January 24, 2008

• I LOVE THE INTERNET

  I love my online movie rentals. I really do! I mean ... what's not to love? You search movies online (much faster than in the store). You have your search options - by category, title, director or.... *gasp* actor. What a wonderful search tool! Whoever thought of that? Plus, there is LOTS more inventory to chose from than in the store and sometimes there are little known and maybe obscure movies. You do all this while you are comfortably sitting in your jammies, sipping hot cocoa and then you wait for the movies to arrive.

  But I am now really ticked off with Blockbuster Online. I originally chose them, because their plan - when they started out - was by far the cheapest. Basically I received 5 movies a month for 5$. They must have realized that they "were giving away the store", because within the last 6 months they increased their prices twice and they won't even "grandfather"-in exisiting members. The only thing that still gives them the edge over Netflix is their in-store exchanges. I love those. I get two free exchanges (which is included in the price) and the rest at 1.99$. It has the added benefit that when you exchange at the store the next movie ships and you don't have to wait until they receive it through the mail.

  Another minus for Blockbuster is that they have so many movies that have a "wait" on them. OR .... it doesn't even say "wait" but still the first movie from your Q will not ship and something further down will. The explanation is that they didn't have this at MY shipping center and wanted to NOT delay movie delivery. Huh?

  Anyways... I am now doing a free trial with Netflix (I had done one a couple of years ago... psssst!) and I will overlap them both for a short period of time - just to see who does better and then I'll probably switch. So far Netflix has all the ones that were on "wait" at Blockbuster.

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  I watched "Dear Frankie" which is another Butler movie. It is about this woman who leaves her abusive husband (we only find that out later) when her son is still a baby (he is now 11). She tells the son that his dad is a sailor and encourages him to write letters. Only she intercepts them and writes him back. This sharade goes on for years until the invented ship all of a sudden docks in Glasgow, where they live. She needs somebody to play Dad for the boy - enter Gerard! Awesome. He really is another one of those actors, who comes in "under the radar". He is not a major superstar (yet), but a true working actor (I learned all these distinctions from this book about casting - LOL). There is this one part in the interview in the Special Features (yes... I DO watch those.... I'm a geek!) where the female lead sums up Gerard's acting abilities by talking about this one scene: They had just started filming and didn't know each other very well yet. This was a night scene and they only had time for one or two takes. The woman tells the guy that her son hasn't been deaf from birth but that it was a "present" from his dad. Gerard answers with just this look on his face that goes from shock to realization to utter disgust and then empathy. She said that when they shot it, she was so surprised at the look on his face, he genuinely made her cry. And actually when I watched the movie (before I saw the bonus) - I was utterly amazed by that very scene - for the same reasons. Almost Alan Rickman-esque he conveys a whole miriad of emotions in a few short seconds, without ever uttering a word. Fantastic!

  The other movie I had was Phanotm of the Opera with Gerard. Kirsten recommended I get it next. (Melli's recommendation "Attila" is on the way!). Who knew he could sing as well? I know Phantom, of course, both versions. And I always side with the Phantom, Kirsten! It's one of those truly tragic figures, isn't it? But you are right, Gerry is amazing here as well. He goes from tender lover and "angel of music" to insane rage and horrific phantom in no time flat! Always expressing everything with his whole body - not just with the words.

  Have you guessed yet what or who my new obsession is?

  

  (Thanks Guru... I found a "small" use for it right now - and I'll keep the original for a fresh look at a later date yet to be determined! LOL!) Don't worry - Rob is not coming down anytime soon. He can never be replaced. And Alan? No... Alan is in a cateogory all by himself - no contest! But it is so much fun to "discover" new actors who are so genuinely skilled at their craft. It's fun to explore new movies and see their versatility. It's what I like to do - it's one of the ways I decompress...

  And here the blog comes full circle .... as I could  not do it without my online movie rentals!

   

  • 9:33 pm
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