I Crave Movies - please help me!

Cafe Society
1

My boyfriend and I are breaking up after 7 years together. As soon as we finish fixing up and selling the condo, we’re getting our own places. As we pack this place, we’ve been divying up our possessions. I’m noticing that most of our movies are not actually “ours”. They’re mostly ones he bought for himself (like Roughnecks) or ones I bought for him as gifts (most of the others). I’m losing some of my favorites here - The LOTR movies (all of them, animated, original version, extended version), Captain Scarlet, The Princess Bride, Dogma, etc. Luckily, I get to keep the collectors edition of the original Battlestar Gallactica as it was a gift from him. But, my collection now includes my horror movies and very little else.

I need to replace all the movies I’m losing but I’m now realizing that there are many other DVD’s I’ve always wanted but didn’t bother buying because he wouldn’t enjoy them (yeah, I’m aware that doesn’t make sense). So, I want to start my own vast collection. I have vary wide tastes. Some of my favorite movies are really bad horror or scifi, old musicals, new crappy action movies like XXX, silly comedy like Mel Brooks’ movies.

So, here are my problems:

  1. I want to buy a very large amount of movies and I’d prefer to do it quickly so I need one place or maybe two as my supplier(s)

  2. Money doesn’t grow on trees

  3. I don’t know any place to satisfy my spending urge.

I tried Columbia House because it’s the only “movie club” I know of. I browsed through the available movies and couldn’t find the first 4 I looked for. Their supply doesn’t seem to be as vast and obscure as I want. So, where else can I shop? I’m not worried about joining a club like CH because I know I’ll be buying enough to make it worth it. If possible, I’d also like a place for books because books and movies are my two main sources of joy in life.

Can anyone help?

2

It’s not that much better than other sites but it is good:
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/search.cfm
Also try visiting Targets, they have some great prices. I picked up the Widescreen DVD of the Godfather for $9.95 tonight
Ghostbusters I & II special edition for $13.95
I saw Trading places for $5.50
All were widescreen version.
I got Wallace & Grommit Curse of the Were Rabbit for $16.95, when I wanted it last week it was $26.95 and Amazon was up in that range.

Goodluck,
Jim

3

Target is pretty good for cheapish movies, not a great selection, but decent. They do have a lot of “value” DVDs though. I’ve bought a good number of my DVDs there.

Hit up a Best Buy if you are wanting older (not from the last couple years) movies. I’ve found a lot there for good prices, just depends on what movies you want.

I buy most newer releases used at Blockbuster. They sometimes have sales where you can get 2 DVDs for 20 bucks, etc. I’ve never had one be defective either. I got the 2 disc Royal Tenenbaums during one of those sales for 10 bucks and that DVD is still 20+ dollars everywhere else. Picked up Closer for $6.

4

I’ve found some pretty sweet deals here. Yes, they’re “used”, but the discs are in good condition, and the prices and shipping can’t be beat. I got a few fairly obscure discs here, and will continue to shop there unless something changes.

5

Check half dot com for specific titles; you may find that one dealer has several things you want, so you can combine the shipping.

6

If you want to stick with one source, Amazon is nice.

Amazon itself often – but not always – offers good prices. With free shipping (as long as your order exceeds $25 total) and no sales tax in many states, it can often beat oher retailers’ total prices.

Amazon used items are another good source. Shipping prices are fixed so you can easily compare actual prices for any item, unlike eBay. And ordering is done through your Amazon account; it’s fast and easy with 1-Click.

If you decide to go with Amazon, make sure you sign up for the A9 discount and see if you have any friends or relatives that can share a Prime membership with you for free 2-day shipping (excludes items from other sellers).

7

Ditto.

I’ve gotten a lot of good deals off of Amazon’s used section. I’ve found you tend to get screwed a lot less than on Ebay, and it’s usually cheaper.

8

Sorry about the break-up, congodwarf. I hope things get better for you.

Not wanting to be too obvious, but do you really re-watch movies so much that you need to actually own them? Would Netflix fit your viewing patterns? That way you’d get to sample as many movies as you can get through for the price of a single movie a month, and just buy the ones you really like.

9

Yeah, browse around your local grocery store too, just to see what they have. I’ve gotten some pretty good deals at the local HEB (Wing Commander for $6! Wee! :smiley: )

I also vouch for Deep Discount DVD and Target, and Blockbuster, while their selection is VERY limited, does have great deals for the used DVDs they have. If you have a Hastings where you live, their DVD selection is also worth looking through. I know from experience that if you get a scratched disk from Blockbuster, they’ll replace it for you within 30 days (has happened to me once).

As for movies to get, I’d like to suggest a few of my favorites:

The Boondock Saints - Can usually be had for pretty cheap, this rather violent but extremely well made movie is about two Irish brothers who decide (for religious reasons) to gun down all of the local mafiosos, with Wilem Defoe playing the FBI agent trying to stop them (while also deciding IF he wants to stop them).

Poolhall Junkies and Stickmen are a couple of pretty good poolhall movies (Stickmen is the far superior film, but Poolhall Junkies has some better dialogue and Christopher Walken).

In terms of musicals, I can’t help but suggest Newsies, starring Christian Bale and Bill Pullman (who I don’t think gets nearly enough screen time). Also speaking of Christian Bale, some of his more recent movies, such as Shaft and Equilibrium, are also quite worth watching (both action movies).

For comedies, I’d like to suggestion Waiting and Out Cold. Waiting is a movie about the waitstaff at a Bennigans style resteraunt, and Out Cold is about people living at a ski resort. Empire Records is another good comedy/drama about the staff at a record store, with Liv Tyler and a bunch of other people whose names I can’t remember, and lots of great music.

Other staple movie recommendations from this college student/geek include Donnie Darko, StarShip Troopers (stupid sci-fi/action ORDER UP! :D), and StarGate.

10

I would agree with the Target and supermarket recommendations. You’d be amazed what you can find sometimes, and for super cheap. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than ten dollars for a DVD at Target, or more than seven dollars for a DVD at Stop&Shop, where I’ve gotten tons of random old movies (Bubble Boy! My Bodyguard! Little Shop of Horrors!!!)

Another thing you may want to do is hit the used DVDs for sale at your local Blockbuster. They usually have a three for $20 thing going on.

11

You could get a netflix account and burn them on to DVD-R.

12

Please don’t do this. It’s illegal, it takes money from the movie industry (whatever you think about Hollywood, the one thing for certain is they need money to make movies) and if enough people do it, Netflix will die.

13

I think it’s pretty obvious that copying DVDs you don’t own is a blatant violation of the law, anu-la1979. I’m kinda surprised you even suggested it. But, since you did, let me go through the motions:

From the User Agreement:

Please don’t do this again. You’ve been warned.

14

Sorry, I thought it came under the same fair use doctrine that allows copies of VHS and CDs for personal use. Having looked around the web, I see that it’s currently illegal under DCMA. I bet eventually it will be allowed (officially) but I’ll retract my statement and apologise.

15

IANAL: While Fair Use is under assault, it has never meant the right to rent or borrow media and copy it. It was used to protect our right to make backup copies of Albums/Tapes/CD that we already owned. The Rent and burn concept will never be legal is my strong belief.

Jim