The "Complete Trilogy" is right. All three movies are here, and that would be a pretty full meal in itself, but along with the 339 minutes of movie on three discs -- all transferred about as well as anyone ever imagined they could be for the home screen, with bright, solid colors and resolution that reveals picture details that might have previously escaped viewers, plus ear-popping sound -- we also get ten hours of extra features. Each disc leads off its bonus section with a 14-minute making-of featurette, done at the time of each respective movie's release, about the evolution of ideas for the plots, the design of the sets and props, the way in which the score was conceived, and the makeup, casting, etc. None is revelatory, but it also would have been silly not to have included each in this package. Much more interesting is "The Making of the Trilogy," three new 15-minute featurettes in which the creators explain themselves better in all of the areas covered by the older featurettes, especially where the special effects and makeup are concerned, though each also reveals some superficiality in the thinking of the producers, such as Bob Gale's statement that no Hollywood movie had ever been built on the notion that every adult was once a kid (there's a movie called It's a Wonderful Life that spends a good bit of time on that very subject). Not that this matters -- the makers came up with two eminently enjoyable and one genuinely funny, touching movie, and it's fascinating to see how they did it, to learn that the movie was nearly sunk by its PG-rated orientation (with R-rated comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High making a fortune, every studio thought Back to the Future was too "soft," except for Disney, where they felt the script was too "dirty" because of the implication of defacto incestuous attraction between two of the characters), and to see how Michael J. Fox managed to get the lead role after shooting had already commenced with Eric Stoltz in the part. And then there are the sets of commentary tracks on each disc, one a live question-and-answer session by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale before an audience of film students; another an "enhanced" interview with Michael J. Fox (who appears in a window in the upper right-hand corner of the screen) discussing the movie and his role in it; and a commentary track by Gale and Neil Canton, which is deliberately keyed to carry the viewer past the boundaries of the other two commentaries. Disc two contains a similar range of material, but without Fox's enhanced reminiscences; instead, we get a selection of some substantial outtakes from the movie, with the optional accompaniment of Bob Gale's commentary explaining why they were deleted, and an array of outtakes, including flubbed lines and cues. Disc three, in addition to two commentaries, contains one violent scene that was cut out of the third movie, with Gale's explanation of why. The commentary is a little bit thin by this time, as though the participants lost some of their own continuity, even engaging in some strained and limp humor that doesn't quite work. They do admit to an error in the script during the first ten minutes of the movie, but otherwise the remarks here are less focused, and seem to suffer from some of the same weariness that overtook the makers in shooting the third movie. Each disc is dual-layered and offers a seamless, invisible transition, even on older players. Each one opens to a three-tiered menu that is very easy to use, with bonus features that advance automatically on the selection list as they play out. There are also production stills, storyboards, conceptual art, and promotional and marketing materials presented in an interactive format, and each disc offers a DVD-ROM function (for those playing these discs on their computers) that includes the original script for each movie. These extras all may be a little bit more than the trilogy deserves in the total scheme of cinema -- none of the Back to the Future movies is remotely as significant as, say, The Birth of a Nation, Citizen Kane, etc. -- but it is all interesting to take in, one movie at a time, one day at a time, and enlightening about how important luck is, along with talent and bold intentions, in making a successful film (or two or three).

Sydney Pollack's adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name, written by John Grisham and starring Tom Cruise, is released on this decent DVD pressing that is part of Paramount's Widescreen Collection. Apart from the widescreen aspect ratio and dual language (English and French) Dolby Digital sound, this edition also features English closed-captioning, scene selection, and two theatrical trailers.

The third sequel to Sylvester Stallone's boxing blockbuster combines the ringside sports melodrama of the previous installments with the Cold War patriotism of the star/director's other motion-picture series of the '80s, the "Rambo" saga. Stallone is back as Rocky Balboa, the heavyweight champion of the world and now good friend of his one-time nemesis, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Creed is brutally slaughtered in the boxing ring during a lop-sided exhibition match against the superhuman Russian boxer Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren), an event that Rocky takes personally. Vowing revenge against Drago in the name of Creed and the United States, Rocky is invited to the Soviet Union for a matchup and hires Creed's former manager (Tony Burton) to get him in shape. While Drago trains using the latest technology, Rocky's ascetic preparations are a low-key affair of carrying logs up hills through knee-deep Russian snow.

One would expect Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg's phenomenally successful dinosaur adventure, to be an almost flawless DVD, and this Universal edition is generally very satisfying. The picture quality is certainly outstanding, bringing out Spielberg's use of color and detail perfectly, while the widescreen format ensures that the dinosaurs are no less terrifying at home than in the cinema. The Dolby 5.1 sound (a DTS edition is also available) is better still, with every roar and rumble bellowing out in crystal clarity. This DVD has clearly been designed with love and attention; even the menu screen is an amazing work of CGI art. Amongst the huge range of features are standard fare such as production notes, biographies, and trailers for Jurassic Park: The Lost World and Jurassic Park III (the latter is totally unrevealing). Footage of early pre-production meetings illustrate Spielberg's desire to make the dinosaurs as frightening as possible, while "Raptors In the Kitchen" shows how Phil Tippett's animatics technique helped to shape the look of the film before CGI was introduced into the equation. A messy but interesting storyboards section includes an omitted scene and the original ending for the film, and the "Foley Artists" feature provides fascinating insight into how the film got some of its Oscar-winning sound. Obviously this DVD will be popular with kids, and it is at kids that the fun and quite thorough "Dinosaur Encyclopaedia" is aimed. The location scouting footage, DVD-ROM features, and production photographs are all moderately interesting, but the best of the extra features is probably "The Making of Jurassic Park." Fifty minutes long and narrated by James Earl Jones, this is a detailed and authoritative documentary, although it does concentrate almost solely on the special effects side of the film, even incorporating footage of the original puppet dinosaurs before Spielberg opted for full-blown CGI creations. The glaring absence from this disc is a commentary by Spielberg himself, which would surely have been revealing, and would have made it an exceptional rather than very good DVD. Nevertheless, Jurassic Park fans will probably be delighted to have this edition in their home libraries.