Best DVDs of ‘08: #3

Warner Bros. Gift Sets (Warner Bros., $39.98-$74.98)

The good folks at Warner Brothers have been busy this year, producing beautiful box sets for some of their classic and recent titles.  Way back in June, they gave us The Dirty Harry Ultimate Collection, which offered all five features to star Clint Eastwood’s iconic San Francisco detective, along with numerous documentaries, vintage trailers, commentary tracks and trinkets like Harry Callahan’s badge, poster cards, a hardcover book of pictures and notes and a map of downtown San Francisco.  (The studio also wins for providing the best of DVD swag–a full-scale chocolate replica of Dirty Harry’s Magnum.  I’d show a picture of it here…but I ate it already.  Sorry Clint!)  As if that wasn’t enough, the past two months have brought box sets of 300 (which comes with a 52-page book of art from the film as well as a new documentary about the legend the movie is based on), A Christmas Story (which offers cookie cutter shapes, an apron and a book of holiday recipes), I Am Legend (goodies include a book of concept art, a newly recorded commentary track and postcards of other devastated cities) and, last but not least, Casablanca (which comes in both standard and Blu-ray editions and holds a passport holder, luggage tag and reproductions of archival documents written during the movie’s production).  It’s almost too much stuff…but as any hardcore DVD enthusiast knows, too much is never enough.

Click here to see my #5 pick