The New DVD and Blu Thread

Post by **Ben** » August 24th, 2007, 10:23 am

I should have added: I have about half as much again on VHS, roughly a quarter on LD, and then about the same again (a quarter) in books.

I did a rough count on my shelving units: they take an average 120 standard size keepcases on each shelf, and I have 19-21 shelves worth (18 shelves and then some are boxed rather than shelved), so not counting the multi-disc sets, I have 2520 DVD <I>covers</I>...so some would have one disc in and some would have two/three/four.

that is a lot of DVDs!

And there's still a ton out there that I'd like to get animation wise. While I'm no big anime fan, I'd still like a good sampling and am tempted by Astro Boy/Gorgo and some of the Miyazakis.

Post by **Josh** » August 24th, 2007, 10:36 am

droosan wrote:Only 12 of the DVDs are 'screeners' acquired via my ASIFA-Hollywood membership; the rest were all bought at 'retail' (over the course of the past 8 years)..! Though I am always on the lookout for 'good deals' and 'discounts', it doesn't matter much .. because all of them are tax-deductible (one of the major 'perks' of working in the animation/VFX industry); they are claimed (and used!) as 'work-related reference material'.

That's something very interesting and helpful I hadn't considered, droosan. So let's say one needs to either rent or buy a DVD sincerely for research or reference purposes, such as when preparing for an interview. Would that be considered tax-deductible?

Post by **droosan** » August 24th, 2007, 3:00 pm

Josh: if you derive income from that interview .. absolutely! Double-check that with your tax-guy .. and save those receipts!

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Meg: funnily enough, Blockbuster Video is indirectly responsible for my tendency to buy, rather than rent. Back in the late-1980's, I opened a 'lifetime' rental account .. however, being a full-time college student at the time, I got busy with classes & such, and didn't rent anything for about 9 months or so. I then tried to rent a couple videos, only to find my 'lifetime' account had been closed, due to inactivity. So, I opened another 'lifetime' account and rented for a few weeks .. then I got busy with classes again, and didn't rent anything for a year or so. Of course, when I next tried to rent something, my 'lifetime' account was no longer in their system. I haven't been in a Blockbuster Video since then.

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Jeroen: no 'alarm' .. but I do live on the third floor of a 'limited access' building. There are four locked doors (requiring 2 different keys) between my apartment and the outside world.

Post by **Josh** » August 24th, 2007, 10:26 pm

droosan wrote:Josh: if you derive income from that interview .. absolutely! Double-check that with your tax-guy .. and save those receipts!

I don't derive income from any online work, so my DVD purchases wouldn't be considered tax-deductible. Still, thanks for the explanation, droosan!

Post by **Daniel** » August 24th, 2007, 10:49 pm

Droo, your collection is drool worthy... My goodness...

I haven't counted my collection, but would imagine more that 500 but less than 1,000. (but I could be wrong)

Post by **Jeroen** » September 8th, 2007, 12:47 pm

Well me gots me paycheck and as every first week of the month, I went shopping:

* Little Britain seas 1 2dvd
* Little Britain seas 2 2dvd
* Monty Python – Slice 1 4dvd
* Ghost in the Shell 2
* Casino Royale 2dvd
* Rocky Balboa
* Little Miss Sunshine
* 28 Days Later (because Vi told me to watch it again)
* Idlewild (wich I regret buying now)
* Happy Feet
* Beavis and Butthead MJC part 1 3dvd
* Perfume: The Story of a murderer
* A scanner darkly
* Walk The Line 2dvd
* The Producers (2005)
* Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny
* The Departed
* 300 2dvd

And these we're still heavily reduced in price to celebrate the Simpsons Movie, so I brought my Simpsons seasons DVDs up-to-date:

* The Simpsons season 5 4dvd
* The Simpsons season 6 4dvd
* The Simpsons season 7 4dvd
* The Simpsons season 8 4dvd
* The Simpsons season 9 4dvd
* The Simpsons season 10 4dvd
(my evenings next week will be quite Simpsons themed indeed, that's a lot of audio commentaries to get through)

Post by **Daniel** » September 9th, 2007, 4:11 am

So I'm not the only one Vi pressures, huh?

I love Rocky Balboa! I rented it when it came out, and thought it was a much better ending than Rocky V. (which I did not like)

And can't go wrong with the Simps. Hope you enjoy the commentaries, Jeroen!

Post by **Randall** » September 26th, 2007, 1:28 am

And here I thought I was done with binge buying...

My recent purchases:
Land of the Giants collector's set (thanks to Amazon's great one-day sale, this bad boy was more than half off!)
The Archie Show
Josie and the Pussycats (I wasn't too interested in this one until Ben said he badly wanted to review it, which made me curious)
Samurai Jack S4
Superman: Doomsday (can't wait to check it out)

And these new releases almost slipped under my radar, until spotting them on some Amazon links while I was ordering:
The Lost World (Irwin Allen silliness, plus the original silent film with stop-motion animation)
The Fly Collection (includes 3 films, plus Vincent Price Biography!)
Vincent Price Collection (7 MGM films, plus nice extras)

And, with the Canadian dollar now on par with the US greenback, now was the perfect time to finally catch up on Looney Tunes (somehow missed getting last year's volume!), Lois and Clark S4, and the Frank Capra set from late last year.

And, I have zero time to watch these. But someday...!

Post by **Ben** » September 26th, 2007, 7:11 am

What's the Vincent Price Coll like? I know you probably haven't even opened it (!) but what's the general feeling on it? I'm a little torn...

Also, what's the Amazon one day sale!!??!?!?? Do they advertise this? I must have missed it but there's a bunch I would have picked up!

The amount of stuff I picked up is embarrassing...my partial list from August/September (in reverse order)...

The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen - Legendary Monster Series
The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen - Legendary Science Fiction Series
UHF (it was cheap!!)
Heavy Metal (thanks Rand!)
Robinson Crusoe on Mars - Criterion
BASEketball
Deliverance (Deluxe Edition)
On the Road With Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Collection
Face/Off (Two Disc)
Cat Ballou
Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror (Double Feature)
The Lost World - 1960 & 1925 versions
The Fly Collection
Long John Silver
Computer Animation Adventure & Experience
Computer Animation Extravaganza & Marvels
The Singing Princess (rare 1940s feature with the debut of Julie Andrews)
Finding Neverland
Gangs of New York (Two-Disc)
Dracula (Universal Legacy 75th)
Frankenstein (Universal Legacy 75th)
Miss Potter
Hot Shots!
Hot Shots! Part Deux
The Graduate (40th Anniversary Collector's Edition)
Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 3
Taxi Driver (Two-Disc)
Reel Talent: First Films by Legendary Directors
The Adventures of the American Rabbit (don't ask!)
Labyrinth (Anniversary Edition)
The Dark Crystal (25th Anniversary Edition)
Elvis - That's the Way It Is (Two-Disc)
This Is Elvis (Two-Disc)
Jailhouse Rock (Deluxe)
Viva Las Vegas (Deluxe)
Josie and the Pussycats (PG-13 version of the movie)
Invaders from Mars (Image 50th)
Betty Boop For President (awful)
The Death of the Incredible Hulk
The Time Tunnel Vol. 2
The Best of the New Scooby-Doo Movies
300 (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The New Adventures of Batman - (DC Comics Classics)
The Monster Squad (20th Anniversary)
Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection
Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938
Hot Fuzz
Rock Hudson & Doris Day Romance Collection
Fantastic Voyage (Special Edition)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (Global Warming Edition)
The Old Man and the Sea (Animated IMAX)
The Sergio Leone Anthology (Dollars Trilogy & Duck, You Sucker)
Robocop (20th Anniversary)
The Secret of NIMH (Family Fun)

I haven't updated here in a LONG while, hence the big list. I also picked up Danny Elfman's Serenada Schizophrana on SACD, and the Special Edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, which was ultimately disappointing. On eBay, I found a cheap copy of the Shrek CD and finally a copy of the original The Land Before Time on CAV LaserDisc with some extra features.

It's been a packed couple of months! I'm waiting on some WB screeners to turn up, but if they don't I'll probably hop for the Josie cartoon, though maybe not Superman. Hopefully WB will be better to us through October...!

Post by **Randall** » September 26th, 2007, 9:00 am

Good grief!!!!

And my wife thinks that I collect a lot!

The Vincent Price set is largely a repackaging of prevous MGM discs of 7 Price films (no Poe adaptations, but has the Phibes films and more), plus one side of bonus features including the A & E Biography. Nice. Looks like the non-anamorphic films are still that way, though; about half look to be anamorphic.

Amazon has one-day sales all the time. I saw the Giants one highlighted on TVshowsondvd.com, and jumped at it. It's a pretty cool wooden box, with some neat doodads in it, and was worth the $99 I paid for the 2 seasons. I also picked up Amazing Stories S1 for about 40% off at the same time.

Post by **Phil** » September 26th, 2007, 9:21 am

Ben, how do you have time to watch them all? Even if watching DVDs was your full-time job you wouldn't have time to get through them all in a month.

Post by **Ben** » September 26th, 2007, 10:29 am

I didn't even include the screeners we get here at the site!

Phil...I usually like to throw something on each evening or so, and just like being able to pick what I'm in the mood for. Plus we have people over every so often to throw something up on the screen, so it's again good to have a good library.

I like having an archive too, as it assists in other ways regarding clips and things I'm looking for in my day job. Countless times I've been able to sample a title for the way I want something to look or feel.

Plus...I never said I was <I>going</I> to watch them!!

Rand...I'll be happy to take a recommend on Vincent when you've had a chance to look...if some are still non-anamorphic I may pass, and find it odd they didn't include the Poes...something that could have made this more definitive.

Maybe if they do a second Poe set I'll pick up both then. Which version of Witchfinder General do we get?

What's to look out for on Amazon...I've never noticed a one day sale marker on the front page or anything.

Funny...I just got a private message that asked how I could possibly have "Deliverance" sandwiched between "BASEketball" and the "Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Road" movies!

Post by **Randall** » September 27th, 2007, 12:15 am

I'm sure that Vincent will get another box set if this one sells decently. As I said, this appears to simply be a repackaging, trading the previous keepcases for slimcases while largely keeping the case art and text and adding a slipcase; so, anything previously non-anamorphic remains so. Actually, looking again, it appears that only Madhouse and Witchfinder General are listed as "letterbox" (as opposed to "widescreen"). I'm not aware of different versions of Witchfinder, but this version would be whatever was releasd previously. (All of these films previously had "MGM Presents Midnite Movies" releases; most got repackaged as double features, which is where most of these discs come from.) Witchfinder is the only film that gets extras, with a commentary and a featurette.

I have most of the Price Poe adaptations produced by Corman, but would welcome a box set. Just 'cause box sets are cool. A retrospective on the series would be awfully nice to see.

Oh, and I made a mistake before. The A & E Biography is on the Fly set. The Price set has a side that features 3 featurettes about Price totalling 66 minutes.

Post by **Daniel** » September 27th, 2007, 2:17 am

Ben wrote:What's to look out for on Amazon...I've never noticed a one day sale marker on the front page or anything.

I hope Rand doesn't mind me answering... But like he mentioned earlier, TV Shows on DVD occasionally announce when Amazon is having a sale on one, or multiple sets of TV shows and have it as one of their highlights. Here's a day old update, that list all the sales Amazon is having right now: Amazon Canada Has Family Guy, Emmy Sales. And Amazon USA's TV-DVD Sales Continue!

Post by **Ben** » September 27th, 2007, 9:16 am

Thanks Dan!

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Rand...yep, I wondered about that A&E Biography but figured it was on both sets. The Price set has another doc, I believe.

Think I'll wait for an eventual Poe collection and then pick 'em both up. The Fly will get me by for now, and that's quite nicely put together.

Funny they should include Tales of Terror - that's Poe. Witchfinder was only named Witchfinder General in the UK (the original US title: The Conqueror Worm attempted to cash in on the Corman/Price Poes). It now seems everything has fallen into alignment on the name, but there are still some questions over content and the music score, however:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063285/alternateversions

Some have the Poe poem narration on front and end, some don't. There is also talk of a 12-minute longer original cut which has never surfaced though believed to be "out there".

I just want to make sure I get the version I'm expecting! I'll keep an eye out for an authoritative review...