The Dish
Sound *** Picture *** Film ***½
(Warner Home Video)
The picture quality is solid, though a little uneven from shot to shot—sometimes almost reference quality, sometimes a little soft and imperfectly exposed. Much of that, I expect, is in the original photography of this low-budget, independent film. The same goes for the audio, with its wonderful 1960s feel. Although there's only one scene that will really perk up your sound system (you'll know when you hear it), that's okay. Sound and picture fully complement this wonderful little film about a radio-telescope installation in Australia that plays a critical part in the first manned moon landing. It's funny, interesting, and moving all at once. Don't miss it.

Doctor Zhivago
Sound **½ Picture **½ Film ***
(Warner Home Video)
The most soap-opera–like of director David Lean's best films, Doctor Zhivago may be melodramatic, but it grabs you and holds on for a long and fascinating ride. The picture looks like video and not film, however, thanks mainly to heavy edge enhancement. The sound isn't bad for a 1965 film, though its dynamic range is limited and the very highest and lowest frequencies are notably missing.

Donnie Darko
Sound *** Picture *** Film ***
(20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
This quirky little film about a disturbed teenager visited by a horrific, giant talking rabbit (think Harvey crossed with Jaws) gets under your skin. I can't say it's a great movie, but it will keep you guessing—even after the final credits roll. The picture is reasonably clean and naturally (though not exceptionally) sharp, and I wasn't bothered by edge enhancement—though perhaps I was too busy puzzling out the plot to notice. The sound is intriguingly spacious, with frequent bunny visitations in the rear channels. But near the end of the movie—starting with the song "Mad World" and running through to the end credits—the sound hops from the merely good to the remarkable. It's 10 of the best-recorded soundtrack minutes I've heard this year.

Don't Say a Word
Sound ***½ Picture **** Film ***
(20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)
A kidnapping tale with a twist: The kidnappers want information possessed by one of the psychologist father's mental patients, and use his daughter as leverage. It's a gripping, well-told tale, and if we sometimes would like a little more cleverness on the doctor's part early in the game (he does, after all, understand human psychology), his desire to do what the criminals want is understandable.

Some longer shots have visible edge enhancement, but not enough to knock the rating down too far. This is a very dark movie, and the transfer does it justice. But the sound is the star. The atmospheric, evocative, and often surprisingly exciting mix is a real delight.

Empire of the Sun
Sound *** Picture *** Film ***½
(Warner Home Video)
Steven Spielberg's 1987 film about a young English boy's WWII experiences in Japanese-occupied China may occasionally be a little too stylized for its own good, but it's still one of the director's best and least-appreciated efforts. There's a little edge enhancement here and there, and the skin tones sometimes look a little pale and pasty. But overall, while the transfer might have been better, it isn't bad. The audio is slightly lean in the lows and bright in the highs, but neither flaw is serious enough to limit your enjoyment of the film.

Enemy at the Gates
Sound **** Picture ***½ Film ***
(Paramount Home Video)
A Russian sniper becomes a hero by picking off German officers during WWII's Battle of Stalingrad. The Germans send their own sharpshooter out to get him. That's essentially the story, and it's a good one, marred only by a too-pat ending and an unnecessary love triangle. But at least the latter doesn't take up much screen time, unlike a certain other recent WWII screen epic.

Despite the deliberately subdued color palette of the film's grim setting, the image is superbly crisp, smooth, and free of grain. There are only small hints of edge enhancement. The sound is dynamic and clean, with strong bass. James Horner's mood-enhancing score is very well recorded.

Evolution
Sound **½ Picture *** Film *
(DreamWorks Home Entertainment)
The original script called for this to be a serious science-fiction film—or at least a serious monster-of-the-week-style saga. Somewhere along the way director Ivan Reitman got attached, and the decision was made to turn it into a comedy. It's no Ghostbusters. Not even star David Duchovny, goofing on his X-Files persona, helps much. This is one seriously unfunny film.

The picture quality is okay but uneven. Close-ups are fine, but the rest is either soft or edge-enhanced, and sometimes both.

The Family Man: Collector's Edition
Sound **½ Picture *** Film ***½
(Universal Studios Home Video)
The picture is rather soft, with visible edge enhancement. The sound is good, though nothing more than what you might expect from a typical romantic comedy. The film itself is a pleasant surprise. A hard-charging financial tycoon wakes up one morning to find himself in the life he once rejected in order to pursue riches and power. Does the fact that the story takes place at Christmas ring a bell? This is, at its core, a retelling of A Christmas Carol, and a good one.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Special Edition
Sound **** Picture **** Film **½
(Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment)
This animated film, produced to experiment with the computer simulation of near-photorealistic humans (the resemblance will startle but not fool you), has absolutely stunning picture and sound quality. Mostly very dark, the images are of reference quality. The sound is spacious and open, and you won't find a DVD anywhere with more startlingly deep and powerful bass. The effects are enveloping and the music score punchy and spacious. The story is interesting, but likely to be a little too obscure and pop-metaphysical for most viewers. While there's nothing here to warp the minds of older kids (very young ones will be frightened by the spirit-like aliens), they're likely to be bored by the plot. This is adult-oriented animation, and that's a hard sell outside of Japan.

Forrest Gump: Special Collector's Edition
Sound ** Picture ***½ Film ****
(Paramount Home Video)
Not everyone loves this tale of a mentally deficient man who wanders through the 1960s, seeing the best in every situation, but it has many fans. Unfortunately, the transfer is loaded with edge enhancement throughout, seriously limiting the video quality. The sound, on the other hand, while a little bright, is highly dynamic and detailed.