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3/16/04 V8.11

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ONVIDEO'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO HOME VIDEO RELEASES
FOR TUESDAY, March 16 -- MONDAY, March 22

DEMONLOVER
This erotic thriller about money, images, power and sex journeys
deep into the deviant underworld of the illegal yet extremely
profitable industry of 3-D animated pornography. With billions at
stake, Diane (Connie Nielsen) is hired into a high-risk game of
espionage, through which she finds the highly shrouded
interactive torture Website The Hellfire Club. After discovering
the site, her quest for a quick fortune is replaced with a race
for her life as she is suddenly threatened by her amoral
colleague (Charles Berning), a ballsy, pot-smoking American
executive (Gina Gershon), and a hostile and mysterious assistant
(Chloe Sevigny). Features music by Sonic Youth. Director: Olivier
Assayas. Stars: Connie Nielsen, Charles Berling, Gina Gershon,
Chloe Sevigny. 2003, CC, MPAA rating: R, 129 min., Thriller, Box
office gross: $0.226 million, Palm Pictures, $24.99 VHS SRP. DVD:
Day & Date.

DR. SEUSS' THE CAT IN THE HAT
Based on Dr. Seuss' children's classic, this overblown production
loosely follows the story of a little boy and girl who sit around
bored on a rainy day while their mother is out, until a Cat in a
Hat shows up, along with Thing One and Thing Two, and proceeds to
trash the house. But just in the nick of time he cleans up his
fun and tips his hat and runs. Will the kids confess about the
Cat in the Hat who made a mess? This live- action family film
features Kelly Preston as the real-estate agent mom who leaves
her house with the instructions to not make a mess, with Dakota
Fanning and Spencer Breslin as the two kids who fall under the
influence of Mike Myers' furry Cat in the Hat. Wonderful set and
costume design and production values can't overcome a storyline
that dumbs down Dr. Seuss' classic tale. Director: Bo Welch.
Stars: Mike Myers, Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Sean Hayes,
Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin, Amy Hill, Sean Hayes, Danielle
Chuchran, Taylor Rice, Brittany Oaks, Talia-Lynn Prairie. 2003,
CC, MPAA rating: PG, 78 min., Family, Box office gross: $100.400
million, Universal, $24.98 VHS SRP. DVD: Day & Date.

GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS
Triumph and pitfalls of three stiletto-clad divas (played by Jack
Plotnick, Clinton Leupp and Jeffrey Roberson) as they claw their
way up the Hollywood ladder. Nothing stirs up the competitive
spirit in haggard Hollywood has-been Evie Harris like having to
share a house with a younger actress like Varla, especially since
Varla happens to be the daughter of Evie's now-deceased rival.
But even as their saner roommate Coco attempts to keep the peace,
Evie's jealousy over Varla's burgeoning infomercial career is
about to explode in the most spectacular, jaw-stopping way
possible. Director: Richard Day. Stars: Jack Plotnick, Clinton
Leupp, Jeffrey Roberson. 2003, CC, MPAA rating: R, 79 min.,
Comedy, Box office gross: $0.147 million, MGM, No VHS SRP, Priced
for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

21 GRAMS
This deeply moving drama, written by Guillermo Arriaga ("Amores
Perros"), explores the emotionally and physically charged
existences of three people over a period of several months. An
accident unexpectedly throws their lives and destinies together.
Initially not even acquainted, the trio and their destinies
become irrevocably intertwined in a fusion of love, redemption,
and obsession. College professor Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) and his
wife Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) find their union precariously
balanced between life and death. He is mortally ill and awaiting
a heart transplant, while she hopes to become pregnant with his
child through artificial insemination. Cristina Peck (Naomi
Watts), having matured since her reckless past, is a beloved
older sister to Claudia (Clea DuVall), a good wife to Michael
(Danny Huston) and loving mother to two little girls. Her family
radiates hope and joy. Much farther down the socioeconomic scale,
ex-con Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) and his wife Marianne
(Melissa Leo) struggle to provide for their two children while
Jack reaffirms his commitment to religion. A tragic accident that
claims several lives places these couples in each other's orbit.
In the aftermath, Paul confronts his own mortality, Cristina
takes action to come to terms with her present and perhaps her
future, and Jack's faith is put to the test. If spiritual
equilibrium is to be regained by any one of them, it could come
at great cost to the others. Yet the will to live, and the
instinct to reach out to another person for support, remains
ever-present among them all. 21 Grams refers to the weight we
lose when we die. Director: Alejando Gonzalez Inarritu. Stars:
Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg,
Melissa Leo, Clea Duvall, Danny Huston. 2003, CC, MPAA rating: R,
125 min., Drama, Box office gross: $14.500 million, Universal, No
VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

UNKNOWN PLEASURES
Restless and unemployed teenage best friends Xiao Ji and Bin Bin
spend their time wandering around on motorbikes and hanging out
at the pool hall. Sparks fly however, when Xiao Ji meets the
beautiful dancer Qiao Qiao, and Bin Bin pursues a romance with a
young student -- but without hope love doesn't prevail and
desperation sets in. Taking a cue from American crime movies, the
temptation of easy money becomes too difficult to resist and in a
final attempt to break free from their day-to-day suburban life,
Xiao Ji and Bin Bin embark on half-baked plan to rob a bank. A
harrowing account of disillusioned young people living in China,
director Jia Zhang-ke still finds plenty to laugh about.
Beautifully photographed by famed cinematographer Yu Lik-wai,
"Unknown Pleasures" cements Zhang-ke's reputation as one of
China's most important filmmakers. In Mandarin with English
subtitles. Director: Jia Zhang-Ke. Stars: Wei Wei Zhao, Qiong Wu,
Qing Feng Zhou, Hong Wei Wang, Ru Bai, Xi An Liu, Shou Lin Xu.
2002, CC, MPAA rating: NR, 113 min., Comedy/Drama, New Yorker, No
VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

VERONICA GUERIN
True story of a persistent journalist who took on the world's
most powerful and dangerous drug lords and risked everything to
expose the truth. Set in 1990s Dublin, Ireland, a city that is
nothing short of a war zone -- set against the backdrop of the
Irish Conflict -- and with a few powerful drug lords battling for
control. Their most fearsome opponent was not the police but the
courageous journalist Veronica Guerin (Cate Blanchett), who
covered the crime beat with unmatched intensity. As she
investigated and exposed the "pushers," balancing her home and
family against her responsibility to her readers and her country,
she became a national folk heroine to the people of Ireland. The
film follows the last two years of her life before her
assassination in 1996. Director: Joel Schumacher. Stars: Cate
Blanchett, Gerald McSorley, Ciaran Hinds, Brenda Fricker. 2003,
CC, MPAA rating: R, 98 min., Action-thriller, Box office gross:
$1.569 million, Buena Vista, No VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD:
Day & Date.


For more release info, check out our calendar pages at
<http://www.onvideo.org/calendar.htm>


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NEWS

FROM TV TO VIDEO:
TV series making their way to DVD this week include: "Kung Fu:
The Complete First Season," a three-disc set with 15 digitally
remastered episodes plus the 90-minute pilot, $39.98, from
Warner. Extras include "From Grasshopper to Caine: Creating Kung
Fu" and "The Tao of Kwai Chang Caine: Production and Beyond"
documentaries ... "The Dead Zone: The Complete Second Season," a
five-disc set with 19 episodes, $49.99 from Lions Gate. Extras
include commentaries with cast and crew, "Making of an Episode"
featurette, interviews with cast and crew, deleted scenes,
storyboards ... "The Flintstones: First Season," a four-disc set
with 28 half-hour episodes, $64.92 from Warner. Extras include
"All About the Flintstones' documentary, "The Flagstones: The
Lost Pilot," "Wacky Inventions" featurette, early network
television advertisements and promo spots ... "Scooby-Doo, Where
Are You? Seasons One and Two," a four-disc set with 25 half-hour
episodes, $64.92 from Warner. Extras include "Scooby-Doo's
Ultimate Fans" featurette, "Funky Fashions" featurette, "Scooby-
Doo Street Smarts" favorite cases featurette, "Take the Scooby
Challenge" trivia game, "Get the Picture": How to draw Scooby and
the gang, "America Loves Scooby-Doo" music video ... "The
Hitchhiker," a two-disc set with 10 episodes of the HBO anthology
series, featuring Kirstie Alley, Gary Busey, Peter Coyote, Helen
Hunt, Margot Kidder, Joe Pantoliano, James Remar and Willem
Dafoe, from HBO Video. Extras include commentaries by directors
Paul Verhoeven, Phillip Noyce, and Carl Schenkel. Also due on
video this week is the tele-documentary "The Boys of 2nd Street
Park," a bittersweet look at the divergent paths taken by a
generation of boys who grew up in New York City during the 1960s,
from Showtime Video, on DVD and VHS.

BUZZIN' THE 'B's:
Due this week from MTI Home Video is "Hellbreeder," a horror-
thriller about a series of gruesome murders that seize hold of a
small town and the woman who sets out to find the killer -- the
Hellbreeder, an evil creature in the guise of a clown, on VHS and
DVD.

FOR THE KIDS:
Toddlers will enjoy the latest Baby Einstein release, "Baby
MacDonald: A Day on the Farm," featuring baby-friendly images,
including real-world objects and re-orchestrated classical music,
that engages little ones in all aspects of farm life, $14.99 VHS
and $19.99 DVD from Disney ... The second title in HIT
Entertainment's Rubbadubbers series comes home this week: "Tubb's
Pirate Adventure" uses the bath as a launch pad into a fantastic
world of adventure, featuring Tubb the Pirate, Terence of Arabia,
Sploshy of the Arctic, Super Amelia and Deep Sea Reg; $12.99 VHS
and $16.99 DVD. For preschoolers this week Anchor Bay will
release a new direct-to-video Thomas the Tank Engine adventure:
In "New Friends for Thomas & Other Adventures," Thomas rolls out
the "red track" to welcome 10 new friends to the Island of Sodor;
$12.98 VHS and $19.98 DVD (with games, sing-alongs, and bonus
activities. "Look Mom! I Have Good Manners" is an instructional
video aimed at kids five and older (and their parents) that uses
easy-to-follow demonstrations and fun graphics in an interactive
game show format to teach mealtime manners, playtime manners,
telephone manners, school manners and healthy manners, $14.95 VHS
and DVD from Thinkeroo (www.thinkeroo.com). For the pre-teen set,
Disney will release this week two new Lizzie McGuire videos (from
the TV show of the same name): "Lizzie McGuire: Star Struck" and
"Lizzie McGuire: Totally Crushed," each containing four episodes,
$14.99 VHS and $19.99 DVD.


------------------------------------------------------------

THIS WEEK'S DVD RELEASES:

Weekly listings of DVD releases can now be viewed on mobile
devices at www.tagtag.com/onvideo

** Belles on Their Toes (1952) Jeanne Crain, Debra Paget, Jeffrey
Hunter, Edward Arnold, Hoagy Carmichael, Myrna Loy. (Fox).
** Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) Clifton Webb, Myrna Loy, Jeanne
Crain, Edgar Buchanan. (Fox).
** The Commitments (1991) Dir.: Alan Parker; Robert Arkins,
Johnny Murphy, Colm Meaney, Andrew Strong. Two-disc set. Extras:
Commentary by Parker, "making-of" featurettes, "The Commitments:
Looking Back" documentary, "Dublin Soul: The Working Class &
Changing Face of Dublin" featurette, "Treat Her Right" music
video, original songs by Arkins and Strong, still gallery. (Fox).
** The Dead Zone: The Complete Second Season. Five-disc set with
19 episodes, $49.99. Extras: Commentaries with cast and crew,
"Making of an Episode" featurette, interviews with cast and crew,
deleted scenes, storyboards. (Lions Gate).
** Demonlover (2003) Dir.: Olivier Assayas; Connie Nielsen,
Charles Berling, Gina Gershon, Chloe Sevigny. DTS 5.1 surround.
Extras: Interviews with Assayas, Nielsen, Berling and Sevigny.
(Palm Pictures).
** Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat (2003) Mike Myers, Alec
Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Sean Hayes, Dakota Fanning, Spencer
Breslin, Amy Hill, Sean Hayes, Danielle Chuchran, Taylor Rice,
Brittany Oaks, Talia-Lynn Prairie. Extras: "Dance-A-Long With the
Cat" interactive dance lesson; 16 Deleted Scenes; "The Purrr-fect
Stamp," a look at the making of the Dr. Seuss stamp, sponsored by
the US Postal Service; 20 Outtakes (Over an hour of outtakes
featuring bloopers by Myers and other cast members); "The Dirt on
D.I.R.T." behind-the-scenes look at all that went into creating
the film's magical D.I.R.T machine; "Seussville, USA," a glimpse
behind the scenes at the transformation of Pomona, Calif. into
Seuss-land; "The Mother of all Messes" special effects
featurette; "The Music," a firsthand look at the unusual array of
Seussian instruments created for the film; "The Cat", an in-depth
look into the whimsical movie mess created for the climactic
clean-up scene; 'The Fish', a look at how the movie's animated
fish got its personality; 'The S.L.O.W.', an all-encompassing
look at the creation of the outlandish Seussian driving machine;
"The Cat Stacks" visual effects featurette; "The Kids" featurette
with child actors Breslin and Fanning. (Universal).
** The Flintstones: First Season. Four-disc set with 28 half-
hour episodes, $64.92. Extras: "All About the Flintstones'
documentary, "The Flagstones: The Lost Pilot," "Wacky Inventions"
featurette, early network television advertisements and promo
spots. (Warner).
** Girls Will be Girls (2003) Jack Plotnick, Clinton Leupp,
Jeffrey Roberson. Extras: Commentary by director Richard Day and
Plotnick, Leupp and Roberson; deleted scene montage; makeup
featurette; nine Easter eggs. (MGM).
** Grand Slam. Four-disc gift set with "Bull Durham," "Eight Men
Out," "The Jackie Robinson Story" and "Pride of the Yankees";
$49.96. (MGM).
** Happily Ever After (1993) Animated; voices of Ed Asner, Irene
Cara, Carol Channing, Dom DeLuise, Phyllis Diller, Zsa Zsa Gabor,
Tracey Ullman, Sally Kellerman. (Fox).
** The Hitchhiker. Two-disc set with 10 episodes of the HBO
anthology series, featuring Kirstie Alley, Gary Busey, Peter
Coyote, Helen Hunt, Margot Kidder, Joe Pantoliano, James Remar
and Willem Dafoe. Extras: Commentaries by directors Paul
Verhoeven, Phillip Noyce, and Carl Schenkel. (HBO).
** Kim Possible: A Stitch in Time. Animated feature. (Buena
Vista).
** Kung Fu: The Complete First Season. Three-disc set with 15
digitally remastered episodes, plus the 90-minute pilot, $39.98.
Extras: "From Grasshopper to Caine: Creating Kung Fu" and "The
Tao of Kwai Chang Caine: Production and Beyond" documentaries.
(Warner).
** Lizzie McGuire: Star Struck. Four episodes of the hit Hilary
Duff/Disney Channel show. (Walt Disney).
** Lizzie McGuire: Totally Crushed. Four episodes of the hit
Hilary Duff/Disney Channel show. (Walt Disney).
** Ned Kelly (1970) Dir.: Tony Richardson; Mick Jagger, Clarissa
Kaye-Mason, Mark McManus, Allen Bickford. (MGM).
** The Running Man (1987) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita
Alonso, Yaphet Kotto, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura, Richard Dawson.
Extras: DTS-ES 6.1 and Dolby EX 5.1 surround, "Lockdown on Main
Street" documentary, "Game Theory" documentary, "Meet the
Stalkers" featurette on the Running Man's foes. (Columbia
TriStar).
** Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? Seasons One and Two. Four-disc set
with 25 half-hour episodes, $64.92. Extras: "Scooby-Doo's
Ultimate Fans" featurette, "Funky Fashions" featurette, "Scooby-
Doo Street Smarts" favorite cases featurette, "Take the Scooby
Challenge" trivia game, "Get the Picture": How to draw Scooby and
the gang, "America Loves Scooby- Doo" music video. (Warner).
** Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) Stuart
Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi, Robert Morley.
(Fox).
** 21 Grams (2003) Dir.: Alejando Gonzalez Inarritu; Sean Penn,
Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo,
Clea Duvall, Danny Huston. Extras: Making-of featurettes.
(Universal).
** Unknown Pleasures (2002 -- China) Wei Wei Zhao, Qiong Wu,
Qing Feng Zhou, Hong Wei Wang, Ru Bai, Xi An Liu, Shou Lin Xu.
(New Yorker).
** Veronica Guerin (2003) Dir.: Joel Schumacher; Cate Blanchett,
Gerald McSorley, Ciaran Hinds, Brenda Fricker, Colin Farell.
Extras: Commentary by Schumacher; commentary by screenwriters
Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue; deleted scene; "The Real-
Life Veronica Guerin": Footage of Guerin speaking at the
Committee to Protect Journalists; "Public Mask, Private Fears:
The Making of the film Veronica Guerin"; "A Conversation With
(producer) Jerry Bruckheimer"; photo gallery. (Buena Vista).


For more DVD info, check out our DVD calendar pages at
<http://www.onvideo.org/calendar/cal_dvd.htm>

------------------------------------------------------------
THIS WEEK'S VHS SELL-THROUGH RELEASES:

** Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) Drew Barrymore, Cameron
Diaz, Lucy Liu, Demi Moore, Bernie Mac, Luke Wilson, John
Forsythe, Crispin Glover, Justin Theroux, Robert Patrick, John
Cleese, Matt Leblanc. Cameos by Bruce Willis, Pink, Jaclyn Smith,
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Carrie Fisher, Eve and many others
(Columbia TriStar): R and unrated versions, $14.94
** Demonlover (2003) Dir.: Olivier Assayas; Connie Nielsen,
Charles Berling, Gina Gershon, Chloe Sevigny (Palm Pictures):
$24.99
** Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat (2003) Mike Myers, Alec Baldwin,
Kelly Preston, Sean Hayes, Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin, Amy
Hill, Sean Hayes, Danielle Chuchran, Taylor Rice, Brittany Oaks,
Talia-Lynn Prairie (Universal): $24.98
** Happily Ever After (1993) Animated; voices of Ed Asner, Irene
Cara, Carol Channing, Dom DeLuise, Phyllis Diller, Zsa Zsa Gabor,
Tracey Ullman, Sally Kellerman (Fox): $9.98
** Lizzie McGuire: Star Struck. Four episodes of the hit Hilary
Duff/Disney Channel show (Buena Vista): $14.99
** Lizzie McGuire: Totally Crushed. Four episodes of the hit
Hilary Duff/Disney Channel show (Buena Vista): $14.99
** Kim Possible: A Stitch in Time. Animated feature (Buena
Vista): $14.99


For more sell-through info, check out our Sell-Through/Repriced
pages at <http://www.onvideo.org/reprice.htm>


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Copyright 2004 CyberPod. All rights reserved.
ISSN 1094-3676

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