Re-affirming that I not only like movies but have no will-power whatsoever, I recently bought a DVD player. Really, I'm surprised it took me this long to break down and pick one up. The only explanation I can think of for my initial reluctance was the whole DiVX nonsense. But since that idiotic premise has gone down the drain [did they honestly think anyone is dumb enough to pay to watch a movie they own?] there was nothing holding me back from plunking down my cash for yet another way to watch movies.

When I was setting up my new toy I was amazed at how many options came with the fool thing. In order to accommodate the possibility of hooking the DVD player up to a surround sound system the little sucker comes with more sound controls than a small radio station. Once I sorted out the myriad sound options -or at least fiddled with them until I could hear everything properly and then left it alone- I started fooling with the other options. The ability to switch audio tracks mid-stream is interesting, but I noticed the thing is quirky. More often than not I would accidentally turn off the subtitles on a foreign film or instead of hearing director commentary I would get the Spanish language track.

Ah yes, director commentary. The thing that really drew me to DVD was the idea that I could hear discussions about the film by the people who created them, deleted scenes, background information, and more in addition to the movie itself. This is a silly reason to invest in a new system, but it certainly wasn't the film selection that made me pick up a DVD player. There are a number of gaps in the DVD catalog that makes for frustrating shopping. While obvious choices like Casablanca is available, such films as Roman Holiday are nowhere to be found. The entire output of RKO Studios has apparently never been put to disc, because everything from Citizen Kane to King Kong is unavailable. While it's not surprising that smaller or obscure films [such as The Legend of Boggy Creek] are unavailable, it seems every Hollywood movie produced in the 1980-90's is for sale -whether it deserves to be or not. Does anyone need a digital quality print of the Goonies? Or anything by Burt Reynolds? As I've often lamented, I can buy anything by Adam Sandler on DVD but I can't find the movies I want. Still, if such oddities as Harold and Maude are making it to DVD then it's only a matter of time before everyone's favorite film will be pressed.

Another -smaller- gripe with DVD's is the packaging. Why they can't be released in a standard jewel case, instead of the big puffy plastic case they currently flop about in, is beyond me.

My initial DVD purchases were of movies I was familiar with. I was thrilled with the quality of the transfer as well as the extras some of them came with. The only trouble was, all the films I bought are in black and white. If I wanted to discuss the full aspects of DVD I couldn't use any of them as a test subject. Instead I needed a more recent film, even if I had to put the transfer aspects and bonuses ahead of the film itself. As a result I rented the DVD of Deep Blue Sea.

I suppose I could of waited to write this review until the Jaws DVD came out, but I figured this poor man's shark film would be as good a representation of what's available on DVD as anything. Anyway, for those who aren't familiar with Deep Blue Sea, it's a movie where giant super-intelligent sharks escape and chase the cast around water filled hallways. It's as bad as it sounds. The DVD production values, however, were impressive. The movie was in it's full theatrical screen ratio so you didn't miss a bit of fake rubbery shark action thanks to pan and scan. Plus, due to the ability to freeze and slow down the frames of the movie, you are able to see just how poorly constructed some of the effects were. Of particular note is when the scene of Samuel L. Jackson's character being consumed is slowed down it looks just like a shark puppet is eating a G.I. Joe doll. There was a section that contained deleted scenes, all of which helped flesh out the characters beyond the ciphers they were in the final cut of the film. One of the additional audio tracks not only featured the director Renny Harlin, but Samuel L. Jackson discussing his work in the film. Since the movie was shot in a standard, paint-by-number style, Harlin didn't discuss how he set up a scene but instead spent most of his time noting what type of engines were being used in the fake sharks. Jackson's commentary, however, was pretty amusing. He noted how one of the reasons he signed onto the film was that there were some interesting golf courses nearby and even pointed out one scene his character was mostly blocked out of so he could spend the day on the green.

So in the end it seems that DVD is a great format for watching poor movies. While it doesn't exactly make a purse out of a sow's ear, it at least gives you something to concentrate on besides the film itself.

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