Building a DVD collection update 4

[Non_Comformist]

This is the fourth update of my project to build a DVD collection of 100 titles.

The Rules.

#1. All DVD's (movies) are graded from 1-5 (5 being the best. 2.5 being the line between good and poor movie. Only movies that attain a grade of at least 3.0 are allowed in the collection. If a DVD is purchased sight unseen and fails to attain a minimum grade of 3.0 it must be disposed of a soon as possible and cannot be stored with the collection. This is usually accomplished by giving it away or trading it in for a different DVD.

2. When a DVD is purchased it is placed at the beginning of the collection. DVD's are watched in order (left to right) and this order is never broken. This assures that each DVD is watched equally and prevents movies from going "stale" do to over viewing. I call this the "good song on the radio syndrome." I think it is self explanatory


Recent Viewings

21 Grams. A up close and personal shot of Naomi Watts’ hard nipples was not enough to overcome what I would consider a very disappointing movie. Basically once you figure out what is going on, you are just left waiting for it to end.
Rating 2.45

Zoolander. Many people can’t stand this movie but I love so many of the one liners that is an easy choice for The Collection. “It’s a walk off..,It’s a walk off.”
Rating 3.55

24 Season 1. Awesome for a network series. While it had some times when the characters seemed to do everything possible to stay or return to danger, there was enough action, intrigue and plot twist to make for a great watch.
Rating 3.65

The Usual Suspects. Even though the revelation ending may have been obvious to some, The Usual Suspects is brilliantly directed , superbly acted, and a great story.
Rating 4.45

Star Trek TNG Nemesis. Basically a collection of previous plot lines and the “shocking ending” of Data’s demise lost any emotional relevance as they basically replaced him with an identical android. Not bad but sort of lame
Rating 2.60

Saving Private Ryan. It’s a very simple forumla really Guns + Explosions + War + Blood & Guts = movie I will most likely enjoy.
Rating 4.57

Boiler Room. Very good tale of greed and the relationship between father & son.
Rating 3.70
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Amazing martial arts movie of which I have still not seen one better.
Rating 4.60

Hero. Visually stunning and more a work of art then movie. Still I found the story to be lacking and the action repetitive at times.
Rating 2.50


Clear & Present Danger. Probably the best of the Jack Ryan series.
Rating 3.50

Sleepers. Modern spin on The Count of Monte Cristo. Excellent acting.
Rating 4.25

Donnie Brasco. A very underrated gangster tale. Both Depp and Pacino give very good performances.
Rating 3.90

Jerry Maguire. Most likely the only “chick flick” with a shot of making The Collection and only because of the unique insight into the world of being a sports agent.
Rating 3.27


That makes The Collection as follows.

1. Godfather Part I 5.00
2. Godfather Part II 4.99
3. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 4.60
4. Saving Private Ryan 4.57
5. Office Space 4.55
6. Braveheart 4.50
7. The Usual Suspects 4.45
8. Pale Rider 4.40
9. Training Day 4.35
10. The Last Samurai 4.30
11. Swingers 4.25
12. Sleepers 4.10
13. Die Hard 4.00
14. Donnie Brasco 3.90
15. Spinal Tap 3.85
16. Meet the Parents 3.75
17. Boiler Room 3.70
18. 24 Season 1 3.65
19. Catch Me If You Can 3.60
20. Zoolander 3.55
21. Clear & Present Danger 3.50
22. Oceans Eleven 3.45
23. City Hall 3.35
24. Fog of War 3.30
25. Jerry Maguire 3.27
26. Ace Ventura Pet Detective 3.25
27. The Godfather Part III 3.10
28. The Good The Bad and The Ugly 3.09

72 spots remain so there is still plenty of time to get all the must have movies in.

Thoughts on this updates ratings.

I was most disappointed but Hero and 21grams and I may be rating Zoolander and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to high

[brassnuts]

[ QUOTE ]
Clear & Present Danger. Probably the best of the Jack Ryan series.
Rating 3.50

[/ QUOTE ]

Are we forgetting Hunt for Red October?

Also, I see you have Pale Rider, good movie. Thought about adding Unforgiven into the list?

[Non_Comformist]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Clear & Present Danger. Probably the best of the Jack Ryan series.
Rating 3.50

[/ QUOTE ]

Are we forgetting Hunt for Red October?

[/ QUOTE ]

[censored], actually yeah I did, Good call.

[Non_Comformist]

28 Days Later
TigerLand
Black Hawk Down
GoodGellas
Fight Club
Donnie Darko
Singles
Reservoir Dogs
Willard
Gladiator

Predictions and/or your own ratings?

[Joe Tall]

28 Days Later

This kicks azz.

Peace,
Joe Tall

[Brian]

From what I've read of your posts, you and I have a pretty similiar taste in movies. I predict that the following movies will make your list:

28 Days Later
Fight Club
Donnie Darko
Reservoir Dogs
Gladiator
Black Hawk Down

Only one on your list that I've seen that won't make it will be Willard. I've liked Crispen Glover since Back to the Future (my first favorite movie), but this one just didn't do it for me at all.

I'd say Reservoir Dogs and Fight Club will be at the top of your list with around a 4.5 or better. Donnie Darko and Gladiator next with around a 4. Then 28 Days Later about a 3.5. I think Black Hawk Down was overrated, but I've never been into war movies. I think it'll also barely make your list with about a 3. And while I'd give Willard a 1 or so, the mere fact that you got it means you must have some interest in either rats, Crispen, dead babies, or other, so I bet you'll give it at least a 2.

Haven't seen the rest. I'm sure Goodfellas will make your collection, though, as you seem to really be into the mafia thing. I rented Godfather for the first time about a week ago. I watched it for about 15 minutes and turned it off. Couldn't get in to it at all, and don't understand what the big hype around it is. Maybe I was expecting too much or for the movie to move faster or something. Feel free to blast me for hating it. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

-Brian

[EDIT]: Oh yeah, what motivated me to post was your comments on "24". I've never seen the show as I had heard all the events take place within one day. So it seemed like the type of show you had to see from the start to understand. I finally broke down and rented it at Blockbuster the other night, and I'm hooked. Already watched Day 1 Midnight-6 A.M., and headed back to Blockbuster right now to get some more episodes. I'm always eager to see the next show but when I think about the show afterwards and what was accomplished, I feel the same way you did:"the characters seemed to do everything possible to stay or return to danger".

[deacsoft]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Clear & Present Danger. Probably the best of the Jack Ryan series.
Rating 3.50

[/ QUOTE ]

Are we forgetting Hunt for Red October?


[/ QUOTE ]

You beat me to it.

[deacsoft]

Still no Pulp Fiction? /images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Shame on you.

[bdk3clash]

Why not take care of the whole thing at once? (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0006A05RM/qid=1102749196/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl74/104-3699013-5621508?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846)

[John Cole]

I liked GoodGellas, but, hey, that's just me. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Alobar]

fight club easily 5.0
resevior dogs I'd give a 4
Im a fan of good epic movies, so id give gladiator a 4.35
28 days later I give a 4.2
I'm one of the few people I know who didnt think donnie darko was anything special. Id give it a 2.5

I'm also one of the only people who like hero much better than Crouching Tiger hidden dragon. I saw hero first tho, maybe thats why? I thought it was visually AMAZING, and the story line was good. CTHD was just kind of "lacking" but maybe if I saw it when it had come out when that style of fight scene was ground breaking, then maybe I would feel differently.

[JTG51]

[ QUOTE ]
Why not take care of the whole thing at once? (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0006A05RM/qid=1102749196/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl74/104-3699013-5621508?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846)

[/ QUOTE ]

Jesus, that's not even a good deal. It's more than $20 a movie.

[deacsoft]

[ QUOTE ]

28 days later I give a 4.2


[/ QUOTE ]

That movie was horribly gay. A fair concept but greatly overshadowed by it's stupid story, horrible effects, terrible cinematography, and ... well... you get the picture.

[deacsoft]

BTW, my girl friend loves those kind of movies and even she though it sucked.

[itsmesteve]

Reservoir Dogs and Goodfellas should go right up top.
Singles wasn't bad from what i recall. Fight Club is also quite good. If you like mob movies, check out Bronx Tale and Boondocks Saints.

[Thythe]

We definitely have the same taste in movies. I would suggest getting Seven and The Royal Tenebaums up there soon. I have 97 DVDs in my collection so far, though I don't have the strict discarding standards that you have.

[john smith]

I assume that by "Goodgellas" you meant Goodfellas.

My ratings:

Black Hawk Down - 3.4
Goodfellas - 4.5 (AWESOME movie)
Fight Club - 4
Donnie Darko - 3.8
Reservoir Dogs - 3.6
Gladiator - 3.2

[brassnuts]

Few more suggestions: Bourne Identity, Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels, Big Lebowski/Fargo/almost any Coen Bros movie, Band of Brothers, Ronin... I could really go on for ages.

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

28 days later I give a 4.2


[/ QUOTE ]

That movie was horribly gay. A fair concept but greatly overshadowed by it's stupid story, horrible effects, terrible cinematography, and ... well... you get the picture.

[/ QUOTE ]

I gotta disagree with you there, the story was quite good. It wasnt your regular zombie movie, it added an element of depth with the humans being the real monsters. The cinematography was also done well. Which effects exactly were horrible?

[deacsoft]

[ QUOTE ]
Which effects exactly were horrible?

[/ QUOTE ]

All of them. That movie appeared as if they bought it out of a $0.25 machine.

[Non_Comformist]

The thing about 24, despite all of its short comings the damn thing is addictive. I started with doing 4 a day but wound up doing like the final 12 in a single shot marathon.

[Blarg]

I thought the ending of 28 Days Later slowed down a lot, but you could say that of almost every movie. It's much harder to bring a concept to full fruition than to think it up and start up the engine. The special effects were fine; Deacsoft just doesn't like the style. The movie was not really based all that much around special effects in the first place, but it did have a cutting style that bugged some people.

Saving Private Ryan -- a movie with an astoundingly good first 20 minutes bookended with a mirror opposite, wrenchingly bad last 5 or 10 minutes, with flab hanging over the belt in the middle. Great subject, great start, and now lionized as if it deserved its own new monument in Washington D.C. People get the subject mixed up with the movie, which is just a movie with the usual Spielberg genius for action and hopelessness for most anything else. There were some good parts in the middle, but overall the entire movie is a let down after the bravura first 20 minutes, with the last few minutes being a nightmare that completes the punishment for letting your expectations get raised early on. Tom Hanks was lauded for his acting, which he actually showed up for and slogged through. He doesn't have any back-story in his eyes, though, and his everyman seems a little too much like a zero when it comes to the acting. One of the most highly overrated performances in film history. I bought it assuming it would be a keeper, but I'd be just as happy to trade it for something else now.

The Usual Suspects -- completely predictable, the "revelation" therefore completely lacks punch, undermining the entire movie. Watching it becomes a matter of seeing how the director is going to put together his conceit, and he doesn't do so in a particularly interesting way. Still, the movie has some high points, and everyone fell in love with the whole concept of "men of will" like Kaiser Soze. I think that concept added so much power to the movie that it makes it easy to gloss over the ways it didn't do anything exceptional. The cold, cruel lawyer was also very well done. And there's rarely been an actor anywhere near as watchable as Kevin Spacey. The movie was written for and around him, and it's the place to go for his kind of vulnerable psycho. I'd also suggest the "Wiseguy" t.v. series for more of him. A keeper just to show people who wonder what all the fuss is about.

Clear and Present Danger was really fun and gripping. Longish, but it flew by. I could definitely watch this quite a few times more, I think. Possible keeper, but it's been too long since I've seen it.