Has your buying/ viewing/ collecting habits changed over the years?

[Matt H.]

I'm glad that companies are seemingly focused on 4K re-releases right now because it's a giving me a chance to breath and catch up with my unwatched pile. I currently have zero interest in upgrading my collection to 4K. I said the same thing about Blu-ray, so who knows? I honestly can't see myself going through the upgrade process again.

[Derrick King]

Resurrecting an old thread here, but in May I realized that the last time I had watched a disc was last October. Starting in November my mother's diagnosis took up all my time and mental space. I have tried to watch some movies, but since her death I just can not get into watching them and have usually checked out by about the half hour mark,letting them run as background noise. King of the Hill and Bob's Burgers reruns on Cartoon Network and FXX are just about the only things I've been able to watch without my mind drifting. They've been very comforting to me.

In March we watched our last film together, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, which was one of her favorites, but I don't think I'll ever really be able to revisit any of her other favorite films or films that I strongly associate with her (stuff like Gremlins, which is the first movie I remember just the two of us going to see.)

[Spaghetti Monkey]

for some reason I got into Top Gear/Grand Tour which has 20+ seasons I've been working through. But that's hard to even categorize. It's mostly car reviews and travelogue.

Top Gear is a whole lot of fun. The wife started watching it back when it was on and it wound up being something i dug too.

[Scott]

I am not a "car guy", but I watch the shit out of car related videos on YouTube.

It's weird, I'm definitely not a car guy either or I wasn't before. I can't even drive a manual. Lately I even started watching Jay Leno's Garage and I've never liked Jay, but I appreciate him talking to the original designers and stuff like that.

[Roderick]

Streaming has changed my habits in that I don't often stream movies. I mostly watch stand-up comedy specials and for some reason I got into Top Gear/Grand Tour which has 20+ seasons I've been working through. But that's hard to even categorize. It's mostly car reviews and travelogue. I also endlessly watch Youtube, which is again car reviews and politics.

I am not a "car guy", but I watch the shit out of car related videos on YouTube.

[Scott]

Scott, the 90s had some decent films, but, it all depends on taste. I recall a newsclip, from a video store that went under, and one of the patrons interviewed mentioned he was going to miss that video store, since they had a lot of 50s and 60s films he liked, that he could not stream. So, everyone has their favorite decades. For me, it's mostly 70s, 80s, 90s. I'll still be watching those films years from now, as I do now, but still giving certain new things a go, but not wasting my time, either, if I know it won't be up my alley, such as Quiet Place sequel.

Newsclip mentioned above, and timestamped. A guy who liked his 50s and 60s movies. From a video store that closed January 2021 -

That video is great. Those old guys remind me of my father-in-law who came over one time and we watched DETROIT 9000. He was wondering where I got it from and I lent him the rest of my Blaxploitation dvds.

I do like movies from the '90s and beyond, and like movies from the before the '30s. But I tend to gravitate towards them less then the other decades. And honestly it's more '40s-70s that holds my fascination, but that's splitting hairs. I still see some new movies, the last ones I watched were NOBODY and THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD. And yeah KID DETECTIVE was pretty great.

Streaming has changed my habits in that I don't often stream movies. I mostly watch stand-up comedy specials and for some reason I got into Top Gear/Grand Tour which has 20+ seasons I've been working through. But that's hard to even categorize. It's mostly car reviews and travelogue. I also endlessly watch Youtube, which is again car reviews and politics.

[Dick Ringeisen]

That's my problem too. I was just thinking the other day, will I still mostly be watching films from the '30s-'80s twenty years from now? Am I only interested in movies from those six decades or will I magically start finding things from the 1990s-2040s more interesting? Or interesting all?

For me, I mostly stick to films from 70s and 80s. This is judging my looking at the movies I own, and what year the films are from. Most of what I own, is from the 70s and 80s. There is a bit of a curve to it, in that I own more 80s films, than 70s films. However, both of those decades are more than 90s and 60s. I own more 90s films, than 60s films. I do own more 00s films, than 50s films, though part of that is due to more of the 00s films being able to pick them up for cheap, $1 or so, the 00s films.

Myself, I have seen some pretty decent stuff the last few years, I just have to sort through crap, sometimes. I'll still get to the movie theatre here and there, but sometimes, there is nothing there I want to see, such as this June, other than that Werewolves Within movie, not much I want to see. I am looking forward to July though, with, "The Green Knight". I have a soft spot for the older film version, "Sword of the Valiant", so, I am keen to see a more serious, I guess, take on the old tale.

Probably, the best recent film I saw, was not even a US film, but Canadian, "The Kid Detective", and that was back in... December? January? I forget when I went to the theatre to see that. I still get out to see recent films, and I am willing to give them a chance, however much of the new stuff out is not my thing. Superhero movies, Fast and Furious, that Quiet Place sequel... I saw the first Quiet Place, and I thought it was pretty stupid. You mean to tell me, all the military, in all the world, could not figure out how to fight the aliens, but a dude working on a hearing-aid for his daughter, could? Get the fuck out of here.... Why I have no desire to waste time with that sequel. I saw Possessor in October 2020, that was OK, not great, but OK... Last movie I saw before theatres shut down, in March of 202 0was, "The Hunt", that was a silly time... So, still some newer films getting out there. All that is on my radar, at the moment, though, is Werewolves Within and The Green Knight. Oh, and I saw that Nicholas Cage movie at the Chuckie Cheese, Horror film. I forget the title, back in March or so... Willy's Wonderland. That sucked, but, hey, I gave it a chance.

Scott, the 90s had some decent films, but, it all depends on taste. I recall a newsclip, from a video store that went under, and one of the patrons interviewed mentioned he was going to miss that video store, since they had a lot of 50s and 60s films he liked, that he could not stream. So, everyone has their favorite decades. For me, it's mostly 70s, 80s, 90s. I'll still be watching those films years from now, as I do now, but still giving certain new things a go, but not wasting my time, either, if I know it won't be up my alley, such as Quiet Place sequel.

Newsclip mentioned above, and timestamped. A guy who liked his 50s and 60s movies. From a video store that closed January 2021 -

[Scott]

The big problem with this is that pretty much 90% of the stuff I have really liked these last few years have not been made by the majors or the big streamers. When all is said and done, I think the independents are done for and we will get substantialy narrower a selection of new material to choose from.

That's my problem too. I was just thinking the other day, will I still mostly be watching films from the '30s-'80s twenty years from now? Am I only interested in movies from those six decades or will I magically start finding things from the 1990s-2040s more interesting? Or interesting all?

[The Silly Swede]

I reckon it's too early to make that call. It's still shaking out. And I see things more conglomerating than being subdivided. Disney and Wasrners seem to be hoovering up everything they can with the tech companies snapping up the leftovers. I think when the dust settles you're going to be left with 4, maybe 5, big players in the space who are going to own everything and my thinking is they're really going to have to make their content as available as they can. I can't see a benfit to leaving stuff sitting in the vault. Disney seem to have that attitude. Amazon definitely ddoes. Warners is a bit more murky. I'm not sure why they're sitting on so much great stuff... But content is already more available to all now than it's ever been so that's a good thing.

The big problem with this is that pretty much 90% of the stuff I have really liked these last few years have not been made by the majors or the big streamers. When all is said and done, I think the independents are done for and we will get substantialy narrower a selection of new material to choose from.

[Newt Cox]

This reminds me of another problem with buying discs: The fact that I now own it means that there's really no urgency to watch it. This means that I have discs that I've been putting off watching - for years, in some cases - because, since I own it, there's no rush. Sometimes I think I'll still be considering watching certain titles in my collection when I'm an old man. Sometimes it's better to know that something is expiring because it gives you the little push you need to finally watch it.

I do the same thing. "Oh shit they are releasing WHATEVER ON BLU RAY MUST HAVE IT NOW!" then it sits on the shelf for years before I watch it. Hell that recent Arrow Blu of Switchblade Sister for example. Been wanting to re-watch that movie for close to 20 years now. Got it and it sat on the shelf for at least a month before she was like "What is Switchblade Sisters?" And we watched it.

[Derrick King]

When you guys mention the category of titles that say "Leaving Soon", it makes my eye twitch. Is it rights issues? It surely can't be space issues. Why should anything leave unless a company merges or gets bought out. I know I know, it's not that simple. But it should be.

In the case of the Criterion Channel, in addition to the Janus Films catalog titles (which are, mostly, up permanently,) they license films from the major studios (amazingly enough, this year, they've even had a handful of 20th Century Fox titles) and other indie labels (Milestone, Kino, Strand, etc) that they have up for 1 to 3 months.

This reminds me of another problem with buying discs: The fact that I now own it means that there's really no urgency to watch it. This means that I have discs that I've been putting off watching - for years, in some cases - because, since I own it, there's no rush. Sometimes I think I'll still be considering watching certain titles in my collection when I'm an old man. Sometimes it's better to know that something is expiring because it gives you the little push you need to finally watch it.

I also have this problem. I try to force myself to watch stuff by saying I'll watch a western on Blu-ray on Wednesday or a slasher on Blu-ray on Saturday, but I always stick to this schedule for 1 or 2 weeks and then fall off.

[Dick Ringeisen]

Streaming can be good for some of the things that are never released to disc, since it doesn't seem feasible, the return on it. I see that. The big thing I can't get around with browsing streaming services is... The browsing experience. You can browse, sure, but it takes a while. If you know what you want, in particular, or by actor, director, etc, that can make things easier, but for the most part, it sucks in comparison to viewing a video store's selection. Someone in this thread mentioned grabbing boxes for DVD or whatever, and that is something a bit lost with the streaming stuff. Considering how much things have changed over the years, i do wonder if one day some of these streaming services, especially the ones oriented more towards movie, will offer some VR, video store stuff. It'll be interesting to see where things go from now, in 2040 or so.

I recall a video store that closed up 'round these parts, and the guy when he closed it said that it got to the point, the last year or 2, that the only time he had an influx of customers was during a snowstorm, and people were stuck at home, and they'd go to the video store. Either they were bored, internet was out, walking around looking at the snow... Streaming, and even rent-by-mail, I often thought of as a supplement to the store, but, it seems rather than supplement, others preferred to replace the trip.

I also saw a few folks talk about space in this thread, anybody go to other methods of storage, such as filing? It can take up a lot less space, though I have noticed over the years, those filing options are getting a bit more limited, with less demand for storing discs.

[Matt H.]

I reckon it's too early to make that call. It's still shaking out. And I see things more conglomerating than being subdivided. Disney and Wasrners seem to be hoovering up everything they can with the tech companies snapping up the leftovers. I think when the dust settles you're going to be left with 4, maybe 5, big players in the space who are going to own everything and my thinking is they're really going to have to make their content as available as they can. I can't see a benfit to leaving stuff sitting in the vault. Disney seem to have that attitude. Amazon definitely ddoes. Warners is a bit more murky. I'm not sure why they're sitting on so much great stuff... But content is already more available to all now than it's ever been so that's a good thing.

The problem there is that so much good stuff could easily be left sitting in the vault. All they're going to care about are the money makers and the popular titles.

[ropo1]

I'd be curious to hear if what people are viewing has changed because of streaming?

For me the physical media is all about watching what you want to see. I'd be tracking discs from countries around the world (hell, when I was living in Finland approx 95% of my purchases were imports). Whereas streaming is more often watching what they're offering to you. That's not always bad, as you end up making discoveries you'd never have done otherwise, and there are some worthy streaming sites that offer genre films and VHS masters of films that never even came out on disc. But still...

I've slowly grown bored of collecting, atleast massbuying physical media monthly and while it will never be a complete collection i've simply narrowed it down to keeping movies that aren't dust collectors. The market have changed in a major way aswell with prices pretty much doubling up or even more since the days of HKflix etc going hand in hand with the slow/steady blu-ray transistion which is a partial waiting game for actual "new" releases. Perhaps the bigger factor is change in priorities.

Maybe once per week ill use some streaming service, those that I have availible focus on current cinema (there are improvments on netflix for example, with some recent 70s italian cinema popping up). Before going further here, there's this whole topic on streamingservices becoming a medium of what you see, but I really don't use them that way as I tend to go through their mostly shitty browsing structures based on idiotic metrics, like top10 or whatever, and simply make a list of what I want to watch and therefor making it a supplement to regular moviewatching (physical media and downloading). Like if something I want to watch is on a streamingservice I have access it's just a neat thing.

Definately some changes in habits, from the bubble it's hard to tell fully if for the better or worse, but for me moviewatching have always been about progressing and i've realised somewhere along the way that it doesn't mather if I don't get to the unreachable goal.

On the topic of conglomerates it's a shame not even a place like imdb can be left alone, front page look no further... if you want a superherocock or whatever up your nose.

[Matt H.]

I solve this by focusing on the expiring titles on the Criterion Channel, which, when I remove what I own or have seen, usually narrows it down to 30-60 titles every month. The bad one is Tubi, I spend more time adding titles to my watchlist than I do actually watching them.

This reminds me of another problem with buying discs: The fact that I now own it means that there's really no urgency to watch it. This means that I have discs that I've been putting off watching - for years, in some cases - because, since I own it, there's no rush. Sometimes I think I'll still be considering watching certain titles in my collection when I'm an old man. Sometimes it's better to know that something is expiring because it gives you the little push you need to finally watch it.