DVD/Blu-ray collections

Up until last week I use to have all my DVDs in cardboard boxes, hidden away, out of sight, out of mind. I started to feel guilty about spending so much money and time over the years, constructing a decent collection - only to conceal it. So, I decided to get organized and went and bought a pretty big shelving unit from a well-known furniture retailer and filled it with all my DVDs. I had no idea that I had so many DVDs, well I did know that I had alot - but not this many. I had never had them all out on show and it was pretty rewarding just to see how many I had - like a man who stands at the back of his ranchhouse and looks out over the range and sees all those cattle.

I also inventoried all them in one of those DVD cataloging apps so I could keep a count of how many I have and also to avoid buying ones that I already have. It was pretty time consuming but ultimately rewarding adventure. I have 2,824 DVDs exactly. My girlfriend was around my place yesterday and she remarked that I had too many but DVDs are such a serious part of my life. I just feel pround that I own all these DVDs.

I don't spend a lot of money any more on DVDs, probably a couple of Dollars, max. I don't collect Blu-rays at all. I haven't a single one. I personally don't see the point in "upgrading" - if i found a Blu-ray of Days of Heaven 1978 or Long Weekend (1978) - gorgeous looking films, then maybe - but otherwise no. Aside from DVDs, I collect books such as old literary classics and paranormal non-fiction and I done something similar there too.

What about you? How do you keep track of what you have? How do you store you DVD/Blu-ray collection? Do you hide them away or do you put them into shelving units? Or do you even collect them anymore? Does anybody use one of those DVD cataloging apps or something similar?

The Scariest Films Ever -- Your thoughts?

Why haven't we tried this before? Oh, that's right... because it's really hard to define what is "scary" and what is "creepy" and what is "horror" in general... So for the sake of this post, scary and/or creepy counts. Whatever scares you is good enough.

We have plenty of users who have seen a wide variety of horror films, so we can sift through the cliche films that lightweights would list and get some more solid results.

If you rewatch a scary movie so many times, you get used to it. At that point, is it still scary?

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Here's my incredibly generic list, because I'm a lightweight. Feel free to bash it to bits.

The Amityville Horror (1979) - Haunted house horror that seems hopeless, seeing as how long it takes for them to heed the warnings, which are ample.
Black Christmas (1974) - Chilling, to say the least. Creepiest ending out there.
The Evil Dead (1981) - Moody, foggy, dark and dirty bloodbath in the middle of the woods.
Halloween (1978) - Sleepy small town horror at its finest.
The Omen (1975) - Non-stop building a sense of dread throughout, and no comic relief.
The Shining (1980) - Somehow, the over-the-top sense of it helps amplify a feeling of strong discomfort.
Suspiria (1977) - General creepy vibe throughout, because everything is off about this place.
The Terminator (1984) - The SFX are creepy as hell.

All originals, no remakes, because older stuff is inherently creepier.

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Tell us what you think are the scariest films ever.

Worst Movie Case?

I own a lot of movies in quite a few different cases. Most are simple, your standard keep cases. Others are different and not used often, but they're clever. And then some are different and not used often, because they suck. Whoever designed them must have been out of their mind to think anyone would enjoy storing movies in them. I have three to present from my own collection. They're sets, which partially explains the nutty cases.



First, Alien Quadrilogy, a DVD set from 2003. I believe the guideline must have been something like, "Make the set take up as much space as possible." I'm guessing it's the first time it was ever released as a set on DVD and as far as the content goes, it's impressive. But just look at how much it can spread out when you open it and that's not even at its full length!

Separate cases for each movie (two discs per movie, plus the bonus disc, so five cases) wouldn't have taken up much more room than when the set is when folded up and would have been less annoying to open. At least it unfolds from the middle, meaning you never need to open it all the way. I don't own this series on Blu-ray yet, but it seems like all future sets were smarter about the cases.

Next up, RoboCop Trilogy, a DVD set from 2006. I must admit, the case isn't as bad as I was remembering, but I'm including it because it's still kind of stupid. I feel like I'm playing with a Transformer when I'm trying to open and close it. It only fits in its sleeve if it's folded up correctly too, so if you're an idiot like me, you'll probably have to open and close the flaps a couple times before you get it right, especially those vertical flaps.

Why are those flaps even there? They serve no purpose beyond supporting the giant image. There's no information about the discs on them besides 'RoboCop Trilogy' at the top. That could have been placed elsewhere. Or not at all. Pretty sure the words 'RoboCop' on each disc are enough of a notification as to what set I'm looking at.

And last, Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery, a Blu-ray set from 2014. Seems like a decent set in the picture, yeah? I thought so too. Until I started flipping through when I first got it, checking the discs to make sure none were damaged. That was when it dawned on me that when I get to the later discs, I'm going to be doing a lot of flipping. Of course, just being cardboard flaps, I'm afraid to flip them too fast out of fear of bending or tearing them. Then I got to the end and the whole part holding the flaps decided to detach from the glue holding it to the case.

I'm guessing the glue doesn't stick well to the slick cardboard. I saw other reviews complaining about that problem, so it seems pointless to send it back. It probably happens to all of the sets sooner or later. There's a slightly cheaper set in better, less artsy case, but it's missing the bonus disc. Can't win. Unless you don't care about the extras on that disc, then you do win if you go with the cheaper set.


I know I said I have three bad cases to present from my own collection, but I have one more. It's not in my collection anymore however, lasting only one day. It was Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years, a DVD set released in 2010. I saw it at Costco and there was no question in my mind about buying it, especially since I still hadn't seen a lot of Eastwood's movies at that time. The first sign of trouble was when I opened it at home and there was glue on the discs. I tried to wipe it off and then started watching.

Of course, it wasn't long before the disc started skipping and freezing. I scanned a couple other discs in DVD Shrink and it couldn't even finish the scan, so I knew it had to go back. Fortunately, Costco's cool about taking back already opened movies. I guess the set was doomed to fail, because even if there wasn't the glue, the discs were double-sided in cardboard sleeves. Incredibly foolish on Warner Bros. part and apparently they repeated themselves with the later Clint Eastwood: 40-Film Collection.

Though this whole article was created as a result of recently buying the Twin Peaks set, I reminded myself of this video from Cinemassacre where bad cases and some other stupid things about DVDs are brought up. Well-worth a watch.

Got any movie cases in your collection that top these disasters?

Christopher Walken thread

The Prophecy (1995) has been on cable lately, so I have watched most of it over the course of this week, in bits and pieces. I mostly like the movie, but it has got me thinking about Christopher Walken.

When did he become the icon he has been for so long?? Does anyone know, or remember, when he started getting really popular? At some point he sort of became a caricature of himself... I am not even saying that that's a bad thing, I always like seeing him in everything I've seen him in.

I was just thinking, in A View to a Kill (1985) he was a famous enough star to play the arch villain in a James Bond film, so, that's pretty damn famous. But I'm not sure I would say he was really KNOWN as CHRISTOPHER WALKEN yet, at that time, with all his freaky mannerisms, subtle comedy, etc. Like, in the late 80's if someone mentioned Christopher Walken, people might have known who you were talking about but I don't think they would have immediately started doing their own impersonation of him, or started saying "I gotta have more cowbell" or whatever the 80's equivalent of that might have been....

Googling around, I can see that he was on Saturday Night Live for the first time in January, 1990. That must be a fairly decent benchmark of when lots of people starting becoming aware of how funny he can be. Certainly he was already known as a comic genius by the time he did Pulp Fiction, and The Prophecy.

So, I guess maybe it was in the late 80's, or very early 90's, that people starting being aware of him as CHRISTOPHER WALKEN, not just Christopher Walken. I have not seen all of his movies from the late 80's, so I can't really talk about exactly when it happened.

It's kind of a shame that he hadn't completely grown into his 1990's-and-ever-since-then persona when he did A View to a Kill... that could have been an even better James Bond movie, and it's not bad as it stands. He certainly did an amazing job in everything I've seen him in from the 70's and 80's, (including all the obvious roles) but I'm not sure I would say he really had the public persona he has now until the 90's.

Anyone have anything to say about any of this?

RIP - Chris Cornell

Holy shit! If I suddenly kill myself, this is why! Chris Cornell was one of my absolute favorite artists out there. Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog, and even a good solo career. Hell, I even liked his R&B album, but "Euphoria Morning" has got to be in my top-10 albums of all time.

What horrible news to wake up to. 😩

"Wave Goodbye"

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Big news! Netflix has announced they will be adding a new series titled The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. It is a prequel to the original 1982 movie The Dark Crystal. I love The Dark Crystal, and I am very excited for this! Here's the trailer.

It Came From The Desert (2017)

I figured there isn't enough giant ant movies out there, so I thought i'd share this trailer.

Yes it's based on a video game.

Powers Boothe has died...

...of Southern Comfort, Sin City, etc. fame...

😟

RIP.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/15/528411823/powers-boothe-appeared-in-deadwood-and-sin-city-dies-at-68

Anyone ever do a DVD purge from their collection?

Selling DVD's is a waste of time. All the listing and fees and mailing for a dollar or two profit.

Their is a place near me called Grindhouse Video and this guy take store credit for DVD's, I am thinking about purging a shitload of my "watched it once" horror movies for some box set.

Anyone else ever wonder what do with our "watched once" dvd's?

Do you watch a movie's trailer before watching

the actual movie?

Personally not only i avoid watching movie trailers, because it's always a risk if they are going to reveal too much to the point of ruining the movie, but sometimes i will even avoid reading the synopsis so that i will dive in completely blind.