The local movie rental chains have crapped out on us. Family Video is devoted to offering only crap we don't really want to see in Fullscreen (unless it's brand new, it's in Fullscreen- it makes no sense to me either, but I suspect they're just trying to push the more expensive rentals).
We went next to the Hollywood Video, where we signed up and rented approximately four times before they closed. One day we went by, lights off, nothing inside. I was just glad we hadn't had any rentals out. (Although maybe they would've told us, then.) So, I thought, why should we go to Blockbuster if we could just try one of those services?
And then I realised they had one. I looked at both it and Netflix, and I decided that I'd rather be able to trade things in in the store, so went with Blockbuster. It's a neat deal that means you can have something to watch while you're waiting for the next movies to show up.
Their turnaround time (and maybe it's just because they distribute out of Saint Louis) is really fast. The movies usually show up two days before they're due to show up, which either means they're smart and give long delivery dates, or are just good at getting things in the mail.
They also have pretty much every movie I can think of, unlike the Blockbuster store, where they stare at me like I'm an alien if I name an older movie I can't find.
Anyway, I've worked out that as long as we get at least eight movies a month, it pays for itself. And we're renting a lot of television, making it also cheaper than cable (because we get fuzz and the religion channel in the next town through the little antenna). I rented the first season of The Office on a whim this past winter, having never seen it. We've finally caught up to season five, which means we have to wait for it to come out now, but that's cool.
Anyway, the next three things on my list are V for Vendetta, and a British show called Waking the Dead. It's sort of CSI: Cold Case Files or whatever but with less "we're cops so we can beat the crap out of people" that all American cop dramas reek of. My parents watch it and I've seen two episodes. I liked I saw, and The Boy and I don't tend to agree on television, but he likes CSI type things, so I figure we can give it a try. The third movie on the list (and the last of the trio winging there way here) we have Leave it to Beaver. The combination makes me laugh.
I liked watching Leave it to Beaver when we had cable. It's not the sort of show that it get stereotyped as (actually, I think the stereotype fits The Brady Bunch much better). I haven't seen enough to know what it is, but I feel there's something very important about that show that makes it worth watching. And maybe then I could work out what it is.
But going back to strange combinations, you know the game where you suggest three otherwise normal things to go through the check out at the grocery store with to raise an eyebrow? A hammer, a shovel, and garbage bags, for example. Butter, Cheetos, and a package of underwear. This is one of my favourite games that no one will play with me. Actually, most of my favourite games no one will play with me. It's not like I ever try it, purely speculation. Then again, some of my friends would be more game to try it than to speculate.
Anyway, I actually made the cashier do a double take the other day, and I'm disappointed to say it wasn't interesting. A bag of apples and a frozen pizza. Respectively, as I explained to the guy, lunch and dinner.
Oh, and one more movie thing... Can someone explain Breakfast at Tiffany's? The appeal, I mean. I get what it's about, but I don't know why anyone cares. I watched it, but I think I never want to see it again. I suspect that the problem is Truman Capote. I've never been a fan of any of his stuff, quirky people being needlessly quirky, and that's the case with what I can see of what must be the book because it isn't Hollywood. The ending, for example, is obviously Hollwood: there's no way the story ended that way. There are a lot of other elements that aren't surreal enough to've been Capote, Paul is altogether too normal for a manwhore.
The problem is, I don't want to read the story, but I think the movie may have forced my hand. I read Christmas Memory back in high school and a few other things and pretty much hated them. Tiffany's is longer than those are.
I do like Audrey Hepburn (well, I watched Sabrina for the first time last week and liked her in it), but not in this. She's not Holly Golightly, she's a reserved and intelligent person, and you can see that while she's having fun being this person she isn't, she's so very obviously not the person she's trying to be that she doesn't come off as a genuine flake. Now, if Vivian Blaine hadn't been too old, or even Marilyn Monroe, I think either of them would have been a better choice.