It’s hard to believe now, but a DVD library was once a source of pride. They were lovingly arranged on shelves by director and genre, with perhaps a row of the Criterion Collection (still not sure how RoboCop made it into that rarefied club). I remember feverishly comparing prices for Yojimbo the day it came out. It goes without saying that the DVD is now entirely anachronistic. It’s a bad sign when Apple abandons a technology, and once MacBooks came without drives then DVD's days were numbered. For those who don’t know, you rub two sticks together to watch one. The streaming era is here and, with some reluctance, I dismantled the Coggins DVD collection. Most left, but some stayed behind. Here are a few titles I couldn’t part with. Together, they represent a personal pantheon of favorites.

Withnail & I (1987)

Perhaps my favorite film. Profane, stylish, with wonderful interiors in London and lovely landscapes in the English countryside. Don’t try to drink as much as the characters, it’s simply not possible. And, of course, it’s violently funny. Richard E. Grant is the title character and wears cinema’s greatest overcoat, drives the greatest rundown Jaguar and gets all the best lines. There’s an underlying sadness here and a poignant ending that puts the entire picture in a lovely, bittersweet haze.

All The President’s Men (1976)

The paranoia, the slow burn, the legal pads, the typewriters. The greatest homage to journalism ever filmed and possibly the best thriller ever made without a gun. Seamlessly constructed with performances that are so resolved the actors defined the people they played. If you’re obsessed with Watergate, as I am, then that’s just an added bonus. Essential.

A Room With a View (1985)

The perfect prelude for any trip to Florence. I could just watch Helena Bonham-Carter have her hair brushed by Cousin Charlotte. Great comic performances from favorites like Simon Callow and Denholm Elliott, not to mention legends like Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. Does Daniel Day-Lewis lay it on a little thick as Cecil Vyse? Just a pinch. But every costume, every setting, every aria in the opera drifting over the Tuscan countryside is perfectly measured. A delight.

The Servant (1963)

Dirk Bogarde is Hugo Barrett, and the strange just got stranger. Joseph Losey (born in Wisconsin, incidentally, was blacklisted and worked in Europe) made this film about a callow young man and his butler. It’s not what you think. Harold Pinter wrote the sharp script and nobody gets out with their morals intact. A perfect double feature with the more celebrated Blow Up.

Trouble in Paradise (1932)

One of the most literate, adult romantic comedies, and my favorite black and white comedy. Ernst Lubitsch’s film about love and treachery among high society thieves is set in lovely art deco Paris. There are a stream of high-end jokes about misbehavior all delivered with a wink. Pauline Kael said it best, “in it's own light as a feather way, it’s perfection.” Recommended in the highest possible terms.

Tampopo (1985)

Japan, gangsters, ramen, this is a great equation for one of the great films about food (Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, The Big Night and Babette’s Feast are my other favorites). A loose plot about a women who wants to open a noodle shop is interwoven with vignettes about love and food, each more comic than the last.

Metropolitan (1990) / Kicking and Screaming (1995)

Whit Stillman’s first film is about teenagers in New York evening dress talking. Noah Baumbach’s debut is about twenty-somethings in Southern California talking. They share an intense self-awareness and the wonderful Chris Eigeman, who delivers the best lines in both pictures. To love these films is to know their language from the diabolical Rick von Sloneker to “Oh, I’ve been to Prague.”

The Conversation (1974)

The pinnacle of paraionia. Francis Ford Coppola made this picture between the first two Godfathers. An all time performance from Gene Hackman who wears the legendary translucent raincoat, which is still cooler than anything you can find in Dover Street Market. Supporting roles at the highest possible level from John Cazale, Robert Duvall and a young and surprisingly menacing Harrison Ford. If you’ve already seen it, Coppola’s director’s commentary is as good as you’d expect from a legendary storyteller.

Miller’s Crossing (1990)

The Coen Brothers, highly mannered gangster picture. Gabriel Byrne is our hero, and he sleeps of hangovers in one of my favorite apartments. Intricate plotting, memorable set pieces, impeccably suited misbehavior and John Turturro on his knees begging for mercy. Albert Finney walking down the street in velvet slippers, cigar and firing a machine gun while “Danny Boy” plays is all you need.

Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)

One of the most joyful films and the pinnacle of Jacques Tati’s genius. It’s always surprising how late this was made, it seems like it’s much earlier. You might say it’s practically silent, but the soundtrack is crucial to the appeal. It exists almost out of time, appeals to all ages, and honestly makes me happy to be alive.

The Flowers of Shanghai (1998)

A startlingly understated exercise in mannerism. Hou Hsiao-Hsien sets his camera up in a house of 19th century Chinese courtesans and leaves it there. There are no cuts within any scene, just one continuous shot. Not a film for people who care about plot—I admire any endeavor that approaches sheer boredom and then veers away from it. Tony Leung who we know and love from the Wong Kar Wai cinematic universe, here with a historically bad haircut, but that can’t diminish the intensity of feeling. Hypnotic and addicting.