The 2004 Golden Gavel Awards
On January 11th, 2005, DVD Verdict announced their Golden Gavel awards for the best DVDs of 2004. 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. 130 DVDs appeared on the lists from the 30 voting staff members, and from those nominees emerged the ten winners:
Read our review (Judge Bryan Byun)
For the third year in a row, an Extended Edition of one of the Lord of the Rings installments takes the top place in our balloting. And why would Return of the King break with tradition? After all, it won the Academy Award for Best Picture (not to mention ten other awards) and continues to set the standard for excellent audio/visual presentation and sheer quantity (and quality!) of supplemental content. What will we do next year without one of these films to pick?
Votes:
1st: 10
2nd: 4
3rd: 3
4th: 2
6th: 1
7th: 1
10th: 1
Read our review (a panel)
A long time ago (1977) in a galaxy far, far away (Hollywood), George Lucas begat the Holy Trilogy, a series of films beloved by geeks and non-geeks alike. It took seven years from the advent of DVD to receive these films on DVD, and it's perhaps out of the joy of receiving them that our staff has selected The Star Wars Trilogy as our second Golden Gavel pick. The video presentation is the best these films have ever looked, the audio (despite alleged mixing problems) is superb, and the bonus content (commentaries on all three films, an excellent two-hour documentary, and more), while not exhaustive is still satisfying. The Force is strong with this one!
Votes:
1st: 2
2nd: 9
3rd: 2
5th: 1
7th: 1
8th: 1
Read our review (Judge Bryan Byun)
You expect blockbuster films with huge budgets to get the full treatment on DVD, but it is this unexpected gem from Shout Factory that sets the bar for the next year and beyond. Lovingly crafted by guys who really know what high school was like, Freaks and Geeks failed on network television—and then got talked about for years by people who only dimly remembered its charms. But this boxed set rectifies all that: 29 (!) commentary tracks (check out the inspired improvisation as the "teachers" from the show do a turn), outtakes and deleted scenes, and a show that can turn from funny to heartwrenching on a dime. This one epitomizes the cliché "too good for television." And unlike most of those TV show sets you bought this year, you can watch this one more than once.
Votes:
1st: 4
3rd: 4
7th: 1
Read our review (Judge Sandra Dozier)
One of the most influential Westerns of the 1960s, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly has been released on DVD before, but not like this. This time, it gets 14 minutes restored that were initially cut when it came from Italy to the U.S. The scenes in question never had English dubbing recorded by the actors...until now, when the surviving actors came in to record ADR for the scenes. When actors go back into the studio to do justice to a classic film after the director has died, you know the DVD is a labor of love and respect. The video restoration is stunning, and carefully selected extras (including historian commentary and four documentaries) and classy, distinctive packaging complete the experience.
Votes:
1st: 1
2nd: 1
3rd: 1
4th: 1
5th: 3
8th: 2
9th: 2
Read our review (Judge Patrick Bromley)
After better than a dozen home video editions of George A. Romero's incredible homespun zombie sequel, finally we have one that gets it all right. A film with incredible fan-based shelf life and a number of "naturally occuring" alternate versions was brought into its (maybe) final form on DVD with true affection by Anchor Bay. With plenty of new material in addition to reiteration of previous editions, this Dawn is the brightest ever.
Votes:
1st: 3
2nd: 1
4th: 1
9th: 1
Read our review (Appellate Judge David Ryan)
Smartly packaged and more prescient than ever, this paean to the virtual body is just one of a slew of Cronenberg classics finally getting their due on DVD. From last year's Naked Lunch to the rediscovered Fast Company to the meticulous Spider, audiences are finally learning that Cronenberg may be the smartest filmmaker alive.
Votes:
1st: 1
2nd: 2
3rd: 1
4th: 1
9th: 2
Read our review (a panel)
Like it or hate it (as reactions to the film can be decidedly mixed), Gone With The Wind is firmly entrenched in the collective consciousness—even those who haven't seen the movie can quote its most memorable lines. Befitting a film of its scope and significance, Warner Bros. has produced an impeccably restored and handsomely extraed four-disc release.
Votes:
1st: 2
2nd: 2
4th: 1
9th: 1
Read our review (Judge Dennis Prince)
Arguably the best comic book-based film ever, Spider-Man 2 dropped on DVD in both Superbit and two-disc standard releases. While the Superbit's DTS track would've been nice, this release's two commentaries, trivia subtitles, and other cool special features make it the logical choice for the true believer.
Votes:
1st: 1
4th: 1
5th: 1
6th: 2
7th: 1
Read our review (Judge Dan Mancini)
John Cassavetes. Five films. The Criterion Collection. Need we say more? This eight-disc box is arguably the most important and impressive collection of independent films to hit DVD in 2004. The films themselves are a treasure, and the ample supplements—including a three-hour documentary on the filmmaker's life and career—give any film fan plenty to chew on.
Votes:
1st: 1
3rd: 2
5th: 1
This impressive collection from the Master of Suspense includes the debut releases of Dial M for Murder, Foreign Correspondent, I Confess, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Stage Fright, Suspicion, and The Wrong Man, a re-release of North by Northwest, and a new two-disc edition of Strangers on a Train.
Votes:
1st: 1
4th: 1
5th: 2
9th: 1
