How do you decide which movies are worth buying?

[johnpaul2]

Do I like the movie / am curious about it / have heard positive stuff about it ?
If yes, has the movie been recently restored or is an OK pre-existing master available ?
If yes, who is relasing it and how are the technical history ?
If they're OK, then, I like having extra features but never watch them anyway, so I'm pretty much OK to go !


On the other hand, if the BD is likely to be technically limited / subpar, it can be enough of a turn-off for me, since many releases will answer to the above questions in a more positive way.

[Member-222782]

"How do I decide which movies are worth buying?"

I don't know how to answer this. I've loved movies since I was very young - it's the only thing I've ever truly enjoyed in life so, naturally, I'm drawn to them. What's worth buying? Well, I have a preferred genre like everyone else so I tend to buy movies in that genre (horror). I'm also a fan of big, established Hollywood franchises like Indiana Jones (and director Steven Spielberg) and James Bond so, obviously, I consider those must-haves. It all really depends on how much you appreciate film as an artform. If watching movies is just a way for you to kill time then I think you're better off sticking to streaming.

[jess1581]

Replay value and cultural significance. I'm a collector though, i collect franchises, my favorite director filmographies, certain genres.

[DaveSimonH]

How do I decide? Do I enjoy the film, or am I interested in seeing it? Purchase. Pretty simple.

Watching via blu-ray is my preference, and at this point buying over the last 10 years, it's more a lack of storage space holding me back.
As others have said, with the likes of Poundland, CeX & musicMagpie, its easy to buy them by the pound, and when they are 50p to £2, they are at worst a cheap rental & spare case.

[Grethiwha]

Most of the people answering in this thread have 1000+ blu-ray collections, so you know when they feel a movie's worth owning on blu: in all circumstances.

jk jk

My collection's getting up there though, which is kinda scary. I wish I was more discerning in my purchasing habits. Ideally, every movie in my collection should be special to me in some way.

I actually have a system by which I decide which movies are worth buying. I rate every movie I watch on imdb, and then I keep and maintain a list of every movie I've rated a 9/10 or 10/10, ordered roughly by preference. Then somewhere down the list in the "9s" I have a "cut-off" above which I buy movies, when they're available on blu-ray, and below which I don't.

The problem is I'm buying mostly movies I've already seen, and I mostly watch movies I haven't seen. So when an obscure old movie is announced for blu-ray that I'm interested in, I find a way to see it first (usually in low quality) to know if I want to buy it. So I watch it in low quality, decide I like it, immediately order the blu-ray, and then don't watch the high quality blu-ray, maybe for years, because I just saw the movie. Which seems counterintuitive. I do blind-buy movies occasionally, but usually only under the rare circumstance that I think the movie is a sure bet.

I also tend to buy movies below my "cut-off" for various reasons: I want to watch the movie again and think I'll like it more on a second viewing, or there are a couple filmmakers I want to own all their movies, or in the case of some obscure Asian stuff available from certain boutique labels, there's stuff I can't help but to buy.

With every purchase, I risk setting a new bad precedent for myself, haha. But then, sometimes I wish I bought less of the standard edition blue amaray mainstream stuff that's readily available at all times on TV, Netflix, and 100 other places, and actually more of the obscure special edition Japanese titles and whatnot that I actually really like to collect.

[levcore]

I use my brain

[stigdu]

Is Jenna Jameson in it?

If yes, instant buy.
If not, no buy.

Simples.

[Blu Lemmy]

Originally Posted by stigdu

Is Jenna Jameson in it?

If yes, instant buy.
If not, no buy.

Simples.

Someone is showing there age.....teenager in the 90's/early 2000's by any chance

[stigdu]

Originally Posted by Blu Lemmy

Someone is showing there age.....teenager in the 90's/early 2000's by any chance

Yeah turned 18 in 1992. Jameson and my right hand had an excellent working relationship.

[Martoto]

I don't choose them....

They choose me

[Blu Lemmy]

stig can't reply.....he's busy

[Decky]

I seriously can't answer this. I own none of the Mission Impossible films on Blu Ray but LOVED 4 5 and 6.
I disliked Dumbo (2019) but will buy it on day of release.
I tend to sway toward certain directors or Genres. I also tend to get sequels to films I like or love; but even that has no pattern I despised Kingsman 2 as much as Independence Day 2, but kept KM2 and selling ID2.

I love my collection very much, but sometimes I baffle even myself.

[SymbioticFunction]

How do you decide which movies are worth keeping might be a better question. I sell on around a third of my purchases. I've gotten rid of loads of blu-rays over the years. I'm quite often surprised at just how many films some of the other members own. Makes me wonder if they automatically keep absolutely everything that they pick up. Personally I expect strong replay value from films in my collection. Only exception is Dario Argento's really weak last couple of films where I only keep them so I can have a complete Argento collection.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

How do you decide which movies are worth keeping might be a better question. I sell on around a third of my purchases. I've gotten rid of loads of blu-rays over the years. I'm quite often surprised at just how many films some of the other members own. Makes me wonder if they automatically keep absolutely everything that they pick up. Personally I expect strong replay value from films in my collection. Only exception is Dario Argento's really weak last couple of films where I only keep them so I can have a complete Argento collection.

I'm more selective with my Blu-ray purchases than I was with DVD back in the day, but some directors/actors I just have to get all their movies if available.

Collecting is half the fun, the movies themselves the other half.

[stigdu]

I'm glad I don't have that mentality, or I'd be broke! I don't think there are any series I own every film of. Oh, apart from Saw, which I love. I definitely wouldn't buy a film just to maintain ownership of of a complete series. I'd have to actually like all the films too.

[SymbioticFunction]

At one point, I owned all of the Terminator films but when I bought and watched Terminator Genisys, I hated it so much that it made me reappraise the entire franchise. I sold off films 3 and 4 and now just keep the two James Cameron films. So there is a tipping point for franchise collectors. There have been times where I contemplate having a mass purge and only retaining the genuinely truly great films. But the lesser films that you would get rid off, I think I would end up missing them. It is tempting though.

[Matthew.H]

A good question as well would be how can you really tell if a film is good or not if you haven't seen it? Reviews are normally very much someone's opinion/taste. The reviewer may not like a film but you might think it's fantastic.

Personally I don't tend to read reviews but I do watch trailers. If a film looks interesting and it's inexpensive, I'll blind buy and if it's not a keeper I've got a new replacement case for a title already in my collection with a worn case.
If I enjoy the film enough to re-watch at a later date it goes on the shelf and on the collection here.

[SymbioticFunction]

Thinking about it, Star Wars is another exception in my collection. I own two films that I don't much enjoy (Clone Wars animated movie and Solo) just so that I can possess a complete run of all the Star Wars motion pictures made to date.

[bigshot]

I look for interesting movies I HAVEN'T seen yet. There are an awful lot of those to choose from. I usually watch with a couple of friends, so I look at buying a disc like getting tickets to a revival house, but I get to keep the film.

I can parse whether a film is worthwhile by reading reviews. I don't see why anyone would have trouble with that. Back in my old Netflix DVD renting days, I would look for films that had an even mix of one star and five star reviews. If people loved and despised the same movie, with no one falling in the middle, I could be guaranteed that the film was interesting.

[Patient-X]

I'll pretty much buy any old s**t