If you weren't a compulsive buyer, what would your true video collection look like?

[toddly6666]

Test of honesty here. There's really no need to have so many movies in our collection. How many and what movies should you really have in your collection? Just name the ones that you actually really rewatch over and over per year, rather then listing the movies you think you could rewatch over and over. I used to have serious favorites that I watched all the time, but I'm tired of watching them (such as Office Space and Army of Darkness). Dont list those films. Just list the films you ONLY think about now. Be honest. Don't list films that used to be favorites but aren't anymore. Don't list films that you just like to see for the sake of looking good on your shelf. And don't list films that you like to think that you can watch all the time but you actually don't. Forget about the idea of having a film library too. It's very common that we have all gone out of hand with the buying of videos. So try to narrow it down to the ones you simply just want to watch all the time.

And include your DVDs too.

So here's my list:


Blu-rays:
300
Battle Royale
The Big Lebowski
Bugsy Malone
Full Metal Jacket
Gladiator
The Graduate
Inglorious Basterds
Kick-Ass
Legend
Miral
The New World
Point Break
Risky Business
Rushmore
Scott Pilgrim Versus the World
Star Wars 4
Star Wars 5
Star Wars 6
Tampopo
Total Recall
Training Day
Tron Legacy
The Town
Matrix 1
Matrix 2
Watchmen

DVDs:
Indiana Jones 1
Indiana Jones 2
Indiana Jones 3
Nowhere in Africa
The Frisco Kid
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring
Kiki's Delivery Service
Pom Poko
Higher Learning
Living in Oblivion
Schindler's List
The Fan
True Lies
Fawlty Towers

Out of 550 Blu-rays in my collection, I should only have 27 Blu-rays.
Out of my 700 DVDs in my collection, I should only have 14 DVDs.

So yup, I need help basically!

Anyone else here care to share the reality of this video-buying hobby?

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

I only have 20 in my collection but I'll post them later. I am a compulsive buyer but I just don't buy that many blu-rays anymore since I've sold most of them.

[Mandalorian]

Very good idea for a thread. I've contemplated this before.

[ozzsoad]

Star Wars Episodes I-VI
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Hot Fuzz
The Dark Knight
The Goonies
Princess Bride
Labyrinth
Harry Potter 1-8
Gladiator
Stardust
Fargo
Tron: Legacy
The Shining
A Clockwork Orange
Hellboy II
John Carter
This is Spinal Tap
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[basketball]

Haha, well, I mentioned this in the 400 thread and everyone started getting defensive. I have over 100 films and I think most all of them are fantastic films. I'm quite selective, so I'm not much of an impulse buyer. I make a list and stick to it for the most part.

Interestingly, I am usually very surprised in a good way by just how fabulous many of my older films looks -- stir crazy and one flew over look fantastic, even though they only cost $20 total and are older films.

As far as the disappointments, the first US and the UK version of Total Recall are both a mess. So is American Pie 2: very dark and yellowish/brown, low contrast, not much detail. Weak sauce.

Most of the time, my expectations are exceeded sometimes by a shocking degree. MI4 is extraordinary. Some transfers are just incomprehensibly good looking: Alien for example.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Test of honesty here. There's really no need to have so many movies in our collection. How many and what movies should you really have in your collection? Just name the ones that you actually really rewatch over and over per year, rather then listing the movies you think you could rewatch over and over. I used to have serious favorites that I watched all the time, but I'm tired of watching them (such as Office Space and Army of Darkness). Dont list those films. Just list the films you ONLY think about now. Be honest. Don't list films that used to be favorites but aren't anymore. Don't list films that you just like to see for the sake of looking good on your shelf. And don't list films that you like to think that you can watch all the time but you actually don't. Forget about the idea of having a film library too. It's very common that we have all gone out of hand with the buying of videos. So try to narrow it down to the ones you simply just want to watch all the time.

And include your DVDs too.

So here's my list:


Blu-rays:
300
Battle Royale
The Big Lebowski
Bugsy Malone
Full Metal Jacket
Gladiator
The Graduate
Inglorious Basterds
Kick-Ass
Legend
Miral
The New World
Point Break
Risky Business
Rushmore
Scott Pilgrim Versus the World
Star Wars 4
Star Wars 5
Star Wars 6
Tampopo
Total Recall
Training Day
Tron Legacy
The Town
Matrix 1
Matrix 2
Watchmen

DVDs:
Indiana Jones 1
Indiana Jones 2
Indiana Jones 3
Nowhere in Africa
The Frisco Kid
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring
Kiki's Delivery Service
Pom Poko
Higher Learning
Living in Oblivion
Schindler's List
The Fan
True Lies
Fawlty Towers

Out of 550 Blu-rays in my collection, I should only have 27 Blu-rays.
Out of my 700 DVDs in my collection, I should only have 14 DVDs.

So yup, I need help basically!

Anyone else here care to share the reality of this video-buying hobby?

[Travis]

Movies I watch at least once a year.

BDs

1. The Incredibles
2. Polar Express
3. Shrek
4. X-Men
5. Carlito's Way
6. The Godfather
7. Goodfellas
8. Scarface
9. Any Given Sunday
10. Rocky
11. Alien
12. Blade Runner
13. Dune
14. Star Trek II
15. Apocalypse Now
16. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
17. Once Upon a Time in America
18. The Outlaw Josey Wales
19. Psycho
20. The Exorcist
21. Halloween
22. The Shining
23. Arthur
24. Parenthood
25. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
26. 12 Angry Men
27. Sideways

DVDs

1. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
2. The Sting
3. Jaws
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark
5. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
6. Hercules
7. Finding Nemo
8. The Little Mermaid
9. Watership Down
10. A Christmas Story
11. Star Wars
12. The Empire Strikes Back
13. Return of the Jedi
14. The Big Kahuna
15. My Dog Skip
16. The Road Home
17. You've got Mail

[thelwig14]

I sold about 100 blu's the past year or so.

They are a ton of movies I like...but I reallly went through my collection and only decided to keep the movies and tv shows I love and would truly watch again. Those two criteria really eliminated a lot.

[Lsalas76]

Interesting I've pondered your question a few times lets see...

Blu-rays:

[Show spoiler]Star Wars Saga
Lotr Trilogy
Superman 2
Batman
Batman Returns
Dark Knight
Batman Begins
The Crow
Kill Bill
Kill Bill 2
Braveheart
Gladiator
Born on the Fourth of July
Thor
Captain America
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Spider-man 2
Iron Man 2
Blade
Gremlins
Stand By Me
The Godfather
The Godfather part 2
Fast Five
Bourne Ultimatum
Princess Bride
Shrek
Shrek 2
Shrek 4
Kung Fu Panda
Harry Potter 7.2
The Lion King
Beauty and the Beast
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
The Incredibles
Monsters Inc
Up
Wall-e
Fox and the Hound
Dumbo
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Pinocchio
Bambi
Tangled
The Breakfast Club
American Pie
American Pie 2
American Wedding
American Reunion
Never Been Kissed
Conan the Barbarian
Terminator 2
Despicable Me
Butterfly Effect
X-men
X-men 2
X-men the Last Stand
Wolverine
X-men First Class
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
Lost Boys
Scream
The Ring
Halloween
Friday the 13th
The Matrix
Home Alone
The Goonies
Avatar
Back to the Future
Karate Kid part 1
Karate Kid part 2
Jurassic Park
Ghostbusters
Scooby Doo
Scooby Doo 2
The Mummy
the Mummy Returns
Poltergeist
Forrest Gump
Saving Private Ryan
EL Norte
We Bought a Zoo
Rocky IV
Predator
Scarface
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Ultimate Jordan Collection
Jordan to the Max
Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup Champions
Madonna Sticky and wet World tour
this is it

upcoming blu-ray releases:
E.T
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Brave
the Dark Knight rises
Titanic
The Avengers
Cinderella
The Hunger Games
Annie
The Amazing Spider-man
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Dracula
Frankenstein
The WolfMan

Dvds:
La Bamba
Selena
NBA Dynasty series Chicago Bulls
NFL Greatest Games: Denver Broncos
Transformers the Movie(1986)
Star Wars Original Trilogy(unedited)
Alive

I managed to cut down my blu-ray collection from 452 to about 100(give or take). Looks like I have some selling to do.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Forget about the idea of having a film library too.

No.

[gurtagel]

woohoo, first time posting


lets see....

dark knight (watched at least 5 times in last 4 months)
batman begins
shawshank redemption
the godfather
the godfather part 2
harry potters 1-4
zodiac

[Moviefan2k4]

If I "trimmed the fat" off my collection, I'd probably still have 90% of it left, because I actually do watch most of my collection on a regular basis. If I were to do away with any, I'd be very indecisive about which titles, and why. My collection isn't huge by any means; I buy what I truly enjoy watching.

[Member-222782]

I'm a slasher/horror fanatic so I guess these are the films that get the most viewings from me:

One Dark Night
The Howling
The Thing
April Fool's Day
Superstition
Dead End Drive-In
Cemetery Man
Hell Night
Madman
Near Dark
Humanoids From the Deep
Night of the Comet
Just Before Dawn
Squirm
He Knows You're Alone
The Fog
The Monster Club
The Boogens (NEW to list)
Tourist Trap
Night of the Creeps
An American Werewolf In London
Sole Survivor (1983)
Shock Waves

Mainstream films I have watched (and enjoyed) multiple times:

Von Ryan's Express
Scarface
The first four Dirty Harry films
The Driver
For Your Eyes Only (my favorite Bond film)
The Abyss
Cinema Paradiso
The Terminator
Terminator 2
To Live and Die In L.A.
The Fly (1986)
Where Eagles Dare
Pulp Fiction

[Clark Kent]

I could probably narrow my 1500+ collection of BDs down to around 250 essential titles.

[HyperRealist]

True Romance
Sid & Nancy
Martyrs
Watership Down
Enter the Void
Antichrist

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Test of honesty here. There's really no need to have so many movies in our collection.

Sorry, we disagree. I need what I have now and will continue to build my library, as I have been doing for over 20 years.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

How many and what movies should you really have in your collection?

All of the ones I have. Plus the ones that are coming up. Soon I will be adding some Dino Risi films as well, but I need to decide if I should go with the Italian of French DVDs. I also love music, especially on Blu-ray

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Just name the ones that you actually really rewatch over and over per year, rather then listing the movies you think you could rewatch over and over.

Some of the films I revisit each year are:

1. Antonioni's Trilogy of Alienation.
2. Chaplin's City Lights
3. Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy (White in particular)
4. Carax's Lovers on the Bridge
5. Kusturica's Black Cat White Cat, always around Christmas
6. A couple of Isabelle Adjani films as well...
7. Walter Hill's The Driver, as strange as it may sound...BUT we need a proper Blu-ray release already (the Japanese one does not count) as I have this old Danish disc that needs to be replaced:



Etc.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

I used to have serious favorites that I watched all the time, but I'm tired of watching them (such as Office Space and Army of Darkness). Dont list those films. Just list the films you ONLY think about now. Be honest. Don't list films that used to be favorites but aren't anymore. Don't list films that you just like to see for the sake of looking good on your shelf. And don't list films that you like to think that you can watch all the time but you actually don't.
Forget about the idea of having a film library too.

This is an impossible request.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

It's very common that we have all gone out of hand with the buying of videos.

Sorry, Toddly, I don't think so. If you were around during the LD days collecting, then you are probably still doing a good job. If not, then you were never a serious collector - since you asked about honesty

Originally Posted by toddly6666

And include your DVDs too.

So here's my list:


Blu-rays:
300
Battle Royale
The Big Lebowski
Bugsy Malone
Full Metal Jacket
Gladiator
The Graduate
Inglorious Basterds
Kick-Ass
Legend
Miral
The New World
Point Break
Risky Business
Rushmore
Scott Pilgrim Versus the World
Star Wars 4
Star Wars 5
Star Wars 6
Tampopo
Total Recall
Training Day
Tron Legacy
The Town
Matrix 1
Matrix 2
Watchmen

DVDs:
Indiana Jones 1
Indiana Jones 2
Indiana Jones 3
Nowhere in Africa
The Frisco Kid
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring
Kiki's Delivery Service
Pom Poko
Higher Learning
Living in Oblivion
Schindler's List
The Fan
True Lies
Fawlty Towers

Out of 550 Blu-rays in my collection, I should only have 27 Blu-rays.
Out of my 700 DVDs in my collection, I should only have 14 DVDs.

I am not seeing any Kusturica films there. This is surprising, as I remember well you like his work a lot.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

So yup, I need help basically!

Not really, you need to relax and keep getting the films you like. Don't think about ultimate lists, usage, etc.

I've been collecting films for years, went through multiple formats, and never felt the need to justify my acquisitions. It is my library, my films, my memories. Period. But I never bought films just to put on the shelves either.

Originally Posted by toddly6666

Anyone else here care to share the reality of this video-buying hobby?

Yes. Buy great films, not discs. This is the best tip I could give you. And, more importantly, enjoy them

Pro-B

[Jumpman]

This topic is pretty apt for me at the moment. About a year ago, I did some serious soul searching when it came to my BD/DVD collection and just decided it was time to give it up (mostly) and cut completely back.

At my zenith, I had over 350 BDs and well over 200 DVDS.

Within the last year, I've cut it down to 138 BD's and 16 DVDs. And frankly, I still think that's too much. With HBO, iTunes renting, Redbox, and my local library, there's just no need to have a film library of this size. I was never as big as some of the posters on here but, considering the complication that is life, it felt that big.

If I'm ridiculously honest with myself, my collection would look like this:

The Star Wars Saga
The Godfather Trilogy
The Harry Potter Saga
The Dark Knight Trilogy
Back to the Future Trilogy
The Bourne Trilogy
Complete Indiana Jones Adventures
Ocean's Trilogy
Unforgiven
2001 A Space Oydessey
Dark City Director's Cut
Zodiac Director's Cut
Fight Club
Se7en
Finicher's Millennium Trilogy (if he finishes it)
Gone With The Wind
Imitation of Life
Ben Hur
The Wizard of Oz
The Ten Commandments
Memento
Insomnia
The Prestige
Inception
Future Christopher Nolan films
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Minority Report
War of the Worlds
Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers/The Pacific
Schindler's List
Traffic

...and still, that's still too much.

[retablo]

What a silly thread. I don't have to watch something "every year" to warrant its place in my collection. And I work in Hollywood, so it's very understandable that I love film, and have always been surrounded by films (from VHS to Laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray). I have movies I could do without, sure — junk like Fifth Element, The Dark Knight, Independence Day etc — but even I like a stupid movie once in a while.

[JimDiGriz]

Im not a compulsive buyer and I have got my 'true' collection. I only buy what I want and never buy blind. I might double dip quite a bit but thats different!

[GP Legend]

I'm nowhere near as compulsive as some on here, but there are still several titles in my collection that I wish I didn't buy.

[Vriess]

I'm pretty happy with my buying habits. It does get to be addictive and gratifying to buy new movies, but that's actually part of the fun.

With this format I don't think a good transfer will ever be completely blown out of the water the way dvd's, laserdiscs are today. There is much less to improve upon in a home theater setting. It's a good time to be a collector.