Sets appeal: boxed DVD collections of their favorite movie series or TV shows make ideal gifts for film buffs - Entertainment - Buyers Guide

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Nov, 2001 by Roberst S. Rothenberg

Rocky (MGM Home Entertainment, $89.96) puts "Rocky" I-V together in a boxed set for those who can't get enough of Sylvester Stallone's inarticulate, indomitable pug. Like Rambo, Rocky Balboa is a character that audiences wouldn't let Stallone escape from, and kept the box-office receipts flowing when his other pictures couldn't remotely match their appeal. The original "Rocky" comes in a Special Edition with audio and video commentaries, a "Behind-the-Scenes" feature with director John Avildsen, tributes to deceased costar Burgess Meredith and director of photography James Crabe, and a collectible booklet, while II-V settle for just the theatrical trailers. Formulaic though they may be, the "Rocky" quintet continue to be audience pleasers, even when viewed en masse.

The Woody Allen Collection (MGM Home Entertainment, $99.96) offers a half-dozen of the neurotic New Yorker's idiosyncratic films, most prominently the critically acclaimed "Hannah and Her Sisters," with 1986 best supporting actor and actress performances by Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest. For those who prefer the funny Woody Allen to the serious one, the nostalgic "Radio Days" and "Broadway Danny Rose"; the camera-trickery of "Zelig" in which Allen put his title character into historical scenes before "Forrest Gump" got around to it, and "The Purple Rose of Cairo," wherein actors from the movie-within-a-movie walk off the screen to interact with the audience; and the turn-of-the-century costume picture, "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy," will fill the bill nicely.

Die Hard--The Ultimate Collection (Fox Home Entertainment, $79.98) turns Brace Willis' hard-nosed cop John McClane loose in "Die Hard," "Die Hard 2: Die Harder," and "Die Hard with a Vengeance." A good movie hero requires great villains (witness the James Bond assortment), and Alan Rickman, William Sandler, and Jeremy Irons, respectively, prove worthy foils for Willis' dogged, irreverent, and ultimately unstoppable McClane. Racing against the clock and fighting seemingly insurmountable odds, he brings new meaning to the expression "bloody but unbowed" as he decimates the bad guys and frustrates their clockwork planning. Each of the three films is loaded with special features, turning all of them into two-disc sets, including "Making of ..." featurettes, interviews, behind-the-scenes sequences, deleted scenes, and, in the case of "Die Hard" a chance to re-edit and recut various scenes. Among the lone-hero genre films out there, few are more satisfying than this action-laden series.

The Sopranos (HBO Home Video, $99.98 a set). The series that revolutionized cable is out in video form--at least the first two seasons. Having swept through even more Emmy Awards than its network competition, "The Sopranos" has become a must-see event viewers plot their television watching hours around. With the first two seasons finally available on DVD, there is no reason to be passing around tapes of the shows to those who may have missed episodes, and collectors will be able to go back and watch the mesmerizingly vicious world of Tony Soprano, portrayed brilliantly by James Gandolfini as mob boss, family man (in both senses of the word), and anxiety-ridden psychiatrist's patient. For non-premium-cable audiences, now is the chance to become introduced to Tony and Carmela Soprano, Tony's Uncle Junior, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, Big Pussy Bompensiero, Paulie Walnuts, and especially Tony's mother Livia. The latter, chillingly and craftily portrayed by Nancy Marchand, is arguably the most-malignant mother since Medea, and her death from cancer following the second season has left a massive gap in the show's rich tapestry. The first-season DVD features a 77-minute interview with series creator David Chase by director Peter Bogdanovich (who also periodically shows up on the show as the psychiatrist's psychiatrist) on the making of the series, and a pair of behind-the-scenes featurettes. The second-season set includes audio commentaries by the directors of four of that year's episodes; "A Sit Down with the Sopranos," with interviews with Chase and the cast; and "The Real Deal," insights from former FBI agents, psychiatrists, and critics about the show.