David Fear is a film critic for the San Francisco Bay Guardian and a lover of all things hi-tech. He still refuses, however, to give up his Betamax tapes.
Wrote the following article I saw on MSN. Do you agree? Disagree with choices? What's missing? I would like to add Lion King with the special sound mix for home viewing and Finding Nemo is not bad either.
10. Fight Club (1999)—David Fincher's dark tale of modern-day malaise, mayhem and masculinity not only looks great on a big TV, it has plenty of deep blacks and moldy greens that will highlight your screen's ability to produce theater-quality color. The sound of all those blows connecting and bones cracking may sound a tad too realistic, but skipping ahead to the plane crash sequence will amply showcase your sound system capabilities.
9. Heat (1995)—With its stunning widescreen palette of cool blues and steely grays, this Michael Mann heist epic is a picture perfect case study if you want to justify buying a top-notch 16:9 ratio plasma screen. As for the sound, well... when a salesman was demonstrating my speaker's horsepower to me in the showroom, he threw on the DVD and jumped straight to the scene where the cops and criminals break out the heavy artillery on the streets of L.A. and had a sale on the spot. Just be sure to turn it down once Pacino starts yelling or you risk blowing your tweeters out!
8. Saving Private Ryan (1999)—Yes, Steven Spielberg's WWII epic does get a little heavy-handed in places, but those first 20 minutes—when platoons storm the beaches on D-Day in what may be the most realistic depiction of warfare in an American film—are the reason you spend five figures on a home theater. The Special Limited Edition DVD also boasts a "C-Reality" digital transfer process, insuring that viewers will get the highest quality home viewing experience around.
7. Jurassic Park (1993)—Have any loose molars you need to shake out of your skull? The now-classic scene where the T-Rex attacks the car our heroes are stranded in should do the trick. Simply put, few things sound scarier or more awe-inspiring on a quality surround system. Best of all is the gradual buildup of its arrival, signaled by far-off thumping and reverberating water glasses, which seems custom-made for testing your audio setup's depth and range.
6. Gladiator (2000)—Ridley Scott not only brought back the big budget sword-and-sandal genre and netted an Oscar for it, he made sure that the DVD would also capture every recreated Roman façade and every clink of steel weaponry exactly as it was meant to be seen and heard. The result is a jaw-droppingly precise transfer that is nothing short of epic, in every sense of the word, from its opening "unleashing" of hell to the final showdown. Are you not entertained? Yes, frankly, we're downright amazed!
5. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)—It wasn't enough that this blockbuster dazzled the world by introducing computer generated imagery (CGI) via its liquidized villain. No, the exception to the rule that sequels are never as good as their predecessors also had to set the standard for what most DVDs should look like thanks to the high-definition digital telecine transfer it gets in its latest incarnation (entitled "T2—Extreme DVD"). Watching Robert Patrick morph from robot to "human" and back again on your big screen is reminiscent of the first time you tasted ice cream. James Cameron, we salute you.
4. Apocalypse Now (1979)—Whether you prefer the extra-crispy "Redux" version or the original recipe, Francis Ford Coppola's vision of Vietnam as a Bosch painting is a flat-out masterpiece. He was helped greatly, of course, by the legendary sound editor Walter Murch, who virtually broke down the boundaries of using sound creatively in a feature film. Mix Master Murch's work is a must-hear for home sound systems, especially the opening (dig that copter sound on the ceiling fan) to the crème de la crème of chopper attacks, the Wagnerian (literally!) helicopter sequence where voice transmissions seem to be coming out every corner of your living room. Note: Redux's visual quality is a bit better than the original's DVD released several years back.
3. The Matrix (1999)—Anyone who's marveled at the film's bullet-time effects on a big screen won't feel cheated by seeing them on a big-screen TV at home—the utmost care went into the transfer here and though it doesn't improve Keanu Reeves' acting ability any, the revolutionary special effects will make your visual display system look like a million bucks regardless of the original price tag. For testing sound quality, flip forward to that helicopter crash in the third act and watch your guests begin to drool with envy. It doesn't matter whether you take the red pill and get the standard DVD, or opt for the blue pill in the form of deluxe two-disc set. Quality is great on both.
2. Toy Story 2 (1999)—A home theater enthusiast friend of mine swore by this movie as one of the best screen/surround system movies to watch, and I have to admit I was skeptical until he threw the disk on one night for me. The opening scene, where Buzz Lightyear fights his evil nemesis in "outer space" (actually a video game of his exploits) had my jaw on the floor: Pixar's digital animation transfer (enhanced for 16:9 TVs) produces some of the cleanest lines and most vibrant colors you'll ever see, and the sound of Buzz whooshing by in THX-certified sound will take you to infinity and beyond. The fan favorite "Ultimate Toy Box" three-disc set is currently out of print, but try to hunt down a copy if you can.
1. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings (2001)—One of the best films of the last few years is, hands-down, the DVD that writes the book on home theater bell-ringing and whistle-blowing. The opening ten minutes will have you convinced that an orc battle is happening in your house. The battle with the cave troll has such incredible audio fidelity that it will have you ducking imaginary debris. And the climactic battle... visually and sound-wise, there is one to rule them all and in your screening room darkness bind them, and it is this one. If you can't wait for the inevitable box set that will include all three films sometime next year, invest in the Platinum Series edition. It's worth its weight in elven gold.
