DVDs I own

See also: list of CDs I own.

Unanswered questions: why my collection is biased (especially in terms of # of discs) towards titles starting with A-M, and the second half of the alphabet is neglected.

• 2001: A Space Odyssey Best part about a DVD: chapter breaks, so you can skip the boring parts in a hurry.
• The Absent-Minded Professor (original version) From when Disney made good films.
• The Abyss (Extended edition-- first movie where James Cameron really went bonkers and couldn't make a good movie in 2 hours.)
• Airplane! Funniest. Movie. Ever. [Slightly ahead of Monty Python & Quest for the Holy Grail, as it makes more sense.]
• Aladdin Pretty good, though it may not be aging as well as I'd like.
• Alien Quadrilogy 2 versions each of 4 science fiction films. My favorite is the extended (dir's cut) of Aliens (the second one) -- more of a war movie, compared to the horror of the first movie. The extended #3 is a bit better than the theatrical release, but still manages to botch the series a lot. The less said about #4, the better.
• Amadaeus (Dir's cut). Finally, an excuse to get into period costumes that doesn't involve "great literature."
• The American President From wife's collection.
• Animatrix Two are ok, the rest are a letdown. May not be that different from my review of Matrix 2.
• Apollo 13 Not science fiction, but a good film
• The Arrival Good "aliens among us" SF, but a little ecological preachiness at the end. The "sequel" was just plain bad.
• Armitage: Dual Matrix Might have been better if I'd seen any of the episodes before this movie. And the CG assist was pretty obvious.
• As Good As It Gets From wife's collection.
• Babylon 5: The Gathering/ In The Beginning It's the best SF show on TV the past decade.
• Babylon 5: Season 1 See above
• Babylon 5: Season 2 See above
• Babylon 5: Season 3 See above
• Babylon 5: Season 4 See above
• Babylon 5: Season 5 See above
• Babylon 5: Movie Collection See above
• Backdraft Good action film.
• Bad Boys Good action film, a little heavy on the cursing.
• Bad Boys II Over the top action film. Starts somewhat believable, goes off into fantasy land.
• Batman Begins Interesting take on re-booting the Batman franchise after being run into the ground by Joel Schumacher. Generally entertaining, though I still think I like the Burton's first Batman better. What would any sequel to this movie be called?
• Batman (Tim Burton's film). Very stylish, good music.
• Battle of Britain After a review like this, when it shows up in my local supermarket too (must be the chain), I had to get it.
• Battlestar Galactica, season 1.0. (The new series, not the 1970s original). A great modern sci-fi show-- gritty, dark, and a good sense of fighting impossible odds.
• Battlestar Galactica, season 2.0, 2.5. See above. Do wish it was available in one pack, not two.
• Beauty And the Beast Only Disney cartoon I've got in my collection-- probably their best animated film in recent memory.
• Ben-Hur Review pending time to watch it.
• Beverly Hills Cop Back when Eddie Murphy was funny
• The Big Clock Well done film noir -- how does one lead a murder investigation when all the clues point back to yourself?
• Bridge at Remagen WW2 film. So-so.
• Bridge on the River Kwai Far better WW2 film.
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century Bought partly because I remember seeing these on TV some decades ago.
• Lupin III: Castle Cagliostro Miyazaki's first feature film. Beautiful-- probably my second-favorite film of his.
• Chariots of fire From wife's collection.
• Chicken Run From the guys who did Wallace & Grommit. Ok, but missing some of the spark the short format allowed.
• Circle of Friends From wife's collection.
• City Hunter: .357 Magnum For someone who's never seen any of the series, this is pretty accessible, and a good film.
• Commando It's Ahnold. Plot is kinda silly, but it allows for some mindless violence.
• Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars, Banner of the Stars II Space opera, with lots of ships and explosions. The two main chacters need a little more chemistry, though.
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Superbit edition). A tragedy with wire-fu.
• Dark City The Matrix, done right (and a bit better)
• Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengance Staples of an action collection
• Escaflowne (8-disc TV series). Mecha mixed with a "magical girl" type story. Yoko Kanno's music is great.
• Escaflowne Movie Well, the character designs vary from the TV series. Haunting music (as usual) by Yoko Kanno. I like this movie more than the series.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion (8-disc TV series). I'm of mixed emotions on this. On the plus side, the character drama is good. On the mixed side, it's sometimes hard to figure out what the heck is going on. On the minus side, the theology is atrocious. If I'd rented first, I may not have bought.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion (2-disc movie series). Worse than the TV series. None of the points I liked about that, and more of the annoying nonsense I didn't like. Not worth keeping.
• Excel Saga Extremely off the wall. Extremely funny anime.
• Fantasy Mission Force Bought for real cheap at Best Buy, and still way overpriced. So bad, it's almost good. But, it fails to get back to being good.
• The Fifth Element Over the top Sci-Fi. Fairly fun.
• Firefly (Complete TV series). Entertaining Sci-Fi Western, with strong characters, a good plot, etc. Too bad it didn't get a chance for a longer TV run.
• Fist of Legend Jet Li redoes a Bruce Lee movie.
• Flight of the Navigator From one of Disney's good periods.
• Galaxy Quest A parody *and* a good movie in its own right, like Airplane.
• Gattaca From wife's collection.
• Ghost in the Shell Well executed atmospherics and music, though hurt by a bit too much fanservice.
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Well executed atmospherics and music, though hurt by a bit too much talking and a Deus Ex Machina ending.
• Giant Robo (Episodes 1-7 on 3 DVDs). Has enough visual style to power several series. Starts off quite well, generally pulls off a big revelation each episode, though it gets a little weird by the end.
• Giant Robo: Ginrei Special 3 "side" episodes. The first is pointless fanservice. The second seems to be what happens when the writers and animators get drunk and get a little, err, weird. (And, it was the most fun, I think). The last episode seems to be from the mangas, and a more serious tone.
• Gladiator Good action film.
• The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Great title, theme music. However, I didn't care as much for any of the characters. The 'good' guy, as the first 15 minutes shows, hardly is.
• Grave of the Fireflies Can hardly believe this was on a double bill with Totoro. The greater tragedy of this film to the characters is their pride leading them to do stupid things, not the war.
• Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz "Let's get rid of problems by getting rid of weapons." [Oh but wait, we gotta use our weapons to dispatch of one more problem, then there will be no more bad guys.] Stuuupid plot.
• Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (4-disc set). Giant mecha action, double-crosses, and great ideas, unfortunately crippled by a few "where the heck did that come from" plot twists.
• Haibane Renmei (4 discs). This is a series you want to see absolutely *cold*, with as little foreknowledge as possible. It starts slowly, but it's just setting up dominos that for a great payoff. (Tip: if you don't care for it by the end of the second disc, you probably won't care for the rest.) As a whole this is a series that defines art: it makes you care about the characters, consequences, and your own life.
• Hero Beautiful cinematography in a martial arts film. I can't stand the last five minutes, which is an insult to those massacred at Tianamin Square.
• Hidden Fortress, the By Kurosawa. Interesting adventure-like film from Kurosawa. I can see how the bumbling peasants were the model for all (sorry, err, some) of the characters in the Star Wars movies.
• High Noon (50th Anniversary edition). One of the best expositions of a core American character trait-- doing the right thing, even if nobody else helps.
• Hoodwinked Review pending watching.
• Hot Shots Good war movie spoof
• Hot Shots: Part Deux Good war movie spoof, better than the first
• How to lose a guy in 10 days From wife's collection.
• Howl's Moving Castle Not Miyazaki's best-- tried to cram a book into a small space. Still, Miyazaki's off days are better than most other's best.
• The Hulk (The Ang Lee version). Review pending watching of it.
• Hunt for Red October
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Widescreen) Weakest of the three.
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Widescreen) Better than #2, but still not up to the first.
• Iron Giant Interesting story, from the same director as The Incredibles. The character development felt a bit flat, as if a bunch of stereotypes were thrown into a mix without really providing any real motivations or changes.
• Iron Monkey Awesome kung-fu action in a movie that just doesn't take itself too seriously. And that's a good thing. It also works as a good movie with character development.
• Iron Monkey 2 A lousy mish-mash of scenes that make very little sense. Avoid at all costs.
• Kiki's Delivery Service Not Miyazaki's best, but still a worthy film.
• K.O. Beast (aka K.O. Century Beast Warriors, or other translations), OVAs 1-7 (3 discs). Ping-pongs between serious mecha action, and completely off-the-wall humor, and does both well. [One of the funniest 2-second throwaway scene in anime, ever-- how does a mermaid sleep when the group is camping out? Watch episode #2].
• Kung Fu Hustle By the same director as Shaolin Soccer, but much better paced and funnier.
• Laputa: Castle In the Sky Miyazaki's best, in my opinion. An adventure film that never lets up, coupled with more character development than 5 Disney films.
• Last Action Hero Not Schwarzenegger's best, but I don't think it's his worst either. I really liked the comedy sections of the film, though some may have been confused when it mixed a lot of comedy and action. It's also a postmodern film, poking fun at itself and the genre.
• Last Boy Scout Pro sports meets organized gambling. Probably a little too close to reality. But, a fun 80s action movie.
• Lodoss Wars (13-episode OVA series). Quality fantasy anime. You'll see definite echoes of Lord of the Rings plots in here, done from an anime spin (most of the heroes are teenagers). Budget constraints seem to have forced a little excessive re-use of some cels/scenes, oh well. The most critical issue is that they did NOT subtitle the song during last episode. That's a near-criminal offense in my book.
• Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Initial release). The start of a great series. [Why do I buy all of the editions? I like it so much, I'll vote with my wallet.]
• Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Extended edition). The start of a great series-- even better than the first release.
• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Initial release). Not quite up to the masterpiece of the extended version of the first, but I hope the extended version comes back up.
• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition). Way better than the theatrical release in characterization, pacing, etc. This one needed the extended version the most.
• Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Initial release).
• Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Extended Edition.) Better, completing the set of improvements in the extended editions.
• Jackie Chan: Legend of the Drunken Master Silly fun.
• Loony Toons - The Golden Collection Well, they didn't have a "all roadrunner, all the time" release. This is as close as they come. Hopefully more editions will rectify this glaring defect.
• Macross Plus (2-disc set) A reinventing of the series. Yoko Kanno's music is great.
• Macross Plus (Movie remix). A little tighter editing clarifies some details.
• Magnificent Seven A remake of The Seven Samurai, as a western. Having seen the Japanese film first, I definitely preferred the original.
• Maison Ikkoku (Episodes 1-12). Best anime romantic comedy, bar none.
• Maison Ikkoku (Episodes 13-24). Box sets #2-#7, see above.
• Mars Attacks Big-budget Tim Burton take on 1950s B movies, with all the plusses and minuses associated with that. The plot was so-so, but the visuals, especially of the aliens, was a riot.
• Mask of Zorro Good action film.
• Jackie Chan: Master with Cracked Fingers So-so.
• Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World.
• Matrix Overviolent, and the juvenile "I can do anything I want" ending leaving little actual dramatic tension for the next movie. Tolerable as an action movie, though.
• Metropolis [Anime remake] Stylistic, though the director was a little too in love with 3D camera moves that he finally got with CG.
• Men In Black Funny, lightweight comedy.
• Millennium Actress Great anime movie about life, love lost. Definitely takes a turn for the surreal partway through, but it's very well executed.
• Miss Congeniality Sandra Bullock's self-deprecating sense of humor works well.
• Monty Python's Flying Circus (14-disc set). Required material for computer types.
• Monty Pyton and the Holy Grail Likewise, another geek classic.
• The Mouse That Roared Amusing comedy, very British. Worth more as a rental; not something I'd rewatch lots of times.
• Mr & Mrs Smith Stuff blows up. More stuff blows up. Even more stuff blows up. And some snarky comments. Good.
• Murder, My Sweet Typical film noir-- double crosses, tragic flawed characters, and the like. Pretty good.
• My Best Friend's Wedding From wife's collection.
• Napoleon Dynamite Quirky comedy about a bunch of social misfits. Not bad, but not super-great.
• Narnia: Lion, Witch & Wardrobe Good adaptation of the book.
• Nausicaa One of Miyazaki's epic films. Might have been a bit better if it had been an OAV series and followed the original manga.
• Noir Anime series about assassins caught up in a big conspiracy. Good music, though the last few episodes didn't sit too well with me.
• North By Northwest A great conspiracy/action film by Hitchcock.
• Office Space Ok, not the greatest. Live action Dilbert, but without the really biting sarcasm of Dogbert that makes that comic so good.
• Once Upon A Time In China Jet Li has fun.
• Once Upon A Time In China 2 Jet Li has fun, not quite as good as the first
• Ong-Bak: Thai Warrior Amazing fights and stunts done by an actor with zero sense of self-preservation. A younger version of Jackie Chan, with more muscles and less humor.
• Out of the Past Another classic film noir -- tragedy, double-crosses, etc.
• Passion of the Christ Very short movie review: relentless. There were a few minor liberties taken with the events of the Bible (e.g. satan showing up, Mary & John at the Sanhedrin trial -- not just Peter, Jesus carrying the whole cross while the thieves just had the crossbar, Veronica's veil and other Catholic-specific addtions), but overall, the movie was designed to not pull any punches and show what happened. There's a lot of people that were/would be turned off by that, which I can understand. 'Enjoy' is the wrong word for this kind of movie, sorta like most tragedies. It was a good movie that made one think, and remember, and hopefully see one's personal responsibility for what happened.
• Pilates beginning mat workout From wife's collection.
• The Place Promised in Our Early Days Very artistic reflections on the past and one's involvement in them. The background art is amazing at times. Makoto Shinkai seems to be every 4th or 5th name in the credits, as he seems capable of doing nearly every job on the production.
• Pom Poko Review pending watching of it.
• Porco Rosso Miyazaki revisits Europe. Well done.
• The Power of One From wife's collection.
• Predator Ahnold going after someone better armed than him, wins. (And, featuring two future governators)
• Predator 2 Like Alien::Aliens, Predator::Predator2 is more of an action film than the first's more horror style. Despite changing cast & setting, I liked Predator 2 better.
• Princess Bride Eminently quotable romantic action/comedy film.
• Princess Mononoke Miyazaki goes to the past. (Anyone want to see a Princess Bride vs Princess Mononoke? Could be a good spoof)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark Great action film, done mainly with actual stuntmen, very little special efx until the end.
• Remember The Titans From wife's collection.
• The Right Stuff Another historical-space film. Could use some editing-- good but a tad on the lengthy side.
• Robocop Solid action film, if a bit gory at times.
• Robocop 2
• Robocop 3 Haven't watched yet. Only have it because I got all 3 movies at once.
• Sanjuro By Kurosawa. Semi-sequel to Yojimbo, which I liked a bit more.
• Saving Private Ryan Graphic portrayal of war, and what's involved. Unfortunately, it seems as if Spielburg had forgotten that the end of Schindler's List had its beginnings on D-Day. War may be brutal, but sometimes, good things can come from it.
• Serenity (Follow-on movie to Firefly series, see above). Best Sci-Fi movie of 2005, and strong contender for best movie of 2005. Strong characters, good writing, lots of action, and makes you think. Shame it disappeared from theaters. In a fair world, it and Star Wars: Episode 3 should have had their box office takes reversed.
• Serial Experiments Lain (4-disc set). Those who don't understand the New Testament (or specifically the gospels) are just going to repeat it. Poorly. Occasionally, this series is good, but I didn't care for it as much.
• Seven Samurai Kurosawa's epic. Much better than the American Western remake.
• The Set-Up Film noir, about boxing. Interesting.
• Shrek Great fun spoofing things.
• Shrek 2 Not quite as good as the first, but still quite fun. Unskippable advertisements up front are not cool, though.
• Spaceballs From wife's collection.
• Space Cowboys Some older actors have fun. Not bad, but could need some tighter editing to shorten it up a little.
• Speed Good fun watching things blow up in Los Angeles. Living in LA for some years, I can spot some of the continuity mistakes, though.
• Spiderman 2 Good, though not great. Nietzsche would be proud of the plot.
• Spirited Away Miyazaki's third best film
• Star Trek TV, Vol 12 Kahn's first appearance!
• Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Dir's cut) Redone special efx. While many consider this slow, I thought it was good.
• Star Trek II: Wrath of Kahn (Collector's Edition) Best ST movie in my opinion.
• Star Trek III: Search for Spock (Collector's Edition) Best odd-numbered ST movie.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Collector's Edition) Hasn't aged too well.
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Collector's Edition) Not quite as good as #2, but still a fun watch.
• Star Wars: Episode 4: A New Hope Good, not great.
• Star Wars: Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back Best of the three originals, and the mystic nonsense of Yoda can now be easily skipped on DVD.
• Star Wars: Episode 6: Return of the Jedi Good, not great.
• Steamboy Well-animated Victorian-era 'Steampunk', this felt like the introduction to a larger series that could let things play out to their conclusions. [A bit like Nausicaa in that respect.] Still, the visuals are quite good.
• Supercop Jackie Chan. Michelle Yeoh. Fun mindless action.
• Superman II Review pending watching.
• Sweet Home Alabama From wife's collection.
• Terminator Ahnold playing a large robot, powered internally by an Apple II. :)
• Terminator II (Extended edition) Loses some of the dramatic tension of the first, but still a good film. Last movie James Cameron made well (and made short)
• Terminator 3 Not as impressive as #2 visually or as a whole-- it feels like it just has few 'set' scenes (crane, cemetery, milbase). But, it manages to not stink.
• The Third Man Orson Welles in a classic film noir.
• This Gun For Hire Good film noir, though the wartime message seems slightly out of place.
• Tom & Jerry: Spotlight Collection Inspired insanity.
• Total Recall Great SF story, ruined by a happy Hollywood ending. (Partially explainable if you think it was all just a dream)
• Totoro Both original US version, and the real version w/ Japanese audio. Great movie.
• Toy Story (10st Anniversary edition). My second-favorite Pixar film, after The Incredibles.
• Traffic From wife's collection. The BBC miniseries it was based on was quite good also.
• True Lies Good Schwartzenegger/Cameron action flim.
• Twelve O'Clock High WWII film. Great movie about leadership in the midst of impossible war situations.
• Twin Warriors Ok Kung-fu flim.
• UHF Weird Al's film. Good individual scenes, the whole doesn't fully hold up.
• Usual Suspects Intricately plotted, harsh language gets annoying after a while.
• Video Girl Ai Hasn't held up very well since when I saw it in college a decade ago. (Except for the music -- ths soundtracks are quite good). When the extras are more entertaining than the actual feature, there's a problem.
• Voices of a Distant Star One-man anime production company Makoto Shinkai pulls off a 25-minute piece. Pretty good, though I'd hate to see what the roaming charges are for the characters. :)
• Wallace & Gromit: Three Amazing Adventures Great stop-motion shorts.
• Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit Great stop-motion movie, much better than Chicken Run.
• Whispers of the Heart (anime) Review pending watching of it.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit Good mix of cartoon & live action, but there's very little actually likeable about Roger to make you care about him.
• Willow George Lucas is definitely slipping here. Not as bad as Star Wars episodes 1 & 2, but the downward trend is quite noticeable.
• X (The Clamp anime) Nice art, lousy plot
• X-Men (1.0 release). Start of a good series.
• X2: XMen United. Another good ensemble piece. Let's see if they can keep up the momentum for #3.
• Yojimbo By Kurosawa. A mercenary who hates both sides in a town has fun with them. Apparently the inspiration for Clint Eastwood's A Fistfull of Dollars
• Young Frankenstein Sorry, didn't care for this much at all. Horrible overacting from the William Shatner school, and the few jokes were stretched way too thin.