EPKJ

Taken in context, as it should be, his statement is correct. I think it is fair to attribute to The Fellowship Of The Ring EE setting the standard "for DVD AS AN ART FORM". Note that he did not say that it set the standard for quality. As an artistic work in itself, this release was unique.

jough

There are a number of other DVD/Home Theatre enthusiast forums, the largest of which is probably the HomeTheatreForum.com.

But I don't know how practical it is to list a bunch of other forums on this forum, which is one of the only forums I regularly post to (other than ones on my own web sites).

I'm going to bite the bullet and join the HTF and post the Census items there. Hopefully I won't offend anyone by being a new member and then posting a request for people to post their top 10 dvds.

MovieFan999

1. Looney Tunes Gold Collection
2. West Side Story
3. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Platinum
4.Casablanca Two disc
5. Singin in the rain Two Disc
6. friends season 4 or the show in general which ever one we are using
7. Warner Brothers Legends Box Set
8. ET 2 disc
9. Back to the Future Trilogy
10. Indianna Jones Trilogy

Jerry Seinfeld

Just mention the last cenus (provide a link if you have to) and I'm sure they'll won't be offended.

jough

I can't find the link on the HTF for last year's census, although I believe there was one posted there.

EDIT:

Nevermind, I found it.

MEJHarrison

1) Band of Brothers
2) Amélie
3) Babylon 5: The Complete Third Season
4) Die Hard: The Ultimate Collection
5) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
6) Moulin Rouge
7) Fight Club
8) Singin' in the Rain
9) Alien Quadrilogy
10) Lord of the Rings, The: The Two Towers

jough

Just to let everyone know, I posted the Census poll over at the Home Theatre Forum as well, so please don't post to both places as I wouldn't want to count anyone's list twice!

jough

And as a reminder the deadline for votes is 31 January 2004.

EPKJ

My choices are as follows:

01: Casablanca SE
02: The Adventures Of Robin Hood SE
03: The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring EE
04: Alien Quadrilogy
05: Black Hawk Down Deluxe Edition
06: Adventures Of Indiana Jones
07: Godfather Collection
08: Mondo Cane Collection
09: West Side Story SE
10: Looney Tunes Golden Collection

JesseCuster

The last year or so has seen the arrival of some long-waited for DVD releases and several notable upgrades of previous, lesser editions. My "not-yet-on-DVD" list is thankfully getting reasonably short. Mt current top 10:

#1: Alien Quadrilogy - A beautiful, ludicrously extra-heavy box set of one of the better science fiction movie series ever. Alien has *never* looked this good (no simple thing for a film shot in the late '70's) and we finally get a glimpse of director David Fincher's vision with a retooled version of Alien 3.

#2: Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring: EE - The depth and quality of extras are as key to this set as the sheer volume. Extremely detailed and well-produced material. And the film presentation itself is, of course, of the highest reference quality.

#3: Band of Brothers - A wonderful edition of a very important mini-series. Dazzling visuals and sound and nice extras abound. It also boasts the best DVD packaging in the history of the format, IMHO.

#4: Fight Club SE - This edition of the often mis-understood David Fincher dramaticactionromanticcomedy contains the gorgeous, special to DVD transfer of the film, amazing audio, several commentaries including one of the best tracks ever with Fincher and stars Brad Pitt and Ed Norton and a boatload of extras. Still one of the best DVD editions ever.

#5: Brazil: Criterion Collection - One of the first DVD editions of a film wherein the film's director worked hand in hand with the production staff to cobble together a very different (and much improved) version of his film than had been theatrically released. A seminal DVD release for this reason alone. The gobs of extras don't hurt though.

#6: Rushmore: Criterion Collection - This is probably my favorite film ever but it's also an outstanding DVD release. A nice commentary track and lots of fun, eccentric extras are the selling points here.

#7: Pulp Fiction CE - Fans were clamoring for a new release to replace the barebones, early in the format edition on the market and with this stunning 2-disk set, they got it. More extras than you can shake a gimp at. FWIW, the CE of Jackie Brown, which came out on the same day, is of similar quality.

#8: Seven SE - What was said above about Fight Club applies here. The extras just seem a bit more plentiful for Fight Club.

#9: The Thing CE - I hope this DVD still gets some mention. I'm still not sure why Universal gave such tender-loving care to a film they took an utter bath on in 1982 (it was punked by ET in a very big way) but I'm very thankful for it. It's a grueling, decidedly nihilistic film and one of the best horror films ever made IMO. And like the DVD, that it was made at all is a minor miracle.

#10: Once Upon a Time in the West - Was anybody else simply stunned by this release? It looks like it was shot last week. If this isn't one of the best five westerns ever made, I'd like to see the ones that are supposed to be better. A sweeping masterpiece of a film with more great shots than any ten others of the genre. The introduction of Henry Fonda's character is worth the price of the DVD alone. In the wink of an eye, a quarter century of nice guy typecasting is blown away, which I'm sure was his intention in taking the role. And Charles Bronson, Jason Robards and Claudia Cardinale are magnificent in a very visual film that they could have easily gotten lost in. Highly, *highly* recommended.

stressPasser

1) The Two Towers EE
2) The Fellowship of the Ring EE
3) Alien Quadrilogy
4) The Adventures of Indiana Jones
5) Fight Club SE
6) Shrek SE
7) The Fantasia Anthology
8) The Evil Dead: The Book Of The Dead
9) Memento: Limited Edition
10) Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Extreme DVD

jough

If a mod would be so kind as to make this thread sticky for a week and a half (until the end of voting, at least) we could avoid the numerous "bump" messages.

Please?

planet_jake

I don't think anyone really cares to read my individual comments on each of my selections, so heres my list with minimal commentary:


1. Alien Quadrilogy (1979-1997) (9 Disc Box Set)
- Alien (1979)
- Aliens (1986)
- Alienł (1992)
- Alien: Resurrection (1997)

As a rule this year I tried to avoid jam-packing the list with multi-film DVD Boxsets, this is included because every single film is treated so well that IF the boxset wasn't on here, then all four of the individual films would be. Plus the bonus ninth disc is sweet.

2. Black Hawk Down (3-Disc Deluxe Edition) (2001)

3. Brazil - The Criterion Collection (3-Disc Set) (1985)

4. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring-Special Extended Edition (4-Disc Set) (2001)

Let me make something clear: I am NOT a Lord Of The Rings fanboy. In fact It made me somewhat angry that I had to include this DVD on this list. As its probably going to be on everyone elses list. The film isn't bad or anything, its very very good, but it isn't as interesting to me as most other films, for example I would rather watch the WORST Federico Fellini film (Say, The Voice of the Moon, or City of Women, which are still pretty decent films in fact) then watch any of the Lord Of the Rings movies based simply on the fact I find Fellini (Among other things) much more interesting then The Lord Of The Rings movies. That being said, I cannot deny the greatness of this DVD (BTW This DVD is up for sale or trade if anyone is interested my wishlist can be emailed easily to anyone... Its not that I hate the film or anything, its a very good film... Honestly I just never watch it.)

5. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - The Criterion Collection (2-Disc Set) (1998)

6. Toy Story - The Ultimate Toy Box - Collector's Edition (3-Disc Set)
- Toy Story (1995)
- Toy Story 2 (1999)

7. Star Wars: Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones (2-Disc Set) (2002)

8. Die Another Day - Special Edition (2-Disc Set) (2002)

9. Jackie Brown - Collector's Edition (2-Disc Set) (1997)

10. By Brakhage - An Anthology - The Criterion Collection (2-Disc Set) (1954-2001)

Now this DVD I included because I believe it was an EXTREMELY important benchmark release for the DVD format. I think that this offers a great alternative to traveling long distances in order to see Brakhage films in print, as the transfers are stunning, and the extra's are plentiful (If not overabundant) And really honestly, I think this proved to other DVD companies that there is a market for experimental/non-narrative films out there. This DVD is also notable for the fact that it turned so many people onto the works of Stan Brakhage. Perhaps now Mystic Fire Video will make the "Maya Deren: Experimental Films" DVD available outside of thier website.

jough

*** ALL VOTES TALLIED TO THIS POINT ***

248 Titles. Lots of hot action still to come.

And I like the idea of only adding a few comments about discs which you have something to say. That cuts down on the generica.

Jerry Seinfeld

Listen to this man, mods! Everytime this thread gets bumped it gets at least 2 more lists added to it (Often more, actually). If it was at the top, more lists would be added and it would make for a much better final list.

cruzness

bump

Pants

bump...

....make it stick baby

jough

Not this time.

Anyway, it would be nice to get some more votes from DVD Talkers. You guys had a whole week head start on the HTF members and they're already starting to catch up!

jigga6286

1. LOTR: FOTR EE
2. LOTR: TTT EE
3. Saving Private Ryan dts
4. T2 Ultimate Edition
5. Fight Club
6. Jurassic Park
7. Die Hard Ultimate Collection
8. Forrest Gump
9. Band of Brothers
10. Godfather Collection

the big train

1) Looney Tunes Golden Collection - So much cartoon goodness... it's been a long time in coming

2) Toy Story Ultimate Toy Box - There are still some extras I haven't watched

3) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring EE - They went all-out for this one

4) The Adventures of Indiana Jones - Again, what took so long?

5) Notorious Criterion Collection - Hitchcock is as great as ever, but it's all about Grant and Bergman here. The special feature regarding the fate of the Unica Key was very touching.

6) Black Hawk Down Deluxe Edition - The commentary by the men who were there was a very good idea

7) Lawrence of Arabia Superbit - One of the most visually stunning movies all-time with a brand new transfer

8) Alias: The Complete Second Season - Just as great as the first season, but with more interesting packaging

9) Casablanca Special Editon - Improved transfer, wonderful extras and an Ebert commentary for what might be the best love story of all-time.

10) The Godfather Collection - Some things could have been better, but it's still a great trilogy and it comes in an attractive package.

Jerry Seinfeld

How many DVD's are there counting all the HTF lists too, jough?

amoeba89

1. Brazil (Criterion Collection)
2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Criterion Collection)
3. LotR : Fellowship of the Ring EE
4. LotR : The Two Towers EE
5. Fight Club 2 disc SE
6. Pulp Fiction SE
7. Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition
8. Se7en (New Line Platinum Series)
9. This is Spinal Tap SE
10. Fantasia Anthology

Jerry Seinfeld

Bumpy Bump Bump Bumper

jough

There are now just over 300 titles all told. The HTF people vote on many of the same discs people here do, naturally.

Still, there will be some surprises in the top ten, I'm sure.

Voting ends this Saturday.

Hokeyboy

1. Brazil: Criterion Collection

2. The Fantasia Anthology

3. Seven Samurai: Criterion Collection

4. Toy Story: The Ultimate Toy Box

5. Looney Toons: The Golden Collection

6. Tokyo Story: Criterion Collection

7. The Adventures of Robin Hood: Two Disc Special Edition

8. Lawrence of Arabia: Superbit

9. Three Colors Trilogy

10. Superman: The Movie (Director's Cut)