Director Walter Hill sets out for action and romance with the rock & roll fable Streets of Fire. Universal's work on this 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen transfer is passable at best. While it's nice to have this movie in its original aspect ratio, overall this is a disappointing image that sports muted black levels, soft color patterns, and a non-anamorphic transfer. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English, as well as Dolby 2.0 Surround in French. While the video presentation may leave much to be desired, the soundtrack features aggressive directional sounds, crystal clear dialogue, and fun musical songs. Also included on this disc are English and Spanish subtitles. The extra features for Streets of Fire certainly don't burn up a viewer's DVD player -- the only supplements included on this disc are a few scant production notes, a trailer for the film, and some filmographies on the principle cast and crew members.

The first film version of the Titanic disaster is given a diligent transfer by The Criterion Collection. It is presented in black-and-white widescreen non-anamorphic letterbox with an aspect ratio of 1.66:1. The image quality is near perfect with the only major flaw being a vertical line that appears at regular intervals throughout the print. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono and there is a commentary track featuring Don Lynch and Ken Marschall, the author and illustrator respectively of Titanic -- An Illustrated History. They offer intriguing historical details that add immeasurably to the viewing. An hour-long documentary "The Making of A Night to Remember" is mainly comprised of black-and-white, silent, behind-the-scenes footage narrated by the producer of the film William MacQuinty and the author of the book on which the film was based, Walter Lords. The footage and comments are priceless. The final feature is a theatrical trailer. Overall, a sterling presentation.

The triple-disc collector's edition of The Wizard of Oz is one of the two editions of the 1939 Victor Fleming film released in October of 2005. The other is the two-disc special edition, and both were preceded by the MGM/UA DVD at the end of the '90s and the first Warner Bros. DVD edition a couple of years earlier. The latter, in particular, was very good in its time, in terms of the transfer and the bonus materials, but this triple-desk version does indeed outclass it and all rival versions. It contains everything that's on the double-disc set: a stunningly crisp transfer that reveals more detail in the image -- elements of the picture that are blurred or barely seen in the older Warner transfer, such as the details in the bricks on the Yellow Brick Road, can be seen in the new edition. The chaptering is close to what was used in the older Warner disc, but fine-tuned in some of the locations and breaks, and the sound is improved somewhat as well. The commentary by John Fricke and surviving cast and crew -- at least the third full-length commentary ever done on Oz, counting the one done by Ron Haver for The Criterion Collection laserdisc (which, itself, set a new standard for transfers of the movie) -- has been updated anew. There are featurettes on the cast and crew, the restoration of the movie, and a free-standing music-and-effects track on the first disc in the package, in tandem with the full-length movie. Disc two is loaded up with the Angela Lansbury-hosted making-of feature, which holds up extremely well, as well as the "Memories of Oz" television special -- but it's mostly filled with the new features "The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz" and "Because of the Wonderful Things It Does: The Legacy of Oz," plus composer Harold Arlen's home movies, outtakes and test footage of the tornado sequences, galleries of stills and trailers, and six hours of audio bonus features, including raw session recordings of the music and radio adaptations and promotional materials. The third disc is for those who genuinely love not only the movie and its origins but the man behind Oz; the centerpiece of the third platter is a full-length documentary on Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum that does about as good a job of telling his life as has ever been brought before the public. L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain is lively and entertaining as well as informative and lavishly produced. It is supported by complete editions of the earlier attempts at bringing the world of Oz to the screen, from 1910 through 1933. The silent Oz features have also been issued by some public domain DVD companies, but here they've been restored and re-scored, and each with a different kind of music score, from solo keyboard to orchestra, so that the experience of each film is distinct and different from its companion features. The 1933 cartoon Wizard of Oz is in rougher shape than one would wish, but it is also one of the rarer manifestations of the early Oz films, as its distribution was complicated by legal disputes. The disc opens automatically to an easy-to-use multi-layered menu. The other major features of the triple-disc slipcased set are reproductions of the 1939 publicity art and promotional screening invitational materials.

Grosse Pointe Blank never got the attention it deserved, but it is one of John Cusack's better films. While the DVD, like most early releases, lacks supplemental features, it is nonetheless a great opportunity to see the movie's successful blend of neurotic humor and well-choreographed action with an impressive 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen transfer and Dolby Sound. While it is an early transfer, the print looks good and is clear of dirt or grain. The sound outshines that of the video release and actually makes the disc an impressive sample of the audio and visual potential of DVD, at least for the early years of the format. The audio transfer also upholds the film's quirky comic interplay in its quieter moments while waiting to really deliver the goods during the action scenes. The theatrical trailer is the only special feature on the disc. While it would have been nice to hear a John Cusack and George Armitage commentary track, the disc is still worth hunting down for Cusack fans or lovers of dark comedy and gunplay.