Gift guide

...because your cinephile friend already bought Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Disc-o-tech
The Philips DVP5140 isn’t the fanciest multiformat DVD player in the world, but it may be the most durable: It’s the only one we’ve had that’s tolerated all the carelessly made screener copies on which critics often review smaller films. It plays just about any kind of disc you can name, and it’s cheap to boot. (Only downside: If you leave a disc stopped for too long, it’ll lose your place.) There are rumblings on the Internet about a hack code that allows you to make it multiregion, which is handy if you like hard-to-find foreign films that haven’t been released in this country. But we wouldn’t know anything about that. Available at amazon.com; list price is $69.99, but you’ll find better deals all over the Internet.

“Starbucks? Fuck that shit!”
As advertised, David Lynch’s signature coffee is “pretty darn good.” Whether you missed buying a pound when Inland Empire played at the Music Box last winter or have just settled in with Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition (in which case you’ll have to supply your own cherry pie), this rich, organic java should put you in the mood. In an interview with us last December, Lynch praised coffee’s value as an “idea maker”: It gets you thinking, the better to solve the sinuous, elegant pretzel narratives on which the director made his name. It’ll certainly help you to stay awake during Dune. Lynch’s beans come as espresso, house roast, French roast and French roast decaf. Available at davidlynch.com; $8.44–$16.27 for 8oz or 12oz bags.

Give ’em the bird
“The ornament is a statuette…a black figure of a bird.” That’s how Joel Cairo first describes the titular object in The Maltese Falcon. Even though it barely gets any screen time (the thing is only shown for about two minutes), it’s one of the most recognizable props in movie history. And the Maltese falcon replica looks great on a bookshelf holding up the works of Dashiell Hammett. But if Mary Astor drops by and admires it, guard the thing with your life. Available at hauntedstudios.com; $150.

Can it
If your giftee is a seven or above on the film-nerd Richter scale, have we got a gift for you. Filmmaking may be going digital, but true movie buffs like their celluloid and all the trappings that come with it—like film cans. If you don’t have a reel of film lying around, a film can is the perfect size for, say, candy storage. HollywoodMegaStore.com offers gold and silver cans, both new (with HOLLYWOOD STUDIO printed on them—no thanks) and used (no printing, and possibly a little wear and tear—that’s more like it). Available at hollywoodmegastore.com; $4.99–$7.99.

The Dude abides
The four authors of I’m a Lebowski, You’re a Lebowski: Life, The Big Lebowski and What-Have-You (Bloomsbury USA) don’t just acknowledge their obsessive fandom; they revel in it. They’ve assembled a book of such maniacal thoroughness that it even includes an interview with Jesse Flanagan, the real teen who was the inspiration for homework-losing, car-stealing Larry (of “Is this your homework, Larry?” fame). There’s also a “reference guide” with second-by-second observations about the movie. We think this book would really tie a Big Lebowski fan’s room together. If your giftee gets that joke, he or she needs this book. Available at amazon.com; $11.53.

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