Mr. Biscuits’ ADVENTURES IN THE BUDGET BIN: 7-Eleven Edition

For Mr. Biscuits, it’s the thrill of the hunt...digging for discounts wherever they may be. Sure, you could order from Amazon or spend your hard-earned kibbles on something already used, but what’s the fun in that? So if you’re a movie collector on a tight budget, let Mr. Biscuits’ show you some of his latest Blu-ray bargains.

In this edition, he pays a few visits to that bastion of quick convenience, 7-Eleven.

CONTAGION (2011)

Steven Soderbergh’s timely and disturbing thriller about a lethal pandemic that threatens to spread around the globe. With an all-star cast and various subplots, it plays like a classic disaster movie, only smarter, which is also what makes it scary as hell. As an added bonus, we get the vicarious pleasure of seeing Gwyneth Paltrow’s scalp pulled over her face (serves her right for naming her fucking kid Apple). I found this little gem at 7-Eleven for $4.99 while grabbing a Big Gulp.

AIRPORT (1970)

Airport wasn’t the first disaster movie, but sure as hell made the genre popular throughout the ‘70s. Yeah, it plays more like a soap opera than an action movie, but if not for Airport’s runaway success, it’s possible we wouldn’t have gotten real disaster epics like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. In that context, the film has a certain amount of historical importance, and at $4.99, is cheaper than what Amazon’s currently asking for it.

SPARTACUS (1960)

I wonder what Hollywood legends Stanley Kubrick and Kirk Douglas would think if they knew one of the most critically-lauded classics in their filmographies would someday end-up on a convenience store shelf right above the toilet paper and pine tree air fresheners. This one was a bit more expensive – a whopping five bucks. But hey, for that extra penny, I got the loaded 50^th Anniversary Edition!

HANG ‘EM HIGH (1968)

Here’s a fistful of Clint Eastwood for the price of a chili cheese dog and a Double Gulp. Hang ‘Em High isn’t in the same league as the Dollar’s Trilogy, of course, but it’s one of Eastwood’s more enjoyable American westerns of the era and a satisfying tale of revenge. It’s sort-of plays like a TV movie, but has a hell of a supporting cast that includes Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper, Ben Johnson and the Skipper himself, Alan Hale Jr.