Yesterday, I wrote about the “Rule of 5″ Commitment for DVD purchases.  Consumers spend way too much money on DVDs, and they don’t realize that they could be using that money for investment purposes.  Thus, if you don’t rent DVDs (from services such as Blockbuster Total Access) and prefer buying them, I proposed a useful rule that encourages restraint and promotes investment: If you can’t commit to watching a DVD at least 5 times, you shouldn’t buy it.  

Whether you can commit to watching a particular DVD 5 times depends on your own tastes and interests.  Here are 10 DVDs that I (or my family) can commit to watching at least 5 times:

1) Any DVD For Children

Any DVD for children is worth its price, whether it’s a movie, a cartoon, or an educational video.  Your child will watch Finding Nemo at least 5 times, guaranteed.  Other great returns (in terms of quiet time) on your monetary investment are Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, and Toy Story.

2) Wedding Crashers

Movies that you can watch over and over again usually include comedies, and this one never ceases to be funny.  Vince Vaughn was in rare form and he works great with Owen Wilson.  The film is at its best when they find themselves in complicated situations and unload into fast-paced, witty dialogue.  Christopher Walken also has his moments, but the movie really tops it off with a surprise cameo at the end.

3) Old School

Vince Vaughn is in this one, too, but it’s Will Ferrell who stole this movie.  It almost feels like he’s improvising half the time.  You can almost live vicariously through these 30+ year-old men as they turn a house into a fraternity.  From Snoop Dogg to “You’re my boy, Blue!!” . . . this movie just never gets old. 

4) Raiders of the Lost Ark

One of the classics.  This movie changed the course of filmmaking, and it represents the most “complete” movie I’ve ever seen.  Where else are you going to find action, drama, mystery, romance, and horror all interconnected into a harmonious narrative?  This film also branded Harrison Ford into the legendary actor he is today.  Hans Solo might have catapulted him somewhat into the spotlight.  But this film made him unforgettable.   

5) Office Space

If you’re an employee, and you’ve had to deal with annoying co-workers, a caricature of a boss, mundane tasks and assignments, and just the normal everyday frustration of the workplace, you’re a fan of this movie.  Watching it is therapeutic.  And it’s also pretty funny.

6) The Godfather

The best movie ever made.  Period.

7) Scarface

This movie actually bombed when it first came out, but it developed a cult following since then, and it is now one of the more compelling films around.  Al Pacino may not have portrayed a Cuban very well, but his performance is one of the most imitated caricatures in American cinema.  Through Tony Montana, you become immersed in the dark side of the American dream.

8) Miami Vice - Season Two

This DVD is good to own for many reasons, but the #1 reason is the episode “Out Where The Buses Don’t Run.”  That episode is one of the single greatest TV episodes of all time.  The final sequence–matched perfectly to the tune of Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms–is tense, terrifying, inspiring, and heartbreaking all at the same time. 

9) Top Gun

Certainly not a “great” movie by any means, but watching Tom Cruise’s Maverick try to become the best of the best and romance Kelly McGillis along the way is one of the most entertaining experiences of the 1980s.  The soundtrack, populated by the likes of Kenny Loggins and Cheap Trick, also revs you up to the point where you can’t take your eyes off the screen.

10) On the Waterfront

Like Miami Vice, this DVD is great to own simply because of one scene and one line.  When you hear Marlon Brando utter the words, “I could’ve been a contender,” you find yourself hanging onto every word and action.  This movie wraps you so far into the guilt and regret of Brando’s character that you can’t resist watching it over and over again . . . if only to remind yourself that, in 10 to 20 years, you don’t want to look in the mirror and tell yourself that you “could’ve” done this or “could’ve” done that.

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