Best DVD Releases of 2008

Cafe Society
1

It’s that time of year again. Here’s my first grab of this year’s best DVD releases. I need like 4 times this many.

[ol]
[li]Bella[/li][li]Bud Boetticher Box Set[/li][li]Control[/li][li]Dark Knight[/li][li]Felon[/li][li]In Bruges[/li][li]Kenny[/li][li]King of Kong[/li][li]Lake of Fire[/li][li]Le Doulos[/li][li]Manda Bala[/li][li]Mongol[/li][li]No Country for Old Men[/li][li]Persepolis[/li][li]Picture of Dorian Gray[/li][li]Rape of Europa[/li][li]Spaced[/li][li]Sukiyaki Western Django[/li][li]Wall-E[/li][li]White Dog[/li][li]Wild China[/li][/ol]
What are your nominations?

2

It would be interesting to know why these are the best. Best movies? Best transfers? Best commentaries? Best “making of” specials? Best packaging?

3

Kenny!!??!!??

4

My comanager picked Kenny, I haven’t seen it.

And TWDuke, these are only what the OP says: “the best DVD releases of 2008.” If they’re new releases, generally they’re our favorites of this year’s new releases. If they’re older movies never before available on DVD before this year, they’re our favorites of that category.

5

I’m with TWDuke in not knowing exactly what you’re after, but maybe this’ll be good enough:

First we have one of my favorite movies ever which just appeared in a new Zeitgeist DVD with a decent transfer and good extras:

  1. Irma Vep

Then there’s the Criterions that you didn’t mention:

  1. Lars von Trier’s Europa

  2. Vampyr

  3. 4 By Agnes Varda

Some other older classics just released:

  1. Glitterbox: Derek Jarman X 4

  2. The Icarus Chris Marker films, the best being the DVD of The Last Bolshevik/Happiness

Then we have some new movies:

  1. My Blueberry Nights

  2. Iron Man

  3. The Fall

  4. There Will Be Blood

I’ll stop at 10 since I’m at work and can’t remember everything I’ve bought: maybe I’ll add some more when I think about it.

6

Documentary
Standard Operating Procedure

Western (Tie)
3:10 to Yuma
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Musical (Tie)
Lubitsch Musicals (The Love Parade / The Smiling Lieutenant / One Hour with You / Monte Carlo)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog - it’s available on Amazon

French Nazi Canibal Torture Porn (Tie)
Frontier(s)
Inside

Monster of the Week
Cloverfield

SF reissue
Dark City

Fluff
Wanted

7

A few more good ones:

  1. A Zed and Two Noughts
  2. The Draughtsman’s Contract
  3. Privilege
  4. Still Life
  5. La Roue
  6. J’accuse
  7. Death Note Box Set 1
  8. Bonnie and Clyde (Special Edition)
  9. Be Kind Rewind
  10. Sleeping Beauty (Platinum Edition)
8

I’d been adding titles to my list while I waited for your responses, and got a few of the same titles. New list:

[ol]
[li]Bella[/li][li]Bud Boetticher Box Set[/li][li]Cloverfield[/li][li]Control[/li][li]Dark Knight[/li][li]El Cid[/li][li]Felon[/li][li]Four by Agnès Varda[/li][li]In Bruges[/li][li]Inside[/li][li]Iron Man[/li][li]Joshua[/li][li]Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women[/li][li]Kenny[/li][li]King of Kong[/li][li]La Roue[/li][li]Lake of Fire[/li][li]Le Doulos[/li][li]Lubitsch Musicals[/li][li]Manda Bala[/li][li]Mongol[/li][li]Naked Prey[/li][li]No Country for Old Men[/li][li]Persepolis[/li][li]Picture of Dorian Gray[/li][li]Rape of Europa[/li][li]Smiley Face[/li][li]Spaced[/li][li]Sukiyaki Western Django[/li][li]Sunshine[/li][li]Vampyr[/li][li]Wall-E[/li][li]White Dog[/li][li]Wild China[/li][/ol]

And while Draughtsman’s Contract, Irma Vep, and *Europa *are on my personal list, they’re excluded by a technicality: we already had all of them on DVD.[ol]
[/ol]

9

And just browsed around the store and added a few:

[ol]
[li]Bella[/li][li]Bridge, The[/li][li]Bud Boetticher Box Set[/li][li]Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith[/li][li]Classe Tous Risque[/li][li]Cloverfield[/li][li]Control[/li][li]Dark Knight[/li][li]Delirious Fictions of William Klein[/li][li]Doulos, Le[/li][li]El Cid[/li][li]Felon[/li][li]Four by Agnès Varda[/li][li]In Bruges[/li][li]Inside[/li][li]Iron Man[/li][li]Jetee, La/Sans Soleil[/li][li]Joshua[/li][li]Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women[/li][li]Kenny[/li][li]King of Kong[/li][li]Lake of Fire[/li][li]Life in Cold Blood[/li][li]Lubitsch Musicals[/li][li]Madame de . . .[/li][li]Manda Bala[/li][li]Mongol[/li][li]Naked Prey[/li][li]No Country for Old Men[/li][li]Our Own[/li][li]Persepolis[/li][li]Picture of Dorian Gray[/li][li]Plaisir, Le[/li][li]Rape of Europa[/li][li]Ronde, La[/li][li]Roue, La[/li][li]Simon Schama’s Power of Art[/li][li]Smiley Face[/li][li]Spaced[/li][li]Sukiyaki Western Django[/li][li]Sunshine[/li][li]Vampyr[/li][li]Wall-E[/li][li]White Dog[/li][li]Wild China[/li][/ol]

10

Sorry, here’s with most recent additions bolded:

[ol]
[li]Antonio Gaudi[/li][li]Bella[/li][li]Bridge, The[/li][li]Bud Boetticher Box Set[/li][li]Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith[/li][li]Classe Tous Risque[/li][li]Cloverfield[/li][li]Control[/li][li]Dark Knight[/li][li]Darkon[/li][li]Delirious Fictions of William Klein[/li][li]Doulos, Le[/li][li]El Cid[/li][li]Felon[/li][li]Four by Agnès Varda[/li][li]In Bruges[/li][li]Inside[/li][li]Iron Man[/li][li]Jetee, La/Sans Soleil[/li][li]Joshua[/li][li]Kenji Mizoguchi’s Fallen Women[/li][li]Kenny[/li][li]King of Kong[/li][li]Lake of Fire[/li][li]Life in Cold Blood[/li][li]Lubitsch Musicals[/li][li]Madame de . . .[/li][li]Manda Bala[/li][li]Mister Lonely[/li][li]Mongol[/li][li]Mulberry St.[/li][li]Murnau, Borzage, and Fox[/li][li]Naked Prey[/li][li]No Country for Old Men[/li][li]Our Own[/li][li]Persepolis[/li][li]Picture of Dorian Gray[/li][li]Plaisir, Le[/li][li]Rape of Europa[/li][li]Ronde, La[/li][li]Roue, La[/li][li]Simon Schama’s Power of Art[/li][li]Smiley Face[/li][li]Spaced[/li][li]Sukiyaki Western Django[/li][li]Sunshine[/li][li]Two Masterpieces by Larisa Shepitko[/li][li]Vampyr[/li][li]Wall-E[/li][li]White Dog[/li][li]Wild China[/li][/ol]

11

I can honestly only think of Cloverfield, which is still being delivered as we speak. I’m not sure how I can have so many DVDs lying around the place when my big purchases all seem to be from a few years back.