*****************************
ONVIDEO E-MAIL NEWS
******************************

4/22/03 V7.16

ONVIDEO'S WEEKLY GUIDE TO HOME VIDEO RELEASES
FOR TUESDAY, April 22 -- MONDAY, April 28

BLOODY SUNDAY
Dramatization of the fateful day of January 30, 1972, when
British soldiers shot and killed 13 unarmed citizens taking part
in an anti-internment civil rights march in Derry, Northern
Ireland. The event, which has come to be known as Bloody Sunday,
was a major turning point in the history of modern Irish
troubles, catapulting the conflict to a new level and driving
many young men into the IRA. The film encapsulates the events
from all perspectives of the "battlefield" in just one day, from
the arrival of thousands of troops on the streets of the besieged
city to the violent collision between soldiers and the crowds of
civilian demonstrators. A powerful and, considering the end
result, depressing filmic statement. Director: Paul Greengrass.
Stars: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Gerald
McSorley, Kiera Clarke. 2002, CC, MPAA rating: R, 110 min.,
Drama, Box office gross: $0.765 million, Paramount, No VHS SRP,
Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date

CRIME OF PADRE AMARO, THE
Gael Garcia Bernal stars as a newly ordained priest sent to work
in a small church community in Mexico by the Bishop. He arrives
wide-eyed and full of optimism hoping to serve God and his
parish. He quickly butts heads with the elder priest in charge,
Father Benito. Benito is known to accept drug money from the
local drug lord in order to subsidize the construction of a new
hospital and in addition is carrying on an affair with a local
woman. To complicate matters, father Amaro soon finds himself in
a love affair with the young Sunday school teacher. After a
newspaper report linking the drug lords with the Church is
published, Father Amaro tries to cover up and mend the public
relations fiasco. Amaro is also asked by the Bishop to reign in
the renegade priest who has affiliations with guerrilla soldiers.
Moral dilemmas abound and Father Amaro's idealism is put to the
test by personal, political and church pressures. Spanish with
English subtitles. Director: Luis Carlos Carrera. Stars: Sancho
Gracia, Ana Claudia Talancon, Ernesto Gomez Cruz, Gael Garcia
Bernal. 2002, CC, MPAA rating: R, 119 min., Drama, Box office
gross: $4.786 million, Columbia TriStar, No SRP, Priced for
rental. DVD: Day & Date.

DARKNESS FALLS
In their never-ending-quest to come up with horror film
scenarios, filmmakers seem willing to tap any and all benign
characters to turn them into avenging bogeymen (remember the
killer Santa Claus?). For this outing, the filmmakers have come
up with a monstrous tooth fairy who wrecks havoc on the town of
Darkness Falls. The film starts with a prologue of a woman -- a
lighthouse keeper with a badly burned face -- unjustly accused of
a heinous crime. In the ensuing 150 years since the miscarriage
of justice, whenever local kids lose their last baby tooth, the
evil spirit of the woman appears, scarring the kids forever. The
movie quickly moves to the present, where Kyle, safely away from
Darkness Falls, must return home to confront his troubled past
(he was accused of murdering his mother when we all know it was
the tooth fairy) to save his childhood sweetheart and her younger
brother (on his was to losing his last baby tooth) from the
monster. See your dentist instead. Director: Jonathan Liebesman.
Stars: Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie, Grant Piro,
Sullivan Stapleton. 2003, CC, MPAA rating: PG-13, 85 min.,
Horror, Box office gross: $29.877 million, Columbia TriStar, No
VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

IGNITION
Federal Judge Faith Matheson (Lena Olin) is preparing to try the
most explosive case of her career, involving corruption within
some of the highest levels of the military. But the power of her
final ruling could severely impact attempts of the U.S. army to
launch the first rocket into space in over thirty years. Suddenly
finding herself in grave danger, the Judge is assigned the
protective services of Conor Gallagher (Bill Pullman), a former
Marine Corps helicopter pilot, decorated with the Congressional
Medal of Honor. But the stakes are higher than either ever
imagined and as they dig deeper and deeper, they are pulled into
a dangerous web of conspiracy, treason and murder. Director: Yves
Simoneau. Stars: Bill Pullman, Lena Olin, Colm Feore, Nicholas
Lea, Peter Kent, Barbara Eve Harris, Hrothgar Mathews. 2001, CC,
MPAA rating: NR, 96 min., Thriller, Columbia TriStar, No SRP,
Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

MERCI POUR LE CHOCOLAT
Delectable psychological thriller that is vintage Claude Chabrol,
with intricate plots that wend their way in a playful yet
suspenseful manner through the elegant homes of several well-
heeled French-Swiss in Lausanne, Switzerland. Isabelle Huppert
stars as Mika, the couture-attired, oh-so-perfect head of a
company that manufactures Swiss chocolate; Jacques Dutronc is
Andre, her suave concert-pianist husband whose first wife died in
a mysterious car accident. How is it that Andre's teenage son has
no musical talent, while the visiting young Jeanne, a world-class
pianist, bears a striking resemblance to Andre's former wife? And
why does Mika insist that everyone sip the hot chocolate she
prepares each evening? The master of the subtle French thriller
strikes again. In French with English subtitles. Director: Claude
Chabrol. Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc. 2002, CC, MPAA
rating: NR, 99 min., Suspense thriller, First Run Features, No
VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day & Date.

REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES
A $6 million box office theatrical run followed awards and
acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival. Should Ana leave home, go
to college and experience life? Or stay home, get married, and
keep working in her sister's struggling garment factory? It may
seem like an easy decision, but for 18-year-old Ana, every choice
she makes will change her life. Right now, she may be making
clothes for less shapely women. But Ana is about to discover that
real women take chances, have flaws, embrace life, and above all
have curves. Director: Patricia Cardoso. Stars: America Ferrera,
Lupe Ontiveros, Ingrid Oliu, George Lopez, Brian Sites. 2002, CC,
MPAA rating: PG-13, 90 min., Comedy/Drama, Box office gross:
$5.797 million, Warner, No VHS SRP, Priced for rental. DVD: Day &
Date.

STANDING IN THE SHADOW OF MOTOWN
This is the untold story of the soul behind the soul: The Motown
house band known as The Funk Brothers who backed some of the top
singers and groups of the fabulous Motown years from 1959-1973.
In '59, Motown founder Berry Gordy gathered the best musicians
from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene for his new record
company. For the next 14 years, these players were the heartbeat
on "My Girl," "Baby Love," "Bernadette," "I Heard It Through the
Grapevine," "Dancing in the Streets" and every hit from the
label's Detroit era. This unheralded group of musicians played on
more No. 1 hits than the Beach Boys, the Stones, Elvis Presley,
and the Beatles combined. They called (and still call) themselves
The Funk Brothers, and this is their story. Director: Paul
Justman. Stars: The Funk Brothers, Bootsy Collins, Ben Harper,
Montell Jordan, Chaka Khan, Tom Scott. 2002, CC, MPAA rating: PG,
110 min., Music bio, Box office gross: $1.574 million, Artisan,
$19.98 VHS SRP. DVD: Day & Date


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


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

THIS WEEK'S DVD RELEASES:

**Bernard Allison: Kentucky Fried Blues (2003) Live concert
recorded August, 1999 at the W.C. Handy Festival in Henderson,
Kentucky. (Music Video Distributors).
**Bloody Sunday (2002) James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas
Farrell, Gerald McSorley, Kiera Clarke. Extras: Commentary by
writer-director Paul Greengrass and Nesbitt; commentary by co-
producer Don Mullan, writer of the original book "Eyewitness
Bloody Sunday"; two featurettes. (Paramount).
**Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell,
George Murphy. Extras: All-new making-of documentary "Cole Porter
in Hollywood: Begin the Beguine," hosted by Ann Miller, vintage
1940 Our Gang musical short "The Big Premiere," behind-the-scenes
essay. (Cole Porter Classic Musicals Collection, Warner).
**CBGB: Punk From the Bowery (2003) Anthology of punk bands from
the legendary birthplace of American punk in the 1970s. Groups
include Cro-Mags, Madball, Harley's War, UK Subs, Chaos UK, the
Vibrators, Even Worse, more. (Music Video Distributors).
**Captain Beefheart: Some YoYo Stuff (2003) Docu on Don van
Vliet. (Music Video Distributors).
**The Carpetbaggers (1964) George Peppard, Alan Ladd, Robert
Cummings, Martha Hyer. (Paramount).
**The Cole Porter Gift Set. Includes five remastered Cole Porter
films: "Broadway Melody of 1940," "High Society," "Kiss Me Kate,"
"Les Girls" and "Silk Stockings" (see separate listings) plus a
sixth disc, "The Great American Songbook": Michael Feinstein
hosts a brand-new, three-hour documentary on the fascinating
evolution of American popular music as told through the stories
of the some of the greatest songwriters of all time, including
Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, George & Ira
Gershwin and dozens more. Featuring performances by some of our
most legendary entertainers, including Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby,
Doris Day, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly,
Al Jolson, the Marx Brothers, Ethel Merman, Mel Torme, and many
more. Extras: Commentary by Feinstein, vintage MGM short "We Must
Have Music"; $69.95. (Warner Classic Musicals Collection)
**Copper Canyon (1950) Ray Milland, Hedy Lamarr, Macdonald Carey,
Harry Carey Jr. (Paramount).
**The Crime of Padre Amaro (2002 -- Spanish) Sancho Gracia, Ana
Claudia Talancon, Ernesto Gomez Cruz, Gael Garcia Bernal. Extras:
Photo gallery, poster exploration, director and actor commentary,
making-of featurette. (Columbia TriStar).
**Darkness Falls (2003) Chaney Kley, Emma Caulfield, Lee Cormie,
Grant Piro, Sullivan Stapleton. Extras: Filmmaker commentaries,
"The Making of Darkness Falls," deleted scenes, storyboard
comparisons, more. (Columbia TriStar).
**DJ Craze (2003) Hip-Hop/Drum & Bass in Puerto Rico. Filmed on
location at a remote rave in the mountains of Puerto Rico: 21
tracks of Hip-Hop, turntablism, drum & bass. Extras: "Tips,
Tricks & Treats From Craze," Craze Scratch Off, Craze Interview.
(Music Video Distributors).
** Don Carlos: Live in San Francisco (2003) Recorded at Maritime
Hall in San Francisco. (Music Video Distributors).

**Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) Burt Lancaster, Kirk
Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Fleet, John Ireland, Dennis
Hopper. (Paramount).
**High Society (1956) Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly,
Celeste Holm. Extras: All-new making-of documentary "Cole Porter
in Hollywood: True Love," hosted by Holm, digitally remastered
from original VistaVision elements, Newsreel footage of "High
Society's" gala Hollywood premiere, vintage MGM cartoon
"Millionaire Droopy," audio-only radio ads, behind-the-scenes
essay. (Cole Porter Classic Musicals Collection, Warner).
**Ignition (2001) Bill Pullman, Lena Olin, Colm Feore, Nicholas
Lea, Peter Kent, Barbara Eve Harris, Hrothgar Mathews. (Columbia
TriStar)
**Immediate Family (1989) Glenn Close, James Woods, Mary Stuart
Masterson, Kevin Dillon. (Columbia TriStar).
**Kiss Me Kate (1953) Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Ann Miller,
Keenan Wynn, Bobby Van. Extras: All-new making-of documentary
"Cole Porter in Hollywood: Too Darn Hot," hosted by Miller,
music-only audio track, vintage MGM short subject: "Mighty
Manhattan; New York's Wonder City," behind-the-scenes essay.
(Cole Porter Classic Musicals Collection, Warner).
**Latin Thugs -- Wild & Chronic (2003) Latin hip-hop from the
south side of Los Angeles. (Music Video Distributors).
**Les Girls (1957)Dir.: George Cukor; Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor,
Kay Kendall, Taina Elg. Extras: All-new making-of documentary
"Cole Porter in Hollywood: Ca C'est L'amour," hosted by Elg,
vintage MGM Tex Avery cartoon "Flea Circus," behind-the-scenes
essay. (Cole Porter Classic Musicals Collection, Warner).
** Long John Baldry (2003) Live in concert for Ohne Filter, April
7, 1993. (Music Video Distributors).
**The Lonely Man (1957) Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, Neville
Brand. (Paramount).
** Mad About You: The Complete Second Season. Three-disc set with
all 25 episodes, $39.95. (Columbia TriStar).
**Meat Puppets: Alive in the Nineties (2003) Live footage of the
seminal underground band. (Music Video Distributors).
**Merci Pour Le Chocolat (2002 -- French) Dir.: Claude Chabrol;
Isabelle Huppert, Jacques Dutronc. Extras: Introduction by
Chabrol, photo gallery. (First Run Features).
**Nevada Smith (1966) Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith,
Suzanne Pleshette, Martin Landau. (Paramount).
**Once a Thief (Zong Heng Si Hai) (1990 -- Hong Kong) Dir.: John
Woo; Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Cherie Chung. (Columbia
TriStar).
**Real Women Have Curves (2002) America Ferrera, Lupe Ontiveros,
Ingrid Oliu, George Lopez, Brian Sites. (Warner).
**Robben Ford & the Blue Line (2003) Live in concert for Ohne
Filter on April 7, 1993. (Music Video Distributors).
**The Second Step: The Ultimate Interactive Dance DVD (2003) Do-
it-yourself audio and video mix disc, PC-friendly. Seventeen
selections ranging from DJ Paul's "Utopian Retreat" to the remix
of "So Fine." Extras: Interviews with DJ godfather Danny
Tenaglia, U.K. garage pioneers Artful Dodger, urban producer Mark
Lewis; Interactive Magix Video & Audio Player; X-ert Yourself
album produced by Mike Bennett. (Music Video Distributors).
**Shane MacGowan: If I Should Fall From Grace (2003) Docu on the
lead singer and songwriter for The Pogues. (Music Video
Distributors).
**Silk Stockings (1957) Dir.: Rouben Mamoulian; Cyd Charisse,
Fred Astaire, Janis Paige, Peter Lorre. Extras: All-new making-of
documentary "Cole Porter in Hollywood: Satin and Silk," hosted by
Charisse, vintage MGM concert hall series short "The Poet and
Peasant Overture," vintage short "Paree, Paree," featuring Bob
Hope and Cole Porter songs, behind-the-scenes essay. (Cole Porter
Classic Musicals Collection, Warner).
**Speed Racer Limited Collector's Edition. First season of
animated cult hit, with rubber tire packaging. Extras: Villains
gallery, interactive Mach 5 control demonstrations, theme song
sing-along. (Artisan).
**Standing in the Shadow of Motown (2002) The Funk Brothers,
Bootsy Collins, Ben Harper, Montell Jordan, Chaka Khan, Tom
Scott. Two-disc set. Extras: Commentary with director Paul
Justman, DTS, trivia track, song and performance selections, "How
It All Began" featurette, "Dinner With the Funk Brothers,"
multiangle jam sessions, deleted scenes, "The Ones That Didn't
Make It," "At Long Last Glory," Funk video bios, music video
montage, selected discography, interactive virtual recording
studio. (Artisan).
**Young Guns Special Edition (1986) Kiefer Sutherland, Emilio
Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Lou Diamond Phillips,
Casey Siemaszko. DTS and Dolby sound. Extras: Commentary by
Mulroney, Siemaszko and Phillips; "The Real Billy the Kid"
documentary; "Gunning for the Facts" trivia track. (Artisan).

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:

**Standing in the Shadow of Motown (2002) The Funk Brothers,
Bootsy Collins, Ben Harper, Montell Jordan, Chaka Khan, Tom Scott
(Artisan): $19.98.


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


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

NEWS

COMING SOON:
Fox has just announced the July 29 release of comic book hero
smash "Daredevil," priced to own on VHS at $24.98 and in a two-
disc DVD set at $29.98 ... Miramax has firmed up a July 1 release
of Martin Scorsese's crime saga "Gangs of New York" ... New Line
has announced a July 22 release for grim reaper teen thriller
"Final Destination 2," $22.99 VHS and $27.98 DVD ... and Fox will
release Steven Soderbergh's remake of "Solaris" on July 29.

DVD COLLECTIBLES:
On May 13, The Criterion Collection will release "Criterion's
Alfred Hitchcock Collection: Wrong Men & Notorious Women: Five
Hitchcock Thrillers 1935-1946." A supreme technician and
innovative stylist, Alfred Hitchcock always left his indelible
stamp on his productions. From the wit, romance, and fast-paced
action of 1935's British-made "The 39 Steps" to the bittersweet
blend of lush romance and spy thriller in the 1946 Hollywood
production "Notorious," Hitchcock continually flaunted a peerless
formal mastery as he capitalized on a wide variety of genres. In
the 1940 Academy Award-winning "Rebecca" and 1945 psychoanalytic
thriller "Spellbound," Hitchcock also proved himself a keen
surveyor of the human mind, incisively exploring the psychology
of fear and sexual repression within the context of films that
both entertained audiences of the day and ensured that his career
would be one of the most illustrious in the history of cinema.
The five-disc box set includes "The 39 Steps," "The Lady
Vanishes," "Rebecca," "Spellbound" and "Notorious"; $124.95.

Also on May 13, Warner will release "The Mission Special Edition"
(1986), directed by Roland Joffe and starring Robert De Niro,
Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi, Ronald
Pickup, Chuck Low and Liam Neeson. The two-disc set includes
commentary by Joffe and a "Making of The Mission" featurette.

On May 20 Fox will release to DVD for the first time two Ethan
and Joel Coen films: "Barton Fink" (1991), starring John
Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner and John
Mahoney, with eight deleted scenes; and Miller's Crossing"
(1990), starring Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Albert Finney,
John Turturro and Steve Buscemi, with interviews with Byrne,
Harden and Turturro.

It was lukewarm at the boxoffice but should be hot in a special
edition: "Windtalkers Director's Edition" (2002), directed by
John Woo and starring Nicholas Cage, Christian Slater and Adam
Beach arrives as a three-disc set with Woo's new cut of the film,
adding 20 minutes. Extras include an introduction by Woo, three
commentaries (Wood and producer Terence Chang, Cage and Slater,
actor Roger Willie and Navajo Code Talker advisor Albert Smith),
"The Code Talkers: A Secret Code of Honor" documentary, "American
heroes: A Tribute to Navaho Code Talkers" World War II tribute
featurette, "The Music of Windtalkers" featurette, battle
sequence multi-view of four key action scenes, four fly-on-the-
set scene diaries, "Actor's Boot Camp" featurette, and a behind-
the-scenes photo gallery, from MGM for $39.98 on May 20. Also
that day MGM will release "Dances With Wolves Special Edition"
(1990), directed by Kevin Costner and starring Costner, Mary
McDonnell, Graham Greene and Rodney A. Grant. The two-disc set
includes both the four-hour Costner extended version of the film
as well as the original Special Edition, with such extras as
commentary by Costner; commentary with Costner and producer Jim
Wilson; commentary by director of photography Dean Semler and
editor Neil Travis; "Creation of an Epic" retrospective
documentary with "Novel to Screen," "The Actor Becomes the
Director," "The Buffalo Hunt," "The Look and Sound of Dances,"
"The Art of Composition" and "The Success of Dances" segments,
all with new interviews with cast and crew; a music video by
composer John Barry; original "Making of Dances With Wolves"
featurette; photo montage; and a poster gallery; $29.98.

FROM TV TO VIDEO:
Columbia TriStar will release this week "Mad About You: The
Complete Second Season" in a three-disc set with all 25 episodes,
$39.95 ... On April 29 Fox will release "American Family: Season
One," a six-disc set with all 22 episodes of the PBS series with
select scene commentary, home movies, interviews, and a "Behind
the Scenes of American Family" featurette; $69.98 ... Also on
that day Warner will release "Babylon 5: The Complete Second
Season," with all 22 episodes, featuring an introduction by
series creator/producer J. Michael Straczynski and various cast
members; episode commentaries by Straczynski and cast members
Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian and Jerry Doyle; "Building
Babylon: Blueprint of an Episode featurette; "Shadows and Dreams:
Honors of Babylon featurette," including coverage of the Hugo
Award; "The Universe of Babylon 5" data/tech/personnel files; a
gag reel and "Babylon 5 Timeline"; $99.98 ... Anchor Bay will
release on April 29 "Xena: Warrior Princess Season One," with all
24 episodes on a seven-disc set with series trivia, the "Xena
Chronicles" and a photo gallery; $89.98 ... and finally, on April
29, MPI Home Video will release "Dark Shadows DVD Collection 5,"
with 40 episodes (372-412) on four discs; $59.98.

BUZZIN' THE 'B's:
From Lions Gate this week comes "The Believer," a portrayal of a
young Jewish man who lives as a neo-Nazi, starring Ryan Gosling,
Billy Zane, Summer Phoenix and Theresa Russell; and "Rip It Off,"
a female heist thriller starring Jennifer Esposito, Alyson
Hannigan, Steve Harris, Nastassja Kinski and Todd Field.

SPECIAL INTEREST:
Artisan Entertainment will release this week a "Best of
Discovery" promotion, sending to DVD three Discovery Channel
programs: a two-disc set featuring four episodes of "Monster
Garage," two episodes of "The Jeff Corwin Experience" on one
disc, and the religious documentary "The Quest for the True
Cross" ... Also due this week is "Fire on the Mountain," a
documentary on America's fabled 10th Mountain Division, a group
of champion skiers and mountaineers put together by the army to
fight the Nazi and Axis troops in the high mountain passes of
Europe during WWII, new to DVD from First Run Features.



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

An archive of past issues of the OnVideo E-Mail News can be found
at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/onvideoguide

Messages and missives: e-mail: mail@...