There are a few classic films that I simply refused to rent while growing up, specifically for the reason that I knew I should see them for the first time on a big screen. Of these, I managed to see both 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner in a theater, while others, such as Lawrence of Arabia and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, were on television too often to ignore them on the small screen first. One film that I'm still dying to see in a theater is Terrence Malick's Badlands. A few years ago I actually went to a special screening of the film in Connecticut, but it was disappointingly (understatement) projected from a DVD copy. Then two months ago it played one show at NYC's IFC Center, but I had to miss it for another engagement.

Last week Entertainment Weekly presented an article/photo gallery titled "23 Movies You'd Like to See on the Big Screen," which lists these kinds of films (there's actually many more than 23 cited), most of which should ONLY be seen on the big screen, as they were originally meant to be. The list includes obvious epic choices like 2001, Lawrence of Arabia, Gone With the Wind, The Greatest Show on Earth and The Ten Commandments, as well as other classics, like Malick's Days of Heaven, Casablanca, Once Upon a Time in the West, Star Wars, High Society, Halloween, Singin' in the Rain, To Kill a Mockingbird, Psycho, Oklahoma!, The Music Man, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Searchers, Stagecoach and The French Connection.

You really gotta feel bad for the movie studios. Once a movie like Mr. & Mrs. Smith grosses $478 million at the worldwide box office, nets huge contracts for foreign and domestic cable and network rights, and sells about $40 million more at the DVD shelves ... that's it! No more money! How awful, right? Well, this explains why, when you head out to your local DVD shoppe, you'll find re-issues, re-packages and "unrated" editions galore. It's all about putting the same old movie in an enticing new package -- and it looks like Fox has a new approach to the madness.

Hitting the shelves on November 7th is a new collection of Fox "themed" box sets, and -- trust me on this -- it's easier to show you the boxes' contents than to explain the new maketing gimmickry.

1. The Romantic Tales Collection: Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and Ever After
2. The Love is War Collection: Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Down With Love and The War of the Roses
3. The Lies & Deception Collection: True Lies, Entrapment, Black Widow and ... Mr. & Mrs. Smith (yes, again)
4. The Legal Legends Collection: Runaway Jury, Class Action, The Verdict and Compulsion
5. The Funtastic Adventures Collection: Ice Age, Once Upon a Forest, Robots and FernGully: The Last Rainforest
6. The Christmas Classics Collection: Home Alone, A Christmas Carol ('84), Miracle on 34th Street ('94) & Jingle All the Way

Yes, that's right: In an effort to repackage some old bargain-bin movies, Fox has resorted to calling the undeniably execrable Jingle All the Way a "Christmas Classic." And that's just a downright lie. Snark aside, though, I'd recommend numbers one, two and four to those who don't already own those flicks. (Yeah, that's right: Down with Love rocks.)

And I gotta ask: Six new collections and they couldn't give me a horror set?

Director Simon West, whose recent projects include The General's Daughter, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and remake of the moment, When a Stranger Calls, is hoping to go in a very different direction in the near future: he's planning a movie about surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. The film will have a rather massive scope, covering Dali's life from his teenage years to his death at the age of 84, and focusing on his "incredible and romantic life story." Though the movie is still in the talking stages (West describes it as "getting very close"), the director is already fantasizing about his cast, and he claims that "There are a couple of Spanish actors that are interested." While it's not clear that they're the ones with whom he has talked, West goes on to specifically mention Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem as possible stars.

Despite what seems like a small potential audience for such a film, West insists that it will in fact have broad appeal: "I believe in getting as many people to go and see rather than deliberately trying to make it for a small audience. Like Amadeus [meets] Moulin Rouge.” Whoa. So, melting clocks, but with songs?

[via Moviehole]