Recently signed up for Netflix (DVD rental serv via mail)

[yogi]

Only movies I get to see are movies OK for kids to see for the past few years.
I just signed up for Netflicks (don't know if its out there in Cleveland, but its a DVD rental service and you get the movies by mail) and would like some suggestions/feedback for different types of movies to see.
I just saw Million Dolar Baby, War of the Worlds and Robots (for the kids). Sent in for Old School, Batman Begins & Soprano's (1st year). I don't have HBO either.

I enjoyed Million Dollar Baby but it wasn't as good as I thought it was gonna be. Maybe hyped up a little so my expectations were great. War of the Worlds was OK and Robots was a good choice for the kids.

Suggestions on what to see next?

[SOBO]

I personally go through Blockbuster's mailing service. It obviously works the same as Netflix, and to be honest; I recommend it to everyone.

For a guy like me who is a very avid movie watcher, I'm actually making out. It's like a fat man who goes to all you can eat (as if I would EVER know anything about THAT).

Pay 15 bucks a month. Generally that's 3 rentals a month if you go to the store. He'll I get about 3 (maybe more) every week. So on an average month I get 12 movies. Plus I'm not even worrying about gas money or postage. I honeslty don't know how Blockbuster makes any money off this simply because I know there are a lot more like me out there.

[swerb]

Between having my first kid and creating this monster, I haven't had as much time to watch movies as of late.

When and if things begin to normalize, one of the 1st things Im gonna do is cancel all my pay movie channels except HBO and sign up for either Netflix or one of the other similar services.

I'll be interested to hear peoples thoughts on the options before I make a decision.

[dmiles]

I rarely watch movies anymore from start to finish but it seems that the blockbuster is a better deal if you have a corporate blockbuster nearby. The reason being on the 17.99 deal (I think that is the price) you can pick up in store something like 4 movies per month. Kind of nice for spur of the moment stuff. I have HBO and the Starz package with DVR and NBA season ticket, but it gets a tad expensive. Drop the starz and I am close with much better selection.

[yogi]

I've loaded up my que with the classics. I look at the AFI's top 100 movies of all time list.


http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/movies.aspx


Here's the top 10:

The Complete List:

1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)

2. CASABLANCA (1942)

3. THE GODFATHER (1972)

4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)

5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)

6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)

7. THE GRADUATE (1967)

8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)

9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)

10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)

I've seen all of the above except for #'s 5 & 10.

So I got them qued up. Others from the Top 100 list I put on my list are:

Dr. Strangeglove, Spartacus, White Heat, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Treasure of the Sierre Madre, The Third Man, To Kill a Mockenbird & The Manchurian Candidate.

No book reading for me this year!

[Jumbo]

I'm a Blockbuster subscriber - I switched to Blockbuster from Netflix. Renting online is fantastic...and it completely changes your movie (and even TV) watching habits. First, it reverses the "standing around in the movie store for half an hour figuring out what to rent" dynamic. Instead of that, just put a ton of movies in the queue and move them around depending on what you're interested in seeing. Second, I've been going to the theaters a lot less, as there's no problem waiting for the movie to come out on DVD. Third, I've been able to delay watching a show until it comes out on DVD. I know that Lost is supposed to be good, but I've completely ignored it - I'll get around to it on DVD sometime.

As for choosing between Netflix and Blockbuster, as I said, I've switched to Blockbuster, and there are differences between them:

1. Functionality: The Netflix website and queue works better, as it's easier to move titles around, add and delete. Occasionally Blockbuster will put movies in the wrong spot on the queue, and even if your queue is ordered right will send things out of order. Usually not a big deal, unless you are watching a TV series.

2. Selection: As far as I can tell, both services have a sufficient number of titles. I've been able to fill my queue with 200+ titles in both.

3. Delivery: This is the big issue. At first, Netflix came very quickly. However, after a few months, it slowed down significantly. There was a story a week or so ago that reported that Netflix engaged in a practice called "throttling," where it penalizes the heaviest users by delaying shipping movies and reducing priority to high-demand titles. Blockbuster has been generally efficient, except for a few random slow periods.

4. Value: Depends a lot on what particular deal you get, but Blockbuster has the advantage of free in-store rentals (for both movies and video games). You can either get 2 a month or one a week (so 4 a month, but not two at at time). Blockbuster will also occasionally give coupons for other deals, like discounts on buying used DVDs.

[HoodooMan]

I'll be interested to hear peoples thoughts on the options before I make a decision.

Can't tell you anything about blockbuster online, but I've had Netflix for nearly a year now, and...

The Good:

1) I've never had a problem receiving or returning a movie.

2) The turnaround is really fast. Their closest facility is in Cleveland, and if I send a movie back early enough on Monday, they've emailed me what's on the way by Tuesday, and I'll get the new movie on Wednesday or at the latest Thursday (as, I'm just realizing, appears to be the case this week).

3) I've only received a broken DVD once, and the process of getting a replacement was very simple. Filled out a couple pieces of info on the site, and no questions asked, they sent out a new one.

The Less Than Good:

A few of the DVDs I've gotten have been scratched, which can be a real pain in the ass to watch, having to keep your remote ready to advance through a scratched scene so it doesn't skip back to the main menu.

The One Thing That Drives Me Absolutely Fucking Insane:

Their supposedly #1 ranked Customer Service.

There are several DVDs that they have either had available at one time or never had available that any schmuck can go to Amazon.com and buy right now. I emailed to ask why certain DVDs weren't available and got some stock reponse about how I needed to make sure these DVDs existed, and when I responded that yeah I'm freaking sure all right (I believe I also mentioned this in my original email), I received another stock response that had absolutely nothing to do with my reply. I replied again, somewhat more angrily this time. Another barely relevant stock response. I replied again, outright daring them to not copy & paste a response straight out of their Customer Service Response-O-Matic and peppering in some profanity for good measure. Another barely relevant stock response. This was irritating.

It appears that there are movies they've had in the past that must have all cracked or been lost somehow that they have no interest in replacing. It also appears there are movies on the site for you to "Save" in your queue for when they come available that are available and have been available for some time that they have no interest in buying.

Of course, I'm just guessing, because they sure as hell never answered my questions. The silver lining to this, however, is that I believe all the movies that fall into this category are foreign films, and if you're not into that sort of thing, it may have no impact on you whatsoever. But if Blockbuster Online's Customer Service is even the least bit responsive, that might be enough of a reason to go with them instead.

[swerb]

Finally joined Netflix. Love it so far. Heres whats in my queue ...

Whats in yours? Any suggestions? Or movies on there I should scrap?

King Kong

Schindler's List (already seen)

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

Walk the Line

Lost in Translation (already seen)

The Island

Alien: Collector's Edition (already seen)

Gandhi

Gladiator: Extended Edition (already seen)

Black Hawk Down (already seen)

Ken Burns Baseball: Disc 1

Hostel

The Family Stone

The Aviator

Jarhead

[yogi]

Here's what's in my queue. It's generally a mix of AFI Top 100 for me, newly released stuff for me and the wife and kid stuff for my 3 boys.

Downfall - new (Based on Swerb's rec)

Pride and Prejudice - new

Duck Soup - AFI Top 100


Fargo - AFI Top 100


Munich - new (rec by Mitch)

Best Years Of Our Lives, The (MGM) - AFI

Bringing Up Baby - AFI

Double Indemnity (Image) AFI

French Connection, The 2006-May-21

Mutiny On The Bounty - AFI

The New World - new

Stalag 17

Fun With Dick and Jane - new

Brokeback Mountain - new

Network (MGM/UA) AFI

King Kong and Bobby Jones (Stroke of Genious) are on their way to me.

[swerb]

[quote="yogi"]Downfall - new (Based on Swerb's rec)[quote]
Finally ... someone seeing that movie.

Anxious to hear your thoughts on it Yog.

I liked Fargo, but felt it was slightly overrated.