Region 1 DVD Releases for 22nd November 2005

This week, 2 discs are better than one.

War of the Worlds: 2-Disc Limited Edition

Tom Cruise may have jumped the couch, but that doesn't take away from the impact of this horror movie disguised as an action flick (which is really just Spielberg's way of making a 9/11 movie without actually making a 9/11 movie). Achieving "harrowing" more than "roller-coaster-ride," Spielberg makes the most of an unbelievably short shooting schedule, offering hope for the also shot-in-the-blink-of-an-eye Munich, coming out in a month. Here's hoping that film has a slightly less cheesy ending.

If you want more than, say, one extra, you might wanna splurge and get the two-disc edition, which includes numerous production diaries and an introduction from Señor Spielberg himself.

The Polar Express: 2-Disc Widescreen Edition

Although it received a lukewarm reception from critics and a reasonably lucrative embrace from audiences, most agreed that the true spectacle of this film could only be appreciated in IMAX 3-D, making a DVD release all the more anti-climactic (and a planned re-release on IMAX all the more sensible).

Plenty of extras, including one on the many "Polar Faces" of Tom Hanks, but is it really necessary to have two features devoted to the Josh Groban song "Believe?"

King Kong: 2-Disc Special Edition

Now why would they release this now? I wonder. Speaking of Peter Jackson, he contributes what may be the coolest extra to this supremely tricked-out edition - a restoration of the "Spider Pit Sequence" which was considered too gory for audiences of the time and then lost in the annals of cinema lore (or probably someone's office). There are also three-and-a-half hours worth of documentary covering every aspect of production, and commentary from The Man: Ray Harryhausen, Fay Wray, and others.

The Honeymooners

In principle, recasting a classic 50's sitcom about a working class couple with an all-black cast is a clever twist. And while Cedric the Entertainer may not be a modern day Jackie Gleason (I'm not sure anyone is, really) he could certainly pass for a modern day Ralph Kramden. On the other hand, if you don't have equivalent writing talent and instead get the guys who wrote The Nutty Professor and Big Momma's House, your film might not measure up to the quality of the original.

In what is, perhaps, the ultimate homage to the series, this DVD is not available in widescreen.

Seinfeld: Seasons 5 & 6 Giftset

It may not actually fit on your DVD shelf in any reasonable sense, but, like its Seasons 1-3 predecessor, it includes some nifty schwag. You've got yer (rather mysterious) "puffy shirt collectible" which may be a puffy shirt, a tiny puffy shirt, a reproduction of a puffy shirt, or a drawing of a puffy shirt. It's still sort of unclear. There's also a reproduction of a handwritten script by Seinfeld and, if you look closely, some DVDs with television shows on them.

Article Author: David Dylan Thomas

David Dylan Thomas is a Philly-based writer/filmmaker who opines voraciously about dem pictures what move on the screen at DavidDylanThomas.com.

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