Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Marc Horowitz's Top 10 of 2006 Best Picture and Sound on DVD

1. Apocalypse Now (The Complete Dossier; Paramount, 2 discs). Images and sonics rock, but buy this set for the extras: deleted/extended scenes, a Francis Ford Coppola commentary, and stuff on Marlon Brando that's worth the price of admission all by itself.

2. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (20th Century Fox, 2 discs). A silly movie strictly for Wars-heads, but amazingly detailed picture quality throughout. Also, a painstakingly created 3-D soundstage.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Special Edition; Disney, 2 discs). See Johnny swashbuckle amidst ace CGI effects, an immersive soundtrack, and lots of making-of extras.

4. Walk the Line (Collector's Edition; 20th Century Fox, 2 discs). Best soundtrack reproduction I've heard in a long time, with plenty of air and room ambience as well as punchy acoustic bass in the many live performances. Excellent picture with great shadow detail.

5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Deluxe Edition; Warner, 2 discs). Gene Wilder channeled Willy more effectively than Johnny Depp does, but Candyland never looked more lush and vibrant. Explosive color with no smearing.

6. Event Horizon (Special Collector's Edition; Paramount). A wide, vivid color palette and superior overall image quality. Tons of extras filled with geek-friendly details.

7. The Deer Hunter (Legacy Series; Universal, 2 discs). Michael Cimino's harrowing images have been superbly remastered, and the soundtrack is brutally dense and involving - particularly in the Russian Roulette sequences.

8. V for Vendetta (Special Edition; Warner, 2 discs). The Wachowski Brothers know how to make their politically minded but philosophically lean movies look and sound really, really good, and this DVD captures it all.

9. Lady and the Tramp (50th Anniversary Edition; Disney, 2 discs). A loving and beautiful restoration of the original Cinemascope. Plus lots of cool Disney archival extras.

10. The New World (New Line). Hard to stay awake through the entire movie, but the cinematography and the image quality are nearly perfect.