Shiny plastic discs

Let’s examine the last week’s DVD purchases. It’s an addiction, those shiny plastic discs of cinematic goodness. Thankfully, there’s a sale at work on pre-owned DVDs–buy two, get one for free. Oh, the pain! My job enables my addiction! The horror!

Anyway, the purchases:

About a Boy, the adaptation of Nick Hornby’s novel starring Hugh Grant. Easily one of the best films of last year.

Southpark, Season One. My one complaint with this boxed set is that it doesn’t have “The Spirit of Christmas” as an extra. Bugger.

Human Nature. This film was written by Charlie Kaufman, the insane intellect behind Being John Malkovich. Where BJM was about identity and control, Human Nature concerns itself solely with the human mating urge and the lengths to which people will go to fulfill it. The performances are hilarious, especially those of Tim Robbins and Rhys Ifans, but the plot suffers from terminal obviousness. But this isn’t a film you would watch for story. You would watch it for its absurdity. And Human Nature is truly absurd.

A River Runs Through It. Robert Redford’s adaptation of the Norman Maclean autobiographical short story. This film has one of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever heard — “Again. Half as long.”

Walking with Dinosaurs. I’ve never seen this (and still haven’t watched it), but I’d heard good things about the documentary. And it gets a name-drop in How to Be Good, Nick Hornby’s third novel, so on the off-chance that there’s some thematic link between the documentary and the novel….

And thanks to the kindness of The Chosen One and Bubba D. I have Starship Exeter, the Star Trek-inspired fan film, to watch in the near future.

At least I don’t watch television. I wouldn’t have time for my DVDs if I did.

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

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