I went to meet Jake expecting to talk about DVDs. Maybe a few Blu-rays. What I didn’t expect was to leave his house thinking differently about movies, freedom, and the quiet thrill of physical ownership.

Jake doesn’t use Netflix. Or Hulu. Or Disney+, Max, Prime, or any of the big-name platforms. Instead, Jake owns hundreds of movies, on DVD, Blu-ray, and a respectable collection of VHS tapes. Rows of them line the walls, The Godfather, Jurassic Park, The Dark Knight, The Matrix, Interstellar, and every Disney princess movie from The Little Mermaid to Moana for his kids. It feels like a personal video store built with care and love.

When I asked why he skips streaming, Jake gave the answer you’d expect first: money. “Ten bucks here, fifteen there, every month, every year, forever,” he said. “It never ends.” And he’s not wrong.

Netflix: $15.49/month
Hulu (ad-free): $17.99/month
Disney+: $13.99/month
Max (ad-free): $15.99/month
Amazon Prime Video: $8.99/month
Apple TV+: $9.99/month
Peacock (ad-free): $11.99/month

Altogether, that’s over $90 a month, more than $1,000 a year.

But when I asked if there was another reason, something beyond cost, Jake paused. He looked at the walls lined with his favorite movies and shrugged. “Honestly? I just like knowing it’s mine,” he said. “Nobody can mess with it, take it down, or change it. It’s right here whenever I want.”

He pulled out his original Star Wars VHS tapes. “Han shot first,” he said, grinning. “And I’ve got the version that proves it.”

He’s not alone in caring about these kinds of details. Over the years, some of the most well-known movies have had their original versions changed. In E.T., the FBI agents’ guns were digitally replaced with walkie-talkies. Toy Story 2 removed a blooper reel joke involving a casting couch. The French Connection had a key scene quietly removed on streaming platforms. Even Back to the Future Part II was briefly altered in a way that surprised longtime fans.

“These movies were made for a time and a place,” Jake said. “I want the real version, the one I remember, the one that made an impact.”

Interstellar director Christopher Nolan once said, “There is a danger with the move away from physical media… If you buy a 4K UHD Blu-ray, that’s yours. No company is going to be able to take it away from you.”
And Quentin Tarantino added, “I’m not on the cloud. I don’t trust the cloud. I want my stuff in my own house. I want to pull it off the shelf.”

Jake’s collection goes beyond personal nostalgia. “When people come over,” he said, “they light up when they see the wall. They point to a movie they forgot they loved. Or one they’ve never heard of but suddenly want to watch. That kind of spark is what it’s all about.”

There’s something deeply satisfying about it all. The click of a DVD case. The whir of a VHS rewinding. The artwork. The feeling of picking out something you’re excited to experience again.

Jake’s library is more than a collection, it’s a conversation starter. A connection to the past. A reminder of why movies matter.

That’s exactly why we started carrying movies at DKOldies. Just like with retro games, we know how important the original versions are. They hold real memories. They preserve history. They connect generations. You can build your own shelf, your own spark, your own story.

Jake gets it. And thanks to collectors like him, more people are remembering how good it feels to truly own what they love.

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