For anyone that spends as much time as I do in Best Buy on Tuesdays, you get to know what's a good deal and what isn't. You see the new CDs and DVDs hit the shelves at what usually will be their best prices. I was in the store the other week and checking out the usual DVDs and CDs (often sending employees in back searching for things that were supposed to be released that day but for some reason didn't wind up on their shelves) when I noticed the collection in the photo.
Ghostbusters was a great movie although I haven't really seen the whole unedited thing in over a decade. Ghostbusters 2 wasn't a slouch either. (It was the Saturday morning cartoon series that needs to be forgotten.) I was ready to jump on this. Heck, it will normally sell for $19.99 (not bad for 2 movies) but was only $13.99. I grabbed it and headed through the aisles on my way to my regular method of searching for things. It was moments later that I asked myself, "Self?" (Because, I stopped answering to Bob a few weeks back.) "Is this widescreen or full?" "Good question," I responded. In fact, it didn't say anything on the front. Way down on the bottom of the back it said that Ghostbusters was in fullscreen and Ghostbusters 2 was in widescreen. "Huh? What the...?" Here's a great trick. Visit the Best Buy link here and look at the Screen Formats. Doesn't say anything about fullscreen there, does it? But, if you look higher where it says Aspect Ratio, it says 1.33:1/2.40:1. On the back of the box they put something small next to each film saying the ratio which to many people will leave them thinking they are both the same.
I purposely only pick up the widescreen copies because they look better on my widescreen TV (also because I'm a purist and don't want to miss anything cropped off the sides.) So the collection went back on the shelf. But, I'm still left wondering how many people picked it up and are at home kicking their spouse or DVD player because the first disc won't play in widescreen. I'm sure that there will be another Ghostbusters box set coming. I think this was just to gut the public out of a little money first. Kind of like those regular and expanded versions of Lord Of The Rings. Then again, this could just be a box misprint which kills my conspiracy theory.
4 comments:
On no, Martin, it's a conspiracy! They always are >:)
A lot of people make fun of me for it, but I like Ghostbusters, too. They were just fun flicks. In all honesty, I probably wouldn't have even noticed that the set was mixed... Guess it's just not one of those things that catch my attention much.
I hate it when that happens! I'm afraid I am such an impulse buyer sometimes that I don't read the fine print. I would have been one of those who would have been pissed once I realized.
I thought Ghostbusters was great too... I have a coworker that imitates the Rick Moranis character all the time. CRACKS me up.
Great movies, but as you noted, the fine print will kill you at times. I need to doublecheck myself when buying movies to ensure they are truly widescreen. I spent way too much money on the big screen not to have my movies shown that way...
I loved Ghostbusters. Bill Murray is one of the greatest comedy actors around.
But, then they cheapened it by making a sequel that was so-so at best.
Post a Comment