|
by Dan Hassler-Forest
With DVD by now fully dominating the home video
market, which has surged ahead even of theatrical
distribution as far as studio profits are concerned,
the past year saw the release of another good number
of long-awaited titles, with box sets of two or more
discs by now the standard for any truly self-respecting
'Special Edition' release. Unfortunately, many hyped-up
two-disc editions with a list of features as long
as your arm are still made up of cobbled-together
promotional fluff spread across as many bullet points
as possible to make for an impressive extras column
on the box. But the better sets, which are appearing
at a much faster rate now that profits are up and
audience support has been proved beyond any doubt.
The best releases are the ones with a single director/producer
team creating a strong, consistent, unified whole,
using whatever kinds of extras are most pertinent
to the movie(s) in question. In some cases, all-out
special editions offer more supplemental material
than the film itself can possibly sustain: listen
to ten different people repeating the social significance
of the thematics in X-Men 2 and the film
itself begins to collapse under the weight of all
the extra material. On the other hand, the long-awaited
DVD release of the Indiana Jones trilogy was criticized
for the inclusiong of 'only' two-and-a-half hours
of
excellent documentary material, without separate
deleted scenes, storyboards, original featurettes
etc.
The very best releases of the year were those that
combined memorable cinema with a high audiovisual
standard of excellence
and supplements that offer a unified, cohesive and
exhaustive look at multiple aspects of the film's
production, reception and historical context. The
Criterion Collection was once again the standard-bearer
for high-quality special editions of classic cinema
and more recent independent-minded work. But Paramount
and Warner also rose to the top of the heap with
the quality of their video restoration work on old
classics (mostly carried out by Lowry Digital Imagery)
and the tremendous put into the production of supplemental
material for films like The Adventures of Robin
Hood and Once Upon a Time in the West.
So here, in any case, is our Top 10 for the past
year. The fact that it was tougher picking out ten
'best' releases than any previous year should really
say enough...
| |
1.Alien Quadrilogy
For many collectors, the five-disc Alien
Legacy box set was one of the first multi-disc
boxes to grace their shelves, but apart from
the groundbreaking supplements for the first
film, there was little in the way of extras
included. This situation has now been remedied
by this stunning nine-disc set that leaves
few stones unturned, with audio commentaries,
extended cuts, image galleries, and three-hour
documentaries for all four films. A staggering
accomplishment by producer Charles de Lauzirika,
this awesome set was easily the year's most
impressive DVD release.
read
the review |
| |
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
- Extended Edition
The best thing we can say about the four-disc
'Extended Cut' release of The Two Towers is
that it lives up to the standard set by last
year's box set of The Fellowship of the
Ring. The second film's extended cut improves
greatly on the theatrical version, and the
extras follow the same exhaustive template
to give us a full overview of the second part
of this mammoth production. The only bad thing
we can say about it is that there isn't as
much of a sense of discovery now that we're
familiar with the basic structure and high
level of quality from the first release.
read
the review
|
|
|
3. The Adventures of Robin Hood
The finest action/adventure film Hollywood
ever produced finally arrived on DVD this year,
with a stunning transfer and a boatload of
supplements. As with Singin' in the Rain,
the three separate color negatives
were thoroughly cleaned and then digitally
combined to achieve an unprecedented wealth
of color and clarity. The abundant supplements
help place the film in its historical context
while teaching us something about the way movies
were made in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
read
the review
|
| |
4. Once Upon a Time in the West
It was at the top of our Most Wanted List
ever since the Back to the Future films
finally appeared on DVD last year, so it was
with great pleasure that we were the first
English-language DVD site to review this terrific
Special Edition when it was finally released
last fall. From the superlative restoration
job to the insightful, highly entertaining
collection of extras, this was one long-awaited
DVD that lived up to the impossibly high expectations.
read
the review |
|
|
5. The Chaplin Collection: 'Essentials'
box set
With the previous (bare-bones) Region 1
releases of Chaplin's great works long out
of print, French DVD production company MK2
started rolling out the Little Tramp's ten
feature-length pictures in newly restored two-disc
editions. Four titles first appeared for Region
1, but the complete set followed shortly after
in Europe, with our release of choice the Dutch
'Essentials box set' containing his four undisputed
masterworks along with a new feature-length
documentary on his life and career.
read
the review
|
| |
6. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Criterion
Collection
From its uniquely designed packaging down
to its trio of fabulous commentaries, this
director-approved double-disc re-release of
Terry Gilliam's unjustly maligned mindbender
of a road movie gives us the works. You don't
even have to like the movie to get a kick out
of this amazing package, though it does of
course help.
read
the review |
|
|
7. The Adventures of Antoine Doinel -
Criterion Collection
Easily beating out all of past year's competition
as far as the packaging is concerned, this
gorgeous five-disc box set contains the unique
cycle of movies Truffaut directed following
the life of protagonist Antoine Doinel from
puberty to early middle age. With well-chosen,
historically relevant supplements and handsome
presentations of all four movies, this set
is a cinephile's dream and an asset to any
serious film collection.
read
the review
|
|
|
8. Casablanca - Special Edition
The existing DVD, rushed out during Warner's
first run of catalogue releases, already included
a decent transfer and a solid documentary.
But the new two-disc set presents a meticulously
restored film along with two terrific commentary
tracks and a second disc loaded with extras
(including the previous disc's documentary).
read
the review
|
| |
9. The Adventures of Indiana Jones
One of the most-requested film trilogies
since the very beginning of DVD, the Indiana
Jones films finally made their digital home
video debut in 2003, though the rumored fourth
film and sparing measure of extras in this
box set make one suspect that we'll be seeing
more of Indy on DVD before too long, perhaps
including the deleted scenes, storyboards and
other tidbits missing from this otherwise impressive
set.
read
the review |
| |
10. Ernest Hemingway's The Killers
- Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection once again went
all out with a unique approach to classic film
on DVD. In this two-disc set, the various incarnations
of Ernest Hemingway's short story The Killers are
presented side by side, including Andrei Tarkovsky's
rarely seen student short. A regrettable oversight
was the inclusion of the original story in
printed form (it can only be read from a series
of on-disc text screens), but this is otherwise
a highly impressive 'case study' with two equally
terrific feature films.
read
the review |
|
