(Meta)Physical Media

Brendan Whalen

28 Dec 2025 — 2 min read

I don't really do resolutions for the New Year. That said, as I caught myself ordering a baker's dozen of discs from the latest Kino Lorber sale, I pledged to myself that I'd endeavor to watch at least one new* movie I owned every week of 2026. The asterisk here is that I want to include films I may have seen before, but never on a home video format that presents the film in its original aspect ratio or includes special features.

Earlier this year I inventoried my movie library and made a master list of what I have and in which format (DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K). Today I used an online randomizer to pick a row number on the spreadsheet and jotted down the first ten valid titles that came up. To be valid, I had to have not watched the disc I owned, or seen a similar version within the past 20 years. For example, I disqualified Zelig when it came up on the randomizer because I watched it a few years ago (and also because ugggggggghhhh). I'd also DQ my Silence of the Lambs 4K if it came up because I've seen that film many times over the years, in many formats.

I don't think it would be useful or interesting to review every film in detail, so I've decided that each entry will warrant an enigmatic quatrain à la Nostradamus. Specifically here I'll be channeling the version of Nostradamus from The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, a childhood favorite and a movie I don't own on disc, but probably should.

The ten films I'm going to watch within the first ten weeks of 2026 are:

For extra kicks, if you'd like me to prioritize watching one of these, vote in this poll:

I hope that poll worked, there's really no way to tell from the preview version. C'est la vie. Bonne année 2026!

(Meta)Physical Media

Brendan Whalen

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