DVDs are popping up all over, so I shouldn't have been surprised on a recent visit to the supermarket to find them in the groceries. Boxes of Total® Raisin Bran and Oatmeal Crisp have been issued containing four different sitcom DVDs from Sony. The discs come with either two episodes of BARNEY MILLER or THE DONNA REED SHOW, or you can choose discs with one episode each of KING OF QUEENS or MAD ABOUT YOU with bonus footage. The episodes I've seen look better than broadcast, but are a bit choppy around commercial breaks. The cereal is tasty and provides 100% of your daily requirements of 11 vitamins and minerals. The best news is that the DVDs stay crunchy, even in milk.

By the way, our big KILL BILL DVD giveaway is still going on. For entry details, go to www.psychotronic.info.

This week, the biggest new movie on DVD is:

(O) MASTER & COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD (Fox) [IMG3R]Critics raved about this story of lusty sailors on the briny. Naval officers amuse themselves by snapping towels at cabin boys until an enemy ship destroys theirs, after which they try to defend themselves. Soggy theatrical hit available in both fullscreen and widescreen, plus a collectors edition with Making-Of featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.

(O) ALL FOR THE WINNER (Tai Seng) Early Stephen Chow hit comedy is a hilarious send-up of GOD OF GAMBLERS, co-starring action choreographer Corey Yuen.
(O) ANDROMEDA: Season 3 Collection 4 (ADV) Episodes 314-318. Includes commentraks, featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.
(O) THE BIG EMPTY (Lions Gate) Jon [IMG2L]Favreau is sent on an errand and ends up in a weird parallel universe. Includes director commentrak, alternate, deleted scenes and gallery (all with commentary), Making-Of, etc.
(O) BLOODMOON (Lions Gate) 1989 Australian slasher about a barbwire strangler stalking a girls school.
(O) BODY WEAPON (Tai Seng) Outrageous, repellent 1999 action/terror item in which cop Angie Cheong is assaulted and her husband murdered by a masked serial rape killer on her wedding night, after which she vows to track down the murderer. Includes commentrak.
(O) THE CIRCUIT 2 (DEJ) Olivier Grunier and Jalel Merhi in a sequel to yet another underground-fighting-in-prison movie.
(O) DARK HARVEST (Lions Gate) Killer scarecrows stalk teens on a Smoky Mountain farm.
(O) DETONATOR (Ventura) Serial bomber!
(O) DIANETICS: Visual Guidebook to the Mind (Anchor Bay) Want to try out a religion that sells you common sense, but you're too lazy to read a book? Then this disc's for you, pilgrim.
(O) DREAMING FISTS WITH SLENDER HANDS (Crash) Two misfits get thrown out of a kung fu school, but have to learn something fast when they cross triad boss Lung Fei.
(O) DUEL WITH THE DEVILS (Crash) Darian Tan and Angela Mao team up to fight Japanese invaders in China, including Kam Kong and Lung Fei.
(O) FATAL NEEDLES (Crash) Wong Tao and Lo Lieh are unbeatable kung fu crimebusters until Wong makes a mistake that gets his partner killed. Can he get it together to face bandit chief Chang Yi? Fine 1978 old school action from director Lee Tso Nam.
(O) HAUNTED MANSION (Buena Vista) Disney [IMG4R]serves up their second theme park ride movie in which Eddie Murphy is afraid of ghosts. Sophomore slump. With commentrak, deleted scenes, bloopers, music video, and lots of DVD-ROM material. In fullscreen & widescreen editions.
(O) THE DOUBLE-D AVENGER (Image) Vintage Russ Meyer supervixens Kitten Natividad, Haji and Raven De La Croix cavort in a superhero adventure Forrest J Ackerman. Includes commentrak by drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs, Making-Of, and more.
(O) HEAVENLY LEGEND (Tai Seng) 1999 version of the Chinese classic novel JOURNEY TO THE WEST.
(O) HELTER SKELTER (Warner Bros.) True Crime story of Charles Manson and his murderous followers. Star Steve Railsback has played both Manson and Ed Gein.
(O) HE'S A WOMAN, SHE'S A MAN (Tai Seng) This gender confusion comedy stars Anita Yuen as a fan who disguises herself as a boy to meet her idol Carina Lau at an audition, but is made a pop star by Carina's spiteful boyfriend Leslie Cheung. A blockbuster hit in Hong Kong.
(O) JACK THE GIANT KILLER (MGM) Director Nathan Juran scored a big hit with 7^th VOYAGE OF SINBAD, so he and the same leads were hired to make another fantasy adventure for MGM, replacing the expensive Ray Harryhausen f/x with more affordable work by a young Jim Danforth. Columbia Pictures got quite upset, but youngsters like me liked it fine. Hopefully MGM will also include clips of the awkward re-release version that dubbed in songs over dialogue footage.
(O) KILLER BUZZ (DEJ) Bees!
(O) KING OF QUEENS: Second Season (Columbia TriStar) All 25 episodes.
(O) KNOCKABOUT (Tai Seng) Actor/director Sammo Hung's 1979 martial arts classic gives his buddy Yuen Biao his first starring role as a conman who learns that his kung fu teacher is actually a savage bandit. Highly recommended.
(O) LOST WORLD: Season 2 (Image) 22 [IMG5L]episodes of adventure on a mesa. Or is it a plateau?
(O) THE MASTER STRIKES (Crash) Complicated plot involve a stolen jade horse leads to fine kung fu action from Yen Shi-kwan, Eddie Ko and Casanova Wong. Widescreen.
(O) THE METEORS: Attack of the Chainsaw Mutants/Hell in the Pacific (MVD) With that title, I just had to list music disc of the long-lived, hardworking psychobilly combo.
(O) THE MONSTER CLUB (Pathfinder) Horror author John Carradine is invited to join an exclusive London club by the mysterious Vincent Price, who entertains him with three chilling stories. Now letterboxed and on DVD for the first time, plus commentrak.
(O) NAM ANGELS (New Concorde) 1998 remake of the bikers in Nam epic THE LOSERS.
(O) OZARK SAVAGE (Lincoln) Pulpy independent action/horror comedy in which a private eye is sent to recover a magic coin, and goes through Hell to get it.

(O) THE PARK (Tai Seng) Andrew Lau (STORM RIDERS) directs this f/x-packed horror epic set in a haunted amusement park. Includes Making-Of.
(O) PIRATES OF TORTUGA (Fox) 1961 adventure about the pursuit of pirate Captain Henry Morgan, now remembered mainly as a rum mascot.
(O) POWER PLAY (First Look) Disaster movie crossed with conspiracy theory. Is a power company behind California earthquakes?
(O) REEFER MADNESS (Fox) New [IMG6R]colorized edition of the 1930s roadshow landmark. Also includes the original b&w version, commentraks by MST3k's Mike Nelson and the color design team, a short film, and more.
(O) SAVAGE ISLAND (Ardustry) A vacationing family clashes with a backwoods psycho family on an island in this Canadian thriller. Includes three commentraks and interviews.
(O) THE SEVENTH CURSE (Tai Seng) Totally over-the-top action/horror epic in which doctor Chin Siu-ho has to go to the jungles of Thailand to cure a horrible curse, but comes up against a black magic cult led by wizard Elvis Tsui. This Indiana Jones movie on crack also boasts Maggie Cheung, Kara Hui and Chow Yun-fat as famous hero Wisely Wei.
(O) SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT (Tai Seng) Joyce Godenzi (EASTERN CONDORS) and Carina Lau star as two members of a family full of female cops in this action packed Girls & Guns epic directed by Corey Yuen (SO CLOSE). Guest stars producer Sammo Hung.
(O) SPAGHETTI WESTERN COLLECTION (Madacy) That makes 3 labels to use that title on a box set. This one's got KID VENGEANCE, DEATH RIDES A HORSE and GOD'S GUN.
(O) STRANDED (Fox) Spanish production about a mishap that crashes the first manned Mars mission, leaving the survivors... stranded.
(O) SUN DRAGON (Crash) Billy Chong kicks much old school kung fu ass in this 1979 entry (aka A HARD WAY TO DIE). Widescreen.
(O) TUBE (Columbia TriStar) Korean action [IMG7L]thriller ala SPEED about a duel between a cop and a subway terrorist. Includes Making-Of and music video.
(O) WELCOME TO SPRING BREAK (Lions Gate) 1988 spaghetti slasher (aka NIGHTMARE BEACH) from the always delightful Umberto Lenzi (CANNIBAL FEROX), about an electrocuted biker convict who apparently comes back from the grave to kill anybody he gets near.
(O) WITCH FROM NEPAL (Tai Seng) Chow Yun-fat finds out he's inherited psychic powers from Nepalese ancestors, but it brings a super-powered Dick Wei out for blood.
(O) YOUNG MASTER (Tai Seng) 1980 Hong Kong blockbuster directed by and starring Jackie Chan as an impetuous lad who is mistaken for a fugitive criminal.
(O) YOUR KUNG FU IS NO GOOD! 2-pack (Image) Lo Lieh stars in and directs the 1986 Korean action flick in DEADLY KICK, bundled with KILL LINE, starring Robert Kim as "Bone Crusher Bronson". Your movies are no good!
(O) ZATOICHI MEETS THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (AnimEigo) The blind swordsman meets another movie hero with a "disability". Available from the AnimEigo website.

And finally, we close off each weekly list with a rundown of the constant stream of anime from around the world:

(O) AURA BATTLER DUNBINE Volume 5: Return to Byston Well (ADV Films) 1980s classic anime series continues.
(O) KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD OVA 1 (AnimEigo) Four episodes mixing romance and psi powers.
(O) KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC Volume 3: Out of the Arena (ADV Films) A fight to retrieve the gold cloth.
(O) MAGICAL SHOPPING ARCADE ABENOSHI Volume 4: There's No Place Like Home (ADV Films) The final volume.
(O) MAO-CHAN Volume 4: Let's Defend Happiness (Geneon) Six episodes, plus interview, bloopers and outtakes.
(O) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Lions Gate) The original 1987 episodes, including two never-seen shows.
(O) TENCHI MUYO GXP Volume 2: Academy Life (Goldhil)
(O) TOTALLY SPIES Volume 1: First Secret Mission (Goodtimes)

(O) TOTALLY SPIES Volume 2: The Getaway (Goodtimes) Four episodes each, including an exclusive one.
(O) WEDDING PEACH Volume 2: Pluie's War (ADV Films) Our heroes need to save the world again.