Nov
30
Bad to Your Queue
Filed Under Culture
After I moved to L.A., I pretty much gave up on renting movies from the video store. Finding whatever movie I was looking for at Blockbuster was always a losing battle. I’d end up renting something else — something awful — since I didn’t want to leave the store empty-handed. Blockbuster’s selection unfortunately leaves something to be desired. I drove by one yesterday that had a sign that said “Hancock” was “Guaranteed in Stock!” I’m not sure if that was a warning or not. Regardless, the more shelves that are loaded with rubbishy Will Smith vehicles, the less space the store has for anything resembling quality.
At any rate, I finally broke down and joined Netflix last year. It seemed like much more of a sure thing than the crapshoot of going to the video store. They have a much more robust selection for one thing. What’s more, you can create your own “queue” of films, which they mail to you in a day or so. How many you can get at a time is contingent on what sort of plan you have. I prefer “Two-at-a-Time.”
That being said, I suspended my account a couple months ago because I was preparing to move. At the beginning of November, I almost reactivated it but wanted to catch up on some DVDs I already owned. My account’s now set to reactivate on December 1st. I’m still on the fence about whether or not I should just cancel the damn thing altogether.
See, I’ve realized something. When I rent a movie, my standards go way, way down. I guess it has to do with the fact that I’m not buying the sucker outright, and I don’t have to live with my decision for more than a week or so. The last couple movies I rented from Cinephile here in West L.A. were “Halloween III” and “Halloween 6″ — the two worst things to happen to the planet Earth since the Olsen Twins. This is what happens when I’m set loose in a video store.
My Netflix queue also reflects my complete lack of taste when it comes to film rentals. What were the first two movies I checked out from Netflix, you ask? That’s easy: Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” and “I Know Who Killed Me” starring Lindsay Lohan. Before I put my account on hold, I’d checked out “Psycho II” and “Psycho III.” Why do I do this to myself? I have no idea.
Let me be totally honest with you. I even considered adding “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” to my queue rather recently.
Oh, yeah, I’ve managed to shoehorn in an actual film now and then. But not even “Touch of Evil,” which I didn’t even really like all that much, can’t make up for “Starship Troopers 3: Marauder.”
Look at some of these other gems I wittingly subjected myself to:
“Airport”
“King Kong” (1976)
“Q: The Winged Serpent”
“Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters”
“Cannibal Holocaust”
“Beneath the Planet of the Apes”
“Doom”
“Invasion USA”
“Mega Snake”
“Hannibal Rising”
And those are the ones I watched from beginning to end. Here’s some others that were so agonizing, I turned them off:
“Modesty Blaise”
“Mother’s Day”
“Casino Royale” (1967)
“Murder-Set-Pieces”
“Danger: Diabolik”
So, I guess I’m part of the problem here. I keep meaning to watch actual films, and looking over some of my rentals, I did manage to sneak in more good movies, like “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” than I could remember off the top of my head. I also checked out the first few eps of “Deadwood” and “Dexter,” which I found plenty entertaining.
I’ve tinkered with my queue a bit and front-loaded it with some flicks that are (supposedly) better than what I’ve been watching thus far. I think I’ll give Netflix another month to impress me then either cancel my account or have finally separated the wheat from the chaff.
-Brad Lohan
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[…] I reactivated my Netflix account at the top of the month. It had been on hold for a couple months as I’d busied with moving and applying for grad school and seeing films as they’re intended (i.e. on the big screen) to be able to watch a half-dozen or so movies I knew better than to see theatrically in the first place. […]