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Friday, April 23, 1999
10:19pm - Image Entertainment subsidiary Ken Cranes is in cahoots with RCA. For every RCA DVD player that's sold, consumers will get to pick five titles from a list of 36 titles from kencranes.com The promotion last for a limited time and also included free DVD rentals from NetFlix!

10:03am PST - Saddle up the chariots! The BIG Picture is having another mystery screenshot contest beginning sometime tomorrow! Check the contest page for details -- and good luck!

9:52pm PST - Gee whiz, you've probably thought that we dropped off the face of the earth after our last update at 8:12am yesterday morning. We apologize for the gap. We'll try to make up for it with some new reviews this weekend, including AMISTAD and this one here: ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE.

2:55pm PST - Money for nothin'... Even though The Hollywood Reporter doesn't like to give up much information for free, we gleaned an interesting tidbit from today's news. Did you know that TITANIC will be the first and only Top Ten Grossing Films of all time to make it onto DVD so far?

2:40pm PST - And you find yourself... behind the wheel of a large automobile...Talking Heads and David Byrne fans will have plenty to feel good about with the video release of the landmark concert film STOP MAKING SENSE on DVD in late fall or early winter following a limited run theatrical release. San Francisco fans can catch the show in the Castro at the San Francisco International Film Festival next Tuesday.

2:37pm PST - All together now... Warner Bros., MGM and Columbia Tristar and joining together to bring us the Stanley Kubrick Collection on June 29, 1999. Ah... THE SHINING and FULL METAL JACKET at LAST. Let's hope the studios do 'em justice.

1:06pm PST - That wunderkind of a DVD reviewer, gaining world-wide acclaim for his prolific, insightful and incredible bodies of work proudly displayed on The BIG Picture... (how's that for a build up?) Bob Banka graces our pages with two new reviews! The 1953 sci-fi classic WAR OF THE WORLDS and the recent Woody Allen rib-tickler BULLETS OVER BROADWAY.

10:59am PST - When we start losing sleep over DVD, it's time to write an editorial... Awakened from his peaceful slumber, shattering his dreams of actually sleeping a full 8 hours some day, Jeff McNeal bounded out of bed before the break of dawn this morning to write his latest editorial: Disney: It's time to give the people what they (really) want. We hope that you find it an interesting read.

Meanwhile, TBP sponsor DVD Empire has issued a press release reporting that their 30% everyday low pricing has led to record sales, with March sales eclipsing December Holiday sales. Giddyap!

7:02pm PST - Jeff takes a look at the 1975 bare-knuckled action flick HARD TIMES staring Charles Bronson and James Coburn.

10:01am PST - Disney has dropped us an e-mail, asking us to let you know that "Michael Bay, director of Armaggedon will be signing DVDs and VHS's at the Virgin Megastore in Los Angeles this Saturday April 24 at 2p.m. (Crescent Heights & Sunset Blvd.) He's happy to chat with whomever comes by....

9:53am PST - Sony and Matsushita are squaring off in another format war over the future proposed "replacement for CD audio". Matsushita's product is going to be DVD based. Sony and Philips are going off to develop something different, with the word "super" thrown in for some marketing spin. When are those giant corporate knuckleheads going to learn that cooperation is the key? Oh yeah, we almost forgot. Neither of these formats will be recordable (at least initially) and cost upwards of four grand. No thanks. We're still getting used to (and loving) CD-R.

9:49am PST - Image Entertainment brings DVD authoring in-house... Minerva Systems has announced that Image Entertainment has selected their Compressionist 250 MPEG-2 VBR encoding system in order to reduce costs and gain more control over their DVD authoring.

9:45am PST - We've heard reports that Divx players are finding their way onto some store shelves in Canada, sans the Divx titles. Does this mean that Divx is seeking to expand its territory? Or does it mean that manufacturers are simply trying to liquidate their inventory of Divx players? Has anyone heard or seen reports of Divx hardware sales for the first quarter of 1999 yet? The answer may be revealed there...

9:42am PST - The semiconductor industry is preparing for explosive growth, fueled primarily on consumer research in which 17% of respondents name DVD and cellular phones as "key drivers".

9:37am PST - For the more technically inclined, "behind-the-scenes" reader, here's a good article on some new solutions designed for encoding, storage and management of video assets for DVD.

8:48am PST - After ANTZ took an early lead, it looks like A BUG'S LIFE has caught up with both titles showing up in a dead heat so far on our BUGS BATTLE ROYALE poll (see above). So... what do YOU think? We'll tell you what we think -- in Bob Banka's latest review of A BUG'S LIFE.

8:39am PST - Special thanks to several of our South American readers for pointing out that LA BAMBA also features Portuguese (Brazilian) subtitles not mentioned on the keepcase artwork.

Speaking of unusual combinations, we find it interesting (and rather sad) that the first Warner Bros. classic cartoon fare soon available on DVD is Image Entertainment's distribution of THE COMPLETE UNCENSORED PRIVATE SNAFU (Situation Normal, all...fouled up" cartoons from WWII. A warning: The cartoons -- a propaganda vehicle for American GI's during the war, are racist, sexist and could be regarded by many -- particularly those of German or Japanese decent, as offensive. Despite color graphics used on the snapper cover (remember, color sells), all the cartoons, voiced by the incomparable Mel Blanc -- are in black and white -- just as they were originally. You might be surprised to learn the connections of Chuck Jones, Fritz Freleng, Frank Tashling, Bob Clampett and yes, even Frank Capra and Ted Guisel (Dr. Seuss!) to these collector's cartoons. According to Bosco Video, whose watermark shows up annoyingly in the corner of the cartoons off and on, "To have the best quality animation for these films, they took bids from the Hollywood studios. Disney had first crack at this, but Leon Schlesinger's came in at about a third of Disney's. Disney also wanted exclusive ownership of the character and exclusive merchandising rights."

2:30pm PST - One world, one region! After receiving more email from different parts of the world regarding the strange state of DVD distribution, are we the only ones that think this whole region separation routine is wearing a bit thin and bordering on the absurd? DVD owners in R2 can watch PAPILLON, DUMBO, ALICE IN WONDERLAND and LION KING II: SIMBA'S PRIDE, while Australians in R4 get anamorphic versions of Buena Vista titles because Warner Bros. are handing the transfers for that region? A lot of the Euro-titles may be anamorphic, but just as many of those are flippers! We've got 3,000 titles available in the U.S. while our Euro pals have about 300? What's THAT all about? No longer can the excuse of delayed theatrical exhibitions in other regions be justified for what is turning into a confusing, political mess.

When you purchase a compact disc, you can enjoy the same wonderful stereo audio on any CD player in the world -- and that's exactly the way we think DVD should be. The Internet has dissolved political borders and allows the free communication of different countries and cultures worldwide. And it's a wonderful thing. The Internet is largely responsible for the early success of DVD and don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise. The Internet works because it's open. DVD works because it's open. But in our view, the rest of the free world needs to be included in the big picture of DVD distribution. Whoever dreamed up the region encoding mess should be sent to their room without supper until the entertainment industry gets its' act together. It's time for this confusing, confounding, obsolete region separation madness to end. Are you listening, Jack Valenti?

1:27pm PST - Jeff returns from his brief review hiatus with an in-depth look at the story of Richie Valens' meteoric, albeit brief rise to fame in LA BAMBA. We hope you enjoy the read.

8:59am PST - One of our new friends from the land down under, Simon Walmsley, took a break from his Vegemite sandwich just long enough to alert us that Region 4 (Australia, New Zealand, etc.) are slated to begin receiving Disney films - all 16x9 enhanced. Apparently, Warner Bros. is handling the R4 distribution, hence the enhancement. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I think Simon put it best at the end of his letter when he wrote: "You know, all this region stuff and different countries getting different things just annoys me. Why can't a company just make a transfer at hi definition for archival purposes (including for HDTV), and simply down-convert to the DVD. And one DVD for all regions. When are these companies going to get it through their thick heads that the world is global, and artificial market divisions just makes things harder for the companies themselves as well as the consumers." Here's a good site to check for other R4 news -- DVD Down Under and The DVD Bits

8:52am PST - We begin our week with a fresh news poll (see above), certain to get a lot of attention. Be sure and take our BUGS BATTLE ROYALE poll. Based on overall image, sound and value, which insect DVD do you think will become king of the home video hill?

Here are two of those new reviews we promised you for the weekend. Bob takes on ARMAGEDDON: Criterion Collectors Special Edition and Howards End starring the incomparable Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Congratulations to Jeff Warme of Medford, Oregon for being the first to correctly identify this weekend's mystery screenshot on our contest page. You people are MUCH too clever for our own good! We'll have another contest next weekend! To learn the correct answer, just scroll down to the bottom of the contest page...

Be on the lookout for a few new reviews this weekend, HOWARD'S END, CRITERION's ARMAGEDDON and LA BAMBA. In the meantime, The BIG Picture presents another brain-busting screenshot on our contest page! Good luck -- and if you want to see last week's screenshot, scroll down the page...