Region 4 DVD Releases for week ending 18 July 2008

Rock n roll, here we go (can you tell I'm in a better mood?)...
No 6 this week is Pedro Almodovar's Live Flesh. A re-release - it appears that the rights have reverted from Madman to Roadshow, hence the much less offensive cover - this is one of the few Almodovar film's I haven't seen so it is on my list. Like most Almodovar films, this appears to have no extras.
No 5 this week is The Darjeeling Limited. I would have liked to have seen this in the cinema but never got round to it. If it's as half as good as the rest of Wes Anderson's filmog then I'm there. Can't tell you if it has the sublime short film, Hotel Chevalier, that Anderson made to act as a prequel to this, but if and when Criterion get their hands on this title, I'm sure it will. How bought in highdef Criterion? Might even buy it...

No 4 is yet another title that I've haven't seen but was recommended to me. Mister Lonely played at last year's MIFF and wait for it, is about a Michael Jackson impersonator that befriends a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and they go to her home in Scotland which is populated by celebrity impersonators! Oh, and Werner Herzog plays a priest in it. Nuff said.
WTF?! Another one? At number 3 is another !@#$ Evil Dead release. This is one of the most constantly rereleased titles there is. Anchor Bay have released at least 3 seperate editions in the States and 5 in the UK. It has been released previously locally by Big Sky and now Beyond purport to be releasing the 'Ultimate Edition'. Yeah, and chainsaws might fly. It appears that we are still behind the rest of the world as the extras list mirrors older releases and the most recent releases in the US and UK appear to be more comprehensive in terms of extras. Given the quality of previous transfers locally I wouldn't expect much either.

No 2 is a title which has been around a while in DVD and HD-DVD formats but I've never given it much thought. Re-released in a flash new Blu-Ray edition is DVE - Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics (that's a mouthful!) which in a nutshell lets you reconfigure your display device to its maximum HD potential via a series of onscreen tests. Probably only for the 100% certified geek.
No 1 title of the week for me is Billy Joel's The Stranger in a 30th Anniversary re-release which includes the remastered album, a second CD with a previously unreleased live show at Carnegie Hall from '77 and a DVD of performances from The Old Grey Whistle Test (gotta love that title!). Oh, and Joel is touring Oz at the end of the year (despite not having released an album for 15 years!).