15 worthy Blu-ray movies for less than US$15

By David Carnoy, CNET.com
Oct 02, 2009

Critics of Blu-ray often talk about how expensive the discs are, but in recent weeks, a growing number of Blu-ray movies have become more affordable, with several dipping below the US$15 price point and some even slipping in at US$9.99 on Amazon.com.

Editors' note:

The disc prices mentioned in this article do not include international shipping charges.

Cheap is popular these days and, not surprisingly, a lot of these bargain-price titles end up on the bestsellers list on Amazon. But when it comes to owning discs, most people have become pretty discerning, and don't just buy anything because it's affordable. With that in mind, we've culled down the list of bargain titles and selected 15 we think are worth owning.

As always, it's important to mention that taste is subjective, and if you don't like our picks, sound us out and make your own suggestions in the Talkback section. If you're persuasive enough, we'll edit the list and swap in new titles. And as new budget Blu-rays come out, we'll also update the list. (Note: The discs on the list were priced at less than US$15 on Amazon at the time of this writing. Naturally, those prices are subject to change.)

For reference, here are the discs we considered but ultimately didn't include this round: Bullitt, Unforgiven, Beetlejuice, V for Vendetta, Swordfish, A Clockwork Orange, I am Legend, Fugitive, The Road Warrior, The Dirty Dozen, Enter the Dragon, Risky Business, Dirty Dancing, The New World, Top Gun and Being There.

	The Aviator The most-nominated film of the 2005 Academy Awards has good replay value, particularly if you're into Howard Hughes.
	Batman Begins The Dark Knight made the big bucks, but Batman Begins is arguably the better movie.
	Black Hawk Down Black Hawk Down, which features great sound and picture quality, is on our Must-have Blu-ray list.
	Blazing Saddles Classic comedy, good price.
	Casino Royale Daniel Craig's first outing as 007 is one Bond film worth owning.
	Ghostbusters David Katzmaier, our video guru, said, "You gotta have Ghostbusters on the list." So here it is.
	The Kingdom Peter Berg's decent action flick does a nice job of showing off your home-theater system. And until Heat hits Blu-ray, this is probably one of the best firefights to be seen in high-definition.
	Kingdom of Heaven Ridley Scott's epic has long been a favorite video test disc for CNET.
	King Kong The movie is arguably 45 minutes too long, but Peter Jackson's take on the classic ape tale looks and sounds great in high definition.
	The Shining Blu-rum, Blu-rum, Blu-rum...
	The Terminator We liked it when Arnold didn't speak much.
	Terminator 2 Some say this movie hasn't aged well. After seeing T3 and T4, we disagree.
	2001: A Space Odyssey You won't see 2001 look any better than this.
	The Usual Suspects The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist.
	The Wild Bunch We probably should have included The Dirty Dozen (which is also a bargain-priced Blu-ray), but Wild Bunch made the cut instead.