Your friend needs to pick new friends.

I just always think to myself "one man's trash is another man's treasure"

I'd only feel that way if my friend's collection had a movie from the Matrix trilogy or any of the Star Wars movies. I figure anyone with any of those (especially the former) can't possibly take intellectual movie-watching seriously.

Someone's collection is there own and who cares what anyone else thinks. I love my collection and if someone else doesn't I could care less.

A collection is what YOU the collector makes of it.

Sign me in too! I know many people think of me like this, only they usually choose milder expressions. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Oh, what's wrong with you?"
As for another people's collections, I practically have got no friends who collect DVDs so... I'd say I exist in a vast sea of incomprehension what concerns my hobby...

I've got a friend with some embarassing crap, the main selling point sticking in my mind being all however-many-seasons of The Simple Life. No man has an excuse to own that. "Yea, but they're hot..." Whatever. Any guy with the least bit of self-respect will jerk-off to Paris Hilton online rather than pay cash money for her trash on DVD.

Most of the time. In this piece of shit country where I live in, everybody buys bootlegs.

And then there's also people I know who bought Catwoman.

There's no such thing as "intellectual movie-watching". Even complex films by Ozu, Kurosawa, Renoir, or Fellini are meant, at bottom, to be entertainment, not cheerless drudgery. It's entirely possible to watch, say, Amarcord and have a lively discussion afterward about Fellini's treatment of female sexuality in his films, and also to enjoy the visceral, gee-whiz thrill of watching Luke Skywalker blow up the Death Star.

A buddy I have hates probably 70% of my collection. We wouldn't be such good friends except for the fact that I tease him about his shitty taste in video games all the time. It works out well for us.

I do think people are reading more into what you're saying than what is really there. Maybe you should have indicated all your friend's DVDs were fullscreen. I'm sure everyone would be on your side then.

Ever Been Ashamed of a Friends Collection?

Anyone that petty doesn't deserve friends.

Fair enough. I'll try again, leaving out Star Wars, because although it must be one of the most overrated films in history, if one ignores the hype and views it for what it is, it isn't completely without merit. Any collection I see including any of the Matrix films, I will by default assume belongs to someone whose tastes are not at all refined (and will therefore not respect any movie recommendation that they make) until presented with a sworn affidavit showing that it was either a regrettable blind buy, a gift, or was purchased to be used in a psychological experiment to test the effects of absolute garbage on the human mind.

Better?

Thats kinda a jerk thing to say

Well, we all probably know that Asia (where I live in) is one of the biggest market for bootlegs. In here, everyone buys pirated DVDs. Only few people (including me) who keep buying legitimate DVD and staying away from bootlegs.

I know, it's a little bit out of topics but I'm just apalled to personally know someone who buys bootlegs and claim themselves to love movies.


And I put bad wording that Catwoman thing. I know someone who bought Catwoman.

Right....

I once walked into a new friend's room to find a very impressive DVD collection (by my standards, of course ) All my favorites are there.

Only problem was...any duel release he owned was the FULLSCREEN edition. Blah!

Ugh.
You're just as bad as those who think cinema should be nothing but escapist entertainment - you all fail to realize that it can serve many functions and a person should be able to enjoy a John Carpenter movie as much as one by Peter Greenway, as long as you accept that they are films with different goals.

Only collection that I would be ashamed of is Comic Bus's. That guy has a lot of movies that I want to own.

I'm not trying to be pompous or arrogant, but I take movie watching seriously and I watch serious films like Ozu, Kurosawa, Kubrick, Vertov or Herzog. But sometimes I need a simple entertainment and thankfully I got the six episode of Star Wars and Matrix Trilogy handy. And for me this is one of the reason why I love movies - it can be many things.

What are these friends you speak of?

No, not really.

The problem is that you are making the implicit, and wholly unwarranted, assumption that your aesthetic tastes are objectively superior, that any film you dislike thus cannot have any merit, and anyone can only enjoy that film if he's an unlettered boob.

Who made you the DVDTalk Arbiter Elegantiarum? By which criteria can you demonstrate your superior cinematic judgment?

Movies are entertainment, not medicine. For example, Ikiru is one of my favorite films, and I watch it because the lead character's struggle to perform one decent act in his life before he dies speaks to me. I own the DVD because I enjoy the movie, not to show off my "refinement."

I'm in college. So pretty much every female friend I have has an embarrassing collection.

Except my girlfriend, I had a larger collection than her, but she had about 50% of the same movies I did. She hates chick flicks.

Same here in Russia. When I try to ask somebody why they don't buy legitimate DVDs, they usually say: who needs those fancy editions for $20-30 when I can buy a disc with 8 movies on it for $3? That's just frightening IMO.