What are YOUR top ten DVDs of 2004? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Eash]

in no order

Kill Bill Vol. 1
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Spider-man 2 Superbit
Star Wars Trilogy
LOTR:ROTK EE
Seinfeld Seasons 1-3
Clerks: X
Goodfellas SE
Shawshank Redemption SE
Napolean Dynamite

 

[Marvin Richardson]

In alphabetical order:

Aladdin: Platinum Edition
Friday The 13th: From Crystal Lake To Manhattan: Ultimate Edition
Goodfellas: Special Edition
Hellboy: Director's Cut
Mary Poppins: 40th Anniversary Edition
Seinfeld: Volume 1 & 2
Spider-Man 2
The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King: Collector's DVD Gift Set
The Ultimate Matrix Collection
Walt Disney Treasures: On The Front Lines: Limited Edition

If I had to pick the DVD of the year, I think I'd say Mary Poppins: 40th Anniversary Edition.

 

[Jan H]

1. Star Wars Trilogy
2. LOTR - ROTK EE
3. The Battle of Algiers - Criterion
4. Hitchcock 9 DVD Box Set
5. Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection
6. Gone With the Wind
7. Schindler's List
8. Film Noir Collection (Warners)
9. Short Cuts - Criterion
10. Master and Commander

Unquestionably, 2004 was the greatest year ever for new DVD releases. I hope 2005 is at least close.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Damn local Best Buy was completely sold out of Mary Poppins yesterday.

 

[Mike Wadkins]

CLERKS X
PUNISHER (R3 DTS)
HELLBOY (3 DISC DC)
DAWN OF THE DEAD (UE)
THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (UK 3 DISC)
DAREDEVIL (DIRECTORS CUT)
PANIC ROOM
STAR WARS TRILOGY
LA HAINE (UK SPECIAL ED)
TOP GUN (SPECIAL ED)

AND LOTS I HAVE NO DOUBT FORGOTTEN !

 

[Dane Marvin]

1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [Extended Edition]
2. Gone With the Wind [Warner 4-Disc SE]
3. Freaks & Geeks: The Complete Series
4. Ed Wood [SE]
5. The Shawshank Redemption [SE]
6. The Star Wars SE Trilogy
7. Around the World in 80 Days [SE]
8. Meet Me in St. Louis [SE]
9. American Dreams: Complete First Season [Extended Music Edition]
10. Live Aid

NOTE: The Twilight Zone: Definitive Season 1 will probably be either first or second on this list when I am able to get it on the 28th.

Honorable mentions
Arrested Development: Season 1
Enter the Dragon [SE]
THX 1138 [SE]
My Fair Lady [SE]
Seinfeld: Seasons 1/2 & Season 3
The Simpsons: Seasons 4 & 5
Futurama: Volumes 3 & 4
Carnivale: Complete Season One


Final Count (Studios with titles in my top 10)
Warner Bros. - 5 titles
New Line - 1 title
Universal - 1 title
Fox - 1 title
Shout! Factory - 1 title
Disney/Buena Vista - 1 title

Pretty safe to say Warner is once again my choice for Studio of the Year in 2004.

 

[Paul_Scott]

the "wow- I forgot how much i always loved this movie" list
The Accidental Tourist
The Prisoner Of Second Avenue
Hardcore
The Counterfeit Traitor
The World Of Suzie Wong
A Room With A View
The Final Countdown
The Brinks Job (R2)


The YES! (or "Thank You, Thank You, THANK YOU!! Now I can stop obsessing about NOT having this on the shelf.")list
StarCrash (R2)
Out Of The Past
This Gun For Hire
Revenge Of The Creature (via the Legacy Collection)
I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Foul Play
The Postman Always rings Twice
My Darling Clementine
Dracula '79
La Belle Noiseuse

the "Sweet! wasn't expecting this" list
Charlies Angels Season 2
Wonder Woman Season 1
Dallas Season 1
Night Gallery Season 1

the Blind Buys that completely blew me away list
Buffy Season 6
Have Gun- Will Travel Season 1
Freaks & Geeks

the "Damn! Wasn't expecting to enjoy that near as much as i did" list
Spider-man '67 Collection
Buck Rogers Complete TV set
Buffy Season 7
Walt Disney Treasures: Tommorowland

The Agony & The Ecsatcy list
The Star Wars Trilogy

the "well, i don't exactly love the show, but it is a pretty doggone impressive presentation" list
Here's Lucy Collectors Edition


In every sense-The most truly satisfying releases of the year list
Gone With The Wind SE
Dawn Of The Dead UE

still havent seen ROTK EE or The Twilight Zone Definitive Collection S1- though i expect both of those would make one of these lists

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Top 10 Movie DVDs:

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Extended Edition

2. The Star Wars Trilogy

3. Trainspotting Collector's Series

4. Goodfellas Special Edition

5. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Special Edition

6. The Shawshank Redemption Special Edition

7. The Commitments Special Edition

8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Platinum Series

9. The Iron Giant Special Edition

10. Ed Wood Special Edition

Very Honorable Mention to:

After Hours
Aladdin Platinum Edition
Alice in Wonderland Masterpiece Edition
Blazing Saddles Anniversary Edition
Dawn of the Dead ('04) Unrated Director's Cut
Elf Infinifilm
Flirting with Disaster Collector's Series
Friday the 13th Collection
Predator Special Edition
Shrek 2
Spider-Man 2
The Thing Collector's Edition
The Untouchables Collector's Edition

...also, I think that Universal is to be commended on their excellent Legacy Collection sets. all the way on all six!

My favorite TV DVDs of the year (in alphabetical order):

Arrested Development S1
Freaks & Geeks Complete Series
Futurama S3 & S4
Seinfeld Vol. 1 & 2
Simpsons S4 & S5
Smallville S2 & S3
Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection

(DVDs that I'm sure would be jockeying for a position...if only I owned them: Clerks Anniversary Edition, Dawn of the Dead 4-disc set, Dr. Strangelove Anniversary Edition, Freaks, Garden State, Gone with the Wind Collector's Edition, Hellboy Director's Cut, Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Collector's Edition, The Matrix Ultimate Collection, Mary Poppins Anniversary Edition, Meet Me in St. Louis Special Edition, Panic Room Special Edition, Schindler's List, Shaun of the Dead, That's Entertainment Collection, and THX-1138 Director's Cut)

(But my birthday is next week so maybe we can move some of those DVDs onto my shelf.)

 

[Quint van der Vaart]

My top 10 of 2004 looks like this :


1. The Lord Of The Rings : Return Of The King EE
2. Schindler's List Gift Set
3. King Arthur : Director's Cut DTS R2
4. Master And Commander : The Far Side Of The World
5. Finding Nemo DTS R2
6. Spiderman 2 Superbit R1
7. Aladdin SE
8. The Bourne Supremacy
9. The Name Of The Rose SE R2
10. Star Wars Trioligy SE


I'm most definately looking forward to 2005 when titles like The Incredibles , National Treasure , Der Untergang , Shark Tale and many other great titles come out

 

[Shad R]

Star Wars
LOTR:ROTK
Clerks X
I Robot (what an AMAZING, JAW-DROPPING picture quality)
Invader Zim, all three
Kill Bill 1,2
Dawn of the Dead
Elf ( I know,I know)
Alladin
Top Gun

 

[Chris Farmer]

In no particular order

1. Return of the King EE
2. Looney Tunes Golden Collection 2
3. Matrix Ultimate Collection
4. Gone With the Wind 65th Anniversary
5. Star Wars Trilogy
6. Hellboy Director's Cut
7. Aladdin Platinum
8. Panic Room SE
9. Top Gun SE
10. THX-1138 Director's Cut

 

[Mike.B]

Okay, here is my top 10 (hope I'm not forgetting something). It is based on a number of factors, including the a/v quality, special features, packaging, menus, and of course how much I like the film or show to begin with.

1) Star Wars Trilogy
- We don't all agree on which is the definitive version, and most of us don't like the fact that the "original" trilogy isn't even available to us on DVD, but I don't care! I've been waiting years for this. And it looks (and mostly sounds) great! It doesn't have 10 discs of extras, but the documentary, "Empire of Dreams" is very good too.

2) Goodfellas SE
- This one is high on the list almost exclusively for the fact that it is my #1 film of all-time. Overall, I'm disappointed with the release, as I would have loved a whole slew of extras like deleted scenes and an extensive making-of doc. But, the presentation is still much better than the original version.

3) The Simpsons Complete 4th Season
- One classic episode after another. The commentaries may not always be the most enlightening, but you have to appreciate the fact that there is commentary on each and every episode. You can't say that about the majority of TV shows on DVD.

4) Dawn of the Dead Ultimate Edition
- Wow. I love this. I really like having the option to choose between 3 different versions of the film. Give me my slow zombies any day!

5) LotR: Return of the King Extended Edition
- What more can you say that hasn't already been said about the Fellowship and Two Towers extended editions. These DVDs have set the standard for years to come.

6) Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World CE
- A very fine film from one of the most underappreciated directors, Peter Weir. This is a no-brainer home theater demo disc. And it may be a small point, but the packaging is terrific.

7) Panic Room SE
- This one isn't as popular with fanboys as Fincher's other film's like "Fight Club" or "Seven", but I think it's great. I truly wish that there were more productions like this.

8) Gone With the Wind CE
- As far as the classic films go I personally don't like this one quite as much as, say, "Casablanca". But you cannot deny the phenomenal job that Warner did with restoring this film. It looks fabulous, and the documentaries are first rate. Bravo!

9) The Battle of Algiers
- Criterion has done it again! Hopefully this will enable more and more people to see this foreboding masterpiece.

10) Finding Nemo
- I must say, my wife and I do not have any children yet but I absoutely love Pixar films. Probably the only thing in moviemaking today (actor, director, studio, etc.) where I will blindly see a film no questions asked on opening weekend. Oh, and the DVD features are pretty good too!

Lots of other great releases that didn't make the list. Hopefully 2005 will be another banner year. :p)

 

[david*mt]

Wasn't this released in 2003?

 

[SteveGon]

What, I'm actually supposed to keep track of these things?

Let's see...

Freaks
The Rapture
Proof
Dawn of the Dead Ultimate Edition
Warner Film Noir Collection

A bunch from Criterion:

La Strada
Rules of the Game
Slacker
Ikiru
Stray Dog


Honorable mentions:

Moulin Rouge '52
Titanic '43
Munchhausen
The Man Who Laughs
In a Year With 13 Moons
The Gods Must Be Crazy I & II
The Hired Hand
Short Cuts (Criterion)
Eyes Without a Face (Criterion)
Dawn of the Dead '04
Star Wars Trilogy
Marcel Pagnol Collection
W.C. Fields Collection

Look ma! No Return of the King! :p)

 

[Mike.B]

re: Finding Nemo D'oh! You're correct.

In that case:

10) Knife in the Water
- Bless you, Criterion! Roman Polanski's undeniable classic is a simple, but gripping tale of jealousy and revenge. I have no idea what the film originally looked like upon its initial release, but it sure looks good now. Highly recommended.

 

[Steve Christou]

[groan] And how proud you must be! Well I'm not really surprised looking at the dvds you've been busy collecting all year Stevo, The Marcel Pagnol collection? Who he? Freaks? The Rapture? Gaah! In a Year of 13 Moons? eh what?

Well since I'm here I'd like to add the superb Disney Treasures- On the Front Lines to my list of top dvds of 2004 (um it was this year wasn't it? My memory's like a sieve.)

 

[SteveGon]

 

[Steve Christou]

Steve, I want you to meet Zen, he's over in testing mulling over my last post.

 

[RudolphT]

Top 10 Movie DVDs (with DVHS snuck in):

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Extended Edition

2. The Star Wars Trilogy.
One less reason to keep LD in the rack, but not dumping yet.

3. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - DVHS
Better than the DVD by far.

4. The Second Flintstones Complete series
Keep 'em coming.

5. The Day After Tomorrow - DVHS
More visual than story & despite hackneyed politiopath message.

6. Underworld Extended Cut (including German WMV9)

7. Van Helsing Ultimate Collection
If only for the Universal OIriginals bundled in sweetens the deal). It's no The Mummy.

8. Hellboy Director's Cut
Good stuff

9. Abbot & Costello Movie Colection Volume 3

10. The Thing Collector's Edition
Because it's about time.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

My best of 2004:

I'm not gonna pick the Return of the King EE, only because if this edition was any worse then the previous years I would be surprised. Of course it’s a good DVD, go get it.

Stuff that surprised by in 2004 (this is referring to DVD presentation, not the film itself):

Spiderman 2 - I hated the initial released. Never before had I seen a larger collection of EPK fluff pieces and worthless featurettes. Spiderman 2 is a complete 180 in terms of feature. On the second disc you'll find a fantastic One hour plus documentary about the making of the film in addition to the usual deleted scenes and commentaries. The Documentary was very enjoyable and very satisfying, as I usually have a lot of questions and most were answered.

Seinfeld - Not only did this finally come out. But with a great collection of extras. The documentary about Seinfeld's routes is excellent and very in-depth. The amount of deleted scenes and blooper reels are a nice edition. As well as the video quality of the episodes themselves. It's not superbit quality, but it's certainly better then anything you'll see on TV.

Awesome Films with alright DVD presentations:

Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Great film. Didn't think it was going to be. Was really surprised. Great soundtrack and a pretty solid transfer. Features are very meh, but the directors cut was a nice thought (even though I still can't tell what's new from the theatrical version).

Shaun of the Dead - I think I just didn't like Zombie films until this year. Another film which I didn't seem to interested in, got dragged too it, and enjoyed the hell out of it. Some okay DVD features like the fill TV bits and the Script outline are interested; the video diary is crap but not a big deal. Good soundtrack, okay transfer, fun movie. Go buy it.

Arrested Development - Okay, its not a film, but I won't make a separate section. Someone on these boards told me to check it out and I thank him for the recommendation. In a year where I found myself not watching TV, AD gives me reason too again. Amazingly sharp writing, an amazing cast, everything about this show is amazing. So why are you not watching it? Well at least buy the DVD so the show sticks around. Hey, it worked for the Family Guy.

Disappointments of 2004:

Rocky Anthology. Okay, the transfers are nice, the sound is good but where the hell are the extras? I didn't except anything for Rocky 2-5, but Rocky 1 is now bare bones? What gives MGM?

ER Season 3: Where is it Warner? What gives?

Saving Private Ryan (2 disc): DreamWorks what's going on here? First you take away are DTS track and only make it available with a 4 disc box set. Then you don't even put together that great of a DVD. I wanted substance here, not a pretty box.

Clerks X: Well at least it's anamorhpic. Firstly, if a DVD it's loaded with useless features like the look at the sound transfer and video transfer. Rather then having Mosier sit at his Mbox explaining the remix, why not SHOW IT. And if David Klein won’t sit down and show us the process of cleaning up the film, I don't need a 1 minute gag piece of his telling off an intern and then smiling at the camera. Kevin’s introductions are painful long and unfunny, they are skipable, but one wonders why he puts the effort. Then there are little nitpicks such as not including the original stereo track with the film. The other features are forgettable, such as the newly animated lost scene. It should have stayed lost. For the money I paid for this release I accepted something such as Spiderman 2 or Return of the King. What I got was Spiderman 1; nice packaging and lots of hot air.