I thought it was time to do another Lovefilm.com update.
Master and Commander: The far side of the world
Master and Commander was the first of my rentals, this was a good action packed film, the story of one ship going to the edge of the world to fight another. I felt I missed out a bit of the story by not having read the books. While it was a good film I couldn’t see the bigger picture of why they were doing it.
The 2006 film Poseidon is a remake of an earlier film. A cruise ship is struck by a huge wave which turns it upside down. Many of the passengers stay in the large ballroom area but the story follows a group who attempt to make their way to the bottom of the ship where the propeller tubes could provide an exit. The boat is struck by the wave early on in the film so most of the film follows the group through various challenges they face. Its quite a typical story line, as the characters face a range of trials during which they are slowly killed off and you are left wondering how many / who will survive. The film is a good one to watch once but it lacks good character development, you don’t really get to hear much of the characters back stories, and as a result you don’t feel their pain when one dies.
Angels and Demons had a lot to do to live up to the book! I don’t think I have ever watched the whole Da Vinci code film, It never lived up to the book in my opinion. However Angels and Demons is a fantastic film. When I watched the film I had forgotten most of the book, including some of the key themes, but the movie was not diminished by having read the book. There were some differences between the book and the film but nothing major. The film is fast paced, but still detailed enough to provide enough background on the characters. The story is a classic treasure hunt, taking Robert Langdon from church to church but not so long that it is repetitive.
The trailer for Knowing makes it look like a fairly grounded psychological thriller, though the film is perhaps the oddest film I have ever seen. As the trailer says, 50 years ago school children each put an envelope into a time capsule, 50 years on the capsule is opened and the envelopes are handed out. The one picked by Nicolas Cage’s son contains a list of seemingly random numbers. Nicolas Cage’s character realises that these are dates and numbers. The dates of major disasters over the last 50 years and the number of casualties and there are three dates still to come. Cage’s character believes he is tied into these events after being present for one and sets out to find out more.
I rented this film as I enjoy several of Cages previous films and this film was definitely worth watching, though it gets stranger and stranger as it goes on!
If you’ve seen any of the above films, leave a comment with your thoughts
Next Month,
I only subscribe to the 2 DVD’s a month package which is just £3.91 a month, Lovefilm has several packages which include unlimited DVD’s and Blurays for £9.78 a month and packages which also include computer games.
My DVD queue is full of films which are released in November so I am hoping for some good films soon!
Join Lovefilm today with the Barsley Brief and get your first month Free! That’s two weeks more than the standard Lovefilm offer.
I still Love Lovefilm! They have made a few changes to their website which has made it a little more user-friendly such as a useful “My Lovefilm” on the homepage, which shows what I’m renting now, my ratings and reviews etc.
Also it was a lovely surprise to receive an email from them giving me a free rental a “Film Extra”. This has been really well thought out, I have up to a month to redeem this rental and all I need do is click the Film Extra button and the free rental will be sent! I think I will wait to November when many of the DVD’s I have queued will be released.
Also with Sony announcing the new Playstation 3 Slimline console I think now is the right time to buy. So of course I may have to buy a new TV too! But looking forward to renting Blu-Ray discs at Lovefilm for No extra cost!
It’s been a while since my last post so I have 6 films to review. So in chronological order of my rentals…
Body of Lies
I’ll be honest, Body of Lies is quite a forgettable film. I rented this nearly three months ago and was watching the trailer just now and can hardly remember the film. At Lovefilm I only rated the film as two stars which compares with a community rating of 3 1/2 out of five.
“Body of Lies” is based on “Washington Post” columnist David Ignatius’ 2007 novel about a CIA operative, Roger Ferris, who uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan. When Ferris devises a plan to infiltrate his network, he must first win the backing of cunning CIA veteran Ed Hoffman and the collegial, but perhaps suspect, head of Jordanian intelligence. Although ostensibly his allies, Ferris questions how far he can really trust these men without putting his entire operation–and his life–on the line.
The Bank Job
I rented The Bank Job as the story is based around Baker Street near where I work. The Bank Job is based on a true story and I found it interesting to watch from this respect and to see places I walk past every day. But as a “action” film it lacked. There was no exciting car chase or really ingenious method of robbery, they just dug a tunnel and the rest was easy! A sub plot of two parties fighting for the contents of one of the safety deposit boxes kept the film interesting and lead to several twists.
The Bank Job is a highly-charged heist thriller based upon the infamous 1971 robbery that took place at the Lloyds Bank in Marylebone London. Starring Jason Statham as Terry, a car dealer with a dodgy past and Saffron Burrows as Martine, the woman with the plan, The Bank Job interweaves corruption, murder and scandal with 1970’s England!
When Martine offers Terry a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London’s Baker Street, he recognises the opportunity of a lifetime! The plan: to target a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. However Terry and his crew don’t realise the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets – secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal that spans London’s criminal underworld, the highest echelons of the British government, and the Royal Family itself.
Frost Nixon
When I watched Frost Nixon I didn’t really know much about the Watergate scandal. The film was a interesting documentary which taught me a lot about this historical event. It was also interesting seeing how the interview was put together, Frost’s struggles to get funding, and how his success came at the 11th hour in the last of the interview sessions. I only rated this as a 3 star as while it is a great documentary, it’s just that a documentary, not a film that I would want to watch again and again. But then thats the great reason for renting movies rather than buying!
Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind) brings to the screen writer Peter Morgan’s (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland) electrifying battle between Richard Nixon, the disgraced president with a legacy to save, and David Frost, a jet-setting television personality with a name to make, in the untold story of the historic encounter that changed both: Frost/Nixon. Reprising their roles from Morgan’s stageplay are Frank Langella, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Nixon, and Michael Sheen, who fully inhabited the part of Frost onstage in London and New York.
Australia
Australia is one of those films everyone says you should see (perhaps other than some Australians I know). It has a good plot and despite having a long run time of 2hrs and 45 mins keeps your attention throughout. Ultimately though its not my kind of film, so while it was good to watch and I enjoyed it, it isn’t one I’d see again or buy.
Moulin Rouge’s Baz Luhrman and Nicole Kidman reteam for this epic that pays homage to their homeland. In Australia, Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) is a prim and proper Englishwoman who journeys to Australia in the years before World War II reached the country’s shores. She is determined to have her estranged husband sell his cattle ranch to a monopoly-craving businessman named King Carney (Bryan Brown), but when she arrives, Lord Ashley is dead, and her plan to sell the ranch changes when she sees an employee named Fletcher (David Wenham) cheating her husband’s business and mistreating a young boy named Nullah (Brandon Walters) because he is of mixed race. Urged on by both pride and a sense of justice, Lady Ashley wants to drive her herd of cattle to Darwin so she can sell them to the troops, but she’ll require the help of an independent cowboy (fellow Aussie Hugh Jackman) to get them there.
Australia changes genres almost as much as Kidman’s character changes from fantastic costume to fantastic costume (courtesy of Luhrman’s wife and collaborator, Catherine Martin). The film begins as a fish-out-of-water comedy, then changes into a Western, then morphs into a romance, and it finishes as a World War II drama. But in this genre-bending epic, there’s something for everyone, especially for fans of Jackman. The actor has rarely looked better, and there’s plenty of opportunity for him to show that he can be an action star as well as a romantic lead in the mould of the Golden Age stars. The film itself harks back to classic Hollywood, at times resembling essentials such as Gone With The Wind and The African Queen. And fans of The Wizard of Oz will enjoy seeing how the beloved film works its way into Australia’s plot and score.
Valkyrie
Finally Valkyrie. This film is based on the true events surrounding a plot to assassinate Hitler. The plot of the film is always moving forward’s with Tom Cruise’s character taking the lead in the plot. This was a great film to watch and one I would consider buying on DVD.
Based on a the true story of a cadre of Nazi officers who grew to oppose Hitler’s murderous pursuits and made several attempts to kill him in the late stages of WWII, VALKYRIE features a top-flight cast, with drama and suspense in equal measure. The film is a stylistic departure for director Bryan Singer (X-MEN, X2) and star Tom Cruise, with a screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) and Nathan Alexander that is constructed like a heist film, with a team of like-minded men coming together for a common purpose and facing incredible odds. It is 1943, and though he has come to be disgusted by Hitler’s campaign of evil, Count Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) has risen to the level of lieutenant colonel in the German army. Convinced that Hitler must die, Von Stauffenberg requests a transfer to Tunisia, where he loses his left eye and right hand during an Allied air raid. Falling in with a group of similarly disillusioned officers including Major General Henning von Tresckow (Kenneth Branagh), General Friedrich Olbricht (Bill Nighy), General Friedrich Fromm (Tom Wilkinson), and Colonel General Ludwig Beck (Terence Stamp), Stauffenberg is at the centre of several attempts on Der Fuhrer’s life, culminating in a bombing that kills a handful of his officers and leaves Hitler only slightly injured.
Though advance photos of Cruise in Nazi uniform brought VALKYRIE negative publicity, his restrained performance is at the heart of this well-crafted, thinking person’s action movie. He is bolstered by an incredible British cast including Branagh, Stamp, and Wilkinson, and by the film’s dazzling art direction. Though it’s a story to which viewers should already know the ending, Singer still creates ample suspense. The result is a taut and effective historical thriller.
I posted a while back about the Lovefilm DVD rental service. I thought a follow up was in order now that I have watched 3 films.
Service
The service has been excellent, Lovefilm have been able to turn around a film “same day”. That is if I post a disc on a Monday, they receive it Tuesday and post a new disc out Tuesday so I have a new disc in the post Wednesday.
Priority
I have generally not played too much with the prioritisation of DVD’s I have several at Low and then the rest at medium. This is because my philosophy is that I don’t actually want to prioritise a disc, I want to be surprised and see what comes, and I am using it to see films which I don’t really know much about or missed at the cinema so usually there isn’t much I “need” to watch.
The Films
Michael Clayton
The first film was Michael Clayton. A film about a corporate lawyer who has spent most of his professional career defending claims against chemical companies. However over this time he has learnt the truth and switches to aid the claimants. The legal firm call in their “fixer” Michael Clayton to try and save the day while the Chemical company they represent starts using heavy handed tactics to stop the lawyer from ruining them.
I found this film interesting but a little hard to follow. I took me a while to work out who worked for who and who was on which side. There were a few nice twists and I enjoyed it overall. However that said rental was perfect for this film, it’s not one I would buy, but partly that’s because it isn’t the type of film I usually watch so it was good to watch something different.
Shaun of the Dead
Having seen Hot Fuzz but never Shaun of the Dead, so I was interested to see this earlier film by the same team of actors/directors. The basic plot is that everyone around them has turned into zombies (I can’t actually remember how or why) and Shaun and his friend have to cross town to find the ones they love and then take then to a place of safety.
This is a fairly funny film, but I just really struggled to get into it and enjoy it. I loved Hot Fuzz, but I think just the fact this is a mock zombie film perhaps makes it a little less accessible. However I did like the DVD extras, showing some of the making of and the actors out of character.
King Kong
My latest rental was the new (ish) version of King Kong directed by Peter Jackson. The plot of the film is known to many so I won’t go over it again. The film runs for almost 3 hours which was a bit long. The visual effects are amazing, they meld seemlessly with the actors. However despite being 3 hours long the film misses some parts of the story, for example, after a long battle they finally capture Kong, and then at the click of your fingers they are back in New York about to put him on show. I realise the journey back probably wasn’t that interesting but it would have been good to see however briefly and perhaps explore the characthers feelings on capturing Kong. All in all a good movie, stunning visual effects and a gripping story. I would buy this film, but at 3 hours I am not sure when I would sit down and watch it again!
On Sunday I signed up to the Lovefilm.com DVD rental service which I believe is the biggest in the UK with over 1 million subscribers. They have over 65,000 titles you can choose from and also allow you to rent Blu-ray DVD’s and Computer console games. So why did I sign up. Well I don’t really go to the cinema that much, call me old fashioned but I remember when a trip to the cinema would cost £3 per ticket and now my local cinema is charging £8.50 per ticket while Video / DVD prices haven’t increased! Also while watching at home you miss out on the effect of a huge screen and Dolby surround, you don’t have to put up with everyone playing with their mobile phones, kids, and lots of rustling popcorn!! (rant over)
So why LoveFilm?
I randomly saw a Lovefilm return envelope on a colleague’s desk at work and this spurred me on to investigate the current rental market. When I started I had no idea what the cost would be or how it works and I was pleasantly surprised.
What does it cost?
The question of cost was at the top of my mind, because you’re signing up to a monthly scheme (though a individual rental is available) rather than just popping to the video shop to rent one DVD I would want it to be worth while, as their wouldn’t always be films that I “have” to see. If you only want to rent DVD / Blu-ray’s Lovefilm has 6 cost plans, sounds complicated but it’s not. They are split into Light use plans and unlimited use plans.
The light plans limit you to x number of films per month, 4, 3 or 2 discs, and depending on the option you can have either 2 or 1 DVD’s at any one time. I have signed up to most basic light plan which is 2 discs a month, 1 disc at anyone time for £3.91 per month.
The Unlimited plans as the name suggests allows you an unlimited number of discs each month, the difference in cost affects how many you have in your home at any one time (1,2 or 3 discs). The 2 disc unlimited plan is their most popular at £12.72 per month.
How does it work?
You create a list of films that you wish to rent and prioritise them High, Medium or Low. Then when it’s time to send you a film (when you return the one you have) Lovefilm will pick one from your list to send you. This continues until you reach your monthly limit (if you are on a limited plan). It couldn’t be simpler!
Choosing my list
I was surprised how hard it was initially to choose my list. Lovefilm recommend that you have a minimum of 10 films (or TV shows) on your list at anyone time, this will make turnaround times quicker as it gives a much higher probability of them being in stock. When choosing my list I wanted to make sure that I really want to watch and struggled to find 10, but then I relaxed slightly and used the features that Lovefilm have to help you choose films, I went through my DVD collection, rating the films in Lovefilm, then Lovefilm can recommend films much more suited to you (I assume based on other users choices). I found this worked really well and soon had my collection up to 10.
I have managed my collection by keeping most films priority Medium and a few Low. In a perfect world I would like to say “I want to watch this film next” or give a numeric order to the films I want to watch. But with a million users I understand that if a new film comes out on DVD they won’t have a million copies of it to cover each of their users. Quite helpfully on my rental list they indicate if their is a short wait for films. Of 10 films on my list only 3 are showing “short wait”, surprisingly to me only one of them would I consider a New “Blockbuster film” that everyone would want, the others are quite old films.
My other concern is that if I keep adding films to my list does that mean that I will never receive my Low choices, or will they randomly send me a low even though I have several high’s? Only time will tell – I think these concerns are more born out of a traditional approach to rental rather than fully accepting the internet age!
Speed
Well I’m impressed so far, I signed up Sunday, Monday they posted the disc (they include a freepost return envelope) and Tuesday it arrived so that’s first class next day delivery. Talking to others who use the service they are very quick to turn around discs.
Other Features
Included in the price is Blu Ray Discs, and aswell as films they offer TV shows on DVD – Where (particularly TV series) go over several discs you can select to add all discs and they will send them in order (one disc at a time), or you can select a specific disc if you just want to watch one disc.
Games – for a small extra fee (they are different billing plans) you can have the ability to rent console games too.
Reviews -I have touched that you can rate films, which helps Lovefilm recommend films to you, you can also review films, and on the film’s page read reader and press reviews and see the trailer.
Multiple lists – I haven’t looked into this in detail but you can have multiple lists so you and your partner could set up a list each and if you are on a 2 disc (at any one time) you could allocate a disc to each list so you will both always have something you want to watch!
My first film
The first film I have recevied is “Michael Clayton” described as
Arthur Edens (Wilkinson), a lawyer defending an agro-chemical corporation against a class-action suit, is overwhelmed by guilt and cracks up. Michael Clayton (Clooney), his law firm’s “fixer”, is sent to sort Arthur out, but the corporation deploy even dirtier tricks to solve the problem.
It looks like a good film from the trailer but I’ll soon find out! I’m thinking Friday night is Film night.
Sign Up Now
I honestly think the concept of DVD rental by monthly tariff rather than the traditional per disc DVD store concept is excellent. I can’t understand how Lovefilm make money since my tariff works out at £2 per disc, once you factor postage, handling, the disc! Though my sceptical side says they make their money from people who never return discs and therefore keep paying for nothing new.
I realise this post is very pro Lovefilm, and I’ll be honest that I am new to the concept of Online DVD rental so many of the above statements is applicable to other DVD rental providers but I think the price and service of Lovefilm makes them a good choice, agree or disagree? Leave a comment with your view.
Also I’d love to know what DVD’s you recommend I queue up! Let me know
