Great little post over at Pullquote about how to rationalize adding even more Criterion Collection titles to your personal DVD library. Trust me, I feel this guy’s pain. When I was really a movie hound, especially when I started taking advantage of Deep Discount’s massive biannual sales, I would agonize over which titles to buy. To wit, I still haven’t purchased a copy of Resnais’ Hiroshima Mon Amour because I felt it was too expensive for one disc AND that it would surely go out of print when a new print was invariably discovered. This is the exquisite pain that only truly insane observers of the DVD remaster market can feel.
Conversely, how stupid do I feel for having ever bought Equinox, which I watched exactly one time? I think I’d hasten to add a follow-up to Pullquote’s post: how many DVDs do you own that sit on a shelf or in a drawer that are untouched? I confess to more than my fair share of these.
I feel sheepish even taking part in conversations like this now. I used to eagerly await regular emails from Criterion about their latest titles and then make notes in priority order about which I’d buy when they went on sale. Now that I’m less bullish on buying any sort of physical media, they’re hardly a blip on my radar. I will admit that I nearly jumped for joy when I read that they were releasing Red Desert, which is possibly my favorite Antonioni movie, even though I always say it’s L’Avventura.