Letters to the Editor
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@tomreedtoon
I have never tried Netflix, and never intend to.
As you wish, Tom, but they happen to carry Rocket Science, The King of Kong, and Sergio Leone's Eastwood movies. The Rebel doesn't seem to be available, but I don't know if it's even available on DVD.
I watch mostly cult, oddball, art, gay, foreign and generally out-of-the-mainstream films. In six years, Netflix has not carried exactly two films I've wanted that were available on DVD: Beefcake and The Worm Eaters. Not a bad record.
Incidentally, there are many Unrated and NC-17 films that are not "porn movies," and I'd rather see them as they were made than arbitrarily censored for my protection.
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Hate Blockbuster
Hate hate hate hate hate Blockbuster. Love Netflix. BB has an awful selection in their stores: 10,000 movies and nothing to watch, a huge selection of Direct to DVD but no art-house -even their Foreign section sucks. Not only do they have no Fellini, their employees didn't know who he was! And this in a college town of a major university.
Add to that that many movies are often not on the shelf since they started their lengthened rental periods ("no late fee")and their direct distribution deal w. Weinstein, which is simply their grab for distribution hegemony.
No desire whatsoever to give any business to BB as long as I have any another option. Luckily I have an excellent independent video store to supplement my Netflix account and feed my desire for spontaneity.
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Netflix advantages
I hit a period where I wasn't able to watch many films, and went to cancel my Netflix subscription. Instead, they allowed me to put it on hold where I'm not being billed and not getting movies, but my queue and ratings are held.
That said, I am not a fan of their recommendations at all. I watch a lot of silent and early sound movies, and Netflix seems to dump me into a category of old movie lover and keeps throwing "Casablanca" and "Meet me in St. Louis" at me.
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I'll stick with Netflix. Here's why.
I've tried both Netflix and Blockbuster, and found that Netflix has consistently had better service both in timeliness, delivery of the film(s) I ordered, disc quality, and it's vaunted customer service when problems occur.
Moreover, I have had it with going to actual video stores. You get lousy service from bored and indifferent teens, the lines are long, the selection is usually limited and crappy, films are misplaced in the wrong genre or alphabetical order, and throughout the entire ordeal you have to listen to the loud sounds of whatever idiot movie they are hyping at the time. No thanks.
Lastly, while I understand that the thoughtful drama, "The Melody of Hearts as Perceived Underwater" which you ordered on Monday may not satisfy your lust for "Attack of the Zombie Cheerleaders" on Saturday night, presumably you still have a desire to see the former. In that case, you are always free to hang onto it and still venture out to videostore hell and get the crap you want (if they have it, if you can find it). Thus, I do not see the advantage of going with Blockbuster.
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Data portability
Is this an actual issue? Does anybody care about carrying the data between services? I mean, really? What site would EVER allow this kind of thing? And I ask again...who cares?!
This is the worst article Farhad has ever written, and I love this column. The whole go-to-the-store "advantage" is the exact "advantage" that I was willing to ditch in switching to Netflix. And Blockbuster's selection for TV and indie/foreign movies is abysmal.
I love how the tagline says "Netflix won't let you leave" ominously. No, they will let you leave. You cancel your account. You lose your movie ratings. GASP! They ARE a business afterall.
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The BB near me
Has plenty of foreign language, palm leafed and gay themed films. Enough for any insufferable liberal. The objection I have is that so much of the floor space is TV shows now. And Tyler Perry films. Certainly the on floor inventory has shrunk a great deal in the past few years. Maybe those films are only available online. Like "Hoffa" - which I had to BUY because no one carries it. Weird.
The real advantage to going in person is that when you get films that are 90% crap and you can't sit through them because they're awful, you just go back, swap them and try again. For all of 20 minutes it takes for the whole trip I really don't feel like I'm being abused by The Man. A pay a monthly fee to take out an unlimited # of films 2 at a time and often watch 5-8 films a week. Couldn't do that with mail order. Now clearly that 15th Century Serbo-Croatian lesbian road movie war comedy you're dying to see isn't going to be on the shelf - but that's the trade off you make.
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Stilleto and Thatboy: On Hollywood Video and The Worm Eaters.
Stilleto, thanks for bringing up Hollywood Video: without a doubt, Hollywood Video is not only the most godawful video store in existence, but it just may be the most godawful business ever to exist in this or any alternative universe.
Thatboy, if you manage to locate an actual DVD copy of "The Worm Eaters," please let us know, but all indications are that it will be an even worse movie than you imagine and will make you regret not having rented "Attack of the Giant Leeches" instead (which actually has its merits).
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I Don't WANT to go to the Blockbuster Store!
I don't buy it that the big advantage of Blockbuster is the idea that you can go to the store with your movie instead of waiting for a new one to come in the mail. The whole reason I started subscribing to Netflix (about a year ago) was that I HATE to go to the Blockbuster store. I generally don't have time, or I don't want to take the time. And, unless I want to see one of the just-out new movies, the local Blockbusters don't seem to have the movies I want anyway. What really put me over the top, and pushed me into subscribing to Netflix, was when one of the local Blockbuster stores accused me of not returning a movie (which I DID return)and ended up charging me for it. That was it. And I've never looked back. I really can't think of a time when it's been a hardship to wait a couple of days for a movie I want; I have other stuff to do or I can watch tv or I can watch one of my own DVDs or (what a novelty!) I can read.