I got this 30 day free trial for
Screen Select at the end of last month. It's one of these online DVD rental places where you get 3 DVDs, keep them as long as you like and when you send one back they send another one off your list. It's quite good, but has led to me trying to watch loads of films to make the most of it. I am tempted to keep the membership going, but there are two drawbacks:
- £15 a month, it may not seem a lot, but with only working part time and having lots of bills that is quite a substantial amount to dedicate to film rentals
- Time - this mainly is a problem because I know that I'll want to make the most of my money by watching as many films as possible, meaning that I'll be getting the 3 DVDs and watching them within 2 days so that I can get more. Watching films more for the sake of watching films than for the enjoyment.
I did think of possibilities for keeping membership:
- I could get 2 others to split membership cost so we pay £5 a month and share the DVDs between us.
- I could get rid of Digital TV and just rent DVDs. That would probably wait till Helen moves out though. It'd work out about the same cost, maybe a little cheaper than my digital subscription, only problem is that I'd probably have to get a freeview box, because I can't seem to get a signal at all for the terrestrial channels except through cable. I'd have to wait to watch Stargate, which'd be sad, but Helen'll probably have cable, so I can watch it there :-) and I can of course rent DVDs of series.
So maybe I'll cancel membership for now but possibly reinstate it in September.
I could review the films I've seen so far because of screenselect:
Highlander - Endgame
The film that comes after the TV show. Okay, not as good as the series, but it has Methos in, so that's good. Not that I saw many with Methos in, but I did like him. I wasn't that impressed with the ending, whole film wasn't great, but then I wasn't expecting it to be. Final meeting of Connor and Duncan was good. *** (3/5)
28 Days Later
Excellent film. Wasn't sure I'd like it, but thought it was very good. Obviously trying to make a point, but not your average film. I thought it was going to be typical horror really, but it wasn't at all. Good plot, good characters **** (4/5)
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
Terry Gilliam film, so obviously completely mad. Very funny, very good, bit like Brazil, I preferred it to Brazil actually. **** (4/5)
Vanilla Sky
Not impressed. Very bored by the beginning, not much going on, seemed predictable. Worked out the end quite a while before, it was exactly like an episode of the outer limits that I once saw. Well, maybe not exactly, but the same idea. The ending was quite good, but not worth the beginning, particularly since I sussed it anyway. ** (2/5)
The Big Lebowski
A Coen brothers film, I quite like their films and I did like this one, but not as much as some of the others. It felt a bit like Fargo in style. Can't really remember much of it now though, which means it hasn't stuck in my mind much so it can't have been that great. *** (3/5)
The Others
Quite good, would probably have been really good and surprising if it weren't for the fact that someone told me the major twist several months ago, so I spent the whole film waiting for it. This is a bit like The Sixth Sense in that way, if you know the twist it's not as good. still well written and thought out. *** (3/5) - might have been more if I didn't know what would happen.
Solaris
Wasn't very impressed, got bored with it to be honest. Didn't quite get what was going on, or why. Who were the visitors and why should I care? Just didn't like it much. ** (2/5)
So, I've got another week to go and I've seen quite a few films already, it's been fun getting DVDs in the post. I do quite like this whole online DVD idea and may go back to it. I have The Italian Job sitting downstairs ready to watch (the new version) only problem with this screenselect thing is that I'm not watching any of the other DVDs that we have around, like all the ones Rob's brought round.
Random observation of the day
I am very tired and my eyes are trying to close, yet I can't be bothered to go to bed.
