WARNING FOR MOVIE BUYERS: ...and then you link your Amazon to your Vudu to your Flixster to your iTunes to your... · 12:23pm Oct 23rd, 2017
As previously discussed, I tend to wind up with a lot of hardcopy movies, especially around the holidays when the Black Friday sales go live and I can start burning some survey credit on Amazon. I just prefer owning a physical disc over pure digital unless there's no other choice. And I can also pick up movies on the cheap during the rest of the year, because I'm within an hour of a major flea market: whole tables are covered in DVDs at a dollar each -- or less. When it costs more for a rental than a purchase, you tend to go with the purchase, and some of them are even in their original shrinkwrap.
So there's Phase One in our micro-comedy. Here's Phase #2: I also tend to leave things sealed until the moment it's time to watch them. Part of this is my permanent fiscal balancing act: if I ever hit the Sell Everything level of crisis, it's nice to know I can list a few thing as legitimately being new in the original wrapping. There's also a little collector's mentality lurking in the back: I'm always going to open them, but let's allow them to be non-mint as long as possible. (Light has touched them: therefore, they are not mint.) So if I don't have plans for a viewing night on the day something arrives, it'll stay closed for a while -- unless there's a secondary motivation.
This brings us to Disney Movie Rewards.
Don't worry. As reward programs go, this isn't exactly the sort of thing you can get lost in, and scavenging from recycling hutches is right out. It's a simple idea: every movie you buy -- and every ticket for a theater viewing -- is worth points. The movies come with codes: put those codes in at the site and earn points. Redeem points in their catalog. I've never actually ordered anything, but I have enough points for a Blu-Ray or two if I shopped carefully.
(If you buy any physical Disney movies, check the case interior. There's no reason to let those codes go to waste, and each person can only redeem a given version of a movie once. (DVD and Blu-Ray would be separate values.) You may have the points for a future Gargoyles season set sitting on your shelf and not know it. There's also a thriving trade/giveaway market.)
There's also one additional incentive for using those codes: not only are they worth points, but for the more recent films, they also represent the unlock for the digital copy of your movie. And because Disney decided to sit down and talk for five seconds, any such unlock can also be viewed in your Amazon library. This sort of cross-company cooperation is... something of a rarity. Anyone who buys movies regularly knows that the digital industry is, put mildly, balkanized. There are codes you redeem through Ultraviolet. There are Sony-exclusive purchases. You have iTunes, GooglePlay, Flixster, there used to be a company called Digital Rewards which folded and took everything you'd ever purchased with them... you have at least half a dozen places where a film's digital code could go, and that's not even counting the ones which sell digital unlocks directly, with no physical copies behind them.
I know where my physical copies are. But the digital ones? I redeem those as I go, when the shrinkwrap finally comes off. And at this point, my digital collection is scattered across multiple websites, which require multiple passwords, which occasionally sell the same films at different prices, and virtually none of them are speaking to each other. For Disney and Amazon to cross-link was unheard of until the moment they did it. Everything else is... more or less scattershot. I couldn't tell you where half of my unlocked digitals are for hosting sites, nor could I say where the sealed ones would ultimately wind up.
The newest acquisition for my movie shelves was Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Marvel movies are Disney movies, and so they have the reward codes. That's incentive for early opening. I removed the shrinkwrap, opened the package, noted the cookie coupon with vague interest, dug down and found the code. It didn't look like a standard Disney code: sixteen characters. But still, it was a Disney movie, so off to the site and --
-- nope.
This movie was made in partnership with Sony. Guess who got the digital end of the deal? It is worth no points. It cannot be added to your Disney/Marvel digital collection. And the code must be redeemed through the Sony digital site.
I sighed. I went to Sony. I spent a minute remembering what my password had been, because it had been months. I put in the code...
...and the site told me to leave.
The code was legitimate. The movie wasn't counterfeit. The site didn't want me to redeem the code because the site was in its last days of letting people redeem codes at all, and this still applied for a movie which came out last week. The Sony movie could not have its digital copy unlocked through Sony. But it did have a place I could go...
At this point, I took a breath. Several. Then I started researching.
And the walls? Came tumbling down.
Here's what's going on.
The balkanization is turning into The Great Fusion Of 2017. Just about all of the companies are now talking to each other, and what they decided to talk about was the idea that having digital collections scattered across the aether was just ridiculous. Oh, they still want to sell them on their own: price competition, shares of the market, mutual hatred. But a half-dozen hosting sites? Why bother?
The new site is called Movies Anywhere, and here's how it works. Whenever you redeem a digital copy for a physical movie, you can redeem it there. You then tell the site about every other digital account you own, wherever they may be. And once you let it know where those sites are and grant permission to link up, it will fetch in as many of your movies as it can. It'll all be on a single page, or most of it will: there's still some flaws with the system. (My copy of Moonlight will. not. move.) And if you purchased a movie as digital-only? That's fine. You can link that too. In fact, you can purchase new digital films through this site: it'll give you a list of all available sellers and once you choose, it'll link the new movie in.
Just about everyone is in on this. GooglePlay joined the pack. Vudu decided to sign the accord. Flixster... is dead, and I didn't know they were dead until yesterday -- but any movies you redeemed through them are still viable and can be transferred over to the new site. (They still do theater showtimes and ticket purchases, but you must transfer your digital collection if you want to keep it.) iTunes joined, and for Apple to acknowledge anyone else even exists is a small miracle. Basically, if you have a digital movie, there's probably around a 90% chance you can consolidate into this site.
As said, there's still flaws. Some things won't shift. I have a couple of films which I got as Amazon freebies -- Black Friday giveaways -- and those are staying on Amazon, with at least one of those invisible until I directly search for it. (However, Amazon is now echoing most of the Movies Anywhere entries.) I picked up a free copy of the 2016 Ghostbusters without ever entering it because apparently doing the link qualified me for some sort of promotion: this may or may not be a flaw. But it's one page and one password instead of half a dozen of each. Isn't that at least a small improvement? All you have to do is link up!
Across however many purchase & redemption sites you've ever used.
Over the course of your entire viewing history.
Every. Last. One. Of. Them.
Remember all those passwords? Better: remember where you can find every single "I don't remember my password" desperation hyperlink?
It took me an hour. Find every site. Get every password. Read the revised terms of service and privacy statements, then grant permissions. Check to see what had actually come across. (And still Moonlight has not moved.) I picked up free copies of Ice Age and Jason Bourne because I'd done additional links, which made me slightly scared of doing any more. (You can also get freebies for Big Hero 6 and The Lego Movie for linking accounts, but I already owned those.) But finally, I had 90% or so of it in one place. I was also oddly exhausted. But I was done...
...not so fast.
I leave movies sealed until I'm ready to watch them, remember? And not only do digital codes expire in time, but entire redemption sites can vanish. Flixster? For collection purposes, that's gone. Can those codes still be redeemed through Movies Anywhere? What if more sites start going down? How many code redemption deadlines have already passed?
I'd tied nearly all of the digitals together. I had thirty-six films on one page, including the link-up gifts. That was done.
The next step was to pull apart my movie shelves, find all the sealed packaging with digital codes inside, open them up, and redeem before it was Too Late.
Also, every previously-opened film, because maybe I'd neglected the digitals.
Ev.Er.Y.Thing.
There is a stack of movies (with a few TV series added in) sitting near my desk. It consists entirely of sealed product. It represents what's been extracted from about half of the possible digging. The other half has to be done today, and then all those codes have to go in. All of them.
I also made a discovery. That used steelbook copy of E.T.? The one I was so happy to find at a flea market for effective pennies on the dollar? It's Region 2, and don't ask me how it got here. (The States count as Region 1.) I can play the movie, but the digital code -- assuming it hasn't already been redeemed -- is worthless to me. So if anyone here is Region 2 and wants to try redeeming it, tell me: I'll PM it to the first person who asks.
I'm learning things today. For example, I learned that I have two Mythbusters collections. (It was one of those 'everything you can cram in this bag for a dollar' library remaindered sales. I just grabbed every remaining DVD and decided to sort it out later.) I found out that used copy of The Avengers had a code which was still good for points, but not an unlock. I learned that one code (Horton Hears A Who) is so old that all it allows is saving the film to my hard drive. I learned that I have too @#$% many sealed films, which is something I should have figured out long before this.
But I also (re)learned that when this sort of thing happens to me, I have to write up the scroll and send it immediately, before it can happen to anyone else.
This blog post, as much as anything else, is a warning.
If you have digital movie collections scattered across the aether (because if you have any level of collection at all, it's just about guaranteed to be scattered), the time to unite them is now.
Bring it all together. All the UV titles, all the Disney, all the iTunes and GooglePlay and everything else. If you had anything on Flixster? Link up immediately, while you can still transfer at all. Check your packaging. Don't let those codes expire. Don't let things build up to the point where you lose hours just to making sure you won't lose anything else.
Don't be me.
*looks at stack again*
One Equestria Girls movie with a code so far. No MLP seasons came with them...
...it's gonna be a long day.
This sounds like an ordeal, I'm glad you survived.
I suggest ordering a pizza. That way you need not concern yourself with moving from Movie Hell unless you need to use the restroom.
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Those
paperplastic cuts can kill you.It's just the sheer scope of the thing. I didn't realize just how scattered everything was until I tried to bring it together, and I didn't think about how much sealed stuff I had until I started pulling it down. Nothing could have been done about the balkanizing or merger, but I'm the one who let the unredeemed codes build up. That part is my fault.
Oh, and shortly before seeing the notification for your comment, I found the next little joke. A flea market copy of Dark City had a digital redemption code inside. Movies Anywhere wouldn't take it, but told me it was a Warner Brothers code and advised me to go there. I guessed that was one of the companies which hadn't signed up and headed over -- only to be told by the WB that the code couldn't be redeemed from my current location. Which normally would have meant another Region 2 on up which somehow made it here -- except for one minor detail.
I pulled out the magnifying glass and read through the terms on the one-sheet. The deadline for redeeming the digital copy was July 29th, 2009.
Honestly, that balkanization is why, as a movie and film junkie, I have maintained my physical collection. That, and if the service fades, you lose your stuff.
To heck with that.
I'm glad the walls are falling - it's a good sign.
You live such a strange life. c.c
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It's one of the two reasons I'm hardcopy-first. (The other: ever try to loan out a favorite download?) That Digital Rewards service I mentioned was a mainstay for any number of rewards programs: cash in your credits and use them for movies, books, and music. However, the books were sort of -- limited. For example, I could get every book in the Game Of Thrones series -- in Swedish. Minor technical problem. And you could only watch the movies, or read the books, on-site. (Music could actually be saved.) So when someone offered me credit there, I just let it build up. I probably had $70 there when the site went down and took just about everything anyone had redeemed for with it.
That $70 cost me no actual cash. It was points with various programs, plus some low/no-value instant wins and giveaways. But for those who "purchased" movies and books -- they lost them outright, with no compensation. Service go down and mini-library go with it.
It was ugly. But all anyone did about the screaming was ignore it. And so back to the flea markets we go...
Agreed. But the little wall of films building up on my left feels like a bad one.
I'm guessing you have some uniting of your own to do. Good luck and start with the Flixsters.
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Have you ever purchased so much as a single DVD or Blu-Ray? Then you lead an equally strange life and may be occupying a slightly smaller version of this boat.
Incidentally, first EQ movie did not come with a digital code. So that's a gap I won't be filling.
I'm learning some basic speed-up rules as I go.
* If it's anime, it will not have a digital copy.
* If it's Malaysian, it will never have a digital copy.
* Anything older than five years for release date probably doesn't have one, but it's not guaranteed.
* Steelbooks guarantee nothing either way.
* If it's considered children's animation, it probably won't have a digital copy unless it's a Disney or Pixar movie. (EQ stuff is scattershot.)
* If it's a television series and it's on the CW, it probably has a digital copy. Unless it's Arrow. Why? No one knows...
* CBS hates digital copies. Subscribe to All-Access today!
Good luck with the Crisis on Infinite Media Providers. I usually just use streaming services anymore.
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I hate you.
So much.
Okay, I got curious. For the record, I only have an iTunes account and Amazon Prime. (iTunes, because I bought An iPod, later an iPad, and much later an iPhone. Prime because I wanted The Grand Tour.)
It's mostly worked for me. But there is always the possibility of a better way...
The internet is a global village. Yeah, and it's full of walls that say "No foreigners allowed." (The Grand Tour is just about the only thing I can watch on Prime, as the majority of their library is @&%#£ geo blocked to Australia. I might be crazy enough to believe that Clarkson, Hamond and May are worth US$60 a year, but is it any wonder that Australia has the highest piracy rates in the world?)
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Still, it's a vast, overly complicated assembly of ever-so-slightly different entities coming together into a hopefully greater whole, with some being forever lost in the process. It felt appropriate.
Sorry.
I've only ever bought actual, physical DVDs. Due to lack of both money & skill, I've never downloaded ANYTHING more than books. I've thus avoided this entire problem. Of course, now & again I've had to move & I usually manage to lose stuff every time.
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...ouch.
I'm sorry. I didn't think about the possibilities of the walls staying up outside R1.
(GLOBALISM IS NOT UNIVERSALLY BAD!)
If it (doesn't) help, you do get a few small advantages, known as 'sets which U.S. residents may never see released.' I've considered ordering from Australia a couple of times to fill holes, but I've never actually followed through. And if you're paying $60 for Prime, you're paying about $40 less than you would Stateside -- but as said, you're losing most of the library.
Australia has the highest piracy rates in the world? Maybe there's something to be said for that ancestry theory after all...
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However, some of your actual, physical DVDs likely come with codes which can be redeemed for digital copies. It's worth taking a moment to look.
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YOU LOST WALLY!
Okay: initial sort complete.
There are thirty-seven codes which can potentially be entered, plus one "maybe": the second season says it has a digital code, but the first doesn't -- and that means opening both to make sure. A couple of codes may be old enough to have expired. Either way, I lose the sealed resale value by opening everything to check -- but in theory, I was always going to open them anyway and if I ever have to sell the physical copies, at least I'll retain the digital.
Plastic wrap ahoy.
*opens "maybe"*
No digital.
So S2 has it, but S1 doesn't. Sort of like the middle EQG releases all have digital codes, but the first and most recent don't.
...I don't get it either.
I really don't have much in the way of a video collection.
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Eh... I'm used to it by now. My digital nose gets occasionally squished on the Do not enter if you don't live here signs.
Or, our only option for pay TV is owned by Rupert fucking Murdoch. His newspapers regularly scream about how horrible we all are, while his contributions to our conservative political party have crippled our internet infrastructure, as a desperate ploy to keep his outmoded business model viable.
I didn't have a digital movie collection UNTIL a friend of mine with a DVD rental store (since closed) started offering me codes. You see, you can't leave the packaging on the rented DVD or the renter will cash in that code, and you can't put 30 copies of I Frankenstein on your own digital movie account, so....
I've got about twelve, over three sites. The Disney site has been a royal PITA because the iphone app is useless and their website is counterintuitive. Vudu hasn't been half bad. Thanks for the heads-up. Time to dig out passwords and do some moving.
OMG, thank you so much for sharing this. I have a pile of digital movie redemptions because one of my ex-roomies let me have the digital versions of all the movies she bought, but I haven't really acquired any new ones since we went our separate ways. So I have things to link, but I probably wouldn't have known about this if you didn't mention it.
Yay!
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You might have noticed a certain international pattern in his behavior.
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So this means you have twenty-nine codes for Frankenstein which you could give away...?
...oh. You said I Frankenstein.
Nevermind.
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So if anyone's curious, of the thirty-seven digital codes:
(This is more of a personal look into my shelves than I'd planned on giving anyone. Many of these were gained using survey and MCR credit cashed out as Amazon gift cards. Others are from flea markets, garage sales, and library remaindered stuff bags. I generally shop cheap, out of both necessity and habit.)
#1-3 had expired. All three were from Lionsgate and were listed as 'may not redeem after this date'. Way to support your product. But then, all three were Hannibal seasons, and when it comes to not supporting your product...
(The series creators are counting the hours until NBC's hold expires and they can talk to Netflix. So are the viewers.)
Also, there was a piece of plastic broken off the S1 case, which only fell out when the wrap was removed. Whee.
#4 wanted me to insert the digital copy disc into the DVD drive, then double-click to transfer the movie to iTunes, which would then guide me the rest of the way. It also told me that the code had probably expired in 2011. (Incidentally, I purchased this film last November.) I loaded up the movie, then double-clicked and was promptly directed to an invalid URL. Which was hosted by -- Lionsgate.
#@#$ it, Kick-Ass.
#5 is, of course, Kick-Ass 2. I can only assume Lionsgate was no longer involved because it redeemed without issue. Of course, this leaves me without a digital copy of the original.
#6-8 are the three center Equestria Girls films. Rainbow Rocks has seen its code expire. The other two redeemed normally -- at Shout Factory, which has not signed into the accords. So I can watch them through Shout -- and nothing else. Surprise...
#9 is S2 for The Knick. (This is the series where S1 had no digital copy packaged with the set.) It directs me to go to HBO Digital, which takes the code and redirects me to Vudu, which -- accepts the code. So that's done. However, it doesn't show up on the Movies Anywhere site, because that's for movies. Are we having fun yet?
#10 is To Kill A Mockingbird, because you can't call yourself even a mild cinema buff and not have this. It redeemed directly through Movies Anywhere with no issues. This was followed by #11: Lawrence Of Arabia, restored version, same reason and thankfully, same result.
#12 is the collector's edition of Watchmen. (Amazon Black Friday purchase last year, at deep discount.) This one got weird. The code had expired in 2014, but I entered it anyway to see what would happen. Movies Anywhere didn't take it, but suggested a Warner Brothers link. The WB falsely spotted it as an Ultimate Cut version and asked me to use Vudu -- which took the code, but didn't transfer the film to Movies Anywhere. Also, the shrinkwrap was compressing in a torn box panel.
But on the bright side, I now own a brand-new Watchmen hardcover.
#13-16 are S1-3 for Orange Is The New Black. (Amazon puts them on Black Friday price-slice every year, so I don't pick up releases until then.) Guess who runs the digital copies? No, not Netflix, because that would make sense. It's Lionsgate! So it doesn't matter when you purchased it: it only matters when the sets were printed, and all three come up invalid.
#17 is mildly precious to me: the Edward Scissorhands steelbook, and what Best Buy was thinking when they made it five dollars, I'll never know, and probably never care. The issue with this one turns out to be my fault in the end: the last digit is 0, and I put it in as O. All resulting issues ultimately place me at FoxRedeems, where I finally try number instead of letter, have it take the code, and -- get the option to cash it in on Movies Anywhere. *sigh* Well, the important thing is that a beautiful movie now has its proper double-place in the library.
#18: Cusp point after this. This turns out to be the 20th anniversary edition of Schindler's List, and anyone who says it's a work of complete historical fiction can just leave my followers list forever: you won't be missed. Movies Anywhere takes it, but doesn't list it as an anniversary copy. I'm presuming this means I'm not getting the bonus features on digital. I also find out the factory was having yet another a rough day because when I open the set, two of the discs fall out: they were never fastened to the center mounts. No damage.
#19 is the second-most recent addition to the collection and the recipient of all my surveys from the last month-plus. Samurai Jack. Complete series. Currently out of stock just about everywhere. I was very surprised to see that it came with a digital copy: that wasn't even advertised in the Amazon listing. And given my luck, I'd better get that code entered, because I'll be selling this thing next week. So it comes as absolutely no surprise when the designated redemption URL doesn't recognize the code. It does serve as something of a mild shock when I do some quick research and discover that no one else can redeem their codes either.
However, the studio has been told about the issue, and it'll hopefully be fixed in a few days. In the meantime, I finally have all five seasons, plus some... artwork... on a metal -- plate?
...yeah.
#20? How To Train Your Dragon #2. Just for variety, no issues whatsoever.
#21... Get Out. This one turns stupid in a hurry. There are two codes, one on each side of the one-sheet: one to redeem the movie, and one to get a free movie if I sign up for Email from Universal Studios. After a lot of checking for typos, I eventually realize the movie code doesn't work. So I flipped the sheet and tried the promo code. This redeemed the film on Movies Anywhere, granting me the digital copy. And not to be outdone, the promotional site -- also took the promo code, as a promo code. The movie code? Turned out to be another promo code. I wound up with digital-only copies of Far And Away and Suffragette (six movies available to choose from, one of which was You, Me, And Dupree), then called it a day -- at least until I get to opt-out of the Emails. (Incidentally, the offer on this one expires 11/19, so if you qualify for this confusion, hurry up and claim your headache before they're all gone.)
#22 is Birdman, because I try to get the Best Picture winner in most years. It flies directly into place without issue, allowing one thing concerning that film to happen without issue.
#23 & 24 are my disappointments, because I keep wasting survey credit on current-generation DC animated films in the hopes that a second one will work and ultimately, I keep wasting survey credit. I don't take that many chances, but... they just don't hit. And naturally, this one also turns stupid: the Harley Quinn movie has to be redeemed via the WB site, which goes to Vudu, but does not show up on the Movies Anywhere catalog afterwards. However, Killing Joke redeems and appears directly. My guess? The difference is that the latter had a one-night theatrical release, and so qualifies in the primary site's eyes as 'a movie'. Not as a good movie...
#25 is the DC animated film which did work and thus tortures me by making the search continue. Much to my great surprise, Justice League: The New Frontier is not only accepted, but transfers to Movies Anywhere without so much as a blink. Let's hear it for exceptions!
#26-28 are Flash seasons, so I already know they won't appear with the film grouping. The question is whether they'll redeem at all -- which they do, through WB-To-Vudu, where they stay.
#29 -- well, there's a familiar face. Taxi Driver. This was actually going to be my November 1st movie night, so I'm really just opening it a little early. Another case where the Movies Anywhere art doesn't match the Blu-Ray cover, so edition wasn't figured in again.
#30 is the only documentary in the group: The Jinx. Because it was ultra-cheap. And also because we are very lucky that Robert Durst didn't run for President: at this point, I'm convinced he would have won. This goes through HBO Digital again, which actually offers to let me redeem the series on two sites at once: Vudu and iTunes. Vudu takes the season without complaint. iTunes refuses to load the redemption window and offers to take over my entire library again. Robert Durst sits in the bathroom and mutters about having programmed them all.
#31 is... Gone Girl. My excuse is that it could be stuffed into a bag, along with everything else for which the library sale charged me a grand total of one dollar. Which doesn't change the fact that looking at this case is the cinematic equivalent of waking up after a bender and realizing you did something horrible last night. And because I must be reminded never to do it again (even though I will), the cruel reminder is now on the Movies Anywhere page. Forever. Also, I have a free Amazing Amy book. I can't quite seem to feel amazed, except by my own bag stuffing skills.
#32 & 33 are Legends Of Tomorrow seasons. What I find interesting about this pair is that the code for S1 expires in 2019, while that for S2? Runs out in 2018. Well, that's one of the risks in dealing with a time travel series... As might have been expected, both go the WB-Vudu route.
#34 was picked up for the acting: The Revenant. (The acting. Not the historical accuracy. Let's get real here.) It goes up without issue, because it's a movie. And not a documentary. And certainly not a story about bear love. And no, I don't watch to watch Grizzly Man.
I have to make this clear before I list them: I did not pay for #35 & 36. There was no personal cash or survey credit involved. I made no sacrifices whatsoever of any kind, other than the one where I had to smile politely, say thank you, and pretend to be really grateful for someone having thought of me in such a dear way. But I can't get rid of them, so... Supergirl S1 & 2 wind up on Vudu. Interestingly, the S2 set comes with a bonus code, which will let me take a survey and tell Warner Brothers exactly what I thought of S2.
I probably shouldn't take that survey.
And lastly, we come to #37: the DC/CW joint animated production of Vixen.
...I have absolutely no idea what this is doing here.
Must have been one really big library stuff bag. WB-to-Vudu-and-out.
And that's all of them. So how much Emergency Resale Value did I just lose by doing this?
*math*
Pretty much all of it.
...maybe I should check the prices for a home shrinkwrap machine...
4706036 Yeah, on I, Frankenstein... My movie rating list goes in this order:
1 - Will go watch in theatres and buy the DVD - Harry Potter (the whole series), The MLP movie
2 - Will go watch in theatres and feel pretty good about it.
3 - Will watch in theatres at the matinee and not feel to bad about the fiscal hit.
3.5 - Bought as DVD at Wal-Mart more than six months after it came out so didn't have to pay $50 for it. (Big Jake, The Tick)
4 - Why did I pay money to see that in the theatre? Oh, well. At least I didn't buy it.
5 - Well, that was worth renting.
6 - Why did I rent that? Oh, well. At least I didn't buy it.
7 - No, that's not worth renting. (about 99% of them)
8 - Hell, no. (Most Saw films, Ishtar, the Scary Movie franchise after #2, etc...)
Somewhere around 6.5 is the "Somebody gave it to me so I should watch it, and it's not bad for a free movie (I, Frankenstein, Peabody and Sherman, Baby Mama, Transformers, San Andres)
7.5 are the DVDs I've gotten for free somewhere but probably will never watch. (An Inconvenient Truth, Primary Colors)
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I can generally swing a free movie ticket (although not as easily as I used to -- so long, MCR) and when I can't, local matinees are reasonable. So for me, movie & season acquisition isn't not so much a ratings scale as it is a group of categories from which purchases might be made. A partial list of such would include:
1A. The Kill List. (Things I desperately want and cannot acquire no matter what I try. Currently at the top is a Region 1 Blu-Ray of A Midnight Clear. This does not actually exist.)
A. I will trim my budget even more than it already is. I will walk to and back from the supermarket. As opposed to going to the supermarket, I will consider eating grass. I have been waiting for years and enough is enough. (Samurai Jack. Possibly a complete Tick AS if it ever comes out unedited, with no missing episodes. The three Titus seasons if I ever had to replace my copies. A Steven Universe Region 1 Blu-Ray release: doesn't currently exist, still not 100% impossible.)
B. I can't call myself a cinema buff and not own this. (Twelve Angry Men, Citizen Kane. The Black Friday classic for this year will probably be Casablanca -- or Plains, Trains, & Automobiles. (Yes, I rank it very high.) Also covers The Shawshank Redemption, Back To The Future 1.)
C. Someone will appreciate this and it's going to be me. (Smaller-scale, semi-cult items. For television, The Good Place wound up in this section.)
D. Why doesn't anyone else understand how good this is? (All Of Me, They Live, The Frighteners.)
E. Genre essentials. (Darker Than Black, Toy Story, Chappelle's Show, Akira, quite a few from the Disney canon.)
F. Once a year, every year. (Any TV series I truly follow. Scrubs was in this category. MLP:FIM currently occupies this slot.)
G. Black Friday Only. (Wide range. Basically covers anything I'd be willing to experiment with if it was cheap enough and can't get any other way. Last year's example was Ash Vs. Evil Dead and a complete Aeon Flux set -- MTV animated, not the movie. May change categories after exposure.)
H. Tamper-proofed. (Movies I won't buy without a definitive edition. This is the reason I don't own a single Star Wars film: I want the original edits.)
I. What's the postage from Malaysia? (Current anime series, foreign shows which won't reach the States in any form for years. Cheap enough, but can suffer from horrible transfer and subtitling.)
J. Rental. (Couldn't be bothered to see it in theaters, might risk $1.50 on a good day. Captain Underpants was in this category and having viewed it, I might pick it up -- for two dollars or less.)
K. It's less than a rental... (Garage sale and flea market items: frequently anything that's a dollar or cheaper. All I need to be is vaguely curious, with pennies in pocket and no immediate disaster looming. Good movies come out of this: I found Dave and Fierce Creatures this way, although the latter was closer to a C. I also find some total disasters.)
L. Stuff-and-go! (Library remaindered sales on the last day of said sale, where it really does turn into 'everything you can get in the bag, one buck per bag.' I typically grab the entire movie section and try to sort it out later. This hardly ever works out. I may get one good piece, plus a significant bag of future library donations.)
M. Literal. Garbage. (I have found discs stacked up in the recycling hutches. They're mostly counterfeits, badly-dubbed martial arts films, and blurry wrestling compilations. And in the garbage they stay.)
Based on the reviews I've read, I, Frankstein would be L or M.
4706086
You have Titus on dvd?? I'm so jealous. I've been living off the crappy youtube rips for years now.
This is a fun thread. I like reading about film collections. Good taste, by the way. I love The Good Place, the new season is great.
4706096
You need it? I wish I'd known: I saw all three seasons at a flea market two months ago, and could do no more than silently wish the ultimately lucky soul the joy of their find. But I'll keep an eye out from now on, for whatever that's worth.
I've been filing The Good Place under Enjoy It While It Lasts. Things that quirky don't tend to have a long lifespan, especially when the mere concept (afterlife!) can tick off so many viewers. And even if NBC stands by it, this strikes me as a series with a definitive beginning, middle, and end.
I was shocked when the network picked it up for S2. I thought it was doomed going in. But it's NBC, so if anyone is watching...
4706099
That's nice of you. :)
When I saw that it was on NBC, I was wary myself, but it definitely hooked me from the start. Everything about it is so polished and well-made. I like how it combines characters that would never have met in life, and plays them off of each other in the funniest ways. Tahani reminds me of Rarity if she'd been born rich.
It's annoying though how I don't have cable so I can't really officially support it live.
4706036
How I Spent My Summer Vacation or Why Johnny Can't Won't Read by Lemony Snicket
4706105
I've been watching it next-day through Hulu, but I'm sure the network gets those numbers.
One of the problems I have in trying to get others watching: it's hard to discuss the series too deeply without hitting spoiler territory, especially as the episodes really are chapters in a larger tale. I can generally get about a paragraph's worth of detail before I have to stop.
(For those who haven't seen it: the basic premise is that there is an afterlife, no religion got more than 5% of it right, and very few people get into The Good Place. One President made it: every Portland Trail Blazer didn't. Eleanor Shellstrop made it into the newest of Neighborhoods, where a small number of blessed souls live and get to know their assigned soulmates, with a beaming new Architect named Michael watching over his first creation. The problem is that she's not supposed to be here. Eleanor is a bad person. She's not outright evil: she's just the kind of personality where you can feel your soul acquiring a layer of low-grade tarnish just from talking to her. And knowing that there is a Bad Place, she really doesn't want to get caught and sent there...)
There was some creator's commentary on the DVD set, which included this gem: they described exactly what they wanted in Tahani for her actress to all the casting personnel: ideally, Pakistani but Oxford-raised, tall, some modeling background, elegant, newcomer to acting as a whole would be nice -- then basically said "And since that woman doesn't actually exist, here's what we'll settle for."
And then in comes Jameela Jamil.
4705914
Because Arrow is the "disappointing older child that had potential until it got hooked on drugs" of the DCW.
I was really looking forwards to this season too...
…and never am I more glad that my refusal on principle to purchase anything which has any form of DRM on it means I don’t have to deal with this sort of bullshit.
Sweet Luna on the Moon, I had no idea the epic journey you had ahead of you yesterday.
Schindler's List a work of historical fiction? Oh yeah, there are people who believe we never went to the moon, and the Earth is flat despite ALL scientific and experiential, visible evidence to the contrary, so of course there are... those people, too.
4706416
Google play is nice specifically because it now cross links to youtube. Everything else can jump in a lake.