BLOOD SIMPLE - DIRECTOR'S CUT - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English Dolby 3 Channel Surround; English, Spanish, French subtitles; 96m (approx)

EXTRAS: Spoof intro by Mortimer Young and commentary by Kenneth Loring of Forever Young films, Trailer, Production notes

COMMENTS- This version of the movie is not available on R2 so if you really want the "Director's Cut" you really have no choice but to go for this. To be honest I cannot notice a difference between the two other than the choice of music played on the jukebox in Julian's bar. The spoof commentary track is tremendous fun. Penned by the Coens and spoken by Jim Piddock it paints the movie as a massively successful box office hit and is proliferated with other such nonsense. Excellent picture, shame there's no DD5.1 or DTS track.

BLOOD SIMPLE - R2

SPECS: 4:3; English Stereo; English subtitles; 95m (approx)

EXTRAS: Trailer, The Big Lebowski trailer

COMMENTS- A, frankly, rubbish DVD by today's standards. The image quality is poor with grainly blacks and a lot of scenes are very, very dark. Awful picture. Awful sound. Only pick this up if you're a completist and if it's cheap!

Note: Also available in the UK as part of the Coen Brother's Collection (see below).

RAISING ARIZONA - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Widescreen (letterbox); English and French Dolby Surround; English and Spanish subtitles; 94m (approx)

EXTRAS: Trailer, TV Spots, trailers for Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink, booklet

COMMENTS- Another bare-bones release. Picture quality is fine but nothing special.

RAISING ARIZONA - R2

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English Dolby Stereo, English, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese and Swedish subtitles; 90 mins (approx)

EXTRAS: Trailer

COMMENTS- Really bog-standard DVD. Nothing to write home about but perhaps choose this one over the R1 due to the fact that it is presented in anamorpic widescreen.

MILLER'S CROSSING - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English Dolby 4.0 Surround, Spanish Stereo; French 3.0 Surround; English, Spanish subtitles; 115m (approx)

EXTRAS: Barry Sonnenfeld (cinematographer) feature, Cast Interviews, Stills gallery, Trailer, trailers for Raising Arizona and Barton Fink

COMMENTS- When this came out it was a very exciting release. It was released the same day as the Barton Fink DVD after so long a wait. Fox didn't disappoint the waiting hordes. Alright it isn't exactly laden with extra features but it excels in the important areas of sound and picture quality (however there is no DD5.1 or DTS track unfortunately).

MILLER'S CROSSING - R2

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English Dolby 4.0 Surround; English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch and Swedish subtitles; 109m (approx)

EXTRAS: Barry Sonnenfeld (cinematographer) feature, Cast Interviews, Trailers

COMMENTS- To make room for the extra subtitles required for a European release they've ditched the photo gallery and the Spanish and French language tracks. Otherwise this is pretty much the same as the R1.

BARTON FINK - R1

SPECS: 1.66:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English Stereo, French and Spanish Mono; English and Spanish subtitles; 116m (approx)

EXTRAS: 8 Deleted scenes, Stills gallery, Trailer, trailers for Raising Arizona and Miller's Crossing

COMMENTS- A good, much anticipated release but, for a movie of this quality, Fox could have done more. The audio is limited to stereo and mono tracks- no DD5.1 or DTS. However, the transfer is top-notch- the image quality is lovely. Terrible, terrible cover artwork though- why not use the brilliant movie poster?

BARTON FINK - R2 (France only)

SPECS: 1.77:1 Widescreen (letterbox); English and French Stereo; burned-in French subtitles; 120m (approx)

EXTRAS: A featurette in French about the Cannes Film Festival Palme D'Or win, filmographies, trailers

COMMENTS- I was thrilled when I happened upon this as it was long before the R1 release and, as far as I knew at the time, the only DVD release of the movie at all. The main problem with this disc is that the subtitles are burned-in and, being English, watching the movie is slightly ruined by this but it IS a French release. Picture quality is OK but not as good as the remastered R1 disc.

Note: Barton Fink is now available in the UK, however only as part of the Coen Brother's Collection (see below).

BARTON FINK - R2, 2 DISC (France only)

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and 4:3 pan-and-scan; English DD5.1 and French Stereo; burned-in (?) French subtitles; 120m (approx)

EXTRAS: A featurette in French about the Cannes Film Festival Palme D'Or win, filmographies, trailers, documentary one "Around the scenario" by Laurent Delmas, 8x deleted scenes, internet links

COMMENTS- Other than the above information I know nothing about this disc. If you have it please let me know by emailing me. Appears to have gorgeous packaging though.

THE HUDSUCKER PROXY - R1

SPECS: Widescreen (letterbox) and Pan and Scan versions; English and French Stereo; English and French subtitles; 111m (approx)

EXTRAS: None

COMMENTS- One of those horrible Warner Bros cardboard cases. Double sided DVD with the widescreen on one side and the fullscreen 4:3 pan and scan version on t'other. Nothing much to say on this one really as it's such a basic DVD. The picture quality is adequate but this is a movie that would look beautiful no matter how good or bad the transfer was. Simply begging for a nice, special edition release.

Note: The Hudsucker Proxy is now available in the UK, however only as part of the Coen Brother's Collection (see below).

FARGO - SPECIAL EDITION - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and fullscreen pan-and-scan; English DD5.1; English, Spanish and French subtitles; 94m (approx)

EXTRAS: "Minnesota Nice" documentary, Coen brothers interview, Roger Deakins (cinematographer) commentary, photo gallery, trivia track, booklet, reversible cover with map of locations

COMMENTS- Missing some of the extra features of the R2 disc, including the ace family tree feature. Nice transfer and sound but the R2 one offers this and more.

FARGO - SPECIAL EDITION - R2

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English, Spanish, French DD5.1; English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Croatian, Greek, Czech and Hungarian subtitles; 94m

EXTRAS: "Minnesota Nice" documentary, Coen brothers interview, Coen brothers family tree, American Cinematographer article, Roger Deakins (cinematographer) commentary, photo gallery, trivia track, trailer and TV spots

COMMENTS- A marvellous DVD and one that truly lives up to the monicker, Special Edition. Featuring a brilliant, specially comissioned documentary, "Minnesota Nice" and a brilliant, interactive "family tree" feature which details the Coen repertory company of actors. The trivia track is a giggle, it's basically another subtitle track but pops up with trivia about the movie and the things you see in it. When it say trivia, it means the dictionary definition of the word- a lot of the facts are very trivial indeed, you'll see what I mean when you watch it. Not one, not two but THREE DD5.1 soundtracks and a stunning transfer go to make this an essential purchase. The first batch sold in the UK came in a lovely cardboard slip case too! BUY IT!

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and fullscreen pan-and-scan; English DD5.1, English subtitles, 112m (approx)

EXTRAS: Making of doc, trailer

COMMENTS- A lame, early release but sufficed until the release of the Collector's Edition.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - COLLECTOR'S EDITION - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and fullscreen pan-and-scan (seperate versions); English and French DD5.1, Spanish stereo; English, Spanish and French subtitles, 112m (approx)

EXTRAS: Spoof intro by Mortimer Young of Forever Young films, Jeff Bridges' photography, Making of doc, production notes

COMMENTS- Available in both Widescreen and Fullscreen versions but why anybody still buys pan-and-scanned movies is beyond me. Lovely transfer, pretty bog-standard menus. The documentary is the same one that appeared on the old VHS and R1 DVD. Bridges' photography is lovely and the Mortimer Young intro is hilarious. Nice DVD but not, in anyway ground breaking. It's pushing it's luck callind itself a Collector's Eidition if you ask me.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - ACHIEVER'S GIFT SET - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and fullscreen pan-and-scan (seperate versions); English and French DD5.1, Spanish stereo; English, Spanish and French subtitles, 112m (approx)

EXTRAS: Spoof intro by Mortimer Young of Forever Young films, Jeff Bridges' photography, Making of doc, production notes, Jeff Bridges' photo cards, Big Lebowski bowling ball "shammy" towel, 4 drinks coasters featuring quotes from the movie

COMMENTS- Contains the same DVD as the stand-alone collector's edition only it comes in a gorgeous box with some added bits and pieces. I should mention that I don't think this is worth the money. Sure, the box and the Bridges' photo cards are beautiful but the other pack-in items are horrendously cheap. The "drinks coasters" are nothing more than cardboard beer mats, which makes them pretty much impratical as, if they got wet, they'd be destroyerd. The shammy, while always being a gimmicky item, is also a bit cheap and nasty. Under-Achiever's Gift Set more like!

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - R2

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and fullscreen pan-and-scan; English DD5.1, English subtitles, 112m (approx)

EXTRAS: Trailer

COMMENTS- A lame, early release but sufficed until the release of the Collector's Edition.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - SPECIAL EDITION - R2

SPECS: ?

EXTRAS: ?

COMMENTS- I imagine this one will be much as the R1 version but as soon as there's any confirmation I'll update.

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? - R1

SPECS: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English DD5.1 and English DTS 5.1; English and Spanish subtitles; 103m

EXTRAS: Behind-the-scenes featurette, "Painting With Pixels" The Groundbreaking Digital Post-Production featurette, Script to storyboard comparisons, "I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow" music video, trailer

COMMENTS- Truly one of the most beautiful transfers I've ever seen!!! Deakins cinematography comes to life on this DVD. Combine that with the awesome DTS track (Once you've watched this with the DTS track and compared it to the DD5.1 track you won't select DD5.1 ever again!) and you cannot ask for more. Only there IS more- some nice bonus features to boot! This is, hands-down the version to get!

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? - R2

SPECS: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English DD5.1; English subtitles; 103m

EXTRAS: Cast and crew interviews, trailer, TV spots

COMMENTS- Loses a lot of the features of the R1 disc along with the DTS track. Still a decent release however. The image quality is still beautiful and the DD5.1 track packs a punch where needed.

O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? - 2 DISC SPECIAL EDITION - R2

SPECS: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English DD5.1; English subtitles; 103m

EXTRAS: Cast and crew interviews, trailer, TV spots, Down From the Mountain documentary about the making of a documentary about the making of a concert of the music around the film (disc 2)

COMMENTS- Disc one is the self-same disc as the other R2 release but it is coupled with a doc about the bluegrass concert put on in honour of the award winning soundtrack on disc 2. If you don't own this movie yet I'd be tempted by this but the presence of a DTS track on the R1 version swings it for me.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE - R1

SPECS: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, English DD5.1 and French Stereo, English, French and Spanish subtitles, 116m (approx)

EXTRAS: Commentary with Joen Coen, Ethan Coen and Billy Bob Thornton, Making "The Man Who Wasn't There", Roger Deakins (cinematographer) interview (47m), Deleted scenes, Photo gallery, filmographies, trailer, booklet

COMMENTS- FINALLY a Coen commentary, and good it is too. A lot of jokey interplay with the Coens and BBT and some enlightening moments (keep an ear open for BBT's erection confession). Beautiful transfer and sound and a whole heap of extra stuff (though calling them deleted scenes is stretching it a little) make this an authoratitive DVD. A must buy!

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE - R2

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English DD5.1, subtitles, 116m (approx)

EXTRAS: Commentary with Joen Coen, Ethan Coen and Billy Bob Thornton, Making "The Man Who Wasn't There", Roger Deakins (cinematographer) interview (47m), Deleted scenes, Photo gallery, filmographies, trailer, TV spots

COMMENTS- As the R1 disc really. Same extras and, as far as I can tell, a good transfer.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE - 3 DISC SPECIAL EDITION - R2 (France only)

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English DD5.1 and DTS 5.1, French DD5.1; burned-in French subtitles; 103m (approx)

EXTRAS: THE WHOLE MOVIE IN COLOUR! French documentary about the history of film noir, Making "The Man Who Wasn't There", Roger Deakins (cinematographer) interview (47m), Deleted scenes, Photo gallery, filmographies, trailer

COMMENTS- What an awesome package this is- those lucky French! Disc one is the movie with optional commentary (same as the R1 version) and horrible, burned-in French subs. Disc two is where this gets exciting- it's the same as disc one only the entire film is in colour! The existence of a colour version was rumoured for a long time and I thought it was just that- a rumour, then I found this little beauty! You can see some comparison shots of the two versions here. It does look gaudy in some parts which I guess was deliberate to ensure the colours translated well to black and white, but what's most interesting is that a lot of scenes still look like they're in black and white even though they're not such was Deakins' cinematographical choices. Disc three contains all the extra stuff mentioned above.

The only complaint I have about this is the locked-on subtitles, which is a massive shame but still makes this by far the best DVD release of any Coen brothers movie yet. Get on over to amazon.fr and buy it now, they ship worldwide.

INTOLERABLE CRUELTY - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English DTS 5.1 and English, French and Spanish DD 5.1; English, French and Spanish subtitles; 100m (approx)

EXTRAS: Outtakes, "The Wardrobe" featurette, "A Look Inside Intolerable Cruelty" doc

COMMENTS- A fair release of this underrated romantic comedy. The extra features are a bit lame but it does have a great transfer and DTS- heaven! Get this one because the R2 version has terrible artwork otherwise they're the same.

INTOLERABLE CRUELTY - R2

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English DTS 5.1 and DD 5.1; English, French and Spanish subtitles; 95m (approx)

EXTRAS: Outtakes, "The Wardrobe" featurette, "A Look Inside Intolerable Cruelty" doc

COMMENTS- Cheese-tastic artwork, but otherwise the same as the R1 disc- they've even managed to give us DTS which is a rarity in Europe!

THE LADYKILLERS - R1

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English and French DD5.1; English, French and Spanish subtitles; 104m (approx)

EXTRAS: "The Slap Reel" Outtakes, "The Gospel of The Ladykillers", "Danny Farrington: The Man Behind The Band" featurette, Script Scanner (DVD ROM)

COMMENTS- Lovely transfer for a great underrated movie. The extra features are a big weak- the "Slap Reel" is essentially lots of different takes of Irma P. Hall slapping Marlon Wayans while the Danny Farrington feature is a interesting look at how the master guitar-maker made the instruments used by Hanks' fake band.

THE LADYKILLERS - R2

SPECS: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen; English and French DD5.1; English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Dutch andEstonian subtitles; 100m (approx)

EXTRAS: "The Slap Reel" Outtakes, "The Gospel of The Ladykillers", "Danny Farrington: The Man Behind The Band" featurette

COMMENTS- I ain't seen this one but I imagine it's much like the R1 disc.

THE COEN BROTHERS COLLECTION - R1

SPECS: Contains Blood Simple- Director's Cut, The Big Lebowski Collector's Edition, The Man Who Wasn't There and Intolerable Cruelty

EXTRAS: All of the extra features are exactly as the stand-alone versions above.

COMMENTS- BARGAIN! When these collections were announced I wished I didn't already own the movies so I could justify the spend. Together these are a great way to kick-start your Coen DVD collection, even if it would mean owning Blood Simple and The Big Lebowski twice each.

THE COEN BROTHERS COLLECTION - R2

SPECS: Contains Blood Simple- Director's Cut, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy and The Big Lebowski

EXTRAS: The extra features for are exactly as the R1 stand-alone versions above, except The Big Lebowski which is exaclty the same as the standard R2 release.

COMMENTS- Blood Simple- Director's Cut, Barton Fink and The Hudsucker Proxy are, and always have been, unavailable seperate of this box set, certainly in the UK. BARGAIN! When these collections were announced I wished I didn't already own the movies so I could justify the spend. Together these are a great way to kick-start your Coen DVD collection, even if it would mean owning Blood Simple and The Big Lebowski twice each.