I’ve been having a hard time figuring out what to write because I haven’t really seen anything worthy of commentary.   Maybe it’s my desperate need to see The Dark Knight that’s kept my mind completely blank.

 

That was until I got my copy of Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.  And it got me thinking:

 

If I’m going to pay full price for a DVD, I want all those sweet extras.  And not just any extras.  I want a healthy quantity of clips, behind the scenes segments, and good commentaries.  I also want good DVD menu design. 

 

Why do I want all that stuff?  Because I pay excessive attention to detail.  What can I say.  I did go to film school!

 

The beauty of the Whitecastle DVD is that its menu is like a mini movie.  I spent about 20 minutes just watching the menu.  And all the extras are excellent, specially the backseat interview with John Cho and  Kal Penn.  It made me laugh and cry.  The commentaries are insightful but very funny, very consistent with the tone of the film.

 

The Donnie Darko DVD is another delightful DVD full of deleted scenes, excellent menu design and wonderful commentaries from the cast and director. 

 

The Matrix DVD is a must have.  It’s filled with great extras, specially the white rabbit and screenplay comparison features. 

 

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind DVD has a static menu that could have been better but all the features are excellent, specially the one where Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet are seen rehearsing.

 

When it comes to behind the scenes segments, there’s nothing more boring than having to hear everybody praise everything about the film.  I understand there are cases when the production of a film goes very smoothly from beginning to end. 

 

But in technical terms, films are logistical nightmares.  It would be better to see what the actual experience was like, and there’s nothing better than the awesome “The Hamster Factory” from the 12 Monkeys DVD.  You can almost feel Terry Gillian’s pain when things got difficult.

 

But if you don’t mind the more typical behind the scenes material, the Underworld DVD has a very healthy amount of lovely clips.

 

So anyway, these are just a handful of good DVDs that I own.  I have others equally great, and some others that have made me scream “WHY?”.  But the point I’m trying to make is, if I’m going to pay full price for a DVD, I want it to be worth my money.  If I only want the film, I’ll pay for a digital download.

 

Because whenever I buy a film, as Harold tells Kumar on the Whitecastle DVD:

“Better not be one of those lame DVDs where you click on the special features and all they get is the freaking trailer”.