First, some background information. One of my very best friends and an avid DVD collector, whom I have had a bromance with for some 7 to 8 years now, has temporarily left his pregnant wife, his dog, and all of his friends for two weeks to do missionary work across the world in Vietnam. He is working with MKs and their families as well as the Vietnamese people to help encourage current missionaries, and spread the love of Christ to anyone willing to listen. Therefore, I dedicate this post to none other than the sexy guy above, Daniel Howard.
There are great benefits to going to other countries. Especially Asian countries. One of those benefits (if you haven't guessed already) are the beautiful bootlegged copies of movies those people are willing to obtain and sale. Last year, me and my current roommate (another one of the many people named Daniel in my life), Daniel Thomas, went to Thailand to do some similar missionary work. While we were there, we frequented the Night Bazaar. It is a huge, open marketplace where local vendors come and sale hand-made goods, fake North Face Backpacks, fake Rolexes, custom-made clothing, wood-carved frogs, masks to scare spirits away, food, etc. You name it, and you can find it.
Well, being the good-looking, charming gentlemen that we are, we became friends with the DVD vendor. They had every movie still in theaters for about $3 USD. It was beautiful. I purchased a pristine copy of Hot Fuzz, an OK copy of Sunshine, and season 6 of The X-Files for about $12 USD (Which I gave to Daniel Howard). These people had bootlegged DVDs down to a science. They even had colors and numbers on the box that told you how good the quality of the copy and transfer was.
So in honor of Daniel Howard and the current place of DVD purchasing power he is in right now, I have compiled a list of the movies not truly available on DVD right now that I would like to have in my current possession.
The Strangers
To my surprise this release came to my little neck of the woods in Mississippi. If you don't understand why I was surprised by that, you obviously live in a big city. This movie was very well done. It was a chilling portrayal of senseless killing. And I know that premise has been touched on way too many times in the past, but there is something different about The Strangers. While I won't say it was innovative, it was definitely breath of fresh air in a market currently saturated by Japanese ghost stories and their PG-13 counterparts.
Available on DVD: October 21, 2008
Midnight Meat Train
Clive Barker is a master. And I have read many comments, reviews, and news items about the mistreatment of this, his latest movie. Which frankly, makes me want to see it all the more. The sooner the better right? But what I really want is to watch this in time for Halloween. But who knows if that is going to happen.
Available on DVD: Unknown
Tropic Thunder
I saw this movie late in its run. But ever since that first viewing, I have been counting the days until I am able to watch it again. My co-blogger Wesley still maintains that Tropic Thunder sucks. But I respectfully disagree. There are moments of shear comic genius in this picture that produce raw, gut-busting laughs including: the fake trailers at the beginning, RDJ's character staying in character the whole time, Ben Stiller's son stabbing him in the back, just to name a few. I still maintain Tropic Thunder is the funniest movie of the year (Yes Wesley, even after I seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and it is one of only a handful of summer movies that I care to watch again.
Available on DVD: November 18, 2008
WALL-E
There is not much I can say about this movie other than I have an undying love for it. Hate on it all you want for the apparent "messages" in the film. In a time where inconvenient truths and sensitivities toward obesity, laziness, and wastefulness still run amok in our society, I guess WALL-E had some hate coming to it. But no matter what Pixar's intentions really were with their latest edition, it is the most beautiful film they have rendered thus far, and it ranks up there with the best of the Disney Classics.
Available on DVD: November 18, 2008
Scrubs: The Complete Seventh Season
Thank goodness for syndication as I have now watched reruns of all of Season 7 on Comedy Central. I have also grown to love Season 7 more and more with each passing viewing. It was really sad what happened to Scrubs amidst the conclusion of The Writer's Strike and NBC's lame business practices. Season 7 of Scrubs was the suppose to be the season to end it all and you could really tell they were trying to wrap certain things up and start anew in the first few episodes. I hope the DVD extras contain some insight to what happened and what is to come with Season 8 this Spring on ABC.
Available on DVD: November 11, 2008
The Dark Knight
The Holy Grail of all DVDs makes it arrival in time for Christmas and Nolan and Co. have filled every inch of disc space with extras, featurettes, and commentaries galore. It seems that for the past 3 years that all I have done is wait to watch The Dark Knight. It is going to be a weird feeling knowing I can watch it whenever I choose in the comfort of my own home. Thankfully, my good friend Daniel Howard has purchased me a bootleg copy of this in Vietnam. Now, if he will just hurry home.
Available on DVD: December 9, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Bootlegged: The DVDs I Want Right Now
5 comments:
It's always good to have an article about Daniel Howard. Walking class wouldn't have been the same without him.
As for Tropic Thunder, Jason, I never said I hated it. I just thought Pineapple Express was a lot better than it. And Forgetting Sarah Marshall? It absolutely wipes the floor with both of those movies.
Also, as far as I know, there will not be any commentary tracks on The Dark Knight DVD. But I could be wrong.
I hope Daniel gets you lots of awesome bootlegs.
Ok just to give ya'll an update i have two copies of batman, midnight meat train, (just for you jason, which we will watch upon my return), the strangers, the rocker, wall-e, and a bunch of others like the Son of Rambo. I was sad bc i could not find tropic thunder any where, i coming home with around 15 to 20 dvds guys and i will be making a copy of batman just for you Wesley, so we will all have batman before it comes out and if any one else wants a copy it will cost you 12,000 Dong (80 cents). Thank you YDKS for reaching people in Vietnam ya'll are loved over seas and thanks Jason for the post and thank you wesley for what you do for this world with your reviews. All Hail YDKS!!!!!
Sweet, thanks Daniel. It be nice to have my own copy of The Dark Knight early before I buy it when it comes out. Do you know how good the quality is?
from what i have watched it is pretty good but i am watching on my lap top so i do not know how it is going to look on a tv, but i think it is pretty decent quality
Technically nothing is official on the commentary tracks, but I am going to leave it in the post anyway.
As for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it is just a typical rom-com. Its funny in places, but it is definitely not funnier than Tropic Thunder. And Pineapple Express was a huge disappointment both in direction and humor. I have no desire to see FSM or PE again, and that means a lot.
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