Best DVDs of 2006

Not to sound like I'm just endlessly plugging this release because it's new, but Street Trash is probably the best set I've seen all year. It's worth it just for the incredible documentary that's bundled with it.

Slither comes with extras that are everything a fan of monster movies could hope for.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Ultimate Edition is finally the definitive version- packed with more than you could possibly want to know about the flick.

I think the Masters of Horror discs deserve a heads up, too. If you're a fan of any of the directors you're not going to find a better set of featurettes on them anywhere.

I'd mention that new Oldboy set, but haven't had a chance to check it out yet...

Keep this slot reserved next year for the Jodorowsky transfers.

No love for the Criterion Seven Samurai discs? Probably the greatest Birthday present I was ever given. Just a wonderful version of the film with incredible documentary stuff.

The Masters of Cinema Kwaidan is also pretty spectacular.

Your avatar makes me feel bad for owning the HK Kurosawa collection...

Seconding the TCM release. Better than a lot of Criterions.

Dazed & Confused - Criterion

Legends of Horror Collection - quietly restoring the racist, pre-Code Mask of Fu Manchu. Also, Bald Peter Lorre in Mad Love.

Gojira

Dark Shadows - Bloopers

I agree with all of these except for KING KONG. Otherwise, your list is spot on. Especially when you add Criterion's new SEVEN SAMURAI.

I am with you, sir.

Those two flicks cannot come fast enough.

Apocalypse Now: the Complete Dossier deserves a mention, for including both cuts of the film, fascinating features, and cool packaging. Plus it was like 15 bucks in Canada when it was released, which is amazing.

I agree. I particularly love the "Pick Me Up" Disc- the episode itself is good stuff, but it's the Cohen/Moriarty extras that really do it for me.

Cohen cracked me up with his "Where's da broads? Where's Jill St John?". what a genuinely interesting and funny guy.

I'd probably rate the Apocalypse Now set as my favorite if it included Hearts of Darkness. As I haven't yet gotten my copy of the new 3-Disc Seven Samurai release, my pick for DVD of the year is Criterion's The Double Life of Veronique. I've been waiting for ages to get this film on DVD, and Criterion managed to improve on the already great MK2 and Artificial Eye releases from earlier this year.

I was pretty fond of the Infifilm re-release of Nightmare on Elmstreet and the 20th Anniversary Edition of Platoon.
Also, the DVD release of the 3Extremes was pretty damn good.

With a 5.1 mix that lets you hear that bug flying into Brando's mouth.

You know what we need? More "Best of the year" lists.

Seriously. The folks at Unearthed have been doing some great work.

I got that for my birthday, and it's definitely the best DVD I've picked up this year (haven't gotten the Seven Samurai yet, though). Hard to believe that there were people in this forum questioning the film's worthiness of Criterion treatment.

What about the SE's of All the President's Men, Dog Day Afternoon and Network?

The Network disc is awesome as is the film of course.

I would add Superman 2 : Donner Cut. Say what you will about the final product, but the very notion of something like this happening five years ago, nay, two years ago was unfathomable.

I can't really disagree with any of the other listings.

Star Trek: Animated Series is nifty with some decent extras.

Yeah, I'm definitely a fan of that disc. Great to see some Unearthed love on the board.

Something like what? A hack editor ruining what could have been a truly amazing cinematic resurrection with amateurish cutting, sound and visual effects? If so, you might be right. I would have never fathomed that would happen.

The Conformist isn't packed with features but if it wasn't for 2 mentions of it in Entertainment Weekly I wouldn't have heard of it.Glad I did...it's pretty great.

GRIZZLY
DIRTY MARY, CRAZY LARRY
THE PASSENGER
SUPERMAN II (Special Edition)
RUMBLE FISH (Special Edition)
APOCALYPSE NOW (The Complete Dossier)
The Luciano Ercoli 3-Disc Set
The Emilio Miraglia Box Set

I hardly think you can blame the editor for the quality of the visual effects. They had a pretty small budget for the project. Maybe you can pin craft services' bad sandwiches on him while you're at it.

And that said, you can't tell me that some of the effects weren't improvements. The awful cartoon flame thrower effect from the original, for instance.

In this case, I think I can, since the editor was also in charge of the restoration and supervising the visual effects.

You're really stretching on this and I'm not sure why. The flames were improved, I guess, but that's a few mere seconds out of a collossal missed opportunity.

Someone (I can't remember who) said that the problem a lot of fans are having with this cut is that they're expecting it to be the Ultimate Cut of SUPERMAN II instead of merely The Richard Donner Cut, which is what it really is (for the most part.) I'm certainly guilty of that. But it doesn't change or invalidate my opinion that it was a shoddy restoration.

I'm not sure how much money and effort you expected them to put into a restoration that was going to involve cutting together a couple of screen tests for one of the unfilmed scenes. This was never intended to be a full-on release of a completed film. It was intended as a curiosity for completist fans. Now personally, I still think it's a better film than Lester's version, which I've never been terribly fond of. But I think you were expecting a bit much from a project that never finished filming. It's a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces that they filled in with pieces from a different puzzle. It was never going to be Lawrence of Arabia. That ship sailed twenty-five years ago. A huge budget and Stuart Baird couldn't have given it the theatrical quality that everybody wanted.

Ironically, that was one of the rough patches that actually kind of worked, I thought.

Then it should have been included as a supplement in a SUPERMAN II special edition DVD, not released on its own as, essentially, "a full-on release of a completed film." And still, it's got little to do with how much was spent as what was done with that money. As I've said a few times now, I went in to the RDC with an open mind about its incompleteness -- and I still have no problem with that. It's the choices that were actually made with the material that ended up on screen that I have a problem with. It has less to do with money and more to do with talent and good taste, which in my opinion, are lacking in this version.

My expectations for this were always realistic. You're mistaken in thinking that I have a problem with this project's scope or ambition. I don't. As I said in my first "review" here at CHUD -- http://chud.com/forums/showpost.php?...98&postcount=6 -- I applaud Warners for going through with this, and hope they do it again if the need arises.

But if a studio gives you $5 to fix a shot of an average sky, and they ask you, what color should the sky be, and you say "red," chances are, that's a bad decision that has no bearing on how much is spent on fixing that shot. For me, The Richard Donner cut is crippled by similiarly poor decisions that have little or nothing to do with budget.

Back on topic:

I noticed that today's L.A. Times listed their best and worst of DVD in 2006 today. One of their "best" was the STAR WARS TRILOGY set because it finally included the original versions of the films, giving the fans what they wanted.

Is it that journalists are on Lucasfilm's payroll, or they simply don't pay attention to detail any more?

It's that they don't pay attention (or care) anymore.

When my local critic ran a review of Pirates 2, he referred to Davy Jones as "played by Bill Nighy, under a ton of makeup." It's his job to know details about the film, and I'm sure the studio sent out a press release about the work ILM did to create Jones & his entire crew.

I even wrote an email to inform him of it, just in case he had no idea. When it was released a couple of weeks ago on DVD, it was his "pick of the week". And his review for it wasn't as long as the original one, but it was copy and pasted from the original, with the same incorrect statement. Maybe I'm just picky about this type of thing because I'm a CG animator, but it has to be lack of pride in the job, or just plain laziness...

No love for the Dust Devil 5-discer?

It's a fantastic version of the movie and his documentaries, but the extras are essentially Richard Stanley talking about how the man from his dreams would kill him if he didn't get the film finished. It does have a comic where the Dust Devil kills Hitler though.

Check out Dinosaur Valley Girls, the Mammoth Edition. It's one of those odd indie gems that's not to be taken too seriously, but fun to check out.

solomon

These have been said, but the Oldboy tin and the Seven Samurai Criterion releases are both outstanding. My picks for favorites of the year.

Grant that I own the Ultimate Edition of Oldboy, too. I just can't say no to pimped-out Oldboy releases.

Speaking from the UK, I'm very happy with the ultimate metal case edition of The Fly and the rather impressive extras on Doctor Who season 2.

DVD of next year will clealry be Twin Peaks season 2, though.

Hmmm... let's not forget about these (some have already been mentioned):

Seven Samurai: Criterion
Best of Youth
Forbidden Planet: UCE
Complete Mr. Arkadin: Criterion
Ultimate Superman Collection
Ultimate James Bonds
Munich: Limited Edition
Essential Art House - 50 Years of Janus Films
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
West Wing - Complete Series
United 93 Limited Edition
Equinox: Criterion
Astaire & Rogers: Ultimate Edition
Planet of the Apes - The Ultimate DVD Collection
When the Levees Broke
John Wayne-John Ford Film Collection
John Ford Collection
Delicatessen
The New World
Tristram Shandy - A Cock and Bull Story
The Proposition
Brick
Inside Man
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Syriana
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Good Night, and Good Luck
The Squid and the Whale
Kingdom of Heaven (4-Disc Director's Cut)
Godzilla - Gojira Deluxe Collector's Edition (2 DVD set)
The Green Mile (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
Dust Devil - The Final Cut
Street Trash
Maniac Cop: SE
Pirates of the Caribbean 2
A History of Violence
Walk the Line: CE
The Conformist
1900: Special Edition
Reds: Special Edition
All the President's Men: SE
Network: SE
Dog Day Afternoon: SE
Rumble Fish
The Passenger
Grizzly
Dazed and Confused Criterion Collection
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Ultimate Edition
Peckinpah Legendary Westerns
Junebug
Eraserhead
Short films of David Lynch
Young Mr. Lincoln: Criterion
Kind Hearts and Coronets: Criterion
Elevator to the Gallows: Crtierion
Canterbury Tale: Criterion
Yi Yi: Criterion
Playtime: Criterion
Amarcord: Criterion
Fists in the Pocket: Criterion
Metropolitan: Criterion
The Virgin Spring: Criterion
Lust for Life
Ten Commandments: 50th Anniversary
The Unbearable Lightness of Being: SE
Ryan's Daughter: Special Edition
Grand Prix: Special Edition
Collison Course
Reel Paradise
Class of 1984: Special Edition
Action! - Complete Series
Dirty Dozen: Special Edition
Cecil B. Demille Collection
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: Special Edition
Valley of the Dolls: Special Edition
World's Fastest Indian
Rock and Roll Nightmare: Special Edition
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection
The Tough Guys Collection
Slither
Double Indemnity: Legacy
Billy Wilder Speaks

While some are kind of movie only, at least we got the movie on DVD this year. That's an achievement in itself. Additionally, some of these movies I loathe, but their actual discs are packed full of useful, semi-useful, and completely entertaining extras.

I almost put The Great Raid on my list for this reason. Talk about a crash course in history. Too bad about the film.

Arrested Development Season 3, never went too far from my DVD player