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The DVD Talk 2015 Holiday Gift Guide
DVDTalk's Holiday Gift Guide
Looking for a gift for a movie fan?  Have no idea what to get them?  Not to worry!  DVDTalk is here to help.  We've polled our staff of writers and created a series of guides full of gift that are sure to please anyone on your list.  Whether you're looking for a deluxe boxed set or just a great movie that they might not have seen, we've got you covered.  Check out all of the cool gift ideas below.

Deluxe Boxed Sets

Wondering what to get that special film-lover in your life? How about an ultra-cool boxed set? There have been some excellent collections released recently, and you can't go wrong with any of these:


Parks And Recreation: The Complete Series Parks And Recreation: The Complete Series :  Let's start out with a sure-fire winner. This show went on to become one of the best overall sitcoms in TV history, featuring one of the finest ensemble comedy casts, while also developing a world that viewers wanted to spend their time in. That they were able to tie a sweet, fitting bow around the whole package with an utterly beautiful finale makes it a truly fantastic series. This collection, which offers the show in fine quality while loading up on enough bonus content to choke a small horse, is one that any comedy fan would love to find under a tree.

Horror Classics, Vol. 1 :  For years, fans of Hammer Horror, gothic fright films emanating from Britain's small but bustling production company, have been petitioning Warner Bros. to release their Hammer-made titles to Blu-ray. At long last the wish has been granted and the label has released a quartet of these classic movies. This first set is a good mix of material: The Mummy (1959) and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) are among Hammer's all-time best, while Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) and Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) are imperfect but interesting. The transfers all look great, a relief to fans who've experienced wild inconsistency among the Hammer titles released around the world so far.

The Midnight Special :  Have a fan of classic rock on your gift list? Look no further than this awesome collection from Time/Life. An 11-disc collection filled with 130 songs from this legendary TV show that brought life performances from the top acts of the day right to your set every weekend at midnight. Including performances by Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Steely Dan and comedy from George Carlin, Steve Martin, and Richard Pryor, just to name a few, this set is a gold mine.


Red Bull Media House Film Collection
:  The perfect gift for the sports fan! This limited edition film collection features 12 thrilling action sports films, all on Blu-ray. Limited to only 5000 copies and including some cool swag (including an 8 GB thumb drive, a keychain, mini flashlight, and more) the main attraction are the films. From The Art of Flight which follows snowboarder Travis Rice to pristine spots around the globe for some spectacular runs and daredevil tricks to Congo: The Grand Inga Project which chronicles a small team of kayakers who travel to Africa to shoot the biggest and highest Volume rapids in the world, the set is chocked full of excitement. See more in the video here.

The Ultimate Don Rickles The Ultimate Don Rickles: This conglomeration of Rickles material lives up to its name. Spread across eight DVDs, we're presented with four Don Rickles TV specials, hour-long variety shows that aired in the '70s. Two specials with a few extras come each to a disk, in their own DVD keepcases. The remaining six disks collect the entire run of Rickles' weird sit-com CPO Sharkey, which premiered in 1976. Cram these four keepcases into a slipcover, and start laughing, you hockey puck!

Gosei Sentai Dairanger: The Complete Series Gosei Sentai Dairanger: The Complete Series: Anyone who really enjoyed Mighty Morphin Power Rangers back in the day should really check out the source material. Some parts of this Japanese Henshin (transformation) show was used for the second season of MMPR and it is morphenominal. Wonderfully surreal in parts and filled with exciting action, there's just enough continuity to carry viewers through the 50 episodes without getting bogged down with plot every installment.

Great Films

Who doesn't enjoy a good movie? Any of the titles on this list would make excellent presents this holiday season. This list includes a wide range of films for every taste, from action-filled blockbusters to arthouse and foreign films and everything in between. The one thing they all have in common is that they're great movies.


Ikiru:   Ikiru is Akira Kurosawa's timeless film about a dying man who discovers redemption and happiness by leaving his comfort zone of nostalgia and wasted opportunities. Takashi Shimura's magnetic turn as Kanji Watanabe might just be his most enduring performance, and it's more than enough to carry Ikiru's understated ambitions to the finish line. It's not regularly listed among Kurosawa's most popular efforts, but this is a near-perfect production in every regard and has held up extremely well during the last 63 years.

Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron :   This choice is so obvious it almost didn’t make the list, but how could we omit one of the best (and biggest grossing) action films even if most fans have already picked up a copy for themselves? Arguably better than the first installment, this movie finds Marvels biggest heroes teaming up once again to battle a nearly indestructible robot, Ultron. All he wants to do is protect the Earth, but he’s going to do that by killing all off everyone on the planet. Filled with great action, snappy dialog, and some touching scenes this is breezy, exciting, and most importantly, fun.

Je t'aime je t'aime:   A great gift for an art-house film lover. This is one of director Alain Resnais's greatest films, but the majority of film viewers don't know it yet. Quietly brain-teasing and emotionally affecting, it paved the way for films like Defending Your Life and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which view romance through the lenses of memory and regret. The new restoration looks and sounds wonderful, and the bonuses are pretty good too.

Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection :  Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection – while kids will no doubt want to get their hands on the Frozen follow-up for many repeat viewings, this set is worth owning for any animation fan. These twelve bites of brief Disney goodness include Academy-Award winner, Paperman, the nominated Mickey Mouse short Get a Horse! They’re all good and if you have a Disney fan on your gift list, this is a no-brainer.

Interstellar:   It's sci-fi on the surface, family drama down below, and the resulting combination hits viewers exactly right almost every step of the way. Its potent mix of well-researched visuals, powerhouse music cues, educated guesses, and rock-solid acting anchors Interstellar in a way that might make you wish it lasted even longer. Simply put, this is a supremely well-made and memorable film experience. If you know anyone who says they don’t make good movies anymore, give them a copy of this film.
My Fair Lady: 50th Anniversary Edition:   If you know anyone who is even slightly interested in classic musicals, there's virtually no reason why My Fair Lady shouldn't be given to them this holiday season: it's got a classic story, great performances, terrific songs, and stays extremely faithful to the popular play it was based on. There's a lot to live up to here and Paramount's brand new 50th Anniversary Blu-ray absolutely steps up to the plate, delivering a landmark A/V presentation (sourced from a new 8K scan with pitch-perfect audio) and plenty of terrific old and new bonus features. This is an essential release whether or not they already own an earlier release.


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