The two-disc special edition of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was a long-awaited item, but should keep both serious and casual Star Wars fans happy for a while, thanks to a slightly expanded version of the film and a plethora of extras. Disc one contains the film, transferred from a new print (as made clear by producer Rick McCallum some time ago). The transfer is anamorphic, at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is quite simply gorgeous to look at. The image is crisp and clean throughout, with vivid and subtle colors both, and deep, detailed blacks. There is no sign of edge enhancement and no indication of compression artifacts. The original soundtrack was recorded in Dolby Digital Surround 6.1 EX, but has been downmixed to 5.1 EX for this release. Again, the soundtrack is flawless, with excellent surround effects, excellent separation, and beautiful mixing work. The directional effects alone are worth hearing. The standard Dolby Surround downmix sounds quite good, though it does lose the directional definition of the 5.1 EX mix. The disc also includes a Spanish Surround mix which deserves notice for a combination of an excellent voice cast and perfect matching. Disc one also includes an audio commentary by George Lucas and Rick McCallum, along with other crew members. This commentary is highly entertaining, informative, and helped tremendously by supertitles above the image that identify the current speaker. Disc two is simply packed. There are seven deleted scenes to start with, completed especially for this DVD release. Some are hardly worth looking at, but the expanded pod race is quite an eye-opener. The scenes can be viewed separately, or as part of a documentary. Other documentary pieces include "The Beginning," which is a new one-hour documentary, the 12 web documentaries originally carried on www.starwars.com, and five featurettes covering aspects of the production. Another section includes the teaser and theatrical trailers, TV spots (including the "Tone Poems" spots), and the "Duel of the Fates" video. There is also a section of animatics, and a further section of stills and graphic images. A featurette about the making of the Starfighter game completes the disc. All told, disc two alone takes hours to work through. Additional content is available through the www.starwars.com DVD section, which is accessible via the Interactual player/browser utility included on the disc. The feature has 50 chapter stops. Menus and transitions are animated, with some cute and funny moments to be found. Both discs are single-sided, dual-layered, and come in a slimline dual disc case.

Roland Emmerich's science fiction blockbuster Independence Day comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. Closed-captioned English soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Surround, while a French soundtrack has also been recorded in Dolby Digital Surround. English and Spanish subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include a smattering of commentary from Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin, as well as commentary from the special effects crew. This is a solid disc from 20th Century Fox that should be appreciated by fans of the film.

Batman Begins (DVD Widescreen) [DVD]

The third and final film in the Wachowski brothers' epic science fiction trilogy The Matrix picks up where the second film, The Matrix Reloaded, left off. As the film begins, Neo attempts to navigate through a space somewhere between the machine world and the real world, Trinity and Morpheus pay a visit to The Merovingian, the citizens of Zion prepare for imminent war with the sentinels, and Agent Smith continues to gain power. As Matrix fans have come to expect, the closing chapter is presented in a superb DVD package. The two-disc set features top-notch visual and audio quality alongside a seemingly endless wealth of bonuses. The first disc bears a crystal-clear widescreen anamorphic transfer of the feature presentation with the soundtrack available in both Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Digital Stereo. A French-dubbed Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is also included, along with subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. Standing out from the Matrix DVDs that preceded it, disc one of Revolutions is the first to feature trailers from all three trilogy entries and The Animatrix animation series. Over on the second disc, viewers are treated to several behind-the-scenes featurettes. "Revolutions Recalibrated" takes a general look at the making of the film, while "CG Revolution" specifically examines the dazzling visual effects, and "Super Burly Brawl" offers the ins and outs of the climactic final fight between Neo and Agent Smith. Meanwhile, there are four more short making-of segments in the Operator feature. Beyond that, there is an exceptionally concise text-and image-based history of the Matrix called "Before the Revolution," a look at the upcoming online Matrix game, a gallery with storyboards and conceptual images, and several DVD-ROM features. A full-screen version with the same features was also released.