Best DVDs and Blu-Rays of 2012 (My DVD Beaver Ballot)

At the suggestion of a reader, Philadelphia cinephile David Ortega, here is the ballot I submitted to DVD Beaver‘s poll late last year. Note: Sadly, the absence of any titles from the excellent U.K. label Masters of Cinema can probably be explained by the fact that this label stopped sending me any of its releases about nine months ago, after sending me all of its releases prior to that  — a decision that I continue to find baffling. [P.S.: A couple of people have pointed out that, in fact, Park Row wasn’t released on Blu-Ray; it came out only on DVD. Sorry for this error. This is also available, by the way, from Masters of Cinema, but I haven’t included that version because I haven’t seen it — although Craig Keller was kind enough to send me a PDF of that edition’s excellent accompanying booklet.] — J.R.

Top 10 SD-DVD Releases OF 2012

(NOTE: Please ONLY DVD releases that are NOT available on Blu-ray!)

1.DANIÈLE HUILLET & JEAN-MARIE STRAUB, Volume 7 (Editions Montparnasse)

2. DRIVER X 4: THE LOST AND FOUND FILMS OF SARA DRIVER (filmswelike)

3. ECLIPSE SERIES 34: JEAN GRÉMILLON DURING THE OCCUPATION (Criterion)

4. POLISH CINEMA CLASSICS (Second Run)

5. CASTING A GLANCE & RR (Edition Filmmuseum)

6. ECLIPSE SERIES 31: THREE POPULAR FILMS BY JEAN-PIERRE GORIN (Criterion)

7. LA PORTE DU DIABLE (DEVIL’S DOORWAY) (Wild Side Video)

8. WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

9. SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY (Criterion)

10. 20 LITTLE FILMS: VIENNALE TRAILERS 1995-2012 (Viennale)

Top Blu-ray Releases

1. LONESOME (Criterion)

2. MON ONCLE (BFI)

3. THE BIG TRAIL (Fox)

4. PARK ROW (Olive)

5. MY SON JOHN (Olive)

6. LA JETEE/SANS SOLEIL (Criterion)

7. DIE NIBELUNGEN (Kino)

8. MARGARET (Fox)

9. A HOLLIS FRAMPTON ODYSSEY (Criterion)

10. SOKUROV: EARLY MASTERWORKS (Cinema Guild)

Best commentaries: Richard Peña on LATE SPRING (Criterion),

Richard Koszarski on LONESOME (Criterion)

Other notable extras: Interviews with Jim Jarmusch and Bernard Eisenschitz on WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN (Oscilloscope Laboratories), optional “Navajo” subtitles on FILM SOCIALISME (Fox Lorber)

Other invaluable releases from Olive include JOHNNY GUITAR, NUMÉRO DEUX, TOO LATE BLUES, and LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN

Note: Two releases that I like a lot (apart from DRIVER X 4) that I also contributed to: THE TURIN HORSE (Cinema Guild) & THE TRIAL (StudioCanal).

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