Adam begins the site’s Top Ten coverage of 2018 with his Top Box Set picks for 2018 in the realm of home video.
This was the year that I dipped my toe into the 4K UHD market with aplomb. Box sets traditionally are easy ways to boost as collection quickly and sometimes cheaply. I say traditionally because this list is not that. These box sets represent the best of the best of what was released. Yes, there are “upgrades” but these upgrades have been done with such care and consideration that you can’t help but call them their own entities.
A huge shout out to both Warner Brothers Home Video and Paramount Home Video who appear to be the only Studios that care about their Libraries enough to continually release Box Sets of their Films. Yes, there are others but often times those so lackluster that you have a hard time reconciling the purchase (I’m looking at you Fox with your snafu with what could have been an amazing 4K Predator Box Set). Warner Brothers and Paramount are both represented here in a big way and should be commended for their work to give us box sets with extras (both new and old) and most importantly great transfers and audio presentations.
Special Mention – Criterion Collection Bergman Box Set – Bergman’s Cinema
I mention it because if I had purchased it, it more than likely would have taken up space on the Top Ten List. Plus, about a month of my time going through every single film directed by Ingmar Bergman and every single extra feature that Criterion Collection has packed into this massive undertaking. Alas, I did not purchase… yet. I wanted it mentioned because it was not even in consideration at the time of writing this list.
And without further ado onto the list…
10: Saved by the Bell: The Complete Collection (Shout Factory) / DVD
You have to appreciate the time and effort Shout Factory took in putting this set together. They could have easily cobbled something subpar together. That isn’t their style. What we got was a beautiful box set that houses every iteration of Saved by the Bell. For those that are not SBTB aficionados that are the following: Good Morning Ms. Bliss, Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell the College Years, Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style (TV Movie), and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas (TV Movie). Add to the set Commentaries and Featurettes. You’ve got yourself a great box set.
My Original Review
9: Critters Box Set (Scream Factory) / Blu-Ray
The four Critters movies may be Gremlins-knock offs but Scream Factory has treated them better than WB has treated the Gremlin series by giving each film the full-on special edition treatment. Each film comes complete with a Making-Of, Commentary, and other assorted bits. Most importantly, Scream Factory took the time to restore each of these films to possibly look better than how they did during their initial theatrical run.
My Original Review
8: TIE: Avatar: The Last Air Bender – The Complete Collection / The Legend of Korra – The Complete Collection (Paramount) / Blu-Ray
Paramount and Nickelodeon must know how much Avatar: The Last Airbender and its sequel The Legend of Korra mean to its fan base. These two sets are beautiful complete collections filled with Audio Commentaries, Featurettes, and just about everything you could want BUT won’t break the bank cost wise. They have managed with both Blu-Ray collections to deliver beautiful transfers. Avatar: The Last Air Bender especially, as the show hasn’t been released on Hi-Def until this set.
7: Mission: Impossible – 6 Movie Collection (Paramount) / 4K UHD
The release of the Mission: Impossible series on 4K UHD discs represents the best example of big-budget Studio Filmmaking over the years. Each disc feels like a time warp to a different area of big-budget Action Filmmaking preserved perfectly with every piece of film grain intact. Watch Producer/Star Tom Cruise right before your eyes go from Youthful Star in his Prime to Superstar Stuntman Performing Death Defying Stunts for our Entertainment. Paramount not only housed the 4K discs but included the Blu-Ray and Digital Copies. At the price point, they’re selling the set right now, it works out to about $11 for each film.
6: It’s Alive Box Set (Scream Factory) / Blu-Ray
Larry Cohen is both a madman and a genius. These two statements could never be more applicable than with the It’s Alive series. The ultimate summation of Cohen’s career this lunatic series about Babies that are deformed, possibly by Government interference, play out both as Monster Movies and Biting Social Commentaries. Each film with their respective leads manages to be a little bit crazier than the next leading to the third and truly deprived of the series. Scream Factory gave us three discs brimming with extra features including three all-time great commentaries.
My Original Review
5: The Matrix Trilogy (Warner Bros.) / 4K UHD
Over the last two decades, one thing has been confirmed for me; I am all in on whatever The Wachowski’s do, in whatever medium they decide to do it in. The Matrix represents the last era of full-on creativity within the Studio system. Just a few years shy of the Reboot/Reminationation/Sequel/Super Hero Continuum that we find ourselves in now. The Matrix is a pair of creatives taking their influences, confluences, ticks, fetishes, personal feelings, political leanings, psychological, spiritual and philosophical beliefs and wrapping in a commercial package so original, unique, intelligent that nothing was the same after it. Warner Bros. does the series right by restoring each film in Dolby Vision, a sight to behold if you have the correct equipment, by Director of Photography Bill Pope (with The Wachowski’s supervision). The films look better than they did during their initial theatrical run (I should know because I was a projectionist at the time). Wisely, Warner Bros. including all of the extras from the previous Special Editions.
4: [REC] Collection (Scream Factory) / Blu-Ray
The Zombie film and TV Series may be on the brink of being dead but that shouldn’t stop anyone from purchasing or giving credence to the very best of the genre. The [REC] series represents the best in the Zombie subgenre and the ‘Found Footage’ filmmaking technique (like Animation it is not a GENRE but a filmmaking style, get it, right people). The Spanish series evolved from film to film giving us eventually fully formed narrative films, losing the Found Footage. Directors Paco Plaza and Jaume Balagueró have created what can be done when given a little leeway with a series. Rather than giving us the same conventions, each film adroitly changes the setting, characters, and even genres. Scream Factory’s epic box set houses commentaries and in-depth FEATURE LENGTH documentaries on the making of the series.
My Original Review
3: TIE: Five Tall Tales: Budd Boetticher & Randolph Scott at Columbia 1957 – 1960 / Samuel Fuller at Columbia 1957 – 1964 (Indicator Series) / Blu-Ray
Powerhouse/Indicator Series is one of The Movie Isle’s favorite Boutique labels. The UK label formed a few years ago has managed to etch a rather large space for themselves releasing both British-centric films (see their Hammer Horror Box Sets), and US Cult Titles (they released Charlie Varrick on Blu-Ray filled with special features before any of the US Labels even thought of it). The Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott box set gives us some of the best dark studio produced Westerns of the late ’50s. The Sam Fuller box set gives us early era scripted and eventually directed films by the madman. Each film has been lovingly restored. Each disc is filled with an afternoon’s worth of extras to pore over and more importantly represent the kind of work that Indicator does that differs from other labels. The best part of these sets and most of what Indicator produces is that it’s REGION FREE (I mention “most” because there are titles that are not region free so buyers will want to double check, if they don’t have a Non-Region Blu-Ray Player)
2: Batman: The Complete Animated Series (Warner Bros.) / Blu-Ray
Warner Bros. Home Video Division really does love the consumer (e.g. us). Warner Archive, Warner Archive Steaming, Warner Home Video all love and most importantly LISTEN to the consumer. We have a voice in all their choices. Batman: The Complete Animated Series is something we as people who purchase physical media shouldn’t have. Any other studio would have been content with repackaging DVDs and schilling them to the masses. Warner Bros. not only gave us the beloved series on Blu-Ray but they restored every single episode, gave us not just the entire series but each of the Movies they released, all of the extras originally on the DVDs, some new ones too, and most importantly kept the Aspect Ratio the 1.33 window box. Not too shabby for arguably the best-filmed iteration of the Caped Crusader.
1: Gravity Falls: The Complete Series (Shout Factory) / Blu-Ray
Nostalgia has become a very dirty word for me. The looking back at an era with rose colored glasses died for me with the end of The Wonder Years. I have never been one that feels that a specific era was the best. I never catch myself saying, “it was better back in my day”. Isn’t that accepting that your “day” has passed, what I’ve always thought? I mention this because Gravity Falls represents to me the very best of what Nostalgia “can” be. Gravity Falls manages to take the Amblin Produced Films of the ’80s and ’90s, Stephen King, The X-Files, the work of Steven Spielberg and Joe Dante and spin a new emotionally resonant tale of a Brother, Sister, and their Crazy Uncle into the depths of … well, I’ll let you watch to find out. Shout Factory licensed the series from Disney and has basically given us everything and the kitchen sink; Commentaries on each episode, feature-length making-of documentary, multiple featurettes, deleted scenes, proof of concepts, interviews, music videos, TV Spots, Season Trailers. Just about everything you could want. There wasn’t anything that came close to this box set with the love and care that was put into not just the content of the box set but the actual show itself. It’s one thing to have great extras; it’s entirely different to have great extras for a great title. Gravity Falls is the sterling example of the latter.