We Like DVDs: G

Peter Gabriel: Growing Up Live

Tommy Burton -- Peter Gabriel has always been a great showman, even his early days of Genesis. When he mounted his Growing Up Tour, nothing but sensational could have been expected. The same can be said of this DVD. It's a concert film directed by Gabriel and Hamish Hamilton taken from a concert in Milan (the site of his previous concert film, Secret World Live). Each song is a great choice with a perfect mix of early hits like "Solsbury Hill" and "Sledgehammer" with a nice set of new material. It's awesome to see "Growing Up" with Peter in his bouncing "hamster ball." The look is squeaky clean and the 5.1 sound mix is unreal. There is only a Tony Levin photo album and a ten minute featurette, but the over two hour concert makes up for any lack of extras. Any fan of Gabriel should own this DVD.

Ghostbusters

Tommy Burton -- I bought this DVD for selfish reasons: I got tired of seeing the cropped version on Comedy Central. I love this movie and it hurt me to see it so obviously butchered for TV. Good thing, though, because this disc is nice. First off, the movie looks brilliant in widescreen and it's a fun movie. Bill Murray is great. The special features are a-plenty, including storyboards, deleted scenes and a 1999 featurette. There are some special effects extras, but the cool thing is a "live" commentary (think MST3K) with director Ivan Reitman and Harold Ramis. Ghostbusters is one of the funniest "big blockbuster" films and this DVD gives it the royal treatment.

The Graduate

Tommy Burton -- My favorite all time movie (see my list). I can't say much about the film itself other than the only way to see it is in its proper ratio, but that's true of any film. There aren't a lot of extras, and anyone who is familiar the 25-anniversary widescreen video will not be surprised by much. They included the insightful documentary that was featured on that tape, but that's pretty much it. A great film is given standard to below-average DVD treatment.