Bookstore Bonanza #3

It's hard to believe that it's been three months since I last did one of these. It's also hard to believe that it's been three months since I last hit the Book Cellar, but according to the date of my last post in this series, that's how long it's been... time flies etc. etc.

As usual, this will be an all VHS post, especially since that's my primary reason for going to this particular bookstore. Although I did actually find a couple books of interest during this most recent trip, but with so many in my "to read" pile (more like shelves) already, I decided to pass on them as I have no idea when or if I will ever get around to reading them, and unread books do tend to take up a lot of shelf space that could easily be used for something else.

This is one of those "flew under my radar" kind of movies. I suspect that I'm not going to like it, but I certainly don't mind taking a chance for fifty cents.

Hadn't seen this in quite a while, definitely not one for the kiddies... although I don't know what Charles Bronson movie would be :)

Somebody wasn't kind!

I have only seen this picture once, and I didn't particularly care for it. Now granted that was right after it came out on video all the way back in 1995 (god, has it really been that long?), and I watched it over at a friend's house with his family -- and his dad, who was a really great guy mind you, but he had the terribly annoying habit of talking through entire movies -- so my one viewing of Johnny Mnemonic may have come under less than ideal conditions. I also didn't remember the tape being orange in color, which even after 23 years (23 years!), is still really freaking cool.

Haven't seen it, but it looks really good. No matter how hard I try, I'm never going to be able to catch up on everything that came out before I was born.

This is the pilot movie for the short lived television series. Life lesson #839: You can never go wrong with Carl Weathers!

Here we have one those "how come I didn't already own this" kind of films. I have like half a gillion (yes, gillion) movies across multiple formats, but somehow I didn't own Bullitt... that's just embarrassing!

Of all the tapes that I got the other day, this was the one that I was the most excited to find. I have been wanting to see this movie for quite a while now. I can remember reading about this film in a book (just don't ask me which book), and being most intrigued by the plot (it's not your average psychic tracks a killer picture, there's a twist!), but I just hadn't ever come across it anywhere... until now. I have wanted to see it for so long that I'm almost afraid to watch it, which I realize might sound a little silly to some, but I just really don't want to be disappointed by it after all this time.

No synopsis on this one, as everybody should already be very familiar with it. I have multiple copies of The Great Pumpkin, but I didn't have one in an orange clamshell, so... now I do!

All in all, this turned out to be another really solid outing, if I don't say so myself. Found a couple of neat things, including something that has been long sought after, added some new blood to my ever dwindling "to watch" shelves, for me it just doesn't get too much better than that.


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Bookstore Bonanza #1

I don't know how excited anyone's going to be to read another occasional/ongoing non-card series, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway. And I guess the folks that really don't like this, or the estate sale finds series that I just recently started, will probably not be too happy to know that I have two more series' of primarily non-card items in the works.

Before moving here a couple of years ago, one of the last things I expected to find was a used bookstore, let alone a really good used bookstore. I just didn't associate rural Tennessee with books.

To my knowledge, The Book Cellar also happens to be the only used bookstore anywhere near me, so I guess it's a good thing that's worth visiting on a semi regular basis. For lovers of variety, not only do they have a great selection of books, but they also carry magazines, CD's, DVD's, and my personal favorite, videos.

I've mentioned before that if I go somewhere that has VHS tapes, that is the section I will head to first 99% of the time. What I haven't mentioned before, is that I am also willing to travel fairly long distances just to go to a place that still has videos for sale, in fact I will be doing just that sometime in the next couple of weeks. Thankfully, I only have to drive about 1/2 an hour to get to the bookstore though.

At this point in my life, I really don't know if there is anything I enjoy more than searching through shelves/stacks of videos. I find it both, fun and relaxing. In a way, it also sort of feels like a form of time travel as well, taking me back to a time when VHS was king -- which in my mind, was a better time.

Since I have probably more books to read currently than I'll ever be able to get to, my sole purpose for going to the bookstore is almost always videos. At any given time they have around 200 or so to look through, so trying to go every other month usually ensures that, even with the sometimes slow turnover, I won't walk away empty-handed.

In case anyone hasn't figured it out yet, the posts in this series will more often than not, be VHS oriented. And just in case the one person reading ever sees something of interest, I will include not only the front of the box, but also the synopsis on the back as well.

So without further ado, let's see how well I did during last week's visit, in which I went hoping to find some stuff for the Halloween season:

Having never even heard of it before, I can tell this was going to really be one of those "hit or miss" movies for me, most like a miss, but it was still worth the chance.

I bought this one to be a backup copy as I already have it, also this one has a different cover than the one I already have, so that's always cool. For a movie you never hear about, I was surprised a couple of years ago when I first saw it, at just how good/funny it is.

One of the few Hitchcock movies I haven't seen.

 

I didn't include the synopsis on this one, as I'm assuming everyone is already familiar with Citizen Kane. I already have this in multiple formats, but this is a Nostalgia Merchant release, and they, along with GoodTimes , are/were my favorite video distributors.

I have never seen the original or the remake, so I figured it was about time to correct one of those wrongs. I probably won't ever bother with the remake though.

 

I had never seen or heard of this straight to video release before, but it looked pretty interesting. Having now watched it, I can say that, despite the weak storyline and the subpar acting, I rather enjoyed it... just don't ask me to try and explain why though.

 

I feel like I have spent most of my life trying to catch up with all the movies that came out before I was born, and even though I think I've done a pretty good job doing so, I still keep finding things that I should have seen by now... but haven't. All About Eve is a perfect example, I'm familiar with it, but just haven't ever gotten around to seeing it. Length wise, this will be a two-nighter for me.

 

Another one that has flown (pun) under my radar.

 

I hadn't seen it before, but here's another one I really enjoyed, not that I thought I wouldn't, as I like just about everything George Peppard ever did. I really liked how the timeline of this film took place over the entirety of the war. There are also some really great performances in here, most notably from, Capucine. Even George Hamilton, who will never be known for his acting ability, gave a good turn.

 

I did end up finding one Halloween related video, not one I would have expected, but that's part of what makes searching so fun. An out of print tape, this one is kind of hard to find outside of eBay. This video really made me nostalgic (even more so than usual) for Cartoon Network's early days.

And for an unexpected bonus:

There are a couple of boxes of free stuff in a shadowy nook off to the side of the entrance, that until this particular trip, I had somehow never noticed before. While waiting for my videos to be wrung up, I watched a girl that works there take one of their store shopping carts, that was full of items, out and start filling the boxes. So on my way out, I of course had see what these were all about.

They ended up being pretty bad, mostly old books on economics and other assorted snoozers. One of the boxes had just had a few loose videos added to it, unfortunately it was just a couple of 5-minute buns type titles. Underneath those though, was this loose Road To Bali DVD. I have seen all the Road to... movies, but didn't own any of them, so this was kind of neat to find for free. All in all, I considered this to be a very successful outing.


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