:: theLogBook.com DVD Reviews ::

Millions of people in the U.S. grew up watching Raymond Burr in scratchy prints of Godzilla, King of the Monsters. But as they grew into their teen and adult years, they came to realize there was a different, longer version of the same movie, but without Raymond Burr! How could that be? We all know now, of course, that GKOTM was a re-edited version of the Japanese language Gojira. For decades, however, that movie remained elusive to most people outside Japan. Now Classic Media has packaged Gojira and Godzilla King of the Monsters into a two-disc DVD set, chockablock full of spiffy features. (more…)

Fair warning here: oddly enough for something that’s been released around the world virtually simultaneously, I’m reviewing the UK (Region 2) version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and I’m doing it for a reason.

For the most part, the release is the same in the UK as it is in North America. The movie itself gets a crisp transfer and a great sound effects mix, and it’s almost a given that the DVD’s menu structure will be based on that of the Hitchhiker’s Guide itself. (more…)

“For the people of this planet, it was a time when the sea and the sky and the very land on which they lived had been polluted by their own cultural waste. They came from as yet unknown outer space. They landed on the planet and sucked up air, water, and even living creatures into their womb, stealing away the very roots of the planet’s culture. And so began, with the few remaining inhabitants, and later with the one called Rodo, the creation of a new world.”

Let’s activate the way-back machine and go back to March 31st, 1998. A year has elapsed since DVD players were first introduced to the market. DVD players still cost a few hundred dollars each, and titles were few and far between. Some major studios were still sitting on the sidelines. The studios that were releasing titles were still learning how to utilize the format. (more…)

Before the DVD of The Matrix, there was the DVD of Ghostbusters, Ivan Reitman’s masterful paranormal comedy which - no matter how many times he’s tried (Evolution, anyone?), he’s never even come close to duplicating. But more to the point, Ghostbusters was also the original really cool, feature-packed DVD.

Now, to be fair, this was the first feature-packed title in the infant stage of the DVD industry, but there aren’t too many movies which are better qualified for that special treatment. The animated menus are still standard-setters for the industry, and the commentary - one of the most anticipated parts of the disc prior to its release - is classic. Reitman himself, along with co-writer/star Harold Ramis and associate producer Joe Medjuck, make some riotously funny comments on their own film - and fittingly enough, they’re silhouetted, MST3K-style, against the movie - a trick I haven’t seen done since. (more…)