Weekend DVD purchases

[The Burgomaster]

I picked up:

* TEARS OF THE SUN
* KNOCKAROUND GUYS
* THE RECRUIT
* THEY
* THE RING

I did not see any of these in the theater, but here are my impressions of the DVDs:

* TEARS OF THE SUN - Okay, but nothing special. If you want to watch this kind of a movie, BLACK HAWK DOWN is more entertaining.

* KNOCKAROUND GUYS - It didn't last long in the theaters around here (Massachusetts), but it got pretty good reviews (including 2 thumbs up from Ebert & Roeper). I would also give it a hearty thumbs up.

* THEY - A "not too bad" horror movie. My only complaint is that the creatures had that "ALIEN" look to them (when will filmmakers stop copying that movie????) They made the correct decision on the ending too; the alternate ending is pretty dull.

I haven't watched the other two yet. And, as for THE RING, I also have RINGU on my "to buy" list.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Burgo, I have to say The Ring is great.  Saw it on my honeymoon (my wife actually talked me into it).  Great film, until you see Ringu.  Ringu just blows The Ring away.  Fantastic movie, a must have.

[Dolph Lundgren]

Burgo, about Tears of the Sun, how much action is in the movie?  Is it more of a drama or an action movie?  The trailers made it seem like some action-fest, so I was wondering whether that was true or not.  Almost picked this one up, but figured I'd get some opinions first.  

Nick

[The Burgomaster]

Dolph Lundgren wrote:

> Burgo, about Tears of the Sun, how much action is in the movie?
>  Is it more of a drama or an action movie?  The trailers made
> it seem like some action-fest, so I was wondering whether that
> was true or not.  Almost picked this one up, but figured I'd
> get some opinions first.  
>
> Nick

About the first hour of TEARS OF THE SUN is more drama than action. It's a lot like THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, with Bruce Willis and his guys leading a group of refugees through the jungle. The 2nd half of the movie is where most of the shooting takes place. As the opposing forces start moving in, Willis and the boys bring out the fire power and start shooting up everything in sight.

My major problem with the movie is that there are too many cliches. Some of the dialogue is painful to listen to. One guy says something like, "I'm gonna get these people to safety, even if I have to die trying."  (Gag!!!!!)

I'd say that it's worth renting, but don't go out and buy it until you've seen it. If I had seen it in the theater, I probably wouldn't have bought it so quickly. I might have waited a year or two, hoping that it would end up as a $9.99 special, and then bought it as a "fill in" title.

[Foywonder]

Have you ever considered just renting some of these DVDs first instead of just out right purchasing them? I mean, you pretty cold to two of the films and probably spent around $40 in the process.

[The Burgomaster]

Foywonder wrote:

> Have you ever considered just renting some of these DVDs first
> instead of just out right purchasing them? I mean, you pretty
> cold to two of the films and probably spent around $40 in the
> process.

No. I have a sickness or something that prevents me from renting movies. I have never rented a DVD, and I haven't rented a VHS tape for at least 8 years.

I used to justify it this way: If I rent a movie and I like it, I will end up buying it anyway. In that case, it would cost me the price of the rental PLUS the price of the purchase. So, I figured, I should just buy everything and save myself the rental fee.

Of course, I have probably spent MUCH more money than I should have over the years. My DVD collection amounts to around 1,000 movies. I'd say that I have watched about 900 of them ONCE, about 50 of them TWICE and about 50 of them THREE OR MORE TIMES. So, if you do the math, I have royally screwed myself.

I guess I view it more in terms of HAVING THE COLLECTION than HOW MANY TIMES WILL I WATCH EACH MOVIE. It's like collecting stamps. All you can really do is display them and look at them. But collectors love to do this!

I mean, there are some movies that you MUST have, no matter what. The James Bond collection, for example. I've seen every Bond film at least 5 times. I have seen my favorites (like GOLDFINGER) maybe 15, 20 or 25 times. But most of those viewings were either in the theater, on tape, or on television. I HAVE WATCHED MY BOND DVDS NO MORE THAN ONE TIME EACH! BUT MY COLLECTION WOULD NOT BE COMPLETE WITHOUT THEM!

It's the same story with sequels. You can't own THE EVIL DEAD without owning the sequels. The same with MAD MAX, PLANET OF THE APES, DIRTY HARRY, and all the rest. So it becomes a geometric progression, where one purchase leads to many other purchases. They just keep multiplying, like gremlins or tribbles.

When will this madness end?????

[Mr_Vindictive]

I'm still willing to take that Beyond Special Edition Tin off of your hands.  

:o)

[The Burgomaster]

Skaboi wrote:

> I'm still willing to take that Beyond Special Edition Tin off
> of your hands.  
>
> :o)
>
>

I'll have to watch it again. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood the first time around.

What I'll probably do is hold onto it for about 5 years, and then sell it on Ebay for about $200.

[jmc]

I got one of those tins at Best Buy a year or so ago for maybe $14-$15.    I don't know if someone screwed up or if it was just marked down on purpose--but it cost a lot more at Borders.  

I finally got the MST3K Manos DVD.  It's my first MST3K DVD and I like it, though I think my favorite part is the "Hired!" short at the beginning, and also the "Poopie!" bonus footage.  

I tend to buy one or two DVDs a month, on average.  I rent them via Netflix--as I said elsewhere, that has saved me a lot of money to keep me from buying stuff I'd only watch once or twice.  I have a few DVDs like that now, though--I'll probably sell them on EBay in the next couple of months.

[Ash]

Very good film!

I just watched it the other night.

I've read that it was actually made 2 years ago but put on the shelf because the producers wanted to wait until Berry Pepper and VIn Diesel's star power rose and would pull in more money for it at the box office.....which it did.

[TC]

There's no way I would buy "They", no matter how cheap it was.  I have no clue in hell what Wes Craven had to do with this movie, since his name doesn't appear in the credits although the movie has his name in the prefix - Wes Craven's They.

The movie made no sense to me.  *SPOILERS*  *SPOILERS*

Okay, why wouldn't the monsters just kills the kids when they have them the first time?   Capturing them, marking them, letting them go, and then waiting about 15 - 20 years to kill them makes no sense to me.  And like Burgo mentioned,  the stupid things look like aliens rather than monsters.   And it's friggin PG-13....This film has the audacity to have a shower scene, even though it very well knows it isn't going to show us any boobs.  Bleh.

[Dolph Lundgren]

Okay, thanks for the heads up, Burgo.  I think I'll wait this one out until I can get it cheap, or at least give it a rent.

As for buying instead of renting, I do the exact same thing.  I have some problem that forces me to buy instead of rent.  For some reason, I just hate renting DVDs.  Especially since Blockbuster is the only rental place for miles.  Unless I'm really unsure about a movie, I usually end up buying it.  Maybe my perspective will change in a few years, who knows?

Nick

[Chadzilla]

The Burgomaster wrote:

>
> When will this madness end?????
>
>

My vote is bankruptcy.



Post Edited (06-17-03 19:25)

[The Burgomaster]

TC wrote:

"There's no way I would buy "They", no matter how cheap it was. I have no clue in hell what Wes Craven had to do with this movie, since his name doesn't appear in the credits although the movie has his name in the prefix - Wes Craven's They."

Craven probably didn't do anything except collect a big, fat paycheck for letting them use his name. But, that's okay. The movie was better than most of the recent films that Craven HAS been directly involved with!