Films that deserve Special Editions

Galaxy Quest
True Lies
Batman films (yes even 4, especially 4!!!)
Airplane!
LOTR trilogy (just kidding)
American President
Prince of Tides
there are others... waiting to be remembered

ferris beullers day off
Waynes World 1&2

club dread (shut up, i liked it...)
air force one
con air
deep blue sea

I'll add Face/Off and Ocean's Eleven to my list.

Bram Stokers Dracula
Jurassic Park (I want the double disc treatment!)
the other 2 if there's time
Blade Runner
Love Actually
Life of Brian (I realize there is a criterion release, but it's expensive and hard to find)
Sleepy Hollow
Naked Gun Trilogy

Broken Arrow
Crimson Tide

black knight


just kidding

hehehehehehehehe

Complete Spielberg and Cameron Special Edition Box Sets, with audio commentaries by the directors and double disc treatments for all the movies (It's not that hard with Spielberg, all the movies he did are owned by Universal I think, but I don't know how many films Fox owns that Cameron did) and a bonus disc that gives a biography of the directors with interviews. The boxes had to look nice and extravagant too! The disc cases especially!

exorcist

more to come

dumb and dumber
cowboy bebop:the movie

eqiulibrium 8)

Yeah, Chasing Amy is already a part of the Criterion Collection.

As for Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door, It's initial release was a SE.

"chasing amy" already has a decent dvd release, though admittedly the extras were made for laserdisc in the first place.

the faculty
stargate (no way is the current edition 'ultimate')

mallrats
chasing amy

(hopefully if the clerks 3 disc-er does well i can have these on special edition discs too...)

SLINGBLADE
DUMB AND DUMBER

Actually, the features were skimpy and bland. Cowboy Bebop had much better features. But thats just me.
P.S. I dont know if what you said was directed at me, but I dont think you were upset with the film, same as I love Jurasic Park, although the features are great, you just want more (i.e. the deleted scenes that are in the Region 2 releases, lucky [CENSORED]!)

hey, i never said i didnt love my cowboy bebop: the movie dvd. just a few more features would be nice, i dont know. and i am greatful for the special features, as to your point, depression, most anime dvds have no or barely any extras. but keep in mind, this was a feature (anime movies usually have some extras), and it was also released in theaters in the US (limited, but still released). look at spirited away for instance. that was origionally japanese, got a US theatrical run, and we got a great 2 disc SE out of it.

-Matt

i thought the Special Edition release of Cowboy Bebop had everything I could ask for, and I'm very picky when it comes to special features. Though it is true that often times you'll get a so-called special edition that is quite lackluster (the first Aliens special edition was disappointing on features, as is Jurassic Park, unless you count the features on the 'beyond' disk, which are more than substantial), but often times they live up to their rep. I figure the order for how good a release is as follows (meaning you'll get the most special features from the last edition I list):
Reg.
Special
Ultimate (referenced to Universal)
Collectors
Gift set


P.S. I cant believe we all forgot about a special edition for Fifth Element! Keep the Superbit and add on a second disk and slap on an audio commentary.

Right, many companies unjustly label releases "SE" but I don't think you're going to find a better release for Bebop:KOHD.

The video quality is top notch, as it should be coming from a hi-def master.

Extras may not compare to the likes of LOTR or Hellboy but this is an anime related dvd. Have you looked at other anime dvds? They're pretty bare mainly containing trailers and/or op ed credits without the text. But here we get various featurrettes ranging from how the movie was made to insights as to how the greatest composer in the business (Yoko Kanno) got her inspiration when visiting the US and absorbing the culture.

On top of that we get to see Watanabe (the director) talk about how surprised he is at how America took an instant liking to the series, storyboards, character bios, 100+ pieces of concept art, and two music videos one of them being the opening theme Ask DNA (by the Seatbelts)

"As for Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven's Door, It's initial release was a SE."

just because the dvd case says "special edition" means nothing.

the passion of the christ is getting a special edition very soon, so dont buy the new one if you care about special features on your discs, just rent it.

i agree about "malcolm x". it's the one spike lee movie where he tried to reach for something greater than just him speaking through his characteres with a lot of profanity.

Malcohm-X, Passion of Jesus Christ:),Sling Blade,The Game.Heat,Scent of a woman,Casino,Raging Bull,A Streetcar Named Desire

Batman definitely needs a SE DVD, especially since my VCR ate my Batman VHS recently. I was going to pick it up but found the extraordinary lack of anything appalling. I would also like to see a Tim Burton box set of SE discs, becuase of the Burton DVDs I have most of them are pretty lacking in the extras stuff.

Films that deserve S.E.'s...are: Batman, Batman Returns, The Naked Gun trilogy, Casino, Air Force One, ALL Stanley Kubrick films (I don't care that he said he liked minimalist DVD's prior to his unfortunate death, his films are more deserving of S.E. treatment than anything!)....more probably.8)

If there's ANY movie that deserves a special edition, it's "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"

I would love to see interviews with the actors today reflecting back on that time in their lives, and a comentary track by them as well.

I totally agree Ferris Buellers Day off....I know that movie so well, I have it memorized, LOL. It was great....Bueller...Bueller......anyone....anyone.....Fry.....Fry....
hahahhahaa

Karrie

LOL!

How about this one...

Edward Rooney (Dean Of Students): "What's the score?"
Pizza Guy: "nothin/nothin"
Edward Rooney (Dean Of Students): "Who's winning?"
Pizza Guy: "uhhh... the bears"

Special Edition of Troopers edited by Eddie and John for Tim to like it:). The new version will include the beach volleyball :)

hahhahaa...love that one too !!!!

Starship Troopers :D :p

South Park: The Movie needs a special edition. and a commentary for Rat Race would be nice...

there is a special edition of South Park coming out

this is good. hopefully some commentaries, deleted scenes and lots o' making-of stuff :p

-matt

TITANIC!!!!

Four Rooms
Face/Off
Office Space
Get Shorty
Cable Guy (okay you know what...Shut Up...Its a guilty pleasure and I dont like my bare bones copy)
&
Angus (not even on DVD yet for some reason)
- Nick

There is a big difference if you have a widescreen TV.
Look at the two pictures at the bottom of this page:
- EXTERNAL LINK -

Let's see; we did have a link up somewhere to a Web site that explained the benefits of anamorphic transfers quite nicely. Don't know what happened to it.

Basically, the term anamorphic refers to two things: In film it refers to the compression and decompression of a widescreen image on a roll of film using various lens for filming and projection. In DVD video it refers to the ability to use extra scan lines on a modern television set to increase the amount of information that can be displayed in a widescreen picture. An anamorphic widescreen picture will generally look sharper and display fewer shimmering lines than an non-anamorphic widescreen picture.

If you have a television capable of displaying high-definition or capable of line doubling, you can probably take advantage of anamorphic transfers. Look at your DVD player's setup menu and adjust it for the proper 16x9 playback and adjust your television accordingly, too, if necessary. I have my Sony XBR television adjusted to receive anamorphic, regular letterbox, and standard 1.33:1 signals automatically. The TV senses what signal its being fed and reproduces the proper playback.

John

Im confused as to the benefit of anamorphic, becuase it may seem that my tv does not support it, what are the signs of anamorphic widescreen? (By the way my tv is top of the line, so its probably that I just dont know what to do) Could you give me an example of the benefits of anamorphic, and the problems of non-anamorphic?

Titanic is a good one, for the most part I really want SE's for movies that have yet to be released Anamorphically.

billy madison and happy gilmore could use special editions

also, Stephen King's It could use a SE

I do the stretch for non-anamorphic widescreen movies, but I watch 4:3 materials with the 4:3 mode. There is no point in zooming in on or stretching a 4:3 picture as you either cut off the top and bottom or distort the image with horizontal pulls.

What do you guys prefer? Do you stretch non anamorphic transfers for more screen size or do you go with the smaller picture in favor of better quality.

Personally I sacrifice the quality for the larger picture. Watching a movie when it's only a sliver on my screen is quite annoying.

John,

A non-anamorphic widescreen movie will have black or gray bars at the sides if a 16:9 TV is set to display 4:3 images. 16:9 TVs also have "zoom" or "stretch" modes that allow for non-anamorphic movies to be displayed across the entire width of the rectangular TV, though it's very apparent after you do the stretch that non-anamorphic images have less resolution/image density than anamorphic sources.

Eddie

no no, I meant at the website mra sent me to, it said that non-anamorphic widescreen DVD's had grey vertical bars, not horizontal. I thought that was strange, becuase that only happens with my full-screen "Friends" DVDs, and never on my widescreen DVD's, so I was curious as to what the website was talking about.
Thanks for the info though, basically the difference between the two is that they adjust differently, anamorphic removing the need for the tv to create what should be there?
I'm just emphasizing this point becuase I still receive black bars on anamorphic DVD's such as the Matrix Revolutions, unless of course I set the picture to zoom (on my tv, the "zoom" feature apparently gives: "the best picture quality for viewing widescreen moving images")but its still there unless.
As well, my TV is calibrated according to those THX thingies on certain THX certified DVD's, havn't really looked for a professional TV calibrater yet (rest assured, my blacks are indeed true blacks, I'm not that pre-historic), but my TV has like thirteen sliders for the black level, and just as many for the white level, so I kinda just make it look right to my eyes, as I have no idea what the "BRG for the input balance of the dark white level" is. (I mainly worry about multi-point convergence, becuase it's always going off the mark on my TV, especially at the top left hand side, the grid lines are blueish green and nommater how far I move the blue or red levels, they remain that way. I'm guessing it's a fualt of the tubes and projector, but the thing is really hard to check, it's big. Also becuase I know what I'm doing when I try to fix it.)

P.S. To keep this true to the spirit of the Forum: I think that Harry Potter could use a real special edition (sans les jeux!)

"...the Abyss is aparently non-anamorphic, yet I dont receive gray vertical bars." --Onijay

If your television and your DVD player are set for 16x9 playback, you should not receive any vertical (side) bars if the movie were issued in standard widescreen, as "The Abyss" is. You should only get black bars at the top and bottom of the screen where the film is not showing. There is a difference between standard letterbox widescreen and anamorphic widescreen. An anamorphic widescreen rending would give you approximately the same widescrreen dimensions you're seeing now with "The Abyss," but the picture would be sharper, clearer, and freer of jittery lines.

Incidentally, the areas at the top and bottom of the screen should usually be black, not gray. If the picture on the screen is exceptionally bright, radiantly white, for instance, these areas might look a bit gray. Otherwise, they should be black. You might want to have the black level of your television checked. The black-level adjustment is what provides the greatest detail and contrast in a televsion picture.

John

I was just confused becuase the Abyss is aparently non-anamorphic, yet I dont receive gray vertical bars and the picture quality is still stunning. Likewise with Armageddon (Criterion), it still looks great. Thanks for the info, anamorphic was one of the few things about this format that I'm not quite sure about. It seems to always be varying depending on what your tv and your DVD player can do.

Lethal Weapon 1-4

I'll usually stretch non-anamporphic movies to 14x9 rather than 16x9. The reason for this is that if I want subtitles they won't be cut off. And the picture still covers most of the screen. I never stretch 4x3. It looks silly.

A few special editions I'd like to see...

"Kill Bill" (probably a 3 disc set)
"Braveheart"
"Buffalo 66"
"Dune"
"Raising Arizona"
"Miller's Crossing"
"Mulholland Drive"
"The Big Lebowski"

definetly "mulholland drive". i mean, there arent even scene slections!

From what I hear from one of my friends now, who works at Fox, Judge eventually wants to get going on this, but he has so much on his plate. And I think that eventually, Fox and Judge would come to an agreement, especially since King of the Hill is still running at Fox and his next film is being distributed by the studio. Maybe some day, especially since they've paid enough for his cooperation on other projects already.

About an Office Space SE, I remember reading an interview with Mike Judge and it said point blank. The studio mentioned they wanted to do one, but they weren't going to pay for his cooperation, so he said no.

This has been a topic I've been thinking about for a few days. One of my favorite films is The Jungle Book from Disney, though I know that's coming out in a Platinum Edition from the studio in 2007.

But as for films that I believe are in need of Special Editions...I think it's time to revisit Ferris Bueller's Day Off. And I wouldn't mind an in-depth Frank Capra box set, despite the DVDs that have already been released of his work. And I noticed the mention of "Office Space" above. That film needs a special edition quite badly.

Also, "The Sting" deserves at least an anamorphic widescreen edition.

The Deer Hunter deserves special edition too.

Mission: Impossible!

Regarding the Office Space SE, this is from thedigitalbits.com:
Oh... you guys are gonna LOVE this!

Sources at 20th Century Fox have just confirmed with me that the long-awaited Office Space: Special Edition is finally a go! The studio and director Mike Judge are currently hard at work on the disc, which is tentatively planned for release in early 2005. There's no other details available at the moment (so don't ask - it's too early in the process), but the title IS finally coming and you can bet we'll keep you up to date on this as things progress.

How's that for a way to stave off a bad case of the Mondays?

That's all well and good but where the HELL is the uncut Kill Bill box set?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

What we really need is a 3-disc Apocalypse Now ultimate set, with the original, Redux and Hearts of Darkness documentary, along with any trailers/deleted scenes that they can find. Paramount did an excellent job on the Godfather set, now show the same treatment to Apocalypse Now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!