Topic: The Movie Thread

@Werehog cheers 😄 and it probably is smart to not unwrap some of those true collector's items, things that are almost universally designed to be used that way. I'm more thinking of stuff that isn't really as specialist, so a steelbook, for example, is a movie and a nice bit of art, and is never going to suddenly be worth hundreds of pounds, unless in extreme circumstances, but there are certainly toy and movie memorabilia collectors that would only consider purchasing unopened items, which is fair enough, even if it isn't for me. And of course there is no point devaluing those items if you do have them 😄 but some people, they will not unwrap anything, even steelbooks, that is the part I never understand, and I probably just assume it is just long term scalping at that point as they look horrible in their plastic film and can't see where the enjoyment would come from 😅

Yeah, I display maybe 20 on the wall at the moment, so it isn't a large area, and I can't be bothered to add any more rows just yet as it was a bit of a faff to set up. It is basically filling the space of a large poster at the moment. I am due to share it here, even though I haven't quite decided what movies to display most often, a final order, if you will, and it is kind of in a state of flux. I've probably got a photo on my phone I could upload of the effort, so far. I'm still deciding on some new furniture for elsewhere and need to put up some shelves, and at that stage I may have more of an idea what i'm going for aesthetically as I have some game CE's that I currently move about the place as well, and i'm due another clear out and to reorganise some stuff.

And this ties in with @th3solution question. My organisation right now is a little haphazard. The Steelbook wall display is based solely on art and I need to replace some with others to get an effect I'm happy with. I have a small tower of 4k's and blu rays shoved in a gap that hides it nicely, they are alphabetically organised split between 4k and blu ray. I have a shelf in another room that needs some work. That has some blu rays shoved on in no order, and some of the last remaining dvd's that i'm in the process of updating to blu/4k. (I will organise that to either alphabetical order or director, depending on which makes most sense for the space when it is fully updated, and I will do that in one go rather than in stages) it would make sense to have one director based section for my favourites somewhere, I feel. But again, i'd need the collection to have grown to warrant that. And then the remaining steelbooks are organised/displayed spine out, in no order (yet), plopped on top of a unit until I sort out the rest of my more permanent furniture, with the odd one rotated and displayed on stands about the place. The current/next movie, for example gets a spot in a display stand near the television. When I finalise furniture placements I will alphabetise my steelbooks that are spine out, I think. But i'm fairly loosey goosey for now. Alphabetical will probably make the most sense to me down the line, with occasional logical adjustments, like if I had The Dark Knight and Batman Begins as seperate 4ks they would be kept together, for example.

So far my collection is growing, but not large. I dumped a bunch of old physical media a good few years ago when I was streaming more and only my favourites or quirky sci-fi crap remained from that. Some of those are on the aforementioned shelf, some are shoved in a box, all are waiting to be replaced/given to the charity shop as and when they are available on 4k, or I get round to updating them. But streaming doesn't do it for me now, hence the change and rebuild. (I still subscribe to some, but I still prefer physical for the actual quality and the fact I can own what I like, rather than search for something to watch and not find what I want across multiple services) It is so much easier to choose from a smaller collection of movies I like, anyway. For example, I watched LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring this week, and before that The Northman. And I did this because I own them and wanted to have them on.

It is...so simple 😄

Beyond that I use the Blu-ray.com app to track my collection, which will come in handy as it slowly grows. So yeah. A bit of a mess at the moment, but i'd personally vouch for an alphabetised (with some exceptions) main collection, with potentially a favourite director offshoot. And alphabetised within a genre segmentation if you have a vast wall of shelving for a collection, as @GirlVersusGames has. (It seems the overarching consensus from others comments i've since read is in fact an organised collection but with some logical exceptions, so we all are similar in that regard, it seems)

When I fully complete my set up I will probably post updated shots. I'll post the small steelbook wall at some point later, maybe. But I still need to sort the rest of my steelbooks, and get certain others, before I know what I most want displayed year round or whatever, so it will be a bit incomplete. I can imagine when I pick up 'Highlander' for example, that might be cool on the wall, as I learn towards swords, historical fiction and fantasy, as we know, and I may have that as the main theme for a display. Or I may just have whatever looks nicest up there. Or all-time personal favourite movies, perhaps. Still undecided, but the magnets mean it is easy to switch stuff in and out.

@FuriousMachine @Werehog "Verbose and weird" 😱 I am deeply offended, having seen this comment after writing a massive block of text that I had to copy/paste as I had to go and do something else before coming back to actaully post it, and may have lost my train of thought within that time frame. Either way, I will now post a huge block of text explaining why your assessment is incorrect in the absolute 🧐

I kid, of course. We are, perhaps, the biggest collection of verbose and weird people on the internet, all things told. And I wouldn't have it any other way, to be honest. Maybe we should start a Verbose and Weird club. I am unsure who the leader of the pack is, as we are all as bad as each other, I think. But I will nominate Sol, for now, as he started this discussion about organising collections 😅

I am down to my final movie in the "Godzilla Showa Era" collection. Just "Terror of Mechagodzilla" left. I had a lot of fun with these even the super cheesy ones with Godzilla flying and doing flying leg kicks 🤣

I really hope they do a boxset of the Heisei era as I don't think I've seen much of those. I did buy the 4K of "Godzilla vs Biollante" a brilliant film with cracking artwork on the case from one of my favourite artists Eric Powell.

@Ravix How do people arrange games? I've never done it before, always just hid them away in boxes.

@Th3solution Yeah mine is in alphabetical order, but Blu Ray's, 4K's and games are separated. I don't have many games as I trade most of them. I've a swivel display case, one side has blu rays, the other has 4K's, then I have another non-swivel unit with my games and 4K's I've not yet watched.

I also have over 500 cd's, but they are still boxed up under the stairs since I moved a few years ago.

@Th3solution I tend to dedicate a section (shelf etc.) to a genre/director/era. I tend to do the same with games. Depending on the collection, a genre may take up more than one shelf while another may take less… so for instance I have a gaming shelf that is taken up by a half of survival horror and the other half by sci-fi (the bridge between the two being the Dead Space games 😉).

@Vermines That definitely wasn't me then, I think the exact opposite. It takes a strong mind to do something different, but I also understand the alert phase when you see something specific to you being mentioned and since there is so much negative or controversial press/mind sets thrown about that you instantly think the worst. I did that for three years, and I don't want to be doing it for another three. It seriously affects your mental health and causes fatigue, you are better to take it head on and develop a strong filter before it's something that gets to live rent free in your head. Life's far too short to lock yourself away because of 'what it' or because you care what other people will think.

I recognize the Pride flag but that's about it and that's only because my girlfriend knows people in the (I'm not even sure what the word is) scene is the wrong word, and lifestyle might not fit. I've been trying to deprogram a lot of the kind of thinking where a certain flag or symbol represents you as a person, either because of a direct link or association to it and not for the reasons of what a flag like Pride represents. I know it's bad when I can't even discuss it in a normal capacity. Basically everyone wants to be their own person and it's not always a luxury that's afforded. You have the opportunity to do something positive with your life, don't de-evolve as you said just because of other people. Or even the fear of other people.

By your outfit am I right in assuming we do share a certain other lifestyle that has the same abbreviation as a nintendo handheld device that came out between 2004 and 2005? It might be a giant leap of an assumption but that was my first thought when I looked. That wall looks straight out of a certain club in London too with the word Garden in the name. I completely understand what you mean about putting yourself out there socially, it's really important. I understand what you mean about social interactions too, I'd rather just play videogames but being social is kind of a job for me which might be a bit cryptic but the best way I could explain it would be if you owned a company and their reputation took a hit so you as the face of the company had to get back out there and make sure investor confidence remained high. The thinking could be 'I'll wait it out and see if attitudes improve', sometimes they only improve if you are part of the effort to show people by example. The alternative is to wait for someone else to do it and again you are only depriving yourself of life and all of it's different experiences.

I can't believe I just had to Google a director, Kevin Connor. I had a quick look and I can say with confidence that I haven't see any of his work. They seem to be mostly TV movies though so maybe that's why, I don't watch live TV. I might have seen his TV series adaption of Great Expectations, the stills look familiar. I haven't seen Columbo either but I've heard of the series. I don't think I've ever seen Human Centipede 3, but Jeepers Creepers 4 rates pretty high as one of the worst I've seen. I have high tolerance for bad horror and that one had absolutely nothing redeeming about it. Any particular reason for hating Marvel? I've only seen a few. I'll get to them eventually. Chris Hemsworth is fine as summer wine though so I should watch Thor sooner or later. Have you seen Furiosa? he's in that too, I almost didn't recognize him. Batman was the first American superhero movie I saw, then the cartoons and of the course the Arkham games. What about The Supreme Court ruling? I don't watch the news anymore especially international.

@Vermines Ah see I got something right. Even in civilian dress I can usually sense when someone is. I think I've been in it for so long that I just naturally pick it up in how people carry themselves and in their mannerisms. I stopped going to clubs after journalists started trying to do undercover scoops with each release of a Fifty Shades movie, now I only attend private/invite only which kind of sucks sometimes because I did enjoy the music a lot more at bigger clubs. There was also the fact that more and more people were entering the scene without prior experience and people were getting seriously hurt. It's fine if there is a willingness to learn properly but too many were going off of what they saw in a movie or on websites. If you put yourself out there in a specific role (especially if it has some kind of control over another person) you need to know what you are doing. I was seeing too many people who didn't, that made it easier to want to make other arrangements.

Dogs Don't Wear Pants was mentioned in a conversation elsewhere a few days ago, I haven't seen it. I was telling someone that the trailer for Preaching to the Perverted caused a recall of Donnie Brasco. The trailer hadn't been rated, I was trying to find a recalled copy just for the trailer. It's basically a comedy but having no rating and theme of the movie caused the distributor to recall three thousand copies and fine any stores that kept it on the shelves. The fact it was only the rental copy makes it really hard to track down, any ex-stock that did end up for sale wasn't that original tape.

So question, by androgyny do you mean you switch between the two? or do you mean you are able to adopt both and project both at once? The song by Garbage comes to mind and then I hit a roadblock trying to figure it out properly. I literally only found out that there was more than two genders less than a year ago, someone was talking about binary and I thought they were talking about a computer.

@Vermines Thanks, I understand now. Goodnight 💤

I appreciate everyone’s input into the discussion about how they organize and display their movie and/or gaming collections. There’s a common approach most people have, with some small individual variations. Really interesting.

Since I’m more left-brained in general, the idea about organizing by color or displaying sets according to artwork hadn’t occurred to me. Both are wonderful ideas. Not as practical when trying to locate a specific title, but an aesthetically pleasing approach for sure. I had never really considered the general color schemes of different genres. I don’t know why I haven’t really made that association before.

Lol, as someone whose defining characteristics are verbosity and weirdness, I accept your nomination. If elected, expect an acceptance speech that is at least 2000 words and strays off into a dozen eccentric tangents. 😛

@Vermines It might not seem that way but I'd rather hear it from the person themselves than have to refer to second hand information. It removes the possibility of stereotypes and such. Besides a person knows themselves better than anyone else would. I tend to just like everyone equally, I've never let gender get in the way of that. I do like a strict structure and a kind of traditional conformity but only in my own life. I wouldn't try to project it onto others. live and let live.

When you say your country doesn't, do you mean the UK doesn't legally recognize people who make that change? or do you mean people in general? Also if you mean what I think you mean about family I hope they'll realize the error of their ways and reestablish connection. With mine there was a kind of hypocrisy of 'if you only like girls then that wouldn't be acceptable' but 'since you like both it doesn't affect having children' that was the mentality and still is. It took a while for me to realize that it actually was hypocrisy and while I understand the logic I don't exactly like it. I moved to the UK for them, got exposed to Western ideas and then have to 'forget' those each time I go home, which is quite often. In a way it is actually kind of like trying to juggle two different people, I'm not a hardliner at heart but they think I am. I imagine or assume you might have had to hide parts of yourself from your family too, until you couldn't anymore. Then did what was most important for you.

They think I quit gaming years ago too, which is basically why I have it all hidden around different storage units. I'm not making light of your situation, it just occurred to me after your final post last night that some things were reversed and others I could identify with but in another way. It's not often I'll read a post and it will keep me from sleep. There's a saying about the grass being greener on the other side, I think that fits pretty well. It's also hard to really track the progression of the UK when you have one foot there and one foot elsewhere. I did assume attitudes were changing but like a lot of places it can be one step forward and two steps back.

@Vermines I get that too, I don't have any social media anymore either. Other than here I bounce between encrypted networks and the deepweb chatrooms (which aren't as bad as people think, people are sometimes there for similar reasons) the only thing I don't like about Youtube is how it recommends things I have no interest in but other than that it's pretty great. I have work interactions but that's kind of like musical chairs too since I cover so many different industries and can't devote myself to just one anymore. If I could it would probably be the music industry, it brings people together and it's something everyone shares a love of.

I have to be careful, nothing good comes from knowingly offending people. I'm very well traveled as in I've seen a lot of the world but not lived in it properly like everyone else. Just last week someone mentioned throwing rocks when they were a child, I thought 'I've never tried that' then went outside and threw one. It's the small things I think and there doesn't seem to be an end to finding them. Gaming is/was different, a gameworld has it's parameters coded in. There's a limit to what you can do and what you can experience. It provides a kind of level playing field, even if it's just virtual. Movies are sort of like that too, everyone gets to experience that same imagery/performance and then process their own understanding of what they experienced. Everyone essentially had the same experience but they get to perceive it differently. Real life isn't like that.

It's a game of catch up, which would be fine if things weren't continuously clanging in one part of the world and not in the other. I don't know that my folks are awkward, I think they are a product of a system that existed for a very long time and generally goes under the radar until things kick off and everyone else gets dragged in unwillingly. It's also generational so I can't fault them there either. The only reason they don't like video games is because they can't fully differentiate the difference between the two. I advocate for internet safety because I experienced a couple of years of what can happen if you don't protect children online. You can have all the security in the world offline but online is an open door. I do get to help people now though and prevent it from happening to anyone else, to a degree at least. It was ancient history until I started online gaming. The straw that broke the camels back happened when I was of age. A gamer friend was doing something offline that I can't repeat here. I found out when he had been raided and since he'd involved me for a year I wanted to try to help get a harsher sentence. Instead he did half. I was blocked from helping to do the right thing. Then he got out and immediately phoned asking for help to get his life back together. He'd dragged me into a serious jurisdictional situation and hurt the people closest to him. Rather than try to explain the difference between online and offline I just agreed to step away from the hobby, but didn't. They just see an open network regardless.

For the longest time their way of thinking in the more serious areas of life weren't something that affected me personally until I saw the results of what that actually means. I don't know how to ignore that kind of result, but I have learned to pretend to agree with it. I know what's what in-terms of right versus wrong but doing something about it is what counts and when you can't you become a de-facto part of the problem. I did have friends but they are also ingrained in that system and they don't fake their agreeance with the way things are. Instead of feeling a kind of shame for it they adopted the image and took it to the extreme especially on social media. Which actually bled into online gaming too since so many communities stick together by nationality.

I wasn't sure what you meant at first and about the bad day but then I noticed something in the Chat Chat thread and that was probably the second time I've ever opened that tab. I think everyone has a bad day though and the circumstances you mentioned though relatable in some ways seems like a serious let down. I wasn't aware that there was that much of a divide, not in England. There is in other places and it's very noticeable. I'm in Albania at the moment and it's a little backwards in some regards but up and coming in others. There's been a shift in the Balkans in general, I'll be in Kosovo over the weekend and I've definitely seen signs that they are more accepting of different people too. I think the UK can pull itself back from discrimination if it can balance it's elected officials. The people who do cause that kind of hate have a shelf life, eventually societies evolve or get left behind. A society or country can survive under those circumstances if it can indefinitely self-sustain itself and has a shadow economy that can't be dismantled. The UK is too by the book to ever reach that level, they have to follow established laws, rules and regulations. Most of it has to be transparent. As long as you have that you have the possibility of change.

I think you hit the nail on the head at the end there, whereby folks who have that thought at the point of purchase aren't what you and I would call collectors, but rather fall into the murky waters between the polite definition "investor" and the less polite "scalper". I have no problem with folks who'll buy one or maybe two of a limited edition steelbook for such purposes, but those who buy three, four, or any more start to push themselves into that second category, because at that point they're just taking away somebody else's opportunity to enjoy something that's finite.

Your collection and display solution sounds excellent (although I sympathise with trying to settle on a final order, as every time I've done so for my display shelves, something else cool has invariably come along a week or two later, necessitating a re-shuffle)! Looking forward to seeing it as and when.

I also understand your aversion to streaming. For the first time since its introduction, I recently let my Disney+ subscription lapse, because I simply wasn't using it enough to justify the renewal fee. Like you say, it either didn't have the one random thing I felt like watching, or I'd get analysis paralysis looking at my lengthy watchlist trying to decide what to start. Funny thing is, I never get that when staring at my shelves. I can always spot something I'm actively keen to watch. So yeah, I'm gonna be a "buy a month when there's something I'm interested in" subscriber going forward, methinks.

I wholeheartedly second that nomination, but only if Sol actually subverts everybody's expectations by accepting it with a nonchalant, "Cheers, I guess."

@Th3solution My apologies, buddy. I didn't clock that your question regarding collection display was for everybody. For the record, while I mentioned that I alphabetise my media, I suppose I should also clarify that my games are grouped by console in reverse chronological order (so PS5 games top left, then PS4 games, then PS Vita games, then PS3 games, etc.) while my movies and TV shows are either grouped by franchise or, for general standalone releases, by format (so 4K, Blu-Ray, then DVD). The franchise grouping is where I make it up as I go. For example, all my Batman and other DC Superhero stuff is simply alphabetical, as there's a lot of it and more often than not, its continuity is loose to non-existent (and those that do share a continuity can usually be found in a complete box set anyway). My Star Wars shelf, however, is displayed in series chronological order, because that's how I think about Star Wars and there's no way I'm putting Ahsoka right at the beginning when it's actually two-thirds of the way through the saga.

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Don't you mean, especially the super-cheesy ones with Godzilla flying and doing flying leg kicks...?!

I'm currently halfway through my own Shōwa Era collection. After watching one almost daily, I stopped between Son of Godzilla and Destroy All Monsters because I understand the latter is where the budget constraints really start to show, and I didn't wanna burn myself out on one of the weaker entries. I'm starting to get real excited to go back and carry on, though!

Which one's been your favourite so far?

Same, on both counts! I also got both the Shōwa and Heisei boxsets for Gamera. Toho are notorious for dragging their heels on home media releases for Goji, so I figured I'd better have something on standby for any lengthy wait. I'm sure it'll happen someday, though!

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Oh, and just one more thing...

This! So much this!!

@Vermines It's absolutely fine and I'm not sorry, I actually own it, learn from it and then see if it can be used to help someone else. It's made me hyper vigilant when games like Roblox pop up on console but it's really up to parents. Games can be great learning tools, in moderation and under supervision. You can't leave a child in-front of a game, computer or tablet and assume there are no risks. It's no different than leaving them outside and going about your business unaware. They'll probably never get over it, and to be fair they were already paranoid about outside influences. That all backfired when they found Apps/programs etc and all hell as they say broke loose.

There's a mindset that it will never happen to one of our own, and then it does. I was on a forum like this, not gaming. It was for ice skating, my rank was of a junior figure skater so you can guess the age (but don't) I was on there to learn from other skaters and push ranks as fast as possible. I also wanted friends and started to get requests so naturally I accepted. They weren't other skaters, it was a guy who knew my family. He created a bunch of profiles to chat to me with 'we know this guy who can really help with discipline needed to push rank, he helped me a lot do you want me to see if he has the time to get in touch' I chatted to him, downloaded an App and the rest was three years of history. Most people didn't even realize there was a PM button on that forum. It was eventually taken down and an authorized system was put in place. I saw that the problem wasn't based on geography or economics nor was it always psychological. It was something no one wanted to understand, but if I don't I can't use it to help others. There was definitely some kind of residual fallout that I never could shake, like the nintendo handheld we mentioned. It's something parents don't understand can happen. It's happened over the PSN too. Gaming became something else to focus on while things died down. Then I started to bump into so many people who had no business being on games like Littlebigplanet. Now I might be a little too vigilant, it's not without reason. I don't want even one person to get into that situation. Awareness is the best prevention. I still skate privately but can't go further in the ranking system without competing which wouldn't be private.

I can't say I've ever read the Daily Mail, but I can say I don't like the UK press. Like not at all. I do have a different view of the word perverse though so their words wouldn't amount to much. Most travel was diplomatic. I tagged along a lot with different family members when they would have to attend different talks and summits. The last big one was the Geneva 2021 summit. Especially after what I mentioned above, privacy went right out the window. It was interesting though and I got to appreciate life and be grateful for the things I have that I know others don't. I mentioned movies in North Korea (above) that was a similar situation and one of those moments where self realization kicked in hard. Their whole nation is sheltered and programmed to support one party, if they don't there are serious consequences. I saw a little too much of myself in the situation. I couldn't talk to people about movies, games or anything other even music, they hadn't been exposed to enough free media. We had nothing in common and everything in common. It's going that way again, as in accompanying people for different trips etc but I've snuck a Steam Deck along. When I fire that up the only concern is my colonists getting eaten by a pack of wild cats. The game has an RNG system that sets different waves of enemies, I seem to always get killer house cats.

Speaking of movies I did see Breakfast on Pluto if that resonates at all. Cillian Murphy is one of my favorite actors and the soundtrack was great. I saw Oppenheimer last week too. I'd put it off for a while and really enjoyed his portrayal of such an important character. I think it's on UK Netflix.

@Vermines Yep, completely agree with everything you said about Colombo. For me, the mark of its genius is that it shows you who dunnit (and how they dunnit) in the first ten minutes, and yet it still manages to make the rest of its runtime more riveting than most other murder mysteries. How? Because Peter Falk. There's no other answer (although you're right, the guest stars do help). Legendary stuff.

Anyway, enjoy your evening!

Good news for us fans of both Guillermo Del Toro's beautiful Frankenstein and physical media. GdT himself seemingly confirmed a physical release when responding to a fan asking about a deleted scene on X:

It will be included in the physical media release

(link)
Yay!

Ditto!
(in the spirit of things I wanted to leave it with just that ditto, but me pulling off a single word post was about as likely as a balloon making it through a hedgehog factory... and there I showcased being weird as well, so by now you've all probably realised that this is simply me trying to show that I too belong in the weird and verbose club)

@Vermines I can't say I've seen either or knew of their existence. I don't think I've seen many films that tackle LBGT matters etc, but I imagine there must be quite a few since film is art and art is expression. Would you say they portray the reality of the subject matter correctly or is it unique for each person?

I started watching movies to learn English. The trick was to watch something three times in Russian then watch it three times in English, it wasn't always perfect. Once I incorporated subtitles I started to learn to read English, I had a tutor too but movies were faster and fun. Elocution was different and could only be done person to person. Music too of course. And games somewhat, the localization isn't always great.

@Werehog Ah, no worries bud. It was definitely an open query to anyone. Your organization method does definitely sound like the way I would do things if I had a large collection. Alas, I’ve been downsizing ‘stuff’ and have sold or given away most of my physical media. I still cherish my remaining movie and game discs though and those that remain are largely because they are in my most beloved franchises. Each collection is small enough to take up just a couple shelves though.

And on the subject of subverting expectations, oddly enough, sometimes when I post I do consciously bite my tongue (…uh, bite my fingers, rather) and try to be brief when I have much more I want to say. 😅

See like this:

@FuriousMachine Personally, I’m glad you didn’t resort to brevity because then we wouldn’t have got that clever balloon analogy which definitely put a smile on my face. 😄

@GirlVersusGame @Vermines Glad you two brought up queer cinema! There's so much good there, including Tangerine. My two favourite movies of all-time are Portrait of a Lady on Fire and The Handmaiden, which are both fantastic examples of it. Definitely worth watching if you haven't already!

@Tjuz I was wondering about that word, Queer. Is it not derogatory? I saw it earlier and wasn't sure. It's a genre/sector? of cinema that's flown right over my head, which means it's probably not getting enough recognition in mainline cinema. Or perhaps they are getting limited screenings in particular venues. I'm still trying deprogram the taboo aspect to it, even-though to me it's quite normal. There's still a little voice that says it's not, it's very hard to explain.

@Vermines Completely understandable. I tend to delete all of my comments/posts after a certain time too. You didn't annoy anyone, people were just concerned for your well being. It all came from a good place. Enjoy your weekend and that cat.