DVD Pickups Winter/Spring 2023

It's been a really good week for MGM catalog DVDs, as I was able to find #1-5 below in multiple goodwill locations (even passed on a few more). I've never seen this version of the Australian outlaw icon, but always wanted to check it out so glad to now have it in the collection. It's an OG of Ozploitation that got a much wider appeal due to Mick Jagger in the lead role.

David Mamet was on a tear in the early-mid 90's adapting his plays into movies, most notably with Glengarry Glen Ross. This is one of his lesser known works which is why I was intrigued to pick it up. Hoffman and Franz getting down and dirty in a 3-man play with the kid from Fresh sounds great to me.

I've always wanted to see this movie since it's the sequel to A Christmas Story and based on another memoir by Jean Shepherd (also Bob Clark returning to direct as well). The switch in cast and seasons may take it down a few notches but overall just excited to find this in the wild as it must be pretty rare.

I saw this back when I was young enough to be all excited about the sex and violence in this movie and I've been meaning to revisit it since it's basically Verhoeven's first big budget, international production and a precursor to Robocop two years later. I'm hoping this will be sort of like Game of Thrones but we'll see how well it holds up.

I first saw Valley Girl back when I was in college and remember really enjoying it, it's a fun 80's teen movie with an early Nicolas Cage performance. Looking forward to the rewatch.

This movie was a big part of my childhood, the Los Lobos cover of La Bamba was all over the radio that summer and I will forever be scarred by the image of Esai Morales screaming Ritchiiiie into the sky. Shame this was only released on a limited Twilight Time Blu-ray, so I need to have the DVD in the collection.

Stoked to finally have this in the collection, I found it as a "totally awesome" 80s double feature with Teen Witch. Could care less about Teen Witch but Heavenly Kid was one of those movies that played daily on HBO back in my childhood days (along with Just One of the Guys and many others). This was a great find, and saved me some money not having to buy the Blu-ray.

I'm a big fan of Terry Zwigoff and this is one movie of his I never got the chance to see. The Goodwill had a huge bin of 2/$1 DVDs so I grabbed this and Fatal Contact below.

Never heard of this but it's Dragon Dynasty, it's martial arts, so yeah I had to grab it.

This was a blind buy as I've never heard of this movie, but it came out in the wake of Adrien Brody winning the Academy Award for The Pianist. Plus indie crime films from this time period are just full of grit and charm so I had to pick it up.

This is a wacky movie that I recall seeing parts of on cable tv in the late 90's. I love Debi Mazar but unfortunately she was relegated to mainly playing Italian shrews, so yeah I'm eager to see her change it up here. It only got a limited Blu-ray release which makes this a no-brainer pickup.

Absolutely love this movie, which is such a visual treat and a very underrated Anthony Hopkins performance. I owned the earlier DVD release that didn't have the best PQ, so hoping this newer version is an upgrade. Sadly this only had a limited Twilight Time Blu-ray release.

A classic from my childhood and probably one of the better Chuck Norris movies from the 80's. Surprised I didn't already own this so it was time to add it to the collection.

This was a movie from the VHS rental store days, I don't recall much about it and not entirely sure I've actually seen the whole thing. But I'm a big fan of director Nils Gaup's Ofelas so I had to pick this up for a dollar.

I was holding out for the Warner Archive Blu-ray, but since I saw this on a newer DVD release for a dollar I had to pick it up. Now I can put the remaining $12-14 on something like a used Criterion. Yet another childhood favorite that I need to revisit.

Another MGM catalog DVD find here, and a big part of my childhood years. It's a great fish out of water story with the boujee social beach club setting, gin rummy, Fisher Stevens, so much texture and authenticity to everything. Great to finally have this in the collection.