Again, actually only five… again. As I said in the last instalment, I’m a tightwad when it comes to buying DVDs, so I thought I share my opinions on a few I’ve bought in the £4 to £7 bracket recently.


I’m a not great fan of “traditional” films with their linear plots and happy endings … but not many movies actually have an “unhappy” ending: even Minority Report which was written by Philip K. D!ck (gotta love that autocensor) as an indictment of Macarthyism and it’s prejudgement of people who might do something undesirable got the “and they all lived happily ever after” treatment thanks to those revisionist b******s in Hollywood.

Brazil set as it is against a dark background of a police state where terrorism is ignored by polite society doesn’t make for comfortable viewing, so instead it’s Donnie Darko (15) that makes my list. Part bildungsroman (coming of age movie), and part modern urban gothic horror, it follows the exploits of paranoid schizophrenic Donnie and his imaginary rabbit friend, Frank. I won’t say any more about it for fear of spoiling it for anyone that hasn’t seen it.


In some ways I hesitate to recommend Human Traffic (18), as if it has a fundamental message, it’d be “take drugs, they’re great!” … however, if you’re impressionable enough to emulate what you see in the movies, you should already be in a padded cell and/or wearing a particularly tight fitting jacket.

The film centres around one weekend in the lives of five Welsh 20-somethings who forget about the tedium of their McJobs by partying extremely hard. As a celebration of the British club scene of a few years ago it works extremely well … but it’s hardly a balanced take on the weekender lifestyle choice. It’s almost entirely about the “ups” & very little of the downs. The perils of impotence, memory loss, paranoia & sometimes death are touched on, but only in a comedic or very brief manner.


Leon (18) is another film by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, and Taxi and Wasabi which I recommended in part 1), but this time it’s a much more Hollywood style film (it’s in English for a start), with a fairly formulaic plot: bad cop (Gary Oldman) pursues the bad-guy-turned-good-guy (Jean Reno) and his 12 year old orphaned charge (Natalie Portman). The ending is straight out of the predictable film endings filing cabinet: specifically the drawer marked “redemption”.

Overall it’s a pretty good watch … but probably not one you’d bother with more than once.


Office Space (15) is another throwaway film … it’s entertaining enough , but its broad spectrum appeal (let’s face it, everyone has hated their job, their multiple jerkweasel bosses, and been threatened with layoffs at some point – that sums up 16 of the 17 years I’ve been working) means it’s just not obscure enough for my tastes.

At under a fiver though, you can’t go far wrong, and having had a few cheap laughs you can always pass it on to a bud.


No top ten list is complete without a bit of kung foo (no, that’s not a typo) …the gritty Police Story would have made it into my top 10 if it wasn’t for the bad dubbing … and the fact that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (12) is a better film in one important regard – escapism.

It’s a film that is well enough made that the suspension of the laws of physics in the fight scenes really don’t matter … in fact it’s a great disappointment to find out when you return to reality that you can’t continue pretend slap-fights with your friends by running up trees & over rooftops.

Make sure you select the Mandarin language version & English subtitles in the options before viewing though – the English dub sucks.

Those are some great DVD's to own. I liked all mentioned minus crouching tiger, hidden dumbass.

Donnie Darko is one to be seen a few times, before it really clicks for you.
There seem to be more hidden elements in the movie every time I watch it.

Great flick. A bit freaky.

Ummm, yeah... We're gonna have to ask you to come in to work on Saturday.

Ahh, I'm going to have to go ahead and ask you to come in on Sunday, too...

and while you are at it, I'm gonna have to ask you to move your desk back in the corner.
Oh, theeeere's that stapler.

Donnie Darko and Office Space on my top 6 list.

Here it is in no particular order:
Godfather trilogy
Matrix Trilogy
Office Space
Man on Fire
Ali G in Da House
Donnie Darko

To add to some of the cheap DVD's, check out Pi and Requiem for a Dream. You can buy them in a 2 pack at BestBuy for 15.

Had to revive this thread after the haul I just found......

Went to Wally World to get the oil tune-up. Normally, I do it myself but I don't have the time and hey, for $20.00, it's a bargain. Anyway, while I was waiting, I did a little shopping for my mom's gift to dad this holiday season and wandered by the cheap DVD bin. You wouldn't believe the bargins I found.

For $5.50 apiece...

Con Air
McHale's Navy
Stealing Harvard (hey, I'm starting to dig Jason Lee's work)
2001: A Space Odessy
The Dark Crystal
Edit: Executive Decision

For $3.88 apiece...

Grumpy Old Men
Vegas Vacation
Blade Runner
Amos & Andrew

Just had to share...

Rob

Quote: Originally Posted by neotheducky To add to some of the cheap DVD's, check out Pi and Requiem for a Dream. You can buy them in a 2 pack at BestBuy for 15.

Looks like an "I'm depressed and want to die" two-pack. Neither of those films are particularly encouraging. Good, though.

I have something like 150 VHS tapes-all stored in one very heavy box!

My mom gave me the Godfather trilogy and I have to wonder what the big deal was about these movies. The first one was OK, the second one put me to sleep faster than televised golf. I haven't even watched the third one and thankfully with all the entertainment available on the internet, I'll never have to. I love the Sopranos, though.

Only DVD I have is LoTR part 3, which i got at wal mart for like 15 bucks. They seem to have good prices, but a crappy selection.

I'm a big sci fi fan, and I'll watch pretty much anything from that genre. Alien trilogy is one I'd very much like to have some day.

If I saw blade runner and 2001 that cheap I'd have bought them without hesitation lol.

What? No zombie movies? No 007 movies either?