Hey, the KMart next to Goodwill in M'boro has already put "Lost in Translation" out on the shelves. It's not supposed to come out for a while, but Kmart always seems to jump the gun! Just thought I'd give a hot tip!

thanks, dude. i'm gonna start scraping the funds now.

damn...if only I was closer. that's awesome.

shit!!!!

im going to k-mart as soon as possible. thanks, ben*slack!!

(Edited by ray davies at 4:01 pm on Jan. 29, 2004)

early stocking of goods is overrated

the damn dvd is full screen.....But i bought it anyway ...i will just buy the wide screen when it comes out.....i needed to see it again.....Loved this film alot.

We almost saw it at the theatre last night, but in the end we decided just to buy it on DVD rather than spend the money to see it in the theatre, rent it, and then buy it. If we don't like it, we'll give it to a good home.

I don't think I've ever bought a DVD without having seen it first. I like to play it safe.

We've done it with a few...Royal Tennenbaums comes to mind. Good recommendations go a long way in our house. That, and we both have a whole lot more money than we have common sense.

I do it roughly 15% of the time. Respectable stuff, but I do it alot.

Will

Who still needs to watch some of the Bergman I've bought but never seen. But how often am I up for watching Bergman?

I do it a lot too. If I know I need to see something eventually, and I've heard nothing but good things, I'm obliged to buy the DVD. I defend it by telling myself that I'm saving money I would have spent renting it first. The last time I did this was when I bought the original Swedish Insomnia last week. Good call.

When does one watch Bergman?

(Edited by herman at 12:25 am on Feb. 1, 2004)

After a vodka bender and a gun in your hand...

nice.

I'm over buying DVDs, for the most part.

When I first got a DVD player a couple of years ago, I began buying alot of DVDs - you know, just good movies and TV series and whatnot. If I liked it, I bought it. And so I built up a colection of 40 or 50 DVDs pretty quickly. But you know what? With the exception of a handful of them, I never watch any of them more than once or twice. So I'm shelling out 20 to 30 bucks, when I could just be renting it one or two times for 2 or 3 bucks. Is it really worth it to OWN the movie? Only in the case of my very favorite movies, I've decided. Unless I'm just absolutely in love with something (which is pretty rare), I've switched to a rent-only policy, and I've been very happy with that. For instance, though I liked Lost in Translation very much, I will not be buying it. In the past, I would have. Now I have 15-20 extra dollars to spend on music, which I do use more than once or twice.

What's your policy?

By the way, I've come to terms with the fact that The Royal Tenenbaums is my favorite movie of all time. That is one DVD that I have absolutely worn out.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 2:54 am on Feb. 1, 2004)

Simply the hardest I've laughed in a long time.

Will

I watch movies alot. Like, on the order of 6-8 a week, at home and in the theater. I also have more DVDs than I care to admit. But I watch them. Alot. And I reference them. Alot. I do mostly cinematography, and we just look at everything under the sun to get ideas as to how something might work. SO I feel justified in my nearly 200 dvds.

Will

And when you "go pro" you can write all that stuff off. I save every movie receipt and have deducted my cable bill since I incorporated... one of the perks of this biz. "I'm watching this for research and study"

Hmmmm...may I should "go pro"...



Seriously, do you record mileage when you go to the video store?

(Edited by YaDaDaDa at 9:37 am on Feb. 1, 2004)

I own more TV seasons than actual films, so my policy is to buy every season of shows I love as they are released. Films come second and I only buy the ones I really really like. Of course who knows if I'll get around to watching them. I've had the Back to the Future trilogy for over a year now and I've never watched any of it. My TV seasons, though, provide me with much entertainment, so they're worth it.

"The Dick Van Dyke Show" season 3 comes out February 10th and I am saving up.

I love having 30-minute TV shows on DVD to watch. It gives me something of quality to watch when I want to watch TV for a short period of time rather than flipping through channels trying to find something worthwhile, often settling for something of low quality. I have enough of a variety of shows that I can always pop something in and see something I haven't seen in a while, but will still enjoy it. I should actually do it more often than I do.

Seriously. Me too. Is that really allowed?

In the world of music, I know several people who have "gone pro," but they do not write off any of their music purchases (CDs, vinyl, tickets to shows, etc), only actual music equipment.

That's exactly what I do and is probably why I own more television box sets than actual films. I usually manage to watch an episode of something almost every day when I eat my lunch. It's much better than Talk of the Town (as much as I love that show).

When does everyone watch the special features? Do you watch it before or after you watch the feature presentation? If I've seen the actual content before, I go straight to the special features. However, if I rent a DVD, I rarely watch the special features. Audio commentaries are the most amazing invention ever...

Always after watching the actual content.

(Edited by jamiecarroll at 11:28 am on Feb. 1, 2004)

Always after watching the content as well.

We rarely rent DVDs these days because we never watch the extra stuff. Since we're not quality hounds, it's cheaper to rent the VHS, which is more likely to be in on new releases.

My mother-in-law is a CPA whose client list is about 85% media people. She has successfully defended those write-offs to the IRS. My wife used to be a TV reporter, and we used to write off a ton of her biz suits and even make-up as part of her work expenses. It's no different than a business person writing off pape-clips.

As far as "going pro", you would have to unequivocally prove that you make a significant source of your income by working in the film industry. Look at it this way, a lawyer can write-off a subscription to the law review, because he has to stay current in his field. I can write-off MTV because I have to stay current in mine.

Simple. I don't waste my money on a DVD if I can't honestly picture myself watching it at least once a year. I have what I consider to be a very respectable collection of ~30 movies, ~12 anime (mostly Evangelion), and ~12 music DVDs.

hmm...something about that doesn't sound right

Huh. Huh huh.

Agreed. I never really buy DVDs for special features. In fact, I don't think I've watched the special features on most of my collection. Commentaries and transfer quality are the only things that truly matter in my mind.

The only reason I watch special features first is because it is new material that I haven't seen before. I can't say that I don't buy DVDs for the special features because yet another original Planet of the Apes DVD is coming out with commentary and a new documentary. This means I will have to buy my second DVD copy, on top of my VHS copy. Ridiculous but worth it.

The funniest audio commentary I've ever heard had to be the one done by Marti Noxon, Joss Whedon and Seth Green for an episode of Buffy. They basically just talked about the most random things the whole time, it was like improv. Anyone have any idea what the Lost in Translation special features are?

Suck it. Evangelion is an amazing series.

someone was singing the praises of something called cowboy beebop a couple days ago...yeah, all you can really do is laugh.

Also a very well-done series.

I have a Cowboy Bebop homemade VHS box set. Very nice.

I've been converted. I hate most Anime (Miyazaki and some other stand-alone films are my exceptions), but Cowboy Bebop is the most stylish, exciting series I've seen in a long time. If they could create a live action series done in the same style, it would be the most amazing thing we'd ever seen.

Will

hmmm alright. ill check it out tonight (the movie version of it anyway).

Not to be contrary, but I just checked it out a few weeks ago and I was not too impressed. I prefer the original series. If you happen to have access to cartoon network, they had it on last night at midnight. I'm not sure if they show it during the week, though. There's also a very nice two disc colection of the better episodes. A nice introduction to the 24 part series.

Twas the series I was referring to. I cannot account for the movie.

And I'd just rent the first disc of the series. Episode 1 is the place to start.

Will

I thought the Animatrix was a cool idea. Other than that, I'm not in to Japanimation.

yeah i saw the movie and it was...hmm alright i guess. i cant say i wasted my time or anything and sure beat watching that trainwreak a ghost in the shell. I still say the only anime that is honestly fun to watch is Ninja Scroll.

Like I said, check out the TV show. It's on tonight on Cartoon Network at midnight. I checked the listings, though, and unfortunately it's part 2 of a 2-part episode. I think one of the cool things about the show is that you can pretty much just watch an episode and get something out of it. The basic premise is it's a bunch of bounty hunters and most episodes are just another new bounty.

Yes, I realize I'm a dork. Get over it.

The special features on Lost in Translation are kinda disappointing. There is a very cool and funny 30 minute documentary about the making of the film, some of which was shot by Spike Jonze. Another highlight is the uncut version of the Japanese talk show that Bob Harris appears on. Insanity. Other than that, the deleted scenes are understandably deleted (especially Scarlett Johannsson's encounter with a scary robotic child in a store...) and the conversation with Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray is basically just Murray talking.

But hey, the film is so amazing that it doesn't really matter.

i actually liked the robot scene. i really would have liked some commentary by the brilliant Sofia. Did anyone see her on Leno? I should have known better than to watch that asshole. He was so condescending I thought she was going to get up and leave.

Leno=uberchinned Dick.

whatever...just one man's opinion

I think the robot scene creeped me out because they looked like aliens (the real ones). I was totally expecting some commentary and I don't know why it wasn't done. Maybe they're saving it for a future time when they'll do a double-disc special collector's edition, since that always seems to happen to movies I like (Planet of the Apes and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves come to mind).

Leno does suck. She should go on the Conan O'Brien show.

Good point, I should go ahead and expect to plunk down $30+ for a special edition in six monthes. I don't mind...for this film...

Good call on Conan. I totally agree.

Conan=brilliant comedian with uberbrilliant hair