Two New Releases available @ Wal-Mart in P&S Only! (1 Viewer)

[Will Krupp]

I suggest you MOVE, and MOVE quickly!

 

[Dick]

Alert: THE BEAR, Jean-Jacques Annaud's beautiful animal adventure, used to be available in the $5.88 bin in its original 2.35:1. Lately, it's being replaced by a "full screen" version, so be careful.

Also be careful of the two-packs showing up in places like K-Mart. I damn near bought the PALE RIDER/OUTLAW JOSIE WALES combo for $14.99, until I saw that PALE RIDER was 1.33:1. What the f*&k is that? Would you not think that Warners would know if someone wants an OAR version of WALES, he probably isn't going to dig a pan and scan version of PALE RIDER? And by the way, I don't think PALE RIDER was ever available before in pan and scan, which would mean Warner Bros (of all people) is joining the Columbia-bandwagon-to-hell and repressing old 2.35:1 titles in 1.33:1. This can't be a good thing.

 

[Douglas Bailey]

I don't have the existing Pale Rider disc, but it's listed (on the back cover and in DVD Authority's review) as having both widescreen and "standard" versions of the film.

Are you certain that the combo-pack version is a different release? I thought the point of those combo-packs was to unload existing stock: it seems odd for WB to press a new edition just for such a release...

 

[Malcolm R]

Perhaps they had both and the widescreen copies were sold out while the full screen were left behind to pollute the shelves.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

I always look behind Fullscreen copies of a film to see if they are hiding the widescreen versions. Then I put the widescreen versions in front. That does happen sometimes, but I looked at EVERY copy, and asked the clerk. The store did not get any widescreen copies. And I guantee that they did not sell out in the 3 hours that the store was open in this small town.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

"Pretty" Baby!!!
In the bin, no less.

 

[Jeff D Han]

My local Wal-Mart doesn't carry unrated versions
of films- they don't carry the American Pie films,
Road Trip or Boat Trip in their harsher versions.

As for foolscreen versions- they can sit on the
shelves and decompose for all I care.

No OAR= No sale!

 

[Chris Parham]

CraigF, I have to ask - Why are you shopping at Wal-Mart for new releases when there are so many other options in the Pickering area that sell them as loss leaders? In addition the guy who runs DVD Wave usually has fantastic prices on catalogue titles that people would actually watch instead of diving through that bin at Wal-mart to find the one gem among all the crap.
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not slagging Wal-mart. It's great for what it does well (although I will always compare prices at a Canadian retailer first), undercut prices on many household consumer durables, and I have purchased a DVD or two from that bin myself . I just can't imagine them as my first choice for price and version on my favourite films on release day!

 

[Joshua Clinard]

I wish we had a good DVD store in the area. All we have is one regular Wal-Mart, one Super, Target, Circuit City, Sam Goody's, and Hastings, which is s supersized store with Sam Goosy's prices. I usually buy mine from Wal-Mart or Circuit City. But between those two stores, they have a pretty small selection. I hate ordering online, because they take forever. I ordered ALF two days before it was released, and it shipped like 6 days later. Same thing happened with Flight of the Navigator. I'm not using DDD again. The prices are great, but the ship time is terrible.

 

[Malcolm R]

Are you aware the "ALF" set is FUBAR in a big way?

 

[CraigF]

Chris: I actually buy few discs at Wal-Mart, mainly from the bin lately, and most of those not even from the nearest WM. Sometimes WM does have the best price (they used to almost always), like for Predator CE, but I mainly compare with online and the Future Shop and Best Buy flyers. Put it this way: I don't purposely got to WM for new releases any more, unless I'm going there anyway and have an ad to price-match. The vast majority of my discs I get online via pre-order to save some bucks, I really typically only go to any B&M for the bargains and sales.

What is DVD Wave? There is a place here I used to go to for CDs (forget the name, might have been CD Plus) on Brock Rd., but I haven't been there for ages, since before they sold DVDs, when they were IMO rapidly going downhill. I've heard (but don't know if it's true) they have great prices on some hard to get stuff, like Criterions, but when I heard that I already had all the older Crits I wanted (I think!) so haven't gone yet.

Any other places you know of? Thanks. Judicious use of DVDsoon and amazon have been really good for me, but I do have to plan ahead with them and mainly use the B&Ms for when I screw up.

 

[EricSchulz]

??? (I would think that it begins with f*cked up...)

 

[Malcolm R]

Yep, which is the important part. ("...Beyond All Recognition"...a bit extreme perhaps as the set is still recognizable as "ALF," but not one single episode is in its original, complete version and the packaging is awful too.)

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Alf is not Fubared. I probably won't even notice that under two minutes from some episodes are missing. It's been so long since I have seen them, and I am not even aware if I saw them in syndication or if I saw the originals, so if doesn't matter to me.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

Craig,

Excellent post, especially: Takes forever? Let's see... how long does it take to drive to a store, rummage through the stacks, wait in line at the checkout counter, and drive home? But wait... let us also add that even then you might not even find the DVD you wanted so the whole trip might be a waste or you end up buying something you didn't really want in the first place to justify the trip.

Buying online requires a few clicks of the mouse and your done. Sure, the DVDs wont magically appear on your door that same day, but waiting doesn't eat up your time. In fact every pre-order DVD I have ever bought from amazon, deepdiscount, lasersedge, dvdempire, etc have all arrived within a day of the release date - sometimes even several days early.

Not only that, but prices are almost always the lowest online even with shipping - which many popular sites now throw in free, and most of the time you do not have to pay any tax.

You could have saved yourself a great deal of time and possibly even money buying a WS copy of NY Minute online and even gotten it before it hit the shelves at your local stores.

I very rarely purchase any DVD from B&M stores any more - they almost always are more expensive and worse yet, time consuming.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I wish we could get a Best Buy closer to where I live. The closest one is about an hour away. I only buy DVDs at Wal~Mart when it's a title not available at Hastings and I can't make it to Little Rock or it's something at a really good price. As for Hasting's prices... they are a couple bucks higher, but when you factor in gas (at $2.09+ /gal) to go all the way to Best Buy for one or two DVDs, it's more cost effective to get it locally at Hastings. Plus, my local Hastings has a plethora of used titles, which are 100% guaranteed to be ok.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

First of all, I said it takes forever to order ONLINE. Not drive to the store and pick up a copy. And I can't drive. I have to take a bus, and they have a schedule, which takes forever to get to the area where all the stores are and back.

I'm glad you always get your DVD's on time when ordering online, but that has not been my experience. I wish it were. My copy of ALF is not expected to arive until the 27th.

 

[JonZ]

Joshua, they dont have a Circuit City, Best Buy or Borders u can get to by bus?

My first stop is usually CC and then Best Buy.

I only go to Media Play out of desperation and never to Walmart. Its the principle of it. I dont like the store and wont shop there.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Yes I can get to Circuit City, but their selection is not all that great.

 

[Jon Martin]

Ok. I apologize. I take it you are young, so it makes sense (I always had the feeling that it was an older crowd here). Most adults would never watch an Olsen twins film, even if their kids were watching it.

I am surprised that someone your age knows the difference between wide and full screen. There is hope for the future!!