Great thread,
Phoebus! Like you, fellow DVD addict, I have bought a few DVDs that I'd never seen before -- and I've had my own share of hits and misses.
(These are in alphabetical order, because that's how my collection is arranged on my shelf. I used to have them arranged via genre, but that got confusing and too time-consuming after a while.)
Hits:The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle - despite being a box-office flop and suffering a number of lukewarm reviews, I bought this solely because I like the idea of animation/live action combos. This disc has become a perennial favorite among my three kids, and I don't mind repeat viewings either. Seeing Robert DeNiro make a fool of himself as "Fearless Leader" is worth the price of admission. I consider this an overlooked gem.
Chicken Run - not fair, really, since I'll buy anything by Aardman Animation just on general principle. I'm a big Wallace and Gromit fan. Still, I did purchase this disc without having watched it beforehand. The kids love it, and so do I -- for different reasons.
Endless Waltz Gundam Wing: The Movie - I bought this solely because I had a hankering to watch giant animated robot suits killing each other brutally, and I'd felt horribly betrayed by
Princess Mononoke (see my Misses, below). I had never watched Gundam before, and aside from
Akira, I'd never really been a big anime fan. I'd also read that other OAV discs from the Gundam series (started 1979) are nearly incomprehensible to Gundam newbies. But this disc is different. It starts slow, but boy, does it deliver. If you have the time I recommend you watch the 3-hour OAV version first, rather than the condensed movie version, because the former is more satisfying.
The Sopranos - the most awesome TV show of the past decade. Check my Sopranos thread in the discussion for why this is so cool. Absolutely my greatest didn't-watch-it-first buy.
Stuart Little - not for me, but my kids really enjoy this movie. Plus it is bursting at the seams with loads of extras that keep them busy for hours.
U-571 - I took a chance on this WWII submarine flick, as I'm a big fan of submarine books/movies like
Run Silent, Run Deep, Dust on the Sea, The Hunt for Red October, Grey Lady Down, etc. I wsa also into the German code machine, the Enigma, which figures heavily in this film. Thankfully I was not disappointed. This is an old-fashioned, pre-Die Hard war thriller of the type Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper used to star in, which is fine by me. The disc has a bunch of nifty extras too.
X-Men - I missed it in theaters, but Bryan Singer's movie adaptation has slick written all over it. Hugh Jackman is perfectly cast as Wolverine, although the guy playing Cyclops was a limp rag. Still, a deeply cool flick.
Misses:Bowfinger - I like Steve Martin, I like Eddie Murphy, I like Heather Graham, but this movie has not gone beyond a single viewing for me yet. Good thing I got it cheap.
The Insider - I've been a big Michael Mann fan from way back --
The Jericho Mile, Manhunter, Miami Vice, Last of the Mohicans, and esepcially
Heat. I also liked Russell Crowe from
L.A. Confidential. While this movie is very good, the jury's not in yet on whether I'd like to keep it in my collection.
Princess Mononoke - I bought this without watching first through a series of errors. First, I'd read some really good reviews about this film and its creator, Hayao Miyazaki, who is like unto a deity in Japan. Second, I'd a hankering to expand my anime horizons since my main previous exposure was 1987's
Akira. Third, I labored under the misimpression that this movie -- like most other Japanime I'd seen-- took place in a dark, violent, sci-fi-near-future-neo-cyberpunk milieu. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I watched this movie which takes place in a pastoral, pre-industrial past, with a man vs. nature storyline, with no good guys or bad guys, just characters with conflicting interests. While this is a good movie, and highly admirable for being completely and beautifully hand-drawn in this age of CG-animation, it was definitely not what I expected. That's why I got
Endless Waltz the following week -- now that's more like it!
Rules of Engagement - again, don't believe the hype. Just because I like Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson and have enjoyed some of director William Friedkin's past work (
The French Connection, The Excorcist), these elements do not a good movie make.