Category Archives: Movies

Netflix Annoyances – Can’t Gift DVD Subscriptions

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Netflix continues to annoy me; and I’m not even a member anymore. My wife and I canceled our account earlier this year when Netflix announced their price hikes on their DVD and Streaming subscriptions. I had thought about just canceling the Streaming subscription because the titles available sucked, especially compared to what we could get on HBO/Cinemax/Showtime, but I was just overly annoyed so I gave them the boot. We weren’t alone as thousands of subscribers punted on their Netflix subscription. My mother on the other hand, kept her subscription.

She lives alone and having access to movies to watch, especially during the winter, was worth the price she paid. This year for Christmas (hopefully she’s not reading this in case I figure out how) I wanted to get her a year long subscription to Netflix. I figured it was a gift not only she could use, but she’d enjoy. When I went to Netflix’s site though, all I could see where subscriptions to their streaming packages. It would cost $99.85 for a full year to their subscription service. Ok, great, $100 for crappy titles on-demand. No DVDs. Not even the option to gift the DVD subscription and not streaming.

Now, I could be totally off base here and their streaming service could be 1,000 times better than it was, but I haven’t had anyone tell me, “Bill, get Netflix! Their Streaming is awesome now!” If someone had, I’d probably at least check it out for a month. But no, no evidence of that. So my deal here is why would I spend $99.85 on something that I’m not convinced is of value as a gift? Why wouldn’t Netflix offer both as gifts? I understand that streaming is the wave of the future, but until you can get every title on-demand, it just doesn’t seem worth it. What do you think?

Being Passionate About Your Dream

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…And also seeing it through. I found a link to a guy (via reddit) who is a 3D Animator (he worked on Matrix Reloaded) that has spent the last 4 years of his life and his entire life savings (and maxed out his credit cards) to produce his own animated movie called Killer Bean Forever. The preview is pretty funny. What impresses me so much is that he’s that passionate about what he does. He’ll do whatever it takes, even if he goes bankrupt. I admire that type of passion.

Movie Review: Transformers

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One of my favorite toys and cartoons growing up was Transformers. All the kids were into it. Some had more toys than others, but everyone was nuts about the cartoon. Then they made the animated movie and killed off a lot of kid’s hero, Optimus Prime. Transformers faded away until recently, and now we have the full action movie in theaters, which opened July 3rd.

I just got home from the theater and I have to say, they did an excellent job with it. The only downside I thought was that they used a Mustang as a bad guy, and I’m a huge ‘Stang fan so that didn’t sit well. Anyway, the acting was decent, the animation for the robots was excellent, and it seemed that they tried to stick to the old Transformer story the best they could. Even my fiancee, who was a little skeptical about seeing it, enjoyed it. I’ll give it an A, one of the better movies I’ve gone to see recently.

Movie Review: Stranger Than Fiction

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After a busy weekend, my fiancee and I decided to watch Stranger Than Fiction on DVD. We have had it for a week, but hadn’t had the time to watch it. I’m glad we finally got around to it. Will Ferrell is absolutely brilliant in this movie. He plays Harold Crick, an average joe, going to work every day as a IRS auditor. One day he finds himself the main character in a strange author’s book. The most bizarre part is he can hear the author narrating the book in his head!. Because of this, he looks to a literature professor for help in trying to to figure out who the author is and why he’s a part of her book. At the same time, the author herself is struggling to complete the final chapters of her book, which she’s been working on for the better part of 10 years. At times, the movie is a little bizarre (if the movie were actually a book, it’d be terrible), but it will make you laugh and chuckle the entire time. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend picking it up or renting it.

Movie Review: The Departed

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Like Borat, I was probably the last to see The Departed and I wish I could have seen it when it was in the theater. But, I had some gift certificates to Best Buy and went to pick up a copy of the DVD this past Sunday. Even with all of the hype that was out there (and the Oscar wins), I’d have to say it lived up to its billing. Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, and Leo were all incredible. And the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat, especially at the end. If you haven’t seen it, go get it. If you’re a fan of The Boondock Saints, which I thought was the best Boston based movie ever, you’ll be a fan of this one. The Departed definitely gives it a run for its money!. Its worth the $24.95 Best Buy rapes you for it. You’ll watch it more than once, I guarantee it!

Movie Review: Borat

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So I’m probably one of the last people on the planet to see Borat and probably the last (well, maybe not really) to review it. I’d have to say it was definitely worth the $5 I paid to see it (ok, my girlfriend paid, but I bought dinner!). Would it be worth the nearly $10 it’d cost to see it the first month it was out? Maybe…probably…ok, yeah!

Parts of it were definitely hilarious (why I find two naked guys wrestling funny is beyond me) and there are parts that I was just like, wtf is wrong with this guy. The people who are sueing him are stupid…you got what you deserved (stupid college guys…stupid even for drunk college guys).

The most interesting part of this movie to me anyway is how successfully he portrays different groups of Americans for who they really are. Do you think the church goers at the end of the movie will realize how ridiculous they appear? Or how about how stuck up the people at the dinner party are? And again the college guys on the road trip.

Somehow I doubt it…and that’s the sad part.