This 1998 Academy Award winner comes to DVD digitally remastered (THX) in a widescreen 16 X 9 transfer, dual layered. The sound is in both English 5.1 (Channel AC-3), and English 2.0 Dolby Pro Logic. English closed-captions are available. The first menu gives the user a graphically charming choice: click the upper sphere for heaven or the lower sphere for hell. Both lead into the same menu options, with one background bright and mystical and the other dark and fiery. Features of this special edition include notes on the visual effects, plus clips by the effect creators, a photo gallery, brief bios of the cast and filmmakers, a collection of Windows/Mac wallpaper images, two theatrical trailers, and a somewhat jerky behind-the-scenes featurette with comments by the actors and filmmakers. French and Spanish subtitles are included. The plastic package comes with a four-page booklet that includes some production notes, some small screen shots from this visually stunning film, and a list of chapters.

This two-disc, widescreen anamorphic DVD (1.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio) comes with only a few audio options -- English (DTS) and English (Dolby Digital 5.1) -- but plenty of bonus features on disk two (called "The Vault"), including: a video interview with the producer; an analysis of the special effects by Dream Quest Images; an amusing do's and don'ts of Hollywood gunplay; excerpts from a documentary called Secrets of Alcatraz; storyboards and design drawings; theatrical trailer and television spots; various outtakes carefully selected by the director; production stills; and a glossy booklet containing notes on the making of the film, a cast/crew section, and a chapter index. Picture quality is clean, and sound quality is nothing short of phenomenal across the entire audio range.

The special edition of The Usual Suspects has much going for it, on both sides of the disc. Naturally there is a commentary track with director Bryan Singer and Oscar-winning writer Christopher McQuarrie. Naturally, it is very interesting and detail heavy. There is also another commentary track featuring composer John Ottman, who offers insights the other two do not. With such a dialogue-intensive script as this, the soundtrack has to be up to snuff, and the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround here has been designed to highlight the words without muting the ambient noise. This DVD makes the best case yet in the argument for widescreen vs. pan-and-scan because it gives you the option. Choose the 2.35:1 anamorphic letterboxed version and you'll see a digitized movie the way it was supposed to be seen, in sharp colors and remarkable clarity; choose the TV-style full-frame version and you'll see scenes where the person talking isn't on the screen, and the visual image is slightly dreary. New supplements include "Pursuing the Suspects," a documentary about the casting choices, and "Doin' Time With The Usual Suspects," which collects interviews with the cast members as they talk about the movie and their lives after. "Heisting Cannes with The Usual Suspects" goes to France with the cast and feels like an elaborate home movie. "Keyser Soze: Lie or Legend" continues the parlor game of Who Was Soze? that fans of the movie love to play. Speaking of games, an easter egg is solved if you can piece together the order the clues to Soze's identity appear in the film, with your reward being even more documentary material, one having to do with the film's composer. Less interesting is an elaborate, indulgent gag reel of outtakes introduced by Singer that is nearly a short movie in itself. It's not very interesting, but the rest of the disc is fascinating.

The two-disc special edition of David Fincher's Seven should more than satisfy hard-core fans of the film by dramatically improving on the initial, single-disc version of the film. It boasts excellent audio options: English Dolby EX 5.1, DTS ES Discreet 6.1 and Stereo Surround Sound, with subtitles available in English and French. It also features incredible picture quality in an anamorphic widescreen letterbox format, remastered from the original negative and set at a theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The special features are abundant, including four feature length audio commentaries by David Fincher, Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and others, deleted scenes and extended takes, the original theatrical trailer, a DVD-ROM "John Doe" website that probes the killer's mind with his fan sites, reading list, his photo gallery and a penetrating look at the seven deadly sins; alternate endings to the picture with animated storyboards to illustrate them and an electronic press kit, and several galleries with production designs and stills.