Michael Giltz: Best DVDs of 2007 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/best-dvds-of-2007_b_79851.html [4/5/2009 8:04:20 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 www.TheGodMovie.com Feedback - Ads by Google HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Angelina Jolie | Madonna | Chris Brown & Rihanna | Paul McCartney | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Similar Bloggers Email Print Be the First to Submit This Story to Digg Best DVDs of 2007 Posted January 7, 2008 | 05:49 PM (EST) Read More: 2008 New Year , Dvds, Holiday Season , Ratatouille, Steven Soderbergh , Twin Peaks , Breaking Entertainment News I've been covering DVDs for Huffington Post for six months now.</p><p> How time flies when you're trying to choose between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD! (My decision: neither; wait till one crashes andburns.) So here's a rundown of my favorite DVDs of 2007.</p><p> My guiding principle is to highlightDVDs that either introduced me to a movie or TV show I might have otherwise missed (like InBetween Days ) or a DVD whose extras deepened my appreciation of the film.</p><p> What I don't want to do is just list the DVD releases of the best films of the year.</p><p> So Ratatouille is one of my favorites of 2007 but since I didn't really explore the DVD extras and it certainly didn't introduce me to the film, it's not listed here.</p><p> Look for it on my favorite movies of the year list, coming soon (as soon as I can go see There Will Be Blood and work my way through about 20 more films, that is).</p><p> Enjoy! MR.</p><p> ARKADIN ($49.95; Criterion) -- This Orson Welles oddity can stand in for just about any and every terrific release from Criterion both this andevery year.</p><p> Criterion outdoes itself with two theatricalversions, a new definitive version, radio playsfeaturing the character and even the complete novel that Welles may or may not have written.</p><p> I might just as well have included Criterion's impeccableDVD sets for Ace in The Hole ($39.95) or Berlin Alexanderplatz ($124.95) or any of their other releases.</p><p> IN BETWEEN DAYS ($29.95; Kino) -- This well-observed Sundance feature about a South Korean teenager coming of age in a cold, Northeastern town is just the sort of small movie that can slip through the cracks in theaters but get discovered and appreciated on DVD.</p><p> A very promisingfeature by director So Yong Kim.</p><p> FOYLE'S WAR IV ($59.99; Acorn) - Not the strongest batch of mysteries for this WW II-set British series.</p><p> But Michael Kitchens remains brilliantly incisive as Foyle -- a man of few words whomakes every one count to magnetic effect - and he's surrounded by a top-notch supporting cast ledby the delightfully named Honeysuckle Weeks.</p><p> Best of all, the DVDs contain the entire, uncut Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! 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BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN ($29.95; Kino) - A beautifully restored new edition of Eisenstein's masterpiece, a film so vital and electric it might have been made tomorrow instead of in the silent era.</p><p> I was torn between choosing this and I Am Cuba: The Ultimate Edition ($44.95), Milestone's beautifully packaged set of that fever dream of a cinematic postcard.</p><p> Both are essential for moviebuffs.</p><p> TWIN PEAKS DEFINITIVE GOLD BOX EDITION ($99.99; Paramount) - Finally, the entire series available in one boxed set (including the mysteriously disappearing two hour pilot which wasn't included in the previous Season One set).</p><p> Loaded with enough extras to sate even the mostfervent fan of the show.</p><p> Now you can just stop watching once the killer of Laura Palmer is revealedand pretend it's one of the greatest miniseries in TV history instead of a brilliant series that lost itsway.</p><p> BOB DYLAN - Two great musical DVDs about Bob: Don't Look Back 1965 Tour Deluxe Edition ($49.95; Docurama ) included even more footage from that electric moment in his career.</p><p> And Bob Dylan: The Other Side Of The Mirror ($19.98; Sony) simply and perfectly shows Dylan's explosive growth as an artist and a star via three years of performances at the Newport Folk Festival.</p><p> I alsoenjoyed Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who ($29.98; Universal) and the absurdly long overdue release of Nirvana Unplugged: Live in New York ($19.98; Geffen).</p><p> But even they comesecond to Mr.</p><p> Zimmerman.</p><p> CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND - ($39.95; Sony) - A tremendously entertaining, adult film by Steven Spielberg, who was bedeviled by the lure of TV and theatrical re- releases into endlessly fiddling with this classic.</p><p> Here, he finally does it justice by offering theoriginal theatrical release along with every other version and a new final, final edition.</p><p> THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. - THE COMPLETE SERIES ($249.99; Warner Bros.) - An iconic TV series that had passed me by got the deluxe treatment on DVD, which meant I got to see this show for the first time.</p><p> A silly spy series that got sillier with the passage of time, it's atouchstone for people that grew up with it and fun for those who didn't.</p><p> Best of all, lavish extraswere clear-eyed enough to discuss the show's artistic stumbles with a fan's loving exactitude.</p><p> Andsometimes, just getting the show on DVD at all is reward enough.</p><p> That's certainly the case withSaturday Night Live Complete Second Season ($69.98; Universal).</p><p> But Young Indiana JonesVolume Two: The War Years ($129.99; Paramount) offers both the delight of Sean Patrick Flanery Style On CBS' "Washington Unplugged" Arianna was on CBS' "Washington...</p><p> Huff TV Arianna Appears on ABC's "This Week" Roundtable With George Stephanopoulos(VIDEO) Arianna was a guest this morning on... 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RICHARD POPLAWSKI,Pittsburgh Gunman, Kills 3Police Officers Dr.</p><p> Rachel Ehrenfeld: DoesIran Harbor Osama binLaden? Comments 17 Pending Comments 0 SNL: Madonna And Angelina In Weekend Update...</p><p> Reality Star Jade Goody Buried In Lavish...</p><p> Robert De Niro Nanny Sues For $40,000 Alex Da Silva, Celebrity Choreographer Accused Of... as young Indy and solid documentary extras that fulfill George Lucas' desire to create a series both fun and genuinely informative.</p><p> The worst DVDs of the year: I was most disappointed in the individual, director's cut editions of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof ($29.95; Dimension) and Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror ($29.95; Dimension), two very fun movies.</p><p> However artistically successful -- or not -- they may be, there was no excuse for not releasing Grindhouse in a single set as originally seen in theaters: as a double bill with trailers stuck in the middle.</p><p> It's especially annoying because you know they'll put it out at some point and fans who might have preferred that version in the first place simply have to buy it all over again.</p><p> So what were your favorite DVDs of the year -- whether they were released in 2007 or not? Comments for this post are now closed Email Print More in Entertainment...</p><p> HuffPost Stories Surging Right Now Ads by Google Deep Discount DVDs Low Price Films, Movies, Box Sets DVDs with Free Shipping DeepDiscount.com/DVDs Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All Guitarsandmore See Profile I'm a Fan of Guitarsandmore permalink Best Musical is "Once" with Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.</p><p> This DVD has the best music on it and Computers India Barack Obama Michelle Obama Sports Olympics Housing Crisis Fox News Cars MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... 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(The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine) by Michael Giltz 2008 New Year DvdsHoliday SeasonRatatouilleSteven SoderberghTwin Peakschemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of...</p><p> HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES Bloggers Index Read All Posts by Michael Giltz Related Tags This Blogger's Books from Michael Giltz: Best DVDs of 2007 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/best-dvds-of-2007_b_79851.html [4/5/2009 8:04:20 PM] the sound track is just awesome.</p><p> Hollywoodaholic See Profile I'm a Fan of Hollywoodaholic permalink The iconic 60s television series "Route 66" finally came out on DVD.</p><p> Part Jack Keroauc beat poet philosophy, part travel-ogue of America (a television series actually shot on the road), part buddy picture, but mostly just great characters and writing from Stirling Silliphant.</p><p> And those qualities never age. celiedh See Profile I'm a Fan of celiedh permalink Hi, Michael.</p><p> Kino and Criterion are great, but "I am Cuba" is a Milestone Release.</p><p> Thought I'd better tellyou before Dennis Doros does! PeteBogs See Profile I'm a Fan of PeteBogs permalink Blade Runner: Super Duper Version Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink Libsrule, thanks for reading.</p><p> Movie night is usually after midnight so if you're a late night person you'll be good.</p><p> I was late to Firefly despite loving Buffy but really enjoyed the movie and now regret giving away the TV series to my friend John.</p><p> Forbidden Planet is a classic, somehow both well known and still a bit of an obscurity.</p><p> Apples, to be honest I've NEVER been huge on the extras.</p><p> Maybe because it can mean a two hour movie can take ten hours to watch and I'd rather watch three other films in that time.</p><p> I think RevATHist is right that Blu-Ray may finally have pulled ahead of HD-DVD.</p><p> But until one officially collapses, I'm not going to spend my money on either.</p><p> Libsrule See Profile I'm a Fan of Libsrule permalink Gosh, do you have movie nights at your house with guests and all? Cuz I want to invite myself.</p><p> Yes I know, that's rude but dang you seem to have such good taste in flicks, and although I don't agree with all of them, I do like reading your take on them and whenpossible and I get the chance I look at them again with a different perspective.</p><p> Uh...okay so when's the next movie night and will it entail a plane ticket?As for my favorite DVD's of the year? Well I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you as they will probalby seem all so plebian to you, but I bought the FUTURAMA DVD set and Love it.</p><p> Then I got Bender's Big Score.</p><p> Loved it too but I was still hoping for a new series instead.Dinner Rush.</p><p> I just think this is one of those great little movies with an ending that took me by surprise.</p><p> So I bought the DVD.</p><p> Picked up FORBIDDEN PLANET The Special Edition..</p><p> LOVE THAT MOVIE!!MADAGASCAR.</p><p> I just love this flick.</p><p> Great animation, humor is all over the place.</p><p> At least three dozen movie references, some obscure and some in your face.</p><p> I also ordered the movie I discussed last time HARA KIRU (which I hope you got, it's from criterion) and have watched it twice.</p><p> GODDAMN BUT THAT IS A GREAT MOVIE! I also got the special edition of SERENITY.</p><p> Don't know if you ever got into the FIREFLY series but I really liked it.</p><p> It was different and had NO SOUND IN SPACE.</p><p> It seemed more real than any science fiction I've encountered.</p><p> Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:10 PM on 01/09/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:10 AM on 01/09/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:47 PM on 01/08/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:33 PM on 01/08/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:46 PM on 01/08/2008Michael Giltz: Best DVDs of 2007 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/best-dvds-of-2007_b_79851.html [4/5/2009 8:04:20 PM] HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE ARCHIVE Advertise | Login | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Jobs | FAQ: Comments & Moderation | FAQ: Huffpost Accounts | Contact Us Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type Comments are closed for this entryI sent copies of FIREFLY to two friends and they liked it as well...or at least they said they did.</p><p> Anyway, space constraints and all.Oh and I've started looking more into the Criterion library.</p><p> They got some cool stuff, so NEXT January, let's see what my picks will be then.</p><p> Love your stuff Michael! Apples See Profile I'm a Fan of Apples permalink I think the latest release of 2001: A Space Odyssey may well be my favorite of this past year, particularly in light of the commentary of Kier Dullea and Gary Lockwood.</p><p> It's not the best commentaryaround, but there was enough new material mentioned there that kept me glued.</p><p> Strangely enough, I've become less interested in the extras than I used to be.</p><p> There have been too many 'Making of...' documentaries issued that were really promotional films used for cable.</p><p> When I think of the 'Making of...' documentary filmed for, say, Taxi Driver that lasted almost as long as the feature, a PR piece of fluff used to pad out other DVDs doesn't add up to much.</p><p> Now, about Blue-Ray...</p><p> Any ideas when the hi-def situation will level out and it'll be safe to buy one or the other? Jude2004 See Profile I'm a Fan of Jude2004 permalink The Bourne trilogy with cool packaging including a passport containing even more extra features.</p><p> AsaNisMasa See Profile I'm a Fan of AsaNisMasa permalink Criterion's release of "Breathless" hands down.</p><p> You must be logged in to reply to this comment.</p><p> Log in or Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:04 AM on 01/08/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:44 PM on 01/07/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:57 PM on 01/04/2008 Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:30 PM on 01/04/2008
