For my birthday, my loving girlfriend purchased me one of those new-fangled DVD players, and I’ve been adding some cheap movies to my collection.
The DVD world is different from that of the VHS world. In the VHS world, you got the movie and that was about it. Sometimes there would be something after the movie, but usually nothing. Now in the DVD world, the movies offer such extras as Deleted Scenes, Bloopers, and Featurettes. Now, not all DVDs add these features. In fact, I rented Escape from New York (I’d never seen it and I’d wanted to) and the special feature was: “Scene Access” and nothing else.
So all you DVDers out there, what are your favorite DVDs and where do you get them? Waco is a bit limited in the entertainment world, but I’m sure I can find the movies. Some movies you want because they are classics, such as Scarface. Some movies you want because of the added footage, such as X-Men, and some movies you want because there are a lot of extras, such as MIB.
I’ve picked up some movies that I’ve just loved, but really haven’t spent more than $20 one any one. My collection thus far? peep this:
City of Angels (I’m a Meg Ryan fan)
Heat
True Romance (GREAT MOVIE)
Shawshank Redemption
Sixth Sense (previously viewed)
American Beauty
Gladiator
Girlfriend bought:
Cruel Intentions
Pulp Fiction (at my urging)
Only Cruel Intentions, Gladiator, Sixth Sense, and City of Angels have any ‘real features’ in them.
I also just recently got a DVD. Special features are a major selling point for me – I wouldn’t consider paying more than $15 for a movie without them.
I really like the running audio commentaries – American Pie and Election had great commentaries. The Sixth Sense had good features too.
My collection is small (to be augmented significantly on Christmas morning):
The Crying Game – OK features
Earth Girls are Easy – Good features
Mission Impossible II – Excellent features
The Matrix – Good features
The Green Mile – OK features
I had Never Say Never Again, but returned it because it is missing an entire scene. It had no features.
If you like the movie, get Fight Club. Way cool. Brad Pitt and Ed Norton do public service announcements, there are alternate credit animations, commercials, posters (these are the funniest), behind the scenes, movie trailers, and tons of other stuff. The Matrix rocks too.
I’m upset that none of the Godfather movies are out on DVD. I wonder if there are any plans to release them.
We have:
[ul]
[li]True Romance[/li][li]Braveheart[/li][li]Casino[/li][li]Goodfellas[/li][li]An Ideal Husband[/li][li]You’ve Got Mail[/li][li]Rounders[/li][li]Boiler Room[/li][li]The Bone Collector[/li][li]Matrix[/li][li]Tombstone[/li][li]L.A. Confidential[/li][li]The Green Mile[/li][li]Platoon[/li][li]Amadeus[/li][li]The Sixth Sense[/li][li]Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo[/li][li]Toy Story[/li][li]Toy Store 2[/li][/ul]
I know You’ve Got Mail and The Sixth Sense have extra stuff but I can’t remember what.
We gave the Mummy on dvd to my mother-in-law. That one has great extra stuff. There are little clips on how they filmed certain scenes, and you can watch the movie with running commentary from the directors of the movie.
You’ve got some excellent movies there, Brood McEto.
I’ve got:
Sleuth
The Silence of the Lambs
Seven
The Princess Bride
A Bug’s Life
High Fidelity
The Red Violin
Eyes Wide Shut
The X-Files: Fight the Future
The Last Broadcast
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Special Edition)
TNBC has some outstanding bonus material, such as deleted scenes, alternate endings, image gallery, Burton’s earlier short films, and a one-hour long making-of documentary.
I’d recommend the Toy Story “Ultimate Toy Box,” personally. Comes w/ TS1 & 2, as well as a 3rd disc with a bunch of neat stuff including other Pixar shorts, among other things.
Oh, and FTR, if you hurry, the Evil Dead 2: Limited edition should still be non-difficult to find. I know the local Borders still had at least one copy, and I’m pretty sure most etailers (okay, that term sounds better than it looks) should still have it. Sure that movie’s not for everybody, but it should be.
Are DVDs really that cheap in the US? In the UK the average price seems to be about £20 (nearly $30!!). I’m more willing to get a movie I’m unsure about if it has special features. Here’s my list:
The Matrix
the Alien box set
Bigger, Longer, Uncut
several Southpark compilations
The best of the first series of Monty Python
Men In Black
Starship Troopers
The Exorcist
A Boy and his Dog
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Mars Attacks
and coming soon from Amazon, a Wallace & Grommit collection and a series of Blackadder
Some DVDs I own with good bonus features are
The Abyss
Boogie Nights
Fight Club
Magnolia
American Beauty
The Sixth Sense
Ghostbusters
The Matrix
U-571
The Patriot
Jaws
I am starting to hate DVDs with out bonus features.
I buy most of my DVDs on either Amazon or Ebay. If I am buying one which has already been released I always scan the comments on Amazon before I buy it. I seldom spend more then $20 either, but some movies are worth a little more.
I have already pre-ordered the first season of The Sopranos. I am so excited.
It’s growing…
Go to your local Office Depot. The company is giving up the DVD world, so they are all 25% off until they are gone. They’ve never had a great selection, but if you don’t have it, you might find it there. I’ve picked up Austin Powers 2 today, and Skulls and Three Kings so far. I’ll get some more soon.
[ul]
[li]American Beauty (No great features, but many of them)[/li][li]Gladiator (2 discs, lots of features)[/li][li]Pulp Fiction (No features, and $25!!)[/li][li]The Sixth Sense (good features)[/li][li]Skulls (haven’t watched it yet.)[/li][li]Cruel Intentions (lots of extras)[/li][li]Three Kings (great features)[/li][li]City of Angels (good features)[/li][li]Austin Powers: Spy Who Shagged Me (looks like a good one)[/li][li]Heat[/li][li]True Romance[/li][li]Shawshank Redemption[/li][/ul]
The last three have no real features… bummer.
I’ve rented Final Destination, which has some nice featurettes and the alternate ending, and other good features. The Patriot is a good DVD too, lots of info. Escape from New York is bad. Just the movie, and the movie wasn’t that great. I wonder why they made a sequel.
My girl and I made a deal, only buy DVDs on payday, and only one. I first proposed that we watch what we have first, but I felt limited… I’ve been sucked in.
