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DVD/BR Collector Thread for the Physical Media Enthusiasts


jaedmc

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Been wanting to start this for a while, because I wanted to expand from the narrow view of the Criterion Thread. So you can talk about sales, upcoming releases, geek out of your collection, your hauls, etc etc.

I've been collecting movies for most of my life.  I've got a few hundred movies and I've got something for pretty much everyone of any taste. I focus a lot on Japanese films and about 100 of my movies are from Japan.

What's everyone else into?

 

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A shitload of horror, but I watch everything, unless it's a musical that isn't Rocky Horror

My collection began with my dad bringing home Night of the Living Dead, Godzilla vs. Megalon, and The Phantom of the Opera (which was busted and had to be returned) from (redacted supermarket) when I was a kid. I still have the first two. As in the actual VHS copies. So... yeah, I collect

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My stuff runs the gamut. I still have every Laser I ever bought, including Tai Seng imports. I shelled out $90 for Drunken Master II. I have the original Star Wars trilogy theatrical-cuts on Laser that I bought on a trip to Japan. I don't consider the subtitles a detriment. I have bookshelf full of grey market tapes that I bought in the pre-DVD  era. Hong Kong Action, Giallos, Spaghettis and Peplums, Pink films, Chanbaras, etc. And probably about five hundred DVD's. I won't lie and say I haven't bittorrented a ton of stuff, mostly (but not only) stuff a little hard to find, but that hasn't stopped me from buying a lot of DVD's.  Most recent purchases: Abbott & Costello, Marx Brothers, and Laurel & Hardy sets, Lone Wolf and Cub, Rush Hour trilogy, Face/Off and True Grit (the original) on BR and a 3-disc Jean Renoir set, as well as Incubus (Best Bill Shatner film) on DVD.

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4 hours ago, Execproducer said:

My stuff runs the gamut. I still have every Laser I ever bought, including Tai Seng imports. I shelled out $90 for Drunken Master II. I have the original Star Wars trilogy theatrical-cuts on Laser that I bought on a trip to Japan. I don't consider the subtitles a detriment. I have bookshelf full of grey market tapes that I bought in the pre-DVD  era. Hong Kong Action, Giallos, Spaghettis and Peplums, Pink films, Chanbaras, etc. And probably about five hundred DVD's. I won't lie and say I haven't bittorrented a ton of stuff, mostly (but not only) stuff a little hard to find, but that hasn't stopped me from buying a lot of DVD's.  Most recent purchases: Abbott & Costello, Marx Brothers, and Laurel & Hardy sets, Lone Wolf and Cub, Rush Hour trilogy, Face/Off and True Grit (the original) on BR and a 3-disc Jean Renoir set, as well as Incubus (Best Bill Shatner film) on DVD.

Did you get that A&C "trunk" set? I love that thing.

Movies are special touchstones for me.  My grandmother used to take me to our local drive-in when I was very young, and whenever I'd spend the night with her she'd let me stay awake and watch the late-night horror films, which was often Hammer films, Amicus films, or assorted other crazy 60s-70s horror flicks (Legend of Hell House, Corman Poes, etc.). When I'd stay with my other grandmother and grandfather, we'd watch this thing on Sunday called Sunday Matinee, which often had Stooges shorts, a serial chapter, then often a cowboy movie (wasn't a fan) but sometimes a nice Poverty Row horror film or monster movie.

When my family got our first VCR, I binged on every A&C film that The Movie Place (affectionately referred to as Fud's) had, every Godzilla movie, and copious amounts of GI Joe/Transformer episodes.  Later, when I started hanging out with friends in middle/high school, we were renting whatever horror film had the funkiest box art (Video Dead, Dead Pit).  I also used to watch USA Up All Night, and Night Flight before that, and I started getting into kung-fu movies and 80s teen comedies (which a friend of mine coined "Titty Ha-Has").

One of my friends used to always hang out with me after his shift was up at the drug store where he worked.  We'd go rent movies, and somehow we ended up seeing so many cheesy action films, to the point where we became the most irrationally ardent Wesley Snipes fans in Newport, TN.  He committed suicide several years ago, and I miss those days a lot.  My daughter would have loved that guy.  My friends and I now do a monthly meet up where I cook some big lunch meal and we watch a double feature.  Last month was Frankenhooker and Xtro. The next one is Body Slam/ Grunt: The Wrestling Movie.

My collection started with the Universal Monsters VHS.  And when I worked my way through college, one of my jobs was at a video store.  I was able to order movies for myself at cut-rate discounts, plus my store discount.  So the collection boomed.  DVD came around at the same the internet really became more easily accessible, so I learned more about independent film and international cinema.  Yada yada yada, I have a movie collection almost at 2700.  I'll probably hit that milestone before December, thanks Black Friday!

My little pet project now is, as I watch these, I write little blurbs in a journal, which is a combination movie review book/ autobio for my daughter, so when she's older she has some of my writing and life.  There are personal joints in there, things about my late mom and about my growing up, then there's just off the wall creative writing exercises (a breakdown of Die Hard as a Christmas movie that I wrote in the late 1990s in college, a breakdown if key scenes of Office Space written if it was the Bible, etc.)

Jesus H, I rambled.  Sorry.

Tl;dr: I love movies.

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Jesus Nate's collection. That's unreal. 

8 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

A shitload of horror, but I watch everything, unless it's a musical that isn't Rocky Horror

I started getting more horror in my collection. I'm a huge horror fan, but my family are a bunch of whimps, so I haven't been as apt to pick up dics I think are necessary. Over the last year I started dropping more coin on Scream Factory. Now that digital is taking over, we've somehow come into a golden age of DVD collecting. Labels are putting so much care into the weirdest releases. Scream Factory is a great example, I mean they loaded up a PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS release that I bought. Normally that's a 3 dollar bin movie at Wal-Mart, but they put it out like it was The Godfather.

I'm also not a big musical fan, though I like the look of a musical. The theatricality of it is appealing to me. 

A while back I got the Ernst Lubitsch Eclipse set of his musicals and I love them. They're not like the big song and dance numbers we normally think of. The singing is often slight and talky. And his movies are fucking hilarious regardless. One Hour With You is genius.

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We used to have a horror/clothing/memorabilia store in town called Lix and I dropped so much coin on DVDs there. I even bought a Dutch bootleg of (of all things) Cannibal Holocaust that I didn't figure out how to properly format for years for like $35. Sadly, her business model didn't work so she makes her living selling Rotten Cotton shirts and stuff at the annual horror fests after two tries at keeping a brick and mortar spot open. 

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1 hour ago, jaedmc said:

Jesus Nate's collection. That's unreal.

Yeah, it's hard to meet new people and then introduce them to the hobby, because I have heard, "Well, now whenever I want to rent a movie, I'll just come here instead of going to Blockbuster/Hollywood Video/the Redbox, BA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, A-HAHAHAHAHA, AMIRITE?" too many fucking times.

Then, when you get into collector's circles, a lot of collector discussions turn into dick-measuring contests, and me, I don't care.  I mean, anybody can get a paycheck and clean out a Wal-Mart $5 bin.  I remember someone having this conversation with me: 

Guy: "How many movies to you own? ..."

Nate: "Um, I'd say maybe aro-..."

G: "Because I have around 7000.  The last one I got was the Batman and Robin Collector's Edition.  I know it sucks, but they can't all be winners."

And I just nodded and shuffled off.  Because yes, that movie sucks.  In my opinion.  So I have no interest in owning it.  And it occurred to me, dude, don't be one of "those guys" just getting shit to own it, and definitely don't make excuses for the shit you own.  I mean, ffs, I have a copy of "Ebola Syndrome," a movie just as filthy and stupid as "Cannibal Holocaust" is (minus the wildlife butchery), but I got because I was curious about it, and so now I've seen it.

I'm full of nonsequitors today.  I have a change in jobs that I'm not fond of, and it started today ... maybe that's it.  I guess movies are my defense mechanism, haha.

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Yeah if the movie sucks I'm not buying it unless I really enjoy it because of its awfulness. I'm not picking up Transformer sets just because they're inside a limited edition Optimus Prime head or something. I'm not a fan of that type of collecting.

I do grab movies sight unseen if the prices is right, or if it's from a director or studio that I want to collect from. Like Hammer Films or Seijun Suzuki movies.

I think film collecting is my doomsday prepper tactic. Some people build bunkers, or train their kids to "bug out" when the Chinese invade. I buy discs so when the power grid goes out, I can sit in a cabin in the woods with a generator, and we can all watch Agnes Varda films until the war is over.

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3 hours ago, nate said:

And it occurred to me, dude, don't be one of "those guys" just getting shit to own it, and definitely don't make excuses for the shit you own

This is why I'm disappointed in myself for buying Cannibal Holocaust. When you get to a point to where you're buying shit just to buy it, back off. 

Then again if you try and make that same argument about my record collection, I'll cut you

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2 hours ago, odessasteps said:

When I worked at Borders,  I was super Criterion collector, buying just about everything. But there a lot less of them then, and, for me, more discriminating. 

Now, I pretty much just get the ones I really want.

 

At first I think I thought I was a Criterion Collector because they had so much that's kind of necessary if you're a film addict. So every sale I was just devouring all their titles that it seemed like I was only collecting their shit.

Over the last year I realized that I wanted to spend less on them and more on some of these awesome labels putting out other great films I love. This recent sale is a great example because I'm not getting a ton of stuff (I got MacCabe and Mrs. Miller for my b-day, and then got Gold Rush and Belle de jour) And I don't feel the anxiety to quickly get the other major titles I feel are necessary for my collection. I used to be like IF I DON'T GET NIGHT OF THE HUNTER RIGHT FUCKING NOW I WON'T BE ABLE TO SLEEP.

Now I'm like "Ace in The Hole will still be there. I gotta get this Nikkatsu Diamond Guys set from Arrow instead."

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I've never cataloged what I have, but I'm quite sure I have over a thousand discs. I have about 700 in my digital collection as well. Tons of horror, nearly every superhero movie ever, lots of 80's action, I'm constantly buying the cheap multimovie packs at Walmart...

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I'm a collector too. I do love to blind buy, but I'm usually reasonably sure I'll enjoy the movie. I'm also a sucker for a good bargain - yes, including the Walmart bin - but I don't buy crap just because it's cheap or "just to have it" (I'll never understand anyone's reasons for intentionally buying a movie they know isn't good).  The aforementioned Criterion is usually reliable for blind buys, but I blind buy movies from every label, genre, etc.

I'm also dipping my toe into digital, although my collection there is probably modest compared to most because 90% of what I have is redeemed from codes that come with Blu-rays/DVDs. Movies Anywhere, despite its early growing pains, has been good for digital overall IMO.

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Oh, on the Criterion tip, I picked up Othello by Welles and Robinson Crusoe on Mars.  I'll have to wait for July to grab Chimes at Midnight ... my kid killed in her bowling tournament, so I got her some goodies.

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Chimes at Midnight is on my short list. So good.

Just after I said Criterion Collection didn't inspire that same level of fervor as it originally did. They announce their February Titles. Night of the Living Dead. Silence of the Lambs, Elevator to the Gallows upgrade, a Kon Ichikawa release. another Satyajit Ray film, Tom Jones.

I might blind buy Gotham by Gaslight when it comes out. DC's animation looks a billion years ahead of their live action.

 

 

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I actually don't own a whole lot of dvds.

But I am glad to hear that others here do.  The past few years when I'm thinking about prizes for that Summer Blockbuster pool ish, I always think "do people really want dvds any more?  Isn't everyone just streaming movies now?"

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1 hour ago, jaedmc said:

Just after I said Criterion Collection didn't inspire that same level of fervor as it originally did. They announce their February Titles. Night of the Living Dead. Silence of the Lambs, Elevator to the Gallows upgrade, a Kon Ichikawa release. another Satyajit Ray film, Tom Jones.

I might blind buy Gotham by Gaslight when it comes out. DC's animation looks a billion years ahead of their live action.

Night of the Living Dead is going to do good numbers for Criterion IMO. That's the type of movie with crossover appeal that reaches people outside their usual "base." I just hope the shoddy Mill Creek cash-grab butcher job of a release in the Walmart bin doesn't eat into those sales.

If you're a fan of Batman animation and a fan of the old Adam West TV show, I highly recommend "Return of the Caped Crusaders" and "Batman vs. Two-Face." They're both voiced by Adam West (before his death), Burt Ward, and Julie Newmar, and they take place in the 1960s Batman universe.

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29 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Admittedly later than expected, I got the complete Batman 66 set the other day at BN, thanks to sales and coupons, for under $40, which is probably  at least 25% of it's original cost last year.

I would maybe do 40 for the Batman 66 set.

This brings up another quirk of mine: I don't really care about collecting TV shows. I'm not a big TV guy to begin with, but I rarely ever think of getting a TV show on disc. It would have to be something classic like the Hitchcock Hour or Twilight Zone for me to buy it. I think the only TV I buy is Game of Thrones as a gift for my wife(and also as a make good for torrenting it as it aired)

Also I don't like buying films digitally. However, I'd rather just stream TV shows than own them.

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