Can I legally download films from torrents?

not sure about that one, but when you buy a movie or game, you are technically buying the rights to listen/ view it (which is why the copyright/ terms of service for movies specify a limit to viewership (for example, you cannot buy a movie and play it for like 100 people to gather in a room and watch it.)

Some ISP's will monitor for movie downloads, but then again those systems are automated and take the approach of using a shotgun to cut a pizza into slices.

(for example, a friend of mine on comcast internet got a copyright notice from comcast because he downloaded a torrent of the game "Black Mesa" (a free game where the torrent download is listed on their own site http://www.blackmesasource.com/download.html

I personally see no problem with getting content you already own since the way they make their rules, is in such a way where you own the rights to view the content but not the content it's self.

(There are also some companies that pretty much allow or do not actively disapprove of people redistribuing their software, (eg some groups will release windows XP and windows 7 ISO's with updates pre-applied (as long as they are not cracked, they don't get taken down)

(The purpose of pre updated distros is it allows you to get windows up to date quickly after install, and it solves the issue of the windows folder taking a crap ton o space (as well as folders such as the winsxs folder which grows with each update and doe snot make it clear which references are needed and which are backups)

overall it seems that the rules would technically allow you to grab that content but each company has discretion in going after people for it since they cant really know that you already purchased the DVD

(a safe route will be to just rip the DVD, there are many programs that make it quick, I personally use winavi. Ripping DVD's for personal use is 100% legal and there are many paid and free applications to do it) http://lifehacker.com/380702/five-best-dvd-ripping-tools