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DVD recommendations

Eskay Uno

19:03 / 19.01.03

Howdy, folks!

Recently bought a DVD player and am searching for some cool disks with great extras/bonus material - especially making-of and behind-the-scenes type of stuff. Genre doesn't matter, as long as you think it's worth checking out. I already have the LOTR 4 disc collection and that one is awesome. I also really like the Taxi Driver and Moulin Rouge dvd's. But what else is out there? Enquiring minds want to know.

Thanks in advance,
S.K.

Utopia

19:15 / 19.01.03

PT Anderson's Boogie Nights transfer is great (maybe check out Magnolia while you're at it). The Akira Special Edition looks awesome too... Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums features a documentary by cinema verite legend Albert Maysles. The Donnie Darko DVD includes extras to help you figure out the film (that is, if you don't feel like reading thru Barbelith's 128 page annotation). I also recommend checking out "Criterion Collection" releases. These are mostly classic and foreign films (though I don't understand why Michael Bay's Armageddon was released under this banner) that get new transfers and translations. While most don't contain that many extras, I defy you to find better looking copies of Akira Kurasawa films, etc...

Eskay Uno

14:58 / 20.01.03

Good stuff, thanks muchly Utopia.

Yeah, I've heard very good things about the Criterion Collection, and I just got Donnie Darco yesterday - way cool! Those deleted scenes were excellent and really added to the film, I thought.

So what else is good?

Jack Fear

15:12 / 20.01.03

FIGHT CLUB has shedloads of extras, if you like that sort of thing.

THIS IS SPINAL TAP has commentary by the cast, in character, that not only adds another layer of meta to the metafiction, but is as funny as the movie itself.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

16:32 / 20.01.03

If you're a cheese hearted sap like myself, I can't help but reccomend any Pixar discs (Toy Story up through Monsters Inc). The special editions are well worth it and they sport the best transfers in the industry bar none, and the sound ain't bad neither.

My personal faves are the "Anderson Collection", you can't go wrong with any of Wes or Paul Thomas' work, as they've been well taken care of on DVD (but hold out for the someday released Criterion Bottle Rocket).

Pavement released a great DVD collection as did Portishead (PNYC) on the music end of things. Oh, and Radiohead's Meeting People Is Easy sounds tremendous.

The Buffy DVD's look and sound great. There's some extra stuff but most of it is fluff (although there's a great commentary for Bad Girls on Season 3).

There's more I'm forgetting. I just know it.

Persephone

16:53 / 20.01.03

Seriously, I'd recommend Blade 2. The commentary track with Guillermo del Toro, the director, and Peter Frankfurt, one of the producers, is really enjoyable and informative. Guillermo del Toro lets you into his head, and lets you see how the junk in his head gets turned into his art. Like he goes, "Oooh, I loo-oove things in jars..." and there they are, jars with things in them.

doglikesparky

13:50 / 21.01.03

The commentaries on Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back are all excellent. It could be that they're only available on the Region 1 releases though. The extra features are also a plenty in them and mostly co-ordinated by Kevin Smith too.

Eskay Uno

18:24 / 21.01.03

Thanks again for all the suggestions everybody!

Hey, Persephone, are you a del Torro fan? Do you know anything about "The Devil's Backbone"?

jeff

18:29 / 21.01.03

Most of Roeg's films from the seventies are out on DVD now. 'Nuff said.

videodrome

18:51 / 21.01.03

The two-disc Fight Club is out of print, so if you like the film and find that edition (fake paper-wrapped cover) get it.

The Criterion Brazil is fantastic, a three-disc set with different cuts of the film, commentaries, documentaries, and other stuff. Similarly, the 12 Monkeys disc is also good.

The Limey has a great commentary and is worth getting for that. I know there's a lot more, but just can't think right now.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

14:59 / 29.01.03

Buckaroo Banzai is very good and includes LOADS of extras and an extended... opening. That's right, no different ending, instead you get a different opening. Also, the deleted scenes are nice and it's good to actually hear the film. I could never figure out why my girlfriend kept falling asleep to it then realized she couldn't hear it!

The Brothers Quay DVD is my favorite DVD of all time. I never get bored of watching it. It contains all of their shorts and a documentary that reveals that they are a bit... funny.

Also, The Third Man is quite nice... if you don't mind the zither music. I hear it drives people spare.

Old brown-eye is back

15:48 / 29.01.03

The four disc edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, obviously
Basic Instinct - second commentary track by Camile Paglia
Anything with a commentary by Oliver Stone, Alex Cox or John Carpenter

Oh, there's loads.

Persephone

16:31 / 29.01.03

Hey, Persephone, are you a del Torro fan? Do you know anything about "The Devil's Backbone"?

Truthfully, I hadn't heard of him before I saw Blade 2. But now I'm interested enough to check out his other movies. I saw Mimic in the video store the other day.

Jack Fear

16:53 / 29.01.03

Devil's Backbone is a wonderful movie. It's not a monster movie or a gorefest--it's a ghost story, really, on both literal and metaphorical levels. Spooky, beautiful to look at, atmospheric, and wonderfully acted by its largely juvenile cast.

It helps to know a little about the Spanish Civil War, and to see The Devil's Backbone as coming out of the same tradition as Hemingway's early novels and Picasso's Guernica.

Lightly spoilerish Roger Ebert review hither.

The Return Of Rothkoid

20:47 / 29.01.03

I can second any props for The Devil's Backbone; I'd hesitate to use the term magical realism, but I think there's elements of that in it - atmospheric as fuck. Some of it doesn't quite work, but it's got some great eye-candy in there. Look for the DeChirico-esque bits...

And also, word to Soderbergh's The Limey soundtrack. He just won't let "that motherfucker" of a reviewer alone. Hee.

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