1. Use one of the film sites above to find a free full-length film (you’ll probably have the best luck with Hulu, The Auteurs, or IMDB). Watch a little of it. Would you watch an entire film on your computer or do you still prefer watching DVDs on your TV?
Hulu had the oddest collection of movies imaginable. I guess I shouldn’t look at it from the viewpoint of collection development. I’m sure their policy is whatever’s available, which translates in practice to: look what the cat dragged in! There are a few Oscar winners, a lot of Zane Grey Westerns, and one of my personal favorites, which I have been unable to convince anyone in my family to sit down and watch with me, the 1959 classic, "The Giant Gila Monster." And for local interest there’s “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”
The Auteurs had some interesting fare. However, as I browsed their small library of films, and picked out two that intrigued me: “Death in the Garden = La mort en ce jardin” (1956) directed by Luis Buñuel, and Carnival of Souls (1962) directed by Herk Harvey. They are both available on Netflix, to which I already have a subscription, so I could not see the point of spending an additional $5 to view them. I clicked on Take a look on the home page which took me to this screen:
I found that their The Auteur’s Picks “The Wayward Cloud = Tian bian yi duo yun” (2005) directed Ming-liang Tsai was also available on Netflix, as was their Now Playing “The Blue Angel = Der blaue Engel (1930) directed by Josef Von Sternberg. Also the description of “The Wayward Cloud” on Netflix made me think that there was no way that I wanted to get into an online discussion with anyone about the film. What could you say to someone about watermelon erotica? A person might get a computer virus of some kind, or find him-or-herself social networking with some very asocial personalities carrying on like that.
So I proceeded on to their Top Rated selection, “As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty” (2000) directed by Jonas Mekas. From the accompanying synopsis it sounded like an almost five-hour home movie, and that was more than I estimated that I could endure.
Next, I went to the free movie section on IMDb. It was reassuring (and a confirmation of my good taste) that “The Giant Gila Monster” (1959) was also available there. I picked out “Pickman's Model” (2008) as the film that I would view because I’d read the H.P. Lovecraft story from which it was taken. I was curious how it could be adapted for the screen. I also picked it because it was only 19 minutes long. It made very effective use of darkness: a black screen with eerie sound effects and then minimal illumination, but the overacting was dreadful, and if you had not read the story you would probably miss the punchline, that the grotesque and gruesome paintings that Pickman made were done from life, not his imagination.
I find no significant difference between watching on the TV screen or the computer screen.
2. Find a trailer for an upcoming film. Would you use these sites to keep up on current film information?
I watched the first six Opening This Week and Coming Soon trailers on the Internet Movie Database. I found that although I originally planned to watch all fifteen, six was about all I could take. I think I’ve been conditioned by my experience in movie theaters. I felt like, “Enough of the coming attractions! Let’s get on with the show!”
3. Write a blog post about the experience.
From the trailers my impression was “Shutter Island,” “The Crazies”, and “Cop-Out” were definite Do Not Sees for me. “The Yellow Handkerchief ” was a Maybe. “The Ghost Writer” was a Maybe: Wait for the Video, It’ll Be Cheaper, and “Alice in Wonderland” was a Must See. However, I would have gone to see “Alice in Wonderland” on the strength of the director and actors without the benefit of the trailer.
Would you consider using any of the fee-based services to get the movies you want at home? If so, which one would work better for you and why?
I do subscribe to Netflix; because their collection is more extensive. I hope that someday the library will be able to stream video as a delivery system for movies, beyond what we are able to do with OverDrive®.
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