The 2002 Golden Gavel Awards
On January 28th, 2003, DVD Verdict announced their Golden Gavel awards for the best DVDs of 2002. The reviewing staff of DVD Verdict each drafted a list of their ten picks for the best of the year, and those lists were compiled into a master list based on the rankings given to each film. Fifty DVDs appeared on the lists from the ten voting staff members, and from those nominees emerged the ten winners:
Read our review (by Judge Michael Rankins)
Could there possibly be any other winner for 2002? New Line and Peter Jackson produced what will be the definitive coverage of any single film for years to come (or at least until The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers hits DVD…). The film itself has been expanded by nearly a half-hour, and the footage improves the flow and presentation of the story. It fills two discs, and is a perfect digital representation of a motion picture. The remaining two discs give you more information than can possibly be digested about the Lord of the Rings, both the filming of the movie and the phenomenon that is J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork. Nine of our ten voting judges picked it as the best disc of the year.
Votes:
1st Place: 9
Read our review (by Judge Barrie Maxwell)
Number Ten on the American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies list is our pick for Number Two DVD of 2002. Warner Bros.' treatment of this classic was quite the glorious feeling.
Votes:
2nd Place: 1
3rd Place: 2
4th Place: 2
9th Place: 1
Read our review (by Judge Kevin Lee)
There's never a question about how Pixar's computer animated films will fare on DVD—excellent, as usual. Sporting a video transfer than never graced film and sound design by Gary Rydstrom, one of the best in the business, it's a joy to behold. Plus, you get tons of extras.
Votes:
3rd Place: 1
4th Place: 1
5th Place: 1
7th Place: 2
10th Place: 1
Read our review (by Judge Nicholas Sylvain)
The Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks produced miniseries chronicling the deeds of a company during World War II made for a sumptuous DVD set—anamorphic video, DTS audio, and a disc full of quality extras.
Votes:
2nd Place: 1
4th Place: 1
5th Place: 1
7th Place: 1
9th Place: 1
Read our review (by Judge Bill Gibron)
Give me my Pulp Fiction DVD. Which one is it? It's the one with with "bad motherf***er" written on it. It was perhaps the most influential film of the 1990s, and it gets the DVD treatment it deserves. Best feature: a text-based commentary track that will give you every detail you ever wanted to know.
Votes:
3rd Place: 1
5th Place: 1
6th Place: 2
8th Place: 1
Read our review (by Chief Justice Mike Jackson)
Guillermo Del Toro's moody, hyperkinetic action/horror film gets the New Line treatment—perfect audio and video, and a bevy of special features, including the frankest look at special effects and make-up that you are likely to find on DVD.
Votes:
2nd Place: 1
6th Place: 2
8th Place: 1
10th Place: 1
Read our review (by Judge Mike Pinsky)
Disney woos you with three versions of the only Best Picture nominated animated film, plus extras that will have you humming "Be Our Guest" long after you've turned off the home theater.
Votes:
2nd Place: 1
3rd Place: 1
6th Place: 1
I'd say this DVD does everything a spider can, except it can't eat its weight in flies. It does, however, have a wealth of trivia about both the film and the Spider-Man comic books.
Votes:
4th Place: 1
5th Place: 1
8th Place: 3
Read our Supreme Court Review
The movie might have left you cold, but leave it to Lucas to produce a whiz-bang DVD of a whiz-bang movie. Billed as the first digital-to-digital live-action film-to-DVD release, it certainly lives up to expectations…at least for the DVD.
Votes:
2nd Place: 1
6th Place: 2
Read our review (by Judge Mike Pinsky)
Rounding out our awards is Roger Ebert's pick for best film of 2002, and an excellent technical presentation of a bombastic sci-fi film. One could wish that Steven Spielberg would record a commentary for something, but at least the features nicely complement the film.
Votes:
3rd Place: 1
7th Place: 1
9th Place: 1
