Friday, November 6, 1998
8:38pm PST - According to Laserviews, DEEP IMPACT has been announced by Paramount for December 15th release, but don't expect deep clarity -- it appears that the title will not be 16x9 enhanced. There's plenty of other great news and releases worth checking out as well.

8:49am PST - Desperate times call for desperate measures... While Panasonic hangs back without shipping Divx players -- presumably to see how the market shakes down, Jason Graham writes to tell us that the new Divx TV ad is resorting to scare tactics: "When you go in to buy a DVD player, make sure it has the DivX feature because only DivX players can play both DVD and DivX discs." We have only one word to describe this ploy: Pathetic.

8:22am PST - Ah, the ubiquitous Robert Lundemo Aas from Robert's DVD Page (always one of our favorites) has provided us a link to a little postscript from David Hughes (see below) as he lashes out at the "DVD Vigilantes" who took exception to his pro-Divx stance.

12:43am PST - Here's Bob Banka's review of Akira Kurosawa's HIGH AND LOW. Both this title and PREDATOR are sponsored by Digital Eyes and will be added to the ratings and review index after we get a few hours sleep,...

12:10am PST - A day late and a dollar short... Yesterday, we finally received an e-mail from Fox -- containing the announcement and specs for titles that were just released on Tuesday. Gee guys... The press release info is supposed to be dispersed before the titles hit the street, not after! Duh! While we're feeling a bit saucy with respect to Fox, here's Bob's review of PREDATOR, back when Arnold Schwartzenegger was the action KING!! Of course, PREDATOR features Jesse "the body" Ventura -- who just body-slammed his way into the governor's mansion of Minnesota. The governor now prefers to be known as Jesse "the mind" Ventura. One thing for sure about the new leader of Minnesota -- he sure knows how to spit!

Thursday, November 5, 1998
11:53pm PST - Our Canadian neighbor, Peter Overduin, tipped us off to this article in today's Vancouver Sun: The dawning of Dvix. The format that everyone loves to hate is sneaking across the border in 1999 and this Canadian article is well balanced, but predictible in it's slant against that wayward format. Steve Tannehill from DVD Resource has a very nice quote as well. Kinda funny that they spelled Divx wrong, though... Not that we've ever misspelled anything!

6:51pm PST - We've fixed the link to BigStarDVD below. Sorry for the HTML hiccup.

6:49pm PST - Our friends from the North say that the Alliance version of PULP FICTION:SE appears to be RSDL, their announcement makes NO mention of 16x9 enhancement -- so don't get too excited... At least, not yet. It's been our experience that if a company doesn't announce the anamorphic feature -- the disc doesn't usually have it. Bummer.

9:43am PST - Blossom Technolgoies want you to be the first on your block to author DVD's with the first under-$40,000 authoring system! Whooo-hooooo!!

9:22am PST - Still sitting on the fence with respect to DVD? DVD Express wants to drop-kick you into the future with a free DVD player-a-day giveaway.

9:16am PST - An interesting footnote to the wildly innacurate pro-Divx article written by David Hughes for the Virginia-based JOURNAL: One of our readers wrote to the author and and copied us in on a response from Mr. Hughes, who didn't like what our reader had to say and threatened to sue him for libel. I hope that Mr. Hughes has mighty deep pockets, because if that's his response to criticism, his lawyer is going to be awfully busy chasing his own tail.

9:12am PST - Josh Mays wrote to tell us:
"Just thought you'd like to know that I found a place to get those Canadian Disney DVD imports that everyone is talking about. You know, the 16x9 enhanced special edition of Pulp Fiction, the special editon of Trainspotting, and I just found out also that you can get DVDs from Canada for "Emma" and "The Prophecy" (with Christopher Walken) also RIGHT NOW!!! You can't even get "The Prophecy" over here period, it's not even announced!! Anyway the website is WWW.DV-Depot.com . They are a Canadian retailer who will ship DVDs to America and their prices are not bad. The Disney DVDs run $25.96 before shipping. The also have the new FOX DVDs for a lot cheaper than over here since they are pressed in Canada and not in the US. For Example the $29.99 Fox DVDs over here sell for $19.99 at this website and the overpriced $34.99 ones over here sell for $24.99 there."
Thanks for the tip, Josh. As mentioned here the other day, FOX titles can be had for those same prices here in the states at Costco -- and anyplace else that thinks Fox's value to pricing ratio is absurd.

9:07am PST - NetFlix has announced their top ten DVD rentals for the last two weeks and -- surprise! -- LOST IN SPACE is at the top of the heap.

1. "Lost In Space"
2. "City of Angels: Special Edition"
3. "Mercury Rising"
4. "Godzilla"
5. "Twilight"
6. "Deep Rising"
7. "Species 2"
8. "Star Trek: First Contact"
9. "Wild Things"
10. "The Thing: Collector's Edition"

Wednesday, November 4, 1998
10:58am PST - "GONE WITH THE WIND" blew in like a hurricane to take the top spot on Reel.com's best seller's list this week. Hmmm. Must've been Bob's review... :-)

10:56am PST - Even your local greasemonkey will be going DVD, as the format infiltrates garage diagnostic equipment.

10:35am PST - Direct to the source... We've been receiving e-mail saying that letters to the editor of The Journal (the Virginia newspaper inaccurately promoting Divx) are being kicked back as "undeliverable". That's because their mailbox is full. What does that tell you? One of our local readers in Virginia, Jim Farber, has gifted us with something even better. The e-mail address the author, David Hughes. So if you feel compelled to.. ah... gently correct Mr. Hughes regarding his innacurate remarks and lack of research, you may contact him directly at: dhughes@wizard.net

Tuesday, November 3, 1998
9:56pm PST - Kevin Cook from DVD AniMania sent us some upcoming releases for you anime fans: From the Pioneer Animation site's PAC de America:
First Quarter 1999 Releases
Bastard! DVD - ?/?/1999
Fushigi Yuugi: The Universe Of The Four Gods Vol. 1 DVD - ?/?/1999
Tenchi In Tokyo: A New Start Vol. 1 DVD - ?/?/1999

Central Park Media Announcments
Heroic Legend Of Arislan DVD - 02/?/1999
Judge DVD - 03/?/1999
Revolutionary Girl Utena Complete DVD - 03/?/1999
Cybernetics Guardian DVD - 04/?/1999
Takegami: Guardian Of Darkness DVD - 04/?/1999

9:53pm PST - Special thanks to all that have e-mailed us with the address for "The Journal" -- the rag that published the grossly innacturate Divx propaganda below. Here's the e-mail address in case you'd like to send your own "letter to the editor": journal@jrnl.com

6:18pm PST - Rumors to the contrary, Paramount has no plans to release SCROOGED with Bill Murray in December. Too bad. That's a rumor that we would have liked to see come true.

5:58pm PST - Costco cuts Fox down to size.. We've enjoyed reading that Costco is selling the $34.99 Fox titles for $$22.99 and their $29 titles for $19.99. Now that's more like it!

Speaking of street buzz, a Canadian company called Alliance is apparently marketing a special edition of PULP FICTION with deleted scenes, in a 16x9 enhanced transfer on November 24th. We're a little skeptical on this one, but we hope the rumors are true and that the anamorphic treatment cleans this title up a bit. Buena Vista did a horrendous job with the original DVD release of PULP FICTION and this modern-day classic deserves so much better -- and so do the rest of us.

10:34am PST - Oh brother. Here's one of the first positive articles we've seen about the blight known as Divx. Of course, the only way this shill for Circuit City can put a positive spin on Divx is by resorting to false statements like: "Following very successful test marketing in Richmond and San Francisco..."? Huh? How can the writer make such assertions with no sales data from Circuit City. Too bad this clown didn't include his e-mail address. I'm sure he'd get an earful. Credit for this one goes to DVD Insider and our Special Field Correspondent, Dana.

10:30am PST - DVD not catching on as rapidly as expected? Don't worry, the news isn't as negative as the headline in this Seattle Times story... Special thanks to our special field correspondent, Dana (we've promoted Dana from Ace Cub Reporter to special field correspondent, but the pay is the same).

10:08am PST - And the reviews just keep on coming! Before settling in to watch DAMAGE last night, we had the pleasure of spending 85 minutes with THE WHO: LIVE AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL, 1970.

1:30am PST - So this is it. The moment we've all been waiting for, eh? The first batch of 20th Century Fox discs are out, and Bob Banka reviews YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN to commence the parade. The YF review is sponsored by Digital Eyes. I was going to watch a FOX disc tonight, but I never got past New Line's excellent transfer of the sexy, steamy, forbidden DAMAGE. A strange movie to be sure, but one of the most beautiful transfers of the year. No surprise that it was authored by LaserPacific. Dang, those guys are good!

Monday, November 2, 1998
5:08pm PST - Be looking for Bob's review of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN to be posted shortly. The BIG Picture will also be taking a critical look at PREDATOR, SPEED and HOME ALONE 3 -- which may not be worth the high sticker price on principle alone...

12:49pm PST - LaserPacific, the post production house responsible for some awesome DVD authoring, isn't putting all their eggs in one basket. They're also helping to develop HDTV content for broadcast television.

11:55am PST - C-Cube brings home DVD recording one step closer with a new chip. Details on C/Net

11:45am. Ace Cub Reporter Dana has found another tasty anti-Divx article, reprinted by a fellow over at the Home Theater Forum. We can dig it.

Ain't too proud to beg... Thanks to you, The BIG Picture continues to grow. Last month, we achieved 1,170,694 page views -- up nearly 150,000 from the previous month -- another record breaker. THANK YOU. Part of our growth stems from the inclusion of The Sony VPL-W400Q Forum & FAQ, which we brought in-house after launching it on a third-party forum hosting service last May. This page has become one of our most active, with over 35,000 page visits in October. That's the good news... The bad news is that we are quickly approaching the limit on our storage and must acquire additional bandwidth immediately in order to accomodate our two growing forum pages and our burgeoning review library (with new DVD reviews being added on a near-daily basis). Currently, the VPL-W400Q Forum has no commercial sponsors, so an excellent opportunity exists for advertisers that want to appeal to a well-heeled group of home theater owners with the kind of discretionary income that goes along with high-end front projection setups. WE NEED NEW SPONSORS in order to keep the VPL-W400Q Forum and FAQ viable. Please e-mail or call me, Jeff McNeal, at 619-673-5429 if you own, manage, or know of a company that can benefit from tens of thousands of advertising impressions per month and the new business that follows. We have five available sponsorship slots available and as an added bonus, anyone that advertises on the VPL-W400Q Forum will also receive a FREE bonus ad banner on The BIG Picture. We appreciate all inquiries.

WEEKEND UPDATE
All right!! A couple of NEW REVIEWS for the weekend! Bob Banka takes a look at one of the hot new titles from the soon to be absorbed Polygram -- Check out THE BIG LEBOWSKI. And just in time for Halloween, Bob reviews the film that most reviewers (including yours truly), wouldn't touch with a wireless keyboard: Trimark's splatter-fest, DEAD-ALIVE, which has got to be the goriest fright film I've ever seen in my life. In fact, I couldn't get through the final chapter or two of the film without fast-forwarding past the blood and mayhem. When I was finished watching DEAD-ALIVE, I felt like I should say 6 "Our Father's" and 10 "Hail Mary's". The New Zealand-produced film is not without a sense of humor, but it is DEFINITELY NOT for the kids.

A BIG PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Our friends at New Line Home Video have dropped by their "hot off the press" copy of DAMAGE, the steamy, sexy thriller starring Jeremy Irons. The disc contains both the R and "unrated" version of the flick. Look for another exclusive review coming soon from The BIG Picture.

I was curious to see one of the new "budget gourmet" titles from Warner, so I watched an old favorite last night: SHARKEY'S MACHINE. While I was not pleased that Warner did not release it in its original, theatrical format, I must say that the full-frame transfer wasn't bad at all. Rather than watching a 4:3 image on my 16:9 screen, I just chose to zoom in and fill the screen, cropping the top and bottom slightly. Nothing seemed amiss, and the transfer held up fine during the magnification. While I'd rather see Warner charge a few more bucks and do every title with equal production values, I'm still happy to have this title on the shelf.

Laserviews has released a major update to their DVD news page with lots of new release information, street confirmations, changes, etc. Real glad to see PATRIOT GAMES and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK coming, to name just two. We find it strange and a bit frustrating that Fox has decided to keep a lid on the specs for their first batch of discs until they're on the dealers shelves. Are they DD 5.1 or not? TBP will be reviewing several from the first FOX crop this coming week.Conversely, we've seen in a recently press release that all but two of Universal's late December/early January titles will be widescreen enhanced. That's a big step in the right direction that we hope Fox, Paramount and Buena Vista will take notice of.