What are YOUR top ten DVDs of 2005? (1 Viewer)

[dana martin]

1. KING KONG COLLECTOR'S EDITION
2. THE WIZARD OF OZ-3 DISC SET
3. ALFRED HITCHCOCK MASTERPIECE COLLECTION
4. TITANIC 3 DISC SET
5. BATMAN:TAS VOL 3 & 4
6. BATMAN ANTHOLOGY
7. THE THIN MAN COLLECTION
8. STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH
9. CINDERELLA DVD GIFT SET
10. COMPLETE JAMES DEAN COLLECTION

to many left to select from

 

[seanOhara]

Best of 2005

1) Bringing up Baby

2) War of the Worlds (1953)

3) Wizard of Oz (3 disc)

4) The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

5) Detective Story

6) The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection

7) Controversial Classics Collection

8) The Thin Man Collection

9) Errol Flynn Signature Collection

10) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

I know Paramount gets slagged a lot for their lackluster treatment of catalogue titles, but MoMC and Detective Story look fantastic even if they have little to no extra features, and WotW looks good and has supplements as good as anything Warners has done this year.

 

[Brook K]

No order

King Kong Collection
The Devil's Rejects
Ugetsu
Casque D'Or
Harakiri
Hoop Dreams
Crazed Fruit
Eric Rohmer Collection (Arrow Films r2)
Val Lewton Collection
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage SE

 

[Paul McElligott]

Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection
Batman Begins Deluxe Ed.
Ben Hur
The Big Red One SE
Bullitt SE
Chariots of Fire
Jaws 30th Anniversary
King Kong
SW III - ROTS
Wizard of Oz

 

[Jaxon's Dad]

Mine goes to 11. In no particular order:

King Kong CE
Wizard of Oz 3 Disc
Star Wars Episode III
Batman Begins Deluxe Edition
Batman Motion Picture Anthology
Bambi Platinum Edition
Cinderella Platinum Edition
Simpsons Seasons 6 & 7
SCTV vols 3 & 4
Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection
Looney Tunes Golden Collection 3

Runners up:
Clone Wars Vols 1 & 2
Jaws 30th Anniversary Edition
War of the Worlds 2 Disc (2005)
Ben Hur 3 Disc
Galdiator 3 Disc
The Incredibles

Guilty Pleasures:
Fantastic Four
Madagascar
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Sound of Music

 

[Mark VH]

Don't have time to think up my Top 10 at the moment, but the 2-Disc Raging Bull DVD is and was the DVD of the year. No question.

 

[Dale MA]

In alphabetical order:


Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection

Casino 10th Anniversary Edition

The Essential Steve McQueen Collection (Bullitt & The Getaway being the standouts)

Jaws 30th Anniversary Edition

The Complete King Kong Collection (King Kong, Son of Kong, Mighty Joe Young)

Rebel without a Cause - Two-Disc Special Edition

Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith

The Sting - Legacy Series

Warners Gangsters Collection

Wizard of Oz - Three-Disc Edition

Runners up: War of the Worlds - Two-Disc Special Edition [2005], The War of the Worlds - Two-Disc Collector's Edition [1953], East of Eden - Two-Disc Special Edition, Star Wars Clone Wars Vol's 1 & 2, Raging Bull: Special Edition.

Also please note, I still haven't finished purchasing all my 2005 DVDs yet and with Christmas around the corner there's still more to come!

 

[Rodney]

Definitely seems to be the year of the box sets.

Here are my top ten, and like the others, no particular order:

Warner Gangsters Collection
Forgotten Films of Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle
Thin Man Collection
Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection
Bambi: Platinum Edition
McClintock (*Finally I get to see it in it's OAR)
Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection
King Kong Collection Best Buy Exclusive
Leave it To Beaver Season One Lunchbox
3 Godfathers (*Surprise release at the end of the year!)

 

[nickGreenwood]

Hrmmm hard to remember what came out this year.
Here goes nothing:

1. Sin City (Theatrical) - Picture and sound is amazing on a barebones disk, I've yet to get the new version.

2. Batman Begins - It looks good, the movie was amazing.

3. Star Wars Episode 3 - The movie that redeems the prequel trilogy, in a way.

4. Serenity - I have an odd love for Joss Whedon, it's best that it's not spoken of.

5. Scrubs - Seasons 1+2 - I love the show and the dvd's have some great features to them.

6. Ladder 49 - I'm convinced Joaquin Phoenix is one of the best actors of my generation, I loved this movie.

7. Raging Bull - I haven't finished watching it, but what I've seen the quality on the dvd looks great.

8. The Aviator - Leo may be an over-rated actor from Titanic but I think he's proved with his last two or three films that he's a fine actor.

9. Titanic - Movie looks great. Major plus... Kate Winslet.

10. Garden State - I bought this in 2005. It came out right around the end/beginning of the year last year. I love the movie, I can't wait for Elizabethtown on dvd.

I don't remember purchasing that many dvd this year, but I know I did...

 

[Chris Stainton]

01) Rock & Rule
02) Brady Bunch Season Sets
03) Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin (I never thought this would be released)
04) Corvette Summer (See Starchaser above)
05) King Kong
06) Ben Hur
07) Bambi
08) Leave It To Beaver Season 1
09) Titanic
10) The Incredibles

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Here's my list for this year (it might change next week depending on how good the new Toy Story 2 release is):

1. The King Kong Collection - This is the best I've ever seen the original 1933 King Kong look. The expansive included documentaries, and the recreation of "The Spider Pit" sequence by Peter Jackson and his crew, push this to the top of the list for 2005. Getting Mighty Joe Young in the same box with a Harryhausen commentary track is just more icing on a delicious cake!

2. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - The final chapter in the Star Wars Saga does not disappoint. The digital-to-digital transfer provides a "near High-Def" experience and the bonus disc is very nicely done as well.

3. Ben Hur 4-disc CE - A very nice package with the correct framing of the movie provided for the first time on the DVD format. The inclusion of the original silent film version of the movie is the best bonus in the box.

4. The Sound of Music 40th Anniversary Edition - Finally! A version of the movie that I can actually run through my projector. The Julie Andrews-hosted extras are all worth viewing as well.

5. The Wizard of Oz 3-disc CE - An absolutely awesome and reverent release of the movie. "The best the movie has looked on the DVD format". (Hmmm ... We seem to have a theme going here!)

6. Batman Begins - An extraordinarily good superhero movie. The included comic book (err...Graphic Novel?) was nice as well!

7. Titanic CE - We now have *all* of Cameron's movies available on the DVD format with anamorphic enhancement ... except for "The Abyss" and "True Lies" :frowning: .

8. The Incredibles - A highly entertaining movie; and the DVD does a magnificent job with the presentation.

9. Bambi and Cinderella - With the release of these two titles, Disney has finally provided at least one release of every Disney animated classic in their catalog to DVD ... except for Song of the South. (Of course, we still need anamorphic releases for The Little Mermaid, Lady and the Tramp, and Hercules!)

10. The Sting-Legacy Edition We *finally* get an OAR release of one my favorite classic movies. Now ... Where the heck is The African Queen??

*** Edit ***
Somebody asked me to provide some of my honorable mentions for the year. They noticed that I'm a big Star Trek fan and yet didn't include any of the Star Trek CE's for the year on my list. For the most part I was a little disappointed with the Star Trek offerings for the year with the exception of the First Contact CE and the the fourth season of Enterprise. So... Here's some of my "just misses":

11. Toy Story Anniversary Edition
12. Star Trek: First Contact CE
13. Star Trek: Enterprise Season 4
14. Godzilla: Final Wars (It's over-the-top and cheesy. I love it! And the GINO makes an (appropriately) brief appearance.
15. Remington Steele - Seasons I and II

 

[Don_Limey]

Here is mine but in not particular order

The 40-Year Old Virgin: Unrated
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle: Unrated
Entourage: Season 1
The Simpsons: Season 6 (although the box really sucked)
The Simpsons: Season 7
License to Drive
Sin City: Director's Cut
The Longest Yard (1974): Lockdown Edition
Batman Begins: Deluxe Edition
Family Guy: Volume 4

 

[PatW]

Here is mine in no particular order:

Ben Hur
Batman Begins
Warner's Comedy Classics esp. Bringing up Baby
Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection
Titanic
War of the Worlds (1953)
Revenge of the Sith
To Kill a Mockingbird - legacy series
Sin City
Cinderella Man

Biggest disappointment was the Island. Was really looking forward to this movie, preordered it, received it and the sound is English 2.0. I was so mad I nearly chucked it in the garbage but common sense prevailed.

 

[Erwin]

1.)Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen)
2.)Batman Begins: SE
3.)Batman Anthology
4.)The Aviator
5.)Simpsons Season 7
6.)Simpsons Season 6
7.)Cinderella Man
8.)The Incredibles
9.)King Kong (1933)
10.)Titanic CE

 

[JimKr]

WOW, I am surprised only 2 people mentioned The Controversial Classics Collection.

 

[Mike D]

Related links:

IGN.com Best of 2005

The DVD Journal Top Ten

DVD Savant's Favorites

AnimeTalk's Top Ten Anime DVDs

DVD Movie Central Awards

Rolling Stone

Barnes & Noble Staff Favorites:
Movies / TV / Classics / Collections / Finds

Amazon

About.com Top Ten

Hampton Roads

Masters of Cinema

DVD Talk Top 20 plus many other lists

Movies.com

Combustible Celluloid

Entertainment Weekly

Digitally Obsessed

DVDBeaver

Movie City News: Doug Pratt / Gary Dretzka

NYTimes Best Vault Raiders (subscription only, click here for text)

Hollywood Reporter

Not Coming to a Theater Near You

The Onion AV Club

Jam! Showbiz

DVD Active

JoBlo's Movie Emporium

DVD Movie Guide

PopMatters

CHUD.com

Washington Post

Horrordvds.com

 

[Lou Sytsma]

The number of TV boxsets are very telling.

Here's mine in no particular order:

Batman Begins
The Incredibles
Lost Season One
BattleStar Galatica: MiniSeries and Season One

 

[Brent M]

1. SW Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
2. Batman Begins
3. War of the Worlds
4. 24: Season 4
5. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
6. Seinfeld Seasons 5 & 6
7. Chappelle's Show Season 2
8. Jaws: 30th Anniversary Edition
9. Heat: Special Edition
10. Casino: 10th Anniversary Edition

Guilty Pleasure:

Jackass: The Box Set

EDIT: I totally forgot the Batman Anthology 1989-1997 Box Set(which is worth it for the Special Editions of Batman and Batman Returns alone). That's at the TOP of my list right after Episode III.

 

[Roger Rollins]

1) WIZARD OF OZ-COLLECTOR'S EDITION (3 disc)-Aside from the amazing, new extras, the new transfer IS miles ahead of the previous incarnation.

2) KING KONG-CE in Tin Case-I have never see the big ape look so good, and the second disc may have the best special features ever created for DVD

3) WARNER GANGSTERS- Each film a true classic, beautifully restored, with superb extras

4) BEN-HUR-4 Disc CE- Another superb transfer, far better than what we had before, with terrific additional material including the impressive '25 original.

5) LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN-One of the all time great films, finally on DVD. The transfer may lack the sharpness and vivid colors that you would find from WB or Paramount, and the special features are so ho-hum, but the film itself is so superb, that you can forgive Fox for not giving this an A+ makeover. I'm just thrilled to have it.

6) THE THIN MAN COLLECTION-I have had this set for 5 months, and still keep re-watching the titles. It's sensational to have Nick and Nora on DVD, and lookin' so good.

7) CONTROVERSIAL CLASSICS BOX-Worth the price of admission just for A FACE IN THE CROWD and THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY alone. A superb and diverse collection spanning 30 plus years of great filmmaking that made a difference.

8) THE FRED ASTAIRE & GINGER ROGERS COLL. V.1- These films are endlessly entertaining, and some groundbreaking. TOP HAT and SWING TIME are the stellar highlights here, in smashingly clean & crisp restored versions.

9) SOUTH PARK-Season Six- This may have been the show's greatest season. I love this set (even more than all the others)

10)BROADWAY TO HOLLYWOOD-CLASSIC MUSICALS COLLECTION-5 musicals from WHV, all looking superb, but the standouts are amazing double discs of THE BAND WAGON and EASTER PARADE using Warner's amazing Ultra-Resolution process. The Technicolor is virtually 3-D.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

There's also no anamorphic Piranha 2, so that means only 4 of Cameron's 7 films are 16X9 - not even close to "all" of them...