A stumble in the DVD stakes

[stephbg]

Note to self: before you go to the DVD place, have at least a vague idea of what kind of film one would like to see.



A long time ago we had The List of films to see, but we gave up on it a long time ago when the local shop would fail to stock any of them with startling consistency. Now that we don't get to the cinema much we do the cheap thing of heading for "New to Weekly" for recent films we're too cheap to pay $6 to see.

There were a few people in the local Civic this evening, many of them with truely frightening coughs, and a couple of sniffers in pajamas. *blink* Not small ones either. Perhaps they were a delegation from a high school PJ party.

I kept up my end of sartorial splendour by contributing trackies, flannelette shirt, and a giant cardigan I distinctly remembering telling myself was a house coat and not permitted to go further than the letter box. Classy.

Bereft of inspiration I picked Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. It's something of a classic, I told myself, and tonight was as good a night as any to see it. I should note at this juncture that I dislike caper films. I dislike films with bad audio and/or poor directorial choices that lead to incomprehensible dialogue. I dislike ensemble films that have no sympathetic characters and no discernable narrative for the opening 20 minutes.

I did not get past the first 20 minutes.

Next.

Husband hit his special shelves and came back with the 1935 film San Francisco, starring Clark Gable as the slimy night club owner, Spencer Tracey as the helpless priest, and Jeanette MacDonald as the irritating girl with the angelic voice and no self esteem. Hmmmm. They filled in time for a while until disaster struck. Well, the earthquake bits were good, but that was riiiiiiight at the end. Best bit: Husband stroked my hair for a while.

It worries my that my other happy moment was correctly identifying a song "Would You?" that would be later recycled in Singin' in the Rain, or to be more precise, inside The Laughing Cavalier inside Singin' in the Rain. I would like to note that this information is in my brain as the inevitable result of nearly 15 years of marriage and brain cell diffusion. I hate to think how much science has been involuntarily displaced by MGM musicals trivia over the years. Or worse, Universal horror trivia.

Comments

[alias_sqbr]

This is why I use Quickflix, I fill my queue with my "To Watch" list and just sit back and wait :) (Of course the down side is you don't have much control about which specific movies arrive when)

[huckle.livejournal.com]

Your local DVD library charges $6 for a new release? Wow, pricey! We have three nearby - two are large chain ones that are about to go under I would say, judging by the increasingly desperate pricing (I think a new release is down to $3). Last time I rented something they gave me a voucher for a free new release on a Tuesday).
The other one is an achingly cool place (think Planet, but with less pleasant staff) that is pricey ($8 for a new release). I don't go there much, mostly because there is enough good stuff (eg BSG series) in the local cheaper ones. I felt nastily pleased last time I went to the cool place. I asked the I'm-achingly-cool chick behind the counter where Archie Roach would be found, and she went.'hmm...now what film did he direct' One if the other I'm-more-achingly cool staff got to correct her in a loud voice that Archie Roach was a singer, and would be found in the folk section. She tried to go 'I knew that' but it was too late. Coolness points fell away before our eyes. Of course, the corrector's coolness points were raised, so it all ended up the same, but I was still poisonously amused.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

The price of a new release DVD varies wildly depending on demographic. $3 is about the bottom of the pricing ladder (although I've seen $2.50 from time to time), and $6 is about the top. Anyone charging $7 or above should be loudly reminded in store that the DVD they're renting out in all likelihood cost them a maximum of $29.96 wholesale, and they should be ashamed of themselves.