Funcash suggestions (bang for your buck, etc.)
 

Hey, I took advantage of most of the 3.98 red tag titles I didn't already own (there seemed to be few there not worth the 3.40 after tax), and thereby accumulated $86 of funcash on this account, which is burning a hole in my pocket. I have all the Criterions on the site, as well as most of the ones not likely to become enrollments (Easy Rider, Geisha, Kong, etc.), so I am wondering what are some good ideas for films to get that will be rewarding that won't drop to like a $15 MSRP in 6 weeks. My eye I guess is on good foreign and indy films that CH has at a 21 or $22 regular price, that go on the net for like 17-20, if there are some of those. Maybe cheap, decent boxsets that would be a few bucks after 10 off? Would Thumbsucker or Squid and the Whale be worth purchasing. If anyone has advice I greatly appreciate it, since I don't want to flush 4-5 movies down the toilet. :)

The Dune mini-series are a pretty cheap use of funcash.

Do you like Herzog? How about Aguirre: The Wrath of God? According to DVDPriceSearch, CH's price ($22-) is about the same as what you would pay anywhere else.

Fantastic film too. You'll be hooked after the first scene. (I know I was.)

^^^^^ What he said. :)

I have the herzog collection, though not the herzog/kinski . It is getting to the point where its a question of what DON'T I have I guess. I'll leave that up to the more elite among you as to whether that is a good thing or bad.

Basaro has a nice list of non-enrollment titles that might give you some ideas.

A couple "bang for your buck" titles that CH has (mistakenly?) priced at $14.95 each are the 2-disc SEs of Glory and Jerry Maguire.

Other selctions that fit your general criteria (they're not all strictly foreign/independent, some are classic Hollywood, but I think they all go for $18+ lowest net price, and are very good movies IMO):

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring
Birdy
Only Angels Have Wings
Battleship Potemkin
Hurlyburly
Remains of the Day
The Sweet Hereafter
Soldier of Orange
Lost Horizon
On the Waterfront
Talk to Her
The Sea Inside
The Fast Runner
Anatomy of a Murder
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Damage


There are probably others, but those are the ones that I see on my shelf, most of which I got through CH. You might notice a lot of these are from Columbia-TriStar, probably the most stubborn major studio when it comes to pricedrops, so you might find some more ideas by sorting the data miner list by studio, and looking that way (sorting by list price doesn't help much).

Also, most of these are available for enrollment, so you can obtain them for ~ $6 each that way. But if you have funcash you need to use, you could definitely do worse...

I'm definately hitting up finzi-continis, thats a De Sica I've been lacking, may get lost horizon. Thanks for the recs thusfar, all. Any recs vis a vis cheap boxsets?

Dan

Remember that you can only use Funcash fr a fraction of the price on boxed sets. (Which really sucks.) Check the Funcash FAQ on the CH website for details.

yeah, I'm somehow hoping that there are a few worthwhile 11.71 selections though ($10 max funcash on cheap sets is still the case right? Haven't had funcash to spend since last July.)

Me too!!! Thanks Legend42! And thanks to Rothlover for starting this thread! I'm a huge De Sica fan... The Bicycle Thief is one of the greatest movies ever made, IMHO. Which brings me to some more suggestions:

The Bicycle Thief
All the King's Men
Fail-Safe
Gandhi
His Girl Friday
In Cold Blood
It Happened One Night
The Last Detail
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

For those with only a little funcash, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is an excellent value. For a movie going for $10 everywhere else, you're using $8 in funcash and spending $3 on shipping.

Don't know if they are enrollments or not, but I picked up Fire and Ice : Limited Edition and Rock n Rule : SE. Both sets are animated films from the 80s - don't know if you're into animation, but I thought they were both very cool movies, and done up really nice.

Can someone refresh my memory - no funcash on pre-orders, but as soon as they are released FC can be used, right? THANKS!

That's right. You can use the full amount on non-special club prices.

Great lists, btw! I used quite a few of them for enrollments. I'd also like to add: Orlando. It's a film starring Tilda Swinton and Billy Zane. I haven't had time to watch it yet but it's normally more than $20 everywhere else.

Do you know of any $11.71 sets? I'd like to maximize my funcash as well, and would rather not use it on movies I could get as enrollments...

EDIT: I went through ALL of the sets and collections pages, and found some of these sets your referred to. I'm debating between the following. Any recommendations from anyone?

Serial Killers: Profiling the Criminal Mind $ 11.21

Long Way Round: The Ultimate Road Trip - the Complete TV Ser $ 14.96

He Knew He Was Right $ 14.96

Ancient Mysteries: Myths and Legends $11.21

Long Way Round is excellent, though that DVD contains only 7 episodes instead of the ten included on the European release. Still well well worth it.

I've seen at least a couple of those A&E Serial Killers docs, and they're very well done, if you like that Bill Kurtis/American Justice format (which I do). I wasn't too impressed with the Camelot episode of Ancient Mysteries, don't think I've seen the others on that disc.

Haven't seen 'He Knew He Was Right' either, but it sounds like one of those typical British literary adaptations (well acted, meticulous pacing, elaborate costumes and set design, etc. you know the type). It is the best bargain of the bunch (lowest online price is $22).

I'd definitely go for Long Way Round if it sounds like it would be even remotely up your alley.

Thanks, Legend. I was leaning toward that one. But now I'm bitter about the UK release having more eps! Hmph!

Chef!, the BBC comedy is now in the $11.xx range (S3 is $14.95). It's not a set per se (3 separate releases, one for each season), and the best price on each title is around $14 at DDD. I got all 3 seasons at CH for $15.87 + $30 fun cash.

There is a decent sale on box sets right now. Brisco County is 59.97, so you could take 20$ off with funcash.

I only had $23 of Fun Cash, but i'm about to close this account... for some reason these particular movies showed up at the sale prices in the fun cash cart...

The Green Mile Special Edition $7.98 $6.00 $1.98

Raging Bull Special Edition $9.18 $4.00 $5.18

Dr. Strangelove 40Th Anniversary Special Edition $11.98 $11.00 $0.98



Subtotal $8.14
Shipping & Processing $6.97
Tax $0.91



Total $16.02

Thank you blaze1984 for suggestions
Just used $29 of Fun Cash to get
The Green Mile Special Edition
Raging Bull Special Edition
Dr. Strangelove 40Th Anniversary Special Edition
For total
Shipping & Processing $6.97

Excellent deal for CH.

Jim Henson's The Storyteller: The Definitive Collection
Full Screen 4441507

Total Items Ordered: 1
Order Total: $4.01

Legend Ultimate Edition
Widescreen 2715704

Total Items Ordered: 1
Order Total: $2.99

The sale that blaze1984 and others referred to which worked with funcash now appears dead, unfortunately.

yeah saw that too tried to use funcash for the titles under 6.98 or whatever but when added to funcash cart the price changes to 14.95 or higher ;(