About DVD Collections

So you've finally decided to start updating your VHS tape collection to DVD's. Or maybe you are just starting a movie collection. Either way, DVD's are most certainly the way to go! There's nothing better than finishing your favorite movie, and then going on to watch deleted scenes from it, documentaries on how it was made, original trailers, etc... God knows how we ever got on with VHS's just containing the movie and nothing else!

Getting Started

The first thing that you will need is a DVD player. The best idea is to get a decent priced one. I suggest 'RCA RC5240P DVD Player'. This is the DVD player I have. It's only 150 bucks, but it comes with great features such as 8x fast forwarding, Component and S-video outputs,Dolby Digital optical digital-audio output, and it plays CDs, MP3-CDs, CD-R/RW, and video CDs in addition to DVD's. This is a great DVD player for a good price. It doesn't freeze up or anything during a movie like other DVD players do.

To the Video Store!

Now that you have your player, you are gonna need some DVD's to watch on it! Here are some great movies that also have great DVD extras: 'The Godfather DVD Collection'. This has the best extras I have seen on a DVD, not to much the best movies ever! The highlight is the new 73 min documentary "The Godfather Family: A Look Inside". It is perhaps the best documentary I have seen on a DVD. It also has about 20 deleted scenes. Oh yeah, did I mention 6 other mini-documentaries, the interesting, inciteful commentary by FFC on all three movies, the Academy Award acceptance speeches, the trailers for each movie, the screen tests, and the great picture and sound quality. Definately get this. 'Star Wars - Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition)'. Holy pod race, Batman!!! How did they even FIT all these extras on here??? This has got to be the Holy Grail for Star Wars fans. An hour long documentary that is absolutely terrific, 7 TV spots plus the theatrical trailers, Commentary by writer-director George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, editor Ben Burtt, animation director Rob Coleman, and visual effects supervisors John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires, Exclusive deleted-scenes documentary features seven new sequences completed just for this DVD release: Complete Podrace Grid Sequence, Extended Podrace Lap Two, The Waterfall Sequence, The Air Taxi Sequence, Dawn Before the Race, Anakin's Scuffle with Greedo, Farewell to Jira, Five featurettes explore the storyline, design, costumes, visual effects, and fight sequences, and I'm just getting started! Plus the movie, which has the best fight scenes ever!! A must for a Star Wars fan, or beginning DVD collector.

'Almost Famous Untitled - The Bootleg Cut (Director's Edition)'. This is a great movie for anyone who likes 70's music or culture, or just anyone who likes a good, fun drama. Filled with tons of extras like Commentary by Cameron Crowe & his mom, Alice Crowe, CD of 6 Stillwater Songs, Deleted scenes with commentary including Stillwater's Cleveland concert, Two versions of the film (original and director's cut with 36 more minutes), behind-the-scenes featurette. A great movie, and a great DVD. 'Fight Club'. A rare fight movie that also has an inspired and original plot. This movie, besides coming in a cool package, has lots of extras: Commentary by director David Fincher, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter, Edward Norton, Theatrical trailers, Five Deleted Scenes, Making-Of Fight Club. It also includes 17 behind-the-scenes "vignettes" about how the did certain scenes, but after watching a couple of them, I found that they are way too technical and not too interesting. 'Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)'. I must confess that I did not see this film. But, not only is it considered the best film ever made, even the 2 hour documentary was nominated for an Oscar!! It also has two commentaries: one by Orson Welles biographer, and one by Roger Ebert, and the theatrical trailers. Definately a lot of DVD extras for a movie made before TV even was invented, let alone home movies! 'Taxi Driver (Collector's Edition)'. This may not have the most extras of any DVD, but the ones it does have are great. The star is the Making-Of Documentary featuring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster and Martin Scorsese. This is one of the most interesting, infomative, incitful documentary I have seen. De Niro gives us the story behind all his ad-libbing (including the "Are you talkin to me?" scene) and we find out about the final scene, just to mention part of it. The other extras include the screenplay and trailers. 'Die Hard (Five Star Collection)'. The best action movie ever made bar none. This movie has way too many extra features for me to write, so click on the link for the full list.

Parting Advice

Well, those are some of the best movies on DVD right now. I would have added more, like 'Terminator 2 - Judgment Day (The Ultimate Edition DVD)' or 'The Matrix' but to be honest, this is enough for one day, I can take only so much typing and hunting around for ASIN's. Be sure to check back with me if you liked this guide for a Supplementing Your DVD Collection list or something like that in the near future.