No matter who you are buying gifts for this Christmas season, when all else fails you can always please friends and family with their favorite films on Blu-Ray or DVD.  Like every year you can pick up the big releases of the year, like The Avengers, Brave, and Men in Black 3.  This season four very different boxed set releases are available for the first time, and may appeal to your favorite diehard movie fans.

For smaller budgets, fans of the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale Batman films will be eager to receive the trilogy of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises all in one place, with The Dark Knight Trilogy Giftset.  This boxed set is not heavy on the special features, but for only $29.99 you get five discs:

• Batman Begins Feature Film
• The Dark Knight Feature Film
• The Dark Knight Special Features
• The Dark Knight Rises Feature Film
• The Dark Knight Rises Special Features

The set also includes a 64-page excerpt of the book The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy.  Not a bad deal!

If you have friends or family members that love the diverse films of director Quentin Tarantino, Tarantino XX 8-Film Collection may be the gift idea for you.  The set includes seven films Tarantino has directed, from the mega-hit Pulp Fiction to probably his best all around dramatic work, Jackie Brown, his two Kill Bill movies, Reservoir Dogs, Death Proof (Grindhouse, Part 2), and Tarantino’s most recent crazy and fun alternate World War II history flick, Inglourious Basterds.  At a list price of $119.99 and discounted Amazon.com set at $89.98 or less (depending on availability), this will be for diehard Tarantino fans only.

The Tarantino XX 8-Film Collection includes more than 5 hours of never before seen special features, including:

• Critics Corner.  Explores Tarantino’s films that redefined cinema and his impact.
• 20 Years of Filmmaking.  Interviews from co-workers, critics, stars and filmmakers.
• Jackie Brown Q&A: A Film Independent at LACMA Event.  Quentin Tarantino, Robert Forster, and Pam Grier reunite for a discussion of Jackie Brown.
• A Collection of Django Unchained Trailers

The only negative point about the Tarantino XX 8-Film Collection is Hollywood video distributors’ knack of releasing a boxed set on the eve of the next film that should be in the box.  In this case it is the Christmas release of Tarantino’s new film Django Unchained.  Someday a studio will get its act together and offer a coupon in the set for the release of the next film.

If suspense thrillers are up your alley you need only look to Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection.  This new release (listing at $299.99 but available at discount for far less) combines 15 of Hitchcock’s best films from Universal Studios: Rear Window, The Birds, Vertigo, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much, North by Northwest, Psycho, Topaz, Saboteur, The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain, Marnie, Frenzy and Family Plot.  Notably absent from a completist’s perspective is the brilliant Grace Kelly film Dial “M” for Murder, Strangers on a Train and many black and white classics, all from other studios.  As with the popular Clint Eastwood Warner Brothers’ collection from a few years ago, you’re not likely ever to see a complete film collection in one edition since multiple studios own rights to these legends’ works.

But with Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collectionyou get substantially all his best works.  In a year where The Birds saw a re-release in theaters and a new biopic starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, now it’s better than ever to get caught up on the master director’s incredible films.

Each film includes extra bonus features, and the bigger films like Rear Window, are packed with extra features.

Finally, unless you’ve been asleep all year you’ll know this was the Year of Bond, James Bond, that is.  At a hefty price of anywhere from $250-$339 (depending on where and when you buy) you can get every version of Bond on the big screen, many films on Blu-Ray for the first time, in Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection.

This flashy new boxed set features 22 James Bond films, from Dr. No to Quantum of Solace, on Blu-ray disc in one complete offering for the first time, and even includes an extra slot for this season’s hit film Skyfall, for inclusion after its release next year.

You get more than 130 hours of bonus features including never-before-seen content from the Bond archives.  Nine films are available on Blu-ray in Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection for the first time: Goldeneye, Octopussy, The Spy Who Loved Me, You Only Live Twice, The Living Daylights, Tomorrow Never Dies, Diamonds are Forever, A View to a Kill and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Links to film collections above are to discount editions available at Amazon.com.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
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