Buy it on DVD or not? May 22, 2008
Posted by Jelger in : Entertainment , trackbackAfter several years of intensive study on this subject, I’ve come up with the fool-proof solution to know if you should buy a movie on DVD or not. But first of all a quick example.
You’re in a store and you’re looking for a movie. Suddenly some familiar title grabs your attention. You grab the box, read the backside, and you get interested. If it’s a big, recent movie, you will see short flashbacks of the trailer in your head. You think you’re gonna like the movie and you buy it.
It turns out to be an average movie, and you watch it exactly one time. This is not good.
Luckily there is an obvious way to avoid this.
Everybody knows a few movies that he or she can watch every other year. A little test:
How long is it ago that you’ve seen Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, Fight Club, Apocalypse Now, Se7en or Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain? I bet that if you’ve seen one of those movies more than two years ago, you can (and want to) see the movie again.
As said, I did some extensive research on this subject. 
And I’ve found an interesting link between the titles of the movies you want to see again and again, and the titles of the movies that are high-rated. Guess what… they are almost always the same!
Average rated movies can be really entertaining. You can enjoy watching them alone or with friends, they’ve got the music, they’ve got the actors, but often they lack something which is quite important: a script or story that sets it apart. Those movies can be great to watch, but after a few years you won’t have that ‘I should see that movie again!’ feeling. So, avoid buying them, and rent them instead.
The movies you do want to buy are the really good ones. Imdb.com features a list with the top 250 movies all time, voted by hundred of thousands of people online. The current top 20 is as follows:
1. 9.1 The Godfather 
2. 9.1 The Shawshank Redemption
3. 9.0 The Godfather: Part II
4. 8.9 Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il
5. 8.9 Pulp Fiction
6. 8.8 Schindler’s List
7. 8.8 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
8. 8.8 Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
9. 8.8 Casablanca
10. 8.8 Shichinin no samurai
11. 8.8 Star Wars
12. 8.8 12 Angry Men
13. 8.8 The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
14. 8.7 Rear Window
15. 8.7 GoodFellas 
16. 8.7 Cidade de Deus
17. 8.7 Raiders of the Lost Ark
18. 8.7 C’era una volta il West
19. 8.7 The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring
20. 8.7 The Usual Suspects
Every movie-lover should own a few of those movies. If you own movies like Children of the Corn III, but you don’t own any movies on this list, you should get your movie-priorities straight.
Here is the guideline I’ve come up with:
When you come across a movie that you’re intersted in, check the rating on IMDB, and then proceed:
> Very good/Good rating: often smart to buy these movies, as you probably want to see them again some time (and again…)
> Average rating: try renting it, or wait untill it’s being shown on television.
> Bad rating: don’t buy it, don’t rent it, unless you’re watching it with a bunch of friends and are under the influence of alcohol
A good side effect of this rule (apart from saving the user money over the long term), is that it actually promotes the movie industry to invest in making good movies. Personally I always make sure that I have three or four really good movies at home, that I didn’t see yet, ready to watch. I usually buy them on Amazon, because I think they’ve got great service and prices, but there are other good shops as well.
I prefer buying movies online, because this way you have plenty of reviews at hand.
Comments»
Interesting system. It may not be that easy though! My family and I have found that the ratings and the reviewers don’t always see what we see. some movies have meanings that are not what most people usually see.
There has been plenty of occasions when we liked a movie and it had really bad reviews (Mirror Mask was a really cool, and artistic movie) and by the same token there are movies that I hated that had good reviews (I really hate Star Wars!)
sometimes you just have to wing it, and cut your loses!
Blessings!
I must say I agree with you on the Star Wars thing.
Personally I found that whenever I watched a high-rated movie (on IMDB), but didn’t really like it (or even disliked it), I would still wanted to see it again after a few years… probably to discover if I could find out why so many people liked the movie. I didn’t particularly liked the Lord of the Rings movies when I first saw them, but when I get the chance I’m gonna see them again. This might be a personal thing though, I wonder what other people think about this.
Why buying movies? I no time all the shelves in your house are occupied with DVD’s. In the meantime some of the mentioned famous movies also will be available on Blue-Ray discs.
Isn’t it wiser to download the films you want to see at an appropriate provider for a dollar or two? Or is it you want to hold and smell the box itself?
I loved Se7en. That being said I don’t really.. ever.. buy movies. HOWEVER
You sound like the kind of person I would shamelessly visit and watch YOUR movies on YOUR couch with a big old smile
…
well its the truth! lol
-JEMi
ps - thank you so much for your comment on my Problogger post
@Jaap - Downloading movies is still as expensive as renting. And Blue-Ray - although I’ve seen the amazing quality it has - it will still take some years to become mainstream. And when that’s mainstream you can prepare again switching to something different. :p
I personally still watch the Godfather on VHS tapes, and with pleasure