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The Netflix price hike

Posted on July 14, 2011 by amodini

Once upon a time I was a Blockbuster subscriber. I received DVDs in the mail, and then went over to the physical Blockbuster store (a 10 minute drive) to exchange them for free. I remained a Blockbuster subscriber for a pretty long time. Then Blockbuster raised their rates. I canceled my Blockbuster subscription and got Netflix, and a Netflix compatible Blu-ray player. I’ve remained with Netflix ever since.

There is not a moral to that story – in case you were looking; raising rates does not immediately get you booted. It is only when you think that the price does not deliver the goods that it promises, that it does. Today I received an email from Netflix. It said :

We are separating unlimited DVDs by mail and unlimited streaming into two separate plans to better reflect the costs of each. Now our members have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both.

Your current $11.99 a month membership for unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs (including Blu-ray access) will be split into 2 distinct plans:

Plan 1: Unlimited Streaming (no DVDs) for $7.99 a month
Plan 2: Unlimited DVDs (including Blu-ray), 1 out at-a-time (no streaming)
for $9.99 a month

Your price for getting both of these plans will be $17.98 a month ($7.99 + $9.99). You don’t need to do anything to continue your memberships for both unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs.

These prices will start for charges on or after September 1, 2011.

So, here’s the backstory. Netflix had a plan that allowed you to rent DVDs by mail, and stream films for $9.99. I paid $2 extra since my mail-in plan had the Blu-ray option. Still, $11.99 to get DVDs by mail (one at a time) and have hundreds of films at your finger-tips, via streaming, was a no-brainer. Now that Netflix is separating it’s plans, you are forced to choose one or pay a premium if you want both.

In my case, I will now have to pay $17.98 (+tax) if I want the service that I had before : $10 for Blu-ray by-mail rentals, and $8 for streaming. Me thinks Netflix is trying to get out of the DVD business and concentrate on the streaming alone. Redbox kiosks charge $1 for movie rentals/day ($1.50 for blu-ray), and get the film faster than Netflix. Over the past year or so, Redbox kiosk locations have tripled and a few more wouldn’t hurt.

So, the upshot of all this is that I will probably keep my streaming service (and hope that Netflix provides more content on it) but get rid of my mail-in service. In all fairness I’ve got to say that Netflix service is pretty good. I don’t have empirical data, but on the whole Netflix turnaround times are pretty fast ( faster than Blockbuster was). I mail in a movie today, and the new movie is mailed out the day-after – a 2 day turn-around. So I mail-out Monday morning and go check the mail on Thursday evening and the red envelope is in there – not bad, yeah ?

And yes, the streaming films are not in hi-def, but they are pretty close to DVD quality. Netflix’s selection is large when it comes to streaming desi films, from Sanjeev Kumar’s classic “Mausam”, to the Sonam starrer Delhi-6, to the newer “Dhobi Ghat” – way more than any desi video store would ever get you. Plus they have the esoteric titles like say, “Loins of Punjab presents”. Try asking for that at a desi video store; they look at you perplexed, and one of them even told me that they didn’t carry documentaries e.g.; “Lions of Punjab”. Being the ardent movie-watcher that I am, with streaming I have the opportunity to watch gorgeous foreign films like “Bread and Tulips”, or discover fantastic titles like “Moon”. Streaming is wonderful and is all set to be the future and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.

Today’s price hike has irked a number of Netflix subscribers, most of them venting their ire on Netflix’s blog or Facebook page. #DearNetflix is a trending topic on Twitter. Now, Netflix is a money-making concern not a charity, so I’m assuming that this is the way they look to make profits. It is up to me as a subscriber to decide whether I want to spend my money on them or on Blockbuster or on Hulu or on Amazon Prime. Plain economics really. Price it too high and not deliver enough value for the money, and you lose people. Price it too low and go out of business.

Still, I must say that Netflix needs to work on it’s PR. To announce a 60% price hike all in one day ? Really ? How bad does a 60% increase look printed across headlines in most newspapers and information websites, and have angry subscribers announce (to the world) that they are going to quit come September ? Talk about negative press! If you have to go up, how about 30% spaced out by 6 months? Or how about introducing a hybrid plan in addition to the 2 separate plans ?

I’m not sure what the head honchos at Netflix are planning but I sure hope that they get a larger movie database on streaming, and find a way to get hi-def on it too. One would appreciate it if a quality movie rental service remained that way.

Posted in 2011, All Netflix | Comments Off

Movie Review : Super 8

Posted on July 11, 2011 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B0052EV846″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : 3/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2011
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : JJ Abrams

Are you nostalgic for the days of yore? I mean really nostalgic ? Well then this film is for you. Hark back to the 80s with this throwback of a film. It reminded me of the ET era since the film makes a real effort to reproduce the feel of that time – the clothes, the sets and the technology. And I didn’t like it. For one thing, I was bored. Secondly, we’re well into the 2000s. Time has progressed. Why then go back in time ? If I did want to do that, I would just use my handy time-travel machine; I wouldn’t go see this film.

This film is very ET-esque. There are a bunch of kids, and one of them Charles (Riley Griffiths) is passionate about film, and sets about producing one, as a kind of a summer project. Well, as he and his friends are shooting a scene for the film near a deserted railway station, they witness an accident. A truck rushes onto the path of a speeding goods train and the train derails. The kids narrowly miss the flying debris and rush home not telling anyone about their presence at the scene of the accident. As the train derailment gets attention, it appears that the train was carrying some special hush-hush cargo. And now the cargo has gone missing . . .

Now, children are the heroes of this film. The main protagonist Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is a school going kid, and the son of the local police chief Jackson Lamb (Jackson Lamb). Joe has just lost his mother in a local factory accident, and is dealing with his loss this summer. Charles the film-maker is a good friend of his. It is a small town and everyone knows everyone else. The film’s story is told mainly from the kids’ viewpoint – their fantasies, their fears and their adventures. They do the thinking and the running around. Of course they are assisted by the adults at appropriate sticky points. There is a good guy and a bad guy and a problem and everything is resolved at the end. Very standard movie formula ; interesting for a child maybe, but rather tepid for an adult viewer.

My kids who are a product of this internet ready world found it kind of novel. They were amazed at the bulky old television sets, big fat cameras, the old, old cars and aged looking houses. I on the other hand am a bit older and have actually lived through the 80s – you will understand why I didn’t want to be drawn back into that time-period again. My children did like this film; they haven’t watched ET or any of the films from the 80s, so this was a little new for them. They were caught up in the kiddie intrigue and appreciated the kid antics.

While there is not much to fault in this product as a standalone film, I can’t appreciate it. It is very been there done that. There is nothing new, no attempt to stretch the boundaries or attempt a new spin – something you expect from Steven Spielberg. It’s the same old movie fodder in the same old packaging, and why with all the smart, witty, interesting movies out there would you want to watch this rehash of an 80s film ? Beats me.

Posted in 2011, english, family-friendly, fantasy, hollywood, sci-fi, watchable | 2 Comments

Movie Review : Delhi Belly

Posted on July 5, 2011 by amodini

Rating : Above Average (3.3/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2011
Running time : 2 hours
Director : Abhinay Deo
Cast : Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Vijay Raaz, Shehnaz Treasury, Poorna Jagannathan, Paresh Ganatra
Kid rating : A

DELHI BELLY : SHIT HAPPENS (REALLY) !

As you know, I couldn’t wait to see this one. An Aamir Khan production with three protagonists who seemed really funny when interviewed by NDTV, this one had to be worth it. I’ve seen it now and I’ve got to say – this film isn’t all that. I’ll tell you why.

But first, if you haven’t heard already, here’s a little on the story. The film is a Wodehouse-ian caper about three young men, roommates, getting unwittingly mixed up with a diamond smuggler and his diamonds. The three heroes work in creative fields – Tashi Dorjee Lhatoo (Imran) is a journalist, Arup (Vir Das) is a cartoonist and Nitin (Roy Kapur) is a photographer. Tashi is engaged to Sonia (Shenaz Treasurywala), an airhostess with richie-rich parents. When Soniya helps out another air-hostess pal by delivering a package for her, she delegates the actual delivery to Tashi. Long story short, the package isn’t delivered to the right person, making the smugglers come in search of the missing loot.

The film’s plot is pretty interesting and while crime capers are a dime a dozen, this one does stand out with the attention to detail and nuance. The characters in the film speak Hindi and English, depending upon the situation, which is pretty realistic. Each of the characters has his/her quirks. While bearded Tashi is succumbing to parental pressure to tie the knot quickly, portly Nitin is fighting off a stomach bug (hence the title Delhi Belly) and curly-haired Arup is fending off a picky boss. Even the secondary characters like the goon, played by Vijay Raaz and the landlord (played by Paresh Ganatra) are beautifully etched out. The humor is very young, born of the storyline and involves lots of Hindi epithets. Quite funny really and fits right in with the look and feel of the film. I’m not sure why everyone is in such a huff about the “bad language”, since other films (like Omkara) have had such “earthy” words too.

So essentially we have a good story, decent character development, humor and a satisfactory climax. You’d think that’d spell out a fantastic film, but it doesn’t. The direction is slack – the film doesn’t move fast enough, although the second half is better than the first. Also the acting got a tad self-conscious. Imraan isn’t that great of an actor to begin with, and here he actually has to emote. Thirdly, the female lead is Poorna Jagannathan who has the amount of oomph Katrina Kaif has in her little fingernail – a problem because this is not a documentary; the female lead has got to have screen presence and charisma. Fourthly, no romantic sizzle. Yes, this isn’t a romance, but it does have romantic scenes and some kissing – would’ve helped if we’d really rooted for Imran and his wavering heart. There are also the extraneous plots – whatever happens to Arup and his girlfriend ? Is the “Dayan” song just gratuitous screen fodder ?

This is an average film – I wouldn’t care to watch it a second time around. Stalwarts like Vijay Raaz prop up this slick film, but I was hoping for so much more from the trio of heroes. I know Amir Khan tries to make good cinema, even if it be experimental. I’m sure we all are richer for it, even if the product doesn’t quite turn out to be as brilliant as expected. And this might just be me, but whenever film-makers get-together and try too hard, the film falls short of the expected winner.

Kidwise : Unsuitable for children – a wide array of expletives, adult situations.

P.S. : Why is Imran’s character named Tashi Dorjee Lhatoo – he doesn’t look anything like a Tashi Dorjee. Anyone know ? (At first I thought that this was a Delhi-esque short form of a Santosh, maybe, but it wasn’t)

Posted in 2011, All Netflix, bollywood, comedy, english, Hindi movies on Netflix, humor, rating-A, watchable | 7 Comments

Singham and 6 packs

Posted on June 30, 2011 by amodini

Ajay Devgun’s new film”Singham” is a remake of a Tamil film which originally starred Suriya – I saw the trailer/song today on MTV. Notice the over-the-top violence, the thousands of dancing extras and Ajay’s robust moustache (a must on most South Indian heroes) – all proof of it’s Southie origins. Ajay playing the role of Inspector Bajirao Singham is a tough cop against some very nasty goons in what looks to be an action-packed, Total Time Pass flick. He sports a real worked out body – I mistook him for Salman with those six-packs, and the film actually reminds me of Dabangg et. al. Here’s a look-see :

Posted in 2011, action, Previews | Comments Off

Movie Review : Letters to Juliet

Posted on June 23, 2011 by amodini

Starring : Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Egan, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael Garcia Bernal
Genre : Romance
Rating : 4/5

Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) a fact checker who longs to write, is engaged to Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal), a chef opening his new restaurant. When they make a pre-honeymoon trip to Italy so Victor can look through wines and vineries, Sophie visits Juliet Capulet’s house where she meets Juliet’s secretaries, a bunch of women who answer each and everyone of Juliet’s letters. She decides to help them in this very romantic task and chances upon a letter from Claire (Vanessa Redgrave), a young British girl looking to reunite with her lover Lorenzo. Sophie writes back to Claire and Claire receiving a reply to her letter many, many years later makes her way to Verona with her young grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) in tow.

Sophie, having given the now elderly Claire hope, now joins Claire and Charlie in the search for Claire’s long lost love. As it happens, Sophie finds herself warming to good-natured Claire, but at loggerheads with Claire’s cynical grandson. As the animosity wears off (you know it will) and Sophie finds herself more than a little interested in Charlie, she must decide where her romantic loyalties lie.

Yes, I’ll say it : “Letters to Juliet” is sappy, soppy and all sorts of mushy. Yes, it works the ooh-I-find-my-soulmate-but-I’m-already-engaged formula to the max. And I didn’t care. It’s partly the star-cast and the chemistry they share and and partly the fact that this is a warm, sun-kissed, beautiful locale-filled film. “Letters to Juliet” worked for me. The characters are well-developed and I did care about Sophie and Charlie. The tale of Claire and Lorenzo sort of made the backdrop to the younger love story.

Seyfried essaying the role of sentimental and good-natured Sophie does so very well, her persona suiting the character perfectly. Seyfried does have the knack of portraying tremulous vulnerability so well on screen, and is very believable as unsure and insecure Sophie who having “settled” (so to speak) now finds the man of her dreams on her doorstep, a little too late. Redgrave makes a dignified Claire and Egan is well-cast as the British charmer.

This is a romantic drama that injects the required amount of warm-and-fuzzy sentimentality when you need it, and works great as film of the romantic genre. It’s well directed and has adequately developed characters. Lovers of the genre will do well to watch it.

Posted in 2010, english, hollywood, recommended, romance | 1 Comment

What you didn’t know about La Tomatina . . .

Posted on June 19, 2011 by amodini

. . . can seriously curtail your knowledge of Bollywood.

But worry not – there is a cure : go see Zoya Akhtar’s new film “Zindagi na milegi dobara”. It releases on July 15th, and stars one of my favorite actors – Abhay Deol. There is also Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtar. Starring opposite them are Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin. The trailers promise a well-made film, beautiful locales and lots of energy bubbling up on screen. Can’t wait for this one!

For the knowledge-seeking 🙂 there is ZNMD’s official website – well-designed, and thankfully, loads fast.

Posted in 2011, bollywood, drama, recommended | Comments Off

Sticky Post : Welcome to Amodini’s Movie Review’s new home

Posted on June 16, 2011 by amodini

If you are being redirected here from Blogger, don’t panic; this is where you want to be. Bookmark and proceed. And scroll down for regular programming.

(If you need more info. on this transition see : Amodini’s Movie Reviews is Moving !!)

Posted in 2011, how-what-why | Tagged status | 1 Comment

Movie Review : Chalo Dilli

Posted on June 16, 2011 by amodini

Rating : Below average (2.5/5)
Genre : Comedy / Drama
Year : 2011
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : Shashant Shah
Cast : Lara Dutta, Vinay Pathak, Akshay Kumar, Gaurav Gera, Rahul Singh
Kid rating : PG 13

CHALO DILLI (CD) : WASTED JOURNEY !

Chalo Dilli is made by Bheegi Basanti productions, which is owned by Lara Dutta and husband tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi. Bheegi Basanti’s first production is CD starring Lara Dutta herself and Vinay Pathak. Yes, there is no hero, so to speak since I really cannot perceive Vinay Pathak as a typical Hindi film hero’s role. And you would think that Lara Dutta’s first venture into Hindi film production would be Total Time Pass cinema, wouldn’t you ? Well, you’d be wrong. Miss Dutta (or was it Bhupathi who weighed in ?) takes the high road instead; CD is about finding the true meaning of life i.e.; valuing family/relationships over money .

CD does this via a journey. So, we have very up and swanky finance company CEO Mihika Banerjee (Dutta) flying to Delhi, when, due to airport problems, her flight is taken to Jaipur instead. Trying to get from Jaipur to Delhi, where her husband awaits, is getting to be quite the task, since the rental car (and driver) Mihika rents are un-cooperative. Well, then appears the savior – Delhi-based businessman Manu Gupta (Pathak) in all his middle-class glory. Gupta hops into the rental car aiming to rein in the recalcitrant car driver, but ends up driving the car instead when the driver falls asleep at the wheel. Anyway, long story short – they get lost AND they have car trouble.

Mihika is now at her wit’s end. Stranded in the Rajasthan desert with an un-driveable car, a dead phone and a sleeping driver, and very much out of her comfort zone, she has no choice but to trust buffoonish Manu Gupta and hitch a ride to the closest dhaba, hoping that the mechanic they have called for will fix the car and she can be on her way. However, life never was quite that simple . . .

Now, story-wise CD is one of those droll films which you think will make you smile with it’s in-built humor and home-grown wisdom. A little philosophical, a little preachy, but still palatable, you’re thinking. CD could have been that film, but for the fact that it is boring and drags it’s feet without offering up anything very interesting. I blame the lackadaisical screenplay, story and the poor character development.

Post-intermission the film meanders into situations that could have been interesting had they been tied back adequately to the main storyline. There is the Red Tomato hotel with it’s funny-looking manager (Gaurav Gera), and the coterie of goons led by Gujjar Singh (Rahul Singh) who run around chasing rivals – all which showed promise. Unfortunately it all came to naught.

Lara has enough star power to carry a film on her own, provided that the role is well-etched and acted. It is not news any longer that Ms. Dutta lacks dramatic abilities. In this film all that I get from her in the name of emoting are snooty airs (and I’m not talking about her up-tilted nose) and expressions of horror at truly seeing poor India and it’s people. Lara’s character in the film, Mihika is supposedly the CEO of a financial firm with 600+ direct reports. She is then extremely rich and powerful, which accounts for the snooty airs wealth has given her, but not the helplessness which Mihika displays on having to communicate with Hindi-speaking rustic folk. Mihika displays none of the resourcefulness which her shrewd businesswoman status should have ensured, and looks instead to Manu Gupta to sort out her problems.

The film then rests solely on Vinay Pathak’s shoulders, and he carries it as bravely as he can. The film is believable and even remotely likeable because of Vinay Pathak. He is truly a Dilli-wala, down to the accent and the demeanor. Manu Gupta gets a bit too holier-than-thou towards the end, and it is because of Vinay’s acting that I’m not as turned off from the clichéd character development as I should have been.

The film which is “inspired” from the hit “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” trundles along to an unsatisfying, predictable ending. While Mihika might have learnt her lesson and enjoyed the journey, I‘ve got to say I didn’t.

Keep away from this one.

Kidwise : Fairly clean, except for one raunchy item-number.

Posted in 2011, bollywood, comedy, drama, rating-PG13 | Comments Off

Movie Review : The King’s Speech

Posted on June 11, 2011 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B00474AB7W” target=”_self” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]I had three reasons to watch this film –

1. Starred Colin Firth

2. Academy Award Winner

3. The intriguing true-life storyline (a stammering king no less !)

I was expecting a totally wonderful film, and it was truly as I expected it to be (keep it down people, I can hear your murmurs of disbelief, you know!). Seriously though – how many films can deliver like that ? Well this one does. Make haste – grab a dvd.

The film is about Albert George VI the British king who rose to the throne when his elder brother Edward abdicated the throne. If you, like me, think that there are far too many Georges (and roman numerals) in the British Royalty to keep track of, you will be interested to know that the present Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, is the daughter of Albert George VI, aka the hero of this film.

Bertie, as he is known in the film, is a stammerer. When faced with a microphone he turns into a mass of nerves, unable to utter a complete sentence without breaking down. Thankfully for him, then there was only radio; imagine his plight if he had to deliver those kingly proclamations in today’s internet ready world with 24×7 television, Facebook, Twitter and the ever-ready bloggerati.

When required to make state speeches and proclamations, Bertie’s stammering becomes a problem, more so when he is king. His wife Elizabeth (Carter) and he try and find various cures and treatments for the problem, but none succeed until she hears of a therapist. The therapist, Lionel Logue is a unique character, requiring Bertie to respect certain rules, despite his kingly status. Logue also probes underneath the surface as to the cause of the stammering, but Bertie resents the intrusion, and shuts down the therapy sessions. When good sense and his ascension to the throne of England make him return to the therapist, Logue takes him back with a good friend’s equanimity.

This film is wonderfully feel good. It resonates with the warmth of friendship and gradual understanding between 2 very different people – a king and a commoner. There is no villain to speak of in this drama; it is person-to-person, a battle of wills and the fight against one’s own shortcomings. Colin Firth brings to his king’s role an equally royal dignity; he is not just playing a role – he is the stammering king, and every time he pauses and stutters and swallows his way through a difficult syllable, his jaw twisted and face red, you feel his pain and acute embarrassment.

Bonham Carter is also a perfect fit for the role. She is not tall, or model-like (and I’m sure was chosen for physical similarities to the actual Elizabeth); but is all stately queen. All 100% of her. She underplays her supportive role expertly. The third main character – that of Logue, is played by Geoffrey Rush. Logue is an American, a little brash and abrasive by appearance, but wanting only the best for his royal client. Rush as Logue is wonderful to watch.

If you enjoy personal dramas, sans over-the-top fanfare, fighting or action, this film is for you.The King’s Speech has it all – a great screenplay, an excellent story and enough emotional appeal to give your heartstrings that gentle tug. Highly recommended.

Kidwise : This is a clean classy film, very much G, if the kids can comprehend the storyline.

Posted in 2010, All Netflix, drama, english, historical, hollywood, outstanding, rating-G, recommended | Tagged colin firth | Comments Off

Welcome to Friday Nirvana !

Posted on June 5, 2011 by amodini

Welcome to Amodini’s Movie Reviews on Friday Nirvana !

New here, eh ? Browse around. Read. Enjoy. I hope you like what you see.

To all my former Blogger readers : Thanks for following me out here ! All posts (300+ of them) have been moved here. Check back often for new posts.

In about 2 weeks Blogger will auto forward to Friday Nirvana and the new feed. In the meantime please update your bookmarks. Also, am working on getting the links/other paraphernalia updated, so email me if you find something out of whack.