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Written by Meatlips
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The Cheap DVD
So you have $40 in your pocket and are hankering for a DVD to add to your collection. You can either go and buy the latest Hollywood release or you can listen to your old buddy Meatlips and add several items to your collection that any movie fan could appreciate. These four DVDs were all brand new and bought in major New Zealand stores for the princely sum of $10 each.
The Fog of War (2003)
This film won the Academy Award in 2003 for best documentary. It’s built on an interview with Robert McNamara, who was Secretary of Defence for President Kennedy and later, President Johnson. It’s the story of a man who lived the Cold War and we get a detailed insight into what went on during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. It has a good soundtrack by Philip Glass and well-chosen footage to accompany McNamara’s narration. This film would be appreciated by any history enthusiast or anyone that’s into Cold War thrillers and wants a bit of background. At the time of writing, the Internet Movie Database listed The Fog of War as the tenth best documentary ever, according to IMDB voters. I got it at Whitcoulls.
King Kong (1933)
With Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong coming up this year, what better time is there to see the original? It’s the classic story. Ape meets girl. Ape loses girl. Ape grabs girl and climbs the Empire State Building. Sure, the special effects look a bit unconvincing today, but they were a revolution for their time. You cannot call yourself a film buff if you haven’t seen King Kong. Finger_of_DOOM gave the film five stars. The copy I got (and the only copy available in New Zealand stores) is a full-screen edition. However, it could well be that this was the original format of the film (Casablanca, for example, was shot with a 1.33:1 ratio, and widescreen was only introduced to compete with television). With the upcoming release of Jackson’s version, we may well see a special edition released, with the $10 version being withdrawn. I got my copy at the Warehouse.
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
This was the DVD that spurred me on to writing this article. Price tags on the cover were layered one over the other - $9.98, $19.99, $28.99. It really drove home the point that good DVDs are getting cheaper and cheaper. Judgment at Nuremberg is based on the trials of some German judges at the end of the Second World War. It’s exceptional because most films about the war are set on the battlefield. This one deals with the aftermath of the war and deals with issues of law, justice and politics. IMDB places it in the top 250 movies ever made. It really is that good. I got this one at the Warehouse as well.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
OK, I wouldn’t call this a landmark movie, but I wanted to include a comedy in this list (my alternatives were a couple of Hitchcock movies that could hardly be called comedies – Vertigo and Psycho). Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was quite successful, it launched the career of Keanu Reeves (heh, I just realised the spell-check on Microsoft Word recognises the word “Keanu”) and spawned a sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. The story is that the music of a couple of inept teenagers become the basis of future society. This society is threatened by the fact that Bill and Ted’s band, “Wyld Stallyns”, will be broken up due to their failure in history class. George Carlin features as Rufus, who brings a time machine from the future to help them with the last chance to pass. It’s a harmless goofball comedy that I got at the CD and DVD Store.
So there you have it, four quite reasonable films for the price of a new release. Many good DVDs are going for a song and it has got to a point where it often makes more sense to buy the film than to hire it. So keep your eyes peeled because there are more bargains out there to be had.
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