DVDs I Own Ranked By Quality, Appeal, And Features
Submitted by grandpa_chum on Mon, 10/25/2004 - 01:25
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- Once Upon A Time In The West The best menus i have ever seen on a dvd... not only are they great, showing clips and using the music and all, they don't drone on forever, very well timed and really give off a great feel... coupled with the best and most complete special features package i've ever seen... including historical featurettes, numerous documentaries centering around the director, trains in cinema, leone's operatic west, along with actually readable acter profiles, the original trailer, and a very cool modern hidden trailer(disc 2, arrow right or left on the main menu and it will highlight the menu title... click ok and enjoy) I don't see how a fan of the movie, or non fan for that matter, could not see this as one of the best dvds ever put out... granted i only have about 80dvds, but this is by far the best one i have. it helps that i think it's also the best movie ever made. Another great feature is that it doesn't come in a slip case... so there is no folding or anything, just a simple double decker case that snaps closed. I know this may be losing credibility seeing as how i now have it as the best dvd, film, western, and score ever created... but it's just that good... trust me.
- Boogie Nights it's not even the special edition... and beyond looking great it has a shitload of deleted scenes, with and without commentary, audio commentary, a super-cool music video directed by PTA, some other nice features and great quality.
- Magnolia: Platinum Edition This one is up here purely for appearance, it just looks great inside and out... design and art is amazing and the special features are pretty good too... no bores here, but nothing too special either.
- Once Upon A Time In The America Some decent documentaries and excerpts from specials... this would probably be higher if they just would have bit the bullet and put the whole hour long sergio leone:once upon a time documentary in there instead of just the segment on america... anyway, like west it has some of the greatest menus you could possibly have, really gives out a mood for the movie, although this one, although shorter does seem to drone on a bit too long.
- Rocky Scratch that, this is the best single disk dvd out there... that i've seen anyhow... great music... cool video menu... not bad extras... a documentary... very good insight on the actual making... not just the movie.
- Rudy Probably the best single disk dvd out there... tons of features including a documentary on the true story, one of quality which every "based on a true story" film should have... along with the isolated score... and what a great one it is... definitly worth the 11 bucks i paid for it... definitly had a part in it's high ranking... simple yet great.
- The Quiet Man Another great single disc wonder. Great picture quality compared to what i saw on TCM... the sound is also great for such an old movie... again compared to what i heard on tv... the menus are nothing special but the special features are great... again going with the unpopular but widely used historical documentary that focuses on things outside the movie... along with a great quiet man montage... which not enough dvds have... just a 5 minute montage of memorable scenes... although they do leave out the best one... not big on quantity but definitly there on quality.
- The Royal Tenenbaums: The Criterion Collection Great features... hard to navigate and full of intermenu garbage... but looks great and has a lot of stuff in it... ranging from behind the scenes to artwork in the film... definitly a wes product.
- Groundhog's Day The simple one disc version in case they have come out with a special edition since then... it's a fun dvd with a few extras a great little featurette and nice cartoon menus that mock the town in the the movie and things that happen there... there is some inter-menu animation but it's bearable.
- Punch Drunk Love Very Beautiful... great look, but just didn't wow me with what it had to offer... a lot of pointless stuff i didn't get anything out of... some features that simply had scenes from the movie that really didn't even matter shown... looks great but nothing special otherwise.
- Almost Famous Good Idea... decent Look... but navigates terribly... way too much intermenu garbage... stuff flying around too much to look at... has some great features that i really like and the quality of the film is second to none... but just too bogged down by poor mechanical design... doesnt' run smoothly enough.
- Magnum Force You would think that all the dirty harry dvds are cool... but this is the only one that really captures the badassery of dirty harry and the menu music is perfect... decent extras... more than the original... and the quality is also better than the original... as far as the movie... don't get discouraged because it's a damn good sequel.
- Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels Besides the menus looking great and working easily and smoothly, this dvd also helped me out on the language in the film... i thought it was a joke, but the guide that is on the dvd about the london slang really helped... i had no idea about the rhyming thing, which actually comes in handy when trying to listen to the dialog... along with Uk and Us Trailers and decent quality to the actual picture.
- Pulp Fiction Would be much higher... but i just hate pointless unsmooth, slow intermenu video garbage... great music... I love the text commentary as opposed to an audio track... every movie should do it that way... the trivia is cool... all in all very good... but why with tthe pointless intermenu crap... WHY!
- The Cowboys This simply makes it because it has over 20 trailers for related movies either starring john wayne or in the genre of old classic western... not to mention a decent featurette and mood setting still menus that run very smoothly... there are a couple other features i don't remember. still have yet to watch the movie... but i'm hoping the quality holds up. again readable acter profiles.
Author Comments:
No weight is given to the actuall content of the movie... simply the quality of the picture, given the estimated quality of the original, menus, appeal, apearance, and special features(both quantity and quality). just so you know i'm not putting them all on here... i own over 80 and most of them are nothing special. Just the good ones. More to come once i get them... or discover how great they are on a repeat viewing.
Once Upon a Time in the West is an incredible film and DVD. The fact that my local Best Buy was practically giving this one away for ten bucks recently staggers the mind!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
PS - I assume The Royal Tenenbaums disc(s) you are writing about is the Criterion Edition, not the standard issue (which I have seen up for rent, but come to think of it, I have never seen in the store for purchase...), but you might consider mentioning that...
agreed and changed... i also got my OUATIW cheap... got it in a deal with america for 25$... what a steal!