. Fast forward to 1999, where a group of friends plan a bank
job that goes tragically wrong, only to reveal treachery among friends and a
matured evil lying in wait
prize:
DVD authoring and encoding from Customflix.com ($600 value)
Scheduling, budgeting and breakdown software curiosity of Junglesoftware.com
($400 value)
One "Module 1" Class courtesy of Filmmaker's Central School of Cinema
($300 value)
BEST SHORT: "SCREAM FOR ME" - DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER BROADSTONE
In this psychological horror-thriller, in which one killer becomes the victim of
another, Garrott Druck seeks the truth of what lies beyond death within the
screams of the women he murders. Tonight, however, he will fall fate to a killer
more insane than himself, and come face to face with the horrible truth that
hides within the screams of his own violent death.
prize:
Scheduling, budgeting and breakdown software curiosity of Junglesoftware.com
($400 value)
DVD authoring kit from Customflix.com ($60 value)
One "Module 1" Class courtesy of Filmmaker's Central School of Cinema
($300 value)
BEST ACTOR: KRISTINA COPELAND (as Julia) - "SAVAGE ISLAND" - DIRECTED
BY JEFFREY LANDO
Steven & Julia are having marital troubles but a weekend visit with Julia's
family on remote Savage Island makes that the least of their worries. Squatters
demand Steven and Julia's newborn as payment for the death of one their own.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: RICHARD SIEGEL - "FLESH FOR THE BEAST" - DIRECTED
BY TERRY WEST
BEST MAKEUP EFFECTS: G&S EFFECTS - "FLESH FOR THE BEAST" -
DIRECTED BY TERRY WEST
When a crack team of parapsychologists get a call to investigate a manor and
former brothel, they jump at the chance to cleanse the vast estate of its
restless spirits. They get more than they bargained for upon exploring the
house, being confronted by blood-thirsty demons disguised as beautiful women, a
horde of zombies bent on a rampage of carnal slaughter and a madman with a
satanic secret.
AUDIENCE CHOICE: "STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN AT SUNDOWN" - DIRECTED BY MARC
FRATTO
A pulse pounding story of vampires run amuck in NYC. There's a group of low
level mobsters with fangs, an age-old vampire who does mob hits for money, a
pair of vampire lovers on the run, an Italian girl from Brooklyn bitten by
vampires, and a psychotic 400 year old blood-sucking housewife with a fetish for
cleanliness. All of them are being hunted by a nefarious vinyl clad woman whose
intentions are mysterious and powers are unmatched.
Panelists included: Lloyd Kaufman
(Director / Producer / CEO of TROMA Entertainment), Larry Fessenden (Director,
Habit / Wendigo), Michael Ruggiero (IFC Programming Director / Producer), Joe
Kane (Phantom of the Movies / Journalist), Steve Cuden (Director, Lucky - The
New York City Horror Film Festival's Best Feature Winner 2002), Jeff Lieberman
(Director / Writer / Blue Sunshine, Satan's Little Helper) Michael Gingold
(Writer / Managing Editor, Fangoria Magazine)
The Festival also released "Killer Shorts" a compilation DVD of the
best of the shorts from 2002 festival. The DVD will be available at
www.nychorrorfest.com in November 2003.
###
A complete festival wrap-up is available at www.nychorrorfest.com.
November 3, 2003 - Here is a DVD review of Buena Vista Home Entertainment's "Finding Nemo: 2-Disc Collector's Edition."
November 2, 2003 - Here is a TV review of the upcoming TNT original movie "Word Of Honor," which stars Don Johnson, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Sharon Lawrence. I have added a new publicity shot that gives a glimpse of the new Cylons in my "Battlestar Galactica Miniseries Preview Gallery." Finally The Region 2 Project published a photo of the Region 2 DVD Box Set of Fox's upcoming "Alien Quadrilogy." I hope the Region One counterpart will feature the films in keep cases instead of a Digipack, but I still want it regardless of the packaging.
November 1, 2003 - I have moved my "On The Mark Updates For October, 2003" to the Archived On The Mark Page. I have also moved my TV reviews of "D.C. Sniper: 23 Days Of Fear," "House Rules," "Justice League: Third Season Premiere: Tabula Rasa," "Style In Motion," "Teen Titans: Final Exams & Sisters," and "Wilder Days" to the Archived TV Reviews Page. Finally I have placed my DVD reviews of "All In The Family: The Complete Second Season," "Jean Cocteau's Beauty And The Beast: The Criterion Collection #6," "The Cardinal: Two-Disc Special Edition," "The Color Purple: Two-Disc Special Edition," "The Four Feathers: Special Collector's Edition," "Gods And Generals: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack & Limited Edition DVD," "Good Times: The Complete First Season," "King Of Kings," "La Valle: The Valley Obscured By Clouds," "The Mystic Masseur," "The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection Volume #2," "One Hour Photo," "Predator 2," "Puphedz," "The Red Badge Of Courage," "Sanford And Son: The Complete Second Season," "The Tuxedo," and "X-Men 1.5" to the Archived DVD Reviews Page. New reviews tomorrow!