Umm, disc Netflix is still a thing, you know. I pay $10/mo for a 1 BD at a time plan (currently it’s Arrival).
Maybe it’s not available for newer customers?
I don’t think it ever came to Canada.
Family Video is the only major player left in the physical media game, at least around the metro detroit area. They have a pretty extensive collection but yeah since they are not a by mail place they do not have a national library to draw from so some obscure crap will be hard to find. I have never had a problem finding what I want at the local Family Video.
Ah, that makes sense. I should not assume that folks live south of the 49th parallel.
With regard to Netflix’s deep disc library, it seems to be getting shallower as well, which is annoying. Here are some films that currently show as “unavailable or not yet released”:
Mighty Aphrodite (Woody Allen film from the 90s)
Ghost World (2001–with Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson and R. Crumb I think)
Europa Europa (1990 highly acclaimed German film about a German Jew who is “passing” during the Nazi times/WW2)
1984 (the one that came out that year with John Hurt and Richard Burton)
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007, with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke)
Galaxy Quest (WTaF?? I know it’s usually streamable somewhere, but COME ON)
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962 WW2 spy thriller with William Holden and Lilli Palmer—looks good, but who knows when I’ll get to see it)
Breakheart Pass (1975 Western with Charles Bronson)
Wait… Family Video is just a regular video rental place? I thought they were one of those ones that edits films to make them… “christian”. The things you learn on the internet.
No, Family Video is the opposite of that, kinda. It’s the chain that survived when Blockbuster didn’t, because every Family video has a little adult video section behind a curtained-off area.
Yeah, I was thinking the adult stuff is what carried them. Ironic that they are called Family Video.
Now the one near me has added a carryout pizza joint on the premises.
Same with the one near me actually. I think they’re called Marco’s or something like that. They always mail me coupons about getting movies and pizza together.
Saw this on Netflix this morning with my wife. On par with the prequels. Only two people in this film weren’t completely unlikable or uninteresting.
Movie did a poor job of making me give a shit about anything or anyone; and I think the people who made the film just took it for granted that the audience would automatically know and care about most of this stuff going in.
Have you seen a prequel lately? If not, I highly suspect watching one would make you retract that statement.
The prequels are downright horrible.
I prefer the Phantom Menace to the mess that is Rogue One. the rest of the prequels are absolutely indefensible, yes.
The mere absence of Jar Jar Binks makes Rogue One better than Star Bores: the Farcical Mess, IMHO.
The Phantom Menace is really hard to watch now. The green screen stuff has not aged well at all. The dialogue was never good, but almost 20 years of ridicule has rendered almost every line into a joke. Jar Jar gets worse on repeated viewings. The plot is dumb as hell.
It’s a terrible, terrible movie.
I liked Phantom Menace when I saw it opening night and I still do. It was fun seeing kickass Jedi in their prime. Jar Jar was annoying, but I didn’t find him any more annoying than I found C3PO in the original trilogy. The green screen stuff probably ages the poorest, to my eyes.
Exactly, the special effects have aged, but the characters and plot are ok (I do dislike the final battle with the kid pilot, though), and some stuff is really good (the lightsaber duel, most of the opening). And the Jar Jar → C2PO comparison is fair, I think.
Really? What character, and which part of the plot, is okay? Everything from Jar Jar, immaculate conception, to midichlorians is horrible. It’s also made worse by the fact that, as a prequel, you know that even the supposed best of the jedi (e.g., wise Yoda, zen Qui Gon) are idiots, despite their wisdom and powers.
Obi Wan is probably the only one that comes out looking anywhere near “okay”, but that’s because he’s just along for the ride. Maul, as a concept, is cool, but he isn’t developed in the slightest.
Ha ha, yeah Juan, get with the program and admit Phantom Menace sucks! Or at least take your internet beating like a man.
For example, I like the kid and his mother. And i like the overall plot and how it doesn’t try to be too epic yet, focusing on a somewhat unimportant conflict (in which characters who will be important later are involved).
Anyways, I do get why a lot of people dislike the movie. It is childish (which is why I liked it so much, for me Star Wars is best when it’s meant for kids.) and most fans are not kids anymore and want something else (which I think is why a lot of people liked the horror I think Rogue One is). If you don’t get on with the silliness (which I also enjoy in the original trilogy, I LOVE the Ewoks) the movie can fall apart.
What surprises me is that people who hate the movie can’t see how others can think it’s actually decent enough.
Then you have those who like Ep III but dislike Ep I. Those I will never understand.
@divedivedive Like this? :P
Episode 1 is also the only one of the prequels that I enjoyed. Quagon Jin and Obi Wan were both serene Jedi with presence and were fun to follow. The action sequences, especially the pod race and the light-saber fights with the bad guy, were really fun. Jar Jar was annoying, yes, but not enough to ruin the movie for me. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it the first time, and I actually went to the theater to see it a second time, and enjoyed my second viewing too.
I also loved the tie-in game, the pod racing game. I loved it on N64, and then the Dreamcast, and then the PC version. I played it through 3 times and it’s still my favorite Wipeout-type racer.
I’m on the same page with you there. Ep. III paved the way for Ep. I and, in hindsight, the progression is evident. Ep. III is, by far, my least favorite of the original trilogy. That said, Ep. I did crank up the worse parts of Ep. III for me.