Sunday, May 01, 2011

The Great VHS Giveaway!

This is a weird post for me to write.  I think in a way I've been meaning to do something like this for awhile and found reasons to avoid it - but alas, here I am.  For anyone who has ever visited my geek-cave you know that I have a decent sized film collection and that I've got built-in shelves to contain it.  I've decided after long-last to purge the VHS in my collection and get rid of them (saving only the absolute essentials or those with sentimental value - which sounds ridiculous, I know - but I will explain).  My love of films dates back to my relationship with my mother who, sadly, passed away when I was a teenager.  Some of the films I'll be giving away are ones that she purchased either for herself or me, and in a moment of weakness I might keep them all, but I'm going to try and get past that.  Ones that I recall being her favourites I'm keeping.  I know that the chances are very low that I will ever actually revisit them, but I don't care - in my collection they shall remain.  The other sentimental value that I have in the VHS is that when I started film school DVDs were only really just coming into popularity (I myself didn't break down and buy a DVD player until my second year of college).  And so during my first year of school I bought a LOT of films on VHS.  My friends and I would scour over Blockbuster's used films, and another local store called That's Entertainment (shout-out to St. Catharines!) we literally spent hours there going through their racks and racks of films - and if I'm honest I got more of a film education from those stacks, those evenings, and the viewings that followed, than I probably got in the classroom.  And so a lot of these films represent, to me, my journey as a filmmaker, a storyteller, and a geek.  For years we would look over each other's collections like people might pour over someone's art or wine collection.  And so I know that on more than one occasion I kept a film around that I know I should probably have in my collection, even if I'll probably never revisit it.  Now, thankfully, I think I've matured past that point.  The simple truth of the matter is that I have less time to watch films these days - and there is no shortage of new films coming out and old films that I still haven't seen - so me revisiting films happens less and less, and a lot of the films (most) I'm giving away are now available on netflix - so if I ever do need to revisit them they are just a click away.  Some of the films I'm giving away I've upgraded to DVD or BluRay and just never got around to getting rid of. 

So here's the list below, there are a hundred and eighteen titles.  In no particular order.  If you, or anyone you know, would like any of them please leave me a message in the comments section and we'll figure out a way to get them to you - otherwise I'll be giving them to the goodwill or leaving in a box on my front yard next weekend (May 7th).  Although I've spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on these little plastic boxes I'm not looking for anything for them.  Free to a good geek.

Here's the list - feel free to mock me for some of the titles if you must:
The Fugitive
The Virgin Suicides
Bully
The Full Monty
True Lies
Dances with Wolves
Sid & Nancy
The Anniversary Party
The Untouchables
Mission: Impossible
Speed
Natural Born Killers
JFK
Welcome to the Dollhouse
White Men Can't Jump
The Color of Money
Planet of the Apes (original)
Dogfight
RKO 281
Snatch
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
Misery
This is Spinal Tap
Quiz Show
The Family Man
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
Memento
Following
Face/Off
The Dream Team
Party Girl
My Own Private Idaho
The Gods Must Be Crazy
The Princess and the Warrior
The Impostors
Freddy's Dead
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
Escape from the Planet of the Apes
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Cherish
The Pick-Up Artist
You Can Count on Me
She's Gotta Have It
Full-Title Boogie
American History X
The Accidental Tourist
The Big Chill
Orange County
Unlawful Entry
Kramer Vs. Kramer
Everyone Says I Love You
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Radio Days
Josie and the Pussycats
Interview with the Vampire
The Crying Game
Hoop Dreams
Clean Slate
Swimming with Sharks
Primal Fear
Apollo 13
Far & Away
Young & Innocent
Rich & Strange
The 39 Steps
The Lady Vanishes
The Secret Agent
The Man Who Knew Too Much
American Psycho
2 Days in the Valley
Animal Factory
As Good as it Gets
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
Meet Joe Black
Dead Again
The Grey Zone
A Life Less Ordinary
Shallow Grave
Anne Frank Remembered
Bowfinger
Twelfth Night
Wit
The Man in the Moon
With a Friend Like Harry
Gigi
Series 7
Some Kind of Wonderful
Blow
Beautiful Girls
Untamed Heart
Armageddon
Killing Zoe
Chaplin
Hard Eight
A Farewell to Arms
The Player
Gas Food Lodging
Fatal Attraction
Indecent Proposal
Born in East L.A.
In the Company of Men
Your Friends and Neighbours
Abbott & Costello meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
I Shot Andy Warhol
L.A. Confidential
Human Nature
Braveheart
The Van
The Snapper
Timecode
There's Something About Mary
Made
Independence Day

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Born in east LA, Gods must be Crazy- got some real gold in there! I hate myself for it, but i started throwing out my VHS about 5 years ago. The CD's were tossed maybe 3 years ago- but still holding onto my 2 dozen DVDs that absoultely NEVER get played anymore.