The Great DVD Purge

Hello readers,

Today I'm going to write about something that you may be familiar with - I'm going to write about DVD collections and DVD collecting. Now as a DVD blog owner it's not too surprising to know that I have a fair few DVDs of my own - I've been collecting for many years now, and I've seen my collection grow from a few select titles to some kind of unruly behemoth..

The conclusion I've come to is that I have too many DVDs. You see the other day I apparently hit another landmark with my collection - After my recent purchases from Play.com I seem to have gone past the 300 mark and into uber-collection territory. (In fact, according to DVD Aficionado I now have 310 titles and 453 discs in total). But rather than feeling pride in this achievement, I actually feel a bit guilty. A lot of them haven't been seen more than once, and I find myself forgetting if I even own films or not..

I've decided that the time may have come for a great DVD PURGE. You see where once my collection was kind of personal, it's now starting to look a bit.. well, materialistic. I think a decent DVD collection can say a lot about someone and their tastes and even be quite personal to them as well, but I'm losing this slowly but surely as it grows ever bigger.

To give you all an idea I made a kind of rough montage of my current collection. Here's the random one's dotted about my room:

And here's the main bulk:

Woooooooahs!

Now I'm not really showing off (much) here, because I really do feel that I have too many. If I can trim this down to the real essentials then maybe I can feel more pride in it. Especially now that there's so many new ways of consuming media these days - you can watch all kinds of films through those, and keep the real classics to own. I'm already a member of LoveFilm, and legal downloads are starting to come into their own too, so this is maybe the best option.

But what to do with all my excess DVDs? My real issue is laziness - With eBay I could probably sell off a great chunk of it, but I really can't be arsed.. My other suggestions so far have been to donate them to a charity shop, or to take them somewhere like Blockbusters that will sell them second hand. Has anyone ever been in this situation before? Any suggestions?

- Jimmy

Woolworths DVD Offers

Woolworths are running these DVD & blu-ray promotions for a limited time so get in quick!

I Am Legend - DVD
The Big Deal £12.77 plus FREE delivery (RRP:£19.99)
Ends: 28/04/2008

Heartbreak Kid - DVD
Chart Offer £9.97 plus FREE delivery (RRP:£9.97)
Ends: 28/04/2008

Run, Fat Boy, Run - DVD
Chart Offer £9.97 plus FREE delivery (RRP:£19.99)
Ends: 28/04/2008

Shoot Em Up - DVD
Chart Offer £7.97 plus FREE delivery (RRP:£19.99)
Ends: 28/04/2008

Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work - DVD
Chart Offer £10.97 plus FREE delivery (RRP:£24.99)
Ends: 28/04/2008

Family Guy – Blue Harvest DVD
Chart Offer £7.97 plus FREE delivery (RRP:£15.99)
Ends: 28/04/2008

I Am Legend - Blu-Ray
Recommended on Blu-ray only £17.97 (RRP:£26.99)
Ends: 28/04/2008

Because we all want to be heard..

You may notice that our favourite websites on the right hand side navigation now include my own LoveFilm reviews. I apologise for this, but we all want a bit of a voice right? Feel free to check them out and let me know if you agree/disagree with them.

It's one of the things I've really enjoyed doing with LoveFilm.. renting out films and slowly building up a portfolio of reviews through them. I've been reviewing those that I've rented, and rating all other films as and when they're recommended to me - this system is just a case of picking a star rating between 0 and 5. So go ahead and check those out too to see how compatible we are in our film tastes.

- Jimmy

Play.com - Everything for £5!

Hey readers,

I've just noticed a rather interesting promotion over at Play.com - everything for £5! Well.. selected products anyway.. but they have some seriously decent DVDs available so I've pulled out some choice selections for you:

Blade Runner - The Final Cut
I have the 5 disc Blade Runner Tin edition of this, and it's absolutely sensational. Read the DVD-Spot review here. This is the 2 disc edition, but still an absolute bargain for the money.

28 Weeks Later
I actually think this is better than the original, and provides some really genuinely scary moments - terrifying moments in fact. Being a Londoner I was a bit thrown by the overuse of London landmarks (apparently they walk from Big Ben to Wembley in only a short amount of time) but I was engrossed despite it. Well worth seeking out!

Trap Door Series 1 & 2
Don't you open that Trap Dooooooooooooor - you're a fooool if you dare, wooo - Stay away from that Trap Dooooooooor - Cos there's something doooown there!

Oh Globbits..

Man, what an absolutely brilliant series - Should I buy this or not? I'm afraid that the overwhelming nostalgia may just kill me, but it's so good..

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - Special Edition
Now, everyone knows that Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is the best film of all time. What they don't all know is how fantastic this DVD set is. It tends to be one of those films you always see on the TV at bank holidays and whatnot, but this DVD may just tempt you. It has a wealth of features on, and the animated menus are fantastic. It even has some Roger Rabbit shorts on it which are hilarious - well worth checking out!

Some seeeriously special features..

Wayne's World
Shhhhheeah right, like two films for £5 - party on Wayne and Garth!

Before Sunrise/Before Sunset Boxset
These are two of my favourite films, so to see them sold both for £5 makes me feel a bit sad in a way. I wish they could sell for more so that more goes to the filmmakers. But man, what a bargain! Simply put, these are two of the greatest love stories ever committed to film - they're free from schmaltz and convention, and utterly realistic. I urge you to buy them, I'm not even hinting this time - buy them!

edit: Ok I've just gone in and bought both Sunshine and Trap Door - bargains!

- Jimmy

24 DVD Boxsets

Boop.. Bip.. Boop.. Bip.. Boop.. Bip..

..24!!

Oh my God you guys, I cannot believe how much I love 24! I've just finished viewing the third series on DVD, loved the hell out of it, and now I've immediately started the fourth..

Ok, so now why is this relevant? Well, you may remember that in a previous post I speculated over the costs of TV DVD Box Sets (you won't remember). Anyway, I've noticed that a whole load of online retailers have dropped the prices of these sets. In fact, a single season of 24 will only set you back about £18. That's quite a bargain, so if you were holding off until they came on sale like I did.. now might be the time to move!

Save us Jack Bauer!

Now in the previous post I mentioned that HMV were generally the cheapest on these sets, but they've sadly all reverted back to £50 each now. However Amazon and Play still have some wicked sales on..

Play.com - £17.99 per Season
Amazon - £17.98 per Season

If you haven't already seen the wonder that is 24, then I suggest you take the leap like I did. And if you're feeling really indulgent then you can get this super-uber-monstrosity-set - Phwooooar!


- Jimmy

Futurama - Benders Big Score

Hello again readers - Now you may not know this, but I'm quite a big Futurama fan. You know, that award winning Matt Groening space comedy which was one thousand years before its time? That one. Well, naturally when it was cancelled back in 2003 I was quite annoyed. I cursed FOX, I cursed Zoidberg, and I even looked for support with Zombie Jesus. Sadly no new episodes were commissioned..

That is until now with the release of Benders Big Score on DVD!

Yes that's right, on April 7th Futurama is back and kicking on region 2 DVD. So please do go and buy it and support the Futurama cause. Don't make me set the pain monster on you!

There are actually going to be four feature length episodes on DVD, which will subsequently be chopped up and aired as episodes (with little bits of extra footage spliced in). The first installment is Bender's Big Score, a tale about weird naked aliens, scamming, and time travel.

We are so boned..

So is it any good? I've actually already seen it because I kind of.. *cough*.. downloaded it ages ago.. but I would say that it most certainly is! It feels a little awkward running long like it does, and I was a little bit concerned with how much they mess about with existing Futurama timelines, but they still maintain the highly consistent laughs.

See the trailer here:


I've just pre-ordered the DVD with the 'limited edition lenticular sleeve!' (3D Cover) You can buy that on Amazon here.

Next up is 'The Beast with a Billion Backs' which will feature David Cross as the voice of the beast. I literally can't wait!

- Jimmy