To Be Reviewed Or Not To Be Reviewed
Dear Gary: While researching your DVD reviews, I have come across a number of them that declare “Reviewed In A Future Issue Of Widescreen Review.” Most of them are, in fact, never reviewed. Examples are The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Le Mans, Colors, How To Murder Your Wife, and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (Special Edition). Why bother listing them if you have no intention of reviewing them? Will they really be reviewed in the future or have they simply fallen through the cracks? What is the usual interval from first post to final review? Please explain.
Ron Orczyk
mailto:ronald.orczyk@natick.army.mil
Research Editor/Staff Writer Michael Coate Comments:
The “Reviewed In...Of Widescreen Review” blurb was designed to be user-friendly for those of us on the WSR staff who maintain the interactive “Find It Movies” DVD Database. We have our system set up so that we can easily insert an “Issue 76,” for example, into the blurb so that it reads as a complete sentence: “Reviewed In Issue 76 Of Widescreen Review.” When we began using the database, we thought that including a generic “Reviewed In A Future Issue...” blurb would be simple and effective. But...those were the glory days of the 90s when virtually all of the DVDs (and LaserDiscs before that) being issued could be reviewed. Now, a glance at the DVD Release Schedule or a stroll down any aisle at your local DVD store reveals an insane number of discs being issued each week. No publication (Web site or print), on this planet anyway, is reviewing every DVD that gets released. Over the past year, we’ve strived to review between 40 and 50 titles per month, which I feel is a comfortable number given the size of our magazine and review staff. We strive to keep pace with the major “A” titles being released. We then round out each issue with an assortment of catalog, “B” titles, concert productions, and special interest titles. Perhaps it is time we consider changing the wording of the blurb that caused you to write us. While the first three titles you asked about have not been reviewed, the new Special Edition of Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves was reviewed in our previous issue (Issue 75, August 2003). The typical interval between first post and final review (for those titles selected to be reviewed) is about two to four months. The releasing companies generally announce their titles two to three months in advance of street date, which is when we begin entering some disc details into the database for a given title. The sooner we receive review copies, the sooner we can get a review into print and on our Web site. That timeframe varies greatly from studio to studio, title to title. Feel free to contact the editor or myself regarding DVDs you’d like to see reviewed, or if you are curious to know which titles are slated for review in any upcoming issue. As for listing titles that were not or will not be reviewed, not every reader is interested in a formal review. Many are simply interested in information: release date, retail price, picture or sound format details, supplements, actors, etc. It is for those reasons, among others, that we make an effort to catalog as many titles as humanly possible in our database. The concept behind our database (and magazine) is that it is an information resource. Use it as you please.
You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ mailto:editorgary@widescreenreview.com