DVD Headsup!

Every Tuesday, a vertiable slew of DVDs hit the streets. They all want your coin. Where in the hell can you go to find out what's what amongst the teeming masses? Look no further. Here's a brief rundown of some featured titles that will be hitting. We provide the information...what you do with it afterwards is entirely up to you.

Titles Streeting March 1, 2005

Widge's Personal Pick:

. Finally hitting DVD and doing so in a very respectable Platinum Edition, it's everybody's favorite quadrupedal orphan. You don't get an audio commentary, but instead there's a bit called "Inside Walt's Story Meetings," using all manner of bits to run alongside the feature to take you behind the creative process. The two deleted scenes available are introduced by Golden Chazzie Unsung Hero winner Andreas Deja. There's also some games and activities, a Disneypedia featurette, a mini-slew of featurettes, a look at the upcoming sequel (brrrr), art galleries, character design galleries, "The Old Mill" short, and more. (UK) (CAN)

. Is there anybody who doesn't know what the shot is with this series? Two single parents, each with three kids, decide to partner up and create a small army. Or...something like that. Anyway, this Paramount release comes with a decent array of features, all things considered: you get three audio commentaries, one with the series creator, Sherwood Schwartz, and two with three of the Brady kids, all grown up. There's also a featurette. What, no information on the stage show? Oh well. (UK) (CAN)

. In 1969, Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress. Then she turned around and went for the Democrat nomination in 1972 and the tale of how she hit the campaign trail with a vengeance, going for the long haul and only conceding defeat to Sen. George McGovern at the party convention. Featuring footage from then and commentary from now, this Fox release shows clearly that, like the title suggests, she wouldn't be swayed from her course. No features. (UK) (CAN)

. Now that Mr. T is getting his own comic book again (no, we're serious), what better time to release this good for nothing second cousin twice removed of the Taxi TV series. Joining the be-necklaced one is Adam Baldwin, Gary Busey, Bill Maher, Paul Rodriguez...and oh, did you remember that it was directed by Joel Schumacher? These cabbies have to deal with being dirt poor, rivals who want to shut them down, and kidnapped kids. Fun? Well, at least the Universal release is in widescreen. So be thankful. (UK) (CAN)

. This remake hits from Fox and the cast (Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Miranda Otto, Hugh Laurie) was enough to get us to sit up and pay attention. When a plane goes down in the middle of a desert, the crew has to build another plane from what's left to try and get the hell out of Dodge. It's just a damn shame the trailer gave ninety perfect of the film away. The DVD has decent accessories, though: an audio commentary, a featurette, deleted and extended scenes and the aforementioned guilty trailer. (UK) (CAN)

. MGM replaces their previous bare bones release with this two-disc special edition...and it's worthy. Not only do you get an audio commentary with the director and scribe, but you also get a featurette on the true story that the film was based on, deleted scenes with the director and scribe introducing them, photo gallery, trailer and--talk about posterity--film of the actual championship game from 1954. How cool is that? (UK) (CAN)

. We remember hearing about this when we were trying to track down what the stars of Blair Witch were doing with their lives. That was a while back...and this film comes from a while back. Finished and screened in 2000, it appears to just going direct to DVD now. And that's a shame, because Joshua Leonard needs some better material. Regardless, this tale of a bunch of characters working a restaurant might be worth a rental if you're in the mood for so-so romantic comedy. We all get in that mood from time to time. It comes from Buena Vista and is devoid of features. (CAN)

. What happens when directors Werner Herzog and Zak Penn get together to screw with your head? Well, your head gets screwed with--that's pretty much it. Taking the behind the scenes tack of Lost in La Mancha, namely the documenting of a film going south in a hurry, this purports to show Herzog's failed Nessie documentary, but it's so much more. These are sick people and they apparently brought along a lot of friends. This Fox release comes with three audio commentaries, deleted scenes and outtakes. (UK) (CAN)

. Christopher Lambert has created a game called, you guessed it: Nirvana. There's just one problem: Solo is the lead character and he's become self-aware, and is asking Lambert's character to keep the game from being released so Solo doesn't have to go through the same scenario over and over again. Like the Bob Dylan lyric, he wants to find out what price he has to pay to get out of going through all these things twice. Talk about a way to screw up a career in game design. This Buena Vista release comes with no bonus bits. (CAN)

. Alan Bates plays Oliver, an obsessive word freak and university lecturer. When forced into retirement, he decides to track down his favorite crossword creator, who goes by the handle of "Aristotle." Unfortunately, when he tracks down the Big A, he finds him a missing person. Or doesn't find him. You know what I mean. Anyway, he teams up with a policewoman (played by Sinead Cusack) to get to the bottom of what's happened. This two-disc Acorn Media release has the series from Mystery!, and comes with filmographies. Also stars Bill Paterson (Traffik). (UK) (CAN)

. Just to show that there's no statue of limitations on murder, the question gets brought up: hey, can we identify the remains of the firstborn son of Rameses, then can we establish what killed him? You recall that Moses and God were involved in a whole bunch of firstborn children reportedly dropping dead. This Discovery Channel special tries to get to the bottom of it using the latest in forensic whiz-bang. Comes with a behind-the-scenes featurette and hits your store thanks to Columbia-Tristar. (UK) (CAN)

. Acorn Media brings us some more Masterpiece Theatre goodness in this two-disc set. A young boy heads off to the private Rugby School. There he encounters not only the older son of a man he hacked off--who has told his son to make our hero as miserable as possible at the school--but a new headmaster who's trying to perform some reform on a school that's seen better days. This five-episode miniseries shows that you can never have too many films based on post-boarding school need for therapy. This set comes with a bio of author Thomas Hughes, a history of the school, filmographies and a photo gallery. (UK) (CAN)

. He (James Spader) is a young rising executive. She (Susan Sarandon) is an older burger joint waitress. When fate brings them together (and some lusty physical mammajamma), now what? Is the more well-to-do and Jewish circle of friends Spader runs with ready to see him hooked up with what they consider to be white trash? What do you think? While it takes some obvious turns, as far as romance films go, it's not terrible. And Spader and Sarandon make it worth watching even when the story falls down. This Universal release is bare bones. (UK) (CAN)

. Richard Gere stars in this tale of World War II Britain. American soldiers were on their way to the continent to fight the good fight, and Britain is the logical place for a stopover, yes? Well, throw some women, both single and whose men are overseas fighting, into the same countryside with a bunch of men who are away from home as well and...well, you can pretty much figure out what happens. Everything from just simple friendships to full-blown affairs between lonely people. This Universal release does come in widescreen, but there's no features. Also stars Vanessa Redgrave. (UK) (CAN)