A Christmas Break...

For my friends that don't celebrate Christmas, I must apologize for this interruption in my regularly unscheduled program:

One of the chief complaints that I get, both from family and friends, but especially from my own significant other, is that it is impossible to know what I want for either my birthday or the holidays (I noticed that I was severely neglected during the Halloween gift-giving season -- I bought presents for all of you, but I lost your addresses -- I spilled milk on my address book and Buster licked the pages blank...) The common line is that "you have so many movies, we don't know what to get you!" So, since there is a Secret Santa floating about at work and one of his/her elves requested it, I have grabbed a copy of my latest Columbia House catalog and picked out the first ten movies that caught my eye.

What You Can Get Rik for Christmas (Secret Santa and Pal Level):

• Elf (2004)
• Batman (1989) Special Edition
• Batman Returns (1992) Special Edition
• The Great Escape (1963) Special Edition
• The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
• Oldboy (2005)
• Natural Born Killers (1994)
• The Warriors (1979) Ultimate Director's Cut
• Election (1999)
• Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

None of these movies are crazily overpriced, and should be fairly easy to locate (and many of them probably have some decent discounts on them if you hit the right places like Best Buy, etc.)

And now, on to the big stuff:

WHAT TO GET RIK FOR CHRISTMAS (DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS, WONDERFUL, SUPREMELY INTELLIGENT, AWESOME GIRLFRIEND LEVEL)

• Preston Sturges: The Filmmaker Collection (7-film box set)
• The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Vol. 1-3 Box Set
  
• The Seven Samurai (1953) The 3-Disc Criterion Collection Special Edition
• The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection [Basil Rathbone] (14 films on 5 discs)
• Peter Jackson's King Kong Production Diaries (which could go hand in hand with the newly released 3-Disc Deluxe Extended Edition of the 2005 Kong...)

...and, bookwise:

• The Art of Ray Harryhausen
• Gonzo: The Art by Ralph Steadman

I normally abhor putting wish lists on blogs or websites, but this is derived from a series of specific requests, so here it is. MERRY SHOPPING!!!