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Other
Disc Awards for 2007
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to Outstanding Achievements on Disc for 2007
 MOST
SURPRISING RELEASE |
  |
Payback:
Straight Up - The Director's Cut - Special Collector's Edition
(Paramount -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc/HD-DVD)
The story so far... back in 1999, Brian
Helgeland made Payback
starring Mel Gibson. Paramount and Gibson weren't crazy with the
results, so they had Helgeland fired and the movie was re-edited
to the studio's and the star's specifications. The movie failed
to set the world on fire and, ordinarily, that's where the story
would end. But then, Paramount wanted to reissue the movie on
DVD and asked Helgeland to participate. Helgeland said, "Okay,
but only if I can do it my way." The studio wasn't sure so
Helgeland asked Gibson, the star who helped get him fired in the
first place, for his support. Mel threw his weight entirely
behind the project and voila, Payback:
Straight Up was born. And if all that wasn't
surprising enough, Helgeland's version really did turn out to be
significantly better than the theatrical release. It's happy
endings like this that make us grateful for DVD. The end. |
THE RUNNERS-UP
Those of us who caught
Once
(20th Century Fox -
DVD)
in the theaters found nothing surprising about the DVD, but
everybody who is just now catching up with it is finally
discovering one of the best movies of the year. When Universal
Home Video saw how much money they were making off of Battlestar
Galactica, they offered to pony up the dough for a
direct-to-DVD project, which became the
Battlestar
Galactica: Razor - Unrated Extended Edition
(Universal -
DVD).
It's sort of like discovering two bonus episodes of a favorite
series you didn't even know existed. After 50+ years, most
movies are either celebrated or completely dumped and forgotten.
Billy Wilder's
Ace
in the Hole (DVD)
was a rare case of a movie that should have been celebrated,
almost ended up forgotten, then was re-discovered and now seems
better than ever. A great animated series that was once thought
dead and buried came roaring back to life in a big way with
Futurama:
Bender's Big Score (20th Century Fox -
DVD).
Satoshi Kon's
Paprika
(Sony -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc) provided some of the most remarkable visuals
animation has to offer... even if half the time we had
absolutely no idea what was going on. And once an HBO staple,
Delirious
(Entertainment Studios -
DVD)
reminded us just how funny Eddie Murphy could be... and made us
wonder what on earth took this so long to reach DVD? |
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| MOST
DISAPPOINTING RELEASE |
 |
Poltergeist:
25th Anniversary Edition
(Warner Bros. -
DVD)
Like everyone else, we've been dying for
a great special edition of the best movie Steven Spielberg never
directed (yeah, right). And sure, it looks and sounds better
than ever but really... this is it? We get one feature that has
nothing whatsoever to do with the movie, but instead focuses on
the crackpot world of ghost hunters? No wonder we wanted to rip
our faces off in the bathroom sink. |
THE RUNNERS-UP
Even elitist snob Dr. Adam Jahnke agrees that the
Grindhouse:
Planet Terror &
Death
Proof: Extended and Unrated Special Editions
(Genius Products / The Weinstein Company -
DVD
and... well,
DVD)
represent less of a "special edition" than a blatant
attempt by the Weinstein brothers to recoup their losses on
Rodriguez and Tarantino's ill-fated experiment. The
Flash
Gordon: Saviour of the Universe Edition
(Universal -
DVD)
would be a disappointment no matter what but it stings even more
knowing that a far better version is available in Region 2.
David Fincher's
Zødiac
(Paramount -
DVD)
is a great film already and it shouldn't have had to wait for a
"director's cut" before it got a great disc. Any movie
with a production as tumultuous as that of
Twilight
Zone: The Movie (Warner Bros. -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc/HD-DVD)
deserves an in-depth special edition. When it springs from the
minds of John Landis, Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg and George
Miller, a bare-bones edition just doesn't cut it. Someone's
twentieth anniversary is supposed to be momentous, right? So how
come
The
Princess Bride: 20th Anniversary Edition (MGM -
DVD)
actually features LESS bonus material than any of the previous
releases did? |
|
| BEST
MUSIC RELEASE (NON-LIVE) |
Special
thanks to our friends at
 |
The
Beatles: Help!
(EMI/Capitol -
DVD)
The Beatles' underrated second film
finally gets taken seriously and some of us here at The
Bits say it's about damned time. The movie looks and
sounds better than ever and the second disc includes a terrific
documentary, a deleted scene, interviews, trailers and liner
notes by no less an authority than Martin Scorsese. Even better
is the super-fancy
Deluxe
Edition that tosses in Richard Lester's annotated
script, a book, lobby cards and more. |
THE RUNNERS-UP
2007 was a good year to be a Beatle. The
U.S.
vs. John Lennon (Lionsgate -
DVD)
is a valuable and compelling documentary that aptly demonstrates
what a significant figure John Lennon was... and just how
dangerous some people considered him.
Paul
McCartney: The McCartney Years (Rhino -
DVD)
presents three discs of Macca solo magic, from 1970 to today.
Lovers of traditional Hollywood musicals found much to enjoy in
Dreamgirls:
Two-Disc Showstopper Edition (DreamWorks -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc/HD-DVD).
It doesn't matter whether you've been a John Waters fan since
Pink Flamingos or have no idea who he is... it's really tough to
dislike
Hairspray:
Two-Disc Shake & Shimmy Edition (New Line -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc). But for a lot of us here at The
Bits, the best musical of the year was the highly
non-traditional
Once
(20th Century Fox -
DVD). |
|
| BEST
MUSIC RELEASE (LIVE/CONCERT) |
Special
thanks to our friends at
 |
Crossroads:
Eric Clapton Guitar Festival 2007
(Rhino -
DVD)
Eric Clapton's Crossroads
festival, which is becoming an annual event, includes over four
hours of outstanding musical performances on DVD, featuring some
of the greatest rock and blues guitarists on the planet,
including Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John
Mayer, Vince Gill, John McLaughlin, Derek Trucks, Albert Lee,
Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter, Jimmie Vaughan, Hubert Sumlin, Robert
Randolph and others. This is a fantastic event for music lovers,
captured extraordinarily well thanks to stunning video and audio
quality. This disc will rock your house up one side and down the
other. |
THE RUNNERS-UP
A legendary concert film capturing a great band at their peak,
Led
Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same - Two-Disc Special Edition
(Warner Bros. -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc/HD-DVD,
though the high-def versions came out in 2008) features enough
great music to compensate for the irritating fantasy sequences.
The KISS Army marches on with
KISSOLOGY:
The Ultimate KISS Collection - Volume 2 and
3
(VH1 Classics -
DVD
and
DVD).
Bonus points for including KISS Meets
the Phantom of the Park on Volume
2, the most awesomely, rockingly awful TV-movie ever.
A bunch of great bonuses enhance
Nirvana:
Unplugged in New York (Geffen -
DVD),
one of the best live performances of the late, lamented Kurt
Cobain's band. The Boss hits it Seeger-style, reinventing some
of his own songs and covering the work of Pete Seeger with
passion and energy on
Bruce
Springsteen with the Sessions Band: Live in Dublin
(Sony Music -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc). David Gilmour plays his third solo album plus a
handful of Pink Floyd classics, with assists from the likes of
David Bowie, David Crosby and other great musicians not named "David"
on
David
Gilmour: Remember That Night - Live from the Royal Albert Hall
(Sony Music -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc). Finally, hardcore Dave Matthews fans (and is there
any other kind?) will love the acoustic interplay on
Dave
Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall
(RCA -
DVD/Blu-ray
Disc). |
|
| BEST
HIGH RESOLUTION AUDIO |
Special
thanks to our friends at
 
Genesis:
1976-1982 &
Genesis:
1983-1998
(Rhino/WEA - SACD/PAL DVD in Europe & CD/DVD in the States)
So this one is a little tricky. A pair of
Genesis box sets was released in 2007 comprising all of the
band's work since drummer Phil Collins took over for previous
lead singer Peter Gabriel. The music is great and the production
value on these sets is even better. The problem is that if you
ordered the U.S. versions, you got regular music CDs with the
high-resolution versions on DVD. What most U.S. fans actually
wanted was the music on SACD, which you could get if you
imported the European versions (available
here
and
here),
but that of course meant the DVDs you got were in PAL format.
Still, what are you going to do? Great high-resolution audio box
sets are a rare thing these days, and these two were certainly
deserving of recognition.
[Editor's Note: Apparently there are
versions of these sets available that include the SACDs and NTSC
DVDs, but they're very rare Asian releases and they aren't
cheap. You can find them available for purchase
here
and
here
via Elusive Disc.]
THE RUNNERS-UP
Unfortunately, high-resolution audio has become a real niche
market, especially here in the States. But there were a few
interesting releases on the various high-res formats last year,
even if you had to import a few of them (including new Music
Video Interactive releases - though they usually only include
higher bit rate Dolby Digital and/or DTS). Among the best were
The
Flaming Lips: U.F.O.s at the Zoo (CD/MVI DVD -
WEA/Reprise), Depeche
Mode: Exciter (SACD/PAL DVD - Rhino/WEA), The
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - The Complete
Recordings (CD/DVD - WEA), Rush:
Snakes and Arrows (CD/MVI DVD - WEA/Atlantic),
Donald
Fagan: The Nightfly Trilogy (CD/MVI DVD - WEA)
and Porcupine
Tree: Fear of a Blank Planet (CD/DVD -
WEA/Atlantic). We wish the record companies would really get
behind high-resolution audio, but we'll take what we can get at
this point. |
|
| DIGITAL
IN |
Intriguing
and innovative advanced interactive features on high-definition
titles.
There were many great examples of
fascinating next-generation interactive features on the Blu-ray
Disc and HD-DVD formats in 2007. Among the highlights were the
Picture-in-Picture "bluescreen" version of the film on
Warner's 300
HD-DVD, the interactive games on Disney's Ratatouille
and Cars
on Blu-ray Disc, Bandai's downloadable menus, trailers and
subtitles on the Freedom
HD-DVD, Sony's "View from Above" viewing option on the
Close
Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate
Edition Blu-ray, the interactive artwork on
Universal's Heroes:
Season 1 HD-DVD, the Enter the Maelstrom
feature on Disney's
Pirates
of the Caribbean: At World's End Blu-ray, Fox's
"Cold Zone" game on The
Day After Tomorrow Blu-ray, the GPS Tracker on
DreamWorks' Transformers
HD-DVD and even the in-movie art and ads in Universal's Children
of Men HD-DVD, not to mention enhanced visual
commentaries on many other titles. These features enrich your
viewing experience and actually enhance your understanding or
appreciation of the film... or they don't, but they're just
plain fun. |
|
| DIGITAL
OUT |
Lame,
marketing-driven and just plain stupid advanced interactive
features on high-def titles.
Seriously, did we really need
downloadable ringtones on the 300
HD-DVD? Was there some problem with the suspense being too great
on the Smokin'
Aces HD-DVD, that we needed an Assassin Tracker
to predict when the bad guys were going to show up? Was Evan
Almighty such a great film that we needed an
HD-DVD U-Store weblink to buy swag while watching it? Is it
really critical to know what Jason Bourne's odds of survival are
after being shot via the Treadstone Files on the Bourne
Identity HD-DVD? And have we become so
incapable of sitting in a quiet room and enjoying a good movie
that we needed a running in-movie online chat room on the Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix HD-DVD?
These features do little or nothing to enhance your
understanding or appreciation of the film, and in fact are
mostly just annoying. As someone once said to us: "You
don't have to press the 'A' button!" Good advice indeed.
Just because you CAN do something doesn't always mean you
SHOULD. |
|
| STUDIO
WE WANT MORE FROM |
 |
Paramount
Yeah, this was pretty much a no-brainer.
It's not that the studio didn't do good work on DVD and high-def
in 2007, because they did. But the studio's classic film slate
last year was more than a little lacking, and many catalog
titles were released on disc with only a scant few new
featurettes as extras. To make matters worse, the studio also
did some surprisingly stupid things. After making a big deal of
their neutrality in the high-def format war, they proceeded to
piss of 50% of high-definition fans by ditching Blu-ray Disc,
only to piss off the other 50% by ditching HD-DVD a few months
later. A lot of movie enthusiasts are seriously peeved right
now, and Paramount has a LOT of work to do to make things right
again. And since Paramount distributes their product, we'll add
a special nod here to CBS for the absurdly over-priced Star
Trek: The Original Series - Remastered
DVD/HD-DVD Combo format debacle that convinced many Trekkies to
buy into a format that's now given up the ghost. Did we mention
Trekkies are a little peeved too? Well they are. |
|
| MOST
WANTED RELEASE |
The
African Queen (Paramount)
Okay, seriously Paramount? We understand
that film may be in horrible condition and need serious
restoration. Fine and dandy. But what are you using to restore
this thing? Scotch tape and colored pencils? Did somebody at the
studio actually destroy all the elements and you're just too
embarrassed to tell us? Or are you holding nightly séances
in an attempt to resurrect it from the dead? The
African Queen is the ONLY title from our original
AFI
Top 100 Films on DVD list that hasn't had an
authorized Region 1 DVD release. It's waaaaaaay past time the
film came off our wish lists. |
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