Recommended DVD Titles

We often get asked about which DVDs we like best. In order to answer your questions we've created a chart containing our favourite titles which we believe should form part of your DVD collection. Each title has been chosen based on sound, picture, extras, price and the all important entertainment value.

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The Highly Recommended List

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Just when you thought animation couldn't get any better, up pops Pixar with another corker of a film which doesn't just expect the audience to be wowed by the animation but supplies a heart warming storyline too. With an amazing digital clarity which only the new Blu-Ray technology can reproduce to its full potential in the home, this really should be a title which graces your home entertainment shelf.

9 (Nine)

Who said that CGI animation has to be flash and expensive? Like Hoodwinked, 9 is a low budget animated film that doesn't disgrace. Stylishly crafted and beautifully presented, it is a film which is unlikely to appeal to younger children. However, for everyone else, it's a film which will test your home entertainment system to the maximum whilst testing your grey matter.

Slumdog Millionaire

Ignore the hype and enjoy the show. Beautifully shot, and with a wonderful soundtrack that'll have you joining in with the completely unexpected dance routine, Slumdog looks and sounds fantastic with the slums coming alive with a rich tapestry of colours and sounds. You'll be shocked by some of the images and you may be left with a lump in the throat, but this is what total entertainment is all about.

The Inbetweeners

Ok, it's a low budget television series that isn't going to give your expensive home entertainment system a workout, but it'll be splitting your sides with laughter instead. This is one of the many home grown Channel Four comedy series that always seem to live under the radar but has massive cult following. If you liked Grange Hill, and like your comedy crass and crude, then the Inbetweeners is for you!

Heroes : Series One

Before Heroes came to the BBC I was forever hearing little snippets about the series. When it finally arrived to these shores I was hooked and, being filmed in HD, it looked pretty good on the television too. But with a HD-DVD and Blu-Ray release now available it looks wonderful. Who would have thought a television series would look so good and entertain you so much. Cracking television for the USA.

The Butterfly Effect (The Director's Cut)

This superb science fiction thriller with an ending far superior to what was seen at the cinema. Drawing parallels with Donnie Darko and starring Ashton Kutcher of Dude Where's My Car? fame, it may not appeal to all audiences, but made on a tight budget both the picture and sound excel. With a solid set of extras bolstering an already impressive package, it is a disc well worth checking out.

Saving Private Ryan

There can surely be no other film that highlights the true horrors of war in such a graphic and detailed way. The opening moments of the landings at Normandy are so graphic that they are sickening. The superb soundtrack, be in the DTS or Dolby Digital, will have you running for cover as the bullets ricochet and thump all around you. Fantastic demonstration material.

Serenity Hoodwinked

After the major disappointment of Pixar/Disney's big budget CGI film Cars, it was a refreshing change to find a CGI animated film that is fun, funny and made for less than half the budget of your average big Hollywood animated film. Sure, the standard of the animation isn't up to the usual standard of the bigger boys, but it's the storyline that counts - and in Hoodwinked it's a total corker of a who-dunnit. Can't wait for the sequel.

The Bourne Supremacy The Bourne Supremacy

It's what the last James Bond film should have been. There's no stupid and impossible gadgets or jokes full of innuendo, it's simply action and excitement from start to finish. And if you thought that The Bourne Identity or Ronin ruled supreme in the car chase department, then just wait until you see the awesome chase on show here.

Master and Commander : The Far Side of the World Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World (Special Edition)

An American film without an American hero in sight? The British the good guys and the French the baddies? Surely not? But, yes, it's true. And just when you thought that period films were boring and starred Emma Thomson, along comes Master and Commander to prove you wrong. With a rip-roaring plot, superb action scenes, brilliant sound and an absolute cracking set of extras, you can't go wrong.

Lost in Translation Lost in Translation

One of the films of 2004. Bill Murray is a revelation as Bob Harris in this wonderfully warm and charming tale of alienation and loneliness in a strange and foreign land. And with that closing scene where Bob whispers into Charlotte ear being one of the talking points of the year, you really must see this amazing film to appreciate just how criminal it was for Bill Murray to miss out at the Oscars.

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