My cousin Kaye started a little game over at her blog where you walk to your DVD collection, close your eyes and grab five DVD’s. Since I own over 500 DVD’s across three side-by-side bookcases, I decided to grab one from each shelf (I have ten completely full shelves in the movie section of my collection; five for the TV-DVD’s).
Here are the ten movies I ended up with, since I decided to ignore the TV case. In alphabetical order:
Random DVD #1: 101 Dalmatians Platinum Edition
There are only two genres in my entire collection that singled out with their own shelves: Disney and musicals. Something about the innocence of the time of my life that first introduced me to these films makes them a very mood-based viewing choice, so I need them to be separated from the bulk of the rest. 101 Dalmatians isn’t my favorite of the sub-genre by a longshot, but it’s a great piece of animated history regardless.
Random DVD #2: The Alien Quadrilogy
This one might seem like cheating since this gigantic box would obviously feel bigger than any of the other DVD’s on the shelf, but I just grabbed the first thing my finger touched. This boxset includes 2-disc editions of all four Alien movies – a total of over 40 hours of documentaries and commentaries. I got this during college when I actually made a point of watching every single special feature on my DVD’s, so for a week or so this was literally the only thing I watched. Alien and Aliens are both among my favorite films of all time, Alien 3 is on the opposite side of that as one of my most hated movies of all time, and Alien Resurrection is a fun action movie.
Random DVD #3: Daredevil 2-Disc Special Edition
The PG-13 version of the Daredevil (the one I grabbed) is not remotely a good movie, but the special features include a two hour documentary about the history of the comic book character and THAT is why I bought this. If you’re going to watch a version of Daredevil, make it the far-superior R-rated Director’s Cut. If there ever was a movie that got completely changed because of a ratings jump, Daredevil is one of the finest examples I can think of.
Random DVD #4: Frequency
This is just an enjoyable time-bending flick. It’s nothing extraordinary, but at least it treats time travel sensibly.
Random DVD #5: Interview with a Vampire
If you’re a regular reader, I’m sure you’re well aware that I absolutely despise the abomination known as Twilight. Interview with a Vampire is among the best when it comes to the blood-sucking genre. The rules are traditional, the setting is beautiful, the rating is R, and the acting is incredible (Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Anotonio Banderas, Christian Slater, and a very young Kirsten Dunst). Basically, it’s everything Twilight isn’t.
Random DVD #6: No Country for Old Men
I’m a huge fan of the Coen brothers (The Big Lebowski, Fargo), and No Country for Old Men is the movie that finally got them an Academy Award for both Best Director(s) and Best Picture. The movie isn’t for everybody due to the non-traditional story-telling and an ending well worth arguing over, but the film has some of the most intense scenes I’ve ever watched in my life. I love it to death, but I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone.
Random DVD #7: Planet of the Apes 35th Anniversary Edition
As I’ve mentioned before, Planet of the Apes is one of my favorite movies of all-time, if only for sentimental reasons. The film is the first movie I ever remember watching from beginning to end with my dad, and will always hold a special place in my heart for that reason alone. This special edition is one of the few movies post-college where I still made myself sit down and watching all 6+ hours of special features, and it was awesome.
Random DVD #8: The Shawshank Redemption 2-Disc Special Edition
The Shawshank Redemption is probably on more “Best Films of All Time” lists than just about anything, and for good reason. The movie is brilliant. It’s two hours and twenty minutes of perfection. If you haven’t seen it, change that immediately.
Random DVD #9: Stuck on You
So sue me, but I really enjoyed this movie. Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear are both awesome, and the two of them working together in a Farrelly brothers comedy about conjoined twins worked for me.
Random DVD #10: You’ve Got Mail
Tom Hanks is the most likable actor on the entire planet, and Meg Ryan holds a special place in my heart by default of co-starring in When Harry Met Sally, my favorite romantic comedy of all time. Tom and Meg’s chemistry is perfect so both You’ve Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle could easily find their way into my top ten chick flicks.
January 8th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Learned at Christmas that 101 Dalmatians is my fourteen year old niece’s favorite movie (I assume she meant the animated version and not the live-action version, anyway). I’ve always enjoyed it, too.
One of these days, when I don’t have deadlines pressing, I’m going to have to watch the Alien movies. I just want to make sure I have time to just sit and watch, instead of feeling like I need to be doing other stuff while they’re on.
Daredevil . . . um, I saw it, don’t know if it’s worth it for me to watch the R-rated version, as I’m really not that into that particular “world.”
LOVE Frequency!
I saw Interview once, a long time ago, and it had been edited for TV, so I know I didn’t get the full effect of the storytelling. I’m seriously thinking about eventually reading the book, as I’ve heard great things about Anne Rice’s writing (before she “got religion,” anyway).
No Country . . . not really my kind of film.
Planet of the Apes—is this the original version or the more recent remake?
Shawshank is great, but I personally think The Green Mile is better.
Can’t say I’m really a Farrelly Brothers fan. Not the kind of comedy I enjoy.
And even though Rom-Coms/Chick-Flicks aren’t my thing, I love You’ve Got Mail. Another quite quotable movie (and I’ve proven it by using quotes from it on my blog regularly!).
Great list!
January 9th, 2010 at 8:47 am
I’m a huge comic book geek, so Daredevil was something I had high hopes for that I was glad to see the R-rated version mostly meet. I wouldn’t recommend it to the average movie-goer though. You should also stay away from No Country knowing your tastes in movies. I’m almost positive there is no way you’d like it – and I don’t mean that as an insult. It’s not a movie for everyone by any stretch of the imagination.
Planet of the Apes is the original version, hence the 35th Anniversary Edition. I also own the remake but I haven’t seen it since I bought it. I rewatch the original a couple time per year.
I’m also on Team Green when it comes to Shawshank vs. Mile, but I still think Shawshank is absolutely fanstastic. The Green Mile shook me to my core though.