The month of July offers a slew of special editons as The Manchurian Candidate, the original film, comes with commentaries and interviews from Frank Sinatra, George Axelrod, and John Frankenheimer. Later this month, a remake starring Denzel Washington will hit the big screen. With the sequel, The Bourne Supremacy, coming out in a few weeks, a special edition of the first film, The Bourne Identity, is being released with a new beginning and ending featurette as well as deleted scenes. Charles Dutton's film on Boxing Trainer Jackie Kallen comes to the small screen with Against The Ropes. The film stas Meg Ryan as Jackie and Omar Epps as one of the boxers. DMX's star vehicle as a ruthless drug dealer hits the video market with Never Die Alone. Directed by Ernest Dickerson, the film also stars David Arquette, Jennifer Sky, Drew Sidora, Michael Ealy, Reagan Preston-Gomez.
The Bourne Identity (Widescreen
Extended Edition)
- DVD Release Date: July 13, 2004
- Summary: Set against dramatic European backdrops, THE BOURNE
IDENTITY is the story of a man (Matt Damon), salvaged, near death,
from the ocean by the crew of an Italian fishing boat. When he
recuperates, the man suffers from total amnesisa. He is completely
without identity or background, but possesses a range of extraordinary
talents in fighting, linguistic skills and self-defense that speak
of a dangerous past. He sets out on a desperate search—assisted
by the initially rebellious Marie (Franka Potente) to discover
who he really is, and why he is being pursued by assassins.
- DVD Features:
- New to this edition:
- New beginning and ending featurette
- "The Bourne Mastermind" - a look at the author
- Matt Damon interviews about both films
- "The Bourne Diagnosis" - a look at amnesia
- "Cloak & Dagger: Covert Ops" - a look at the
CIA
- "Inside a Fight Scene" - scene breakdown
- Deleted scenes
- Free Movie Ticket to the sequel
- Widescreen anamorphic format
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Never Die Alone
- Starring: DMX, David Arquette, Jennifer Sky, Drew Sidora, Michael
Ealy, Reagan Preston-Gomez
- Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
- Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby
- Rated: Not for sale to persons under age 18.
- Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
- DVD Release Date: July 13, 2004
- Summary: Based on cult novelist Donald Goines’ novel
of the same name, NEVER DIE ALONE is a richly literate film noir
about King David (DMX), a hard-boiled, stylish criminal who returns
to his hometown seeking redemption but finding only violent death.
But he did not die alone...King David’s final moments are
spent with Paul (David Arquette) an aspiring journalist who knew
him just a few minutes but upon whose life he would forever have
an impact. King David – half preacher, half Satan, and all
street smarts – had recorded the story of his recent exploits
on audiotape, leaving behind an often-poetic sermon on villainy
and its consequences. The tapes reveal that the cycle of violence
and retribution his actions have spawned has come back on him
full circle, as he suspected it might all along...
- DVD Features:
- Commentary by DMX, director Ernest Dickerson, and screenwriter
James Gibson
- Theatrical trailer(s)
- 11 deleted scenes with optional commentary by director
Ernest Dickerson
- Making-of featurette
- Full-screen and widescreen anamorphic formats
- Interview:
DMX
- Interview:
Ernest Dickerson
- Review
by Wilson Morales
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Against the Ropes (Widescreen Edition)
- Starring: Meg Ryan, Omar Epps, Joe Cortese, Timothy Daly, Kerry
Washington
- Director: Charles S. Dutton
- Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby
- Rated:
- Studio: Paramount Home Video
- DVD Release Date: July 13, 2004
- Summary: The daughter of a trainer, Jackie Kallen (Meg Ryan)
grew up skipping rope in a downtown Detroit gym alongside her
uncle, a fighter himself. Now, at 36, Jackie's ready to carry
on the family tradition. Trying to make her mark in the boxing
world, Jackie spends a lot of her free time working the room at
D'Agostino's, a pugs and thugs hangout known for its stiff drinks
and bloody steaks. After drinks with Cleveland's local hotshot
TV sportscaster, Gavin Reese (Tim Daly), Jackie ends up in a verbal
sparring match with the Midwest's boxing kingpin, Sam LaRocca
(Tony Shalhoub). Just to belittle her, he sells her the contract
of one of his fighters for a dollar... and that's just about what
Devon Greene (Tory Kittles) is worth. It turns out Devon's more
interested in smoking crack than boxing. But Jackie's dollar ends
up being well spent anyway. When she goes to Devon's apartment
to introduce herself as his new manager, she arrives just as his
drug dealer's enforcer, Luther Shaw (Omar Epps), is beating him
up. Instantly, she recognizes that it is Luther, not Devon, who
has the potential to be her champion. Bailing Luther out of jail,
Jackie convinces him to pursue boxing and to let her be his manager.
Then, with the help of Felix Reynolds (Charles S. Dutton), a veteran
trainer whom she coaxes out of retirement, Jackie turns Luther
from a jail-bound punk into a streamlined prizefighter... and
at the same time, turns herself into one of the most successful
female managers in boxing history.
- DVD Features:
- A Ringside Seat featurette
- Queen of the Ring: Jackie Kallen Then and Now featurette
- Widescreen anamorphic format
- Interview:
Omar Epps
- Interview:
Charles S. Dutton
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The Dreamers (NC-17 Edition)
- Starring: Michael Pitt, Louis Garrel, Eva Green, Jean-Pierre
Kalfon, Anna Chancellor
- Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
- Format: Color, Widescreen, Dolby
- Rated: Not for sale to persons under age 18.
- Studio: Fox Home Entertainme
- DVD Release Date: July 13, 2004
- Summary: An American college student, Matthew (Pitt), pursuing
his education abroad in Paris in 1968 becomes friends with a French
brother, Guillaume (Garrel), and sister, Danielle (Green), through
a shared love of the cinema, while the May, 1968 Paris student
riots (which eventually shut down most of the French government)
are happening in the background.
- DVD Features:
- NC-17 version
- Commentary by director Bernardo Bertolucci, writer Gilbert
Adair, and producer Jeremy Thomas
- "Events of May '68" featurette
- "The Making of The Dreamers" featurette
- Michael Pitt "Hey Joe" music video
- Theatrical trailer(s)
- Widescreen anamorphic format
- Interview:
Bernardo Bertolucci
- Review
by Julian Roman
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The Manchurian Candidate (Special
Edition)
- Starring: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury, Janet
Leigh, James Gregory
- Director: John Frankenheimer
- Format: Black & White, Widescreen
- Rated:
- Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- DVD Release Date: July 13, 2004
- Summary: A US Army hero returns to New York from Korea, but
has been mysteriously programmed by Communists to assasinate a
presidential nominee, but when his Army buddy becomes suspicious
of the goings on, he is on the trail to stop him.
- DVD Features:
- Commentary by director John Frankenheimer
- Theatrical trailer(s)
- Interview with Frank Sinatra, George Axelrod, and John Frankenheimer
- New to this edition:
- Featurette with William Friedkin
- Featurette with Angela Lansbury
- Photo gallery
- Anamorphic widescreen transfer and remastered 5.1 Dolby soundtrack
- Widescreen anamorphic format
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Hellboy (Two-Disc Special Edition)
- Starring: Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones,
John Hurt, Rupert Evans
- Director: Guillermo del Toro
- Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen,
Dolby
- Rated:
- Studio: Columbia Tristar Home Video
- DVD Release Date: July 27, 2004
- Summary: In the final days of World War II,
the Nazis attempt to use black magic to aid their dying cause.
The Allies raid the camp where the ceremony is taking place, but
not before a demon - Hellboy - has already been conjured. Joining
the Allied forces, Hellboy eventually grows to adulthood, serving
the cause of good rather than evil.
- DVD Features:
- Commentary by director Guillermo del Toro and co-executive
producer Mike Mignola
- Commentary by Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Rupert Evans, and
Jeffrey Tambor
- Theatrical trailer(s)
- All-new DVD comics: eight branching DVD comics by Mike Mignola
- "Hellboy: The Seeds of Creation": 27 documentaries
- "Right Hand of Doom: Set Visits": behind-the-scenes
branching feature
- Four short films featuring the cartoons Hellboy himself
recommends
- Feature-length storyboard track
- Four computer-generated animated scene breakdowns.
- Five Board-a-Matics: side-by-side comparison of scenes with
the animated storyboards
- Three deleted scenes with optional commentary
- Scene deconstruction
- DVD-ROM: director's notebook, printable script, script supervisor's
book
- Widescreen anamorphic format
- Number of discs: 2
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The Whole Ten Yards (Widescreen
Edition)
- Starring: Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Kevin
Pollack, Amanda Peet, Natasha Henstridge
- Director: Howard Deutch
- Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen,
Dolby
- Rated:
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- DVD Release Date: July 27, 2004
- Summary: Thanks to falsified dental records
supplied by his former neighbor Nicholas “Oz” Oseransky
(Matthew Perry), retired hitman Jimmy “The Tulip”
Tudeski (Bruce Willis) now spends his days compulsively cleaning
his house and perfecting his culinary skills with his wife Jill
(Amanda Peet), a purported assassin who has yet to pull off a
clean hit. Suddenly, an uninvited and unwelcome connection to
their past unexpectedly shows up on Jimmy and Jill’s doorstep:
it’s Oz, and he’s begging them to help him rescue
his wife from a Hungarian mob. Together, they’ll have to
go the whole nine yards – and then some – to manage
the mounting Mafioso mayhem.
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Ned Kelly
- Starring: Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom,
Rachel Griffiths, Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts
- Director: Gregor Jordan
- Format: Color, Widescreen
- Rated: Not for sale to persons under age 18.
- Studio: Umvd
- DVD Release Date: July 27, 2004
- Summary: Ned Kelly (Ledger) and his brother
Dan, sons of an Irish pig thief exiled to the Australian penal
colony in 1843, formed the core of the Kelly Gang (with two other
men), an outlaw gang (they were called "bushrangers",
not "cowboys") that roamed across Australia for over
two wild years. Kelly was a clever bandit, making his own homemade
armor, including steel chest plates and helmets, to stop bullets
from stopping him. Kelly was first arrested at 16 for horse stealing,
but he became an outlaw when he killed a police officer who was
harrassing his brother.
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The Celebration
- Starring: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen,
Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen, Birthe Neumann
- Director: Thomas Vinterberg
- Rated: Not for sale to persons under age 18.
- Studio: Universal
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