Top 50 DVDs

Muftakkabe327 writes "TheForce.net points to UGO's Top 50 DVDs feature where Star Wars makes a healthy appearance at #11. Whether that's high enough to keep fans from rioting remains to be seen. Other nerd-friendly fare on the list include Evil Dead, Lord of the Rings, Ghostbusters, Akira, Dawn of the Dead, Freaks & Geeks and Led Zeppelin. "

Comments

Bias

[r_glen]

Is it really fair to rate Trilogy/Quadrilogy box-sets against single DVD's?

According to UGO, Men In Black is better than all three Star Wars movies combined? Really?

Re:Bias

[nightsweat]

Star Wars does not have Will Smith, therefore Star Wars must be inferior to Men in Black.

This is the "Principle of Jiggy-osity".

Re:Bias

[papadiablo]

It is obviously not rating the movies themselves, but rather the DVDS total content, as in special features, etc, contained on the disc and bonus discs. Even given that, it is a bit surprising that Men In Black would beat out the Star Wars Box Set.

Re:Bias

[Anonymous Coward]

That's Mr. Jada Pinkett Smith to you, punk.

Re:Bias

[AfterSchoolSpecial]

Well, we are living in the "Willennium"...

Re:Bias

[Anonymous Coward]

"According to UGO, Men In Black is better than all three Star Wars movies combined? Really?"

If it's not based on movies then yeah, it prolly is better. All the SW movies had really were one documentary that was aired on TV. Men In Black edition had a ton of extras and incredible picture and sound transfers.

Plus, Lucas not releasing the trilogy in its original state probably dropped it down the list a little, which I agree with since it should get penalized for that.

Re:Bias

[Sponge Bath]

This is the "Principle of Jiggy-osity".

Isn't that what the professor was referring to in 'Back to the Future'?

"One point twenty-one Jiggy-watts! Great scott!"

Re:Bias

[Yonder Way]

Star Wars: Old and busted
Men In Black: The new hotness

Re:Bias

[adeydas]

Warning, reviews forged by a giant cockroach...

Re:Bias

[frodo from middle ea]

I would put "Reservoir Dogs" right at the top. I mean it has 2 alternate angles for the "ear scene". That alone tops it.

Re:Bias

[williamvergara]

I cant believe that the godfather was 49. What kind of top 50 is that? Everyone knows that the godfather films (specially the first one) are like the best movies ever, and i really mean ever not like then

Re:Bias

[enzoromano]

And what about the big missings: - 2001 A Space Odissey - Blade Runner - Dr Who: the movie Withous at least two of these the list is incomplete, in my opinion.

Re:Bias

[Anonymous Coward]

"Reservoir Dogs" is a Tarantino pile. I just saw "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs". His lack of meaning, and unnecessary complexity, make all of his work shit IMHO. I prefer Guy Ritchie (though some call him a "wanna-be").

Re:Bias

[Anonymous Coward]

Pulp Fiction... Reservoir Dogs... complexity? Huh?

Boo

[loid_void]

Okay, it's call UnderGroundOnline, and they gave ghostbusters a slot at #10. Somethings wrong? Who you gonna call?

Re:Boo

[roseblood]

What is really frightening, not the ghostbusters, but that ESCAPE FROM NEWYOUK was rated higher in the list than THE GODFATHER MOVIES, TRON, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Escape from New York should make the list, it's *THE* classic lame action film set in a sci-fi enviroment, but there's no way in hell being the best of the bad is better than being one amongst a herd of great movies.

Re:Boo

[Anonymous Coward]

> What is really frightening, not the ghostbusters, but that ESCAPE FROM NEWYOUK was rated higher in the list than THE GODFATHER MOVIES, TRON, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Escape from New York should make the list, it's *THE* classic lame action film set in a sci-fi enviroment, but there's no way in hell being the best of the bad is better than being one amongst a herd of great movies.

Even on a harmless movie thread, those GNU/Linux people have to find a way to bash Windows :)

Re:Boo

[loid_void]

yes agreed, and perhaps they should have more categories (like netflix's RSS feeds), but no, that might complicate things. I shudder to think...

Re:Boo

[gl4ss]

you don't get it.

saving private ryan, godfathers and such are FUCKING OSCAR GRADE MOVIES, WHATS UNERDGROUND ABOUT THEM???

now shitty movies, they're really underground!

Re:Boo

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Escape from New York should make the list, it's *THE* classic lame action film set in a sci-fi enviroment

I'm sorry, I believe you're confusing it with the final part of number 3.

Re:Boo

[Anonymous Coward]

They're rating the DVDs, special features and all, not just the movies.

Re:Boo

[OzRoy]

This is not a list of the best movies.

I agree that all the movies you mentioned are better than Escape from New York, but that's not what this list is about. This is a ranking on the quality of the DVD release. A rating based in the extra's you get with the movie.

Re:Boo

[Goldberg's Pants]

Score:5, Insightful, on a post from someone who clearly didn't read the article. Otherwise they'd have known it was the best DVD's, not the best MOVIES.

And Godfather is overrated piffle, and men only say they like it because they fear their friends may think they're gay if they don't, despite the underlying homosexuality in all three films.

Si-fi/fantasy

[COMON$]

I couldnt help but notice the rather large amount of Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movies on that list. Anyone have ideas as to why they sell better?

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[tOaOMiB]

I don't think this is a list of what DVDs sold the most--just UGO's personal picks.

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[LiquidCoooled]

Would you rather see things like Gigli in the list?

Hell, I think even the football jocks would rather watch LoTR than that kind of crap.

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[Duhavid]

Because it is easier to enter an epic/mythic story in scifi/fantasy. The watcher of the movie wants to escape his/her/its hum-drum existance, and scifi/fantasy is better at getting them there.

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[bonch]

Maybe because sci-fi/fantasy geeks want to own the films and watch them over and over, and watch the extras. Other people (read: normal) most likely just rent movies now and then such as comedies and dramas. I can't imagine someone getting passionately excited about buying "The Terminal;" I'm sure many people just rent it, watch it, and don't want to see it again. But geeks will BUY freakin' Lord of the Rings, damn you.

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[Hieronymus Howard]

All that sci-fi and the fuckwit doesn't have Bladerunner in his top 50. It's obvious that this list was compiled by a moron.

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[Anonymous Coward]

"Would you rather see things like Gigli in the list?

Hell, I think even the football jocks would rather watch LoTR than that kind of crap."

I personally haven't seen Gigli, but from what I hear, it sucked horribly. I also doubt it had any nice extras on the DVD, or really made any money. Why would it be on anyone's Top-50 list?

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[tomhudson]

Definitely. Bladerunner, Spaceballs, and the original Terminator. In that order (sure, T2 had better effects, but Terminator was the defining movie).

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[Blondie-Wan]

That's because the Blade Runner DVD, while indeed featuring an excellent movie, is not much of a DVD - it's pretty much the movie and nothing else (and reputedly a transfer that could stand improvement, at that). This UGO list ranks the DVDs not just on the merits of the movies themselves, but on their DVD presentations as well - quality and quantity of extras and whatnot. By that criteria, the existing disc of Blade Runner doesn't make the cut, though undoubtedly the long-promised 3-disc, 2-version, extras-laden special edition will place very highly on a future version of the list, so long as it does in fact come out.

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi!

We're still waiting for another plagiarized review posted to the front page of Slashdot. Well, where is it douchebag?

Re:Si-fi/fantasy

[Anonymous Coward]

On a tangent, I keep wondering about freaking Led Zeppelin included as nerd stuff. They hardly were about nerds, computers and rock'n'roll...

The Matrix at #3

[DoubleDownOnEleven]

I can understand the first movie being up there. But a box set? After the second two were so disappointing, I'd really rather own just the initial movie, even with all the extras available in the box set.

P.S. Did anyone else notice some pretty obvious similarities to Dune in the 3rd movie?

Re:The Matrix at #3

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, noticed this myself, probably because the Wachowski brothers ripped the movie idea off from someone who sent them a script 20 years ago.

Re:The Matrix at #3

[JahToasted]

The beginning seemed a lot like return of the jedi to me. Neo in a coma, Han frozen in carbonite. Leia negotiating with Jabba, Trinity negotiating with the frenchmen (while he was laughing a corny laugh like old Jabba). Neo meeting with the machine emporer while Morpheus at al fight the machines down on the forest moon of endor.

I'm not sure which is more silly, the ewoks or those APU's, these heavily armed war machines that leave the operator completely exposed.

Re:The Matrix at #3

[bonch]

The box set is probably up there because of the first movie included in it--it's a new digital transfer that beats the pants off the original. Totally worth it (and worth it for the DVD extras of the sequels, regardless of the quality of the films).

Re:The Matrix at #3

[Dogtanian]

Trust me; I am *no* Star Wars fanboy- I reckon the trilogy is in general way overrated. But I'll take "Return of the Jedi" over "Matrix Revolutions" anyday. At least Jedi was an entertaining film, M3 was just wooden, po-faced and *boring*.

I thought the APUs were damn stupid too. Especially the way they waved the mechanical arms in the air when they were massed together like that. Possibly the biggest display of brain-dead testosterone-stuffed macho bullshit war-movie posturing. Look, when you have an exoskeleton weighing, what?... 2 or 3 tons, you don't wave the damn thing around in front of your neighbour- who, of course, doesn't have any protection in front of himself. Complete fucking bullshit.

And this contrasts very badly indeed with the first film which was, as mainstream cinema, brilliant and innovative.

Re:The Matrix at #3

[Anonymous Coward]

After the second two were so disappointing...

P.S. Did anyone else notice some pretty obvious similarities to Dune in the 3rd movie?

No, because when the second one sucked, I got a clue and didn't go to see the third one!

I honestly cannot believe the people who complain about how sucky a film is and then throw even more money at the producers to watch even more of the same crap. And then go out and buy the DVD. And then the box set. And then the special edition. This goes for Star Wars too.

Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[winkydink]

Top 50? Top 50 DVD's? What was the criteria? Movies you can watch without having to think all that much?

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Anonymous Coward]

Top 50? Top 50 DVD's? What was the criteria? Movies you can watch without having to think all that much?

Movies to watch while stoned is what I think.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[loid_void]

and don't you think they should remove the line "of all time"? Really.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[hackstraw]

Top 50? Top 50 DVD's? What was the criteria? Movies you can watch without having to think all that much?

I always thought that tv shows based on countdowns and top XX lists were a sign of a lack of quality programming.

Hmm.

The funniest is when MTV has a top XX music video countdown.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[eviloverlordx]

and don't you think they should remove the line "of all time"? Really.

Absolutely. The technology hasn't been out for the general public for even 10 years, and they're talking about the best disks of all time? They've got to get real. When someone comes up with a way to get a DVD to transport hot chicks bodily into my living room, then I'll consider it the best DVD of all time.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[eno2001]

I noticed that The Blade Runner is conspicuously missing. If that movie is not on the list, then the list must be kil... err.. retired. :)

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[paulschroeder]

I noticed that too. UGO's choices seem to be diametrically opposed to [the majority of] the AFI's selections.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[antifoidulus]

Pearl Harbor made it, so it cannot be soley on the quality of the movies! (Actually, if you read the page, they admit the movie pretty much does suck, but the extras are quite interesting). I think it's based mostly on what the DVD includes, but having a good movie behind it never hurts!

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Monkelectric]

This is not a troll. I seriously don't understand the fascination with Blade Runner. I saw the special edition and thought it was very average. Could you please explain why it deserves to be on a top 50 list?

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[nester]

You haven't seen Dark City or Mememto, have you?

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[vondo]

These are their top 50 DVDs of all time, not the top 50 movies on DVD. They are rating these on video quality, sound quality, amount and quality of extras, etc.

I don't think I've seen the "Citizen Kane" DVD, but it probably wouldn't rate high on their scale since the video is probably from an old print, the sound might be mono, and there is probably not an insightful commentary track by Orson Wells.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[bani]

By the criteria you list, then the Stargate SG1 boxsets would have to be #1. Incredible amount of extras, and incredible value for the money (an entire season for $50!)

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Dogtanian]

I noticed that The Blade Runner is conspicuously missing.

If they were rating the overall DVD package, and not just the film on its own merits, then damn right it shouldn't be in there.

The current transfer (at least the one available in the UK) is quite dark, and the quality is nothing special. If I remember correctly (and I haven't bought it, because I reckon they'll bring out a better transfer/set), it includes next-to-no extras.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[P0ldy]

Even if he had seen Dark City or Memento, the comment is still entirely justified. The list proves unequivocally that 95% of Americans think cinema didn't exist before Star Wars, and movies aren't made outside of Hollywood. (Before you say The Godfather is on the list, it's "cool" and "indicative of masculinity" to like The Godfather.)

The Dark City DVD is BARE. A commentary track by Ebert, who's always been a poor critic, makes it to their Top 50 DVDs? Meh.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Anonymous Coward]

Top 50 DVD's

Exactly what it says. Not Top 50 Movies (where's Casablanca?) but Top 50 DVDs.

Releasing edited Star Wars on DVD? Ouch, down a rank or two there. At least it came out ahead of Star Trek. However, it was beaten out by ET, but READ the description of ET: Both the 1982 and the 2002 version together, with a music score only track, new commentary and a bonus soundtrack CD. Now I want to buy it! They even throw in a jab at Spielberg about how it really should be done in the DVD business.

Take a look at why Lord of the Rings was #1: Massive amounts of extra footage in the movie itself. Massive amounts of extras. These have nothing to do with whether or not the movie was good, its all about the DVD. Alien Quadrilogy came in #2 for having more extras discs than movie discs.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[zapp]

But, how is the sound and video quality? Since its a TV show on DVD, I wouldn't expect much (surround sound? Wide screen?)

Also, $50 for a single season of any show is REDICULOUS. I would maybe think of paying $50 for the entire, full, complete collection of one of my favorite series.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[gl4ss]

the bladerunner dvd release kind of sucks ass.

great movie(saw the directors cut in a theatre in the late 90's too! special showing, was fucking beautiful! and i was born in 1981 so no chance of seeing it back then..).

but the dvd sucks ass, it's quite old and it could use some extras.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[TheAntiCrust]

I always felt 50 bucks for a season was ludicrous. Selling DVDs of TV shows is like an icing on the cake to me and paying like 300 dollars to own a six season show is INSANE. They should be less becuase they were already on friggin TV for free with thier ad/cable revenue. I love Stagate, but unless (when it is finally over), I can get the whole entirety of the series for 100-150 bucks, I wont. Also, other than the simpsons, I cant see myself shelling out that much for any other series.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[hazem]

I don't know how old you are, but think about it in the context of the movies of the time. It's deep, has great effects that don't disrupt the story-telling, it does make you think, and even leaves some un-answered questions. It think for its day, it was remarkable and groundbreaking.

I mean, imagine watching Star Wars today, having never seen it, and you'd probably not be very impressed.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[alib001]

From the site:

PEARL HARBOUR
You'll be checking your carpet for water.

Because you'll soil yourself in protest?

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[bani]

compare it to the cost of other series, such as DS9 or TNG which run nearly $200 a season. it's a good deal in that respect.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Monkelectric]

Ah so its a "had to be there thing?"

Nobody understand my facination with Monkey Island or Metroid if that dates me :)

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[EvanED]

"I think it's based mostly on what the DVD includes, but having a good movie behind it never hurts!"

It certainly seems like that to me too. If you read the descriptions, they talk about the extras and quality of the picture and sound moreso than anything about the quality of the movie.

I'm sure being a good movie doesn't exactly decrease the chances of getting a good place in the list, but it doesn't gurantee it, nor does being a mediocre movie remove it from the running.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Moofie]

How many hours of entertainment in one season of TV? How many hours of entertainment in three movie DVD's?

$50 for a season of a dozen episodes (45 minutes each) doesn't seem unreasonable. I paid $35 for all of Firefly, and that was a killer deal. I'd have gladly bought more...but there is no more.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[OrangeTide]

You can order the asian imports. But the packaging quality is quiet low. I had to get 4 of my discs out of the 7 DS9 box sets I ordered. The people selling the box sets didn't mind replacing them though, they even ate the shipping cost. I'm guessing they make a ton of money off them.

btw- as far as I can tell, buying asian imports is legal. It just violates the contract between paramount and it's distributors. I could be wrong though, please MPAA don't take away all my DS9 dvds!

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Lips]

That is a fair question. I guess you have to like the movie. I for one love this movie. The look and feel of the movie is superb. A lot of people seem to like this movie. 4 out of 5 stars from 779 reviews on Amazon. Sure Amazon isn't the final say, but thats a lot of reviews.

In the end, its a matter of personal taste, and UGO seem to lack it.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[bani]

the MPAA will be over in an hour to pick you up. you'll recognize them easily when they arrive, they'll be the ones flying in apache helicopters and armed with M16's.

after all, only terrorists import DVDs. it's treason against the US economy. to the gallows with you.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[EvanED]

Well, think about how many episodes are in a season. *Looks at the Simpsons DVD for comparison.* 22 episodes. At, say, 20 minutes each, that's 7h 20m, not including extras, or about 3 1/2 times the length of a typical movie. Amazon has it for 32 bucks (normally $50), or about twice (three) times the price of a movie.

Even ignoring the fact that saying that the price should be proportinal to the length of the content is a pretty stupid argument, it seems like that isn't all that unreasonable.

(Remember, TV shows may have run on the networks and gotten ad revenue, but the movies ran in the theatres and got ticket revenue.)

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[geminidomino]

Using Star Trek is really a BAD example. $50/season might or might not be overpriced, but saying "compare it to the most kitchy, insanely overpriced fanboi sets on the market, it's a steal" is a bit disingenuous.

Disclaimer: I actually DO Like ST:TNG and DS9.
Disclaimer 2: I don't like them enough at $1400/series.
Disclaimer 3: Yes, I spent $400 ea. for B5 and Farscape complete series.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Mr.Radar]

It's not on the list because the DVD edition of Blade Runner SUCKS! It's double sided, but one side is the full-screen version of the directors cut and the other is the wide-screen version of the directors cut (when I don't even think they had a VHS full-screen version of the directors cut). If they were going to make it double-sided they should've at least included the theatrical edition on one side. Also, the menus sucked (it was just some generic WB menu), only 2.0 Dolby Surround (no 5.1 mix?!), no special features (not even the obligatory theatrical trailer), and a "collectors edition" that was nothing more than the regular DVD with some extra posters thrown in for only $55 more. If there's any DVD the list is missing it's The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eigth Dimension, which has got to be one of the most impressive DVD releases I've seen.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[bersl2]

I agree. If TV show boxed sets were half the price / season they are now, I just might buy them instead of using BitTorrent.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man it must suck to be poor like you. I mean, $50 man. That's the cost of a freakin video game.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[PhoenixFlare]

compare it to the cost of other series, such as DS9 or TNG which run nearly $200 a season. it's a good deal in that respect.

DS9 is $116.99 per season, at least on Amazon. Considering that it's 7 discs, 26 episodes+special features...Slightly overpriced per disc, but pretty close to being worth the money for me.

STNG is about the same, $111.99, 26 episodes, 7 discs per season.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[DarkSarin]

I'll have to check out the Buckaroo Banzai dvd--it's hard to find the vhs version round here, though, let alone the dvd.

I find that relatively few folks in my age group are familiar with it though, and I find that very disturbing--its a classic (mayhap a cult classic, but that's okay).

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Anonymous Coward]

BTW, who put that watermelon there?

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Frizzle Fry]

Before you say The Godfather is on the list, it's "cool" and "indicative of masculinity" to like The Godfather.

I think you have Godfather confused with Scarface. Godfather is just a great movie.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Chandon Seldon]

Hint: Your action cannot be illegal because it violates a contract between two other people/companies.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Anonymous Coward]

but the extras are quite interesting

Yeah, like that modern destroyer in Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[P0ldy]

I think you have Godfather confused with Scarface. Godfather is just a great movie.

No, I don't. I doubt you'll find many talking about the brilliance of Coppolla's juxtaposition of Michael's rise and Vito's fall, or the amazing tracking shot of Robert DeNiro on the roof in II as opposed to "men can't be careless" quoting. Scarface is worse, but because of rap.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[JesusQuintana]

Uh, you're so missing the point. The list is not the Top 50 movies. It is the Top 50 DVDs. It has nothing to do with the quality of the movies. Gigli could have made the list if it had a nice DVD. I have seen many of the DVDs and own several. Of those that I can personally vouch for, they all have excpetionally creative packacking, menus, and programming. The quality of the materials and the compression is far superior to many commercial DVDs.

If you RTFA, you will see that the mission of the list is rank the "best examples of what DVD can do for Hollywood." As the FA says, "The advent of DVD has ushered in a bold era where even the most questionable of movie can result in one of the best home video releases of all time."

So not only is your comment hackneyed and completely unsightful (moderators... very poor job), it demonstrates your inability to read English. Like the title says Top 50 DVDs, not movies.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[JesusQuintana]

Save your breath. Apparently, everyone reading slashdot is incapable of reading that this is a list of the top DVDs, not the top movies. And instead of discussing the merits of what makes an excellent DVD release, they're talking about what makes a movie good or bad. Clearly, they are incapable of RTFA.

The same people who just don't get it, probably have never observed the fine quality of these DVD releases. If you downloaded your movies from Suprnova, you can't observe the quality of the releases.

Even the biggest fan of The Evil Dead probably wouldn't try to convince you that it is the No. 4 movie of all time. But damn, the packaging is top notch. The art director of that release should be proud. As should the all the others who worked on this fine list.

And no, I am not the AD for any of these releases. I'd be very proud of my work if I was though.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Anonymous Coward]

if you are pissing water you might want to see a doctor...

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[alib001]

Swing and a miss.

But don't give up - the world needs urologists to take the piss.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[iainl]

Conversely, I'd argue that buying a DVD because the packaging is nice, the extras are long or the image quality is impressive is just _so_ 1999.

DVDs are a way for me to watch good films. I wouldn't buy a disc of a crap film even if it came on a 4-disc set in a box designed by Philippe Starck.

Not to say that I don't appreciate my rather lovely Criterion box set of Brazil, or the amazing restoration job that they did for Spartacus.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Dogtanian]

Conversely, I'd argue that buying a DVD because the packaging is nice, the extras are long or the image quality is impressive is just _so_ 1999.

What? The fashionable mags have told you that it's passe, so you don't do that now, but you would have in 1999?

What does 1999 have to do with it anyway?

I *would* buy a disc of a crap film if I liked the box enough on its own to merit buying it. I've never been in that situation though, and generally I hate box-sets as overpriced crap bought by people with (a) too much money, or (b) *way* too much interest in a particular film(s). In the latter case, the box-set having a single gimmick that gives rabid fans an excuse to buy yet another copy of their favourite movie.

I mean, the new Matrix boxset came in a version with a bust of Neo's head, and though the transparent plastic containing the stacked discs was nice, it struck me as being... well, see above. I don't like gratuitous bloat in packaging and stuff like that anyway.

I mean, it pissed me off that my copy of Akira came on two discs in *two separate cases*. Why?! Did they think it would look better than putting the two discs in one case?

The most expensive DVD I have cost approx UKP 16.00 (roughly US$29.00); most of them were under a tenner. I was never that much into films, and still amn't really (if nothing else, I lack the patience to watch most films in one sitting; strikes me as ironic that since the dawn of attention-sapping MTV, most films have gone from just over 90 minutes to at least two hours, and frequently 135 minutes). But DVD *is* way more watchable than VHS.

I'm not going to dis VHS or video cassettes in general; they're great for something that was basically designed in the early 1970s, and for time-shifting TV, they're great. But they *always* felt vaguely trashy for watching anything of quality (and I realise that I felt this way *before* DVD arrived).

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[TheAntiCrust]

Heres the way I look at it:

It mostly only has value if I buy the whole series, it is dumb to just own 'season 1' or just 'season 3'. So if a show runs a long time, you're going to need to buy a bunch of seasons. That means, in order to watch a six season program in my own home off DVD, I need to spend 300$. That just seems LUDICROUS. It isnt about length or quality or anything like that. Once things start costing 300$+ for me I want them to be interactive and I want them to last a long time. Things of this nature (for me) would be: guitars, computers, camera, TVs, or like an ipod or something.

Personally, I own Firefly, Family Guy, and Futurama. But only becuase they didnt last long enough for me to have to buy a million seasons of them. The thought of rerealeasing something to make an extra buck and then charging SO much just seems a little underhanded to me and I wont support it.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[iainl]

Maybe I'm just a jaded old person now. 2000 just seemed to be around the point where there were enough decent films, decently transferred to DVD, being released that the buying frenzy lots of us had for anything even vaguely watchable that could be used to show off DVD to our friends started to die down a bit.

Certainly, I don't think I'd ever buy anything quite as rubbish as Lost In Space or Godzilla again.

Mind you, if you think your copy of Akira was excessive, you've probably not seen the oversized tin box version that I imported from the US...

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Dogtanian]

My copy of Akira was excessive because it was just a vanilla two-disc set spread across two boxes for no good reason. It wasn't even a nice looking box.

Also, as I mentioned elsewhere, some films still haven't been released properly. Blade Runner, for example. I haven't seen the DVD all the way through (to be honest, I'm not that big a fan of the film), but even at a glance, I wasn't really impressed with the picture-quality. Having read reviews of it, it's apparently quite a poor transfer (not anamorphic AFAIK, so it has the *same damn problem* as my letterbox VHS), and there are quite a few other problems listed.

Plus, the film comes with no extras IIRC. Ideally, Blade Runner should come with a sparkling print, and a copy of *both* versions (two-disc set) at a reasonable price. Personally, I think they'll definitely do that at some stage (it'll be overpriced at first, then appear in a sale), so I'm sticking with my VHS for now.

On a less prestigious level, the current DVD transfer of Top Gun (done in the late 90s IIRC) is poor; apparently Paramount were against DVDs in the early stages, and their transfers aren't that great. So there are a number of films out there, either on DVD or not, that still need a decent DVD release.

And, frankly, Hollywood toss is Hollywood toss and I wouldn't waste time with third-rate Blockbusters regardless of the extras.

Can you give me a link to that oversized tin-box version of Akira, BTW?

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[iainl]

I don't know of anywhere you can get the Akira tin now, sorry. Google can't track down a good pic, either. It sold out in the first week, years ago, but the contents are just the same as your 'normal' release.

Blade Runner is pretty poorly transferred, yes. The picture actually is anamorphic, but it's very grainy. It was actually the first disc Warners ever released in the US, so I'm not that surprised. A fancy 3-disc set with multiple cuts and the rather wonderful Mark Kermode documentary has been on-again, off-again for a couple of years, but there still isn't any sign of it yet.

As for Top Gun, it has just been re-released, complete with correct framing and a new DTS-ES mix; apparently it's well worth the upgrade.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[Trixter]

It can be ordered via Amazon, I believe.

I am appalled that the Buckaroo Banzai DVD didn't make it -- it is easily the most feature-packed DVD in my entire collection -- hell, it even has features for Nuon players!!

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[pod]

Well, I would buy move TV series DVDs, but typically they are too expensive. I always get Buffy and 24 and Trailer Park Boys. I'd love to get ST:TNG and DS9, but they're too expensive, although the Borg cube is kinda neat. I hear good things about Farscape, but I don't get the TV channel, and I'm not shelling out $120+ per season. What's up with sci-fi shows being so expensive? Geeks have too much money to spend? That said, whatever Firefly cost me, it's some of the best money I've ever spent.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[PhoenixFlare]

I'd love to get ST:TNG and DS9, but they're too expensive

What's up with sci-fi shows being so expensive?

Are they really that expensive? 7 discs at $116.99 is $16.71 per disc, or $4.49 per episode.

Maybe I just have a wierd sense of value, but that seems fine to me - i'm left wondering how low the price per disc would have to be before you'd buy it. Not every show can be sold as cheap as Firefly :)

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[OrangeTide]

It's hard to know these days with crazy lobbists tweaking the system to screw the little guy.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[pod]

Well, I think over $100 is a little much. Most TV series are in the 50-80 range. $100 is sticker shock.

Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote?

[JesusQuintana]

"I wouldn't buy a disc of a crap film even if it came on a 4-disc set in a box designed by Philippe Starck."

So in other words, it's what's on the iside that matters. Not the packaging...

So you wouldn't let Paris Hilton suck your knob? Even if you were really drunk?

(Disclaimer: This post assumes you are a straight man who isn't completely repulsed by skanky hoes.)

the list

[gfgarcia2]

UGO's Top 50 DVDs #50. Monsters, Inc. #49. The Godfather Collection #48. Beauty and the Beast #47. The Shawshank Redemption #46. The Fifth Element #45. Saving Private Ryan #44. Field Of Dreams #43. Jackie Brown #42. 12 Monkeys #41. The Killer #40. Dark City #39. Hellboy #38. THX 1138 #37. Black Hawk Down #36. Gladiator #35. The Sixth Sense #34. Superman: The Movie #33. The Royal Tenenbaums #32. Memento #31. Daredevil #30. X2: X-Men United #29. Rushmore #28. Boogie Nights #27. Blade II #26. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace #25. Almost Famous #24. Back to the Future #23. Close Encounters of the Third Kind #22. Pearl Harbor #21. Tron #20. The Goonies #19. Indiana Jones #18. The Mummy #17. Se7en #16. Stargate #15. Clerks X #14. Akira #13. Escape from New York #12. Star Trek Movies #11. Star Wars Trilogy #10. Ghostbusters #9. Dawn of the Dead #8. Men In Black #7. Fight Club #6. Terminator 2 #5. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial #4. The Evil Dead #3. Ultimate Matrix #2. Alien Quadrilogy #1. The Lord of the Rings Best Music DVDs #5. Saturday Night Live #4. The Who - The Kids Are Alright #3. The Last Waltz #2. Led Zeppelin #1. The Complete Monterey Pop Festival Best TV DVDs #5. The Office #4. Mr. Show #3. Band of Brothers #2. The Simpsons & Futurama #1. Freaks & Geeks Editor Picks AllMoviePortal Blues News DVDFanatic Hip Online Starwarz

Re:the list

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks, that really clears things up!

Re:the list

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd have modded this up, but the formating is nonexistant... Nice try... try again...

Re:the list

[Anonymous Coward]

UGO's Top 50 DVDs

#50. Monsters, Inc.
#49. The Godfather Collection
#48. Beauty and the Beast
#47. The Shawshank Redemption
#46. The Fifth Element
#45. Saving Private Ryan
#44. Field Of Dreams
#43. Jackie Brown
#42. 12 Monkeys
#41. The Killer
#40. Dark City
#39. Hellboy
#38. THX 1138
#37. Black Hawk Down
#36. Gladiator
#35. The Sixth Sense
#34. Superman: The Movie
#33. The Royal Tenenbaums
#32. Memento
#31. Daredevil
#30. X2: X-Men United
#29. Rushmore
#28. Boogie Nights
#27. Blade II
#26. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
#25. Almost Famous
#24. Back to the Future
#23. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
#22. Pearl Harbor
#21. Tron
#20. The Goonies
#19. Indiana Jones
#18. The Mummy
#17. Se7en
#16. Stargate
#15. Clerks X
#14. Akira
#13. Escape from New York
#12. Star Trek Movies
#11. Star Wars Trilogy
#10. Ghostbusters
#9. Dawn of the Dead
#8. Men In Black
#7. Fight Club
#6. Terminator 2
#5. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
#4. The Evil Dead
#3. Ultimate Matrix
#2. Alien Quadrilogy
#1. The Lord of the Rings

Best Music DVDs
#5. Saturday Night Live
#4. The Who - The Kids Are Alright
#3. The Last Waltz
#2. Led Zeppelin
#1. The Complete Monterey Pop Festival

Best TV DVDs
#5. The Office
#4. Mr. Show
#3. Band of Brothers
#2. The Simpsons & Futurama
#1. Freaks & Geeks

-Ignore attempt to keep Slashdot from bitching about formatting- Garbage follows.

# Please try to keep posts on topic.# Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads.# Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said.# Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about.# Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal # Please try to keep posts on topic.# Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads.# Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said.# Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about.# Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal# Please try to keep posts on topic.# Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads.# Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said.# Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about.# Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page)Problems regarding accounts or comment posting should be sent to CowboyNeal

Re:the list

[NanoGator]

Huh. Family Guy isn't up there, but Futurama is. How come that show's not coming back?

Re:the list

[macewank]

#2. The Simpsons & Futurama

Two shows in 1 spot?

Wonder how that works

Re:the list

[Subrafta]

The Godfather Collection would be #1, if it weren't for The Godfather, Part III.

What a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

31. Daredevil
22. Pearl Harbor

Q.E.D.

Re:What a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed. Daredevil, IMO, wouldn't round out the top 1000 of all time. Perl Harbor almost made me sick. I almost walked out of the movie when a bomb brok through three decks of a ship and sat there for 5 seconds so the sailors could look on in horror before it detonated. The people involved with that movie should be embarassed for having put out such a piece of crap that managed to demean and belittle the actual events of that fateful day. If they wanted a WWII love story they should have made the whole thing fictional, battle and all, or at least used some lesser known historical battle that they could have completely rewritten without peoples knowledge.

Re:What a joke

[soliptic]

Agreed, and worse still is Memento at 32!

I mean what are DVDs if not about films with replay value?

What is Memento if not the first well-known movie in years to literally require at least two viewings!?

Re:What a joke

[temojen]

Also, the conspicuous absence of Shichinin no Samurai.

They do have some good ones like dark city and 12 monkeys (but no "la Jetee"?). I think they have only American films (other than Akira).

Re:What a joke

[wheany]

How's the extras on those DVDs?

Re:What a joke

[wfmcwalter]

What is Memento if not the first well-known movie in years to literally require at least two viewings!?

Indeed, it really does require that second viewing. But once you've truly figured out what's going on, and the forward-backward conceit, the third viewing is downright dull. With the tension and ambiguity resolved, Memento turns into a movie with negligible plot and incredibly flat characters. I loved it the first time though, but it has no long term watchability.

Fight Club, on the other hand, is confusing and clever in the same way Memento is, but has far more staying power; there are so many little clues and corners and brilliant lines that it's still entertaining and fresh after a dozen watchings.

Re:What a joke

[tanguyr]

The first time i watched Memento was on dvd with some friends. The disk was scratched or dirty, so it would skip unpredictably back and forth. You will not believe what a weird experience that is - especially when you add in the fact that the chapters in the menu are listed in reverse order.

Re:What a joke

[jfengel]

I was struck at the time by what Roger Ebert had to say about the second viewing:

"The first time, I thought I'd need a second viewing to understand everything. The second time, I found that greater understanding helped on the plot level, but didn't enrich the viewing experience. Once is right for this movie."

(From his review)

I'm told that the DVDs also have alternate cuts of the movie in chronological order. That's a piece of coolness that makes this one of the truly great DVDs.

Re:What a joke

[wfmcwalter]

I had a similar experience with a rental VHS copy of David Cronenberg's "Videodrome". The rental copy (conspiring with a nasty oxide buildup on the cheapo player's play head) began to degrade about half way through, getting grainier and noiser as it went on. By the end it was all snow. Given the subject of the movie, and the preponderance of "distressed" video deliberately present in the original, I was convinced that this way entirely intentional. For _years_ I'd tell people what a clever, original idea this was, having a movie about video messing with you that itself became messier and messier until it vanished entirely. It wasn't until I rented it on video that I discovered the truth. And dammit, I claim my version was _better_ :)

Re:What a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

What is Memento if not the first well-known movie in years to literally require at least two viewings!?

ITYM *three* viewings. Once to watch the film, second to understand it, and third in the right order, courtesy of the easter egg.

Re:What a joke

[Pseudonym]

What is Memento if not the first well-known movie in years to literally require at least two viewings!?

The Sixth Sense came first.

Re:What a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you seen the DVD for Memento recently? The version I played with was a joke. It involved menus that were mini-puzzles to navigate.

When I plop in a DVD, I want a list of features available, and an easy way to access them. I don't want a mini-game, or require the use of a cheat sheet to figure out the stupid thing.

Re:What a joke

[STrinity]

The Sixth Sense doesn't require two viewings. It barely requires one. The "twist" was amazingly obvious if you paid attention from the beginning. Unfortunately, most people shift their brains into neutral when they enter a theater.

Re:What a joke

[xSauronx]

i barely watched it once, that movie annoyed the hell out of me.

Re:What a joke

[greg_barton]

What is Memento if not the first well-known movie in years to literally require at least two viewings!?

Oh, just wait until Primer comes out on DVD. :)

Re:What a joke

[Mikmorg]

Personally, I've seen a lack of shifting. Most people are stuck in neutral.

Re:What a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Only if you didn't get stuck with the shite version that is region 4.

That's right, we ended up with a disc that doesn't have the chronological order easter egg - suckitude, thy name is region 4.

Re:What a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

I deliberately shift my brain into neutral when watching a movie - that way I can enjoy every blockbuster from Hollywood that I watch :)

I don't understand some people's obsession with trying to figure out a movie's twists while they are watching it. I always assumed it was something people of average intelligence did to make themselves feel smarter, or a small section of intelligent people did because they are unable to enjoy anything on an emotional level.

Re:What a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

Well don't get me wrong, Seven Samurai is a great film, but I have seen the DVD of it, and it is just an average DVD, the video quality was great, the commentary was interesting, but those are the only parts of it that have stuck with me from watching the DVD. It doesn't really fulfil the requirements of the list which are to display the best qualities that DVD can do.

Re:What a joke

[ldspartan]

I watched 20 minutes or so of memento with the DVD player accidentally set to "Shuffle".

That was freaking confusing. The way the movie fades and where the track marks are, it was damn near impossible to tell that something wasn't working right. I eventually noticed the track numbers on the DVD players display, and remedied the problem, but christ was that confusing.

Re:What a joke

[pod]

Personally, I don't get that either. I deliberately shift my brain into neutral. It's a _MOVIE_. Entertainment! That way, you can typically wantch any given movie twice.

Although that can lead to some interesting situations. Off the top of my head, I didn't really like The Cell or Existenz the first time around, but like them more each time I watch them.

So I don't try to 'figure out' movies when watching, especially the first time. I think that's a pastime for people who try too hard to impress others. I watch the damn thing, and see where it takes me. This also makes some movies utterly unwatchable, like Bad Boyz or Rush Hour. Oh God, shoot me now.

Goonies?

[smallfeet]

I sorry, but who put this list together? Goonies is number 20? That is just wrong. This list is obviously a joke list.

I get jokes

Re:Goonies?

[AceCaseOR]

Well, Goonies had that nice video cast commentary (Commentary could have been better, as people were talking over each other). But otherwise, as a DVD (not as a movie) yeah, it wasn't that good. It probably could have been lower on the list.

Re:Goonies?

[AsnFkr]

Yea I agree, its way better than most of 1-19. I expected it much higher in the list.

Re:Goonies?

[dewke]

Even worse, Boogie Nights is #28 and ranked HIGHER than good movies like Shawshank Redemption.

Re:Goonies?

[stratjakt]

Rushmore?

Boogie Nights?

Almost Famous?

Blade II?

X-Men United?

Hellboy?

Royal Tenenbaums?

I have no idea how these are ranked, I figured sales but there's no way Hellboy outsold other movies, like say (off the top of my head) Batman or Spiderman (neither of which are listed).

Re:Goonies?

[DeadMeat (TM)]

Not to mention the notable omission of the Criterion Collection version of Brazil. It's hard to take any "Top DVDs" list seriously that doesn't acknowledge the grand-daddy of all over-the-top multi-disc sets.

Re:Goonies?

[Anonymous Coward]

Criterion's Brazil is non-anamorphic, and is therefore shit.

Re:Goonies?

[Agrippa]

Do you ever think before you post, or do you just froth at the mouth so much to be heard on Slashdot you never consider what you are posting on? It is the honest truth that almost everytime I casually read Slashdot and come across a posting that really makes no sense at all to the topic at hand, it has your name attached to it.

If you had taken the time to read, you would of realized they were not ranked by sales, but ranked by a subjective, opinionated review of everything the DVD came with.

.agrippa.

Re:Goonies?

[John Hurliman]

I don't know, Goonies was good but where do you think it should have gone, top 10? I think top 20 is fair.

Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.

Re:Goonies?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish there were a "Stupid" moderation category.

Re:Goonies?

[evalencia1]

Damn right. How many DVD packages have you seen that have TWO versions of the movie - the "director's cut" and the "lobotomised by the industry so we get a happy ending" version.

I wish they'd come out with DVDs that allow you to traverse the movie in two ways - the "cinema version" and then the "director's cut".

it has to be a joke.

[brianconnolly]

i can think of another 50 dvds that are available that come with more extras and features than the ones they listed here (and the movies don't suck ass either).

not more dogdammed Star Wars !

[Sjobeck]

When will you nreds ever let Star Wars go? It is over. OK. Ovber. Forget about it. Move on. It was great the day it came out, but it has not aged well at all, and for some, it even seems dumb now. Thank you.

Where's the pr0n?

[redonion]

It did not make the top 50? Not even one video?

Re:Where's the pr0n?

[dewke]

Does Boogie Nights count as pseudo-pr0n? The first hour or so had a fair amount of T&A.

Based on what?

[stratjakt]

Sales, I imagine.

Which makes me wonder, who really cares? What purpose do articles like this serve?

It's like lists like these exist so that people with nothing rewarding in their lives can read it and go "oh! I've seen, or own, most of those movies! Phew, I can relax! I'm normal like everyone else!"

Meh

Re:Based on what?

[Twench]

THIS IS NOT BASED ON SALES!!!!! This list a rating of the DVD's as a whole. They weren't rating movies or The Godfather Trilogy would be a lot higher than #49. This was an attempt to highlight those DVD's that have a lot of great extras that enhance the value of the DVD above and beyond simply owning the movie.

Re:Based on what?

[EvilCabbage]

"Sales, I imagine."

No such luck. Seems to be a randomly cobbled together list of films, the names of which were pulled from some sort of hat, possibly one of those large ones with beer cans on either side.

Re:Based on what?

[Anonymous Coward]

This list a rating of the DVD's as a whole.

It really makes you realize how fucking stupid 95% of Slashdot posters are. Except for the few voices of reason crying out in vain, the posts are all "X movie sucks and shouldn't be here", "X movie rules and should be here", "What criteria did they use to compile this list?"
No one gets it.

why?

[Anonymous Coward]

why would this article get posted? it's just some guy's top 50 dvd list. it's easily disputed and very biased

This guy is retarded!

[bigbabich]

I wasn't going to say anything when I saw Beauty and the Beast AHEAD of the Godfather...but when I saw DAREDEVIL ahead of the royal Tannenbaums (and with a #31) I have to cast my vote for this guy getting the lobotomy of the year award. What a dumbass.

Re:This guy is retarded!

[cens0r]

And bottle rocket was left of the list! of course that may be because the DVD is pretty plain jane, but it's easily my favorite wes anderson movie. "On the run from johnny law, ain't no trip to cleveland!"

Re:This guy is retarded!

[Jeffrey Baker]

And since Godfather is, possibly, the worst film-to-dvd transfer of all time, it hardly belongs on anyone's top N list where N is finite.

Re:This guy is retarded!

[Trillan]

The Royal Tannenbaums is in the list at all? I have to agree, he's a complete dumbass, but not for the reasons you think. :)

Re:This guy is retarded!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's about the DVDs, not just the movies, dumbfuck. PATTFA (Pay Attention To The Fucking Article).

Re:This guy is retarded!

[Scudsucker]

Probably because Royal Tannenbaums sucked ass hardcore. Nothing more than a montage of scence about how fucked up the family was. Sort of like the chick flick "Devine Secrets of the ya ya sisterhood".

Re:This guy is retarded!

[bryane]

> my vote for this guy getting the lobotomy
> of the year award. What a dumbass.

C'mon. If you disagree, great. Recognize that the folks at UGO made a list that is of some value to them. It is pretty bad when we can't let someone else express an opinion different than our own without calling them names.

Sounds just like standard US politics :-(

THIS STORY FAILS IT

[Anonymous Coward]

(It is making any sense at all)

sadly ...

[Triumph The Insult C]

Artie Lange's "It's the Whiskey Talkin'" isn't on the list

Top 50 DVD List

[NYCVidit]

From my understanding they rate THE DVDS not THE MOVIES. So they based it on stuff like picture and sound quality, commentary value, menus, features, and packaging. The suckiest movie in the world (Pearl Harbor) can still make an impressive DVD for audio/video buffs and those interested in filmmaking (features)

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[dewke]

Now that makes sense. I was lookign at the list and wondering what they were thinking.

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[wheany]

You could have just read some of the reviews.

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[Sir_Real]

Thank you.

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[wayne606]

This is not an especially useful way to rate movies, IMHO. Like, "This is an awesome computer - it's green and the CDROM drawer makes a neat swoosh sound when it opens." No amount of interesting commentary and level of video transfer is going to make me want to watch Daredevil again...

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[porcupine8]

Thank you. I was wondering if any of these people actually bothered to read the reviews, or if they just glanced at the list and started bitching.

Stuff about the actual movie is a short paragraph at the top, 2/3-3/4 of the review is about the special features, etc. If they wanted to make a list of the 50 best movies, they would have called it "Top 50 Movies" - why would it matter that they were on DVD? A good movie is a good movie whether it's on film, VHS, or .mov.

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[imsabbel]

Its useful.
If you are into movies, you have seen them in cinema, on cable, ect.
This list should cover the "should i bother to buy the dvd" question...

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[Anonymous Coward]

From my understanding they rate THE DVDS not THE MOVIES.

Then Showgirls VIP Edition DVD got robbed. What a DVD!

So they based it on stuff like picture and sound quality,...

You haven't experienced DVD technology until you hear lines like this is spectacular 5.1 surround:

Crystal Conner: I like nice tits. I always have, how about you?
Nomi Malone: I like having nice tits.

...commentary value, menus, features,...

Special features of Showgirls VIP edition DVD:

• Trivia Track-Includes revealing information about the film
• Lap-Dance Tutorial Featuring the World-Famous Girls of Scores
• Audio Commentary by David Schmader (Showgirls Aficionado)
• A Showgirls Diary
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Set of Showgirls Shot Glasses
• "Pin The Pasties on the Showgirl" Game With Pasties and Blindfold
• Deck of Showgirls Cards
• Showgirls Party Games
• Elizabeth Berkley Photo Series

...and packaging.

Just look at that AWESOME BOX!

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[Anonymous Coward]

Then you are missing out on a good DVD. The extras on the DVD are great. Hearing from the comic book creators was for me worth the price of the DVD.

Re:Top 50 DVD List

[Fross]

true, but it's not rating movies, it's rating dvd packages. if, similarly, you were rating computer cases, you WOULD be interested in it being green and making a neat swoosh sound :)

personally i found the list quite helpful as there were a few movies on there i didn't mind, but hadn't got on dvd, and seeing the wealth of extras actually got me interested in them.

(and no, i don't mean pearl harbour)

Horrible..

[Anonymous Coward]

This looks like a list compiled by one of those radio affliates who provide positive quotes for even the most horrible of movies. Ghostbusters and Lord of the Rings?? Where are the GOOD films? These are just box office trash.

How incredibly convenient!

[cbrichar]

Incredibly helpful that we're also given a one-sentence catch-phrase for each of the movies, explaining in detail why each deserves to be in the list.

"HellBoy - eh, why not?"

Re:How incredibly convenient!

[stratjakt]

Hellboy, Superman and Daredevil all made the list.

Yet Spiderman and Batman get the finger.

Since it's all subjective, I'll go ahead and say that the first Batman movie was THE BEST superhero movie ever made, until Spiderman 2.

I still remember seeing people in my small town lined down the street, around the corner, and about a mile up the highway when Batman came out. I've never seen anything like that at the local theater before or since.

Re:How incredibly convenient!

[Gulthek]

You can click the movie's title and get a multi-paragraph explanation on what they thought was noteworthy about the DVD.

Cheers, savvy webuser!

Pirates

[flossie]

I can't believe that the film about how bad pirates are didn't make it into the list. I see trailers for it on almost every DVD I've ever seen!

Re:Pirates

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

I can't believe that the film about how bad pirates are didn't make it into the list.

That's because once they've put the treasure back the first time, you lift the curse. As a result, you don't get the special effects on any subsequent viewing, which is pretty poor for a DVD, y'know?

Unfair and incomplete

[karvind]

I am sure lot of slashdot readers are into independent and foreign movies. This list doesn't have any of them. There is no place for documenteries either (example Qatsi trilogy).

Star Wars should be higher.

[GeorgeMcBay]

Ok, I guess I'm a fan coming out of the woodwork, but really... I know it is fashionable to be anti-Star Wars these days, but the original trilogy still kicks all kinds of ass, and the transfer, sound and extras on the original trilogy collection are all top notch.

I'm not saying it should be #1, but seriously, it should NOT be behind Dawn of the Dead, Men in Black or Ghostbusters. Some of the others are debatable, but I don't think those are. I like all of those movies, and own 2 of the 3 on DVD, but cmon.

Re:Star Wars should be higher.

[Anonymous Coward]

From the site:

--It's probably unnecessary, on the other hand, to note that the picture and sound on a Lucasfilm THX-certified release of a George Lucas Star Wars film are perfect, but, for the record, the picture and sound are perfect -- reference quality, as they say -- the pod race sequence (which, in fact, is massively cool) and final cross-cut battle(s) being the standouts here.--

Except it's NOT reference quality. AOTC is a MUCH better DVD. Want proof? Listen to the pod racers warming up on disc one, and then switch to disc two and listen to the same sequence in the deleted scenes. Disc two presents it with reference quality sound; disc one sounds anemic in comparison. Meesa dissappointed.

Regarding the Original Trilogy discs... I bought these movies on abridged Super-8, CED videodisc, original widescreen laserdisc, and the THX Definitive Box from 1992. Total cost: about $500 on just the films themselves, not counting theatre tickets, comic books, action figures, T-shirts, and other assorted paraphernalia. And NOW George Lucas says these movies were "only half done" before this 2004 rerelease?? George, could I please have half of my money back?

I would have bought the DVDs if they contained the original trilogy I know and love from my youth, no matter what other version might be on there. But since they don't, never mind, I'll stick with the "Definitive" laserdiscs.

Re:Star Wars should be higher.

[aero2600-5]

I was reading your post as if it had the chance at being interesting or informative.. and then I saw this:

"Meesa dissappointed."

You, sir, should be shot.

Re:Star Wars should be higher.

[GeorgeMcBay]

From the site:

[...]

Except it's NOT reference quality. AOTC is a MUCH better DVD. Want proof? Listen to the pod racers warming up on disc one, and then switch to disc two and listen to the same sequence in the deleted scenes. Disc two presents it with reference quality sound; disc one sounds anemic in comparison. Meesa dissappointed.

Whatchu talkin' about Willis? You're quoting the review for the Phantom Menace DVD.

I was talking about the Original Trilogy collection.

Re:Star Wars should be higher.

[zonker]

no because he'll have them ready for you to buy on hd-dvd or blu-ray soon (and whatever else comes beyond that)... and by then he'll have changed it even more.

at some point the plot will become unrecognizable, introducing a backstory with jarjar being a jedi knight who taught yoda the powers of the force and has ewoks blatantly advertising the next star wars video game for the ps6...

Re:Star Wars should be higher.

[comedian_999]

When it comes to the quality of the DVD itself (Not the movie, but the whole package), I'll agree on Men in Black and Ghostbusters, but not Dawn of the Dead. Dawn has three different versions of the movie, all with commentary, and a fourth disc including two full-length documentaries. Again; Star Wars OT is an excellent package, but ignoring the original versions of the films loses it a lot of votes in my book.

Re:Star Wars should be higher.

[bill_mcgonigle]

but the original trilogy still kicks all kinds of ass, and the transfer, sound and extras on the original trilogy collection are all top notch.

Umm, you can't get the original trilogy on DVD. All you can get is the late-90's weird-middle-aged-guy revision of the originals on DVD.

Make no mistake, I'm first in line for the originals but you just can't buy them.

Bias schmias.

[Scoopus]

It's obvious the list has a bias... it's a list! It's the site's editorial call. The thing about the list is it's obviously not based on the movie, but on the quality of the extras, transfer, packaging, etc. Sure, there are some discs I disagree with, but for the most part, this seems like a collector's wet dream to me... even if it means owning Pearl Harbor.

Re:Bias schmias.

[d34thm0nk3y]

The thing about the list is it's obviously not based on the movie, but on the quality of the extras, transfer, packaging, etc.

If it is based on DVD quality why is Tron on the list. Damn thing won't even play on my PS2!

Dawn of the Dead

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw the new Dawn of the Dead DVD. I didn't like it. It scared me.

Forget it guys, this is a joke list

[Anonymous Coward]

It's hardly worth even talking about this list.

It's half full of utter junk, whereas films which many would claim to be #1 of all time (eg. Bladerunner) don't even appear.

Ignore it.

Re:Forget it guys, this is a joke list

[eclectro]

whereas films which many would claim to be #1 of all time (eg. Bladerunner) don't even appear.

I too was saddened by that glaring omission.

I was also hoping to see V - the miniseries on that list, as everyone knows you can't beat Jane Badler, June Chadwick as sexy lizard ladies.

Re:Forget it guys, this is a joke list

[wheany]

The list wasn't about he movies, it was about the DVDs.

Re:Forget it guys, this is a joke list

[Mawbid]

The most important thing on the DVD is the movie.

I don't care if The Daredevil comes with fucking PORN, I'm not having it in my house!

normal mac user like list

[Anonymous Coward]

ugo's list is funny in that it looks like it was compiled by an effects spellbound whiny mac userlike geek.

Some of the best movies have almost no effects, actual real dialog, and 'gasp' actual real acting.

Stalag 17, maybe the 1960s Cape Fear, ...

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[abb3w]

Geeks tend to have higher-than-average disposable incomes, and a willingness to apply that to their daft obsessions.

(Says a man who own the Matrix, LOTR, and complete Farscape boxed sets....)

Questionable?

[killermookie]

Okay, this isn't just the top 50 DVDs but the top 50 DVDs of all time? And how is UO qualified for this?

I mean, give me a break:

#39: Hellboy??

#37: Black Hawk Down??

#31: Daredevil??

I'm not saying these are bad movies, but to be considered to be in the top 50 all time best DVDs?

Also, they listed trilogy packs. So does that mean with #2 Alien Quadrilogy that Alien, Aliens, Alien3 and Alien Resurrection are all equally qualified to be the 2nd best DVD of all time?

This is a joke.

Re:Questionable?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sigh.

First, they are *his* picks to make. Deal with it.

Second, the picks are not for movie quality, they are DVD picks, chosen for extras, features, sound & picture quality.

Go make your own list, put it on slashdot, and see how many comments you get with people disagreeing with your own opinion.

Re:Questionable?

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

So does that mean with #2 Alien Quadrilogy that Alien, Aliens, Alien3 and Alien Resurrection are all equally qualified to be the 2nd best DVD of all time?

No, just that Alien and Aliens were so good that they make up for having to have Alien3 and Alien: Resurrection in there as well... ;-)

Re:Questionable?

[porcupine8]

As others have said elsewhere, you're confusing top 50 DVDs with top 50 movies.

Actually, I was wondering why they bothered with the "of all time" moniker... I mean... Isn't that pretty much synonymous with "of the past 15 years"?

Top 5 DVDs in my collection

[aardwolf204]

The Top 5 DVDs in my collection are:

1. Ritek
2. Memorex
3. Imation
4. Taiyo Yuden
5. Verbatim

Of course, you'll need a good Sharpie or equivelent and a copy of DVD Shrink

BTW: Special 100 pack of DVD-R's at newegg... See, both funny and informative.

Re:Top 5 DVDs in my collection

[Anonymous Coward]

is that brand decent?

ive gotten screwed over by some Princo (sp?) brand i found cheap online.

what a waste of money, not a single dvd was useable.

Memorex have been good.

Re:Top 5 DVDs in my collection

[bani]

anything except princo is good.

makes me wonder where the hell princo gets their media from, chinese prison labor?

Re:Top 5 DVDs in my collection

[artifex2004]

makes me wonder where the hell princo gets their media from, chinese prison labor?

prison labor to scrape the recycled AOL cds, with their little kids using industrial chemicals to polish them.

Re:Top 5 DVDs in my collection

[geminidomino]

Bah... why the hell is newegg selling DL DVD drives if they have no DL media!?! Give me my 7.4GB you bitches!!!!

Re:Top 5 DVDs in my collection

[Greego]

Hmm, I also bought some Princo ones online and they fucked up everytime.... until I started burning at 2X speed and they seemed to work OK. It's not really acceptable, but at least I can use the 50 that I bought....

Re:Top 5 DVDs in my collection

[Scudsucker]

I've had good luck with Sonic disks. Can usually burn at 8x, more reliably at 4x. I've had the rare coaster, but at 500 disks for 120 bucks, who cares? Just make sure you verify after burn.

My Favorite DVD...

[The Raven]

is The Matrix. Not only was the movie good, it had excellent other features, such as 'Follow the White Rabbit' mode. These extra features followed in the theme of the movie, and were edited wonderfully. Montages of special effects methods merged with the movie itself wonderfully.

I don't know if The Matrix is on the top 50... I hope so... because despite trying, the site gives me error 414!? URI too long when I try to view the pages. Pfft.

Re:My Favorite DVD...

[wheany]

The comment track on the original DVD was shit. And I don't mean "the shit", I mean it was the shitties shit that has ever been shat from a butt.

The comment track had minutes of silence during which you forgot that you were listening to the comment track and upped the volume to hear the soundtrack of the movie. Then suddenly someone says something insightful like "Carrie Ann is mighty hot in that rubber suit" and you nearly crap your pants because you had raised the volume.

Don't know about the other versions, though...

Re:My Favorite DVD...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mod parent up! Too funny..

Ultimate Fanboy Fighting League

[STrinity]

Sorry, but the Star Wars and Indiana Jones sets don't deserve to be on that list. Don't get me wrong, I love both trilogies, but the DVDs are completely underwhelming. Apart from Irving Kershner on Empire, the commentaries are complete snooze-fests, and the docus in those sets were edited by people who think Bill Moyer specials are the epitome of entertaining documentaries. I'd actually rate the THX-1138 DVD above the Star Wars set -- at least there, Lucas offered an honest appraisal of his career, and actually seemed to enjoy talking about his work.

Re:Ultimate Fanboy Fighting League

[Anonymous Coward]

I mostly agree with you, but the "Empire of Dreams" documentary that came with the Star Wars 4-disc set was surprisingly good. The interviews with Alan Ladd, Jr., and that other Fox exec (the one who told his family what a great day it was after he saw Star Wars for the first time), were awesome. And I loved seeing the horrible screen tests with the awful, convoluted and overly technical dialogue.

Re:Ultimate Fanboy Fighting League

[iainl]

Image quality, to be honest. Both big sets look absolutely stunning, particularly if you're used to watching the original laserdiscs, or even old film prints. I've seen the BFI's battered old print of Raiders several times in recent years, and the DVD is far superior in terms of colour, grain, print damage and sound balance.

Mind you, I'd also agree that Lucasfilm's work on THX-1138 is just as impressive.

Kinda why I don't buy them...

[Fiz Ocelot]

There are so many "Ultimate Editions" out there. There were several Dawn of the Dead DVD releases and numerous other films where you have the "Ultimate Extended Edition 6.1 DTS-ES Digital Discrete Surround 10 different commentaries and 5 versions of the same film! --with alternate endings! And it only took 5 DVD releases to get here!"

So let me say this, "Why should I buy the DVD if it seem like there will invariably be yet another better edition of the same thing?"

From the forums...

[Evil Attorney]

Our Top 50 DVDs of All Time. Remember, these aren't the Top 50 Greatest movies of all time - we are judging how worthwhile the actual DVD is in terms of quality and extras.

The IMDB?

[bfizzle]

What is wrong with the IMDB Top 250 movies?

Re:The IMDB?

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

That's the top 250 movies.

These are the top 50 DVDs.

The difference is important, and the whole point of the review.

IMDB knows a bit more what they are talking about.

[tOaOMiB]

thishttp:wwwamazoncomexecobidostgbrowse-286723102- 8067883-7218565 is a less subjective list of what people out there actually think DVDs worth owning are.

Re:IMDB knows a bit more what they are talking abo

[tOaOMiB]

I suck. Pardon my ignorance. Try this: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/2867 23/102-8067883-7218565

oh, you mean

[loid_void]

"Best Downloaded Chicks of All Time," now ther's a category that is timeless...

i wnat tr0n!!

[Dogtanian]

Tron was an interesting selection from the 'complete DVD' point of view. The 20th Anniversary set (*not* 25th; it came out in 1982) had some interesting stuff from it; notably, it provided insight into why the film was technically brilliant for the time, but horribly lacklustre when it came to the story and characters.

Basically, the actors didn't really "get" the concept. As they said on the DVD, this was almost 20 years before 'The Matrix', computers were new and mysterious to most people, and... they just didn't get it. You can see that they tried, but the characters just never come to life in the way that they should. Some of that is down to the wooden dialogue, but the inability of the leads to place themselves in that situation, reliant on "kludge" explanations (of the nature of the characters and their origins) for technophobes, is in my opinion, probably to blame just as much.

The other problem that came to light when viewing the DVD was that the film was *so* technically demanding, they didn't have the same freedom to rework and rearrange the material that a more conventional film might have.

Enough negatives; it's when watching the documentary (which was well worthwhile, despite excessive reliance on "talking heads" and little behind-the-scenes footage), that it becomes apparent how technically brilliant Tron was. Not so much as an innovative CGI movie (which, of course, it is), but for its original and demanding use of multilayered, back-lit animation. And here's the question; are the computer scenes in Tron live-action, or animation?

I'd still say live-action, but if you watch the documentary, and see how they had to filter, matte, break down, retouch and merge these basic live-action scenes to produce the fantasy world that they ended up with, you'll understand why I asked the question.

One thing stuck with me from that documentary; they said that Tron was the first, and likely to be the last film that was produced in that manner.

As a complete film, Tron may be sorely flawed, but it's for the reasons given above that it should be in every geek's DVD collection.

Re:i wnat tr0n!!

[bani]

indeed, what people fail to realize is how truly little CG there actually was in tron. a real testament to the skill of the filmmakers.

E.T.

[ackthpt]

I sorry, but who put this list together? Goonies is number 20? That is just wrong. This list is obviously a joke list. I get jokes

And E.T. is up there in the top 10. Gimme a break. Anyone with small kids knows The Lion King should be way up there. We all know all the words to all the songs... (please make it stop!!!)

Unfair chart

[Anonymous Coward]

This chart is so unfair. I mean, put Jackie Brown after Men in Black ? I couldn't disagree more.

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[phsdv]

Your farscape boxed set does that include all 4 seasons and also the peacekeeper wars? Where can I buy that?

PS do you already have the extended extended (4 dvd) edition of the ROTK?

Brazil.

[schild]

Without the 3-disc Criterion Brazil set in the top 10, this list doesn't mean shit.

Looks like a bunch of uneducated teenagers made the list.

Re:Brazil.

[rvolz]

I think they should have at least mentioned the Japanese release of the 25th Anniversary Aliens Quadrilogy, which came in a giant plastic alien head. Talk about packaging!

They should include pirate DVDs in the list

[Anonymous Coward]

That way, pirate Star Wars DVDs could rank a little higher than the re-edited official ones. Region-free pirated foreign DVDs could whallop non-available-in-region-1 titles.

Then maybe somebody in Hollywood might understand that some people buy pirated movies because they're better than the real thing. Hell, in many cases I paid more for the pirate than I would have had to for the real thing.

Yes, I'm serious.

Re:They should include pirate DVDs in the list

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of my DVDs are imports, because somehow, it's only for sale across the ocean... I love my RPC1 PAL/NTSC DVD player :)

Slashdot editors are out of topic

[Anonymous Coward]

Todays stories are so boring and bad (except for head tatoo). Looks like editors are on joint or crack or just not getting enough sex !!

Re:Indian Pr0n

[Anonymous Coward]

Nowadays, Indians want to see "Blonde College Girls Ripped Apart By 14 Inch Black Monster Cocks Part 26" instead of "Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Vanesh Lalinila Peliharishnavishe"

Hey, guys

[Billobob]

They are ranking the actual DVDs in terms of packaging, image quality, extras, etc. - not the actual movies. So stop complaining about which movies are on the list - it stands to reason that more modern movies have better DVDs.

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he just meant the individual season box sets...

Peacekeeper Wars is going to be/already is (haven't checked if its out yet, recently) sold separately from the season sets.

SW beats ST onece again

[xv4n]

haha!!! star wars beats star trek. On your face trekkies!!! LOL

100% agreed

[bani]

or how about akira at #14?

"Finally... the treatment it deserves" ???

Are they serious?

The only treatment akira deserves is to be microwaved and binned, in that order.

It was a crappy anime to begin with, even before they got mcgruff the crimedog onto the english dub.

Office Space?

[homer_ca]

*mumble* I set fire to the building *mumble*

what no pr0n?

[thepoolguy]

Slots 1-49 should be pr0n and #50 should be Star Wars.

Monkeys?

[elecngnr]

I am wondering if they had a basement full of monkeys picking this list. First of all, Star Wars being behind MIB...wow. Then, the inclusion of The Mummy and X2(X-Men II) on a list of the Top 50 that does not include either Blues Brothers, Caddyshack, or Stripes just boggles the mind.

I think he means expectation of sales

[artifex2004]

No such luck. Seems to be a randomly cobbled together list of films, the names of which were pulled from some sort of hat, possibly one of those large ones with beer cans on either side.

Notice how a prominent part of each selection's page is a price search link. Notice also how they're pushing things like 'Buena Vista series' and 'superbit'. I think the real point of this is pretty much like any other UGO advertorial: sell stuff.

Why else would Clerks X be rated higher than Fifth Element or even Tron?

Re:I think he means expectation of sales

[iainl]

Which really, really doesn't make any sense. Clerks X, thanks to its source material, doesn't come close to the Superbit release of The Fifth Element in either Sound or Video. Sure, it's got lots of interesting extras, but so does practically every other disc on the market these days.

Re:I think he means expectation of sales

[Cederic]

>> Sure, it's got lots of interesting extras, but so does practically every other disc on the market these days.

Sorry, no. Most DVDs do not come out with two versions of the film, a full length documentary, two audio commentaries (recorded 7-8 years apart), or even a fraction of the extras on the Clerks X DVDs.

This list was highlighting those DVDs where you get the best value for money. In terms of sheer entertainment there is easily enough on these discs to put them in a top 50.

It's not a bad film either :)

~Cederic

Top DVD, not Top Movie

[killermookie]

So looking through these posts, it seems that this list is suppose to be the Top 50 best selling DVDs, which is a really stupid list to post.

Anyways, you want the top rated movies? Here's a much better list:

Top 100 Movies

Re:Top DVD, not Top Movie

[porcupine8]

It's not best-selling DVDs. It's best DVDs - as in, best sound/visual quality, best special content, etc. Not best movie. Best DVD.

someone should post a torrent of all of them!

[hubrix]

I think that would be most ironic.

Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[MtViewGuy]

The Extended Edition DVD sets of all three Lord of the Rings movies pretty much has completely redefined the new standard of excellence and completeness for DVD's.

Look at what you get in the Extended Edition LoTR releases:

1. Longer versions of the film, which often help with improving the continuity of the movie.

2. Dolby Digital 5.1 EX AND DTS-ES 6.1 soundtracks.

3. Four audio commentary tracks, something that has never been done before (to my knowledge).

4. Supplementary discs with so much useful information it would take days to view them all.

In short, the LoTR EE releases probably are the best examples of fully taking advantage of the DVD format.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[rvolz]

I don't know. I think Memento's forwards and backwards movie thing is brilliant, more so than putting in four commentary tracks which I won't listen to anyway...

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[alphaseven]

3. Four audio commentary tracks, something that has never been done before (to my knowledge).

Fight Club DVD comes to mind, it was #7 on the list.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[liangzai]

The oldies Fight Club and Seven also have four commentary tracks, plus dual luxury audio tracks.

The extra stuff on LotR isn't that good, it's a lot of crap with but a few worthwhile extras.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[ozbird]

Yes, but where are the out-takes/gag reels/smeg ups? (The Easter Eggs don't count.) I haven't explored the Appendices for Return of the King yet, but I didn't see anything that looked promising on the menu maps in the booklet. I know the footage exists - I saw one at a conference where Aragorn complains to Theoden about being turned into action figures and merchandising (from memory, it was mentioned in the cast commentary on The Two Towers.) There must be a DVD's worth of material from the three films...

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[STrinity]

The LotR Extended Editions aren't all that. If you watch the Fellowship supplements, you've pretty much seen it all -- how many times can you here Richard Taylor talk about Bigatures? We get it already! They're miniatures, but they're really big!

The Alien Quadrilogy is much more impressive even if the actual films aren't as good. Not only do you get extended editions of the films, but they're presented in a branching formats so you can choose which version you want to watch. But more importantly, the docus aren't all technical wankery and cast and crew jerking each other off; people actually slag off on each other, and the crew of Alien^3 essentially apologize for the movie.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[kapella]

While 4 commentary tracks is nice, the Extended Editions aren't by any means the first or only DVD with four. My Fight Club Special Edition has four commentary tracks.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[OzRoy]

3. Four audio commentary tracks, something that has never been done before (to my knowledge).

Fight Club has 4 commentaries as well.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[MtViewGuy]

Alas, Fight Club was a movie that was definitely not to my taste--the gratuitous violence kind of turned me off after a while. (thumbs down)

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[MtViewGuy]

But more importantly, the docus aren't all technical wankery and cast and crew jerking each other off; people actually slag off on each other, and the crew of Alien^3 essentially apologize for the movie.

But doesn't this prove that the third and fourth Alien movies were truly subpar and kind of detracts from the experience of the "extras"?

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[STrinity]

But doesn't this prove that the third and fourth Alien movies were truly subpar and kind of detracts from the experience of the "extras"?

Not at all. Everyone with a modicum of taste already knows that the third and fourth movies sucked. What makes the Quadrilogy great is that the DVD producers don't pretend otherwise. Instead they use the discs to explain what went wrong.

Just because Alien^3 was a suckfest doesn't mean it's not interesting to hear how they went from a script by William Gibson, to a story about monks on a wooden planet, to a bunch of British prisoners who all look alike.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[Anonymous Coward]

Plus, the blatant hallucination appearances of Brad Pitt's character really deadened the "twist" where we learnt he was not real... (no I hadn't read the book).

Crap movie - don't know why people love it so much.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[TheGrim]

3. Four audio commentary tracks, something that has never been done before (to my knowledge).

Shaun of the Dead had 4 too. Thought you'd all like to know - an excellent dvd also, well worth a watch.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[iainl]

Quite the reverse. The presentation of the workprint on Alien3 is a far superior film to the theatrical cut, and so the extras aren't just interesting from a 'how did they do that?' point of view, but a fascinating study in how Hollywood can produce a great film into the ground.

For 'how they made a masterpiece', just stick with Alien. Whose extras are even more interesting as you watch how they almost made exactly the same errors as 3 in some places.

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[pete-classic]

gratuitous 2 : not called for by the circumstances : UNWARRANTED

I'm not trying to sell you on the movie (which ties with "Chasing Amy" for my all time favorite), but all of the violence in "Fight Club" was integral to the plot; none of it was gratuitous.

"I wanted to destroy something beautiful."

-Peter

Re:Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1.

[Spacejock]

It's funny, I bought the EE version of Return of the King before Christmas and watched the documentaries in one sitting. Sad to say, I haven't watched the actual film yet ;-)

The Killer from Criterion Edition

[ldesegur]

They list the Killer which is now out of print for about 4-5 years from the publisher and when a copy pops up on ebay, it sells right away for $400. What type of selection is that?

Re:The Killer from Criterion Edition

[iainl]

The kind that loves to show off, is all. The transfer on the Criterion release isn't even quite as good as the cheapo Fox Lorber release, and the extras aren't really all that great either. Many, many other Criterion releases could take its place, if only the idea was to nominate the best disc presentation, rather than to brag about owning a rare DVD.

Besides, the whole thing is a pretty straight port of their laserdisc release, which even looked slightly better.

Where's Freaks & Geeks?

[artifex2004]

The pointer says F&G made the list, but I've looked at it several times, no dice. Are others he mentioned missing, also?

Re:Where's Freaks & Geeks?

[girish]

It's under "Best TV DVD's" on the left hand side toolbar.

http://www.ugo.com/channels/dvd/features/top50/f ea ture.asp?page=56

Not "Top 50 Films" but "Top 50 DVDs"

[Anonymous Coward]

I understand people thinking this list is the most misguided attempt in all of list-making history. However, if you look at the comments for each film, they obviously were "grading" (and yes, I'm using the term as loosely as possible) on how much extra you can get out of the DVD. For those truly interested in film, those extras can often be fascinating. I thought the documentary included on the "Clerks X" was a very good example of how DVDs can enhance and extend the film-watching experience.

That said, this list is crap! I agree that the Lord of the Rings and Aliens collection are superior to much that this released on DVD, but some of the DVDs listed are nothing but the film, a collection of trailers, and if you're lucky, commentary from the best boy or key grip.

Any list that attempts to do what this one has needs to include at least two separate ratings. A rating of the film itself, and a rating of the DVD extras. Where is the digitally remastered version of Citizen Kane, or for that matter, Vol. 1 of the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes Golden Collection that includes some fascinating behind-the scenes extras that really enhance the viewing experience.

A third rating of how well the DVD content has been remastered would also be great. For older films, this is the difference between watching the same old film you've seen a dozen times and completely rediscovering it.

Daredevil? Goonies? Phupthhhhhh!

Pearl Harbor

[Detritus]

I can't believe Pearl Harbor made their list. What a POS.

For less money, you can get a DVD version of Tora! Tora! Tora!, a far superior movie, and they did a great job of restoring the film and mastering the DVD.

Re:Pearl harbor

[Moofie]

It's been a while since I looked at it, but I don't think you're correct. Dive bombers did in fact sink battleships.

I'll do more research and back up my assertion.

Re:Pearl harbor

[Duhavid]

Torpedos and level bombers sunk battleships.

Prange, Gordon ( ISBN 0 14 01.5734 4 ), page 162

If the difficulties in torpedo technique could not be resolved, the Japanese would have to rely on dive bombing to carry out a projected Pearl Harbor attack, but this method could not destroy capital ships

emphasis mine

A few web sites, in case you dont have the book handy.

This alludes to it on the first page. On the second page, they talk about how the torpedo and high level bombers went over battleship row. They would not have used high level bombers unless really needed, as the accuracy is terrible. Only the fact that the ships were stationary allowed for hits ( note, B-17 bombers later in the pacific war against manuevering ships sunk nothing of note.. )

Later, you may note that they article talks about dive bombers over the harbor, these were there to attack cruisers, destroyers and below. They may have attacked a battleship, but only with the hope of doing some topside damage, sinking was out of the question.

this is another article that develops these same ideas.

I will open myself up to an accusation of cherry picking my web references and state here that I did find a couple of sites in my search that seemed to say that dive bombers sunk battleships, but I think if you look at the articles and the book referenced above, you will see that those are written as lay-person informing, and not quite as "good" a reference for actual history.

Please, do the research you like, if you find something that seriously contradicts this, let me know.

ddavison_pizza at gmail dot com, without the _pizza.

( A sub note, the referenced torpedo problem was that torpedos of the day would dive down about 75 feet before leveling off and running at the preset depth. Pearl Harbor was only about 40 feet deep, so, torpedos were out, unless someone figured out how to keep them from doing this. Wooden fins were fited to the torpedos, and this did the trick. )

( Another sub note, these technical difficulties were understood by the American Navy, and are a large part of the reason that they were so confident that Pearl could not be attacked in the manner it was. Another technical difficulty was that Japanese ships were not especially long ranged, and had no developed at sea refueling capability, another item the Japanese had to work out. For these reasons, I have a bit of trouble with those historians that insist that we should have seen it coming, and that FDR was baiting the Japanese into war ( that and the war that FDR wanted us in was with Germany, and there was no guarantee that war with Japan would lead to war with Germany. ) )

Re:Pearl harbor

[Moofie]

I'm going to have to go through my library and do some reading. I'm not just thinking about Pearl, I'm also thinking about Bismarck and Yamato, along with the Italian BB that (if I'm not mistaken) was sunk by low-level attack bombers.

I hope I don't come across like I'm contradicting you...you've obviously done your homework. I've just got this niggling thing in the back of my head that says that dive bombers were employed against battleships.

I love this stuff. : )

Re:Pearl harbor

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you mean ddavison@gmail.com - I just want to be sure I have your clever code worked out right?

Don't be naive - of course war with Japan meant war with Germany! And of course FDR saw the need to defend the country by entering that war before the Japanese were marching up the beaches. You can thank his foresight for the pre-eminent position of the USA today.

Re:Pearl harbor

[Duhavid]

No worries!

If you love ships and such, check out navweaps.com and/or hazegray.org.

Bismark was damaged by an aircraft ( stringbags launching torpedoes, IIRC ) which opened some of her fuel tanks to the sea. A later torpedo attack jammed her rudders ( She was one of the first ships that was welded, and apparently they did not "step" the welded sections, leading to a catastophic "line" failure ). She was then caught and sunk by cruiser torpedos and battleship gunfire. ( Well, some Germans dispute this, claiming that the ship would have stayed afloat, except that she was scuttled. She was tought to put down, as I understand the story, so there may be *something* to this... ).

Look at http://www.kbismarck.com/histoperi.html,
down near 25 May 1941 (Sunday):

Her ( his? ) sister ship, the Tirpitz was sunk ( eventually ) by high level bombers dropping 12,000 lbs bombs.

http://www.bismarck-class.dk/tirpitz/miscellaneo us /airattackstirpitz.html

Yamato, hit by dive bombers and torpedoes. I think reading it, it sounds like the torpedoes sunk the ship, the bombs did external damage.
http://www.combinedfleet.com/yamato.htm
Around 1234:
Note that the 18.1" guns were used in an anti-aircraft role.

Musashi, Yamato's sister ship, indeed, dive bombers attacked the ship. I think you will agree, reading this, that torpedos sunk her:
http://www.combinedfleet.com/musashi.htm
Ar ound "1530:"

So, yes, they were used. I dont think they did more than damage some topside items. I dont think the ships were in danger of sinking due to the bombs. Hard to argue it categorically either way, I guess. So, strictly, employed, yes. Employed because they were going to sink the battleship, no. :-)

I am not up on the Italian battle ships, but I think I now know what is niggling at the back of your head. The Fritz-X guided missile sank the Roma ( 2 weapons ) and damaged the Italia ( both Italian ) and Warspite ( British ). This weapon is not a "dive bomber" weapon, so I dont think it changes my original assertion. Until this weapon, the only airlaunched weapon that could sink a battleship was the torpedo.

I love this stuff also! :-)
Use the email I put in my other post if you want for anything you might want to discuss/investigate on anything like this, if you like.

Re:Pearl harbor

[Duhavid]

Read the treaty between Japan and Germany ( and Italy ). If we attacked Japan, Germany *was* obligated to aid Japan. Not so, if Japan initiated hostilities.

Yes, FDR saw the need, loaned the British ships, shipped them war material, patrolled out to the mid-Adlantic ( and we lost a Destroyer doing it, IIRC ), etc, etc. And yes, he was foresighted, and WWII lead, in part, to our position today.

But, there was no requirement that Germany get into the war if Japan started one. Unless we started one ( even if we had, Germany *could* have abrogated the treaty, if she didnt like the idea... ). I dont think there was any real possiblity of the Japanese invading mainland US. The attack against Pearl Harbor was a huge stretch already. The Naval issues involved, unless we are talking a multi-decade effort in which everything went perfectly for the Japanese were insurmountable. Landing enough Army in the US to do more than raid is, frankly, laughable.

And thanks for putting my email address where it could be harvested. I cant tell you how much I appreciate that. ( I figure if the email addresses that slashdot "shows" required "armoring", I ought to do the same, in case you were thinking I was too paranoid... I just dont know what to say. You are crass, sir, ma-am, or whatever. ).

WHO THE HELL???

[marcushnk]

Who decided that movies like 5th element should be lower on the list than DAREDEVIL!?!?!

Sounds like a crock to me.

Pearl harbor

[Duhavid]

How about when the battleship ( oklahoma, IIRC ) is turning turtle? All that water spraying out of the deck there above water.

Both the bomb scenes were pretty unrealistic. The bombs used to kill the battleships were converted 16" naval shells ( launched from about 10k feet up ). Regular dive bombers/dive bombs could not penetrate the deck of a battleship.

It was a lot of eye candy for eye candies sake wrapped around a love triangle. Kinda lame, in my opinion.

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[LetterJ]

Yeah. I dropped $80 (discounted from $100 MSRP) for Carnivale season 1. My wife thought I was nuts.

She doesn't know about the Carnivale 4' x 6' bus stop sized poster and Carnivale cigarette case with lighter that are on the way from an eBay seller. I can only imagine her reaction to those.

It's not a 'top movies' list

[frink_exp]

... it's a list of top DVDs -- a ranking of the DVD software which includes audio/video transfer, special features etc. It's not a ranking of the movies.

Re:It's not a 'top movies' list

[alib001]

Pearl Harbour? Daredevil? In a Top 50?

Ever heard the expression 'you can't polish a turd'?

Re:It's not a 'top movies' list

[geminidomino]

Sure you can. It just doesn't accomplish much, and your hands end up smelling like shit + lemon pledge...

Re:It's not a 'top movies' list

[alib001]

No shine: no deal. (And certainly no shaking on it).

Tip for next time: rubber gloves!

APU's?

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

You *do* realize that the APU's have no baring whatsoever on the movie. Or at least a very insignificant part of the over all story line. You are really picking nits, if thats the biggest problem with the movies. The whole smith agent entering a human brain thing didn't bother you? Or how about the powers of the one extending beyond the matrix? crasy slashdotters. I think I might have to move to an island without any of you. Oh, wait I'm already doing that. So sorry to interrupt.

Re:APU's?

[Dogtanian]

The biggest problem I had with the film was that it was wooden and boring. Sure, there were quite a lot of things (including the ones you mentioned) that got on my nerves, but the film was such a deadening experience that I couldn't be bothered expending much mental effort on them.

The APU was just a fairly obvious example of the stupidity and lack of thought in the movie; it was symptomatic. Not a big deal in itself, just the thing my brain seized on to sum up all that was wrong with the movie.

Personally, I think the film's smaller flaws are blinding you to its major flaws (to paraphrase Douglas Adams).

Didn't it really get on your tits that what should have been a scene of major importance (SPOILER...) Trinity's death, had absolutely no emotional impact? Thanks, in part to "Canoe" Reeves' lack of acting ability...

I've got the previous two films on DVD, the damn thing is in every sale going, and yet I still can't bring myself to fork out money for it.

Re:APU's?

[Anonymous Coward]

You are really picking nits, if thats the biggest problem with the movies. The whole smith agent entering a human brain thing didn't bother you? Or how about the powers of the one extending beyond the matrix?

Those are plot devices that work in the context of somebody who has suspended their state of disbelief. That's necessary to watch a film set in the future about evil machines.

People doing dumb things for no reason, on the other hand, isn't a plot device - as you point out they have no bearing (not baring) on the film. It's just a really dumb thing that didn't need to be there.

Re:APU's?

[Anonymous Coward]

Agent Smith in a human brain bothered me a lot at first, but not after I thought about it further. The first movie had us accepting machines capable of creating a fake reality the human mind was perfectly willing to accept. The agents were also capable of cracking into people's minds to extract their knowledge. Even the humans knowledge progressed to the point where they were capable of programming knowledge into their minds. If you can accept those things, is it really that much of a stretch to believe that Smith could take over a human mind?

As to Neo having power outside the Matrix, I got the impression from the movies that Neo was part machine, or at least had something in him to connect him to the machines. In the second movie, the architect hinted at it when he talked about reinserting Neo's programming into the Matrix. The Oracle hinted at it in the third movie when she talked about Neo having a connection to the machines. If you remember, his powers outside the Matrix were limited to simply interacting with the machines, which further implied some connection to them.

My complaints about 2 and 3 were mostly limited to the fight scenes. They just dragged on forever. The mech fights weren't that interesting to begin with, and the Neo fights lost the excitement they had when Neo could lose.

No Citizen Kane?

[Dude_here]

Citizen Kane has a great documentary with it, Battle for Citizen Kane. From IMDB.com:

This documentary, produced for PBS' "The American Experience" series, chronicles the struggles between filmmaker Orson Welles and newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst over the making and release of Citizen Kane, whose protagonist (Charles Foster Kane) was allegedly a barely fictionalized Hearst. Interviews with contemporaries of Hearst and Welles reveal the intense campaign to suppress the film and ultimately ruin the career of its director.

As many other people have said, this looks like a top ten list from a high newspaper

Beastie Boys Criterion Collection

[Chuck Chunder]

This is a great DVD for showing off some of the features of DVD. Multiple different camera views and multiple audio mixes for various tracks. Very nice.

Er... nerd-friendly?

[adun]

Zep? Nerd-friendly? I'm sorry, but the virtues of sex, drugs, and rock & roll are consistently incompatible with the vices of tripping over one's shoes, slobbering in the presence of women, and consuming massive amounts of caffeine.

Perhaps you meant "really cool but slightly out of touch with mainstream society"-friendly. The difference is that a nerd might think *he's* cool, but the rest of the world knows he isn't. Whereas the hipster guy with the Jeep Wrangler and the Tevas is a badass in everyone's book.

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[abb3w]

Your farscape boxed set does that include all 4 seasons and also the peacekeeper wars?

"Boxed sets" I said-- 4 seasons, 4 boxes. Admittedly, Peacekeeper Wars is preordered via Amazon, and not due to arrive next week. However, I did record the broadcast on my computer, trim out the commercials, and burn it to DVD+ and -R already; made my own box, too, so I feel comfortable standing by my statement. The one gotten through Amazon should have a nicer box, though, and more extra features on the DVD. =)

PS do you already have the extended extended (4 dvd) edition of the ROTK?

The Platinum? Yes; having incriminating evidence on the local video store manager is helpful sometimes. I did skip the "collector's gift sets"; I'm underpaid as geeks go, the sculptures weren't that great, and you only need bookends if your books don't fill your shelves. Also, since I have the Platinum on the other two, I don't plan to get the monster LOTR all-in-one-box set either-- although I might reconsider had I more slack in my budget.

Re:Indian Pr0n

[BobWeiner]

Stereotypes suck. Besides, who needs blondes when we already have the hottest woman in the world.

top dvd list mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

Britney Spears 'Crossroads' somehow was mistakenly left off the list...

LotR

[dynamo_mikey]

It's not the fact that Jackson put a bazillion features and like 40,000 hours of material on his extended versions that make the LotR extended disks the best. It's the fact that I WATCHED the bazillions of features and even listened to all that commentary and enjoyed (almost) every minute of it.

I even listened to Elijah Wood and Sean Astin's commentary which was basically the same general sentiment regurgitated in different forms: "No YOU'RE the best actor ever" "NO YOU'RE the best actor ever." or "It was such a joy to work with you!" "No, no, I loved working with YOU!" Okay that part was probably a waste of time, but Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan's commentary, that was hilarious.

So... this list isn't about the content?

[eno2001]

OK... after seeing some the posts, I see now that this list has nothing to do with the quality of the actual films, but the quality of the package surrounding the films. And this is useful how? Sure, the extras are nice, but an educated person doesn't buy a car because it has a nice stereo or plush interior, they buy the car because it performs well in going from point A to point B. On the other hand the idiot consumer spends all their time looking that the shiny features without realizing that they are still buying a sack of old shit. So, I still don't see the point of this list. There are a few things on the list that are OK, but I'm not buying DVDs because of nice menus, extra outtakes that I may watch only once, or director's commentary. I'm buying them because I like the story line. Get a life folks.

Re:So... this list isn't about the content?

[Anonymous Coward]

"So, I still don't see the point of this list. There are a few things on the list that are OK, but I'm not buying DVDs because of nice menus, extra outtakes that I may watch only once, or director's commentary. I'm buying them because I like the story line. Get a life folks."

If this is a top DVD list then it makes sense that they're judging the entire DVD presentation. If you want a list based on the movies, then go look at a Top Films of All Time list. As for the titles that made it on the list, it's completely subjective of course, but it makes sense than pearl harbor made it as the 4-disc edition is indeed one of the best dvd releases ever. Check DVD reviews from DigitalBits or DVDReview if you don't believe me.

Re:So... this list isn't about the content?

[eno2001]

I see you're point, but... what good is a Top DVD list? What kind of idiot buys a DVD just for the presentation and not the movie or program conatined on it? I guess we should have lists rating the paint jobs, sound systems, and interiors of cars while paying no heed to what's under the hood?

This reminds me of something I read in a book about designing UIs called "The Humane Interface". The author makes the point of telling you about how you board a plane that was designed by assembling together the best artists, interior designers (who pick out aesthetically pleasing and very comfortable fabrics and textures), caterers (who stock the plane with amazingly good food and drink), architects who make sure the body of the plane looks beautiful and fast, etc... There is a brochure in the in the pocket of the seat in front of you that you read which details all of the care and craftsmanship that went into making your flight tremendously pleasing. But as they close the doors to the plane, you notice in the fine print that they didn't employ any real engineers and that the plane is subject to crash a good deal of the time. He points out that the closing of the doors seems ominous at this point and you would do anything to have a seat on a rough and uncomfortable but safe plane.

If people are buying DVDs for all the extras beyond the movie, they may as well be boarding that plane. Because all the DRM that is sure to come with future DVDs is sure to make people wish for the days of VHS... Sorry, but I still don't see the point in a top DVD list if the program takes a back seat to the features. Oh well, I think we're doomed on this planet since too many people are suckered by this sort of snake oil.

Re:So... this list isn't about the content?

[porcupine8]

You watch the special features, etc same as you watch the movie... If someone finds them as entertaining as the movie itself, what's wrong with that? Who are you to decide what content someone is allowed to enjoy?

If a really bad movie came with a MST3K commentary track, I might buy - or at least rent - it. That would have enough entertainment value that I wouldn't care that I didn't like (or even watch) the straight movie.

Re:So... this list isn't about the content?

[Anonymous Coward]

shut up, fuckchop.

Re:So... this list isn't about the content?

[Cederic]

Actually, I buy Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith films on DVDs because they come with commentaries from the director (and often others) which are genuinely entertaining and/or insightful.

El Mariachi isn't a good enough film to own on DVD. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back definitely isn't. I own both; the commentaries did it for me.

Similarly I own True Romance on VHS. I also own the unrated uncut version with all the extras on DVD. I bought it because it adds a lot of value beyond the simple VHS version.

Of course, True Romance, Brazil, Clerks.. these are all films good enough to buy anyway - but the extras are entertaining.

Incidentally, I'm waiting for the 'full extras special edition' versions of Kill Bill vols 1 and 2 to come out before I buy that on DVD - we _know_ they'll come out eventually, and I _know_ I'll want those shiny extras. http://www5.cd-wow.com/detail_results_2.php?produc t_code=13044 is interesting me, but I'll wait to see if the R1 & 2 versions are different.

~Cederic

Too many fake classics

[HarveyBirdman]

E.T sucks ass. It does not belong on any sane person's top 10. It's a crime against art, humanity and fluffy kittens that that... thing is considered a classic.

The Goonies in the top 20? Are they out of their tiny little minds? Who made this list? Harry Knowles?

Akira is a good film, but I can think of at least six others (Miyazaki, for example) that are more deserving of that slot.

The fucking GOONIES????

Boogie Nights is one of the most overrated films in the past quarter century.

Pearl Harbor??!?!? OK, now I know monkeys were involved in the compiling of this list.

I'm sorry, but if a movie is just fundamentally poor, I can't see any point to owning the DVD no matter how many bells and whistles are put on there.

Jesus Bouncing Feathery Christ, the Goonies!!?

If you were a kid or a teen during the 80s, The Goonies is one of those films that may hold a special place in your heart.

Yeah, the cold, dark dead part that eventually grew into full blown misanthropy. The Goonies was there to start me down that slope. That was one of the films that inflicted that astonishing uber-dumbass Corey Feldmen upon civilized folk.

Re:Too many fake classics

[Anonymous Coward]

E.T sucks ass. It does not belong on any sane person's top 10. It's a crime against art, humanity and fluffy kittens that that... thing is considered a classic.

LOTR in the top 20? Are they out of their tiny little minds? Who made this list? Harry Knowles?

Akira is a good film, but I can think of at least six others (Miyazaki, for example) that are more deserving of that slot.

The fucking LOTR????

Boogie Nights is one of the most overrated films in the past quarter century.

Pearl Harbor??!?!? OK, now I know monkeys were involved in the compiling of this list.

I'm sorry, but if a movie is just fundamentally poor, I can't see any point to owning the DVD no matter how many bells and whistles are put on there.

Jesus Bouncing Feathery Christ, LOTR!!?

If you were a kid or a teen during the 80s, LOTR is one of those films that may hold a special place in your heart.

Yeah, the cold, dark dead part that eventually grew into full blown misanthropy. LOTR was there to start me down that slope. That was one of the films that inflicted that astonishing uber-dumbass Elijah Wood upon civilized folk.

Re:Too many fake classics

[HarveyBirdman]

OK, that's a violation of my IP rights. The RIAA will be calling you soon.

Natalie Portman

[Anonymous Coward]

Natalie Portman doesn't get a mention until number 26!?!?!?!? but...but...

Gigli-osity?

[tepples]

[That Will Smith boosts the quality of any film he's in] is the "Principle of Jiggy-osity".

As opposed to the principle of Gigli-osity, which involves a duck, a meteorologist, and possibly even Pokémon #039?

Re:The Linux revolution is dying

[Anonymous Coward]

Thank you Ms Ryan.

Hey, I thought you were dead.

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[abb3w]

My wife thought I was nuts.

"Humbug, m'dear; my taste is always impeccable. After all, I married you." =)

She doesn't know about the Carnivale 4' x 6' bus stop sized poster...

Heh. I used to have an ID4 theatre lobby promo stand in my basement-- with the 12' wide mothership blowing up the White House. I was going to Ebay it when I moved to a (much) smaller place, but it turned out to have gotten some water damage I hadn't noticed-- enoughthat I decided it wasn't worth the hassle, and so it mostly became dumpster fodder... although when I left the saucer next to the dumpster between trips, it vanished. Hopefully it found a good home.

IMDB sucks.

[9mm Censor]

Popularity has brought about a bunch of mogaloids who don't know a good movie when it hits them in the face ( http://aquafinabattle.com/extras/pat-vs-case/pat-v s-case.mpg ). This list although riddled with holes does have a few gems on it (comeon 5th Element kicks butt).

Your probably a deluded replicant!

[xtermin8]

If you don't understand why its so good, than its doubtful anyone can explain it. This is not flamebait. You have been programmed not to be curious about what makes life precious. If you stop and consider it, you may have to be retired.

Re:Your probably a deluded replicant!

[Monkelectric]

If you don't understand why its so good, than its doubtful anyone can explain it. This is not flamebait. You have been programmed not to be curious about what makes life precious. If you stop and consider it, you may have to be retired.

Oh please. While the movie did have its good points -- the symbolism was corny and emotionally manipulative and was puncuated by terrible performances. For me the realism of the film was ruined by these and the lackluster plot.

I refuse to have my humanity judged on the basis of a mediocre movie. Do a better job of trolling next time :)

Re:Your probably a deluded replicant!

[jesse.k]

In the movie Blade Runner, the replicants are detected by their lack of empathy for other living things. The previous poster was blatantly making a joke reffering to that aspect of the story. If you'd bothered to actually watch the movie instead of reading an online movie spoiler while you masturbate to Dragonball Z yaoi hentai you'd actually know this.

In short this post was a Voight-Kampf test that you just failed, you worthless slashdot replicant.

Re:Your probably a deluded replicant!

[Monkelectric]

Then it was an *excellent* troll :)

Sometimes you need a little piracy

[tepples]

I can't believe that the film about how bad pirates are didn't make it into the list.

It appears that the list was based primarily on the quality of the video transfer and the extras, not necessarily on the quality of the script or acting. There might not have been enough extras on Pirates of the Caribbean to make it to the list.

Re:Sometimes you need a little piracy

[CleverNickedName]

The poster was refering to the anti-piracy warning at the start of all DVDs.

Duh. :)

jeeze

[louden obscure]

any movie list that does not include "the jerk" will be ignored by me. ok, "the jerk" and "total recall," ...any movie list that leaves those two movies off will be ignored by me. and "the running man." ok, any movie list that won't include "the jerk," "total recall," and "the running man" will be ignored by me. or "glen and randa."....and 'hot rods to hell," er never mind, "hot rods to hell" has never been released...jeeze, why would a studio sit on "hot rods to hell?"

It was about the DVD's not the movies

[Foo2rama]

Fairly good list, although reading through there selection choices, they seemed to randomly favor the Criterion Collection versions for the higher quality, where in others they fawned over the extras.

2 fairly obvious missing titles where "The Matrix" and "Moulin Rouge!" The Matrix was a seminal DVD that spawned so many of us umm geeks... to invest in DVD's, that and the trasnfer was excellent and the extras where much better then the majorty of DVD's out there. "Moulin Rouge!" is strangly missing since one is is a great transfer, and secondly the extras are some of the best work done using DVD tech. The whole dance scene can be viewed from mulitple angles in real time allowing you to see how the entire scene was pulled of. Baz Lermans commentary is also excellent. For the record I am not a huge fan of either of these movies, but I felt it very odd that neither of them appeared on the list.

Re:It was about the DVD's not the movies

[Anonymous Coward]

"2 fairly obvious missing titles where "The Matrix" and "Moulin Rouge!""

The Ultimate Matrix Collection is third on the list.

Re:It was about the DVD's not the movies

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be blind to miss the matrix on the list.

What do you base that on? Dolby Digital Mono baby!

[xtermin8]

Why are you spreading FUD about Citizen Kane? Available subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese # Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) # Commentary by Orson Welles biographer Peter Bogdanovich # Commentary by Roger Ebert # Disc 1: # Feature Film # 1941 Movie Premiere Newsreel # Gallery of storyboards, rare photos, alternate ad campaign, studio and personal correspondence, call sheets and other memorabilia # Disc 2: # Two-Hour Documentary: The Battle Over Citizen Kane, details the power struggle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst # Number of discs: 2

Re:Best DVD packages, not the best DVD movies

[xtermin8]

This is a rating of the extras, sound and picture quality, etc. It's not the Alien movies that are tied for 2nd best movies on DVD, but that the Quadrilogy is the 2nd best DVD package. The indivdually sold versions of the trilogies tend not to have the same quality. The artcle unfortunately thought this too obvious to explain.

Uhhh....

[Anonymous Coward]

Led Zeppelin = Geek Fare?

I would have thought something like Kraftwerk more appropriate.

Re:Indian Pr0n

[Anonymous Coward]

You are incorrect

Coco Johnsen is the hottest woman in the world

Let someone spoil it for you! Gimmick, or Subtlety

[xtermin8]

Someone told me about the plot of the Sixth Sense beforehand, and I felt no need to watch it a second time.

Make Yourself Feel Better

[dazedagain]

Since this is all about subjectivity anyway: 1) Make you're own Top 50 list. 2) Post it somewhere Soesn't that feel gooood? Shit, what a waste of time and packets.

I don't know about you...

[Robber Baron]

...but I'm still disappointed that 1997 came and went and New York wsn't turned into a maximum security prison as predicted.

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[geminidomino]

you only need bookends if your books don't fill your shelves

Ok, this is rather frightening... I'm starting to think like Prof. Farnsworth from Futurama. I read that and thought "What we really need is Book continuations that exploit quantum anomalies to let you put MORE books on your shelves AFTER they're full!"

TV Series DVDs?

[teneighty]

Where are the TV series DVDs? Many of those are way better than some of the movies on that list ("Escape from New York"? Did they even watch this stuff?)

The number one all-time DVD set of any kind is, of course - utterly and indisputably: Firefly.

Where's "Seven Samurai"

[halbritt]

With the included commentary by Michael Jeck, remastered audio and new subtitles (the ones in the VHS version were atrocious), Seven Samurai is one of the best DVDs I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. There's the added benefit of the fact that it's one of the best films ever made.

The fact that it was originally shot in 4:3 and has monophonic audio may be why it was excluded from the list. Either that, or the fact that the people that made the list are nincompoops. I suspect the latter.

Re:Where's "Seven Samurai"

[jskiff]

As great as "Seven Samurai" is (and it's one of my all time favorite films), the Criterion DVD was pretty poor. The transfer on it was awful; if you've seen some of the restoration done on other older films (Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind), you know what I'm talking about. I'm hoping that eventually we get a Special Edition version of "Seven Samurai" with a restored print.

Re:Where's "Seven Samurai"

[halbritt]

I do know that the transfer was restored to some degree. It is an order of magnitude better than the VHS version which is my basis for comparison. I haven't watched Citizen Kane or Gone With the Wind with a critical eye and I own neither so I can't compare. It is possible that they couldn't find an original print of the film in good shape. I certainly think that quality prints of either film you mentioned would be more common.

This list is for shit...

[Robber Baron]

I mean that colossal turd Pearl Harbour shouldn't even have made the list, never mind at #22, ahead of the Godfather Trilogy, The Shawshank Redemption, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or Back to the Future, just to name a few! I DL'd Pearl Harbour and after watching it blew it off my hard drive and contemplated sending a bill to the MPAA for wasting my time with that crap.

They can also get rid of frigging Goonies and replace it with something decent like The Usual Suspects, which I notice didn't make list! An unforgiveable ommission (as was The Unforgiven:-P).

I also notice that the fanboys managed to push LOTR into the #1 spot...Yes, the LOTR trilogy was enjoyable and deserves to be on the list, but #1?!? No chance in hell...

There are also a ton of other classic movies that should be here and aren't. Thanks, but I'll stick to The Filthy Critic for recommendations as to what's worth watching.

Re:This list is for shit...

[MisterClever]

There are also a ton of other classic movies that should be here and aren't

Sigh. To get on the list the movie had to have lots of nifty DVD-stuff, sound, great transfer, lots of extras, new scenes etc. Hence the inclusion of The Goonies and the exclusion of The Ususal Suspects.

Re:This list is for shit...

[Anonymous Coward]

FUCK YOU.

The Goonies is a favorite movie among many in my generation. If you played the arcade/MSX version of the game (or even better, the NES sequel), you learned to love it even more. And before you say that my generation sucks, let me say this first: No, YOUR generation sucks. :)

Seriously, I'm not surprised that The Goonies did well. Tons of people love that movie; it gave so many people so many memes to feed their sense of shared '80s nostalgia. What Slashdot fatass HASN'T done the Truffle Shuffle in front of the mirror, in front of their classmates, in front of their girlfriend's parents, oh wait, scratch that last one.

Re:This list is for shit...

[cayenne8]

"Sigh. To get on the list the movie had to have lots of nifty DVD-stuff, sound, great transfer, lots of extras, new scenes etc."

Well, at least for the music ones...all you needed was raw talent, stage presence, musicianship.....and the ability to get an audience going.

Nice to see how this list was topped by truly talented groups and people.....thank goodness the effort was put in to resurrect and restore the Led Zeppelin and The Who videos...they were almost lost from what I hear.

It is also sad....that there really is no modern performers or bands around these days to inherit the 'mantle' of such great bands as there....where along the way did the progression from great super band to great super band get lost....

It seems weird that so many younger kids today, are Hendrix and Zeppelin fans....I mean, growing up, sure I appreciated my parent's tunes...but, I also had these bands of my day to listen to. Today's kids have good bands of the past...and mostly mediocre, studio created crap to listen to....no good bands out there to go see in concert and jam the night away to...

everything on this list is less than 10 years old

[wobblie]

What about older movies? Some of these are hideous stinkers ... Pearl Harbor?!? You have got to be kidding me.

What about ...

• Ran
  
• Citizen Kane
  
• Seven Samurai
  
• Brazil
  
• Lawrence of Arabia
  
• Crimes and Misdemeanors
  
• The Good the Bad and the Ugly
  
• Apocalyspe Now
  

I could go on and on ... this list blows; written by some 18 year old nerd.

I don't like Cyndi Lauper

[Anonymous Coward]

Worst voice. I want her and Fred Savage and Winnie Cooper burried in the same grave under a ton of liquified swine manure from Lab 257 of Plumb Island.

And I think Cyndi Lauper made the movie better than it was. I hate everything that lived through the 1970's; that's when United States should've been nuked by Russia...but noooooooooo. We couldn't just skip from 1969 to 1992 to enjoy some Nirvana and Alice In Chains and shitless Metalica... we had to wait for today.

Tarantino?

[theonetruekeebler]

No Kill Bill, no Pulp Fiction. Okay, they had Jackie Brown at like #48. Jackie Brown and no Kill Bill?

This list is insane. It doesn't even have Finding Nemo, not that Tarantino had anything to do with that. Maybe he should have---the sharks scene would have been way more interesting.

Re:everything on this list is less than 10 years o

[Anonymous Coward]

*cough* it's just an ad for the same major studio (re-)releases that *THEY* want you to buy.

lack of estrogen in that list

[mcguyver]

On that list I see lots of action, sci fi, and some good comedy movies. I do not see movies that most girls would want to see. If it's a list of the top 50 DVD's then include all movies that are indeed DVD's - and if it's a list of the top 50 flicks for guys then point it out in the name of the list.

Re:lack of estrogen in that list

[Anita Coney]

Obviously they wanted only good movies in their top fifty.

Arbitrary and completely against the grain

[dafragsta]

That said, here is a hodgepodge top ten list from my collection. I think ruling out boxed sets isn't really unfair because the extras are often separate from the regular discs and with a few, you can't even buy the movies individually. Criteria for a good DVD package include: Tons of extras that are actually of some entertainment value. (Commentary tracks are usually standard and no "points" are granted to ones that aren't exceptionally insightful or funny.) A real DTS audio track. Anamorphic widescreen. Music Vidoes, games, etc. Fight Club - This was the first disc I got deep into because by the time it came out on DVD it was my favorite movie of all time. I was also much more fascinated by 3D art at the time, and there is a great deal about the art production on this disc. The commentary with David Finscher(sp), Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter was one of the coolest commentaries where there wasn't an over abundance of people trying to be funny. Indiana Jones Trilogy Ok, so this one gets a pass on the DTS business even though they could've used DTS's uncompressed audio for a more rich soundscape. It was more satisfying to actually get this pure and untouched on DVD than it was the original Star Wars Trilogy. The separate extras disc was really well done and there is a ton of interesting stuff there relating to everything Indy. Desparado/El Mariachi Double Feature DVD This is a case where less is still less but it's still more than you get with your standard DVD. As an aspiring filmmaker, I really liked the two "10 minute filmschool" bits and it's also a great supplement if you picked up Robert Rodriguez's book "Rebel without a Crew." You also get two entertaining movies for what is probably now a sub $20 pricetag. Clerks X I'm no doubt a big Kevin Smith fan, and I think he knows that suckers like me will keep pumping out bucks for movies we allready own just to get the fancy multi-disc boxed set. I also think he knows that he's got a bit of a reputation DVD-wise to live up to. Kevin Smith has never held anything sacred and prevented the public from seeing it on DVD, if it has anything to do with his movies. This usually means a funny-as-hell commentary and piles and piles of extras and outtakes. This set is no different, and if anything it's more insightful about Kevin's rise to stardom than any previous DVDs. You get the rough cut direct from the SVHS master (that's not much better than a VHS master) in addition to the pristine film print. Citizen Kane The main propelling feature of this set is not the transfer, certainly not the Dolby Digital 1 channel sound, and there isn't much in terms of a slew of extras. However, it does come with the 2 hour+ documentary that tells the real story behind Kane, including William Randalph Hearst's attempts to block it from release. Orsen Wells' rise from the days as a radio show prodigy at RKO to the all singing all dancing filmmaker/actor/writer. I'd say it's safe to say the movie is quite good too. Lord of the Rings Special Extended Edition It's hard not to catigorize each of these separately (even though that's how I bought them) since they follow a very similar template with their special features. When you see how many there are, (2 discs of just extras per movie) you'll be thankful. You can browse the disc and know that Weta Workshop is completely different on Return of the King than it is on Two Towers. They try to focus on things that are introduced in the films in which they accompany which is quite a mammoth task considering how much material there is to cover. No extras have ever made me appreciate a film more for the amount of work put into it's production. Mallrats Kevin Smith strikes again. Outragiously funny commentary that's almost as funny as the movie. This is also one of the "old" discs that was produced in such a way as to utilize every ounce of available space on a dual layer DVD. This disc has tons of features. Tenacious D - The Complete Masterworks Ok. If you get trapped on a desert island, this is the disc to take with you. On

Re:Arbitrary and completely against the grain

[dafragsta]

All that and my line breaks got foobar'd? Damn!

Brad Pitt

[samplehead]

Mr Pitt appears at least 3 times. Hmmm.

Re:everything on this list is less than 10 years o

[Anonymous Coward]

Andrei Rublev, Windows of Paris, the Red Balloon, La Strada, Cinema Paradiso, Koyaanisqaatsi, A Clockwork Orange, Casablanca, Being There, Chinatown, Dr. Strangelove, The Godfather, Last Picture Show, Rear Window, Schindler's List, Singin in the Rain, I mean COME ON!

Classic TV shows?

[Anonymous Coward]

What about "Twilight Zone" or "Alfred Hitchcock Presents?"

Re:So... you just don't get it then...

[Anonymous Coward]

You should just move along then, and not worry about what other people might be interested in.

By your line of thinking, at any given movie awards, they should not give out awards for anything except best story. Forget the musicians, forget the director, forget the special effects or wardrobe awards, everything is superfluous to the story. Get a LIFE man. You can't imagine that, maybe, somebody has a really big collection (yes there are people who actually collect dvds), already has all their favorite movies and more, and just want an idea of what might add to their collection? Use your imagination a bit. It's really not that hard.

Re:Indian Pr0n

[MisterClever]

Indeed. According to the site, Average user is 1000+ per day!

WHAT?! The Mummy beat The Goonies!?!?

[Narcocide]

Seriously people. Get your damn priorities straight. I'm going outside now to start a riot. Then you'll all be sorry.

i guess most didnt get

[messias_bikini]

its not top 50 movies but top 50 *DVD*

One thing to keep in mind

[Stormwatch]

This is a list of the best DVDs - that is, picture & sound quality, crapload of cool extras, yadda yadda. Under such criterion, a DVD may kick ass, even if the movie in it sucks.

Sure, most of those movies are great. On the other hand... Star Wars Ep 1, Pearl Harbor, and Men In Black... enough said!

WHAT?

[Master of Transhuman]

Big Trouble In Little China, Charles Bronson's The Mechanic, Streets of Fire, and Highlander (the first one, not the crappy second one) didn't make the cut?

I WAS ROBBED!!!

And what the FUCK is "Clerks X"?

UGO page broken in Firefox - alternate URL here

[Aewyn]

In case anyone else is having problems viewing the second link with Firefox or Opera (I got a "URI Too Long" error message), use this link instead:

http://www.ugo.com/channels/dvd/features/top50/fea ture.asp?page=70

The problem seems to be broken HTML code. From what I can see (though I didn't look very closely at the code), there's a (transparent) DIV element which covers most of the page. This DIV is blocking mouse access to the links below it.

(You can access the links with the keyboard, though, e.g. type "50", Tab, Enter using "Find as you type" on Firefox.)

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[Nexzus]

$115 CDN for each of the seven Deep Space 9 sets. Everybody thought I was nuts. But here I am, looking at the complete run of the best Star Trek series.

Re:Indian Pr0n

[Anonymous Coward]

She's kinda on the small side, wouldn't you say? Got a link to anything bigger than a postage stamp?

Re:Indian Pr0n

[bbkingadrock]

well, if you would like to see the woman kiss on screen, or perhaps more (such as what occurs in pornography), than aishwarya does not fit the bill.... though she is very beautiful

Re:What do you base that on? Dolby Digital Mono ba

[jskiff]

Parent was modded +3 Funny? WTF?

The Citizen Kane DVD is amazing. Aside from the film itself (which broke ground in a number of areas), the commentary tracks are great. Roger Ebert's, in particular, provides a lot of insight into the technical feats in Citizen Kane.

Biggest LOTR bug of all was their "Quick Hit"!?!

[plover]

Quick Hit:

Watching the full version of the confrontation with Sauraman at the Tower of Orthanc scene that was controversially cut from the theatrical version of The Return of the King is sheer joy.

[ Warning: spoiler of spoilage following ]

Not that I'm a total Tolkien fanboy or anything, but the absolute best part of the book trilogy for me was the hobbits' return home to find the Shire had been corrupted by Saruman. "The Scouring of the Shire" gave just the best picture of Merry and Pippin having grown up to the point where they could ride in, take names and kick ass. Seeing the Party Tree cut down, the filthy brick buildings inhabited by Bill Ferny and his ilk, and the entire Shire corrupted and being dismantled by Saruman made you cry, and the hobbits cleaning up (at Sharkey's End) was an absolute delight. While reading the book, I always knew that Frodo would prevail, and that the ring would be destroyed. But I didn't expect the devastation in the Shire, and I just got such a kick from Merry and Pippin being the heroes for a change.

And that fool of a director cut the entire ending from the movie. Killing Saruman at Orthanc was both anti-climactic and frustrating, because it meant the Shire wouldn't need scouring, even though he showed Frodo having glimpses of it in Galadrial's mirror. It wasn't a controversial cut; rather, it was a controversial inclusion.

this list

[bilbravo]

this is the worst list i've seen in my life.

Best Music? Nah Missed some...

[Mattwolf7]

Best Music DVDs
#5. Saturday Night Live
#4. The Who - The Kids Are Alright
#3. The Last Waltz
#2. Led Zeppelin
#1. The Complete Monterey Pop Festival

WTF?

Where are:
Live Aid, Hell Freezes Over and Live in Pompeii? Now those are three awesome DVDs

& kiddies flicks like Star Wars?

[DABANSHEE]

Why people think such crap rates is beyond me, those flicks have scripts designed for kids... ...or adults with a mental age of 12. The list doesn't include popular chick flicks so why it includes popular kiddies flicks is beyond me.

Then there's SPR, critics & monday morning halfbacks love it for it's 'realism', but anyone in the know knows it's anything but - it has the surrendering German with a skinhead haircut to make him unsympathetic (a old Hollywood trick) when German soldiers in WWII rarely had their skulls sheared - if anything they had short back 'n sides with long stylised front hair (I had a old family friend who was in the British army, although he was a Vienese Jew, & he took heaps of photos during the war, & of all the surrendering German soldiers, circa 44 & 45, the most common hair style was a long wave of hair at the front & top brushed to the side so it hung over the shorn stuble arround the ears & behind). Also Mustangs were not used by the Americans for tank busting duties on the Western front (although they were used like that on the Med), in reality it would've been a Thunderbolt or even more likely a RAF Typhoon (the primary tank buster at Normandy), but we all know Speilburg couldn't have a British plane saving the day, or a American one that's grossly fat & ugly.

& how such a list could have nothing by Akira Kurosawa, Krzysztof Kieslowski or fail to include one or both of Sergio Leones' Once Apon a Time masterpieces is beyond me. The relatively recent Paramount DVD Special Collectors Edition release of Once Apon a Time in the West has to be one of the truely great collectors DVDs of all time. It also failed to list the Citizen Kane Special Edition DVD, one of the great all time collectors DVDs for cinema lovers. Another great true cinema DVD collectable they failed to list was Martin Scorsese's tribute to Italian cinema DVD, a 4 hour tribute to the greatest of Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini, Visconti & Antonioni, etc. The DVD was recently reviewed by the SBS Movie Show. Other truely great DVDs include Krzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue Box Set & Kieslowski's 3 Colours Trilogy.

Another truely great 'must have' is the History of Cinema 12 DVD box set, which includes such gems as Buster Keaton's The General, Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin & Fritz Lang's Metropolis amongst Lon Chaney's & DW Griffith's greats. Of course one mustn't fail to include the Complete Ealing Studio Comedies Box Set which includes such classic Ealing comedies as The Lavender Hill Mob, Kind Hearts & Coronets (in which Alec Guinness plays 8 parts) & The Lady Killers.

Really Ugo's top 50 DVD List reminds me of all those people who have never travelled abroad yet go arround proclaiming that their country is the best country in the world to live, because it seems to be put together by someone who experiance of cinema seems to be limited to the summer blockbusters & alsorans of the last decade or so, & that's about it.

Re:& kiddies flicks like Star Wars?

[Goldberg's Pants]

Good point about "Once Upon a Time in the West". That DVD is amazing. Not to mention dirt cheap now!

I think, sadly, Leone's classic is a little too out of the mainstream to be on the list.

I was surprised to see Fight Club only seventh on the list, when a lot of folk still consider it one of the benchmarks of the DVD format.

As for the Ealing comedies... Too obscure, sadly.

My top 50... Ten:

[Upaut]

Not that anyone cares, but here they are:
Not in order:
1.) A Clockwork Orange
2.) Fight Club
3.) Pulp Fiction
4.) Kill Bill (grouped together)
5.) Lord of the Rings
6.) Goodbye Lenin
7.) Bubba Ho-tep
8.) Princess Mononoke
9.) The Matrix Trilogy
10.) 2001: A Space Odyssey

Missing?

[Brad1138]

I think Harry Potter is fairly popular. I have never visited this site before but it looks like H.P. would fit right in.

Duh.

[deblau]

The top DVD of last year was obviously Jersey%20Girl-DVDRip%20(Fullscreen)-avi.torrent.

The Goonies at #20

[bs_02_06_02]

I've read through the list 3 times. UGO's list reminds me of a Bill Murray line from What About Bob. "I'm not schizophrenic, and neither am I."

The Goonies? What were they thinking? Smoking too much dope? Let's drop that DVD about 50 numbers, and put it right behind the Muppets Take Manhattan.

Saving Private Ryan at 45? And 5th Elemant at 46? And the Godfather Collection at 49. Are these people sniffing paint? How did they get this?

I liked Almost Famous, but where's Get Shorty? Pulp Fiction? Blade II is there, but Blade 1 isn't? Blade II wasn't as good as the original.

Where is Spiderman? Or Spiderman 2? They've got Dark City on the list. I watched Dark City on cable, but never considered buying/renting it on DVD. Spiderman 1 and 2 are worth owning on DVD.

Almost forgot...

[Duhavid]

Force Z Prince of Wales and Repulse ( battlecruiser ) sunk by air action.

http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/

The Royal Tenenbaums?

[jasonhamilton]

What the crap? The Royal Tenenbaums was the worse movie I've seen in a long time. Who the heck likes this filth?

Re:The Royal Tenenbaums?

[Goldberg's Pants]

Let me guess. You only like movies where shit gets blown up, right? Damn those character pieces straight to hell where they belong, correct?

The article was, if you read it, about the quality of the DVD releases, and TRT is a very good DVD set.

Re:The Royal Tenenbaums?

[Anonymous Coward]

It sounds like it wasn't as bad as it could've been. Just out of curiosity, what's the worst movie that you've seen in a long time?

Re:The Royal Tenenbaums?

[jasonhamilton]

Give me a break. I can act retarded just as well as anyone on the cast of TRT. There was no character development, no plot, and the movie had no redeeming features.

Led Zeppelin = Nerd-friendly fare?

[appleprophet]

"Other nerd-friendly fare on the list include ... Led Zeppelin"

Uh, since when is classic rock grouped with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons?

Re:Led Zeppelin = Nerd-friendly fare?

[HogynCymraeg]

FYI, Led Zeppelin is/was well known for their fascination with LOTR. They put some refs in some of their songs.

Ramble On: "For in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair, but Gollum and the evil one, crept up and slipped away with her".

Re:Biggest LOTR bug of all was their "Quick Hit"!?

[Goldberg's Pants]

Regarding the earlier comment on Pearl Harbor: The movie may suck ass until things start blowing up, but as a DVD release goes, the 4 disker is incredible, only bested, IMO, by the LOTR movies.

Now, LOTR: The reason the scouring wasn't done was budgetary I believe. Jackson wouldn't have half-assed it, meaning they simply couldn't afford to do it up to the standard of the rest of the movies.

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[Goldberg's Pants]

"Humbug, m'dear; my taste is always impeccable. After all, I married you."

If you're not married, you will be soon with that smooth talking:)

My wife thought I was nuts for buying the complete "Sports Night" boxed set. All 45 episodes in one box. Was rather pricey. But she's sat and watched most of them with me:)

Sadly, I've not had as much luck persuading her to watch "Sledge Hammer":)

Re:Biggest LOTR bug of all was their "Quick Hit"!?

[plover]

Budgetary, that's sad, especially on a half-billion dollar budget.

I didn't mind them skipping a lot of things that Tolkien obviously thought important. Bill Ferny, Bill the Pony, the barrow-downs, Old Man Willow, Tom Bombadil, all that stuff -- didn't miss it. I also don't care how many times Arwen showed up, or how many elves they cut out and/or replaced with her. I got sick of the books where you'd get Elf #38: "Hi, I'm Hellengone, and I'm here to carry this elvish plot device for thirteen feet to Elf #39." So what if Jackson "reused" the Arwen character? The essence of the story remained intact.

But the Scouring was different -- it was a treat for the reader, and it would have been a treat for the viewer. And Jackson obviously gave it thought, because you could see the various hobbits wincing in pain as they imagined the Shire burning. So he had the set, he had the "burning of the set", he could have just finished it right. It wouldn't even have to have been Saruman -- Pippin and Merry could have opened the can of whup-ass on Arwen, for all I cared. But that segment of story was essence, and it was missing.

OK, I'm done crying now. I guess I really am a Tolkien fanboi, even if I don't speak Quenta or Sindarin. (And I do have elvish fonts installed ... oops, I admitted it out loud.)

Daredevil?

[DaveCBio]

Okay, that invalidates the list right there and from the score on IMDB I'm not the only person that thinks so.

Re:Daredevil?

[DaveCBio]

Even better, Pearl Harbour at #22. This is just laughable now.

Re:Daredevil?

[DaveCBio]

Oh and for those that say it's about the DVDs and not the movies, it's about both. Insightful commentary on a shitty movie means very little.

Re:What do you base that on? Dolby Digital Mono ba

[zonker]

the dude (john lowry) that remastered citizen kane for dvd used an earlier version of the techniques used for the star wars set (it was the third film to use the technique whereas the SW set was well past the 70th film to receive treatment). he has since said in many interviews that he wishes he could do it over again as the earlier version of the technique he used made the movie too clean and removed too much film grain (giving it a slight video-like appearance). oh well, it's as good as we can get as the negative is long gone...

What!

[JaF893]

No Paris Hilton?

Egregious omission.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Nightmare on Elm Street box set, however mediocre most of the movies might've been, deserves mention for the awesome transfers all the movies got and the obscenely complex extras disc. I can't believe it wasn't included here, it beats the crap out of half the DVDs listed.

movie reviews

[chrisranjana.com]

Some great movies are listed there !

Stereotypes indeed . . .

[droleary]

Stereotypes suck. Besides, who needs blondes when we already have the hottest woman in the world.

Yeah, nothing says breaking down barriers like the ability to classify women based solely on their looks.

Where's Contact?

[Oneflower]

Contact is an excellent DVD: features, quality and presentation. And it's a good film.

these complaints are inconceivable!

[mzipay]

i do not think this list means what you think it means.

from the "Why We Like It" section of each item on the list, it seems quite apparent to me that the ranking of dvds is not based so much on the movies themselves, but rather on the full media experience offered by the dvd (including such extras as outtakes, alternate endings, deleted scenes, interviews, trailers, etc.).

did anyone whining about "how could they think Movie X was better than Movie Y" actually RTFL?

Packaging kinda does matter

[Anonymous Coward]

Take 2001. It's THE top sci fi flick of all time an the dams thing comes in a plain looking typical WB cordboard box. No extra features other than a trailer. Hell, 2010 even came with a short documentery.

Missing a Key Movie - Office Space

[kpogoda]

What about Office Space?

Re:Missing a Key Movie - Office Space

[iainl]

The list is of well-presented DVDs, not good films. I love Office Space as much as the next geek, but the print is non-anamorphic and the only extra is a trailer.

Do you know how much it costs for those DVDs?

[brunes69]

I mean, look at what goes into them

* Totally new digital transfers of all the shows

* For a whole season, tens of hours of "blooper-reel" type footage has to be found, approved,and edited in.

* A bunch of documentry films have to be shot

* Then, the big one - the commentarys. You need to bring in the cast/crew, make them sit through hours and hours of their old shows, and comment on them. Hint: Actors don't do this for free.

I mean, sure, they are taking a nice profit. So is the store selling the DVDs. But the cost is not *totally* unjustifed, nor is it completely outragous. For a huge fan, being able to get insight into the mindset of the script writers and actors for the whole series is worth a few hundred bucks. Mind you, I am not that huge of a fan though :)

Re:Sci-fi/fantasy

[abb3w]

I'm starting to think like Prof. Farnsworth from Futurama. I read that and thought "What we really need is Book continuations that exploit quantum anomalies [....]

While worrisome, there's no need to panic yet.

When your second thought is "And I can whip that up in my lab in no time!" ...then, yes, it is time be very afraid. Or rather, it is time to be very afraid after you send me a sample set of book continuations.

Re:Biggest LOTR bug of all was their "Quick Hit"!?

[WillAdams]

I dunno. I think leaving out the Barrow Wights (and Tom Bombadil to extricate them from it) removes a lot of meaning from Eowyn and Merriman's encounter with the Lord of the Ringwraiths. ``Glad indeed would he who wrought that blade been to have known its ultimate fate for chief among the enemies of his folk were the Witch King of Angmar.'' or something like that. Also a shame since it cuts Pippin's heroics down quite a bit.

Agree reusing Arwen isn't so bad --- though still kind of a shame since it gives short shrift to Glorfindel, an elf who returned from the Halls of Mandos to continue his struggle against Sauron in Middle Earth.

William

Re:Biggest LOTR bug of all was their "Quick Hit"!?

[BLAMM!]

I believe the reason given by PJ is that is ruins the flow of the films. You have a huge climax with the defeat of Sauron. Following that with SOTS just would play well. And I agree. It just doesn't make cinematic sense.

But what I *would* like to see is the Scourging of the Shire get is own movie. It certainly deserves it.

Re:Biggest LOTR bug of all was their "Quick Hit"!?

[plover]

Well, it would probably win an Oscar(TM) for the longest movie title ever (stealing shamelessly from Douglas Adams): "Lord of the Rings: The Scouring of the Shire -- Part Four of the Increasingly Inaccurately Titled Trilogy."

But yeah, I'd pay to see it. I already did, in a way -- I was hoping for the Scouring to be included in the Extended Edition of part 3.

Absolutely dead on, I'm with you

[ianscot]

After (in a huge mistake) seeing PH in the theater -- may God forgive me -- I went out and hunted down Tora! Tora! Tora! to wash the taste out of my psyche.

I thought it'd be a limited movie, but really it's right up there on the level of the Gordon Prange general history "At Dawn We Slept." It has some ham-fisted acting, mostly because it's trying to cram in all the different historical figures and it throws in a few "irate master sergeant" types, but for the most part it's top notch. And the effects! They're excellent.

The end of that movie, with Toranaga leaving a group of elated subordinates to walk up onto the deck of a battleship and contemplate, somberly, what he's just unleashed, is a great movie moment.

Mods: The truth about bonch/rd_syringe/OverlyCrGuy

[Anonymous Coward]

Moderators: Please note that "bonch" is a known fanatical psycophant whose obnoxious offtopic rants are legend here on Slashdot. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he'll find a way to scrape in some pointless Microsoft shilling. While nobody expects us to love Microsoft in any way, his particularly tepid style of calling anyone he replies to "troll" or "liar" because he happens to disagree with whatever they're saying is well documented and should not be rewarded. If anything, bonch is the type of person that should not be part of the open source/free software community. He is an anathema to all that is good about free software.

I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider bonch and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Windows or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.

If you're a /. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than bonch. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.

For example, in this recent post bonch not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "MS". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +0) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.

More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own.

More? Bad spelling in astounding conspiracy theories, more offtopic FUD and uninformed "I'm right, look at me" rants, promptly proven wrong. Worse even, bonch wants to be Bill Gates, apparently (that first one is a winner). I mean, really. You think?

FUD, FUD, FUD, FUD, offtopic FUD, and more FUD. This guy is like the Monty Python SPAM skit, but with FUD and more FUD instead of canned meat. Amazed yet? Don't forget that KDE and Gnome make you dumb, and it's all a Slashdot conspiracy. How low do you want to go? Maybe as low as this?

The infamous Slashdot Front Page Troll? Nuclear fireballs? It goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on (troll?). Like the energizer bunny. Or take these two, which stretch the definition of weird.

It's up to you. We can get rid of this guy and make Slashdot a better place. I don't know about you, but I'd rather take the trolls and crapflooders over people like "bonch" any day. And I sure as hell don't want to be categorized along with him. This is not how you advocate free software, period.