The director of "Gravesend", Salvatore Stabile, has achieved something worth noting,  an entertaining film on a shoestring budget!  From beginning to end, "Gravesend" never leaves its low budget atmosphere.  Still, even with some amateur acting, derivitive camera angles, it's always gripping. 

The transfer looks as good as it possibly can.  There's an inherent graininess to the film, most likely due to the film stock and lighting limitations caused by the miniscule budget.  However, a stylized look is accomplished.  The digital monaural sound is fine.

Polygram Video has released "Portrait of a Lady" in DVD with a transfer that's even better than the great looking laserdisc release.  Director Jane Campion has brought Henry James' novel to the screen with all the necessities of a big screen epic.  It's much more than a costume drama, but it's wonderful to see even the most minute details of the embroidary brought to life in this crisp transfer.  Even more compelling is the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack.  The laserdisc only featured standard Dolby surround.  The musical score is terrific, but the Dolby Digital is more advantageous in bringing the atmoshphere of  this period to life.  Polygram offers the release in both 2.35:1 and P&S on alternate sides.  The P&S version suffers immensely due to the cropping of well thought out images, in addition to grain.

Director Dominc Sena's "Kalifornia" was overlooked in theaters and home video for the most part.  It's not terriffic, and it's story matter(serial killers) has been done-to-death. Still, Sena's visual compositions are often startling and Brad Pitt's performance is in a word, "Outstanding!"   Polygram has truly utilized the vast benefits of DVD with this release.  It offers basically "four" versions of the same film. 1)P&S of the R rated film. 2) P&S of the unrated film, hence the additional minute running time. 3)Letterbox version of the R rated film. 4)Letterbox version of the unrated film.  This is obtained through offering P&S and Letterbox on alternate sides.  The transfer looks wonderful.  Sena uses shadows quite effectively and there's great depth and contrast in every scene.  The Dolby surroundtrack is a little less vibrant than that found on the laserdisc due to analog compression, something that hopefully DTS DVDs in the future will eliminate.

An incredible documentary, "Rumble in the Jungle" transcends both sports and documentaries by various means.  First of all, the film has a "true" sense of  historical importance.  It accurately depicts race relations and social conditions in our recent history. The film's about society in America and in Africa, most poignantly demonstrated by showing the means by which an African Dictator will go to prevent unrest for a glorified boxing match in his country.  Ali is always a pleasure to watch and the film director, Leon Gast, doesn't pander to anyone.  The transfer looks wonderful considering the film quality of the footage used.  However, it does have some grain and noise in various spots.  The DVD is credited with Dolby Digital, but it's basically monaural sound.