TMW #22: The 'best' novelty DVD packaging, Oscar snubs and an SNL quiz

It's a box of delights...

Hello film fanciers,

Welcome to another packed edition of The Movie Wingman. Packed, in fact, with packaging: today we’re taking a novelty-themed noughties nostalgia trip, revisiting those DVD collector’s boxes that left others looking a bit square.

We’d love to hear about the rare items in your own collections - if there’s anything weird, wonderful or plain impractical on your shelves, let us know in the comments.

We’re also reflecting on last week’s Oscar nominations with a rundown of the big snubs, trends and talking points. Is the Academy on to a winner this year? Or does its shortlist fall short? The comments section awaits your thoughts…

Paying subscribers can enjoy full access to our Oscars section, as well as this week’s quiz, on Saturday Night Live spin-offs. If you’re not a full Wingman member yet, why not sign up? You’ll get a month’s worth of independent film writing full of insights more valuable than an Oscars goodie bag.

As ever, please hit us with a like and/or share - every click counts. We’ll be back on Friday with reviews of Hard Truths, Saturday Night, Companion and more.

Thanks for reading,

Matthew (Jordan and Matt)

Thinking Outside The Box

Jordan reminisces about the noughties heyday for novelty DVD cases…

Over Christmas, I visited my parents who still, rather graciously, store the bulk of my sizeable physical-media collection in their house (having a child has put my long-cherished plans to migrate it all to my own home on an extended hiatus). Every time I visit I rifle through the shelves, scan the special features I’ll probably never have time to watch again and coo over the lovely box art.

My physical media collecting mania was at its peak from about 2004-2010, fuelled by the easy availability of previously hard-to-see films at relatively low cost and the extraordinary value-add of a full suite of extras with practically every release (four commentaries on the Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition, you say? Yes please!)

But my favourite thing about the naughties heyday of DVDs was novelty packaging. I was a total sucker for a silly box, and would happily double-dip for a quirky new case. So I thought I’d share some of the favourites from my collection, ranked by how impractical they are to display on a Billy bookcase.

13. Blade Runner tin

This 5-disc(!) Ultimate Collector’s Edition was noteworthy for featuring five different cuts of Ridley Scott’s cyberpunk classic, including a true curio – Scott’s famed Workprint, which accidentally screened at a 70mm festival in ’91, leading to the film’s ‘92 Director’s Cut and subsequent reappraisal. With that many discs to house, the packaging is exceedingly chunky, but the tin feels sturdy, looks nice and doesn’t stand much taller than a standard case.

Absurdity rating: 2/10

12. Reservoir Dogs gas can

Now we’re talking. You too can dance and douse along with Mr. Blonde thanks to this Limited 2-Disc Collector’s Edition of Tarantino’s incendiary debut. As well as the distinctive outer packaging – a slimline metal tin in the shape of a petrol canister – there’s a neat surprise within. Instead of a standard cardboard sleeve, the discs are housed in a bespoke Uncle Bob’s Pancake House matchbook case. The cherry on top? The disc art is a set of matches. Fits relatively neatly in the middle of a shelf too.

Absurdity rating: 7/10

11. Basic Instinct ‘ice pack’

With a pack-in ice pick presumably a no-go, the 10th anniversary edition of Paul Verhoeven’s classic erotic thriller instead comes in a patently absurd translucent blue ‘ice pack’. The cool blue filter it applies to the cover art is neat, but the ridged ‘cracks’ in the ice make it look like Nick Curran and Catherine Tramell have Beano-style stink lines emanating from them. Very chunky too, with a perilously sharp edge along the bumpy ‘ice’.

Absurdity rating: 7/10

10. Hulk fist

Ang Lee’s idea to incorporate the visual language of comic books (panels, splash pages etc) is the most charming aspect of his flawed Hulk adap. In keeping, this limited-edition box set features a ‘panel breaking’ 3D fist punching its way through the front. It’s all very sturdy and nicely textured (look at those skin creases!), but otherwise, it’s a basic plastic box with a very fiddly catch. Great paper extras though, including an adorable pocket-sized reprint of the first Hulk comic.

Absurdity rating: 6/10

9. Event Horizon starship

I had to cycle 30+ minutes to my ‘local’ ASDA while a student to pick up this extravagant Event Horizon collector’s edition – it was worth every sweaty pedal. Designed to resemble the very front of the doomed starship, the creaky hinged top is – thankfully – not a portal to hell, but grants access to the custom CD-sized slipcase inside. Impressive detail and colouring, but it has to be displayed front-facing for maximum impact. [Sam Neill voice] Do you see…

Absurdity rating: 8/10

8. Evil Dead Book of the Dead

Easily my most cherished ridiculous DVD is this Book of the Dead edition of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead. A side-by-side comparison reveals it’s not exactly screen-accurate (the DVD case almost looks like it’s got a cheeky smile to me) and it smells weird to this day – but who cares? Look at it! The cover (which wraps around the back) is pleasingly squishy and textured, and there are around half a dozen illustrated pages inside. Gutted I never got the Evil Dead 2 Book of the Dead edition, which now goes for silly money on eBay.

Absurdity rating: 8/10

7. Inception briefcase

OK, so this is technically a Blu-ray release, but I couldn’t not include the PASIV-aping Inception briefcase. It’s adorably dinky as far as briefcases go, and genuinely sturdy, but missing a handle. Despite this, it looks cool af and includes an actual spinning top. Presentation-wise it’s got one critical flaw – the catch is on the bottom meaning it stands lopsided if you want the logo the right way round. Should have dreamt a little bigger and put the catch on the top.

Absurdity rating: 4/10

6. The Fly telepod

A great 7-disc set – including Cronenberg’s The Fly, The Fly II and the three earlier films released between 1958 and 1965. It's a fun concept for the packaging as well, based on one of the ’86 film’s rad teleportation pods. But the vacuum form plastic feels quite cheap, with unsightly pop locks at the top that make it look like the pod hasn’t been cut out properly. The image of Jeff Goldblum’s Seth Brundle in the middle is a lenticular, but mine has started to peel off. Just about stands upright on its own, but needs to be kept in the original exterior box to prevent continuous toppling. This one needed more time in the lab.

Absurdity rating: 8/10

5. The Dark Knight/Iron Man masks

Famously debuting in cinemas the same summer, The Dark Knight and Iron Man also released on DVD in curiously similar hero-mask packaging. Both are relatively slender and pop open via the back to reveal double discs. The matte black effect is nice, but Iron Man’s helmet works better in this form than Batman’s half-face cowl. Neither can stand upright unsupported, so the omission of hanger holes on the back is a missed opportunity. Far too bumpy to use as coasters as well.

Absurdity rating: 7/10

4. Hellraiser Lament Configuration cube

Packaging Pinhead himself could appreciate. This tidy 4-disc collection brings together the first three films (just about the only ones that are watchable, IMO) in the iconic Lament Configuration Cube. Without my nostalgia goggles on I can admit it feels a bit cheaper than I recall – lift the lid and the flimsy sides just flop down, discs precariously mounted on each interior side. The printed pattern could also be improved as a textured plastic. Bonus points for ingenuity though.

Absurdity rating: 8/10

3. Phantasm Sphere

Similar in ethos to the Hellraiser cube, but better executed, this replica Phantasm Sphere houses the first four films in the sci-fi horror series. A nightmare to keep fingerprint-free, but the included transparent stand makes presentation a doddle, even if you have gnarly ‘blades’ jutting out of your shelves. The discs are just stuck into some grooved polystyrene, which always made me nervous about scratches. Better than a drill to the cranium, at least.

Absurdity rating: 8/10

2. Transformers transforming case

The primary inspiration for this feature – a truly ridiculous ‘transforming’ Optimus Prime for Michael Bay’s 2007 ‘formers. Pre-transformation it’s only slightly larger than a standard DVD case. Pop out the arms, legs and head and it stands almost two cases tall. It just about remains upright unsupported thanks to two foldable ‘feet’, but it’s back-heavy because that’s where the discs are stored. It doesn’t really work in my eyes as the transformed Optimus doesn’t even slightly resemble his classic truck cab. For my sins I also own Dark of the Moon on Blu-ray in a similarly silly transforming Megatron case.

Absurdity rating: 10/10

1. Rocky Horror lips

A true pain in the ass to shelve, I don’t really know what I was thinking when I bought the Rocky Horror ‘Lip Box’. I’m almost certain I was lured in by the inclusion of Shock Treatment, Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien’s wild sorta-sequel, on disc for the first time. The plastic lips are a bit flimsy and don’t lock together well, so the front is always falling off. It’s massive, completely impractical for anything other than permanent residence on top of a shelving unit, and to top it all off there’s something a bit gross about catching lips the size of your head out of the corner of your eye. But I’ll never get rid of it as a testament to the madness of youth.

Absurdity rating: 10/10

Oscar talking points

Following the announcement of the 97th Academy Awards nominations, we break down the main talking points…

Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez and Timothée Chalamet and Denis Villeneuve behind the scenes of Dune: Part Two (credit: Shanna Besson/Pathé © 2024, Niko Tavernise/© 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

SNUB: GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE

In this year’s Best Visual Effects race, a whopping three-fifths of the nominees (Better Man, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Wicked) feature CGI simians. Alas, there was no invite to this chimps’ tea party for the Eighth Wonder of the World (who hasn’t been Kong-inated since 2018’s Skull Island). Note the monkeys who made the cut are clothed (or in Kingdom’s case, accessorised at least), while Kong is constantly in the buff (sorry, the wrist support doesn’t count). Maybe the Academy can’t handle that much nudity? Clearly the reason why the Fifty Shades movies never swept the board... (ML)

TREND: INTERNATIONAL FILMS STAND OUT

Parasite’s ground-breaking win seemingly wasn’t an anomaly: foreign-language title Emilia Pérez leads the noms this year with 13 in total (including Picture, Actress, and International Feature). Brazil’s I’m Still Here proved a dark horse too, nabbing Actress and Picture shout-outs, beyond the expected International feature nod. And Latvian animation Flow must’ve felt like the cat that got the cream with a surprise International Feature nod alongside Animated Feature. Also interesting to see French director Coralie Fargeat earn a Director nod for uncompromising (and un-Academy) sci-fi-horror, The Substance. (MM)