DVDs: The Super Collector Edition Thread

[huntergrayson]

A bright, shining star?

Okay, I think this is pretty fresh off the presses - the new Criterion re-release of Grey Gardens is coming out in December. Basically, the second disc is "The Beales of Grey Gardens," as predicted. For those who already have it, you can buy the "Beales" disc separately for only 20 bucks. Neato!

[heyalice]

I'm building a film noir collection and there is too much out there. Help please.

[huntergrayson]

Fox has an collection that's ongoing...I, uh, may have bought a huge pack of the earlier discs and haven't opened it, though. But the discs are very cheap and I think every one has extras.

And you can't go wrong with starting with Laura. I also like Kiss Me Deadly [which had a big, big influence on Pulp Fiction, among others.]

Because I am their bitch, I have to recommend the Criterion Collection. They have a double-disc set of Hemingway's The Killers that is supposed to be, well. You know. It has two feature-length adaptations and a short take.

Asphalt Jungle is awesome and my professor did a commentary (which helped me ace the midterm). Plus, Marilyn Monroe.

A huge problem is that "film noir" is such a tricky category that so much has been put into it.

Oh. And the Big Sleep. A movie so twisty that even the writer has no clue what's going on.

I have never seen it, but the new Maltese Falcon set has all three versions of the tale.

Oh! Diabolique! The movie that made Hitch want to do Psycho.

The Third Man P33NS with its Zither score and superawesome "surprise cameo." Plus, Valli is so very pretty. [She's also awesome in Eyes Without A Face, also from Criterion...not strict-noir, but it is very dark and atmospheric....which is kinda noiry, right?]

Wow. I own way too many DVDs. Way, way too many.

[Deleted]

Wow. I own way too many DVDs. Way, way too many.

How many is too many? Not to brag but I may have as many as you do.

I only own about 10 Criterion Collection films though. I think the price for some of those films are preposterous.

[huntergrayson]

A lot of them are in boxes now, so it's hard to tell. Just looking over my apartment while packing made me be like "whoa, I could've bought a car or a pony! Stupid credit cards and their debt! I could be writing this on an awesome G5! I could've *made* a film...." [wow, the latter is *really* depressing...]

I'll do some counting later on.

Also, the Criterion Collection does have MSRP for almost all of their nonboxsets. (i.e. 30/40, etc.) The superexpensive ones are the ones that went out of print and are therefore leaped upon by feverish collectors who have more money and time than brains. My favorite announcement this year was that they re-attained the rights to Salo and are going to be re-issuing it. Thus ensuring that everyone who paid 1000 dollars on EBay is a fucking moron who will be kicking themselves forever.

In awesomely good news, they're bringing out The Bicycle Thieves this spring. Yay! Oh and Breathless, eventually.

I'm such a sucker for them because, well, I went to film school for a reason, ya know?

Plus, I think one would have a hard time coming up with a more comprehensive way to look at the history of film (and film in history) than the collection. I honestly can't think of any of the directors who are considered part of the great film canon that they haven't issued DVDs of.

I'm not too fond of the new logo, though.

[Deleted]

My video store will actually rent out the Criterion Salo, provided you slap down $300 deposit. I thought, "hey, great, if only there was some technology out there with which to make copies of DVDs, I could make one for myself". And then I thought "naaah, there's no way you could make a copy of a DVD and if even if you could, it would be bad and wrong and bad."

And then I rented the DVD -- with $300 deposit -- and the surface was so scratched-to-shit that it wouldn't even play on my computer's DVD player (my A/V unit was okay, with some skips and digital artifacts -- the video clerks warned me, so it was a "buyer beware" sitch).

I echo all the praise for The Criterion Collection, though. One of my favourite parts of the old site -- the new one has a link to the Collection Store but not back -- and still my fave essay is the one justifying the inclusion of Armageddon in the collection. It's masterful. Although, after reading it, I still think "yeah, but it was nonetheless a total piece of gung-ho, jingoistic, lowest-common-denominator shit."

[heyalice]

Thanks for your help hunter. Again, you are a star. Shinier than the shiniest star evah!
I do have the MALTESE FALCON. I have a Bogart and Hitchcock collection. Laura and Double Indemnity were on my Xmas list and nobody paid attention..

[Deleted]

I like the Criterion Collection films. I would buy more if the price for the films weren't so ridiculous.

I mean, $39.95 for ONE film? Please!

[huntergrayson]

True, true, but who pays the retail price for anything? Oh, wait, me, because I'm an idiot.

I've probably said it before, but Criterion doesn't "own" films, they license them. Which means they have to pay for the restoration and mastering process, the cost of producing featurettes, the cost of doing the commentaries, etc. Studios like New Line and Warner Brothers have, you know, millions upon millions of dollars to pay for their home video departments.

If I think of my collection as "buying my way to an A" in some classes, it becomes easier. If I think of it as "you could've actually used this money to pay of those student loans that are coming for you," it becomes sad and depressing.

I really need to start visiting the "finance" thread, don't I?

Wow, I am browsing online and holy shit, laserdiscs were majorly expensive. Not just Criterion's. How did the format ever survive for so long?

[Deleted]

I was quite delighted when I coughed up the big bucks (20, at HMV) for the Tremors Attack Pack, including all 4 movies on 2 double-sided DVDs, and discovered it to be quite a gem. It features a bunch of extras, commentaries and whatnot and, if you have a fondness for the original which you fear may exceed it's actual worth, you might find it ages quite well. The second film, not so much. But the third and fourth, which I hadn't seen, are actually quite an improvement on the second.

We're not talking about art here, people, but with a budget measured in the tens of dollars, they accomplish quite a lot. I consider the amortized $5/movie to be a good popcorn investment.