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Digital Dynamite: The 30 Best DVDs of 2007PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2007[25 January 2008] by PopMatters StaffIt was the year of the behemoth box set, the multi-disc triumph that tried to give long suffering fans everything their demanding little digital hearts ever desired. It was also the year of the Holy Grail, titles seemingly lost in the ephemera suddenly springing from the studio system overflowing, each release overflowing with goodies. There were individual masterworks and under-performing popcorn larks, grave indie dramas and some splatterific horror. In fact, when spied through the review mirror of personal perspective, 2007 was a pretty great year for DVD. Sure, the ongoing clamor over which high definition standard is better still gobbles up too many gigabites, and in a realm where value for your dollar is everything, studios are still delivering full frame, bare bones titles. But as the next format attempts to forge the future, the original silver disc devil is kicking up some controversy. For those coming to this list hoping to find a breakdown of HD and Blu-ray releases—turn back now. PopMatters has yet to take a stand on the new fangled medium, and said titles were not taken into consideration as part of the 12-month round-up. Similarly, TV is included here, since many of the best collections to come out this year revolved around famous shows and complete season retrospectives. There are a few anomalies along the way, movies and product you might not consider the best that digital has to offer. But sometimes, in the grand scheme of gradation, aesthetic value can easily trump bells and whistles. So if a disc arrives with very little added content, you can rest assured it probably contains a pretty monumental movie. It’s also important to remember that consensus is a far from perfect science. One man’s Get Smart Complete Series Set is another’s WWE fight series. So when the PopMatters staff creates a rundown like this, the choices are always up for discussion, but not dismissal. After all, we don’t stand over your shoulder and tell you what to watch, do we? We’re not there at the brick and mortar mandating where you dollars go. Sure, we hope that our smart writing and media knowledge lend some credence to our selections, but sometimes, whim can factor in more favorably than wisdom. Still, for all the kvetching and infighting, arguments and agreement, the 30 titles presented do offer up some sound digital delights. They definitely deserve to be considered the top DVDs of 2007.  Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for TheatersDirector: Matt Maiellaro, Dave WillisCast: Dana Synder, Carey Means, Dave Willis, Matt Maiellaro(First Look Pictures; US: 13 Apr 2007) 30 Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Film Movie for Theaters for DVD
Who says they don’t make good dada anymore? This big screen version of the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim anomaly offers three amiable (if slightly psychotic) fast food products—a shallow shake, some science-minded fries, and a babyish blob of mystery meat—taking on unhinged elements from around the universe. Part origins exploration, part satiric stream of incontinence, it may not make a lick of sense. But when you’re laughing this hard, does logic really matter? Even better, the DVD version (complete with a whole other version of the movie) reimagines the medium in a way that both embraces and mocks the special feature heavy format. It stands as a symbol of the film, and the series in general. 29 The Mario Bava Collection Volumes 1 & 2
He began his career as a cinematographer, following his father into the bubbling Italian film business. By 1960, he was so well regarded that he was given a shot at making his own movies. In just over two decades (he died in 1980), he made dozens of genre benchmarks, dark Gothic horror romps known for their bodice ripping and blood bathing. Now, thanks to Anchor Bay, 13 of the director’s most demented visions are given the box set treatment. Including at least one odd entry—the comic Western Roy Colt and Winchester Jack—and several solid entries, this is the perfect starting point for anyone interested in seeing where true Italian horror began.  The 36th Chamber of ShaolinDirector: Lau Kar-LeungCast: Gordon Liu, , Lo Lieh(Shaw Brothers Studios; US: 1 Jun 1979) 28 The 36 Chamber of Shaolin
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin represents a directorial tour de force for Chia-Liang Liu. It’s a sumptuous film to look at, a movie that takes its varying fight facets very seriously. Perhaps the pinnacle of everything the Shaw Brothers was striving for in their kung fu epics, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin remains, even by modern standards, a solid masterwork. While the story may be familiar to any fan of the genre—pacifist student seeks out the help of the Shaolin, those monk masters of the martial arts, to teach him to fight to defend his family’s honor and his village—the approach is breathtaking in its depth and scope. 27 Tex Avery’s Droopy - The Complete Theatrical Collection
Finally! Every other half-baked animated creature seems to be getting a major DVD release these days, and yet Tex Avery’s dour hound dog always gets left behind. It’s hard to describe what makes Droopy so incredible—his hurdy gurdy nerdy voice, the intensely violent physical comedy that forms his humor, or the hyper-stylized way Avery and his crew realized his pen and ink personality. Whatever the reasons, this two-disc set—offering 24 theatrical shorts and a bevy of added content—promises to make fans of the zany animator and his prized pooch happy indeed. Now, if they could only find a way to bring the complete Screwy Squirrel to the digital medium.  Robinson Crusoe on MarsDirector: Byron HaskinCast: Paul Mantee, Victor Lundin, and Adam West(Schenck-Zebel; 1964) 26 Robinson Crusoe on Mars
For many, it’s merely a minor classic, a borderline schlock space opera made in an era when optimism supplanted realism as a means of conquering the cosmos. That a company like Criterion, known for championing the works of such filmmaking giants as Renoir, Truffaut, and Godard, would take on a title like this was unthinkable. But proving that there is more to preservation than merely dressing up the classics, the noted company created a wonderful DVD package, Most important is a full length commentary where differences between director Byron Haskin and screenwriter Ib Melchoir get a insightful airing. It all elevates the end product. Related articles: The Lady VanishesDirector: Alfred HitchcockCast: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, Dame May Whitty(1938) 25 The Lady Vanishes
A Criterion re-release with a better print, some new features, and an extra movie, Crook’s Tour, that follows two of the minor characters—the drolly hilarious Caldicot and Charters—from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 masterpiece on another comic adventure. Crook’s Tour is amusing but for fanatics only. The Lady Vanishes is for everyone; it is Hitchcock’s best work of pure entertainment, more streamlined, romantic, and thrilling than even North by Northwest. It’s even technically better: filmed on a studio set, there is no doubt that its protagonists—the never-better Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood—are hurtling along on a real train in an attempt to find a little old lady that has disappeared into thin air. Perfection. Related articles: Spider BabyDirector: Jack HillCast: Lon Chaney Jr., Sid Haig, Jill Banner, Beverly Washburn24 Spider Baby: Special Edition
It remains a strangely satisfying experiment in terror: writer/director Jack Hill hired former fright master Lon Chaney Jr., turned him into a sympathetic caregiver for a collection of craven creeps, and gave the whole thing a freak show veneer of macabre monochrome. Subtitled The Maddest Story Ever Told, no other underlying label ever did a better job of describing a yarn’s intentions. Featuring future human oddity Sid Haig as the repugnant Ralph, and Mantan Mooreland in a minor cameo role, this arguably bizarre family fright night substituted novelty and wit for nastiness and the wicked. Still, it will be hard for newcomers to forget the truly horrific ending.  Face/OffDirector: John WooCast: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage(Touchstone Films; US: 27 Jun 1997) 23 Face/Off
It took the worst clichés of 1990s shoot-em-ups and piled on John Woo’s unhinged and bullet-pocked ballets for good measure, but damn if Face/Off didn’t just blow you out of your seat with its giggly excess. There’s been a basic DVD knocking around since 1998, but the film has long deserved the two-disc “collector’s edition” treatment (deleted scenes and all) as the modern near-classic that it is.  All Quiet on the Western FrontDirector: Lewis MilestoneCast: Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres(Universal Pictures; US: 21 Apr 1930) 22 All Quiet on the Western Front
It would be easy to make some kind of crass comment here, to tie this 76-year-old masterwork to the current war in Iraq and say something along the lines of “this should be compulsory viewing for every citizen.” Instead, it’s much easier to simply recognize All Quiet on the Western Front‘s main message—that no matter how you dress it up, in dire consequences, imminent threat, or long-term legitimizing, armed conflict should never be viewed as a sensible solution. Stunningly remastered by Universal, yet lacking enough critical context to make the disc definitive, what we wind up with is one of the greatest movies of all time, perfectly preserved for future generations—and that’s just as important as the movie’s motives.  GrindhouseDirector: Quentin Tarantino, Robert RodriguezCast: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Brolin, John Jaratt, Marley Shelton(Dimension Films (The Weinstein Company); US: 6 Apr 2007) 21 Grindhouse Presents, Death Proof - Extended and Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition)
I, for one, had zero gripes when the Weinstein brothers decided to split up the experimental twofer that was Grindhouse, and release Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, and Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof as two separate DVDs. It was a money decision (Grindhouse tanked) but now Tarantino’s portion can stand alone for what it is, a two-act art film that deconstructs slasher flicks, gear-head films, masculinity and femininity. Plus it has girls in short shorts, killer tunes, Kurt Russell as a homicidal maniac, and the best car chase of the new millennium. The DVD version presents the longer version of the film, the one that was released at Cannes. It’s better, and not just because it contains the lapdance. Related articles:
PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2007
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