2008 | DVD RELEASES
Our favorite DVDs are always the ones offering a mix of style (read: cool extras) and substance (i.e., stories that handily beat channel surfing). Here's how these criteria were met by the year's best:
1. Spaced: The Complete Series
Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead") established their signature flair for genre tributes with this cult 1999-2001 Britcom, long overdue on disc. Pegg and Jessica Stevenson are flatmates whose friendship plays out against his "Star Wars" rants and zombie-snuffing fantasies - back before everyone was trading on the fanboy zeitgeist, or trying. You know these three aren't pretenders when the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith turn up to join them for commentary.
2. The Nines
Writer-director John August's twisty metaphysical exercise didn't even play Boston theatrically. DVD, then, was the exclusive showcase for Ryan Reynolds's three separate (yet fascinatingly connected) performances as a downward-spiraling television star, a TV writer dogged by reality cameras, and a "grounded" third character who's anything but. August's commentary makes intriguingly clear what was drawn from personal experience, while a bonus springboard short features pal Melissa McCarthy gossiping on the phone with, yes, God.
3. Risky Business
Was Tom Cruise playing Joel Goodsen grown to adulthood in "Jerry Maguire"? The answer to this question and much more is in a satisfying 25th anniversary reissue, which includes new commentary by Cruise and the filmmakers, a director's cut of the final scene, and a 15-minute screen test segment.
4. The Little Rascals: The Complete Collection
We always loved that breakneck fire engine race, and the sight of Wheezer's brother stuck in the well, and Jackie and Chubby vying for Miss Crabtree's affections, and . . . well, the list could stretch to cover virtually all 80 of producer Hal Roach's original "Our Gang" comedies. Previously reissued piecemeal, they're included here in fine, comprehensive style, along with some nice reminiscences from surviving Rascals.
5. Juno
Last year's Little Indie That Could arrived on disc looking pretty pregnant in its own right. Extensive screen test footage with leads Ellen Page and Michael Cera shows how Page ultimately dialed down her performance, while commentary finally gives stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody a chance to deliver more than just Oscar-trail soundbites.
6. Touch of Evil
We'd caught alternate cuts of this one before - what was an Orson Welles film without editing room drama? - but this is the first time that all three versions of Welles's bordertown noir classic were collected on DVD. And there's a reprint of his 58-page fight-the-power production memo to boot.
7. Missing
There's still considerable relevance to director Costa-Gavras's account of real-life American businessman Ed Horman (Jack Lemmon) traveling to politically charged '70s Chile to help his daughter-in-law (Sissy Spacek) search for his vanished son. Criterion's reissue includes an eloquent new interview with Joyce Horman, the model for Spacek's character, as well as another memo reproduction: the US State Department's official response to the film.
8. Bonnie and Clyde Ultimate Collector's Edition
We were hoping for deeper critical analysis, given how director Arthur Penn's film jolted cinematic status quo like the hail of bullets that finishes Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Still, like Clyde Barrow's charms, fresh interviews with all of the principal cast and crew are tough to resist.
9. The Mist
No, this is hardly writer-director Frank Darabont's return to "Shawshank"/"Green Mile" form. And yet . . and yet . . . his creature-feature adaptation of another Stephen King story was still skittering around this writer's brain for days and weeks post-viewing, unlike, say, "Saw V." The DVD also creeps onto the list for saluting '50s horror with a black-and-white viewing option, as well as for a featurette spotlighting acclaimed movie poster artist Drew Struzan.
10. Mad Men: Season One
Never mind that the series is as much an addiction as Don Draper's three-packs-a-day habit, and that it's presented here with commentaries on every episode. In the year's most genius packaging move, the set also comes boxed in a giant Zippo case. 