Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[EddieLarkin]

Dumbest thing I could possibly have done over these past 8 years of collecting is to not just dive in and blind buy. My purchases have always been about 99% blind, and I love 99% of them. It's not hard to separate the good, the bad and the ugly with a bit of research. I suppose if your preferences are VERY narrow you might get bit more often, but I have a very eclectic taste.

And I really can't imagine wanting the first time I watch a film to be a digital download or a cheap DVD, or even a pirate copy. If I'd seen Bye Bye Birdie that way last week, I doubt I'd have enjoyed it as much as I did. Thankfully I'm not stingy with my cash, so I got Bye Bye Birdie in glorious 1080p, on my 50 inch, with my surround sound set up, and now it's one of my favourite musicals.

It is a great pity that people are so hesitant to behave this way when it comes to exploring cinema. Sure I have a few duds on my shelf, but the $100 I've wasted on them is nothing compared to the thousands that have gone into building a huge and fantastic collection.

[Adcatalano]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Dumbest thing I could possibly have done over these past 8 years of collecting is to not just dive in and blind buy. My purchases have always been about 99% blind, and I love 99% of them. It's not hard to separate the good, the bad and the ugly with a bit of research. I suppose if your preferences are VERY narrow you might get bit more often, but I have a very eclectic taste.

And I really can't imagine wanting the first time I watch a film to be a digital download or a cheap DVD, or even a pirate copy. If I'd seen Bye Bye Birdie that way last week, I doubt I'd have enjoyed it as much as I did. Thankfully I'm not stingy with my cash, so I got Bye Bye Birdie in glorious 1080p, on my 50 inch, with my surround sound set up, and now it's one of my favourite musicals.

It is a great pity that people are so hesitant to behave this way when it comes to exploring cinema. Sure I have a few duds on my shelf, but the $100 I've wasted on them is nothing compared to the thousands that have gone into building a huge and fantastic collection.

Not blind buying isn't a sign of hesitancy to explore other movies, its the thought that it is silly to spend money on a crap shoot when there are other cheaper means to "test the waters" (i.e. renting, downloading). I certainly can't afford to buy every movie I want see so I find a way to watch it and make sure I'm spending wisely. Thats great if your system works for you, it just can't work for everyone

[CinemaScope]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Dumbest thing I could possibly have done over these past 8 years of collecting is to not just dive in and blind buy. My purchases have always been about 99% blind, and I love 99% of them. It's not hard to separate the good, the bad and the ugly with a bit of research. I suppose if your preferences are VERY narrow you might get bit more often, but I have a very eclectic taste.

And I really can't imagine wanting the first time I watch a film to be a digital download or a cheap DVD, or even a pirate copy. If I'd seen Bye Bye Birdie that way last week, I doubt I'd have enjoyed it as much as I did. Thankfully I'm not stingy with my cash, so I got Bye Bye Birdie in glorious 1080p, on my 50 inch, with my surround sound set up, and now it's one of my favourite musicals.

It is a great pity that people are so hesitant to behave this way when it comes to exploring cinema. Sure I have a few duds on my shelf, but the $100 I've wasted on them is nothing compared to the thousands that have gone into building a huge and fantastic collection.

Blind buying is quite rare for me. I've been mad about films since the late 50's, so pretty well know all the films I like, seen them at the cinema or on the telly. I suppose if you don't know a lot of movies, then buying the DVD's cheap is the way to go (I don't know about America, but in the UK you can buy 2nd hand DVD's on Amazon Marketplace really cheap). Or Blockbuster.

[VeZius]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

Dumbest thing I could possibly have done over these past 8 years of collecting is to not just dive in and blind buy. My purchases have always been about 99% blind, and I love 99% of them. It's not hard to separate the good, the bad and the ugly with a bit of research. I suppose if your preferences are VERY narrow you might get bit more often, but I have a very eclectic taste.

And I really can't imagine wanting the first time I watch a film to be a digital download or a cheap DVD, or even a pirate copy. If I'd seen Bye Bye Birdie that way last week, I doubt I'd have enjoyed it as much as I did. Thankfully I'm not stingy with my cash, so I got Bye Bye Birdie in glorious 1080p, on my 50 inch, with my surround sound set up, and now it's one of my favourite musicals.

It is a great pity that people are so hesitant to behave this way when it comes to exploring cinema. Sure I have a few duds on my shelf, but the $100 I've wasted on them is nothing compared to the thousands that have gone into building a huge and fantastic collection.

Glad to see someone else feels that same way as I do. This is exactly what I do as well and it works for me. Been collecting movies since somewhere around 1998 and I've only got to get rid of very few movies.

... and to not go too much off topic. I blind pre-ordered this remake of Notld as soon as it became avaible for pre-order.

[Flex Mentallo]

Sometimes you just gotta jump in on a blind buy. No doubt you get burned from time to time. More often than not you will come across some great films and you start to appreciate those films even more than the ones you've seen at the multiplex a bajillion times. The Lives of Others is a perfect example. I'd heard great things about it when it was in the cinema and the blu ray was universally praised so during one of the late format war BOGO's I decided to give at try and I can honestly say now it is one of the best movies I have ever seen. One of those films I truly wish I could go back in time and see in a proper theater.

I'm thinking of blind buying TT's The Roots of Heaven. The price is the biggest obstacles as TT's standard pricing really doesn't invite blind buys for the average consumer. Still, it's a title I'm genuinely curious about and I am John Huston fan. If TT had the opportunity to relase John Huston's Victory I would buy that in a heart beat. Straight up. ("What's a corner kick?"). $35 though is a lot of smackers for a blind buy but like I said earlier sometimes you just have to jump in and hope for the best.

[Yankees0222]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

WORST RULE EVER !

I can't imagine denying myself the opportunity to enjoy the sense of discovery that comes from sitting down to watch a new movie in my collection. It's like buying a ticket to movie.

I wouldn't be into home theater if my movie buying consisted of only acquiring those things that I'm familiar with. That would be boring beyond tolerance.

I thinks it's the saddest thing about this hobby that so many people just stick to what they know.

Completely agree some of my favorite movies have been blind buys. Also, as you said, it's often cheaper to buy a movie than to go see a movie in theater so I don't see THAT much risk in it

[Torrente]

Plus you always can trade or re-sale it and it's all good you'll never lose money.
So different than buying a ticket for the movies!

[DetroitSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Yankees0222

Also, as you said, it's often cheaper to buy a movie than to go see a movie in theater so I don't see THAT much risk in it

Which is also blind buying, but you can't sell your ticket stubs if you didn't like the movie.

[CinemaScope]

Yep, I was thinking that. Every time you go to a cinema you blind buy, & buying a book. I think it's the price that makes a difference with Twilight Time. A few weeks ago I bought the 13 Assassins Blu, I've never seen it, but it looks like something I'd like, I think it cost me £7.50, I wouldn't take that chance if it cost £25!

[chrisron]

Yeah, it seems like a lot of people here are forgetting that specially young people doesn't have that much money to spend. Is it really that surprising that they use their money to watch a movie at the cinema with their friends or renting/buying movies they are pretty certain they will enjoy, instead of using $30 on a movie from TT? They have got their whole life ahead of them to discover new movies anyways. I think it's only natural that they start with the ones that "everybody else" are watching.

Hell, I own movies from every decade from the 1890s until today and still have only bought one TT release (The Big Heat). It has absolutely nothing to do with not wanting to take a chance on something I haven't seen, but with a limited amount of money to use on movies every week I choose not to pay $30+ shipping for a bare-bones release when I can buy 2-3 catalogue titles from other companies for the same price.

And just to be clear, I have nothing against TT and understand the need for a small company to sell at a higher price. They just won't have me as a customer very often with those prices.

[Blu-Velvet]

I'd say over half to maybe even three-fourths of my Blu-rays and DVDs have been blind-buys, especially in the past few years since I've been buying almost exclusively Blu-rays. The more expensive the disc, the less likely I am to blind-buy it without a lot of research on picture quality and a variety of critical reactions, but when Blu-rays sell for $5-$10-$15 I'll very often check out something from a genre, star, or director I like or a film that's had some past popularity or notoriety, whereas I no longer do that for DVDs unless the film has no Blu-ray release and little chance of one.

Having worked at one time in movie theatres and getting to see almost every new release in pristine 35mm prints, I became spoiled by the high quality for even mediocre movies. Now buying tickets for myself, I still try to find theatres running real film, but when they're only playing on 2k digital projectors I'm far more likely to wait to buy the Blu-ray, which will usually look just as good (and often sound better) in my home theatre than the commercial theatre's presentation. If I have two or three people watching it with me, buying the Blu-ray is the same price or less than buying tickets to see it theatrically. Buying them on sale is equivalent to only one or two theatre tickets (without the transportation/parking hassle).

For films I've never heard of, I still blind buy when they're either cheap, or if they're from companies like Criterion, Twilight Time, or Eureka, whose reputation for interesting, off-beat, and eclectic titles very often (though not always) matches my eclectic tastes. On the other hand, since I discovered the heavy discounts to around $16 at ImportCDs.com, I've now been ordering a majority of the new Olive Films releases that I'd probably pass up at $25-$30.

Watching movies on good Blu-rays increases the enjoyment factor substantially over watching a TV, streaming internet, or DVD image, where a strong story may still be impressive, but fine image details are obscured. Seeing a good sharp image of even a bad or mediocre movie that I'm watching for the very first time will raise my personal impression of it by easily a half-star to full-star rating, maybe even a star-and-a-half, so a movie that would be worth 2 or 2 1/2 stars on DVD or VHS or TV seems more like it's worth 3 or 3 1/2 stars in a good Blu-ray. And a solid 3 1/2 to 4-star movie might be 4 to 4 1/2 on Blu-ray. Seeing a good Blu-ray of a movie I've previously seen on a bad video transfer likewise can be almost like seeing it for the first time and raise my opinion of it from bad to mediocre, from mediocre to good, or from good to great. Thus I'll continue to blind-buy a large number of movies on Blu-ray so I can experience them at their best (barring an archival 35mm screening) the first time I watch them.

[Blu Titan]

Hey gents, looks like scalpers are buying large lots of NOTLD . Will sell out by the end of the week and a lot of movie fans will miss out. This is NOT a good thing. Selling out a title is great but not like this.

[Rory]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

WORST RULE EVER !

I can't imagine denying myself the opportunity to enjoy the sense of discovery that comes from sitting down to watch a new movie in my collection. It's like buying a ticket to movie.

I wouldn't be into home theater if my movie buying consisted of only acquiring those things that I'm familiar with. That would be boring beyond tolerance.

I thinks it's the saddest thing about this hobby that so many people just stick to what they know.

Not the worst rule ever if you're on a budget, as I have always put myself on. I knew guys (it's always guys) who spent the cost of a luxury car on laserdiscs collections that they soon lived to regret.

I have satellite and subscribe to many movie channels -- at a cost of $135 a month! I've rented DVDs and Blu-rays for years from video stores and Netflix and still do. I used to go to a movie once every week for at least 25 years. Now, not so much (Hollywood is mostly producing crap these days), but I still try to see as much as I possibly can.

But I still say that you very much risk the feeling that you've wasted your money when you buy a movie you don't know. If you've got the money to take that risk, good for you, though I think you'd be wiser to put it in a good CD or 401K, but for me, taking as an example a recent movie that I caught on satellite, I'm damn glad I didn't waste $19.95 on MY IDIOT BROTHER!

[Yankees0222]

Originally Posted by Rory

Not the worst rule ever if you're on a budget, as I have always put myself on. I knew guys (it's always guys) who spent the cost of a luxury car on laserdiscs collections that they soon lived to regret.

I have satellite and subscribe to many movie channels -- at a cost of $135 a month! I've rented DVDs and Blu-rays for years from video stores and Netflix and still do. I used to go to a movie once every week for at least 25 years. Now, not so much (Hollywood is mostly producing crap these days), but I still try to see as much as I possibly can.

But I still say that you very much risk the feeling that you've wasted your money when you buy a movie you don't know. If you've got the money to take that risk, good for you, though I think you'd be wiser to put it in a good CD or 401K, but for me, taking as an example a recent movie that I caught on satellite, I'm damn glad I didn't waste $19.95 on MY IDIOT BROTHER!

Yea... But here's such a thing as safe blind buys/reckless blind buys. I'll only blind buy a movie if I feel it's something I'll enjoy. Most of the time you can gather of its your type of movie from trailers or reviews. If I think it looks silly or stupid (as much as I like paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel, my idiot brother falls into this category) I won't buy it. But if it's a Tarantino movie I missed in theaters, you better believe I'm gonna blind buy it. Or if it got great reviews it's probably something I'll enjoy. These are just examples of how I decide what to blind buy.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Yankees0222

Yea... But there's such a thing as safe blind buys/reckless blind buys. I'll only blind buy a movie if I feel it's something I'll enjoy. Most of the time you can gather of its your type of movie from trailers or reviews. If I think it looks silly or stupid (as much as I like paul Rudd and Zooey Deschanel, my idiot brother falls into this category) I won't buy it. But if it's a Tarantino movie I missed in theaters, you better believe I'm gonna blind buy it. Or if it got great reviews it's probably something I'll enjoy. These are just examples of how I decide what to blind buy.

This is pretty much where I'm at regarding blind buys Yankees0222, especially from labels I've grown to trust like TT, Criterion, Kino, et al.

In reality, many of these catalogue titles haven't been purchased totally blind...key aspects of them are already known, at least inferentially from biographies I've read...or retrospective reviews...or clips I've seen...or even ancillary media. Take my recent best example The Sound and the Fury (which still hasn't arrived ). The movie itself is blind for me - never saw it theatrically or even panned and scanned on TV - but its soundtrack isn't unknown. Back in the early 70s, I snagged the LP* of Alex North's original score for some stupid amount like $0.50. I think it was only like the 2nd or 3rd soundtrack I owned at the time, but I liked jazz and blues, and recalled North's name from the credits of Spartacus and Cleopatra...two movie scores I really liked. So even that LP purchase wasn't totally blind, because I already had at least tangental familiarity with the composer. Eventually, I played that sucker until I wore it out, taped it before it was totally gone, and then wore out that tape as well.

Flash forward to TT's announcement that they were bringing this movie to Blu-ray, and of course I was thrilled. Not because I think this will be a great movie, or a masterful adaptation of Faulkner's classic novel, or even a state-of-the-art disc, none of that really matters because I know going in that the experience of seeing this lost film with that wonderful soundtrack, cannot possibly fail to engage me on some level, even if more auditory than visual. And after it's over, even if I never watch the durn thing again (doubtful), I can at least still pop it in and enjoy its lossless isolated score, which, by this point in my life is as familiar and welcome as an old friend.

Silly or not, that's just how I'm wired. I don't need The Sound and the Fury to be a jaw-dropping masterpiece to feel it warrants my time or a place in my collection. North's soundtrack has already earned it that.

* Both sides of Alex North's original Decca soundtrack LP:

Alex North Sound and Fury

[Yankees0222]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

This is pretty much where I'm at regarding blind buys Yankees0222, especially from labels I've grown to trust like TT, Criterion, Kino, et al.

In reality, many of these catalogue titles haven't been purchased totally blind...key aspects of them are already known, at least inferentially from biographies I've read...or retrospective reviews...or clips I've seen...or even ancillary media. Take for example, my recent best example, The Sound and the Fury (which still hasn't arrived ). The movie itself is blind for me - never saw it theatrically or even panned and scanned on TV - but its soundtrack isn't unknown. Back in the early 70s, I snagged the LP* of Alex North's original score for some stupid amount like $0.50. I think it was only like the 2nd or 3rd soundtrack I owned at the time, but I liked jazz and blues, and recalled North's name from the credits of Spartacus and Cleopatra...two movie scores I really liked. So even that LP purchase wasn't totally blind, because I already had at least tangental familiarity with the composer. Eventually, I played that sucker until I wore it out, taped it before it was totally gone, and then wore out that tape as well.

Flash forward to TT's announcement that they were bringing this movie to Blu-ray, and of course I was thrilled. Not because I think this will be a great movie,

[Show spoiler]or a masterful adaptation of Faulkner's classic novel, or even a state-of-the-art disc, none of that really matters because I know going in that the experience of seeing this lost film with that wonderful soundtrack, cannot possibly fail to engage me on some level, even if more auditory than visual. And after it's over, even if I never watch the durn thing again (doubtful), I can at least still pop it in and enjoy its lossless isolated score, which, by this point in my life is as familiar and welcome as an old friend.

Silly or not, that's just how I'm wired. I don't need The Sound and the Fury to be a jaw-dropping masterpiece to feel it warrants my time or a place in my collection. North's soundtrack has already earned it that.

* Both sides of Alex North's original Decca soundtrack LP:
Alex North Sound and Fury

That's actually a very good point. The people releasing the titles also factor into my blind buys. I own a ton of criterion titles and about 95% have been blind buys. I know they are at the very least worth my time and attention because of their track record.... And as you have said, the same goes for the kino and twilight time films I have.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by Yankees0222

That's actually a very good point. The people releasing the titles also factor into my blind buys. I own a ton of criterion titles and about 95% have been blind buys. I know they are at the very least worth my time and attention because of their track record.... And as you have said, the same goes for the kino and twilight time films I have.

TT's taste hasn't failed me yet when it comes to this niche, vintage stuff they've been resurrecting on Blu-ray...all have been fascinating pictures in one way or another...occasionally even a lost cinematic masterwork like Rapture.

Heck, even TT's DVD of The Left Hand of God made me sit up and do a double-take when

[Show spoiler]Bogart at the piano began crooning to Gene Tierney, ending up in an impromptu rather touching duet

. That right there was worth $20 bucks.

[Mooch360]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Hey gents, looks like scalpers are buying large lots of NOTLD . Will sell out by the end of the week and a lot of movie fans will miss out. This is NOT a good thing. Selling out a title is great but not like this.

What makes you think that?

[ParticleDan]

Originally Posted by Mooch360

What makes you think that?

I don't know how anyone can claim to know the intentions of those who are purchasing this title, but it does look like there are less than 700 copies left

[Yankees0222]

Originally Posted by ParticleDan

I don't know how anyone can claim to know the intentions of those who are purchasing this title, but it does look like there are less than 700 copies left

I Think there was that assumption because there was a fairly quick drop in quantity remaining in a seemingly short period of time... And that drop seemed to come our of nowhere which would lead you to believe that a few individuals were buying many copies.

Of course that's all speculation. But isnt that what this thread is all about?