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By Sean Axmaker
Special to MSN Entertainment
Many are called. Few are chosen. But only so many can be slotted into a
numerically limited top 10 list. Thanks to the largesse of my editor, I have
extended my list to 15 DVD picks -- 10 movie-related and five TV shows -- but
DVD releases in recent years have set a high bar. From art house seriousness to
outhouse humor, from classic restorations to contemporary special editions, here
are picks from all interests and genres that clear the mark.
10. "Knocked Up: 2-Disc Collector's
Edition"
Buy It
The DVD special edition has
become a whole new creative playground for such comedy creators as Judd Apatow, Will Ferrell and friends. "Knocked Up" is the best of a terrific run of recent DVD
comedies (including "Superbad," "Blades of Glory," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin -- Unrated," and, to a lesser
extent, "Borat"), offering as many laughs in the supplements as in the
film itself. The half-hour mockumentary featurette "Finding Ben Stone" is reason
alone for getting this two-disc extended edition.
9. "The Passion of the Christ: Definitive
Edition"
Buy It
Mel Gibson's passionate, personal and cinematically
visceral take on the final 12 hours of Christ's life on Earth is, in its own
way, as controversial as Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis'
"The Last Temptation of Christ," a vivid and brutal version of the passion play
rife with suspicions of power and politics. This two-disc edition features both
the original theatrical cut and Gibson's re-edited PG-13 version of the film,
along with four separate commentary tracks and a detailed documentary on the
making of the film.
8. "Pan's Labyrinth: 2-Disc Platinum
Series"
Buy It
Guillermo del Toro's dark fairy tale, an elemental
"Alice in Wonderland" amidst the horrors of Francisco Franco's reign of terror
in 1944 Spain, was one of the most stunningly beautiful and moving films of
2006. The DVD release features a rich commentary from director del Toro, who
describes his inspirations and explains his colors and textures and images with
great articulation, and marvelous featurettes that really bring the viewer into
the evolution of ideas into images and characters and stories.
7. "Warner Home Video Directors Series: Stanley Kubrick"
Buy It
The third time's the charm
for Warner Home Video as it finally offers (select portions of) its Kubrick
catalog in the format it deserves. Warner has remastered five of his greatest
films for its new directors series box set: "2001: A Space Odyssey," "A Clockwork Orange," "The Shining," "Full Metal Jacket," and "Eyes Wide Shut," the latter four in their wide-screen home
video debuts. (Though Kubrick preferred full-screen releases of his post-"2001"
films, one wonders if he would have changed his mind in the age of wide-screen
and high definition.) All are supplemented with documentaries, featurettes and
other extras. Filling out the box is the 2001 feature length documentary
"Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures," but we're still missing "Lolita" and "Barry Lyndon."
6. "Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume 4"
Buy It
The five double features in
Warner Home Video's fourth collection of film noir classics from Warners, MGM
and RKO offer one undeniable genre masterpiece, Nicholas Ray's "They Live by Night." But what makes this set so irresistible is
the creative selection of oddities and discoveries, from Andre De Toth's lean, low-budget "Crime Wave" to the frayed B-ish grit of "Tension," to "Decoy," a grimy, poverty-row gem and true B movie,
scuffed and cheap but driven by a curdled, cold-blooded heart. And every film
includes a commentary track and a terrific little featurette. Glorious!
5. "Inland Empire"
Buy It
Not only did David Lynch produce his wildly surreal journey of
metamorphosis and multiple identities outside the Hollywood system, he also
produced his own "2-Disk" (his spelling) DVD release. Lynch oversaw everything
from mastering the film to producing his own slate of supplements, and he stamps
his own sensibility on such home video essentials as deleted scenes (edited into
a surreal sister film of its own) and the making-of featurette, and tops it with
the Lynch cooking show "Quinoa" (think Julia Child noir). The film itself, a
hypnotic and richly textural experience shot on digital video, is a natural for
DVD.
4. "I Am Cuba: The Ultimate
Edition"
Buy It
Mikhail Kalatozov's delirious tribute to the Cuban
revolution, a political tract lost in the hothouse exoticism of a Russian
filmmaker intoxicated by the Caribbean culture and music, was derided in Cuba,
dismissed in Russia, and all but suppressed by both countries until it was
rediscovered and revived by an American film festival almost 30 years later. (Story Continues On Next Page...) |
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