Ryan McNeil
With TIFF coming up, my appetite for new content has returned…and around the same time that happened this post about the state of streaming culture dropped.
Now, I’ve grown pretty good at spelunking through the depths of the one streaming service I subscribe to for content, and offsetting it nicely with films recorded off TCM (remember cable?). But this article reminds me – as my friend Jandy Hardesty also underlined – why I hate the drift away from physical media.
I mean sure – one doesn’t have to worry about shelf space anymore if one doesn’t want to buy everything, and likewise the all-you-can-watch model even beats the cost of paying for a digital rental. But at what point do all of those subscription fees start to outweigh their benefits? Let’s say you’re in bed with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime at the same time. What’s that, something around $30/month? How much does one need to watch to make that feel like a bargain?
Meanwhile, when I want to do a podcast about the movies of 1939, I have to do a lot of scouring since none of the streaming services seem to think that anybody is interested in movies made prior to 1950.
Hell, even of the ten movies I watched this week, six of the ten didn’t come via streaming.
So maybe we created a monster. Maybe we aren’t better off paying for what we can get…maybe we should have held out just a little longer to pay for what we want.
Here’s the week at hand…
Screenings
JANE EYRE (1943) – The end of the Del Toro Gothic series. I already cannot wait for the next set.
Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD – As much as I love my records…I rpomise they wouldn’t be coming with me.
JOE – Was it just me, or is this movie pretty bleak?
YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER – Holy hell, Rita Hayworth in this movie!!!
DEATHTRAP – Remember that time Alfred Pennyworth and Superman fucked each other over while writing a play?
Streaming/Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Seen Before
BATMAN BEGINS – When I sit down to try and make my TIFF schedule, I like to throw on something comfartable to keep me company.
THE DARK KNIGHT – …sometimes making a TIFF schedule takes a while…
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – …sometimes it takes a very long while!
SUSPICION – Homework assigned by del Toro. I love grant’s look sitting in the chairs.
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER – I feel the urge to listen to some Bowie
First-Timers: The Equalizer, The People vs. George Lucas, a couple of 1930s shorts starring Jacques Tati, Dumb and Dumber To (fucking awful), and The Idiot by Akira Kurosawa.
Re-Watches: Fanboys and Shrek the Third.
Torque. It’s everything I hoped it could be and more.