2008′s Best and Worst DVDs and Blu Rays

As much fun as it is to cover all of the theatrical releases, 2008 was a good year for DVD and Blu Ray as well. While as much as I wish I could get a hold of more of these titles, it was fun to hunt down and buy great releases I could afford each and every week. 2009 looks to continue that trend, but before the year really starts to kick into gear, let’s look back at the best and worst releases of 2008!

 

Best DVDs:

-The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Wall-E: Of course these studio releases would be here. Great films, great transfers, audio, and some good extra features made these the hottest releases and ones worth owning this year.

 

- Fist of Legend: Dragon Dynasty, in case you aren’t up on Asian cinema, tackles the genre with great bonus materials and decent releases. Some have complained about the so-so transfers and the use of subtitles, but this is one great release. Jet Li’s best film and a solid disc worth picking up for fans of him, martial arts, and Asian cinema.

 

- Rodan/War of the Gargantuas: Classic Media has done Criterion-level work on Toho’s kaiju eiga films.  Mostly with the Godzilla films they own, but this release features good transfers, original Japanese versions, and an awesome hour long documentary on the suit work that make this one of the best releases this year.

 

Worst DVDs:

- Mongol: Now Mongol is a great movie, except New Line just dumped it on the DVD; no extras, no real care put into one of the better foreign films to come out. Shame.

 

- Walk the Line: Extended Cut: Another release of this movie was pointless and just a cash-grab.

 

DVD Reissue of the Year: Dark City and Salo: or 120 Days of Sodom: Criterion Collection

 

Cult DVDs of the Year:

- Inglorious Bastards: Severin Films packed this rarely seen film with a bonus CD soundtrack, interviews, making-of featurettes.  All on three discs, making this one heck of a release.

 

- Savage Streets: BCI goes out of their way for this trashy flick with multiple audio commentaries, interviews, a collection of the one-sheets used and a great transfer.

 

TV Release of the Year: Spaced-Complete Series

Best Extras:

- I am Iron Man documentary on the Iron Man disc: a fantastic, thorough making-of that we don’t get enough of these days.  It covers all aspects making the film. Informative and entertaining.

 

- Commentary on the Faces of Death disc: If any film needs to be accompanied by such a track it’s this film, but Conan LaClaire dissects the making, and the myths for a revealing track we rarely get now days.

 

- Fade to Black on the Salo disc: Criterion Collection: This 33-minute feature covers the appropriate historical context of the film, a misunderstood classic.

 

Best Trend: Solid releases with great extras.

 

Worst Trend: Reissues

 

On to Blu Ray now (Most of these are self-explanatory on why I picked them)!

 

Best in Blu Ray:

Discs to Own:

The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, and Proposition (Picture, audio, and extras make these worth buying immediately).

 

Discs to Avoid:

Gangs of New York, Speed Racer, Mongol, Amityville Horror, and Hunt for Red October (all because the transfers don’t look better than the DVD, and the lack of extras).

Best Transfer/Audio:

Iron Man

Worst Transfer/Audio:

Gangs of New York

Best Catalogue Releases:

Godfather-The Coppola Restoration Collection, Dr. No, and the Day the Earth Stood Still.

Best New Company: First Look Studios (affordable prices and great transfers on titles like Proposition, Sukiyaki Western Django, and Immortal make this studio one to watch).

Best Company: Disney Studios

Worst Company: MGM (high MSRPs and little extra content. Some titles have crappy transfers.)

Best Trend: Lowering prices (new releases are down $5-10 from a year ago)

 

Worst Trend: Not porting over existing DVD extras.

 

Hope you enjoyed collecting these titles as much as I did. Post your own list below in our comment section!