Feature

The Best of the Best: DVD

Stephen's List

It has been a fantastic year for DVD!  What we're looking for here is the total package, not just that the movie is great, but that the DVD overall is fantastic.  There've been plenty of great films to hit DVD this year but the discs were just basic or even just standard issue DVD's.  You'll see in my picks a lot of HD-DVD's and that's because there've been many of them that took the movie watching experience to the next level, something that most standard DVD's can't do.  With that said, there were still some real standout standard DVD's this year that do in fact still manage to squeeze past some of their hi-def counterparts.  If we didn't get advanced copies of these releases for review we may never have done a full review of them but we here at CineGeek buy off the shelves as many DVD's as we get sent for review so some will be linked to reviews and others will not.  Anyway, on to my top 5 list:

10. Evil Dead The Ultimate Edition

This is a film that's been released way too many times to DVD and each time a new little extra was added.  For fans all of these extras are important so finally Anchor Bay has gathered up all of the extras from the past and included them with the best transfers (2 versions of the film are included) of the film ever made for DVD.  The stand out new extra is an hour long all new for this release documentary about the making of the film.  Check out my full review here.  Evil dead is a classic film in the horror genre and one that continues to influence modern filmmaking of all genres so it deserves a definitive release and we finally got it here.  If onl7y this were in hi-def...

9. Blade Runner The Final Cut 2 Disc Edition

Blade Runner is one of the most truly influential science fiction films of all time.  There are films that made more money but few are more influential.  The final redo not only features a top not restoration of the original film but director Ridley Scott ahs went in and fixed a great deal of the movie to finally realize the vision he was going for back when the film was made but couldn't due to budget.  He even brought back the original actors to fix some key scenes.  Disc 2 features one of the most extensive and detailed making of documentaries I've ever seen.  The running time of the documentary may actually be longer than that of the movie.  Fans looking for a definitive version of the film but don't consider themselves students of film should buy this version of this film.

8. Live Free of Die Hard 2 Disc Unrated Edition

When I saw this film in the theater I was beyond thrilled at not only how good the film was generally but at how retro the action seemed.  This could have been an action film from the late 80's and it was just so refreshing.  So, the DVD hits and the transfer is excellent.  On the second disc are a ton of featurettes that cover virtually every aspect of the film.  My favorite bonus feature has to be the front stoop interview/conversation between Bruce Willis and Kevin Smith.  Here's the biggy though, Fox has actually allowed a second edition of the film to be released in the set that's specifically to be copied to portable devices.  This is a great step forward.

7. Star Trek The Original Series HD-DVD

Star Trek fans take notice because this restoration is stunning.  Not only is everything rendered in amazing high def with all of the scratches, dirt, and blemishes removed but most of the space scenes have been redone with CGI.  Now before you purists start going crazy you should really take a look at the way the effects have been redone.  The ships are done with CGI but they still look just as campy and of the era as ever.  In the original series there were a scant few shots of the Enterprise in the entire series so this time there are no repeated shots and we get tons of new angles of the ship.  Along with this release offers a substantial bonus features upgrade.

6. Heroes Season One HD-DVD

This is easily the best TV to DVD release of 2007 and a good example of the wide gap between standard def releases and hi def because here we get stunning audio and video quality and a number of extras that rivals big Hollywood theatrical film releases to the medium.  I love the picture in picture commentaries and the cutting edge web enabled features.  The web enabled features are one of the reasons we believe that HD-DVD is the superior medium between it and Blu-Ray.  So we get the best possible presentation of one of the best television series on DVD this year.

5. AC/DC Plug Me In 3 Disc Edition

One of the greatest bands in rock n' roll finally gets a definitive DVD of live performances including some rare performances.  Disc one focuses on various live performances with front man Bon Scott going all the way back to a high school show!  The Second disc covers the Brian Johnson era starting with a performance in Tokyo.  Disc 3 is a mix of performances with both front men on the mic.  All together the discs run over 7 hours.  There are many interviews, promo videos, and much more.

4. 2001: A Space Odyssey HD-DVD

Of course we get a stunning hi def presentation of audio and video showing this seminal film in greater detail than ever before.  Along with the film are extras featuring interviews with every major actor and an additional set of extras featuring interviews with directors influenced with by the film.  The big extra is a complete 1966 radio interview with director Stanley Kubrick discussing his career and the film.

3. Transformers HD-DVD

Ok, I don't believe this is a perfect film.  First of all it's way too long and some of the effects are actually a little to detailed making then hard to decipher.  Now, that said I will say that the film was fun and it had enough nods to old school fans to get any autobot revving.  Along with one of the best looking home transfers this year there are a bevy of extras and some really fun HD-DVD exclusives.  Again this disc takes great advantage of the web enabled features and even promises additional extras as the next film goes into production.

2. Blade Runner 5 Disc Ultimate Edition

This set is obviously not for everyone, but for the true student of film in general or the hardcore fan of this essential film this is a must buy.  In this set we get the same restoration as the above mentioned standard def edition but here it's presented in gorgeous high definition.  The lengthy documentary that comes on the 2 disc edition is here along with what seems like an endless list of additional bonus features, the original theatrical version, the director's cut, and the infamous work print all included.  No release this year had as much work put into it as this one.  Oh and it comes in a kick butt briefcase!

1. Planet Earth The Complete Series HD-DVD

Wow, this is epic.  I know it may seem like this is nothing more than a long National Geographic documentary but believe me it's way more than that.  This is over 10 hours of real dramatic, funny, and amazing coverage of the planet on which we live.  This series ahs more dramatic impact than most movies that hit theaters this year.  The hi def treatment here is deserved and it offers the best way to see this series with stunning detail and fantastic audio.  This is one of those once in a lifetime events that must be watched by everyone and is the ultimate demo for that new HD-DVD player and plasma TV.

-Stephen Lackey