How do you choose your movies?
 

I am still green behind my ears when compaired to most of the other member here as I, Myself am slowly gaining on the 200 dvd mark. Now, when I choose a DVD, I buy it because its a movie ive seen on cable, in the theaters, borrowed or rented - or its something ive been anticipating on.

Often times when I buy a DVD, its gotta be something I like and want to watch. But when its something ive seen a few times on cable and have enjoyed it a few times, but not sure I can watch it again anytime soon (i.e. once or twice was good, but am in no rush to see a third time - even if the movie was actually decent). And I see the DVD on the shelf for a good price, there tends to be a lot of mental debate. Even though I enjoyed the movie a couple times, did I like it enough to own it on DVD?

Now for those of you who have 500 + DVD's, how do you choose? Is it impluse? Is it that you just need to have it in your collection even if its a movie you can only watch a few times a year?

Or is it just the pure and simple fact that it adds more to your collection regardless?

Initially, the talent involved. Plot synopsis and sample footage seal it.

Plot synopsis and sample footage does not imply, though it can include, critic's review and trailer.

If it's well received by critics and members here at DVD Talk; I'll buy it blindly.

I'd definitely be categorized as an "impulse" buyer. If I want to see a movie or TV show; I'll pick up the Blu-ray or DVD. I've never rented a BD or DVD and the only time I've rented home video content was back in the day of VHS. I also rented N64 games. Naturally with a 580+ DVD collection I've been burned on more than a few blind buys. I've been fairly lucky, however, and the horror genre is really the only genre that's burned me the most. A few critically acclaimed films didn't fly with me, like the recent "Atonement", but %95 I love the movie as much as the critics did.

I have a pretty open mind, so I'm up for anything.

Special Features.

True, thats a given. As for me, I know I want my dvd to have the 10hrs of extra footage, the 5hs of deleted scenes and the 3 different commentary tracks.


But all that aside, I mean how do you choose to buy a movie (the movie itself - and excluding movies you KNOW you want). Is there a mental debate on if you really want it (usually my case), is it a blind buy, impluse buy? Or do you just want that extra title to increase your collection? (wow factor?).

I buy if I think it will be interesting, has a nice transfer, and great audio. Special features mean nothing to me really. I hardly ever watch them. I watched the extras on the Alien Quad set a couple times. No real interest to watch them again. I'd rather watch the film. I still have yet to watch any of the extras on the LOTR films. Back around 98-01 I used to care about packaging, but I care even less about the packaging now than I do about the extra features.

With the way I feel about packaging and extras, you would think that I would prefer downloads in the future. Not true. I will always want a hard copy of the film.

I used to blind buy a lot based on forums and DVD reviews, but the new love of my life (NetFlix) has eliminated all of that. I've only bought one DVD in the past half-year or so down from 10-15 per month before that.

Based on my interest in the movie...

Several factors. Initially, it depended on whether or not I have seen the movie and enjoyed it. That is how most of my miscellaneous DVDs were purchased. But there are some I just blindly buy based upon the director or actor; I figure if I have liked a decent number of things from them I won't be disappointed in subsequent films. As for random blind buys...I figure it's worth it to pay for a movie and own it rather than rent it for a weekend. Every once in a while I regret buying a film, but not usually. These types of blind buys are usually based on price, reviews, plots, content, etc.

I look at TomOpus' or Giggles' collection. If they have it and I don't... I buy it.

I reccomend you do the same.

my answer 2 years ago would have been special feats. but now i just dont have the time to sit down and watch hours of behind the scenes stuff. unless its a movie or series i really care about.

now i base my buys purely on replay value

I choose by Director.

Anything by David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Milos Radivojevic, etc. or anyone you really love. The director and writer are what counts with real movies. The actors are just bonus' and with a good director the actors will shine.

If it was made before 1980, and OAR, I will consider it. Genre titles are almost a certainty (horror, sci fi), after that it probably boils down to price. Once a catalog release dips into the $5-$7 range, I'll pick it up during a DDD sale, no matter the title.

I used to not like features either, but now, I tend to wait until a 2-discer is on sale, and then I buy it. I probably will never watch all the features on all of my movies, but when I'm bored, I sometimes put in that second disc.

Replay value is definitely part of my buying habit as well.

reasons for me include some of the above in addition to:

- if the flick is weird
- if the cover art is intriguing/compelling
- actors/actresses
- if its not "another hollywood blockbuster"

That's so flattering Dave! But beware - I have some moves I wouldn't recommend to others -wink-
I usually buy a DVD if I have already seen the film and liked it to that extent I'd wish to own it. If I could watch them all before buying that would be just perfect, but unfortunately I can't find all I wanna watch where I live, so I have to blind buy. Mostly it's those films I heard of and was intrigued by synopsis. If I come across one I try to find some info in the net, and if reviews are mostly positive I'll go for it. And sometimes if my desire to watch a certain film and blind faith in its greatness overshadow common sense I'll go for it anyway even if reviews are bad :)

Most of mine are blind buys based on previous experience with the creators/stars of the films, and reviews here. For $5 or less per title on average, I'm ok with a few misses here and there.

:lol:

If it is something I would like to watch repeatedly. I have no interest in a numerically large dvd collection, only a watchable dvd collection.

That's about it, movie-content wise as most of my purchases are blind buys.

Technical-side, the movie should be in OAR and anamorphic if widescreen. Extras have zero influence on my purchases.

A movie should be something that I really like and has a high replay value. Cool packaging and some interesting added features also merits my attention into purchasing one. But the bottomline is still movie itself.

That's pretty much how I look at it now. I used to blind buy all the time. Now I look at a movie and decide, "Will I watch this enough times to justify buying it." Otherwise, it's in the Netflix queue. My tastes vary so I need to look at many aspects of a movie to see if I'll watch it, cast, reviews, genre, etc.

Pretty much what he said. I notice that I tend to buy animated, fantasy, monster/ sci-fi movies the most. I suppose they have more replay value to me for some reason. I started two collections that I'll buy pretty much regardless: Disney Platinum titles and anything by Pixar.

I eventually stopped buying movies I had seen before because unless I loved it, I was unlikely to see it again. And I loved it, I'd want to see it a bunch more times. So I just started blind-buying the types of movies I don't get to see a lot: foreign films, weird/cult movies, older films (pre-1960).

The problem is that I'm not always in the mood to see those types of movies because you really need to be paying attention to what's happening. So I've got a huge backlog of movies and when I do want to just be entertained, I'll pop in a movie I've seen a bunch of times.

I eventually figured out this pattern and stopped buying so many movies. I've still got, I'd guess, at least 200 I haven't seen. They're not going anywhere.

They choose me....