You know, I like you folks. All of you are interesting people with a very wide variety of tastes. So I figure you, the Teeming, should be represented in my budding DVD collection.
Feel free to make any suggestion you like, and I’ll tally up the results and put the winner on the good old credit card on, say, Monday? I’ll list my not-so-varied mini-collection below, but do not feel constrained by my previous choices.
Here’s what I have:
The Prisoner, vols. 1 & 2 (rest aren’t out yet)
Metropolis
Touch of Evil
The Manchurian Candidate
Paths of Glory
Killer’s Kiss
The Seventh Seal
The Third Man
Bullitt
every Shaft film
Well, here’s your chance to entertain me, enlighten me, or royally screw me over. The DVD must be available in the United States. I was going to say something snooty like “I will not accept a winning film that stars Jim Varney,” but on second thought, bring it on! I’ll honor any recommendation.
The Kubrick boxed set. Pay no attention to the helicopter shadow in the intro to the Shining. In order to handle the to-TV transition Stanley decided to un-matte some of his films. They aren’t pan-and-scanned they’re unmatted.
When I get my DVD this will be my first purchase. Have fun!
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Admittedly, it took 4 tries to finally see Pi in it’s entirety (it kept coming on very late) and I really wanted to see it but I did not like it at all!
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I got the Brazil: Criterion Collection for Christmas and it’s amazing. I hightly recommend it.
A couple of really packed-full DVD’s for movies that I love are Fight Club and Se7en: Platinum Edition. I know, these aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they’re great DVD’s too.
I’ll second *Pi, and along that line of thought: Cube and Run Lola Run. I know, the last one isn’t exactly along that line of thought, but a great movie. Princess Mononoke just came out on DVD, as did The Virgin Suicides. Both are great movies. A cult classic that’s great is Tetsuo: The Iron Man.
Also, and I promise this is my last one (for now), there’s a Criterion Collection of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing coming out in a month or so. I know Spike Lee’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I just thought I’d mention it, as I’m on the look out for it.
I recommend the complete first season of the Sopranos. It is a four DVD set with 13 episodes. The Sopranos is a must see.
If you are just looking for a single DVD I would go with one with lots of extras. The Matrix, Boogie Nights, A Perfect Storm and Fight Club have all been mentioned in the past as DVDs with good extras. They are also all really good movies.
You could always go with a musical. I have seen Guys and Dolls 10 times since it was released on DVD. Gets better every time.
Seeing silent-rob’s post made me think of Dogma. Great movie on DVD. Of course they were suppose to release a special edition with lots of extras this month which has been postponed. I would wait for it.
Any movie buff without one of Kurosawa’s greatest films as a cornerstone doesn’t know what they’re missing.
Also, if you don’t mind Japanese animation, I second the Princess Mononoke nomination and I’ll add Serial Experiments: Lain. Both are about as good as Anime comes.
I’ve never seen Pi but I’ve been thinking about picking it up for awhile, maybe I’ll finally get around to it.
I second (or third) Fight Club and Matrix as entertaining movies with tons of features. The Seven Samurai is of course worth watching if you aren’t one of my parents. (“Are you done watching that dumb Japanese movie yet?” And because the commentary mentioned suicide a couple times “It’s so depressing…” sigh)
Aliens and T2 have lots of extras and deleted scenes if you like Cameron’s action flicks. And Alien is worth watching a few times (there’s even a deleted scene with Ripley flaming a cocooned Dallas). I ended up buying all four movies on DVD together for about $60-70 on pre-order just because I like the series.
The Bond movies I have are done very well, too, if you’re into those. (You know, generally dumb, but fun.)
Another one that hasn’t been mentioned: Ronin. I like it cause I know what’s in the box.
Right away I’d recommend Blade Runner [Director’s Cut] and the collector’s edition of To Kill a Mockingbird.
(The c.e. edition of “To Kill a Mockingbird” includes an director’s running commentary track. The commentary runs for the entire movie and it’s surprisingly fascinating.)
Here’s seconding the Brazil: Criterion Edition.
The dual-format release of Forbidden Planet isn’t just a classic SF movie (fantastic production values for a SF movie of that era), it’s also a great way to show the annoyances of pan-and-scan.
You seem to have a pretty heavy collection. How about the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup to balance out the mood?
I currently own only five DVDs. All are good, but I’ll bold the ones I recommend highly:
Five Easy Pieces: This is a great movie, worth owning, but the DVD isn’t very inspired. It has the movie itself, but no commentary. No theatrical trailer (which is usually fun to watch), just the trailer for As Good As It Gets (because it also starred Nicholson).
American Movie: If you saw this in the theaters then the advantage of the DVD will be obvious: it includes the short “Coven!” And cast & director commentaries. And five or six trailers, including one for SLC Punk which is very funny.
MST3K: Eegah: This disk has the complete MST3K episode on one side, and the complete unaltered atrocious movie on the other.
MST3K: The Brain That Wouldn’t Die: As above. This was the first Mike episode. These two eps are the only ones currently on DVD, not counting the cinematic movie version of the show.
Three Kings: Unquestionably one of the best DVDs out there. A smart movie made by many smart people, and the director’s commentary and video journal make this clear. David O. Russell is God.
Any day now I’ll be receiving the DVD for Irma Vep from Barnes and Noble. This movie features Maggie Cheung slinking around Paris in a black leather catsuit. I trust I’ve made my point.
The Abyss Special Edition is also an excellent dvd.
A couple that haven’t been mentioned:
Jaws - Collector’s Edition
This is Spinal Tap
Ghostbusters - Collector’s Series
Silence of the Lambs - The Criterion Collection
My favorite dvd is Fight Club. The commentary is excellent.
Given your list, I’ll stay away from blockbuster suggestions and offer these series, each an excellent accompaniment to The Prisoner: The Singing Detective The Thin Man
… and these weird movies that kinda get under your skin: Wages of Fear Walter and June Brazil
… and these more mainstream flicks: Being There The French Connection La Femme Nikita (stay the hell away from Single White Assassin–I mean Point of No Return, the U.S. remake) Looking for Richard, a fascinating journey through a Shakespeare play and the icon of Shakespeare, beloved, feared, loathed, worshipped, etc., directed by and starring Al Pacino.
Oh, and I second Jihi’s recommendation of Kirosawa.
And Five’s mention of Maggie Cheung reminded me of Chinese Box, starring Jeremy Irons and one of the sexiest women I’ve ever seen on screen, Gong Li. For another spectacular performance by Li, see Raise the Red Lantern, an allegory directed by the great Yimou Zhang.
Toy Story ultimate Toy Box
lots of special features and some just plain extra features.
However these and A Bugs Life (also recomended) are transfered from the Pixar computers directly to the DVD. The result is a better picture quality than in the theatres.
Casablanca
Ran When they letterboxed this one they moved the image to the top so in the large black space at the bottom they had room to put all of the subtitles without putting them on the film image. Much easier to read and enjoy.
LA Confidential
Gattaca (one of my favorite films)
Blade Runner Looks great in digital
Network I just saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and it is even more on target today then 25 years ago.
The Talented Mr. Ripley Great director’s Commentary
12 Monkeys Great Director’s Commentary
Time Bandits Great Director’s Commentary
Apollo 13 Great commentary by real astronaut and his wife plus watching in French is really fun.
Sleepy Hollow Lots of great stuff and Tim Burton is suprisingly lucid.
West Side Story (turn up the digital sound all the way)
great use of color as well.
Das Boot Which ever language you listen to it in it’s still one of the best war movies ever.
The Lady Vanishes early Hitch. great underseen movie
I’ll third Brazil Criterion Collection version. Here is the link to Criterion’s web page. Take a look through their site, if you see a movie that you like there, get the Criterion version and you won’t be disappointed. Silence of the Lambs is also a good choice.
Thanks for reminding me Zumba, I’m definitely on the lookout for Dogma: Special Edition. Two discs, it’ll be great. Especially the cut footage (can’t wait to see the “Fat Albert Scene” :))
I should also mention that Kevin Smith’s other movies have great DVD’s. Chasing Amy: Criterion Collection is packed full, with lots of great commentaries and special features. Also, some great cut scenes with hilarious introductions (you’ve got to hear Affleck talking about doing “Major League with Chuck Sheen going ‘Where are the whores?’”; my friend and I still laugh about that all the time). Also, even if you didn’t like Mallrats, check out its DVD. The commentary is funnier than the movie and worth the price alone. Also, there’s a 20 minute opening to the film that was never used.
The Clerks DVD isn’t as packed as the others. It’s got some good cut scenes, a music video, and a commentary track. As with the others, the commentary is great (Jason Mewes is at first drunk, then falls asleep). While not as great as the others, it’s still worth picking up.
Oh, and I gotta third Seven Samurai, and second American Movie and This Is Spinal Tap. All excellent movies with excellent extras (I still haven’t gotten through all of hour of cut scenes and other extras in This Is Spinal Tap).
I notice that two of my favorite DVDs haven’t been mentioned: The Dark Crystal (One of my all-time favorite movies, and the “making of” extra is great. The sheer amount of labor poured into that movie is incredible; it may even make you respect mimes.) and The Saint (excellent flick, and the director’s voiceover extra is really good).
