The Criterion Collection

[Tin Drum]

Originally Posted by iScottie

It seems incredibly simple in theory, but it can be extremely difficult.

Ever since I can remember I've always loved film. I used to watch my Disney VHS tapes religiously to the point that some of them started to wear. Sure, I owned the movies, but I never thought of it as a collection. Unfortunately, as I got older, I started loving the idea of owning a large collection of movies more than the movies themselves (a lot of people will deny it themselves, but I know for a fact that they do it too). Yes, I've always loved the medium (and I always will), but I started taking on the belief that the more movies I owned, the bigger movie fan I was. Another part was the idea that if I own every movie, I won't have to worry about ever tracking them down again. However, this was not the right mentality and it ate me alive to the point where I couldn't do it anymore.

It was a cool hobby. Despite consuming me, it allowed me to see a lot of films. I'd say the best thing I took out of it, though, was that it helped shape the person I am today. I can easily say that for the most part, my movie collection is very much in-line with my personality, beliefs, and interests.

As pessimistic as it may sound, I am not one to believe in happy endings. I'm not saying people are destined to be unhappy, but I feel like life is a series of disappointments more so than anything else. It's how we choose to react to these setbacks that ultimately shapes who we are, who we want to be, and how we want our future to be. Therefore, when I see the ending to a film like In the Mood for Love, which one could argue ends on a somber note, I find beauty in TLCW's character appearing to have gained an experience that ultimately yields internal peace and contention within himself.

Getting back to the point at hand, I have now taken the motto of quality over quantity. As I've already stated, I love the medium and will love it until the day I die, but I don't want to be the person who looks at a piece of art, does not feel moved by it, and continues to hang on to that picture so that the day may come when he or she feels something. Life's too short.

With every new movie I see, I do hope that I will love it enough to say that I want to own this film and make it a part of my movie collection. If I watch it and do not like it though, not much is lost. I save money and still get to say that I saw X film, thus crossing it off of my infinite watchlist.

Here is what I currently own. I can see a few more going but for the most part I would say it's solid and not much more can be done to it.

If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that there may be a lot of good movies, but not too many hold up on repeat viewings. I'm pretty sure I've rewatched certain movies and convinced myself that they were better than they were (because in my mind, I needed to love a "Citizen Kane" or "Picnic at Hanging Rock" in order to consider myself a film lover). However, repeat viewings have proved that my initial gut reaction was the right one.

[Show spoiler]2001: A Space Odyssey
Arrival
L'Avventura
The Before Trilogy
Being There
The Big Sleep
Blade Runner
Boyhood
Breaking Bad: The Complete Series
Chungking Express
Closer
Collateral
La Dolce Vita
Don't Look Now
The Double Life of Véronique
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
L'Eclisse
Eyes Wide Shut
Fallen Angels
Fanny and Alexander
Fight Club
The Godfather
The Graduate
The Great Dictator
Groundhog Day
Happy Together
In a Lonely Place
In the Mood for Love
It's a Wonderful Life
The Lion King
Lost in Translation
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Matrix
Mulholland Drive
My Neighbor Totoro
No Country for Old Men
Oldboy
On the Waterfront
Paris, Texas
Persona
Pulp Fiction
The Red Shoes
Robin Hood
The Searchers
Seven
Seven Samurai
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shining
Solaris
Spirited Away
Taxi Driver
Three Colors
Tokyo Story
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
The Tree of Life
Vertigo
The Wailing
WALL-E
Yi Yi
Y Tu Mamá También

/rant

I completely understand where you are coming from. My reasoning is not the exact same, but it is very interesting to see other viewpoints.

I sold most of my collection (not just Criterions) because I simply did not and do not have the time for them anymore and, with that lost time, my passion for OWNING films waned because I found my time worth focusing on other things (new partner, new job, ...new opportunities). I still love film (although my tastes have changed over the last couple of years and I still frequent this forum on a semi-regular basis to read about film and television), but my passion for collecting is no longer there. Bring in the idea of streaming and other media forms and the idea of having something in hand is not as enticing as it once was.

I have a scant few Criterions left in my collection and will most definitely add more in the future if they continue to release films that I define as something I want to revisit for some specific reason (Being There, for example - that film holds a special place in my heart).

I still own -

Dillinger is Dead (DVD)
The Hit (DVD)
The Tin Drum (DVD)
Insignificance
Judex
Mulholland Dr.
Paris, Texas
The Rose
Seconds

And I want to add The New World to the mix when a good price comes along.

The above have various reasons for why I decided to keep them and want the ability to revisit them at a moment's notice.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

"Cheap Viagra againn dad "

[Show spoiler]Can't wait for someone to read this out of context, and be like WTF?

I'm reading it in context and I'm like WTF.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Tin Drum

I completely understand where you are coming from. My reasoning is not the exact same, but it is very interesting to see other viewpoints.

I sold most of my collection (not just Criterions) because I simply did not and do not have the time for them anymore and, with that lost time, my passion for OWNING films waned because I found my time worth focusing on other things (new partner, new job, ...new opportunities). I still love film (although my tastes have changed over the last couple of years and I still frequent this forum on a semi-regular basis to read about film and television), but my passion for collecting is no longer there. Bring in the idea of streaming and other media forms and the idea of having something in hand is not as enticing as it once was.

I have a scant few Criterions left in my collection and will most definitely add more in the future if they continue to release films that I define as something I want to revisit for some specific reason (Being There, for example - that film holds a special place in my heart).

I still own -

Dillinger is Dead (DVD)
The Hit (DVD)
The Tin Drum (DVD)
Insignificance
Judex
Mulholland Dr.
Paris, Texas
The Rose
Seconds

And I want to add The New World to the mix when a good price comes along.

The above have various reasons for why I decided to keep them and want the ability to revisit them at a moment's notice.

So because you got a new girlfriend or wife and a new job your passion for collecting waned? I'm just speaking for myself but I'd never let a relationship interfere with my passion for collecting and if my partner doesn't like the fact I collect movies or has no interest in sharing time with me to enjoy them I say adios to her rather then selling off my collection. I'm not saying that's the case for you but rather just an example. I can understand having to work some more hours at a job but that wouldn't stop me from watching my collection and movies in general in my spare time. I just might not have the same amount of time for it as I once did. It's just hard for me to understand how a hobby you are very passionate about can wane. That's just my thinking though so I don't know. I can't imagine ever selling off my collection that I've invested so much time and money in and has rewarded me so much and will continue to reward me as far as I can see.

I guess it all depends on how serious of a film collector you have always been in the first place. That may play a big part into it. My seriousness and tastes as a film collector has just gotten stronger and stronger over the years since I started collecting VHS since I was a kid. I'm 36 now.

[Edward J Grug III]

I understand the point of selling off movies that you don't care for, but that you can get your collection down so low is very surprising to me.

Luckily my wife is also very into films, and our blu ray collection is, in our opinion, a worthwhile investment. We constantly rewatch films, and our unwatched pile is always very low.

I do hope to share my collection with my son when he's old enough, hopefully he is interested in film too. (I won't try to force it on him, of course).

I expect to do a purge at some point, but more like the bottom 10% of our collection, nothing too drastic.

We have a small pile of blu rays to sell (like 6?) that I haven't gotten around to yet, just because it seems like too much effort.

[Tin Drum]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

So because you got a new girlfriend or wife and a new job your passion for collecting waned? I'm just speaking for myself but I'd never let a relationship interfere with my passion for collecting and if my partner doesn't like the fact I collect movies or has no interest in sharing time with me to enjoy them I say adios to her rather then selling off my collection. I'm not saying that's the case for you but rather just an example. I can understand having to work some more hours at a job but that wouldn't stop me from watching my collection and movies in general in my spare time. I just might not have the same amount of time for it as I once did. It's just hard for me to understand how a hobby can wane. That's just my thinking though so I don't know. I can't imagine ever selling off my collection that I've invested so much time and money in and has rewarded me so much and will continue to reward me as far as I can see.

I guess it all depends on how serious of a film collector you have always been in the first place. That may play a big part into it. My seriousness and tastes as a film collector has just gotten stronger and stronger over the years since I started collecting VHS since I was a kid.

Interests change and people are different. That's what makes the world go round. That's all I can really say because I did not bring up my experience to change any minds or to say one is right over the other.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

I understand the point of selling off movies that you don't care for, but that you can get your collection down so low is very surprising to me.

Luckily my wife is also very into films, and our blu ray collection is, in our opinion, a worthwhile investment. We constantly rewatch films, and our unwatched pile is always very low.

I do hope to share my collection with my son when he's old enough, hopefully he is interested in film too. (I won't try to force it on him, of course).

I expect to do a purge at some point, but more like the bottom 10% of our collection, nothing too drastic.

We have a small pile of blu rays to sell (like 6?) that I haven't gotten around to yet, just because it seems like too much effort.

That's another joy of collecting too if you are in a relationship with children is introducing those films to your kids as they get older. I love introducing films I grew up with to my nephews and absolutely can't wait till they get older so my brother (who's also a collector) and I can introduce them to more grown up films such as horror like we grew up with.

[Arawn]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

I expect to do a purge at some point, but more like the bottom 10% of our collection, nothing too drastic.

Just remember all the good the purge does.

[The Great Owl]

I like the idea of purging the movie collection and decluttering my life, so to speak, because I'm pretty much a minimalist in all other aspects of my life.

I love having a big movie collection, though, and I know that it wouldn't be worth the effort to sell off my collection just to get pennies on the dollar for each Blu-ray.

I really enjoy those moments when I randomly pick a blind buy film out of my impressive backlog of still-unwatched discs, I fall in love with the film, and I think to myself, "How in the world did this sit unwatched on my shelf for months?"

I dunno. If someone offered me $40,000 on the spot for my Blu-ray collection, and handled all of the effort and expense of transporting the Blu-rays out of my home, then I'd take that person up on the offer. Otherwise, my collection stays put.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by Arawn

Just remember all the good the purge does.

?

[mja345]

Whenever these discussions come up, I say live and let live. If you like to collect physical media, collect. If you like to stream, stream. There's so much more serious shit that requires a lot of thought or worry that I always approach movies/collecting as fun. It should always be fun. If it ever becomes something that you start stressing about or overthinking, take a step back. This is a really fun time to collect IMO. I started collecting again in 2011 after taking a 2-3 year hiatus. It's just been fun for me ever since. I enjoy coming on here and discussing it with you good folks. I never argue with someone who loves to stream and thinks I'm odd because I love physical media because that's their stance and I have mine. We all love film at the end of the day.

[the sordid sentinel]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I like the idea of purging the movie collection and decluttering my life, so to speak, because I'm pretty much a minimalist in all other aspects of my life.

I love having a big movie collection, though, and I know that it wouldn't be worth the effort to sell off my collection just to get pennies on the dollar for each Blu-ray.

I really enjoy those moments when I randomly pick a blind buy film out of my impressive backlog of still-unwatched discs, I fall in love with the film, and I think to myself, "How in the world did this sit unwatched on my shelf for months?"

I dunno. If someone offered me $40,000 on the spot for my Blu-ray collection, and handled all of the effort and expense of transporting the Blu-rays out of my home, then I'd take that person up on the offer. Otherwise, my collection stays put.

Yep. Also grabbing a film you haven't watched in maybe a couple of years and being reminded why you love it so much.

[The Great Owl]

My Criterion digibook of Blow-Up arrived undamaged in and perfect mint condition from Amazon today, despite being shipped in a flimsy envelope.

I really should have bought a lottery ticket today.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by mja345

Whenever these discussions come up, I say live and let live. If you like to collect physical media, collect. If you like to stream, stream. There's so much more serious shit that requires a lot of thought or worry that I always approach movies/collecting as fun. It should always be fun. If it ever becomes something that you start stressing about or overthinking, take a step back. This is a really fun time to collect IMO. I started collecting again in 2011 after taking a 2-3 year hiatus. It's just been fun for me ever since. I enjoy coming on here and discussing it with you good folks. I never argue with someone who loves to stream and thinks I'm odd because I love physical media because that's their stance and I have mine. We all love film at the end of the day.

Oh, I completely agree - just surprised one can go from a massive collection to 20 or less. That's mind boggling to me.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Originally Posted by the sordid sentinel

Yep. Also grabbing a film you haven't watched in maybe a couple of years and being reminded why you love it so much.

I can also relate to this. There's a very rare title here and there that I might not have watched in a couple years and then I'll watch it and realize how great it is again. With me though there's just so many films that I've discovered over the last few years that just get better and better with repeat viewings and I love that joy as well.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Edward J Grug III

Oh, I completely agree - just surprised one can go from a massive collection to 20 or less. That's mind boggling to me.

Cutting back to 20 unwatched BDs would be mind boggling to me.

My unwatched pile is like the oceans. I don't even fool myself about making it go down. I'm happy when I can just slow the rate at which it rises

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by octagon

Cutting back to 20 unwatched BDs would be mind boggling to me.

My unwatched pile is like the oceans. I don't even fool myself about making it go down. I'm happy when I can just slow the rate at which it rises:

In the Twilight Time thread, the rep made a comment about how 2020 would be viewed as the "make it or break it" year for physical media.

My goal is to own enough still-unwatched Blu-rays by 2020 so that, if physical media dies out, then I'll still have enough unwatched movies to keep me busy for the rest of my life.

I'm doing an awesome job so far.


(I was doing such a great job of keeping current with my Blu-rays until that darn Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman set was released.)

[ArnoldLayne56]

Originally Posted by octagon

Cutting back to 20 unwatched BDs would be mind boggling to me.

My unwatched pile is like the oceans. I don't even fool myself about making it go down. I'm happy when I can just slow the rate at which it rises

According to my BR.com tracker, I have Watched 414 SKU and have 1010 New.
I've been buying 200-300 a year for about six years.
I'm working on a formula to buy less ;-) But I just got a box of 5 from TT.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by jayembee

I dunno. I imagine that pretty much everyone would "keep what they love", unless they were in desperate enough straits that they needed to sell off everything.

I keep what I love. I also keep what I like a lot, but don't necessarily love. I even keep what I kinda sorta somewhat like, because I might like it better the next time. I even keep things that I think are dumber than dirt, but still get a kick out of.

Have you ever asked yourself when you looked at your collection of films: "Does this bring value to my life?" or "Do I need this in my life?".

I recently saw a movie on Netflix called Minimalism and it was pretty good.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

In the Twilight Time thread, the rep made a comment about how 2020 would be viewed as the "make it or break it" year for physical media.

My goal is to own enough still-unwatched Blu-rays by 2020 so that, if physical media dies out, then I'll still have enough unwatched movies to keep me busy for the rest of my life.

I saw that line from the TT rep as well. For some reason I'm not buying 2020 as some kind of "end game" for this type of thing. Especially when it feels like companies like Criterion or Arrow are just starting to heat up again with rumors of new deals, hot titles, etc. Or Kino with what feels like another hundred or so unannounced titles for their label. I found that TT line a bit odd (though, of course there are probably plenty of things going on being scenes that I haven't the slightest idea about), but it doesn't feel like a doom and gloom scenario. I think personally the boom and somewhat waning sales they've experienced (Scream Factory as well) was partially due to a lack of competition at their peak. It isn't necessarily that the thirst for buying has dissipated, but the need to spread out purchases among a variety of companies has caused a lack of sales of certain titles.

Regardless, I think at this point of my unwatched pile, yeah there are things on my shelves I'll never get to see, even if I live to a nice ripe age. And I'm more than ok with that, to be honest.

[jw007]

Originally Posted by iScottie

It seems incredibly simple in theory, but it can be extremely difficult.

Ever since I can remember I've always loved film. I used to watch my Disney VHS tapes religiously to the point that some of them started to wear. Sure, I owned the movies, but I never thought of it as a collection. Unfortunately, as I got older, I started loving the idea of owning a large collection of movies more than the movies themselves (a lot of people will deny it themselves, but I know for a fact that they do it too). Yes, I've always loved the medium (and I always will), but I started taking on the belief that the more movies I owned, the bigger movie fan I was. Another part was the idea that if I own every movie, I won't have to worry about ever tracking them down again. However, this was not the right mentality and it ate me alive to the point where I couldn't do it anymore.

It was a cool hobby. Despite consuming me, it allowed me to see a lot of films. I'd say the best thing I took out of it, though, was that it helped shape the person I am today. I can easily say that for the most part, my movie collection is very much in-line with my personality, beliefs, and interests.

As pessimistic as it may sound, I am not one to believe in happy endings. I'm not saying people are destined to be unhappy, but I feel like life is a series of disappointments more so than anything else. It's how we choose to react to these setbacks that ultimately shapes who we are, who we want to be, and how we want our future to be. Therefore, when I see the ending to a film like In the Mood for Love, which one could argue ends on a somber note, I find beauty in TLCW's character appearing to have gained an experience that ultimately yields internal peace and contention within himself.

Getting back to the point at hand, I have now taken the motto of quality over quantity. As I've already stated, I love the medium and will love it until the day I die, but I don't want to be the person who looks at a piece of art, does not feel moved by it, and continues to hang on to that picture so that the day may come when he or she feels something. Life's too short.

With every new movie I see, I do hope that I will love it enough to say that I want to own this film and make it a part of my movie collection. If I watch it and do not like it though, not much is lost. I save money and still get to say that I saw X film, thus crossing it off of my infinite watchlist.

Here is what I currently own. I can see a few more going but for the most part I would say it's solid and not much more can be done to it.

If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that there may be a lot of good movies, but not too many hold up on repeat viewings. I'm pretty sure I've rewatched certain movies and convinced myself that they were better than they were (because in my mind, I needed to love a "Citizen Kane" or "Picnic at Hanging Rock" in order to consider myself a film lover). However, repeat viewings have proved that my initial gut reaction was the right one.

[Show spoiler]2001: A Space Odyssey
Arrival
L'Avventura
The Before Trilogy
Being There
The Big Sleep
Blade Runner
Boyhood
Breaking Bad: The Complete Series
Chungking Express
Closer
Collateral
La Dolce Vita
Don't Look Now
The Double Life of Véronique
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
L'Eclisse
Eyes Wide Shut
Fallen Angels
Fanny and Alexander
Fight Club
The Godfather
The Graduate
The Great Dictator
Groundhog Day
Happy Together
In a Lonely Place
In the Mood for Love
It's a Wonderful Life
The Lion King
Lost in Translation
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Matrix
Mulholland Drive
My Neighbor Totoro
No Country for Old Men
Oldboy
On the Waterfront
Paris, Texas
Persona
Pulp Fiction
The Red Shoes
Robin Hood
The Searchers
Seven
Seven Samurai
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shining
Solaris
Spirited Away
Taxi Driver
Three Colors
Tokyo Story
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
The Tree of Life
Vertigo
The Wailing
WALL-E
Yi Yi
Y Tu Mamá También

/rant

I own 32 of the 62 films you listed. We share similar taste in cinema.

You hit it on the nail when you wrote this:

I started loving the idea of owning a large collection of movies more than the movies themselves (a lot of people will deny it themselves, but I know for a fact that they do it too)

YES. I fell in love with amassing a huge collection. But is this love? It was infatuation, it was obsession, it was delusion...and most importantly: addiction.

Trying to own as many films as possible is an exercise in futility for sure.

It's exhausting and draining and by far, financially unsustainable.

Whoever thinks otherwise is in denial or delusional themselves.

Getting back to the point at hand, I have now taken the motto of quality over quantity.

YES. Again. Quality over quantity. But that's subjective..and relative to ourselves. It should be something personal, just like how a person might make their own film: the best directors do it for themselves, not to please others. The same should be when being a film watcher: We aren't trying to impress anyone but ourselves. So refining my collection will be the next step, as opposed to just aimlessly purchasing movies just to say "I have a respectable film library". Bullshit. I shouldn't care what other people think of my collection. I used to think it was cool to post photos of my entire collection in this thread, but now I think its pointless. Why should I show off or cause jealousy? It's a waste of energy.

I agree 10000000% with everything you said, iScottie.