Directors Poll: Your Sight Unseen "Batting Average" (1 Viewer)

How many DVD's have you purchased in which you've never even seen the film in any way shape or form? Great buy or great waste of money? Here's mine:

Hidden Fortress: CC
Yojimbo: CC
Sanjuro: CC
Red Beard: CC
Samurai III, Duel at Ganryu Island: CC
Rushmore: CC
The Royal Tenenbaums: CC
Paths of Glory
Lolita (Kubrick)
From Dusk Till Dawn 2
Charade
Grave of the Fireflies
High Fidelity even (how do walks figure in to batting average? )

Anywho, counting every movie accept for HF, I have a batting average of .917 I still have yet to see about two to three other movies I've recently purchased that I've never seen.

I guess it would be 1.000, since the only time I ever bought a DVD unseen was for Frailty and I would give it a .

OK, I'll bite.
8 1/2
Band of Brothers
Black Hawk Down
Charlie's Angels (hey I take it for what it is)
Detroit Rock City - a walk (because it was $5)
The Emperor's New Groove
Peter Frampton: Live in Detroit - another walk (another $5 one)
Grand Illusion
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Joseph: King of Dreams
Jurassic Park III
The King of Comedy
L.A. Confidential
Leon: The Professional
Lilo & Stitch
A Little Princess
Meet the Parents
Minority Report
Mulan
The Patriot
The Secret Garden
Seven Samurai
Shrek
Signs
The Phantom Menace - walk (got it for $2)
Tarzan
The Bridges at Toko Ri
The Third Man
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Usual Suspects
We Were Soldiers

Therefore, I'm batting .933.....not bad.

Oy... I used to have a list of all the DVDs that I sold, but I accidentally deleted it. That would have made this a lot easier. I'll remember what I can:

Keepers:
12 Monkeys
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Army of Darkness
Best in Show
Brazil
Casablanca
Dancer in the Dark
The Dark Crystal
Donnie Darko
Drunken Master
Drunken Master 2/Legend of Drunken Master
Evil Dead
Evil Dead 2
Eyes Wide Shut
Fantasia 2000
Hard Boiled
The Hidden Fortress
High & Low
The Killing
Kwaidan
The Magic Flute
Moulin Rouge
Mr. Show 1st and 2nd seasons
Mulholland Dr
Paths of Glory
The Producers
Rashomon
Sanjuro
South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
Stardust Memories
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Waking Life
The Wicker Man
Yojimbo

Liked, but not enough to keep:
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Almost Famous
The Apartment
A Better Tomorrow
Black Orpheus
Blade
Blood Simple
Bottle Rocket (sold because I was convinced a Criterion edition was coming... still waiting)
Bowfinger
Brief Encounter
A Bug's Life
Cannibal! The Musical
Cast Away
Cecil B. Demented
C.H.U.D. (considered keeping this one just for the hilarious commentary)
Chushingura
The Conversation
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dark City
Day of Wrath
Dennis Miller: Live from Washington DC
Desperado
Desperate Living
Diabolique
Dracula
Female Trouble
The Fifth Element
Fight Club
Fishing With John
For All Mankind
Free Enterprise
The French Connection
The Game
Ghost World
Hard Eight
The Ice Storm
In the Heat of the Night
Interiors
Jason and the Argonauts
Lagaan
Last Tango in Paris
The Limey
Logan's Run
Manhunter
The Matrix Revisited
Mississippi Burning
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Omen
Once Upon a Time in China 1,2,3
Papillon
Pecker
Phantasm
RoboCop
Rock n' Roll High School
Rollerball (original)
Romper Stomper
Running Time
Same Guys, New Dresses
Samurai I
Shiri
Short 2: Dreams
The Sopranos, season 1
The Sorrow and the Pity
The Straight Story
Suburbia (Spheeris)
Summertime
Sweet and Lowdown
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Time Bandits
Touch of Evil
Training Day
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Unbreakable
Vagabond
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
X-Men (still have it because my gf likes it)
Your Friends and Neighbors
Zoolander
1 or 2 of the James Bond movies
about 20-25 Jackie Chan movies

Didn't like:
8 1/2
15 Minutes
The Allnighter
American Pie 2
The Bank Dick
Big Trouble in Little China
Caligula
Celebrity
Chasing Amy
John Cleese: How to Irritate People
The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Enter the Dragon
Friday
Good Morning
The Goonies
Grave of the Fireflies
Hamlet (Olivier)
Hell Night
Hellraiser
House
House 2
In the Mouth of Madness
The Invisible Man
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Love in the Afternoon
Maniac Cop
Minnie & Moskowitz
The Night Porter
Piranha
Requiem for a Dream
Romeo + Juliet (Luhrmann)
Ronin
Scanners
Sisters
State & Main
Strictly Ballroom
There's Something About Mary
Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except
The Three Worlds of Gulliver
The Toxic Avenger
Vamp
Walkabout
Wet Hot American Summer
Willow

Looks like the majority is "like but not love", with a sizable number falling on either side. I'd call it batting 300.

As I've said, I used to buy a LOT of DVDs. Now I'm more likely to rent/library movies I haven't seen, unless I happen to find a really good bargain on something I have strong reason believe will be a keeper.

DVD's owned: 88
Bought unseen: 14
Percentage: 16%

Ive liked all 14


Three I liked the most:

Se7en
A.I
Glengarry Glen Ross

I have a lot of "bought unseen" and I'd guess my batting average is around .900.

Only ones I haven't really liked that I bought blind:

Canadian Bacon (it was $4)
UHF (also cheap, around $4)
A Bridge Too Far - didn't dislike it, just not worth buying (got it in the 2-Pack with Paths of Glory, which in retrospect, I'm not sure was worth buying)

I've bought dozens others unseen and liked them all though.

Some 'blind' purchases I really, really like:
Galaxy Quest
The Straight Story
Die Hard
Fantasia 2000 (in the Fantasia Anthology)
The Emperor's New Groove
The Insider

My average ain't too bad:

Ballad of a Soldier
The Donner Party (documentary)
The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1962)
Band of Brothers
Angel (Season One)
Champagne for Caesar
Contraband
Cockfighter
Fingers
I Want to Live!
Lantana
The Last Laugh
Only Angels Have Wings
Sunshine State
Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Spirits of the Dead
The Shop on Main Street
The Bad and the Beautiful
Dog Soldiers
Ginger Snaps
Alice Adams
The Peter Sellers Collection

Guess I'm batting a hundred!

Akira
And God Created Woman1/2
Andrei Rublev
Apocalypse Now
Bad Moon
Bad Taste
The Beyond
Blood For Dracula1/2
The Bridge On The River Kwai
Candy
Caracara1/2
Cast Away
The Cat O'Nine Tails1/2
Charade
City Of The Living Dead1/2
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Creepshow 2
Deep Red
Deranged
Dressed To Kill1/2
Excalibur1/2
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Fear Dot Com1/2
Flesh For Frankenstein
The 400 Blows1/2
Frailty
Ghosts Of Mars1/2
Heathers
Henry V1/2
Highlander 2
House
The House By The Cemetery
How To Get Ahead In Advertising
Inferno1/2
Jeepers Creepers
Just Cause1/2
Kwaidan1/2
Lady In White
The Last House On The Left
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie1/2
Lifeforce
The Fellowship Of The Ring
Manhattan Baby
Maniac
Masque Of The Red Death:half
The New York Ripper
Open Your Eyes
Opera
Phenomena
The Pit And The Pendulum1/2
The Premature Burial
Re-Animator
Repo Man1/2
Route 6661/2
The Sentinel1/2
Seven Samurai
Shock
Sid & Nancy
Sleuth
The Stunt Man1/2
Suicide Kings
Supergirl
Suspiria
The Sword And The Sorcerer
Tenebre1/2
Thirteen Ghosts1/2
Time Bandits
Torso1/2
Triangle1/2
Two Lane Blacktop
The Unbearable Lightness Of Being
Virus
The Way Of The Gun1/2
What Lies Beneath
The Wicker Man
Wolfen
X-Men
Yojimbo1/2
Zombie

Having seen some of the other purchases made by folks here, I thought I was horrible at buying movies I'd never seen before.

Not counting DVDs in my collection that I didn't buy myself (like Jingle All the Way or the Jackie Chan movies, which my parents bought), here's my sight unseen list:

All About Eve - Haven't seen it yet.
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker
Braveheart
Cast Away
Citizen Kane
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Empire of the Sun
Grand Canyon
Grave of the Fireflies
A Hard Day's Night
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
The Last Waltz
Lawrence of Arabia
The Matrix
Metropolis (anime)
North by Northwest
Princess Mononoke
Say Anything
Shrek
The Silence of the Lambs
The Sixth Sense
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek: First Contact
Thunderball
Training Day
The X-Files: Fight the Future
Yellow Submarine

I hope the day that I end up disliking a film I buy on DVD never comes.

A lot of my 115 DVDs are ones I bought/recieved sight unseen:

City Lights - GREAT!!!!! Bought because of the acclaim it has gotten.

The Gold Rush - Good. It's ok...but it may just be the 1942 re-edit I don't like. I'll find out when Warner releases the 2-version DVD set later this year.

The Circus - Great! Bought because I liked City Lights.

It Happened One Night - Great! Bought because I was interested in seeing what a "screwball comedy" was.

Arsenic and Old Lace - Great! Bought because it was on sale and because I like Capra movies.

Some Like It Hot - Great! Because it's #1 on AFI Comedies list. It IS hillarious.

Doctor Zhivago - Great! Because I love Lawrence of Arabia and my mother said it was great.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - SUPERB! One of my favorites now and bought because I love animation.

8 1/2 (Criterion) - SUPERB! Bought just for it being said to be great. One of my 10 favorites.

North By Northwest - SUPERB! Bought since I'm a Hitchcock fan.

Notorious - Very good! Bought since I liked NxNW. It's not my favorite Hitchcock, but it's still great.

Being There - SUPERB! Bought because my uncle said it was great.

The Maltese Falcon - SUPERB! Bought because it has been said to be great.

Big Trouble In Little China - Great! Won a few years ago at a Fox chat here. Thanks Ron!

Goldfinger - GREAT! Bought because my uncle said it was great.

Deliverance - Great. Bought because it was infamous.

Dracula (1931), The Mummy (1932), Bride of Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera (1943), Creature from the Black Lagoon - Bought out of curiocity. All are great movies!

Monsters Inc - Bought since I liked the premise. Great movie!

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: SE - Bought since I like Milos Forman's work. Great movie!

Singin' In The Rain: SE - Bought because I haven't seen enough musicals and I love the silent era. One of my 10 favorites.

A Beautiful Mind - Mediocre. Great photography and acting, but it just is flat as old cola. I'm selling it if you want it.

Cast Away - OK. Not worth watching more than once...and it is a lot about nothing.

Shadow of the Vampire - SUPERB! Bought because I love Nosferatu (1922). The best film of 2000, hands down.

The Thin Man - Bought because of Robert Crawford's signature. One of my favorites! (Watching this movie is best when drinking a few martinis)

Sunset Blvd. - Bought since it has been said to be great. One of my favorites!

Kung Pow: Enter The Fist - A friend said it was great...it has to be one of the most stupid movies ever made... but it's wonderful to watch. GREAT!

Walt Disney Treasures (except for Davy Crockett) - GREAT! Bought because I'm interested in Disney animation. I'm eager for the next four, now.

MST3K Volume 1 and Eegah: Got because they looked like funny episodes. MST3K Lives!


The bottom line is...I've been pretty good about getting sight-unseen titles. I've only hit on a few duds like A Beautiful Mind. This year is going to see a TON of sight-unseens.

Interesting question. I'm batting .897.

THUMBS UP:
2001: A Space Odyssey
All About Eve
Amelie
Black Hawk Down
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Cast Away
Chinatown
Dr. Strangelove
Fight Club
The Green Mile
Ice Age
Lawrence of Arabia
Lilo & Stitch
The Lord of the Rings
The Maltese Falcon
Meet the Parents
Memento
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Psycho
Saving Private Ryan
Shallow Hal
Seven Samurai
Some Like It Hot
Sunset Boulevard
To Kill a Mockingbird
Victory

THUMBS DOWN:
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Gladiator
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back


Jon

Just got done watching The Rocking Horse Winner.

A few others I forgot to mention earlier:

Running Time
I See a Dark Stranger
Shoeshine
Born Yesterday (1951)


I should mention that most of these aren't impulse buys - if I happen across a title that sounds interesting, I'll do a little research and base my decision on that.

When I started I never bought unseen, but buy quite a few now.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
The Shop Around The Corner
The Thin Man
42nd Street
Anchors Aweigh
Guys & Dolls
On The Town
A Star Is Born
The Yellow Submarine
At Midnight I'll Eat Your Soul
The Vij
The Beyond

Summer With Monika
Smiles Of A Summer Night
Through A Glass Darkly
Winter Light
The Silence
Autumn Sonata
Fanny & Alexander

Katzelmacher
The Niklashausen Journey
The American Soldier
Rio Das Mortes
Pioneers In Ingolstadt
The Merchant Of Four Seasons
Fox And His Friends

Even Dwarfs Started Small
The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser
Heart Of Glass
Stroszek
Woyzeck
Cobra Verde

Giants & Toys
Afraid To Die
Manji
Blind Beast

The Last Laugh
Faust
Tabu

The Guy Maddin Collection -
Archangel
Twilight of the Ice Nymphs
Heart Of The World

Broken Blossoms
The Fall Of The House Of Usher
The Golem
Waxworks
Landmarks Of Early Film
The Lost World

The Blue Angel
Fantasia 2000
The Godfather Part III (still haven't watched)
The Wicker Man

Tokyo Drifter
Cries & Whispers
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeosis
The Scarlett Empress
The Lady Eve
M. Hulot's Holiday
Mon Oncle
Playtime
Sullivan's Travels
Diary Of A Chambermaid
Day Of Wrath
Ordet
Gertrud
Haxan
That Obscure Object Of Desire
The Cranes Are Flying
Ballad Of A Soldier
Juliet Of The Spirits
Bob Le Flambeur
Red Beard (haven't watched)
A Nous La Liberte (haven't watched)
Under The Roofs Of Paris (haven't watched)
The Life And Death Of Col. Blimp (haven't watched)
Solaris (haven't watched)
Contempt (haven't watched)

Yesterday I watched The Man Who Wasn't There, which I was expecting to be a "like, but not enough to keep" but I've decided to hold onto it. For now, anyway.

Sidenote: It's funny to think that there are people who DON'T struggle to find time to catch up on their DVD watching. Ever since I got this player, my life has been a battle against the "unwatched pile". Right now I'm facing:

Angel season 1
Kurosawa box set
Twin Peaks season 1
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Chocolat
The Anniversary Party
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

Those first three are about 60 hours worth of watching, if I sit through all the commentaries and extras. On top of that, there's...

- stuff from the library (currently just Schoolhouse Rock and Traffic, but lots more on the way)
- the DVD-ROM text commentaries on the Star Wars ep 1 & 2
- the 3rd and 4th commentaries on Fellowship of the Ring
- some coverdiscs from Total Movie and their "40 free movies" (I don't intend to watch all of them, but at least 4 or 5)
- about 20-25 hours worth of Beavis & Butthead tapes
- some miscellaneous VHS/VCD odds & ends

Oh, plus the first 4 seasons of X-Files, which I got for my girlfriend but I'd kinda like to watch them too. And then there's the stuff I haven't bought yet like Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: Criterion & Metropolis. Never mind all the books I want to read, games I'd like to play (been dreaming about a Gamecube lately, in anticipation of Zelda), and the MAD Magazine CD-ROM box that's been sitting on my desk for the past 3 years.

Golden Years
The Ice Storm
Brotherhood Of The Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups) Anyone wanna buy this POS?
FearDotCom Same as above.
KoRn - Live at the Hammerstein NYC
xXx
Wall Street
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
2010: The Year We Make Contact
Minority Report
K-19: The Widowmaker
True Romance
The Fog
Glengarry Glen Ross
Ice Age
The Return of the Living Dead
The Sum of All Fears
Insomnia
Death To Smoochy
Monsters, Inc.
Amélie (Sorry Steeve, I tried)
Changing Lanes
Bandits
Resident Evil
Collateral Damage
The Others
John Q.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Vanilla Sky
A Beautiful Mind
Pearl Harbor
Mulholland Drive
The Mothman Prophecies
The Majestic
Black Hawk Down
Memento
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Made
Training Day
Don't Say A Word

And many more but I'm too tired to go on....

Its not often I do buy a DVD without seeing it first. And now Ive decided to do it even less since Im trying to save some cash.

But heres my list of the top of my head:

Y tu mamá también
Titus
Last House On The Left
The Wickerman
Training Day
Rush
Donnie Darko
Babe
Babe 2:
Ghost World:
The Wild Bunch
American Psycho
Great Expectations: Middle
Straw Dogs: Middle
Memento
Unbreakable:
Toy Story 2:
Touch Of Evil:
Harry Potter & COS


Upcoming DVDs I will be getting without seeing first:

Frida
Narc
The Pianist
Secretary (maybe)


I know Im missing alot, but its all I can think of at the moment.

JonZ, don't buy Narc sight unseen. It's not horrible, but it's nothing special either.