fliggil

Once again a possible lame thread from me, but I just got home from Best Buy (and it was actually the best price I could find anywhere for once!) and picked up the 5-disc Fanny & Alexander CC box set as a blind buy for my Saturday night with the movies. It just got me thinking that around the country, there probably aren't too many college-aged students pulling a move like this, as I noticed most other kids buying movies like AVP and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. For fellow college students - and I guess high schoolers too if any are around, got any funny or odd stories about your DVD habits?

NatrlBornThrllr

http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.ht...atrlbornthrllr

20, college junior.

For the record, my Fanny and Alexander set was a blind-buy, also. Haven't gotten around to it yet, though.

-JP

kornboy

I am 16, and a sophomore in HS. I don't have a job, and can't afford many DVD's

PopcornTreeCt

I post here risking humiliation from the "elders". I'm a college student and most of the time when friends ask about what DVDs I've gotten I lie and tell them new releases. I've tried mentioning foreign movies before but none of them ever heard of them.

Sessa17

Still in college & I'd say 99% of dudes my age don't have the the taste in movies I have or have even heard of more than half of the movies in my collection, but it's not an age thing. I think most of the people here are way out of the college age, but if you look at the weekly "what did you get thread" its always the mainstream movies that everyone picks up & few that get the off-beat or older films.

NatrlBornThrllr

I like a bit of both, though I'll usually only go for the more mainstream films (even the likes of Collateral) if they're on sale or used. The main reason for that is because my roomie will usually buy those titles, and I can just borrow them from him. It's funny, though, when I have friends over. I've got some 500 titles, and practically everybody just looks through them with blank stares.

A conversation that actually took place in my apartment a few weeks back.

"I don't have that big of a DVD collection because I don't buy shitty movies."
"Which of the movies in my collection do you deem shitty?"
(Looks around)
"The Seventh Seal."
"One of Ingmar Bergman's best."
"Oh. Um, how about Cries and Whispers?"
"Ingmar Bergman, again."
"I don't know who that is."

It used to irk me when people would come over to watch a movie, look through my entire collection (which is actually quite varied, but they seem to stumble over the Amores Perros' and American Splendors so much that they fail to notice the Animal Houses and Back to the Futures), and be unable to find anything they wanted to see. They'd then go into my roommate's bedroom, look through his 70 title collection made up of Mr Deeds, Zoolander, and Captain Ron...and yell in excitement, "OH, here are all of the good movies!"

I just don't let it get to me anymore, though. To each his own. It's just a shame that people have that mentality of, "I never saw previews for that, let's watch The Day After Tomorrow instead," or, "Wait that has subtitles at the bottom? Oh I don't want to read the words."

Another conversation, (same guy that I had the Bergman convo with), from a week ago:

"Oh, Hero...is that good?"
"Yeah, I really liked it. ...but it's not in English."
"Oh, so like, I'd have to read it? I thought Quentin Tarantino did it?"
(Hands him the DVD)
"No, see...he presented it. They put that so dumbasses like you will buy it."
"Oh. Hey look it says here that there's an English-language track!"
".........."

So many people are missing out on great movies. Ah well.

-JP

Mike Lowrey

Well, I'm 31, been out of college for nearly 10 years (Class of '96), and I've never heard of Ingmar Bergman. Who the hell is he? And what has he done besides the two titles you listed in your conversations?

EDIT: Oh, checking DVDAficionado's listing...I see a bunch of old '50s, '60s, and '70s foreign movies. No wonder I've never heard of him.

As for Hero...I must admit that the first time I watched it, I did watch it with the English track.

phr33k

17 year old here.... i also bought fanny 5 disks a few weeks ago.

NatrlBornThrllr

Oh.

lwhy?

I am 21 a junior in college. I have cousins that are in high school and they laughed at me for having To Kill A Mockingbird and the Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera in my collection. Those are two great movies. I wanted to beat them in the head for not knowing anything about them. They said A Night at the Opera looked gay.

fliggil

My Marx Bros Silver Screen Collection is possibly the favorite title that I own, and the Warner set has been high on my want list for some time now.

Mike Lowrey

Oh...what?

Oh, and looking at your collection, NatrlBornThrllr, I see you have a lot of "edited" or "rated" titles, not to mention several Foolscreen versions as well. What's up with that?

conscience

copier.

I'm 20 and a college junior.

My F&A was a blind buy, too.


I'm very selective when I buy my dvds and I don't buy the usual crap that many people my age do. Of course, I do buy some guilty pleasures and more newer (as in release year) movies than old so I can't say I am a 100% snob.

Third Baseman

18 year, out of high school - taking a break before college. I don't make enough to pay for a car + all the DVD's I want, but I'm building my collection slowly.

NobleRabbit

18, in my first year of college...

http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.ht...id=noblerabbit

When I tell people that my five favourite movies are...

1. Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975)
2. Once Upon A Time In America (Leone, 1983)
3. 8 1/2 (Fellini, 1963)
4. The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)
5. Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)

They look confused.

Luckily, my closest group of friends are all quite interested in quality cinema.

But some of my more casual aquaintances blast my taste in movies when they see my DVD collection. Luckily, the cinematically-mainstream are usually in the minority at my household, which is nice.

fliggil

Me too, I'm part-film major, so the kids in my classes are pretty savvy when it comes to classic and foreign films. But for the majority of my other friends, they're in the same boat with most of everyone elses friends here who are like 'foreign movie? that means subtitles?'

coladar

21, third year of college. My catalog of films is mostly comprised of recent films, only because I have a limited experience of films from post-code Hollywood in the 30s to the early 80s.

Oddly I love silents, catching them on TCM for the most part. I'd have a large list of silent films on DVD if A.) They weren't going for a premium ($25-$30+) from select companies that produce them and B.) They were available.

For example, I absolutely love Clara Bow. Her 1927 film Wings was the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Film. And guess what? I had to resort to buying a "Chinese" version of the film to own it. Only a couple of other Bow films are on DVD, and they aren't her best. I hate Down to the Sea in Ships, not a fan of Parisian Love and It! isn't anywhere near the top of my list. Then a film I'd kill to see like Empty Hearts basically hasn't been seen by more than a handful of people in decades.

At least a huge number of Clara's films still exist in the UCLA film library or elsewhere, thanks to some amazing people who have spent thousands restoring and preserving the few prints that still exist of her films. Poor Theda Bara, aside from two films and a couple comedy shorts, her entire catalog is lost forever. One can only hope all of Clara's remaining films will arrive on DVD one day.

As soon as I graduate and have abundant amounts of spare money *cough* running around, I'll dedicate my focus on acquiring a sizeable amount of silents. But when $30 can buy anywhere from 3 new films to 6+ used from Half.com, I'll wait on getting anything other than essential silent films.

ReservoirDog45

I'm 16, collection is in the sig. While it's fairly balenced no one my age shares my taste. Most are stunned when I tell them I like black and white, watch subtitled movies, actually watch things older than the 80s etc etc

NatrlBornThrllr

Oh...as in, oh it's sad that there are 30-year old film fans with close to 400 titles in their collection who haven't even heard of Ingmar Bergman. I'm not asking that everybody be a film connoisseur...not by any means. I'm not asking that people own, enjoy, or even watch classic and foreign films. Everybody can have their own tastes, and that's great. It's just sad that there are so many that don't even appreciate these films...films that sculpted some of the contemporary greats.

Ask many modern directors who their favorite filmmakers are, and they'll point to the Renoirs, Fellinis, Kurosawas, and Bergmans of years past as those that have had the greatest influence over their work...who paved the way for modern masterpieces. I think even they would shake their head at the number of people who follow and appreciate their work, but couldn't tell "Rules of the Game" from "Rules of Engagement."

Regarding your "what's up with that" question for me, here are my edited titles:

Eyes Wide Shut
Legend of Drunken Master
Nightmare on Elm Street
Scary Movie

...none of which have "unedited" R1 versions available. Same goes for most of my "rated" films (like Super Size Me). As for the occasional full-screen title, I try to refrain from telling gift-givers to fuck off. That, and they're not films that I wanted enough to buy for myself...so I'm not really anal about whether I'm watching them in wide-screen or not.

Hope that clears up any questions you might have had...and if you've got any other inquiries, feel free to ask. G'day.

-JP

Cameron

When i was in college It was only me and one other guy who had jumped into the dvd age. We traded back and forth, and between the two of us almost owned every dvd to date...I had a 42 inch tv...he did the 52...pretty big for dorm rooms...

Good thing about starting watching good films in HS and college is that you have a better appreciation, and more time to get through the catalogs...bad news, less cash...and you guys won't get the good/free deals that were online a few years back...might even try to taking a film class if your college offers it.

marty888

This has to be one of the most appalling threads I've come across in a long time. I completely understand that not all people like all types of films, and don't necessarily have an encyclopedic knowledge of the movies - but what seems to be a dismal comment on our education system is when people can get through a college education and not even be familiar with the names of important people in film history - or any other area of endeavor, for that matter.

NatrlBornThrllr

Well said.

-JP

ReservoirDog45

Amen brother, know that there are a few of us who do

Sondheim

I'm a 16-year-old and thanks to the two jobs I've had since 2001, I have a collection of over 200 DVDs (including, yes, a blind-buy of the 5-disc "Fanny and Alexander,") plus quite a bit of money saved for college. There are still many DVDs I want to own. Unfortunately I haven't had as much time as I'd like to watch movies recently, since my manager at work has been increasing my hours and my teachers are increasing the workload. I love days like today when I have no looming due dates for homework, no work, and I can just read and watch movies (I watched "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" and "Little Caesar.")

Sadly I'm the only one in my family who really has an appreciation for classic films, though I have been able to convince some of my friends to enjoy films like "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The Third Man."

Matthew Chmiel

You know, if you guys would like to get chicks once in a while, you may want to lay off the Bergman. Maybe lay off the Kurosawa. Maybe lay off the Truffaut as well. Pick up a Michael Bay film. Pick up Bring It On. Pick up the American Pie trilogy. Pick up some films that you can enjoy when others are over.