Rental or purcahse?

I buy lots of DVDs and watch most once, so instead of spending so much money, i was thought it would be profitable to see what MoFo thinks of certain films in regards to rewatchability.

Dogville
21 Grams

Rentals or purchases?

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Too bad there isn't a 'video swap' in local towns. Swap meet format for DVD's. It wouldn't pay do it online cause the shipping costs would prevent any real savings.

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I own both.

I love Dogville. But it's definitely a love it or hate it kind of flick.

I like 21 Grams, not nearly as much as Von Trier, but it's definitely a good movie and features some amazing performances by Penn and Watts especially.


But realize with my recommendations for purchase that you're also talking to a guy with over 2,000 movies. So clearly my standards on what's a buy vs. a rent are different than most folks.

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Thanks Pike, you're a star

I guess i'll buy both then.


BTW, do you have a list of your movies anywhere?

Both films are worth buying IMO.

BTW, didn't coolbreeze have like 10 post 2 days ago?

-TheButcher

How about Talk to Her?

The thing with me with the rental vs. purchase idea is that...well I rent first, and if I absolutely love the movie, I buy it.

I forget movies easily...my long term, including short term, memory suck horribly. So in the span of a couple of months (4-6), I find himself watching my favorites and enjoying it over and over again.

Though last year I did watch The Boondock Saints about once a day in July....meh.

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My problem with that is most places charge you about $5 for a new rental, yeah? If you have any kind of late fee, you're up even higher than that. Most movies you can buy for the fifteen to twenty dollar range...and if you wait a while, like with the two titles discussed in the first post of this thread, you can get them for much cheaper than that even, more in the $10 to $12 range. Now you're talking about a rental fee that's getting close to half of what you could just buy the thing for outright. But again, this is somebody with a purchasing disease talking.

Eh.


I love Talk to Her too. It's my very favorite Pedro Almodóvar movie, and it's a great place to start in his filmography. And yes, I own it myself.

I agree with Pike, i mean, buying the film is only a bit more than renting the film in some cases, so it seems that it would make sense to just buy it and get all the benefits of ownership. However, in my case, i'm spending almost all my money on my collection and really need to save so renting is becoming a viable option, especially as a fair % of my DVDs i've neither watched at all or only watched once, in which case a rental would have been far more practical.

I've already seen Bad Education, which i owned and had to take back as a scratch kept skipping a few minutes of the film. I got 2046 in it's place.

How bout 8 1/2, Boxcar Bertha, Cronos, Elephant Man, Straight Story, Henry Potrait of a Serial Killer, Thesis?

Before Holden shoots down Scorsese's Boxcar Bertha, I just gotta say that I really dig it.

It's certainly no masterpiece considering Martin's impressive body of work, but it's still a fun period piece with a gorgeous Barbara Hershey in her prime. I also enjoy seeing David Carradine back when he was still a young man, and love, love, love movies set during the depression.

8 1/2 is legendary, but whether or not you'll actually enjoy it or not is up to debate. The Elephant Man is a decent flick, but I've always thought it was a bit overrated. Great acting, but kinda...I dunno...silly at times.

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To me, it almost feels like dating & marriage. Renting movies can be fun, like dating. Not that dating is always fun, of course, but that's like renting a bad movie. Buying a movie is marriage, and if you buy a movie that you've never seen before, it's like getting married in Vegas with a cheap bimbo named Barbarette. Barbarette may turn out to be the love of your life or she's just after your money - or you were both high/drunk/not on medication at the time of your 15 minute wedding.

$4 isn't an insane amount to pay for a video rental, but unless you don't have the time or it's a new release you're dying to see, check your local library to see if they have it. Now I wouldn't rent something I found at the $5 bargain bin at Wal-Mart - though I've found several DVDs in that bin that I paid $20+ for in the past - and if you're assured that what you're renting is going to be a fantastic film, and it's only $10 somewhere, I'd say buy it. But buying a $20+ movie that you've never seen before? I've done it before... to my knowledge I haven't really regretted it... in some cases, kinda, but nothing that has caused a deep, dark, hit-your-head-on-a-wall depression. Do it if you wanna get purchasing disease (there's always a chance you'll meet a sexy doctor).

we usually buy our films..we always watch them more than once

but i don't buy every one...the ones that i'm unsure about i wait until i've seen it once...if i like it i will get it...

We have enough storage problems here as it is without adding movies we have only a marginal interest in watching multiple times. I buy only DVDs that I'm sure will get watched over and over again. The rest we watch on Starz or HBO (no rental fees but you do have to wait an extra month or so after the film is released -- but we have the premium channels for a reason, so why go out and pay for rentals?).

This combination works for us and saves us a ton of money in rentals, purchases, and late fees.

We both used to buy or tape movies like crazy in the VCR days, so when we got married six years ago, our combined tape collection was unwieldy for our cramped living room space. We haven't managed to go through the collection and winnow it down yet, but we may have to soon. As we start buying DVDs (even at our slow pace), we're having to rethink having so many videocassettes, which aren't as nice to use anyway.

BTW, Holden, your thinking isn't entirely parallel: If you wait a little bit to get a lower price for buying a DVD, then the rental is probably down near $1 or $2 (at least it is around here). So the margin between rental and purchase price is still about the same. The few movies we do rent are those in the $2-for-a-week range: not brand-new releases but those that have been out for at least a month or two.

And even that is very rare for us. Just not worth the hassle of returning, etc. etc. etc.

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$2? Where the heck do you rent movies?

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Giant Eagle. Local grocery chain that has a video store in each branch called Iggle Video. (It's spelled that way because that's how Pittsburghers pronounce "Eagle.")

Granted, brand-new video rentals are more expensive, but there are tons of $1.99 rentals for a week there. It's not a bad selection, either. You can usually find what you're looking for unless it's a bit esoteric or too old. But, I can find stuff that's coming onto HBO and Starz for the $1.99 fee.

Nice. Sometimes we get cupons for Hollywood Video up to 3 movies for 99 cents each but normally I don't think you can get anything for 2 bucks.

Yes, but we have to say "Iggle," so it evens out.

Of all those mentioned so far, I'd buy Elephant Man and 2046, and maybe Talk to Her. My collection is the Bilderberg Society of DVD's though. Very exclusive.

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Elephant Man is a definite "purchase" potential for me. I like the term "exclusive" for a DVD collection. In my case in particular, it sounds better than "pathetic."

Yeah, it's either "exclusive" or "pansy-arsed" for mine. I prefer the former.