Update on My Oscar Hunt
I posted a while back about my hunt to see many of the Oscar nominated films and I wanted to post an update.
I saw all of the shorts.
I also saw Man On Wire, In Bruges, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, The Visitor, Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, and Benjamin Button. I enjoyed all of them. I thought Slumdog was fantastic and Button was much better than I expected.
I tried Wanted but turned it off after a few minutes. It was clear it was not my kind of film.
I have The Duchess and Frozen River at home and I am off to watch Frozen River now.
Gran Torino
In a strange twist of circumstances, I ended up seeing this film twice. After the second viewing I am even more disappointed that Clint Eastwood was not nominated for acting (directing too probably). The academy nominated the same films for directing and best picture which I think is a lazy call to begin with, but that is not something I want to rant about now.
I fully expect the actor who wins the Oscar to mention this performance – it was brilliant. When Walt (Clint Eastwood’s character) said “I could blow your head off, and sleep like a baby,” I had no doubt about it. Make no mistake, Walt is as tough a character as Eastwood has every portrayed – perhaps the toughest – but there is more to Walt than tough and I believed that too.
I was worried at the beginning of the film. The exposition of Eastwood’s character came off as a bit forced to me at first. Once I made my way past that (and one apparent moment of out-of-character behavior), I enjoyed this movie very much. I even cried a little the second time through. I do cry more easily at movies than most men, but not usually the second time I’ve seen one. I still consider myself as masculine as any man. I’m actually a pretty tough guy, though not nearly as tough as Walt – I’m sure of that.
FeedFlix: Getting My Money’s Worth at Netflix
I’ve said this before – I love Netflix.
I first discovered Netflix via it’s affiliate program in 2000. I’d been using the Internet for years but I was just starting my online profit-making ventures. The thought of shelling out $24.99 per month to get movies in the mail was much too expensive for me compared to the system I’d used since 1982 but I loved the idea and apparently lots of others did too because the affiliate program was very profitable. Netflix actually helped me survive through several months when not much other income was coming in.
I finally subscribed myself when the price fell to $5.99 a month and my family loved the experience. We liked it so much we decided to set my son up with his own BlockBuster Online account so he could have his own queue and we were could drop movies off at the store and pick up a movie on a whim – something that was not possible on Netflix (until they released instant watching – don’t get me started on that, I love it!).
There was something dreadfully wrong with BB compared to Netflix, though. It came with that feeling that I was being exploited by a giant corporation that cared little about my experience. They insisted on tacking on $0.08 per month for the DE rental tax, they always insisted on identification though I’d frequented that location for four years, they changed the terms of the coupon program, the price went up etc. Meanwhile, Netflix sends me an email announcing a reduction in the rate to $4.99! So, we ditched BB and jacked up our membership at Netflix to 5 movies at a time.
Then we found out about the sub-queues and I read something about Netflix users blowing through 80+ movies per month and my son and I realized the potential for seeing some great movies. We thought we were getting our money’s worth but we knew we could do better. Like most users we’d hold on to a movie for longer than we should. So, we set up my son for two per month and my wife, daughter and I for one each.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered FeedFlix, a site that would let me check on my account to see if I was truly getting a good value. On my first check, it only gauged my queue and my cost per movie was $2.55. I asked about support for sub-queues and learned that they expected to have that in place soon. I did not hear back from them but my last check worked as I wanted. It recognized me as a five-per-month and my price per movie is now $1.98.
What I’d like to see now is the ability to check each queue separately. Now that I think about it I realize that may be what the FeedFlix team meant when they told me they were working on support for sub-queues. If so, we should expect it soon. If not, this is my official request to have that done. I’d like to see how my son does on his. I am going to guess less than $1 per. My wife and daughter will be much higher. Obviously, it’s just my overly curious geekiness – the important thing is the total cost for all five.
If you’d like to know if you are getting your money’s worth check it out. You can also find recommendations and learn some other interesting things about your use like the amount of time you hold DVDs on average.
Have fun!
Daily Links
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Phelps doesn't fall into the trap of denying everything like many athletes – good for him.
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I was thinking about this when I learned of Magnolia's data loss. Make sure you have your data backed up.
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We have a lot of those remotes but don't always know where they are.
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No wonder print media is suffering. Wow!
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We actually bough a 360 this Christmas so we could watch these films on the big screen. Being able to play Halo again was a fringe benefit.
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There is no other way to say it. I LOVE NetFlix. It is actually strangely ironic that NetFlix helped me earn enough to be able to afford to subscribe ($24.99/month back then). I became an affiliate for NetFlix in 2000 and it was the first real success for my online ventures. I haven't stopped making money since and the family and I blow through at least a dozen movies a month now.
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Agreed. I'm not doing it wrong – everyone else is.
Invincible
In trying to stay with this week’s Super Bowl theme I was going to post a review of Invincible earlier today. Then I was distracted by Google’s wild and wacky behavior.
So, now I am ready.
Invincible is the real-life story of Vince Papale, an out-of-work substitute teacher who is very much down on his luck, and his unlikely chance at a spot on the roster of the Philadelphia Eagles. We received the Blu-ray as a gift when we bought our TV and I looked forward to watching it because I remember the events depicted in the film. I was an Eagles fan for a couple of years at just this time (and am still a Dick Vermeil fan because of that).
Good writing and a great cast made this movie better than most sports movies. The story was as predictable as any of these stories are (even those not real-life), but I never found myself disappointed. I was especially pleased that it told another story – that of a man I still revere, a hero to the city I detest so much.
Rhetoric & Rhythm
I’d have to say I agree that something is amiss here. I enjoy the non-mass-appeal movies myself, but there was a time when there were more mainstream movies represented. I think this started about the time of American Beauty. Since then movies have not only been of the more independent variety, many of them have dealt with topics that certainly don’t have mainstream appeal.
I tend to like movies like that but I think it is odd things have changed so much.
The 2009 Oscars
Every year I make a list of Oscar nominated films and then do my best to see enough of them so that I have an opinion on as many of the categories as possible.
This year’s list is an interesting one. I’ve only seen nine of the fifty which is a lower number than usual, there are only eleven that were already on my list of films to see which is also low, and frankly, of the remaining thirty I only would normally care to see about half of them. This is the first year I can remember being this indifferent to the films nominated.
I care most about the acting and writing categories so I like to see most of those movies. I am not very much interested in The Reader or The Wrestler, but I will probably see them if they win awards. My main priority this year will be to see all of Meryl Streep’s competition for best actress. I think she was simply fantastic in Doubt – one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. After that, I think I want to see the five actors whom the academy deem more deserving of the best actor award than Clint Eastwood. I’ve seen Gran Torino twice and I find it hard to believe he did not give one of the five best performances of the year.
What I’ve Seen
Changeling
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Encounters at the End of the World
Iron Man
Kung Fu Panda
Presto
This Way Up
Wall-E
On My List Before Nominations
Bolt
The Class
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Man On Wire
Rachel Getting Married
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire
The Visitor
Waltz with Bashir
Wanted
Added To My List After Nominations
Australia
The Betrayal
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Duchess
The Final Inch
Frozen River – writing, actress
The Garden
Happy-Go-Lucky – writing
In Bruges – writing
Milk
Simple Pinki
Trouble the Water
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306
Movies I Will See If They Win Awards
The Reader
The Wrestler
I haven’t eaten since later this afternoon
I love the idea of time travel and am fascinated by the paradoxes it may or may not cause. Primer is a movie that addresses these paradoxes head-on. It’s a must see movie for anyone who likes time travel. Hang on, it’s a wild ride.
Since the ladies are away for a few days, Billy and I decided to have some good sci-fi stuff around to watch. He already had Primer on hand and four eps of
The X Files
After watching it on Saturday, we found The 10-Step Method to Watch Primer and Really Understand It.
1. Watch the movie: if you get really confused – great, that’s part of it.
I’ll say we were confused! That’s what sent us looking online for explanations. Now we knew what to do next.
2. Watch the movie again: still confused? Good. You did step 2 so you can better understand step 3.
3. Look at this timeline chart: http://neuwanstein.fw.hu/primer_timeline.html
Read over it twice.
The comments point out four other timelines and we reviewed three of those (fourth no longer available) too. Billy prefers a more narrative understanding of the movie and preferred this one. I like the dates and times so I preferred this one, which is low on speculation and very succinct. The third is an interesting take loaded with speculation – fine with me.
Can’t move on to step four until we get a DVD copy again. We checked a local store and didn’t find it so I’ve ordered my copy. Amazon’s DFC is just a few miles from here so it’s actually posssilbe I will get it tomorrow (even though it’s Sunday), but we can wait a few days if we must.
I’m sure I will have more to say about this one another time.
Go, watch it! There is a “ten step” program for you if you need it.
Call Things by Their Right Name
Into the Wild is an intriguing look into the mostly unknown life of Christopher McCandless and Alexander Supertramp, the adventurer he becomes.
I am normally very suspicious of “true story” movies and this was no exception. There seems to be some controversy over the details in the film (and the book) because of the lack of material to support the story being told. Most of the controversy revolves around the later events in the film.
Controversy and “truthiness” aside, this was a wonderful film. Sean Penn takes a book that doesn’t seem to be the right kind of material for a film and masterfully pulls it off. I think I’m a lot like Christopher and Penn found a way to make me question his choices, while still pulling for him as my hero. For those of you who don’t necessarily understand dreamers, I think you will pull for Christopher too.
Music is all around us
All we have to do is listen.
August Rush is a modern fairy tale which I almost missed. I added it to my Netflix queue after hearing about it and quickly forgot about it. Later, I moved all the Blu-Ray movies to the top of my queue paying little attention paid to the movies. When this movie arrived I’d forgotten why I put in on my queue in the first place and the description didin’t do it justice – so I almost sent it back.
Wow, am I glad we decided to watch it as a family. What a wonderful story!
Music has always played an important role in my life and this film reminded me of that as well as the mystery of life’s connections. If you don’t understand how music has an impact on life, don’t see this movie. Everyone else – you should see this movie as soon as you can.
Lord of the Rings
Some time ago Billy and I tried to watch all three LOTR extended editions in one sitting. If you caught my post last time you’ll remember that a carpet cleaning interrupted us. We are starting again. About 2 p.m. ET.I’ll let you know if we make it.
See more progress on: spend an entire day watching the extended version of all three Lord of the Rings movies back-to-back-to-back
More about TiVO
I know I’ve raved about TiVO before but I thought I would take this opportunity to review it after some real use.We’ve had ours for about 14 months now and we all love it. It cannot be overstated how different TV viewing is now. We don’t know what we’d do without it. Read more
Fun but Not Funny
We watchedTwo Weeks Notice withSandra Bullockand Hugh Grantlast night. When I watch a romantic comedy (I admit — I usually enjoy them), I don’t really expect much comedy. The point is the love story, right? Of course there are exceptions to this rule, but in most cases my wife and I watch these movies together because we enjoy the predictable storylines and the ‘Awwwww’ moments sprinkled throughout.If you like your romantic comedies to be genuinely funny, this movie is not for you. If you are interested in a feel-good love story (predictability aside), you should see this film. Sandra Bullock’s character is the same combination of cute and neurotic that her fans have grown to love, and Hugh Grant provides the little bit of comedy you will discover in this movie.
America Loves a Longshot
We’ve just finished watchingSeabiscuit.Exceptional acting, breathtaking scenery and an inspirational story. How could one go wrong. To be honest, I was very leary of even trying this movie. Normally, these cliche ‘underdog wins’ movies don’t sit well with me. I’m also not a big fan of sports movies. As a huge sports fan I feel like most movies don’t do justice to the ‘real thing.’ Many reviewers promised that since the film was based on a true story it would not seem as sappy or predictable. Of course, I am always suspicious of the based on a true story tag anyway. In the end the movie did not disappoint. The first hour seemed a little slow, and frankly I was not sure I would make it through. I’m glad I did. Not really sure if too much could have been removed. Part of the appeal at the end is the kinship you feel with the characters due to your history together. Some would say it was worth it, but it seems unfortunate to me that somtimes we have to justify the beginning of a movie by saying the ending is better. ? Truth is, though — this is one of those movies! If you get bored, just joke about it like we did and keep watching.
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This website is simply a place for me to express my opinions. I post my thoughts on faith, family, freedom, and fun. -
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