BuckNaked2k

That is a common problem with Criterion's wide cases. It's happened to me on several, with the just the top clip breaking off. I think it's on account of the inserts being so thick.

Superdaddy

Interesting...it hasn't happened (yet) to any of mine.

But then again, I in my very anal fashion take the inserts out and store them separately from the DVDs. (I do this for all of my discs, not just the Criterions). Some day I'll probably pull out some discs I've haven't watched in ages and discover inserts I forgot were there, because I never took them out and filed them away.

BlueMan1

Ended Up Getting:

Armarcord (Re-Release)
Rififi
The Virgin Spring
Elevator To The Gallows
Green For Danger
Army Of Shadows
Les Enffantes Teribles
Mishima: A Life IN Four Chapters
Le Doulos
Le Deuxieme Souffle
An Empire Of Passion
The Hit
The Monsters And Madmen Box Set
John Cassavetes: Five Films
Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy
The Third Man (Blu-Ray)
Chungking Express (Blu-Ray)
For All Mankind (Blu-Ray)
The Red Balloon

Kory

Really bummed that I couldn't pick up John Cassavetes: Five Films. By the time I had the cash to buy it, it was unavailable. If anybody picked it up cheap and would like to get rid of it, let me know.

SethDLH

I'm kind of regretting not picking up at least a couple titles... the DD sale just drained me.

Gobear

Same thing thing for me with Salesman, one of my favorite Maysles brothers documentaries. No bricks&mortar B&N store in the DC area had it; BN.com listed it as backordered, then removed it from their site entirely until the sale ended. Now it's back on the site, but it irks me that B&N removed Criterions that were OOS from their site while the sale was live. DD at least lets you order OOS items and then charges you the sale price when they ship, even after the sale has ended--my copy of Duckman Seasons 3&4 just shipped today, and I ordered that the first day of the sale.

OTOH, apart from that one disc, I completely wiped out my Criterion wish list. which I'm going to repopulate for the next Criterion sale. starting with Homicide.

jjcool

Did you post a final list that I missed?
I am really curious to see what you got.
I ended up spending about $175, but I only got about 10 titles.

Trevor

You mean it wouldn't nauseate you?

I'm pretty busy working a few days overtime to pay for everything, but I'll try to get a list together in the next couple days.

jjcool

Not at all.
Look forward to seeing the list. Or can I just go to the Criterion website and see your list there? :P

BuckNaked2k

Trevor - I'd love to see your final tally!

Trevor

I have a "rule" where I rarely pay more than $4-5 for a film. With Criterions, I fudge the rule and pick them up whenever I see them for $10 or less. Had maybe 100 before this sale. The allure of the big sale, and the collector in me, had me break this rule and go as high as $16 each. Looking back, I should have stuck to my "rule" of $10, as I still would have been able to add 50 or so great films. But now that I bought so many more, and probably own more than half of the Criterion Collection suddenly, I'm worried that I'll become obsessed with completing it, and be willing to pay even more to get to the "end".

BuckNaked2k

There is no "end"....they just keep adding more titles!

Superdaddy

Got my last B&N shipment on Thursday, containing That Obscure Object of Desire. Received The Naked Prey on Wednesday (which I ordered from Blockbuster Online with those gift cards that are completely useless at my local store).

I am going to miss seeing B&N boxes on my front porch several times a week...sniff...

illennium

Allow me to try to discourage you from doing that.

I own a bit more than half of the Criterion Collection as well. Personally, I believe there are only 10-20 others worth owning. The collection includes many excellent and important films, but it also contains quite a few mediocre titles and a few downright awful ones. In addition, there are some films that are good that have better versions elsewhere. For example, I chose the R2 versions of Mona Lisa and Onibaba over the Criterions.

I think owning about half of the collection lets you pass as someone with discriminating taste... owning all of it makes you a collector, and at that point the things being collected may as well be Pokemon cards. But hey, I'm biased.

Trevor

Thanks, I agree with you. No one person will, or should, honestly enjoy every film in the Criterion Collection.

But, alas, I am a collector, big time. Been collecting things all my life, and own piles and boxes of things that most others would see little or no value in. I don't think I'll ever be able to change, or that I even want to actually. So I try to shift my collecting addiction to things that have some value. With DVDs, even if I end up not enjoying the film enough to re-watch it; my family, friends, and future heirs have a great library.

And honestly, so far, my growing love and appreciation of film and it's history have enabled me to truly enjoy each Criterion DVD that I've watched. I imagine that can not continue forever. I think that anyone should be able to justify watching or renting every Criterion. Even if its a genre you don't normally enjoy, the films are interesting from a film history perspective, and the supplements and essays seem to always be well done and worthwhile.

But economically, I doubt I'll ever get much higher of a percentage of them than now. I probably make less money than most of you, but just went a little crazy last month. I had a cruise that we canceled, so I had an "extra grand" to play with.

BuckNaked2k

This is true. Some of the earlier spine numbers were released non-anamorphic, and are available in better, more easily available versions. These include Silence of the Lambs, Hard Boiled, Spinal Tap, and Long Good Friday, just off the top of my head.

illennium

As long as it doesn't prevent you from having meaningful relationships (family, friends, etc.), a job/career, and other worthwhile experiences -- and it doesn't sound like it does -- then it's legitimately a hobby and not really a problem. A lot of people here are collectors to varying degrees and it's just a question of not letting it affect the more important things in life. I'm a big-time collector too (5000+ CDs, lots of DVDs, tons of books), and occasionally I do get consumed by all that stuff. When that happens I just check myself and go outside or make a reservation to take my girlfriend out to dinner. As long as one's priorities are straight I really don't see any amount of collecting rising to the level of a problem.

Trevor

Good points. Yeah, I'm fairly normal otherwise. Good relationships, job, travel, God should be first, sports, etc etc

But collecting is an addiction of sorts. I often joke with people that it's either DVDs or crack.

[passing barf bag to bobby]

Gobear

God knows what anyone would make of my collection--it's a blend of arthouse, film noir, musicals, and horror/ science fiction. I own about 20% of the Criterion catalogue, but I don't buy Criterions for the spine numbers or the thrill of collecting a set of objects, but because Criterion has the movies I want to own. If I want to own a film by Ozu or Mizoguchi, it's either get the Criterion or look for an even more expensive R2 disc.

I don't see why anyone has to make excuses for collecting or enjoying films. You get one go-round in life, and you should engage in activities that give you pleasure. If collecting plastic disks gives you joy, then do it just as hard as you can and make no apologies to anyone.