Box Set Boogie
The ever-rising number of streaming services has made it seem like every film and TV series is available on demand, but it’s also sent me into somewhat of a panic.
The move of The Office from Netflix (where I naively figured it would stay forever) to Peacock (which I have minimal interest in subscribing to) back in January served as a welcome wake-up call regarding the impermanence of these things. I’ve long noticed various titles playing license hot potato between services while writing my twice-monthly Patreon newsletter, but something about the Dunder Mifflin crew departing its multi-year home for NBC’s new in-house platform unnerved me.
At the same time, I’d witnessed certain films suddenly unavailable within the statewide NC Cardinal public library consortium — a stinging reminder that trusting strangers to treat DVDs and Blu-rays with respect is a losing battle. Suddenly, two formerly reliable sources for things to watch felt more rickety than the Red Sox’s bullpen.
So, I started buying more physical media — mostly new or used copies of favorite films, plus a few series I’ve been meaning to watch (hello, Luther!), and multiple box sets to help fill in some embarrassing blind spots. Though the latter options provide great value at a low per-film cost, sometimes cheap and/or frustrating packaging and other ease-of-use issues make them more trouble than they’re worth. Since consumer reviews are about the only way to get the complete take on these products, here’s a handy rundown of some notable recent additions to my collection to help guide your purchase decisions.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Lee Pryor
The Ultimate Richard Pryor Collection: Uncensored
This 13-DVD Time Life set makes an incredibly strong argument for Pryor as one of the great, if not the greatest stand-up comedians thus far. The three cases within the box take fairly dedicated focuses, with the first housing his four full-length concert films, the second spotlighting his TV appearances, and the third consisting solely of Jesse James Miller’s 2019 feature-length documentary I Am Richard Pryor. But complementary content such as an interview with his widow, Jennifer Lee Pryor, make it feel like a full treasure trove of all things Pryor. While the first two cases have discs annoyingly overlaid, necessitating lifting the top one to access the bottom, an informative booklet with standout quotes and photos more than compensates for this shortcoming, as does the set’s comprehensive nature.
Photo courtesy of Getty
The James Bond Collection
Catch up on the 007 saga before Daniel Craig’s swan song, No Time to Die, premieres Oct. 7, and likely inspires a new complete Blu-ray set within a few months that could lower the price of this one even further. The sleek, simple, black and white outer box gives way to three cases within, arranged chronologically and separated into three eras: 1962-77; 1979-2002; and 2006-15. Each disc includes previously available bonus features and gets its own hub, which very well may explain why none were scratched during shipping, even though multiple cases were shattered, including the 1962-77 one’s spindle. Fortunately, Amazon sent a free replacement that arrived unscathed. Expect this one to be a big seller come Black Friday.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Friday the 13th: 8 Movie Collection
All of the iconic horror series’ films from the ’80s are collected in this Blu-ray set, hitting home the prolificness of its creators over a relatively short period. Presented in a slim, bloody red case, the first four films — all newly remastered — get their own discs, but Part V: A New Beginning and Part VI: Jason Lives are forced to share, as are Part VII: The New Blood and Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. In addition to the visual glow-ups, special features abound for each film, including the multi-part Lost Tales from Camp Blood docuseries that runs across multiple discs. Though it was released in August to coincide with the year’s lone Friday the 13th, October is definitely the time to seek out this set.
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
Alfred Hitchcock: The Ultimate Collection
The Master of Suspense has had his films combined into various sets, but it’s tough to top this one in terms of curation and presentation. Focusing on his American films, which just so happen to rank among his most popular works, this Blu-ray collection hits such career highs as Psycho and North By Northwest, along with lesser-programmed titles like Topaz and Torn Curtain. They’re all arranged chronologically in a stout little book with a consistently beautiful colorful layout, and the discs are easier to remove from their protective paper slits than most sets that use this method. Along with select episodes from Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, the collection comes with a booklet packed with insightful essays on the filmmaker’s core themes and chief collaborators, plus individual pages for each movie, featuring original posters and adverts, making it a must for any half-serious collector.
Photo courtesy of The Criterion Collection
The Complete Films of Agnés Varda
It’s long been redundant to say that a Criterion Collection release is artistically vibrant and assembled with the utmost consideration for cinephiles, but the company’s comprehensive, career-spanning sets are such a treat to unpack that the sentiment warrants repeating. This sturdy box pays homage to the rightfully revered French filmmaker with a 15-program organization to aid one’s journey into her varied themes and topics. Complementing the book of nearly 40 films, steering viewers through nearly 70 years of creative work, is a legitimate book that’s nearly as thick, featuring multiple essays and enough archival photos to make readers feel like they’ve been given a glimpse at Varda’s journals. Other than perhaps the James Bond set, it’s the most time-consuming of the collections, but almost assuredly the most meaningful of the bunch.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
John Wayne: 14-Movie Collection
Viewers looking for a solid education on Wayne’s storied career will get that here, though there’s little to recommend beyond the films themselves. Major titles like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and True Grit are included next to lesser ones, such as Island in the Sky and The High and the Mighty, and most appear culled from a few pre-existing sets, including The John Wayne Collection, as well as standalone releases. Containing this hodgepodge ensemble — given little, if any thought regarding presentation, with genres and chronology all over the place — is somewhat clunky packaging where discs are often shaken loose when turning through and others require digging to unearth. However, besides potentially wanting to seek out alternative packaging, the no-frills presentation would likely earn a nod from The Duke himself.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection
The number of new bonus features are few (isolated score in Dolby 2.0, eh?), and other Star Trek collections feature more films, but it’s the 4K debut of the initial installments that’s the selling point here. The straightforward packaging separates the 4K discs from the Blu-rays and grants series fans the best presentations yet of these beloved and, with the exception of clear highlight The Wrath of Khan, occasionally ridiculed movies. But despite the lack of fresh special features, the wealth of pre-existing filmmaker commentaries and mini-documentaries provide welcome insights and enhance the set’s upgrade appeal.
(Photo courtesy of Jennifer Lee Pryor)
