I’ve been a movie nut my whole life really. The day my family got our first VCR I was walking over the the neighborhood video rental store on an almost daily basis. Upon the advent of DVDs, about 7 years ago I started to develop a theory… a guiding principle if you will… about movies you pick up in the store.
I have a list of about 5 rules. But the #1 rule is the most important. Here it is
“If you are walking around the video store, and pick up a DVD case with a couple of BIG name stars on the cover… but you’ve never heard of it… or know that it never played in the theater… PUT IT DOWN AND WALK AWAY!”
That’s the rule. It’s a good rule that I learned the hard way… and since that time it has protected me like a cloak of protection with a +5 defense against crappy movies. It really is common sense, but here’s the reasoning behind the rule:
Studios believe big names sell. They’re not far off. So when a movie gets made, that invests in some big name stars to appear in it… you know they’re making it with the intention of it getting into theaters. Or… distributors are much more inclined to pick up a flick and put it in theaters with big names attached to it. Sooooo…
Generally the wisdom is this: A movie made with big stars in it would have to be pretty damn craptacular for a studio or a distribution company to not give it any sort of release. So bad, that even the studio itself felt the need to hide it from public eyes and just tried to get some return on the investment by putting it to DVD. There are always exceptions… but very few.
So, the next time you’re at Blockbuster or some other DVD rental place, and you see one starring Brad Pitt, Halle Berry and Sean Connery that you’ve NEVER heard of… DON’T BE FOOLED! Put it down and walk away. You’ll thank me later.
Do you have any video rental rules that you follow when picking out flicks to watch at home?
