Directors Your best and worst blind purchases (1 Viewer)

[Gary->dee]

I'm usually not the type to go for blind purchases of DVDs but on rare occasions it does happen.

Recently I came across a double-blind buy situation. The opportunity presented itself to buy The Road To Perdition for $10 because I was buying it in conjunction with Daredevil which I'd also be getting for $10. Used, mind you. I had seen neither of these movies while they initially played in the movie theaters so I was taking a chance. But I was more open to the idea of Daredevil than Perdition because I like the new era of comic book movies, even though I was aware that Perdition was based on a graphic novel, which is why I was even remotely interested in Perdition.

Either way I figured I could return one or both of the movies if I didn't like them that much. So I bit the bullet and got both. Watched Daredevil, loved it. Next was the iffy Perdition. This was the title that I had the most hesitation about because I actually was thinking of getting the latest Bond flick Die Another Day instead of Perdition.

Turned out I totally loved Road To Perdition upon seeing it, possibly even moreso than Daredevil! What a great film. Anyway, I would rank Perdition as my best blind buy because I had the most hesitation about it yet I ended up enjoying it thoroughly(seen it about 5 times already). As far as my worst blind purchase, it might be Blake Edwards' S.O.B.. I barely watch it and I might end up selling it.

So what do you think are your best and worst blind DVD purchases?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Best: 8 1/2

I spent $35.99 on the film (Criterion DVD) despite never seeing it before. It's one of my favorite films now and also one of my favorite DVD's.

Worst: A Beautiful Mind (Widescreen)

I really thought the movie was too cliched, despite some very nice acting and production design. I watched it once and have no intent to view it again.

Here's all the discs I purchased without seeing the films prior:

Arsenic and Old Lace
Being There
Cast Away (
The Circus
City Lights
Creature from the Black Lagoon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Deliverance
Doctor Zhivago
Dracula (1931)
The Elephant Man
The Evil Dead
Goldfinger (SE)
It Happened One Night
It's A Wonderful Life
Kung Pow: Enter The Fist
Metropolis (restored)
Minority Report
Monsters, Inc.
Moulin Rouge!
The Mummy (1932)
North By Northwest
Notorious (Criterion)
Phantom of the Opera (1925/1929)
Phantom of the Opera (1943)
The Royal Tenenbaums
Shadow of the Vampire
Singin' In The Rain
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Some Like It Hot
Sunset Blvd.
Superman: The Movie
The Thin Man
The Thing From Another World
The Usual Suspects
Behind the Scenes at Walt Disney Studios
Disneyland USA
Mickey Mouse in Black & White
Mickey Mouse in Living Color
The Complete Goofy
Silly Symphonies
Zulu

 

[Gary Seven]

Worst... XXX and Scary Movie.

Best... have to say Animatrix. It's rare I make blind purchases anymore since I got burned a few times.

 

[MartinTeller]

I used to make TONS of blind purchases. Now I'm more sensible and I use the public library whenever I can.

Best (not counting stuff like Kurosawa or Kubrick movies which I was pretty sure I would like):
Evil Dead trilogy
Brazil
by Brakhage
Casablanca
Dancer in the Dark
The Dark Crystal
Donnie Darko
Kwaidan
Moulin Rouge
"Mr. Show"
Toy Story & Toy Story 2
The Wicker Man
Zoolander

Worst:
15 Minutes
The Anniversary Party
The Bank Dick
Celebrity
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
The Goonies
House/House 2
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Requiem for a Dream
Sisters
State & Main
The Toxic Avenger

 

[TommyT]

My 2 blind buys turned out to be some of the best I've got in my collection:

Re-Animator, Millennium Ed - One of the best cast & producer commentary tracks out there! I'd never seen one single second of it & I was thoroughly entertained.

Yojimbo, Criterion - Never saw a min of it before purchasing & it became one of my favorite Kurosawa flicks.

 

[SteveGon]

Worst: The Loss of Sexual Innocence

Best: The Decalogue

 

[Dome Vongvises]

The Goonies

Figure that one was an automatic for people from Oregon.

Best

Red Beard
- I've always wanted to be a physician. This one compounds my interest.

Worst
- I've purchased some films in combo, so I really shouldn't count this, but I will.

Tie: High Fidelity and From Dusk Till Dawn 2

HF was good, but too dry for me, and FDTD2 was just blah.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I don’t know about the best, but my most recent very good blind purchase was:

Hopscotch

which I ordered due to a gauntlet thrown down by George Kaplan. Even though I had not seen the film, I did know that George and I have very similar tastes in many comedies.

Worst was

Chasing Amy and it was a Criterion. And only about $15. A movie that I did not like and commentary where Kevin and his mates spent most of their time giggling.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

Best: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1: I remebered hearing good things about the show and it was only $25, so I went for it. My life has more or less revolved around it and Angel for two years now.

Worst: Novocaine: I only bought this because the two-pack with L.A. Story only cost another $4 over L.A. Story itself. I thought it was horribley contrived and just didn't work as a comedy.

 

[MartinTeller]

Figure that one was an automatic for people from Oregon.

Well, I'm from Chicago. I've only lived here 10 years.

 

[Zen Butler]

Best: Ghost World

Worst: Pearl Harbor

 

[Jason_Els]

Best: Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau)

tied with:

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie

Worst: Raging Bull (it's sacrilege I know but I can't stand boxing and I hate just about eveything in this film.)

 

[ChrisBEA]

I don't even know where to begin.

Worst would probably be: Old School, disliked it so much it became the first movie I have ever sold.
Oh yeah, how could I forget Iron Monkey 2, I tried watching it on a few separate occasions and could never make it through, but I still own it.

Best: I can't even make a comment here, I have bought so many disks blindly and have found a lot of gems...
I'll say my best recently would be Lilo and Stitch, had no desire to see it in the theater, but I picked it up in a 2fer deal with Lion King, turned out I really liked it. Oh yeah and Neil Gaiman's NeverWhere, beautiful low budget weirdness.

 

[Jake Johnson]

All of my blind purchases have been good. So, the worst ones I still like, just not as much as the others.

Best:
Blood Simple, Donnie Darko, Blue Velvet

Worst:
Tigerland, The Salton Sea

 

[George_W_K]

I don't know if this counts at all, but the two best recent purchases for me were, Equilibrium, which I did see two scenes from at a Home Theater Meet, and the other was, Below.

Without looking at my collection I can only think of my bad one, The Legend 2 (Jet Li).

 

[Sergio Martorel]

Best: FIRST LOVE... LITTER IN THE BREEZE, a delightful comedy produced by Wong Kar-Wai.

Worst: SALÓ. Yep, I have the Criterion edition.

 

[Greg_R]

Best (never seen prior to purchase)
- Brazil: Criterion Collection
- Amélie (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain)
- Samurai I/II/III (Criterion)
- The Day of the Jackal (fun flick)

Worst (due to unlabeled pan-n-scan)
- Happy Gilmore
- Animal House
- Remember the Titans

Worst
- Princess Mononoke (I like other anime but this one got too preachy at the end)
- Raging Bull / The French Connection. I can appreciate these in some respects (cinematography, etc.) but found the storylines to be boring and the characters uninteresting (IMO).

 

[Paul Arnette]

Best: Fight Club

Worst: From Dusk Till Dawn

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Best: Fight Club, Below, Boogie Nights, Richard III.

Worst: Magnolia, Magnolia, Magnolia--I want my 2+ hours of tedium back!!!!!!

 

[Gary->dee]

It's funny that you guys are mentioning Fight Club because I've yet to see it and will most likely make it a blind purchase at some special point in time. Probably after the end of the years glut of titles subsides.