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It’s Christmas. You may not know it yet, but it is. As soon as Halloween is over BAM!, time to get going or you’re gonna be scrambling and behind in your shopping, wandering around a picked-over mall among with the other desperate lazy holiday zombies. Since you’re already here at Hollywood.com, you know that best gifts you can give are movies/tv shows, and any one who disagrees, well, we know they’re wrong. They just need to be convinced. Here’s our recommendations for discs that came out this year for every type of entertainment lover on your list…
UP 4 disc Set (Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy)
$19.99 Click to Buy
One of the best movies of the year, packed to the gills with extras (including a new short), and what ever looks better on a HD screen than a Pixar movie? Nothing, that’s what.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy)
$17.99 Click to Buy
Ooh, controversy over where this latest chapter in the young wizard’s adventures falls in quality but one thing’s for sure, it was darn purty to look at and will look fantastic all big and 1080p.
Star Trek (Blu-Ray/Digital Copy)
$22.99 Click to Buy
This new…um…prequel/parallel universe Trek movie managed to be a hit with non-geeky audiences and serious Trek fans alike. How JJ Abrams and crew managed it is a question that hopefully the extra disc full of bonus features can shed some light on.
Drag Me to Hell Unrated Director’s Cut (Blu-Ray)
$19.99 Click to Buy
It may be PG-13 but horror maestro Sam Raimi (yes, long before Spider-Man) proves that he’s still got it for those who like their horror with a side of black humor. Ooky and wonderful enough to make even the biggest Evil Dead fan proud to own a copy.
Trick ‘r Treat (Blu-Ray)
$19.99 Click to Buy
Halloween is over but only now are folks finding out that this amazing horror anthology film, that SOMEHOW missed out on a theatrical run, has got what it takes to be the new standard view every year. See ya later, Michael Meyers, this is the Revenge of the Great Pumpkin!
The Hangover Unrated Edition (Blu-Ray)
$17.99 Click to Buy
I wasn’t aware that it was possible to get closer to the Unrated label than the theatrical release of “The Hangover” already did. For the immature mature adult in your family, this is both one of the funniest and the most disturbing movies of the year.
500 Days of Summer Blu-Ray/Digital Copy)
$27.99 Click to Buy
Did you miss out on the best intelligent and original romantic comedy since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when it played in theaters this year? You’re unfortunately not alone, but I can guarantee you that this Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Zooey Deschanel movie is awesome for those who want a little more than the usual tired old formula.
Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut (Blu-Ray)
$32.99 Click to Buy
They’re milking this thing for every dime they can, true, but fans of the movie who don’t CARE what the detractors think have been waiting for this edition which splices together the animated “Tales From the Black Freighter” with the director’s cut for one EXTREMELY long movie.
Inglorious Bastards (Blu-Ray)
$19.99 Click to Buy
Tarantino fans are rabid and will buy anything the man touches so it’s lucky for them he’s such a film buying nut himself that his movies usually come with such sweet extras. I’m not sure what’ll come packaged with this alternate reality WWII action film but it’ll certainly make your Tarantinite smile.
Crank 2: High Voltage (Blu-Ray)
$18.99 Click to Buy
Maybe you skipped this one because, well, you’ve seen other Jason Statham films, but this is an action movie filtered through the eyes of someone on the craziest drug never invented. It’s got more replay value than anything else you’re likely to buy for your disenfranchised teen or bloodily-minded man-child thus year.
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Wings of Desire: The Criterion Collection (Blu-Ray)
$26.99 Click to Buy
The best DVD releasing company in the world finally has gotten into HD and nothing will make the art film fan that you know (who doesn’t pooh-pooh Xmas as a capitalist hate crime or some such nonsense) happier than this HD re-release of one of the greatest foreign films ever…and hey, it has angels in it so it’s KIND of Christmasy.
North by Northwest: 50th Anniversary Edition” (Blu-Ray)
$19.99 Click to Buy
Here’s a hint: if they’re a film fan, they want the best possible copy of any and all of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. If they don’t, well, they’re not actually a film fan. “North By Northwest” is looking FABulous here, and it comes with a nifty hardback book packaging.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy)
$19.99 Click to Buy
Makes your kids happy with this timeless animated classic and makes your adults happy with a direct injection of HD nostalgia right to the frontal lobe. PACKED with awesome docs too for the serious animation nut.
Fight Club (Blu-Ray)
$18.99 Click to Buy
I am Jack’s happy-as-hell HD TV playing this all-time classic, uber-violent, bizarro, art-action film FINALLY released on Blu-Ray. The DVD release was one of the first sets to be absolutely packed with awesome bonus features. Expect all those and more.
The General (Blu-Ray)
$21.99 Click to Buy
The greatest physical comedian of all time, for my buck, was Buster Keaton and this was his defining moment, according to the AFI, the 18th greatest film of all time. Apparently no expense was spared to fix this sucker up for HD and it comes with neat extras like multiple scores, behind the scenes footage (pretty damn rare for the 1920s) and more.
Dark City: Director’s Cut (Blu-Ray)
$13.99 Click to Buy
Imagine the Matrix if it had less Kung-Fu and more thinky sci-fi. Alex Proyas’s magnificent “Dark City” is eye candy already; this flawless new HD edition and its brand new extras just made it that much better.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Blu-Ray)
$19.99 Click to Buy
As always, anything animated looks like god on HD and this Henry Selick directed film (no, not Tim Burton who only wrote the original story idea and produced, despite what you may have been led to believe) not only lives up to expectations but is overflowing with new extras including Burton’s rarely seen “Frankenweenie” short for Disney.
The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition (Blu-Ray)
$44.99 Click to Buy
Do I have to say it? Do I? It’s been fixed up to the point of ridiculousness, but you know you love it, want it, need it. One of the best family films ever made now with tons of new features and a yellow brick road you’ll feel like you can follow right onto the screen. Okay, see, you made me say it. Damn.
How the West Was Won (Blu-Ray)
$19.99 Click to Buy
The first film lensed in “Cinerama” still looks great today, helped of course by a fantastic audio and video upgrade to HD. It’s one of director John Ford’s classics and a sure fire way to get on your Dad’s good side this season. And hey, you might even like it too.
Synecdoche, New York (Blu-Ray)
$25.49 Click to Buy
This Charlie Kaufman directed tale is one of the most ambitious conceptual films of all time telling its story with lead Philip Seymour Hoffman often through symbolism rather than more familiar narrative techniques. Thank goodness this gorgeous Blu-Ray comes with tons of extras, from commentary by the actors to a critics round table discussing the meaning of it all.
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Fringe: Season One (Blu-Ray)
$49.99 Click to Buy
It was easy to give up too soon on this X-files-ish show from JJ Abrams after only watching an episode or two. Marathoning this sucker without commercials, ad pop-ups or any interruptions except food and sleep is the way to see its underestimated charm.
Sons of Anarchy: Season One (Blu-Ray)
$37.99 Click to Buy
Who woulda thought a show about the misadventures of a Harley biker gang would be so damn good? It’s Shakespearian intrigue with a criminal organization that unlike “The Sopranos” doesn’t mainly involve everyone sitting around watching TV, eating and yelling at each other.
Torchwood: Children of Earth (Blu-Ray)
$22.49 Click to Buy
Not really the third season of this BBC Doctor Who spin-off show but more like a stand-alone five hour miniseries. While the previous two seasons were just okay, this came into its own with smart, scary sci-fi that takes turns you’ll NEVER see coming.
Life on Mars: The Complete Series (DVD)
$29.99 Click to Buy
It’s a remake of a popular BBC series that takes a decidedly different take on things, telling the story of a cop that gets in an accident in 2008 and wakes up a cop in 1973. A cool mix between 70’s police shows and creepy, weird science fiction that wraps up neatly (if not a little controversially) in 17 episodes.
Lost: Season 5 (Blu-Ray)
$49.99 Click to Buy
If you’ve got a Lostie in your house, you KNOW they want to own this and pore back over every frame looking for secrets. The Blu-Rays themselves are packed with extra goodies and, of course, lots of hidden content as well, only appropriate for this involving mystery show coming up on its final season.
Pushing Daisies: Season Two (Blu-Ray)
$23.49 Click to Buy
One of the greatest tragedies in television history was the early cancellation of this beautiful show, described as a ‘forensic fairy tale’. You really should pick up both seasons as not only is this an amazingly fun story with endearing characters but one of the most visually creative and brightly colored shows ever made.
The Spectacular Spider-Man: Season One (DVD)
$19.99 Click to Buy
A Spider-Man cartoon SO good that even adults can dig on it. This is by far, the best animated output from the web-slinger, with a theme song which is DANGEROUSLY catchy. You’ve been warned.
Mad Men: Season Two: (Blu-Ray)
$27.99 Click to Buy
The best historical drama on TV is back with more of the casual sexism that we love to ‘tsk’ at. AMC’s look at the sixties inside of an advertising agency is enthralling and the set comes with some nice features about the decade that it takes place in.
Castle: Season One (DVD)
$27.99 Click to Buy
If you’re as tired of super-serious procedural cop shows as I am, you’ll find this new humorous take on the mystery genre starring the ever-charming Nathan Fillion to be just the ticket for your older sibling to put next to their “Moonlighting” box sets on the shelf.
The Venture Brothers: Season 3 (Blu-Ray)
$28.99 Click to Buy
You’re probably not watching the most inventive and hysterical cartoon on TV, but you really should be. “The Venture Brothers” takes Adult Swim’s style of meta-humor about nostalgia for cartoons, TV shows, and comic books and raises it to high art, all wrapped up in the coolest packaging of the year.
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The Paul Newman Tribute Collection (DVD)
$62.99 Click to Buy
One of our best actors died last year and you owe it to yourself to see why he was beloved for more than just his popcorn and salad dressings by checking out this 17 (!) disc set that comes with a cool 136 page full-size book.
Ultimate Force of Four (Blu-Ray)
$73.99 Click to Buy
Martial arts films have transcended their chop-socky roots and have become a new art form. None prove that better than the four films included in this set, The Legend of Drunken Master, Hero, Iron Monkey and Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman.
Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture Collection (Blu-Ray)
$69.49 Click to Buy
No expense was spared fixing up this six movie set to look and sound as great as possible in HD, including brand new extras with every single film as well as a seventh disc with a revealing and funny conversation between Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and Jonathan Frakes. The nerd on your gift list will probably just die on the spot when you give this to them.
Rocky: The Undisputed Collection (Blu-Ray)
$54.99 Click to Buy
Boxing has always been the most cinematic of the sports and no pugilism films were more famous than Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky films. While not all are exactly high art (I’m looking at you, Rocky V) even the worst is still fun fluff. Even the newest film “Rocky Balboa” was unexpectedly really good.
The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration Gift Set (Blu-Ray)
$49.99 Click to Buy
“I’m gonna make him an offer that he can’t refuse.” You offer him this final word 4 disc set on one of the greatest trilogies ever made, he certainly won’t be able to. Super high quality restoration and extras on every conceivable topic about the making of the legendary mobster films that raised the bar as high as it goes.
Kevin Smith Box Set (Blu-Ray)
$53.49 Click to Buy
While Mr. Smith has been farting around (a little too literally) for his last several films, this set covers his three high points (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and repackages them with goofy new Blu-Ray exclusive extras.
James Bond 10-Pack (Blu-Ray)
$139.99 Click to Buy
The three-movie sets they’ve been issuing have been horrifically unbalanced with the films that got sandwiched together. This set offers most of the best of what’s available for Bond fanatics in the new format to stop their complaining.
Batman Anthology (Blu-Ray)
$72.99 Click to Buy
You say now that you’d never want to watch Batman and Robin again, but trust me when I tell you, that nothing brings a party to a boil than throwing on this classic bit of badness (now with special apologetic commentary track by the director). Even if the scorn party doesn’t suit you, having the nice looking complete collection of the original four films upgraded to HD is a nice bonus.
Harry Potter Years 1-6 Giftset (Blu-Ray)
$76.99 Click to Buy
Sure, sure, your resident Potter fan has been buying the DVDs as they came out, but they sure do look one helluva lot better in blu and they’ll spend much more buying them all separately. Might as well save their allowance money and hook them up now.
The William Castle Film Collection (DVD)
$77.99 Click to Buy
You may not recognize the name but your horror buff bud will, and this is the best collection yet of his stuff with 8 films featuring both some of his most well known stuff (The Tingler) and the REALLY good but more obscure features (Mr. Sardonicus).
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Star Trek: The Complete Original Series (Blu-Ray)
$149.99 Click to Buy
The only thing cooler (and geekier) than the incredible fix-up job Paramount did for the movie releases was the even more astonishing job they did repairing the three original seasons of the show, even adding improved special effects and packaging each set with loads of wonderful, and exhaustive, extras. The nerd on your gift list will actually explode when you give this to them.
Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition (DVD)
$58.99 Click to Buy
Before Rowan Atkinson became incredibly annoying as Mr. Bean, he was a comedy legend in the BBC series, Black Adder. Atkinson plays various incarnations of Edmund Blackadder through the generations along with Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and others in the supporting cast.
Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered (DVD)
$31.99 Click to Buy
John Cleese’s legendary portrayal of the world’s worst hotel owner was his followup series to his stint on Monty Python and arguably was just as good. Fans will be pleased with nicely fixed up looking episodes and tons of interviews with all of the surviving cast members.
Fraggle Rock: Complete Series Collection (DVD)
$71.49 Click to Buy
All anyone ever seems to remember is The Muppet Show and Sesame Street which is a shame since Jim Henson’s Fraggles were an impressive new direction for the puppeteer. This set features 96 episodes, surely enough to keep even the most ADD child happy and still for a few hours at a time.
Justice League: The Complete Series (DVD)
$67.99 Click to Buy
Is it the best superhero animated show ever? It’s certainly in the running and unlike a lot of these things, it actually gets BETTER as it goes along. The serious DC comics fan you’ve got to buy for will drool (even more than usual) when this gets unwrapped, complete with a snazzy metal tin and new extras.
The Shield: The Complete Series (DVD)
$107.99 Click to Buy
Michael Chiklis played one of the most memorable cops in television history in this seven season show that has one of the best endings ever. It’s one long story that your friend who always raves about The Wire will dig just as much if not more.
It’s Garry Shandling’s Show (DVD)
$139.99 Click to Buy
Remember this Showtime classic? Probably not but you should. Its four seasons tore down the fourth wall completely and reinvented what was possible with television comedies paving the way for shows like “Seinfeld”.
Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection (Blu-Ray)
$17.49 Click to Buy
Packaging together the best stop-motion animated shorts in recent memory, picking this one up is a no-brainer, absolutely guaranteed to delight adults and children alike with the multiple Oscar winning films’ clever sight gags and dry wit.
Green Lantern: First Flight (Blu-Ray)
$19.99 Click to Buy
The Lantern is all the rage in comics circles right now and the theatrical film is coming quick, so it’s a good time to turn the kids onto the green light powered superhero who is the current king of cool.
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (DVD)
$9.99 Click to Buy
Know someone who’s a giant Buffy or Firefly fan? Get them this disc collecting Joss Whedon’s three part musical superhero tale featuring Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris. The exclusive new musical commentary track recorded for it is a feature I wish all movies would have.
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