# Best DVD releases of 2007? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272 "2007-12-17T00:17:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/21 "2007-12-19T20:38:38Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Also, the Criterion releases of **Two-Lane Blacktop** and **Cria Cuervos**. [/QUOTE] Great releases, but 2LB has previously been available; I’m going to limit the list to first-time-on-DVD titles. But I’m excited about it too. And thanks for the Saura reminder as well. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/22 "2008-01-10T06:58:55Z")
FWIW, here’s the list I came up with for the display: \* Ace in the Hole Army of Shadows Battleship Potemkin Black Book Blade Runner: The Final Cut Borat Boss of It All, The John Brahm: Fox Classic Horror Collection Brute Force Casino Royale Casshern Children of Men Classic Western Roundup, I and II Darwin’s Nightmare Departed, The Eastern Promises First Films of Samuel Fuller, The Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima Fountain, The Grindhouse: Deathproof and Planet Terror Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, A Harsh Times Hot Fuzz I Am Cuba: The Ultimate Edition I Think I Love My Wife Idiocracy Intruder, The Ivan’s Childhood Killer of Sheep Little Children Live Free or Die Hard Namesake, The No End in Sight Offside Old Joy Pierrepont: The Last Hangman Planet Earth Popeye the Sailor: 1933 – 1938 Power of Art, The Prime Suspect: The Final Act Queen, The Rescue Dawn Sansho the Bailiff Shooter, The Sicko Simpsons Movie, The Sweet Movie Talk to Me Three Films by Hiroshi Teshigahara Tripper, The Venus War and Peace When a Woman Ascends the Stairs Wind That Shakes the Barley, The Zodiac\* ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/23 "2008-01-10T19:11:49Z")
I love _I Am Cuba_ but have been hesitant about TUE since I already have it on its initial release. Have you actually watched all the extras? Great list, btw ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/24 "2008-01-11T00:03:59Z")
I haven’t yet, but it still seems worthwhile. The film itself is a “new high-definition master from the original Russian 35mm fine grain master,” 26 min introduction by Martin Scorsese, two audio tracks–Spanish language, and Russian, which is oddly poetic in this context. The three discs also include an “award winning” 91 minute documentary about the making of the film, _The Siberian Mammoth_; a 30 minute interview with the screenwriter; and a two-hour documentary about the director of _I Am Cuba_, Mikhail Kalatozov. Check out **Dave Kehr** ’s column in the NYTimes: [ [QUOTE=Dave Kehr] Filmed in 1964 but largely forgotten until a screening at the 1992 Telluride Film Festival, “I Am Cuba” remains one of the great U.F.O.’s of the movies, a stylistic exercise so inventively extravagant that it still provokes gasps of amazement. . . .](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/movies/homevideo/20dvd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/25 "2008-01-11T00:16:10Z")
Oh and . . . [QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Great list, btw [/QUOTE] . . . thanks. Unfortunately, most of our customers just skim over it long enough to find _The Simpsons Movie._ Still, some of the newly available classics have rented too. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/26 "2008-01-11T00:18:40Z")
I’m a bit torn, since Barnes & Noble is doing a buy 2-get 1 free DVD sale, which means I’m ruminating on Criterions and box set options, and as much as I love _Cuba_, I’ve got one already and it’ll be ages before I get to the extras anyway, so there may be other things I want more… ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/27 "2008-01-11T00:23:30Z")
I haven’t seen the older edition, but if the ethereal glow of the new one is due to the new transfer, that alone is worth the price. ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/28 "2008-01-11T00:25:46Z")
Not a movie, but I think my favorite DVD release this year was **Flight of the Conchords**. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/29 "2008-01-11T00:28:49Z")
_FotC_ almost made the cut, but being a whole TV series counted against it. Arbitrary, I know, but we have limited space and thus were forced to adopt some pretty arbitrary standards. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/30 "2008-01-11T01:55:52Z")
**Stardust** had a great HD release, with great quality film, superb sound and excellent bonus features. The Simpsons DVD was also decent, though by no means a must-buy. The cincher for me was **Casino Royale**. That movie made for awesome Blu-Ray material. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/31 "2008-01-11T02:04:13Z")
[QUOTE=HoboStew] Not a movie, but I think my favorite DVD release this year was **Flight of the Conchords**. [/QUOTE] I gotta say, I was rather disappointed with the DVD for FotC. _No_ extra stuff whatsoever, and not even a Scene Selection - just “Play episode.” I would have settled for a simple “jukebox” setting so you could just listen to the musical numbers. One of the most bare bones, basic DVD releases I’ve seen in recent memory. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/32 "2008-01-11T02:04:41Z")
I thought Stardust was one of the worst movies of this–or any other, for that matter–year. The focus of the list was not simply the quality of the package, but the overall, um, rentability of the disc in question. It was a combination of the best new movies of the past year, along with the best of the classics that have finally been made available. The film itself was more important, in this list, than the packaging. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/33 "2008-01-11T03:59:55Z")
[QUOTE=Morbo] I gotta say, I was rather disappointed with the DVD for FotC. _No_ extra stuff whatsoever, and not even a Scene Selection - just “Play episode.” I would have settled for a simple “jukebox” setting so you could just listen to the musical numbers. One of the most bare bones, basic DVD releases I’ve seen in recent memory. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that was pretty disappointing for me, as well. Not a single making-of documentary? No HBO special? No Austin documentary? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272/34 "2008-01-11T04:05:10Z")
Yes, but they \*do \*have a Spanish language dub track. As funny as those shows are, they’re funnier dubbed in Spanish. Especially Murray. I recommend it highly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-dvd-releases-of-2007/430272.md?page=1)