Wednesday 28 September 2011

Ultimate DVD shelf

A few days ago I did a post about the Ultimate bookshelf - the kind of books that you just can't part with, the ones that need to be on your shelf for the days (possibly many years from now) when you know you will need to read it again. But in the interest of fairness here at film vs book - I should really do an ultimate DVD shelf too. These are the DVDs that once again - need to be owned and ready to be seen at a moment's notice.

As I started to consider mine, I realised that most are classics, musicals or Disney. These are the types of films that are not normally on TV and sometimes you are just in the mood to watch one - this is when having them in your DVD vault is essential.


Here are my top 10:
  1. It's a Wonderful Life - comes out every Christmas, Jimmy Stewart at his finest, heart-wearming and cheesy but oh so brilliantly dark too. "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me .... I burped." Brilliant.
  2. Fiddler on the Roof - very rarely on TV but a must if you grew up in my house. 
  3. Singing in the Rain - arguably the finest musical ever made for the big screen. Incredible dance sequences, amazing colour and oh so funny.
  4. The Lion King - the best Disney ever made, never gets old. Amazing score, amazing story, amazing characters. Perfect Disney fun.
  5. Back to the Future trilogy (yes I'm cheating and going for a box set!)
  6. Top Secret - so secret, many haven't heard of it. Never on TV and so so funny. A DVD must-have.
  7. Monty Python film collection - Life of Brian, Holy Grail. Sometimes you just need some python humour!
  8. Pedro Almódovar box set - sometimes you just need to go Spanish, dark and brilliant - and who better than Pedro to take you there.
  9. Love Actually - not the greatest film I've ever seen but a brilliant romcom with arguably the funniest audio commentary I have ever heard. Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy and co all chat about the film and are so funny that they become more interesting than the film itself!
  10. Stand by Me - the ultimate coming-of-age film with an incredible foursome of young stars back in the day. Deals with some serious issues (this is based on a Stephen King book after all!) but has some of the funniest, silliest insults and one-liners ever uttered on screen.
Others that came close but didn't quite make the cut are Flight of the Navigator, Empire Records, The Goonies (video commentary with the cast all grown up!) a great disaster movie - either Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow and Soapdish.

So what DVDs would be in your collection?

4 comments:

  1. My collection would be Donnie Darko, Scarface, Saving Private Ryan, Independence Day, Anchorman (have to have a funny film in there!), Original Star Wars trilogy boxset, The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, Halloween, Top Gun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Today my 10 are Distant Voices Still Lives, It's a Wonderful Life, Spartacus, Gone With The Wind, The Usual Suspects, Annie Get Your Gun, American Beauty, The Green Mile, Let The Right One In, The English Patient but be aware tomorrow it could be different!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here we go. On my ultimate DVD shelf would be:
    Forrest Gump
    Pulp Fiction
    E.T
    Memento
    Seven
    Jaws
    Star Wars: Complete Saga (I had to include)
    Gladiator
    Fight Club
    True Romance

    ReplyDelete
  4. It would have to be Psycho, Heathers, Silence of the Lambs, Monsters Inc, True Romance, White Chicks, The League of Gentlemen Movie (as in-we'll have no trouble here), Superman with Christopher Reeves, The Blues Brothers...

    ReplyDelete