DVD Mania

Ah, those wacky DVD bells and whistles! The always-useful Portuguese subtitles, that deeply insightful cast-member commentary, those hilarious deleted scenes you just can’t believe were left on the cutting-room floor. All full of Dolby Digital sound and 1.85:1 aspect-ratio fury--and signifying nothing (“Press Play to Access the Future,” by Richard Natale, April 7).

Perhaps the most sad and telling note was the choice of interview subjects. Francis Ford Coppola hasn’t made a worthy film since “Apocalypse Now.” Once-serious Bryan Singer has whorishly opted to join the world of comic books. And Brett Ratner’s resume consists of Chan and Tucker eye-bugging.

Fascinating that the views of true artists like Paul Thomas Anderson, Todd Solondz and Neil LaBute were absent. Could it be that Anderson and company are simply more concerned with the quality of their films, rather than how they’ll be depicted in the disc’s multiple documentariezzzzzzzzz?

ROBERT TILEM

Studio City

*

Wow! DVDs are hot, no doubt about it. I mean, what’s not to like: great picture, terrific sound, director’s “special edition” cuts oozing with added scenes and alternate endings.

It must be hog heaven for creative and marketing teams to get a second chance at “getting it right” or “making it better.” But Natale’s otherwise excellent article left out the one reason I don’t rent or buy these sophisticated and well-intentioned discs: I hate letterboxing.

I suppose if I owned a 65-inch wide-screen HDTV, those odious “black bars” would seem less distracting (then again, maybe not). But try watching a wide-screen cut on a 27-inch TV, which is as big as I can fit into my TV room. You need binoculars to isolate and locate much of the panoramic shots. I hate it.

The solution is simple: Release these “special edition” cuts in full-screen as well; if they did, my VHS days would be surely numbered.

TIMOTHY KERRIGAN

Paso Robles

*

Now I get it. When I saw the films “Ali,” “The Time Machine” and “Rollerball,” I was seeing a rough cut of the movie. When the DVDs come out, I will hopefully be seeing versions of those films that are really good.

MATTHEW OKADA

Pasadena