Best DVD Release

[Jeremy Blackman]

Best DVD Release: NAKED (Criterion)

THE NOMINEES

I  Huckabees (Special Edition)
King Kong (1933)
Naked (Criterion)
The Simpsons (Season 7)
Sin City (Recut, Extended, Unrated)

[modage]

could someone tell me what the features are on this dvd and how they were the years best?

[grand theft sparrow]

One of the features is the best film of the five nominees so that partially explains it.

[life_boy]

Can some one tell me how a movie without a slip case can have the best packaging?

[/sarcasm]

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

I wonder what criteria some people used to vote for in this.  Naked had some good features, but was more an amazing film.

Simpsons Season 7 had great commentary on every episode, plenty of extra shit and it had some of the more classic Simpson episodes.

[modage]

the film should all but be irrelevant.  presentation, extras, packaging, should all be bigger factors than the actual movie.  once again, criterion whores prevail.

[godardian]

I have to agree that I voted for this because it was the film I was most grateful/excited to have available on DVD. The preservation of the film elements should, I think, be considered when choosing a "best" DVD. This category presented the least difficulty for me, actually. The only thing that would've come close was The Simpsons.

However, the extras are nothing to scoff at:

-Audio commentary by Leigh, Thewlis, and Cartlidge (rest her awesome soul)

-New video interview with Neil LaBute

-BBC program with Will Self interviewing Leigh

-The Leigh short film The Short and Curlies, featuring Thewlis

[grand theft sparrow]

the film should all but be irrelevant.  presentation, extras, packaging, should all be bigger factors than the actual movie.  once again, criterion whores prevail.

Of course the film has something to do with it.  Do you really think that if Fantastic Four or Stealth were given the same special edition treatment as Sin City or Lord of the Rings, that they would ever be nominated?  Never. 

My deciding factor between Naked and Sin City (the only 2 nominees I own) was the quality of the features in relation to the film.  Since there's no call for Naked to have a graphic novel included in the packaging, I felt that this was the only way to be fair.  A special edition of a hit popcorn flick is standard.  It's only of note when they DON'T release it.  So a Criterion treatment of something like Naked is less likely to come by, even though the features on any of the other nominees might be better.  New Line could have just released a bare-bones edition of it and no one would have noticed. 

GT said it best to you last year when Short Cuts won:

criterion whores.  what are the extras on this?  how can they possibly compare with the ROTK disc or the star wars box?

The difference is that when Short Cuts and all the Cassavetes films were being made, they were being made to be just films. With LOTR and Star Wars, the mind set of commercializing the films into a million different products was evident from the start. Criterion getting all the special features they got feels miraculous compared to those glossy DVDs.

[modage]

no, stealth and fantastic four wouldnt be up for best dvd even if they were best, but the films awesomeness is besides the point, of course its awesome, thats a given, now: how is the dvd?  by GT's arguement i still think the King Kong dvd was a much bigger undertaking as far as restoration and putting together a wealth of excellent bonus material, so that should be best. 

[life_boy]

by GT's arguement i still think the King Kong dvd was a much bigger undertaking as far as restoration and putting together a wealth of excellent bonus material, so that should be best. 

The 1933 Kong definately had my vote.  I think a long awaited release of a great movie (or movies) factors heavily into Best DVD Release. 

[Pubrick]

too bad the original kong is crap.

[Alexandro]

I understand the Kong point...but hey...the only time I had the chance of seeing Naked before was on a really crappy vhs copy that sounded like someone jumped on it and looked like a pirate copy of a low budget mexican vide home...so seeing it for the first time with that clarity was nearly enough reason to kneel down and say thanks...the extras are awesome on this one too.

[modage]

understandble. have you seen a kong vhs?  its the same story.  and i still fail to see how simply finally putting a good movie out on dvd makes it best.  BUT whatever. the only year a criterion didnt win this was for a 4 Disc LOTR.  we all know xixax are criterion whores.  i dont know why we must live in denial.

[life_boy]

I'm a Criterion whore because they have high standards and consistently meet them: they release quality films from quality prints, getting a quality transfer and add quality extras and then release the DVD with quality packaging and oftentimes the best covers around.  You could do a lot worse than Criterion.  They're not the only ones doing it, but they've been doing it right for a long time.

That said, I still voted for Kong.

[Alexandro]

I didn't vote for the kong because i havent seen it...
in fact, I had trouble remembering what dvds actually came out in 2005...there should be some sort of list we can look at to nominate or something...it would be nice.