Picking the best DVDs of 2009 is even more convoluted and yet exhilarating than picking the best movies. With DVDs — and now Blu-rays — you have classics coming back as well as new releases.
Not everything released in theatres is out in home entertainment before New Year’s Eve. So I work from a different set of rules than my film-critic colleagues. That said, I have become what I always vowed I would never be: A guy waiting for the DVD, except for the BIG movies (hello, Avatar!).
But I love it. It has been a fascinating year in home entertainment. The economic meltdown has hurt sales in the U.S. and raised rentals. TV on DVD suffered the most. Yet in Canada, sales are strong. Canadians did not cut back on DVD and Blu-ray purchases in the drastic way Americans did. Guess we Canucks need something to watch when snowed in for 10 months.
Meanwhile, picking the best of anything is a fool’s game. I’m the fool. Number one was easy, however. The Wizard of Oz is a childhood favourite. Yet watching it now, in the newly restored version, and especially on Blu-ray, is an astonishing revelation.
Oz looks better today on Blu-ray — if your system is set up properly — than it did when the first audience sat down at the premiere 70 years ago. Computer technology not only gave the Warner Bros. restoration team the opportunity to correct seven decades of deterioration, it gave them a chance to do what was mechanically impossible in 1939 — perfectly align the original three-strip Technicolor prints. The Wizard of Oz, and other restored Technicolor films such as Gone With the Wind, are now sharper, with better colour balance, than ever. Hallelujah!
Other selections also involve restoration. The Disney team is working its own miracles, in this case with Walt Disney’s first classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Animation loves Blu-ray.
Among new titles, Inglourious Basterds is not only a great Quentin Tarantino film and destined for Oscar nominations, it is presented with verve on DVD and Blu-ray. For my list, you have to do the right thing on the big screen and then translate that to home entertainment with strong bonus materials.
That is why David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made it. I was not that keen about the film but the DVD and Blu-ray were both exemplary. In contrast, the film that beat Button for the best_picture Oscar — Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire — had problems on DVD. While its Blu-ray was good to go, many DVD copies were screwed up in manufacturing and lacked the extras that made it so interesting. Oops! You snooze you lose, Slumdog.
Other titles that made it include The Best of Monty Python: 40th Anniversary Edition. In a year with several Python titles, this one was the amazing best. Ally McBeal made the list because the show is great (two or three seasons of it) and because David. E. Kelley managed to get the copyright for all of the original music, with one minor exception. Few other similar, music-inspired shows have done so.
As for Up, Watchmen, Coraline and Star Trek, they are all strong films that were enhanced in home entertainment. These directors and their studios knew what they were doing. Credit where credit is due.
Closely missing out on the list were DVD/Blu-rays such as Monster’s Inc. (combo pack); Natural Born Killers: The Director’s Cut (Original Uncut Version); Gone With the Wind: 70th Anniversary Collector’s Edition Giftset; Quantum of Solace: Special Edition and, of course, the Blu-ray of Slumdog Millionaire.
TOP 10 DVDs
1. The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition (both DVD & Blu-ray)
2. Inglourious Basterds: Special Edition (both DVD & Blu-ray)
3. Up (DVD & Blu-ray combo pack)
4. Watchmen: The Director’s Cut (both DVD & Blu-ray)
5. Coraline: Collector’s Edition (both DVD & Blu-ray)
6. The Best of Monty Python: 40th Anniversary Edition (DVD only)
7. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Diamond Edition (DVD & Blu-ray combo pack)
8. Ally McBeal: The Complete Series (DVD only)
9. Star Trek (2009): Two-disc Edition (both DVD & Blu-ray)
10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The Criterion Collection (both DVD & Blu-ray)
