We Like DVDs: M

Magnolia

Rusty W. Spell -- A beautiful-looking movie, perfectly captured here. The second disc features a Frank T.J. Mackey seminar and infomercial (Tom Cruise cruisin' it up hilariously), all the great trailers (teaser, theatrical, and TV spots), and Aimee Mann's "Save Me" music video (which is one of the best movie song videos ever, featuring the stars from the movie on the sets, with Aimee Mann singing next to them--lots better than the usual clips from the movie). Finally, since P.T. Anderson didn't do a commentary for this one, there's a great documentary on the making of the movie, the best extra on the DVD. Great presentation: P.T. Anderson knows how to put together a package.

M*A*S*H

Rusty W. Spell -- A great movie and a great restoration of the picture and sound, so I should be thankful enough for that, but this is one of my favorite DVDs to pick on. The thing is there's this big shiny box that says "Five Star Collection" and there's two discs promising commentaries, documentaries, and all sorts of jazz. But the "jazz" is really dull and not worth watching. All the "documentaries" are slightly different versions of the previous one, using the same six clips from the movie so that you won't want to watch the movie for at least five years (one for each star) after seeing them. And the "commentary" is just grumpy Altman complaining about the M*A*S*H TV show and saying things we've already heard in the documentaries--when he's talking, since there are often 20 minute or so gaps between his speech. So they should have just cleaned up the movie, stuck the trailer on the disc, and put it out as a pretty (and less expensive) single disc.