This Christmas I received a kick-ass Sony DVD player, and I am totally hooked. I’ve already watched and loved “Fight Club,” “Shanghai Noon,” and “They Live” (no extras on that one :mad: ) and I’m loving it.
So recommend me some DVDs to rent that have super-cool extras on them?
I’m interested in “classics” that may have cool commentary tracks or some such as well; I recall seeing a digitally restored version of “The Third Man” that was absolutely breathtaking, but don’t know whether it had any bonus material on the disc.
And by the way, I’ve got several really good local rental outfits, so feel free to pile on the obscure recommendations.
The Abyss (Special Edition) has the most insanely engrossing DVD extras I’ve ever seen.
Watch an undersea environment being constructed in a defunct nuclear reactor!
Learn how some guys from the graphics team invented Photoshop!
Swap between storyboard, pre-production film and post-production film!
So maybe it’s not the greatest movie ever made, but it was very pioneering, and they give you the down low on how it was done. At least 10-20 hours worth.
The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition DVDs are also completely sweet.
Jackelope, that’s uncanny…you just reeled off my boyfriend’s favorite movies from last year.
If your tastes are that much aligned, you might also like:
Way of the Gun
Battle Royale
Frailty
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Rushmore
Y tu mamá también
Love Liza
American Splendor
A Mighty Wind (Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show)
Owning Mahowny
The Shape of Things
Dirty Pretty Things
Elephant (might not be out on DVD yet)
13 (might not be out on DVD yet)
Capturing the Friedmans
Spellbound
Stevie
If you like Python (Monty) Pictures Ltd. then ‘The holy Grail’ double disc release has a lot of interesting extras, including a documentary where Michael Palin and Terry Jones travel around the English and Scottish country sides, visiting the locations and generally bullshitting about the whole experience in a very entertaining way.
it’s got the Knights song in Lego animation. That alone was worth paying for it.
Another good DVD is for ‘The Usual Suspects’.
While I don’t think Jerry Bruckheimer does artful cinema, his productions always come loaded with interesting extras on DVD. I liked the Indiana Jones box, but I wish they had been as generous with extras as Bruckheimer is. ‘Pearl Harbour’ is a crappy movie, but the DVD is fantastic.
A lot of people hated ‘Moulin Rouge’. I loved it. And for fans, such as I, the extras are terrific.
Thanks for all the suggestions, folks; I’ll print these out next time I’m heading to the store. Tonight’s bill of fare: Waking Life, and then if I’m not too tired, Brother (the Beat Takeshi flick).
Glory, your boyfriend has excellent taste in movies.
No DVD collection is complete without the Special Edition of This is Spinal Tap. Fantastic commentary track and nearly another movie worth of additional footage.
Just wanted to mention this: I went poking through the bonus material on the Waking Life disc, and it contains one of the greatest jokes I’ve ever seen.
You’re going through all the extra material for this totally experimental, wildly original, utterly non-Hollywood film, and the last item in the “bonus materials” list says, “The Banger Sisters Theatrical Trailer.”
You click on it, and sure enough: It’s the actual theatrical trailer for The Banger Sisters. It puts into perspective just what kind of movie Waking Life is NOT.
I saw ‘Amores Perros’ and it was really good. The extras describe how they filmed the dog fights(there are a few) without harming the dogs at all.
The Exorcist. I watched it. Then when I was done, I saw it again with the director talking over it and learned a lot. That is one scary movie. took me about 3 days to get thru it the first time. I kept turning it off and leaving. Watch it at night, alone in the dark, in the middle of the room with plenty of room behind your chair to add to the effect.
The Criterion editions of both The Third Man and Brazil are wonderfully put together packages.
If you like the classics, buy the 2 disc version of Citizen Kane and listen to the commentary by Roger Ebert. It is incredibly informative. The 2 hour documentary on the 2nd disc is also very, very good.
Also, the 4-disc versions of the LOTR movies are awesome, as is the new Alien Quadrilogy 9-disc set.
For a bit of action, Terminator 2 is an exceptional DVD. It is quite old now but the quality and volume of extras is quite bewildering at first.
On the kids/animation stuff, all of the Pixar movie special editions (Toy Story 1/2, Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo) are superb, as is Shrek
For “interesting” Directors Commentaries, it’s hard to beat the Futurama and Family Guy box sets (FG commentaries are more sporadic, but also more profane )
however, for the most unusual commentary, rent Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s (the minds behind South Park) college film; “Cannibal! the Musical”, the true (and low budget) story of Alfred Packer, the first person in America convicted of cannibalism
the director’s commentary is simply Matt and Trey (and a couple other cast members) watching the movie while getting drunk
I don’t know if it’s a side effect of overdosing on MST3K or what, but i can’t help watching the Exorcist without MST’ing it in places, specifically the scene where Regan’s bed is rocking up and down…
Regan; “Mommy, Help Me!!!”
me; (in Regan’s voice) there are special effects people under my bed!
or when the demon starts talking in the low, guttural voice…
“she’s in here, with us”
me; what a lovely singing voice you must have…
I think that all of Kevin Smith’s movies have some of the most consistently entertaining commentary tracks and extras I’ve seen. ‘Dogma’ did an especially good job of providing me with hours and hours of extra fun in its extras.
One of my favorite movies is CONTACT. The DVD has commentaries by Jodie Foster, Robert Zemeckis and producer Steve Starkey, and visual effects supervisors Ken Ralston and Steven Rosenbaum.
I was just watching the recent special edition, 2-disc release of the 1938 Errol Flynn version of the The Adventures of Robin Hood and was impressed both by the transfer ( it really is a beautiful film ) and the boatload of extras, including a short documentary on technicolor and two cartoons :). Similarly with the 2-disc special edition of Casablanca. I recommend both.
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