I’m fresh outta the hospital and desperately trying to catch up on my DVDActive.com reviews (I’ve got a couple dozen Blu-rays looking at me expectantly), but I even more desperately need to catch up on my CHUD Blogging. I’ve been to sick to see most of the ‘good’ movies this year, but even in my ignorance I’ve been comparing 2008 to 2007. 2007 should go down as one of ‘those’ years. I can think of five classics to come out of the year just off the tip of my head – a rarity for any year. Yet 2007 still can’t quite stand up to the best cinematic year of my short life, 1999.

 

As an obsessive compulsive DVD collector I can’t help but notice that it will soon be 2009. This means we should expect some tenth anniversary releases of some of 1999’s best films. Hopefully we can look forward to full-on special editions, as many of the original 1999 and 2000 DVD releases were pretty bare-bones by modern standards. Here’s a list of some film’s coming up on their tenth anniversary that haven’t seen a hi-def release, or a re-release special edition DVD as of yet, that perhaps we can expect in the next year. I would like to note that I’ve heard nothing about any of these possible releases yet, so don’t get your hopes up, and wait for Anderson to hear something.

 

American Beauty

Yeah, it hasn’t aged as well as I may’ve hoped, but American Beauty is still an interesting slice of the end of the ‘90s, and Conrad Hall’s Oscar Winning cinematography would look pretty great in 1080p hi-def. It might be a good time for a retrospective documentary, I’d personally like to know what the cast and crew thing of the film looking back, especially talent squanderer Wes Bently, and director Sam Mendes, who hasn’t seen similar box office or critical receptions since. There’s also the matter of all those hours of deleted and alternate footage that we’ve heard so much about. Could Dreamworks perhaps let us see that?

 

American Movie

I suppose high definition video is entirely unnecessary, and the commentaries and behind the scenes footage of the original DVD release are solid, but one can’t help but wonder what has transpired for independent filmmaker and family man Mark Borchardt over the last ten years. I notice he still hasn’t finished Northwestern, or any other film since, perhaps a retrospective documentary will kick him into gear.

 

Being John Malkovich

The film that introduced the greater filmic world to director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman hasn’t had any re-release on home video since the first release in ’99, and though entertaining, the extras weren’t really satisfying. Now that Jonze and Kaufman are Hollywood’s critical darlings it’d be interesting for a retrospective look at one of the strangest studio releases ever made.

 

The Blair Witch Project

I’m not sure I could ever watch Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez ultimately boring horror experiment ever again, but that doesn’t change the fact that the film changed the filmic landscape, especially concerning the relationship between film and the internet. Like American Beauty, there are apparently hours of deleted and alternate footage we still haven’t seen, and the disappearance of the cast and crew since calls for a pretty extensive documentary look back.

 

Bringing Out the Dead

My pick for Martin Scorsese’s most underrated picture has never seen a decent DVD release. Bringing Out the Dead is an incredibly good looking movie, and another I’d love to see in high definition. Extras-wise I don’t expect Paramount to put a lot of effort into a Blu-ray release, but Scorsese is always a perfect commentator, and there aren’t a lot of film’s left in his filmography without commentary tracks any more.

 

Deep Blue Sea

Renny Harlin’s dumbass smart shark movie isn’t one of 1999’s favorite moments, but it’s a personal guilty pleasure, and I have hope for a decent hi-def release. I don’t actually need any new extras, and I doubt the film’s ten or so fans do either.

 

Election

Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth follow-up is a vastly underrated entry in his often Oscar nominated filmography, and yet another Paramount DVD release without ,much in the way of extra features. The director’s thoughts post-Oscar noms are of interest, and it’d be nice to aim some focus on what I believe is Reese Witherspoon’s best performance. The colorful photography would be nice in 1080p too.

 

Fight Club

David Fincher’s anarchic masterpiece is perhaps the crown jewel of a fantastic year. Ten years of misunderstandings, and a post release popularity that has since overshadowed the film’s initial box office flopping and critical spanking. If ever I wanted to see a retrospective documentary on a film, this would be the one. Fincher’s aggressive audio/video production also lends itself to the Blu-ray format like few other as yet unreleased films.

 

Iron Giant

Brad Bird’s nearly perfect animated adventure was released as a ‘special edition’ a few years back, but the extras were pretty weak. Iron Giant has a rich pre-production history, including 1986 musical interest by none other than Pete Townsend, so a real making of documentary would be much appreciated.

 

Magnolia

The original DVD release of Magnolia features a fascinating making-of documentary, and I don’t think director Paul Thomas Anderson really likes looking back on his movies enough to record a commentary, so extras aren’t an issue, I mostly just want to see the film in high definition, and hear Ammie Mann’s music in DTS-HD Master Audio. The film’s structure might lend itself to some interesting Blu-ray extras, like an on screen relationship tree or something.

 

The Sixth Sense

Disney has already re-released a special edition of M. Night Shyamalan’s first good movie, and a nearly bare-bones Blu-ray disc, and perhaps the director’s now blue whale sized ego may make a look back a bit mind-numbing, but there has to be something new to say about the film. Perhaps a commentary with the now M.I.A. Haley Joel Osment about his Oscar nomination?

 

Three Kings

People seem to have forgotten about how great David O. Russell’s pre-George W. Bush, pre-9/11, and pre-Iraq War II post-Desert Storm dark comedy was. The planned 2004 re-release didn’t go so well when Russell’s newly shot documentary about the current conflict, Soldier’s Pay, was deemed too controversial for release with a special edition DVD. Perhaps now that W. is leaving office and the tenth anniversary is coming Warner Bros. will see fit to release the originally planned special edition on Blu-ray. Newton Thomas Sigel’s bleach bypass photography will look pretty good in 1080p too.

 

Toy Story 2

Even after Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton took the stories to brave new places, and in the wake of giant leaps in technology, Pixar’s one and only sequel still gets my vote as the studio’s best film. The extras from the original Toy Box release still stand up pretty well, I just want the film in hi-def, no full re-release is really necessary.

 

Other re-releases I might be looking forward to:

Audition (though the latest special edition was pretty satisfactory)

Dead or Alive

Galaxy Quest

The Insider

My Best Fiend

Mystery Men

Office Space

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut

Tarzan (the last great Disney cartoon, minus the Phil Collins songs)

Titus (someone has to like it, right?)