I love blockbuster and I really enjoy talking to the people who work there. They've usually seen everything that I rent so I end up talking about the movies with 'em.

 

Then the other day I was in Walgreens and noticed a vending machine that dispenses movies. For ONE dollar a day! Yeah, it's nice that Blockbuster gives you a week, and another week grace period after that but I have no problem getting movies back in a day and a half for a 1 dollar charge. You don't even have to sign up for anything. You just pick your movie on the screen and swipe your card. It charges you as soon as you bring your movie back.

 

Personally, I don't get the Netflix phenomenon. I hate waiting for stuff in the mail and filling stuff out online but I know a lot of people do it.

I love blockbuster and I really enjoy talking to the people who work there. They've usually seen everything that I rent so I end up talking about the movies with 'em.

 

Then the other day I was in Walgreens and noticed a vending machine that dispenses movies. For ONE dollar a day! Yeah, it's nice that Blockbuster gives you a week, and another week grace period after that but I have no problem getting movies back in a day and a half for a 1 dollar charge. You don't even have to sign up for anything. You just pick your movie on the screen and swipe your card. It charges you as soon as you bring your movie back.

 

Personally, I don't get the Netflix phenomenon. I hate waiting for stuff in the mail and filling stuff out online but I know a lot of people do it.

 

You should put up a digital download or iTunes option?

Changed.

Comcast OnDemand.  However, if I move to an area that is nearby a Blockbuster or other local video carrier, I will patronize them, just like I try to patronize stores when I buy albums.  I like walking into a physical structure to get what I need

This is really strange. I added On Demand to the list and then clicked for the results immediately after and it said two votes for On Demand.

When I am in Mansfield, I go to the library or to Hollywood Video. Up in Kent, I go to Family Video but I have recently signed up for a free trial with Netflix. The movie selection is awesome and I have watched some on my computer (which you can do instantly from their site) and I am getting my second round of movies this week (actually, they should be up at Kent, but I am in Mansfield for the weekend, so...). However, I don't know if I will keep the service or not.

When I am in Mansfield, I go to the library or to Hollywood Video. Up in Kent, I go to Family Video but I have recently signed up for a free trial with Netflix. The movie selection is awesome and I have watched some on my computer (which you can do instantly from their site) and I am getting my second round of movies this week (actually, they should be up at Kent, but I am in Mansfield for the weekend, so...). However, I don't know if I will keep the service or not.

 

You guys just keep giving me more and more options to put up. I think this is the 4th time I've updated it :)

 

I love the downtown library but for some reason I've never looked at their movies. I'm always in the sociology, architecture, humanities or urban planning areas. Movies never cross my mind for some reason.

 

I think downloading them and paying a fee makes a lot more sense than waiting for netflix movies to arrive in the mail. Even if I planned on watching it with others, I'd go with something other than Netflix. I'm too ADHD to wait around for a movie to arrive. I bet Netflix is great if you want movies that are hard to find but I've never had that problem at Blockbuster yet.

^Haha, sorry. I only go to the library for movies when they have the ones I want, why spend money when you don't have to? lol. Netflix is good for hard to find movies (like foreign and indie films) and they also have some that you can just watch from their site, although the selection is more limited. Also, the movies are delivered to you in one business day, so the wait isn't that bad.

Oh. Didn't know Netflix sends them that fast.

 

^Haha, sorry. I only go to the library for movies when they have the ones I want, why spend money when you don't have to? lol.

 

Agreed. I just never think about movies while I'm at the library. I need to check into it though.

Yea, it's really nice. Also, on your Netflix account you add movies to your queue and when you return the movies they automatically send you the other movies in your queue (the number of movies depends on your subscription). If you want to try it out, sign up for there 2 week free trail.

Free trial!? Heck yeah. I knew I made this thread for a reason. Thank you Andrew :) I've been on a movie kick lately.

Haha, no prob. I have watched so many movies this past week, it's crazy. lol.

surfthechannel.com

 

 

Mostly blockbuster but we don't rent movies that often.  For older movies, pretty much always the library as I just reserve them and whenever they come in, we watch them.  For newer movies or movies that we want on a quicker time table, we use one of the free rental coupons I get for Blockbuster, those are good for once a month rentals and we use those pretty much throughout the year.

this poll is very good.  thanks David. 

What about waiting for them to be on TV?

On Demand.  We have tried Netflix and Blockbuster mail services, but the movies seem to sit on our coffee table for months.  I prefer watching them in a theatre, but that gets very costly. 

I watch a lot on hulu, actually. It isn't practical or the best option, but I have a laptop, and I don't own a tv, so either way, it's gonna be small.

 

I also love Netflix.

I get my telephoto lens out, remove the patch over a hole in my blinds, and peer into my neighbors apartment and watch. I like to mouth the words to the movies.

I get my telephoto lens out, remove the patch over a hole in my blinds, and peer into my neighbors apartment and watch. I like to mouth the words to the movies.

 

That's kind of awkward

I usually catch a couple at the internation film fest, maybe one at Cedar Lee (local theater) per year. that is about it. Maybe some classics on TCM.

At least he didn't go where I thought he was going with that thought.  All I could think upon reading the first few words was peeping tom!!!!!

How do I change my vote now?

I don't go out to movies often, but I like Cinema Center, a local art house venue that has two theaters, one downtown and another at Indiana Tech. They get funding through the local fine arts foundation, and my former employer contributes generously, so my retiree ID gets me (and a guest) in free. The theaters are well-designed with good seating, screens, and sound, and they show a variety of films, both foreign and domestic. The last film I saw (twice) was Transsiberian.

 

Audience behavior is better than in run-of-the-mill venues; talkers get shushed promptly by other patrons.

I've never heard of that movie; it must be foreign. One of the best movies I've ever seen was foreign but it has Nicole Kidman and Paul Bettany in it; it's called "Dogville". Its set up like a play - every scene is on this large platform with minimal props but it works really well. It's about this woman running away from her mob family, to a small town. Everyone in town finds out people are after her and they end up exploiting her in exchange for not turning her in. The way they treat her is insane. That's one of the few movies I'd give a 10/10 and surprisingly even though it has an all star cast, it was mostly distributed in Europe and not here. Blockbuster only had one copy of it.

 

Your theater sounds awesome. I love small independent theaters.

 

I recently rented Wall-E, even though it's a kids movie. I hope humans don't end up like that in 700 years! That was messed up. They turned earth into a God d@mn mt. Rumpke landfill.

 

I re-watched the Truman Show a few days ago. That's one of my favorite movies. The movie takes place in Seaside, FL - one of the new urbanist towns Andres Duany designed. I always thought it was just a movie set. It's interesting that they used that community to portray someone living in a bubble  :lol:  It's supposed to be an ideal community.

 

Saw Benjamin Button yesterday (bootleg). There was so many parallels with Forrest Gump. The movie seemed really unrealistic but it was really good. You all should rent it! And rent "Dogville" too.

 

 

I've never heard of that movie; it must be foreign. One of the best movies I've ever seen was foreign but it has Nicole Kidman and Paul Bettany in it; it's called "Dogville". Its set up like a play - every scene is on this large platform with minimal props but it works really well. It's about this woman running away from her mob family, to a small town. Everyone in town finds out people are after her and they end up exploiting her in exchange for not turning her in. The way they treat her is insane. That's one of the few movies I'd give a 10/10 and surprisingly even though it has an all star cast, it was mostly distributed in Europe and not here. Blockbuster only had one copy of it.

 

Your theater sounds awesome. I love small independent theaters.

 

I recently rented Wall-E, even though it's a kids movie. I hope humans don't end up like that in 700 years! That was messed up. They turned earth into a God d@mn mt. Rumpke landfill.

 

I re-watched the Truman Show a few days ago. That's one of my favorite movies. The movie takes place in Seaside, FL - one of the new urbanist towns Andres Duany designed. I always thought it was just a movie set. It's interesting that they used that community to portray someone living in a bubble  :lol:  It's supposed to be an ideal community.

 

Saw Benjamin Button yesterday (bootleg). There was so many parallels with Forrest Gump. The movie seemed really unrealistic but it was really good. You all should rent it! And rent "Dogville" too.

 

 

 

Bootleg?  :whip: :whip: :whip: :whip:

 

Correction, you should all go to the movie and see it, then buy it!

I've never heard of that movie; it must be foreign.

 

It's an American film (independent). It's a crime thriller that maintains an undercurrent of apprehension; you sense early on that bad stuff is going to happen, and it does, in spades. Lots of dark, complex Russian intrigue and an appreciable level of violence, without computer-generated special effects and gratuitous gore. It's really intense.

 

The visuals are awesome. I had to go back a second time just to pay more attention to those, after I gave myself a few days to sort out exactly what happened in the plot.

 

Check out the IMDB listing for the cast and a couple of trailers. If you want to see the film, DO NOT read the Wikipedia entry. It's a total spoiler, and a badly-written one at that.

Am I the only one that's a big Redbox fan?  My girlfriend forces me to shop at the Steelyard Wal-Mart (she loves it for some reason) and the only thing that makes up for the ridiculous lines, hugely rude people, and blatant destruction of small business in America is the little red movie machine near the northern entrance.  It's easy, convenient, and only $1 per day!  They also recently put one in at Constantino's on 9th, but it's not up and running yet.

Am I the only one that's a big Redbox fan?  My girlfriend forces me to shop at the Steelyard Wal-Mart (she loves it for some reason) and the only thing that makes up for the ridiculous lines, hugely rude people, and blatant destruction of small business in America is the little red movie machine near the northern entrance.  It's easy, convenient, and only $1 per day!  They also recently put one in at Constantino's on 9th, but it's not up and running yet.

 

I would use redbox, but they are non-existent in NYC.  I use it when I'm home visiting my family though.  It's great.

we use the redbox sometimes, and it is a nice option.  Mainly though for movie "rentals" i go to the library.  The downtown cleveland public library has an absurd amount of movies.  An entire room in fact.  Including sections of foreign, documentaries, they really have everything.  You can even go on line and see what's available and reserve it.  Better yet, I recently got a blue ray player.  They have a fairly substantial blue ray collection there, and as you can imagine, not many people are going to the downtown cleveland public library for blue rays... it's like my personal blue ray collection.  :)

I mainly use Blockbuster to rent. I've used Redbox twice. But I actually buy previously viewed DVDs more than anything either at Blockbuster or Record Exchange.

^I'll have to check that out.  I never imagined the library would have blue rays... how exciting!

Just started with Netflix. Wife and I don't watch a ton of movies so the $8.99 1 at a time selection works pretty well. I've tried watching on the computer, and it's ok, but it seems like it doesn't buffer enough and I inevitably get pauses which is frustrating. I also have the on-demand through Amazon set up on my Tivo. Ok for instant gratification, but with the Netflix subscription now I don't really need it. Plus, the movie eats up precious, precious memory on the Tivo. There would be mutiny in the house if I deleted so much as one Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Hell hath no fury as a 2 year old scorned!

The library 99% of the time - again, this is where my partner uses a ouija board (like he does to get great travel deals). He'll order movies via the library site, and every week we end up with four or five DVDs. Occasionally we've had one or two that have a scuff and won't play, but at the same time he's also snagged brand new releases the SAME week the DVDs hit the market. We don't have a Blu-ray player but I'm sure at some point we'll upgrade.

^I'll have to check that out. I never imagined the library would have blue rays... how exciting!

 

^ sh*t! my secret is out, I'll no longer be the only one in Cleveland renting them! :)

 

I agree with mayday, if you live near downtown Cleveland and aren't using the library you are wasting serious money.  They have thousands of movies, and they get a ridiculous amount of copies of each one.  They get brand new releases all the time.  If you use the online search, it's fantastic.  If you just walk in to rent, plan on being there awhile... like I said, it's an entire room filled with DVD's and though somewhat alphabetically organized, they can still be all over the place. It can take upwards of an hour to make your way around just the "popular" titles.

 

Now stay away from my blue rays! :whip:

the main branch of the columbus library downtown was a real pioneer in offering movies and cd's.

 

looks like they still do a bang up job:

 

http://clc.lib.overdrive.com/66EB6507-1B61-4E79-93F0-962B3CDF2CE1/10/234/en/BrowseVideo.htm

 

i dont really watch a lot of movies anymore, but once in awhile we pull the amazon trigger and always throw in some harder to find dvd stuff when it comes up used/cheap. for example i recently i got some foodie comedy's like the japanese classic tampopo and the 1st season of the bbc/pbs 'chef' series.

 

otherwise, we use time-warner cable in demand once in a blue moon or go to the movies. the last movie i saw was on cable just the other day, harold & kumar go to guantanamo bay, which starts off crude like beerfest, but then gets its groove and ends up all romantic. not as good as the first one, but not as bad as it was reviewed either. i liked it -- those two guys have their stoner charm.  :-D

I've been renting from redbox as of late.  It's $1 per day and if you keep it for 25 days, it's yours.  Getting new releases for $1 is nice.

Hummm.....

 

So If you kids had to chose, what would be your a) best experience and b) top choice of a rental program?

If I had the $, I think the Blockbuster Online program is the best.  We did this for a short while when we had a block of several months of free time and a list of movies we wanted to get.  It was about $20 a month, which was too much for us to keep up with over time.  The #1 benefit of this plan IMO is that you can return a movie TO THE STORE and then get one out right there in exchange. By returning it, as soon as it's scanned in, it also prompts the next movie in your online queue to be mailed out, so like the next day or the day after, you have yet ANOTHER movie from your list.  That's the main reason I don't like Netflix, there's no option for spontaneous rental, you have to put something on your list and wait for it to come, and we are mainly spontaneous renters.  With the $20 a month plan, you can have 3 movies out at a time so it was like TONS of movies, between the ones we'd check in/exchange for and then those that came in the mail. We actually dropped it because we couldn't keep up with the # of movies we had coming, we didn't have enough time to watch them, plus the cost.

 

They do have a less expensive plan where you can just get one out at a time but we now really only rent about one a month, if that, so it doesn't make sense for us to pay to be in that plan.

Apparently with my $8.99 plan on Netflix, I get unlimited downloads. Originally I thought my Tivo could do it, but unfortunately that only works with the new HD Tivos. However, if you have another Netflix compatible downloader (I think the X-box works, as well as some third party machines for about $100), you can download as many movies as you want a month. I have to think this is the way the future of movie renting is going.

Apparently with my $8.99 plan on Netflix, I get unlimited downloads. Originally I thought my Tivo could do it, but unfortunately that only works with the new HD Tivos. However, if you have another Netflix compatible downloader (I think the X-box works, as well as some third party machines for about $100), you can download as many movies as you want a month. I have to think this is the way the future of movie renting is going.

 

Yep.  Multiple download partners.

 

Almost all of our movie now come with a digital download code.  This gives buyers the opportunity to watch on a machine at their leisure.

Wait for it on TV:  Between HBO, Cinemax, or Showtime it will be available a few months from its release date.  Or if it's a movie I really want to see, head to the theater.

Technology has changed so much since this was first posted. Does anyone do anything different (other than NOT go to Blockbuster anymore)?

People sell us their DVDs for 25 cents apiece. But, we've got too many right now so we aren't even buying them at all. Sometimes people just leave 'em.

On some rare occasions I will still buy a DVD, like when I know my kids are going to watch it over and over again, (Muppets Most Wanted, I'm looking at you....every night...for months.....god help me)

Betamax.

 

Seriously though, I occasionally watch a movie from my DVD collection but I watch most of my movies on cable TV. Yes, I am old. I still have a VCR and a sh!t-load of VHS tape movies I've collected over the last 30 years. And I actually have a few Beta movies from the 1980s but no working Betamax to play them.

HBONow, AmazonPrime, Google Play, and Xbox are all new services I'm using. Then Chromecast and Xbox One would be new hardware.

Movietube

www.view47.com

www.crackle.com

I watch very few movies, but if it's something I plan to re-watch, I'll usually buy it from iTunes via the Apple TV.