Putting my collection on hold

[Wes Blu-ray]

If you stick to what you say, then all credit to you.

I myself am also going to seriously slow down my Blu-ray buying train.

I've got so much stuff I need to sell, and to be honest space for Blu-rays is minimum at the moment.

Honestly...I've lost count of how many Blu-rays I bought in the last 12 months...it just get's totally CRAZY!!!!!

[bigdavehopes]

I tend not to buy movies i don't like but i am guilty of blind buying on a crazy scale. I tend to look at the actors, synopsis and artwork and if it sound interesting I'll probably end up buying it.

What about when it come to upgrading? what do you all do?

I only tend to upgrade from DVD to Bluray if I find it very cheap. The only exception would be if there is a very nice steelbook then I may upgrade.

Saying that I had Ozombie on DVD, thought it was pretty bad so got rid of it, only to buy it on bluray from Tesco a few months later because it was only £1.25...

[Wes Blu-ray]

Originally Posted by bigdavehopes

What about when it come to upgrading? what do you all do?

I only tend to upgrade from DVD to Bluray if I find it very cheap.

Same here.

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Buddy Ackerman

You're absolutely right - for those who blind buy then having confidence in a distributor for cherry-picking their titles is a good way to do it. I know I discovered Lifeboat (along with a couple of others) through MoC and don't regret it for a second.

I think my point (and that of others) is to those people who are just buying for the sake of having a 'complete' collection by a certain distributor or marketing brand. Which, as I noted in my post, means that I'm sure a lot of them end up with very fine collections - certainly it's better for them to, say, collect MoC than the Sony Classics Range and end up with M as a completist blind buy than The Da Vinci Code.

But some people take such ownership over a brand that they get angry when they release something they don't like because it interferes with their collection - they have to either skip one and 'ruin' it or buy something they don't like. That's a step beyond for me - having to complete a 'set' of disconnected films simply because of the logo on the spine is an odd motivation and a bizarre thing to become obsessive about. (Going further with the ownership people take over a brand, you only have to look at what happens when someone feels Arrow should release a film they like - and what happens when they have no plans to but instead release films that don't appeal to that person - to see how petulant people can be)

as an alternative example, i like third window films on the whole (adam has great taste) but the relentlessly positive press which comes from his ability to handle people well and encourage their support is doing nobody any favours when it comes to either party's sense of an audiences genuine interest in what he picks to release. too many people drop their interest when it comes to actually buying, and many also seem to think they should buy stuff they don't necessarily like because it helps the label survive. there have been a few examples of films that people reacted well too before release, only for sales figures to be almost non-existent - that's not good news, and not a cause to suddenly buy it, but a reason to question how reliable an interest in films that places labels above the films actually is as a model to work from. it's been like that for third window for a while.

realistically, i'd like people to only buy the films they like, whomever releases them, so we head towards good films, before - but not to the exclusion of - labels we like to have around, on the whole. i'd add that a lot of the concern about labels folding and no longer being around would be a little more realistic if people had seen companies come and go, with the same films often managed by different companies when another format comes around, years down the line; those films that are no longer available are findable if they've been previously released, in one format or another. labels can be a pointer, but they're not a guarantee you'll be forever happy, they're not causes to support as though a charity. buy what films you want, in the end.

[LeeC22]

Originally Posted by bigdavehopes

I only tend to upgrade from DVD to Bluray if I find it very cheap.

I have my collection stored in an excel sheet, Blu Rays on one sheet, and DVDs on another, marked with "Got on Blu Ray" and "Want on Blu Ray". As I watch a Blu Ray, I change the background colour of the cell, so I can see exactly what I have got left to watch.

Every now and again, I sit on Amazon, and go through my DVD sheet. If I find the ones I want below £5, then I'll add them to my basket. A couple of times, I've ended up with around 20 in my basket, but it's worth it at the low price. I got 12 the other day, and it came to about £55 including postage. I'll happily buy used Blus, and you can find them for as little as £1 + p&p sometimes. The perfect way to upgrade.

[Mansinthe]

i collect a lot of movies from all kind of labels , and i love to support the small ones like third window films , cuz i dont see many other labels (ever) releasing some of the movies they released recently on BLURAY or DVD.

in most of the movies i would never have shows a lot of interessted to tell truth after seeing the trailer or reading the describtion. but adam seems to have a taste in "strange" movies that i tend to like a lot in most cases.

movies like "see you tomorrow everyone" , woodsman and the rain or "shady". these are movies i wouldnt want to miss..

same for some stuff in the criterion or moc collection.. i discovered so much movies from the 30-60s i wouldnt have watched a few years ago.
today i love noir movies a lot , same goes for silent movies everyone "knows" but has actually never seen the whole thing..

its nice to watch a movie like "phantom of the paradise" and reconizing a scene from a classic movie like "touch of evil"

the amount of movies i didnt like from these labels (arrow , TWF , moc , bfi , criterion etc) is suprisingly low compared to some recent releases of the major labels

but i would never buy or keep movies i "hated" , someone else might loves these so i try to sell or trade this movies for something else (mostly blind buys)

for example i absolutly hated "breathless" , "les cousins" and "le beau serge".

but for these 3 movies i didnt like i did probably discorver 60 movies i absolutly love !

[88thCrazy]

I've also decided to slow down my collection. Firstly, due to space - I bought a bookcase for my collection earlier this year, and now all six shelves are full. I've had to start placing blu's horizontally on each shelf, and now even have a little plastic box to store my least favourite blus!

Secondly, recently I've been looking into back catalogues and blind-buying a lot of films for various reasons. I, like many overs, often base blind-buys on actor and/or director involvement, or whether the film synopsis itself interests me. For the most part, I've been lucky and enjoyed the majority of films that I've took a chance on - but I'm always pretty cautious.

I've been introduced to a few great films thanks to labels such as Arrow - Dario Argento's films, The People Under The Stars etc. - films I probably wouldn't have even come across had I not been aware of the Arrow label. I'm really grateful to have been introduced to certain titles - but I definitely feel no need to buy everything they put out.

The only time I've really gone out my way to purchase a blu is either with films that are not available in the UK, or if there's a specific edition of a film I love. Two of my most expensive titles - the US Walmart Man Of Steel and the first edition German Sucker Punch steel - where way above what I would usually pay, but worth it due to my love the films themselves.

I've now given myself a rule of only buying new releases. Whether that be catalogue titles or new films. I currently have 4 pre-orders, and of course there's films that I'll be purchasing once released, I'm just hoping that stopping a cheeky 2 for £10 deal etc. will scale back my collection.

[Simon_LDT]

Originally Posted by 88thCrazy

I've also decided to slow down my collection. Firstly, due to space - I bought a bookcase for my collection earlier this year, and now all six shelves are full. I've had to start placing blu's horizontally on each shelf, and now even have a little plastic box to store my least favourite blus!

Haha, I'm doing exactly the same at the minute. I put an extra shelf in mine (Ikea Billy) and still ran out of room!

[Mansinthe]

i have the Ikea "besta" series... have to buy more of these soon.

putting every UK release (expect the moc, arrow,bfi stuff etc) into 11mm cases helps a lot in saving space. same goes for building my own "box sets" for movies like expendables 1-2 (3 discs in one 12mm case) or rambo 1-4 with both cuts of rambo 4 in a 5 disc 15mm case (you get the idea)

i even startet to put some CE editions and TV show combo releases into normal cases with my own covers...

its just not worth it to actually "collect" such stuff if you got over a 1000 blus...same for steelbook etc (at least for me)

i would acutally prefer for criterion to stop with their new "digipack" releases since they waste of lot of space for DVDs i do not need at all.
would be nice of them to make at least normal covers avaible like they did before with the first digipak releases...


2 for 10GBP or 3 for 17GBP sales are nice to get some releases of the major labels , i got a lot of stuff like "flying saucers, the day the earth stood still, a few billy wilder movies" for 5-6 GBP each. not that bad !

[mrpants]

"My home is not a branch of HMV" I keep telling myself as I look for titles to remove.

Gnomeo and Juliet
Domino
Rocknrolla
Precious

Four titles I've chosen to remove already. Am I being too rash, would you have these in your collection?

[Dickieduvet]

Originally Posted by mrpants

"My home is not a branch of HMV" I keep telling myself as I look for titles to remove.

Gnomeo and Juliet
Domino
Rocknrolla
Precious

Four titles I've chosen to remove already. Am I being too rash, would you have these in your collection?

No! but look at some of the S**t in my collection

[Mansinthe]

i have RockNRolla in my collection and i liked the movie

[Phil92]

Originally Posted by mrpants

"My home is not a branch of HMV" I keep telling myself as I look for titles to remove.

Gnomeo and Juliet
Domino
Rocknrolla
Precious

Four titles I've chosen to remove already. Am I being too rash, would you have these in your collection?

I have Gnomeo & Juliet in my collection. I wouldn't dream of poking the others with a stick.

[bigdavehopes]

Originally Posted by mrpants

"My home is not a branch of HMV" I keep telling myself as I look for titles to remove.

Gnomeo and Juliet
Domino
Rocknrolla
Precious

Four titles I've chosen to remove already. Am I being too rash, would you have these in your collection?

I've recently purchased precious on bluray from a carboot sale, only cost me £1.50... hopefully it'll be worth that

[Buddy Ackerman]

Originally Posted by mrpants

Four titles I've chosen to remove already. Am I being too rash, would you have these in your collection?

What does it matter - we're never going to come round your house and judge you for having them (or not).

Do you want them in your collection? If not and you want to get rid of them then do so. if you want to keep them then do that. The only person it matters to is you.

[CinemaScope]

Dammit, I still keep buying the bloody things because they're so cheap. I've just ordered Iron Man 1-3 from Zavvi for £18. £6 a movie, DVD & VHS was never as cheap.

[insomniac013]

After nearing 500 BDs (and beginning to lack shelf space), I have become very picky about what i buy, whereas before i used to buy whatever was on sale that i had a vague interest in. Now i look at it from all angles before i purchase, like "How much rewatch value does it have?", "Will there be a better edition down the line?" and "Do i really like it that much?" - Stuff like that goes through my head. I very rarely blind anymore either, unless it's a super critically acclaimed or just highly recommended title.

Good luck Phil!