I just got a DVD player for my birthday, and although I’m not going to rush out and buy out my friendly neighborhood Best Buy, there are probably going to be some purchases in the not-too-distant future. Plus, Christmas wish lists: always a good idea.
What are your favorite DVD’s? In particular, which ones are your favorites because of the extra stuff they put on the disc? Which ones did you buy, even though you already had the VHS tape? Which ones have you watched multiple times?
Men In Black. Definitely. Way cool extras.
Do I really have to mention the 4 disc LOTR set? Do I?
Me Myself and Irene had some funny extras!
Attack of the Clones sounded incredible and has a ton of extras.
as above, 4 disc LOTR is a can’t miss
Black Hawk Down
The Abyss is a must have DVD.
I agree with the Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition and The Abyss Special Edition (better ending).
I’ll add the Platinum Series version of Seven, for the extras, and the 2-disc version of Legend, because most Americans (unlike me) never got to see the full British version of the film.
I just watched the “Say Anything” DVD, and thought it was too adorable for words- It smacks of Cameron Crowe, but I couldn’t get enough!
Best in Show has an impressive number of very funny additional scenes.
I’ve got about 150 DVDs now, and my favorites are:
1.) LOTR (4-disk set)
2.) Dark City
3.) Ghostbusters
4.) Memento
5.) Terminator 2: Ultimate Edition
6.) The Matrix
7.) The Big Lebowski
8.) Fight Club (2 disk set)
9.) Toy Story 1 & 2 Set
10.) The Simpsons: Season 2
There are so many other great DVDs out there, but if I had to pick 10 and give up the others, those are the ones I couldn’t part with.
I actually really like the Gladiator DVD - I like the movie and all of the extras (a TLC documentary, etc.) are pretty good. I even liked the deleted scenes and I usually find them pretty useless on most DVDs.
Sadly, the Fight Club 2-disc set is now out of print. But it does indeed kick ass.
Any Kevin Smith DVD is a great pick (if you’re into his films). He truly understands DVD as a medium.
The director’s cut of Almost Famous is great, too.
The Matrix, Monsters Inc. and Billy Elliot is just a great movie. I will 2nd the Memento referral.
Well I own only two DVD’s but I like them both:
LOTR: Extended Edition. One of the greatest DVD’s ever. If you remotely liked the movie this should be at the top of your list.
Princess Mononoke: great film but mediocre DVD which barely has any extras. However the transfer is good and it has the Japanese sound-track with subtitles along with the English dub. Worth it for the film.
As for films I don’t own, Three Kings had a good commentary by the director and some interesting extras though I didn’t see all of them.
I assume you want a combination of a great movie, presented well and with extras as well.
The Criterion Collection boxed set of Brazil is a great one. In fact, pretty much anything from the Criterion Collection is worthwhile.
Also look for the Evil Dead - Book of the Dead Edition, the Memento Special Edition, the Fellowhip of the Ring 4-disc set, the Rocky Horror Picture Show Special Edition and the Reservoir Dogs 10th Anniversary Edition.
On the next tier are the movies that are great, but aren’t presented in any extravagant way - I’ve got a bare-bones, poor-transfer version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead that I was phenomenally happy to find. Same with Bob Roberts, Animal House and the Little Shop of Horrors musical.
One of the great things about DVD, though, is that there’s all sorts of niche stuff out there if you have a multizone DVD and a taste for that sort of thing. I’ve managed to track down things like Meet the Feebles, a collection of Aardman Animations shorts, The Howling III: the Marsupials, Hercules in New York, much of Ed Wood’s and John Waters’ work and all sorts of other things I never thought I’d have the opportunity to see if I had to wait for it to come to my local Video shop. A lot of cult stuff is put out by Rhino.
Another great thing about DVD is the number of TV shows you want to watch again. I’ve got the entire Monty Python’s Flying Circus and 30 episodes of The Muppet Show. I’ve got most of the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 stuff that’s available, as well as Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, the Young Ones and Yes Minister. Needless to say, the BBC’s pretty keen on getting its stuff onto disc as quickly as they can.
Just a tip - video shops like Civic and Blockbuster are great. Every month or so they seem to put a new lot of ex-rental stuff into a basket in the front of the shop to sell cheap. As DVDs don’t degrade like tapes do, you can pick up some relatively new releases quite cheaply this way.
I thought Blade was a pretty average film, but I rewatch the DVD over and over. And Buffy on DVD is great. I’m up to season 5 in all its widescreen glory 
Anyone notice a vampire theme here?
Spinal Tap.
If you’re a fan it’s must buy. There’s a lot of deleted scenes some of which are as funny as anything in the movie.
Gosford Park is a great movie, and the DVD has a lot of extras that really enhance the film.
I second the Criterion Collection edition of Brazil.
I’ll second the call for any of the Criterion special editions, but especially The Third Man.
Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition may be the definitive DVD release so far (although I haven’t seen LOTR on DVD yet).
Almost Famous (bootleg version), Se7en (Platinum Edition), Fight Club (2 disc set), ET (collectors edition), Shrek (2 disc set), Die Hard (ultimate collection) and Scream (ultimate collection) are my personal favorites.
Ooh! Ooh! How in the blue hells did I forget that one?
The Spinal Tap SE has the best EVER use of a commentary track. It collects the characters of the three band members together for a 15-year-later perspective on how diBerghi ripped them all off and made them look like idiots. The entire commentary track was done in-character and ad libbed.
“See - he’s cheating there. He’s got all the answers to those questions written down on his clipboard. I didn’t have the answers…”