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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. "

19 of 393 comments (clear)

  1. Bias by r_glen · · Score: 4, Funny

    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?

    1. Re:Bias by nightsweat · · Score: 5, Funny

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

      This is the "Principle of Jiggy-osity".

      --

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  2. Did you have to be under 15 to vote? by winkydink · · Score: 4, Insightful

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

    --

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    1. Re:Did you have to be under 15 to vote? by eno2001 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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. :)

      --
      -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
  3. What a joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    31. Daredevil
    22. Pearl Harbor

    Q.E.D.

    1. Re:What a joke by soliptic · · Score: 4, Interesting
      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!?

  4. Where's the pr0n? by redonion · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  5. Based on what? by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

    --
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  6. This guy is retarded! by bigbabich · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  7. Top 50 DVD List by NYCVidit · · Score: 5, Informative

    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)

  8. Pirates by flossie · · Score: 4, Funny

    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!

  9. Re:Boo by roseblood · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

    --
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  10. Top 5 DVDs in my collection by aardwolf204 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

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  11. Re:Goonies? by DeadMeat+(TM) · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  12. The IMDB? by bfizzle · · Score: 4, Informative

    What is wrong with the IMDB Top 250 movies?

  13. i wnat tr0n!! by Dogtanian · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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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  14. Re:the list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
    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.


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  15. Not hard to figure out why LoTR is #1. by MtViewGuy · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  16. Pearl Harbor by Detritus · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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.

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