A chocolate and Tarantino-inspired purchase
Ben and I finally watched Inglourious Basterds last night. And… wow. There’s no question that Quentin Tarantino’s films push my boundaries when it comes to violence and gore, but he is an auteur who creates some really amazing films.
I didn’t always think so, though. I generally dislike gory films and still get nightmares from psychological thrillers. But I was forced to watch Pulp Fiction for a (really awesome) creative writing class at Miami University in 1999, and not surprisingly I had a hard time with the violence. But I toughened up enough to want to see Kill Bill in the theater a few years later—and was blown away. (Har har.) The second Kill Bill was just as amazing and made me brave enough to watch Pulp Fiction again. I love it more every time I see it, even though certain scenes still make me cringe.
I kept waiting for both Kill Bill films to be released as a special edition set on DVD before I would buy them. Not long into my wait, though, I was introduced to HDTV and started paying attention to the HD-DVD/Blu-ray war (March 2007). Kill Bill jumped off the DVD wait list to Priorty One on my future high-def home video want list. But eleven months later, when HD-DVD officially died, I knew it would still be a while until we bought a Blu-ray player. And so I have waited. Blu-ray players, and the discs to some extent, have come down in price over the last two years.
BEN ORDERED A BLU-RAY PLAYER FOR US YESTERDAY.
I would like to officially thank Quentin Tarantino for the film Inglourious Basterds, which reminded us how much we’ve wanted to own Kill Bill on home video, and thus directly tipped the scales on the final decision to purchase a Blu-ray player.
(I am vaguely suspicious that the Ghirardelli caramel-filled chocolates I gave to him for that recent hallmark holiday also had something to do with it.)
We won’t be replacing/upgrading any of the films or shows we already own on DVD, but we did order a few Blu-ray discs (are we calling them BRDs yet?) to start off our collection: Kill Bill I and Kill Bill II, Bourne Identity, Wall-E, and Gattaca.
Next up on the wish list (Pi Day is coming up soon!): Battlestar Galactica complete series (the new one, yes, even after the last episode), Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum, Iron Man, Ratatouille, and Up. Go ahead and judge me if you like. 
I’m also looking forward to renting delicious eye candy via Netflix.
What are the first five movies you would purchase (or have already purchased) in high def?
