Okay, it’s time for me not only to brag about the DVDs I’m purchasing, but to see if I can ramp up the hits and possibly purchases on my Amazon Associates account! See, I’m being up-front about it. They’re not needed to run this site, I’m gonna do this blog anyway; it’d just be a nice 4% gift for me, is all. If you’re going to purchase any of the following DVDs from Amazon anyway, why not give me a cut and buy them through a link on this page? You don’t have to buy the item immediately, by the way; if you put it on your wish list it’ll still count, but only if you buy it within 24 hours after following the link(s) from this page. Or you could put it in your shopping cart immediately and let it sit as long as your cookies last (usually 90 days), doing the actual purchase later.

I do these DVD buys every Christmas, by the way, when I go back home to visit. It saves shipping costs to Japan, and I can watch the Region 1 DVDs on any one of my DVD players (the one I brought from the U.S., and the region-free player I bought at Costco later, as well as the DVD drive on my computer). The Japanese versions of these DVDs not only cost a whole lot more, but they often lack the special features like commentaries and such.

First off, the boxed sets. I’m getting the three Harry Potter films, more of a bundle than a real boxed set, so the reviews say. But it’s at a good price (average of $15 per 2-disc set), so why the heck not. I’d rather not wait another six to ten years for the rest of the DVDs to come out and buy it in one grand set. Then there are the guy-film action adventure sets, the Die Hard films 1-3, and the four Lethal Weapon films. Yeah, I know. But they’re fun. Though the Lethal Weapon series was turning into a Warner Brothers cartoon at the end there. If there’s a #5, it’ll probably be animated. Those last two sets are also under $40, for a three- and four-DVD set respectively. I’m also continuing to get the M*A*S*H series, season number seven for me (I probably will skip seasons eight and nine, though, and get the final season only after this).

More on the PBS side is Jim Henson’s Storyteller series, the original and the Greek Myths. This was a short-lived series I enjoyed a while back, narrated by William Hurt. The episodes are very well presented, and I was pleased to find them out on DVD. Now if they’d just release the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (and at a reasonable price, I’d hope).

Some old comedies which came down in price enough for me to get: All of Me, the Martin/Tomlin vehicle which was one of Martin’s best. The beautiful Harold and Maude, which I first saw in high school, hilarious black comedy. Foul Play, a film with ‘made-for-TV’ written all over it, but still a really good comedy flick. The martial arts battle between Burgess Meredith and Rachel Roberts, as well as the elderly Japanese couple in the limo make the film watchable all by themselves. Then there’s Silver Streak, the first and best film with the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor duo, and the best.

I’m also getting The Life of Brian, for reasons that should be obvious (shame on you if you don’t know); and Sabrina, the original Billy Wilder Bogart-Hepburn-Holden classic (not the remake); the special edition of This Is Spinal Tap (with the actors doing commentary on the film in character as the Spinal Tap band, acting again as if it were a real doc). And ones that I’m less than proud of advertising but am getting because they’re at least acceptable, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Martin’s The Man With Two Brains, and Short’s Innerspace.

Though I hate him as governor, Schwarzenegger was in some good films. Total Recall was not one of them, but it’s a fun piece of bloody fluff along the lines of Robocop, and I’m interested in what the Verhoeven-Schwarzenegger commentary will be like, and it’s just ten bucks. I’m also getting Terminator and Terminator 2 (number three was just Schwarzenegger, not Cameron, and wasn’t worth it).

And finally, the new films out: Shrek 2 (the extras are pretty good), and the final Lord of the Rings special extended edition, The Return of the King. The extended editions are still only $24, and this’ll complete the set for me. The extended RotK runs 250 minutes! Add that to the 208 for the first film, and 223 for the second, and the entire extended edition would run a total of 11 hours and 21 minutes! That’s what you call a long film. Sako, you still up for that marathon we talked about?