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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. "
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?
I get jokes
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!?
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.
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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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
Having done so much with so little for so long, I now can do anything with nothing at all.
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.
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.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
I would put "Reservoir Dogs" right at the top. I mean it has 2 alternate angles for the "ear scene". That alone tops it.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
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