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ONVIDEO E-MAIL NEWS
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4/15/03 V7.15

ONVIDEO'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO HOME VIDEO RELEASES
FOR TUESDAY, April 15 -- MONDAY, April 21

CASTLE IN THE SKY
By the creator of such extraordinary Japanese animated films as
"My Neighbor Totoro," "Kiki's Delivery Service," "Princess
Mononoke" and "Spirited Away." "Castle in the Sky" takes viewers
on a fantastic voyage to a mythical retro-future full of amazing
landscapes and wonderful flying machines. Pazu, a young boy,
finds the beautiful girl Sheeta descending from the sky wearing a
mysterious crystal, one that allows her to float in the air.
Sheeta can't remember the crystal's secrets, but it becomes the
target of a band of rabble-rousing sky pirates and their
hilarious leader. Soon sinister agents are after them as well,
along with a treacherous man named Muska. The chase leads them
all to an astonishing castle in the sky, where a long slumbering
civilization waits with incredible surprises. The DVD version, on
two discs, includes the original Japanese language track, plus
other goodies. Director: Hayao Miyazaki. English-language voices
by James van der Beek, Anna Paquin, Cloris Leachman, Mandy
Patinkin, Mark Hamill, Andy Dick. 1986, CC, MPAA rating: NR, 125
min., Animated, Disney, $19.99 VHS SRP. DVD: Day & Date

DRUMLINE
Upbeat kids film about a hot-shot drummer from Harlem who quickly
learns that talent, passion, discipline and teamwork are required
to cut it on the drumline of a College marching band.
Nickelodeon's Nick Cannon stars as Devon Miles, a gifted street
drummer who snares the top spot in a Southern university marching
band. But when his hotshot attitude gets a lukewarm reception
from the school's straight-laced band leader (Orlando Jones),
Devon quickly discovers that it takes more than rim shots to make
it on the drumline. There's plenty of syncopated steps (with a
squad of bandmembers 300 strong) and a hot hip-hop soundtrack.
Director: Charles Stone III. Stars: Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana,
Orlando Jones, Leonard Roberts, GQ, Jason Weaver, Earl C.
Poitier, J. Anthony Brown. 2002, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 118
min., Musical Drama, Box office gross: $55.489 million, Fox,
$14.95 VHS SRP. DVD: Day & Date.

EVELYN
Heart-felt and heartwarming true story of Dubliner Desmond Doyle
(Pierce Brosnan), whose wife runs off one fine holiday season,
leaving him alone with their three children -- beloved daughter
Evelyn and two young sons. The year is 1953, and the Irish
government social workers -- abetted by the Irish law that
decreed that a father cannot raise children by himself -- come
round and take the kids to orphanages. Enlisting the help of
loyal friends (Julianna Margulies, Stephen Rea) and a feisty
American lawyer (Aidan Quinn), he takes his case to Ireland's
Supreme Court and in a history-making quest topples the iron-clad
law and wins back the custody of his children. This was a labor
of love -- Brosnan made the film through his Irish DreamTime
production company. Director: Bruce Beresford. Stars: Pierce
Brosnan, Julianna Margulies, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan
Bates. 2002, CC, MPAA rating: PG, 95 min., Drama, Box office
gross: $1.368 million, MGM, No VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD:
Day & Date.

HENRY IV
Marcello Mastroianni delivers one of his finest performances in
this powerful adaptation of the play by Luigi Pirandello. Tango
legend Astor Piazzolla provides the musical score. Mastroianni
stars as a modern aristocrat. After he falls off his horse, he
believes himself to be Henry IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman
Empire. For years, everyone around him adapts to this fantasy.
They create a separate world -- a sort of unending Renaissance
Fair where everyone dresses up and calls each other by names
ripped from the history books. Then, one day, some old friends
try to cure "Henry." In Italian with English subtitles. Director:
Marco Bellocchio. Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale.
1984, CC, MPAA rating: NR, 95 min., Comedy, Accents Cinema, No
VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

RABBIT-PROOF FENCE
Director Phillip Noyce has made a disturbing yet uplifting film
that examines the plight of Australia's Aborigines during the
1930s when the government saw fit to wrench Aboriginal children
from their families "for their own good" to be assimilated i to
white society -- typically as domestic servants. The film follows
the lives of three such girls who chafe at the repression they
encounter when sent to a mission to be trained to serve the upper
class, and subsequently escape to the outback on a 1,500 mile
journey home, hotly pursued by the authorities. The film gets its
title from the enormous rabbit-proof fence built by the
government (to stop a rabbit plague) that crossed the country and
which the girls follow to get home. Political film that touches
the emotions. Director: Phillip Noyce. Stars: Evelyn Sampi,
Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, Kenneth Branagh, David Gulpilil,
Ningali Lawford, Deborah Mailman, Jason Clarke. 2002, CC, MPAA
rating: PG, 94 min., Drama, Box office gross: $5.772 million,
Miramax, No VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

SPIRITED AWAY
A wonderfully imaginative animated story by Hayao Miyazaki, the
creator of "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Princess Mononoke." And,
like those previous outings, "Spirited Away" is a heady mix of
realism and fabulism, sure to please adults and youngsters alike.
Here a 10-year-old girl and her family wander into what first
appears to be an abandoned theme park but turns out to be a
spirit world. When her parents eat some food and are turned into
pigs, it's up to Chihiro to rescue them by dealing with weird
spirits and unearthly -- yet not scary -- situations. That
includes a six-armed bathhouse furnace tender, adorable "soot
balls," a witchy spirit world boss and a River God, among others.
"Spirited Away" is the all-time boxoffice champ in Japan,
surpassing "Titanic." Director: Hayao Miyazaki. Voices of Daveigh
Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Jason Marsden, Susan Egan, David Ogden
Stiers, Lauren Holly, Michael Chiklis. 2002, CC, MPAA rating: PG,
125 min., Animated, Box office gross: $7.4 million, Disney,
$19.99 SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

TRANSPORTER, THE
Fast-paced actioner set against the breathtaking backdrop of the
French Mediterranean. Frank Martin (Jason Starham) is the best at
what he does: Transporting dangerous or illegal goods with no
questions asked. But his latest shipment, a beautiful young woman
kidnapped by international slave traders, brings deadly
complications to his delivery plans: he breaks the rules and must
kick into overdrive to fight to save his cargo, and his life.
Whip-lashing car chases and edgy thrills. Director: Louis
Leterrier and Corey Yuen. Stars: Jason Statham, Qi Shu, Matt
Schulze, Francois Berleand, Ric Young. 2003, CC, MPAA rating: PG-
13, 92 min., Thriller, Box office gross: $25.296 million, Fox, 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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THIS WEEK'S DVD RELEASES:

**Absolute Beginners (1986) Eddie O'Connell, Patsy Kensit, with
appearances by David Bowie, Ray Davies, Sade. (MGM).
**Beat Street (1984) Guy Davis, Rae Dawn Chong. (MGM).
**Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984) Lucinda Dickey, Adolpho
"Shabba Doo" Quinones, Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers. (MGM).
**Castle in the Sky (1986) Dir.: Hayao Miyazaki; English-language
voices by James van der Beek, Anna Paquin, Cloris Leachman, Mandy
Patinkin, Mark Hamill, Andy Dick. Two-disc set. Extras: Original
Japanese language track, introduction by John Lasseter ("Toy
Story"), "Behind the Microphone" voice talent featurette,
original Japanese trailers, original Japanese storyboards.
(Disney).
**A Chorus Line (1985) Michael Douglas. Extras: "From Broadway to
Hollywood" featurette with Marvin Hamlisch. (MGM).
**Drumline (2002) Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Jones,
Leonard Roberts, GQ, Jason Weaver, Earl C. Poitier, J. Anthony
Brown. Extras: Commentary by director Charles Stone III, 10
deleted scenes, JC Chasez's "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)" music
video, Joe featuring Jadakiss' "I Want a Girl Like You" music
video, a BET special featurette. (Fox).
**Evelyn Special Edition (2002) Dir.: Bruce Beresford; Pierce
Brosnan, Julianna Margulies, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan
Bates. Extras: Commentary by Beresford, commentary by Brosnan and
producer Beau St. Clair, "The Story Behind the Story" featurette,
"making-of" featurette, photo gallery. (MGM).
**Family Guy Volume One. Four-disc set of the first and second
seasons (28 episodes) of the animated Fox series. (1999-2000)
Extras: Commentary on select episodes. $49.98. (Fox).
**Henry IV (1984) Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale.
(Accent Cinema).
**Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) Dir.: Hayao Miyazaki; voices of
Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, Matthew Lawrence, Debbie Reynolds,
Janeane Garofalo. Two-disc set. Extras: Original Japanese
language track, introduction by John ("Toy Story") Lasseter,
voice talent featurette "Behind the Microphone," original
Japanese trailers, original storyboards; $29.99. (Disney).
**Lambada (1990) J. Eddie Peck. (MGM).
**MGM Midnite Movies Double Features. Two films on one disc:
"Psych-Out" and "The Trip" (Extras include "Psych-Out's" "Love
and Haight" featurette, commentary on "The Trip" by director
Roger Corman, and three featurettes: "Tune In, Trip Out,"
"Psychedelic Light Box" and "Allen Daviau, ASC: Psychedelic Film
Effects"); "Angel Unchained" and "Cycle Savages"; "Invisible
Invaders" and "Journey to the Seventh Planet"; "Muscle Beach
Party" and "Ski Party"; "Cry of the Banshee" and "Murders in the
Rue Morgue; $14.95 each. (MGM).
**Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) Dir.: Phillip Noyce; Evelyn Sampi,
Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, Kenneth Branagh, David Gulpilil,
Ningali Lawford, Deborah mailman, Jason Clarke. Extras:
Commentary by Noyce, musician Peter Gabriel, Branagh,
screenwriter Christine Olsen and author Doris Pilkington
Garimara; "Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence" documentary.
(Miramax).
**Rappin' (1985) Mario Van Peebles. (MGM).
**Roadie (1980) Meat Loaf, with performances by Blondie, Alice
Cooper, Roy Orbison. (MGM).
**Salsa (1988) Robby Rosa. (MGM).
**The Singing Detective. (1988) Three-disc set of the celebrated
British TV series starring Michael Gambon and directed by Jon
Amiel. Extras: Commentary by Amiel and producer Kenneth Trodd,
"Dennis Potter: Under the Skin" documentary, rarely seen
interview with Potter, photo gallery, "point-of-view" articles.
$59.98 (BBC Worldwide).
**Spirited Away (2002) Dir.: Hayao Miyazaki; Voices of Daveigh
Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Jason Marsden, Susan Egan, David Ogden
Stiers, Lauren Holly, Michael Chiklis. Extras: Two-disc set with
original Japanese language track, introduction by John Lasseter,
executive producer of the English-language version; "Behind the
Microphone" voice talent feature; "The Art of Spirited Away";
select storyboard to scene comparison; original Japanese
trailers; English subtitles; English-language track in Dolby 5.1;
$29.99. (Disney).
**The Transporter (2003) Jason Statham, Qi Shu, Matt Schulze,
Francois Berleand, Ric Young. Extras: Commentary by co-director
Corey Yuen and Statham, 15 minutes of additional (unrated) action
footage. deleted scenes, "making-of" documentary. (Fox).


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


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THIS WEEK'S VHS SELL-THROUGH RELEASES:

**Castle in the Sky. (1986 -- Japanese) Dir.: Hayao Miyazaki;
English-language voices by James van der Beek, Anna Paquin,
Cloris Leachman, Mandy Patinkin, Mark Hamill, Andy Dick (Disney):
$19.99
**Drumline (2002) Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Jones,
Leonard Roberts, GQ, Jason Weaver, Earl C. Poitier, J. Anthony
Brown (Fox): $14.95
**Kiki's Delivery Service (1989 -- Japanese) Dir.: Hayao
Miyazaki; English language voices of Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman,
Matthew Lawrence, Debbie Reynolds, Janeane Garofalo (Disney):
Includes voice talent featurette "Behind the Microphone," $19.99
**Spirited Away (2002 -- Japanese) Dir.: Hayao Miyazaki; English
language voices of Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshett, Jason
Marsden, Susan Egan, David Ogden Stiers, Lauren Holly, Michael
Chiklis. (Disney): $19.99


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


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NEWS

COMING SOON:
Due May 13: "Comedian" (2002), a documentary on Jerry Seinfeld
and standup comedy, from Miramax ... Due May 27: Exciting spy-in-
training thriller "The Recruit" (2003), directed by Roger
Donaldson and starring Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan
and Gabriel Macht, from Buena Vista; and Roman Polanski's "The
Pianist" (2002), starring Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank
Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox and Jessica Kate Meyer, from
Universal ... Due June 3: silly but enjoyable comedy "The Guru"
(2003) starring Jimi Mistry, Heather Graham, Marisa Tomei,
Christine Baranski and Michael McKean, from Universal ... Due
June 10: "Animal House" for the 21st Century comedy "Old School"
(2003), starring Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Ellen
Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Perry Reeves, Craig Kilborn
and Jeremy Piven, from DreamWorks; and "Tears of the Sun" (2003),
a war actioner starring Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole
Hauser, Fionnula Flanagan, Eamonn Walker, and Tom Skerritt. ...
Due June 17: Cop thriller "Narc" (2002), starring Ray Liotta,
Jason Patric and Chi McBride, from Paramount ... Due July 15:
"The Quiet American" (2002), directed by Phillip Noyce and
starring Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Hai Yen Do, Rade
Serbedzija and Tzi Ma; and "Pinocchio" (2002), directed by
Roberto Benigni and starring Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi,
Carlo Guiffre; with the dubbed voices of Breckin Meyer, Glenn
Close, John Cleese, Eric Idle. David Suchet, Cheech Marin, Eddie
Griffin, Queen Latifah and Regis Philbin; both from Miramax.

DVD COLLECTIBLES:
On September 9 the folks at Disney are going to their movie vault
to bring out a DVD edition of "Sleeping Beauty" (1959) in a two-
disc set, featuring a new transfer, Dolby remix, widescreen and
fullscreen versions, featurettes, virtual gallery, historical
extras, interviews; $29.99. Then on October 7 the company will
bring out the much-demanded DVD edition of "The Lion King" (1994)
-- the best selling home video of all time -- in a Platinum
Edition two-disc set featuring the original theatrical and Imax
versions, interviews, deleted scenes, games, virtual tour of
Africa, more; $29.99. Other classic Disney adventures scheduled
for release soon: On April 29: Disney's first all live-action
film, "Treasure Island" (1950), starring Bobby Driscoll and
Robert Newton will be restored and remastered. And on May 13 --
finally -- the company will release the classic Jules Verne saga
"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" (1954), starring Kirk Douglas,
James Mason and Peter Lorre, restored and remastered on a two-
disc set loaded with extras. See DVD listings for more
information.

On April 15, in honor of Bob Hope's 100th birthday, Universal
Studios Home Video will release many of his early films under the
umbrella title "The Bob Hope DVD Tribute Collection." Included
here are low-priced reissues of the Hope-Bing Crosby "Road"
pictures -- "The Road to Singapore," "The Road to Zanzibar," "The
Road to Morocco" and "The Road to Utopia" -- as well as "The
Paleface" and "The Ghostbusters" ($14.98 each DVD or $9.98 VHS).
In addition, the company is releasing six DVD double features
(with no suggested list price): "The Big Broadcast of
1938/College Swing," "My Favorite Blonde/Star Spangled Rhythm,"
"Louisiana Purchase/Never Say Die," "Monsieur Beaucaire/Where
There's Life," "Sorrowful Jones/The Paleface" and "Caught in the
Draft/Give Me a Sailor."

The folks at The Criterion Collection have pulled out all the
stops for a deluxe Francois Truffaut five-disc set: "Francois
Truffaut's The Adventures of Antoine Doinel," due April 29. The
release of Francois Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" (Les Quatre cents
coups) in 1959 shook world cinema to its foundations. The now-
classic portrait of troubled adolescence introduced a major new
director in the cinematic landscape and was an inaugural gesture
of the revolutionary French New Wave. But "The 400 Blows" did not
only introduce the world to its precocious director -- it also
unveiled his indelible creation: Antoine Doinel. Initially
patterned closely after Truffaut himself, the Doinel character
(played by the irrepressible and iconic Jean-Pierre Leaud)
reappeared in four subsequent films that knowingly portrayed his
myriad frustrations and romantic entanglements from his stormy
teens through marriage, children, divorce, and adulthood. "With
The Adventures of Antoine Doinel," Criterion presents Truffaut's
celebrated saga in its entirety: the feature films "The 400
Blows," "Stolen Kisses," "Bed and Board," "Love on the Run," and
the 1962 short subject, "Antoine and Colette," in a special
edition five-disc box set, with a host of extras; $99.95. See DVD
listings for more information.

Over at Home Vision Entertainment (which distributes The
Criterion Collection), on April 29 comes the release of "Drole de
Drame" (1937), directed by Marcel Carne and starring Michel
Simon, Francoise Rosay, Louis Jouvet and Jean-Louis Barrault. The
film (From the creators of "Children of Paradise") is a screwball
comedy about a vegetarian serial killer, set in Edwardian London.
The DVD features a new digital transfer and liner notes by film
critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.

On July 15 MGM will release a nifty "Billy Wilder DVD Collection"
of nine discs, featuring four new releases, "Avanti!" "Kiss Me,
Stupid," "One, Two, Three" and "The Private Life of Sherlock
Holmes" (see below) as well as previously released "Some Like It
Hot," "Witness for the Prosecution," "The Apartment," "The
Fortune Cookie," "Irma La Douce," for $129.96. "Avanti! (1964)
with Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills, "Kiss Me, Stupid" (1964) with
Dean Martin and Kim Novak, "One, Two, Three" (1961) with James
Cagney, Pamela Tiffin, Horst Buchholz and Arlene Francis are
straight forward transfers, but "The Private Life of Sherlock
Holmes" (1970), starring Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely and
Christopher Lee has such nice extras as a new interview with
Christopher Lee, "Mr. Holmes, Mr. Watson"; 30 minutes of deleted
sequences ("Original Prologue," "The Curious Case of the Upside
Down Room," "The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners,"
"The Adventure of the Dumbfounded Detective: Holmes Recounts an
Affair of the Past"); an interview with film editor Ernest Walter
and a behind-the-scenes photo gallery with 150 stills.

FROM TV TO VIDEO:
Due this week: "Family Guy Volume One," a four-disc set of the
first and second seasons (28 episodes) of the animated Fox series
(1999-2000), $49.98; BBC Worldwide will release a three-disc
collector's edition of Dennis Potter's classic noir-musical "The
Singing Detective," starring Michael Gambon and directed by Jon
Amiel, $59.98; "Invincible" (2001), a fantasy tale about a band
of misfits trained to battle fallen angels to save the world,
starring Billy Zane, from Miramax.

BUZZIN' THE 'B's:
From MTI Home Video, due April 15: psycho-thriller "Phobic" is
about a young man's desperate struggle against a violent killer,
starring Billy Parish and Anthony Azizi; "Genius," an urban drama
about a young man who enlists his self-centered economics teacher
to help win the hand of a beautiful but snooty girl; and
"Sanitarium," a medical thriller about a psychiatric hospital in
which the insane get cured and the sane go crazy, starring Uri
Geller and Kate Copeland; all DVD $24.95 and VHS rental ... "Cube
2: Hypercube" (2003) is a sci-fi thriller about a group of people
who wake up in a bizarre cube dimension where the laws of physics
don't apply, from Lions Gate, $24.99 DVD and VHS rental ...
"Darkwolf" (2003) is an erotic werewolf thriller starring Kane
Hodder, Tippi Hedren and Playmate Jaime Bergman, from Fox on DVD
and VHS.

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Copyright 2003 CyberPod. All rights reserved.
ISSN 1094-3676

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