We haven't been to the cinema this week. A couple of weeks ago husband inadvertently clicked on something at Amazon and received a free month of Amazon Prime, which includes access to their library of films and TV shows (similar set up to Netflix). We've been exploring the freebie opportunity, using Roku, and have found lots to entertain us. We've binge-watched a season each of
The Good Wife and
Justified (starting from season where previous rental DVDs ended). We've just begun watching season 1 of
Warehouse 13 - new to us. It's a fun sci-fi/fantasy series with echoes of
The X-Files, and
Raiders of the Lost Ark. We also found a couple of decent movies, as well as one we considered not so decent and decided it did not deserve the acclaim it had received.
One of the most enjoyable films was
Hachi- A Dog's Tale. A tale about a dog? I can never resist one of those, never have been able to since first seeing
Lassie Come Home, long ago and far away when I was very young.
Hachi was a new one to me. It's based on a Japanese true story of a lost puppy, found and cherished, with much doggy loyalty in return. The story reminded me a lot of an old Scottish doggy story,
Greyfriars Bobby.
Tears are almost always par for the course in doggy movies - a foregone conclusion. Gratuitous sentimentality abounds, tissues will be to hand, and were essential for
Hachi!
The movie we didn't much like, but struggled complainingly through because, well, "Scorsese can't be too bad can he?" (Yes!) :
The Wolf of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort. Talk about gratuitous - not sentimentality this time - soft-porn-ish sex scenes, one every few minutes it seemed like. Boring repetitious bad language, the word "fuck" loses all impact when repeated again and again... and again as part of every sentence uttered. The film is based on Jordan Belfort's memoir, so presumably it is at least partly true. Even with Scorsese at the helm,
The Wolf of Wall Street, for us, didn't come anywhere near the quality of Oliver Stone's 1987 film
Wall Street, with Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko.
On we go then, there are lots of freebies still to sample!
a free month of Amazon Prime
ReplyDeleteHow does one do that? £79 now over here.
I love the Hachi movie and have it on dvr.. I agree , tears every time.
ReplyDeleteas I dont go to theaters. amazon, netflx, hbo ad showtime, bring the movies to me. I also enjoy the various documentaries. of course most of these arent freebies:) but its worth the money to have such a wide range of entertainment that I otherwise wouldnt have at all..
James Higham ~ Not sure, James - husband does have an Amazon credit card - that might entitle him to a few extra "offers" - or maybe in the UK Amazon's workings are slightly different from those in the US.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure we'll carry on with Am-Prime after our free month ends - most reviewers seem to think Netflix has a better range of stuff - and their payment is monthly rather than annual.
Sonny ~ We're getting into the same mode as you, gradually. We still haven't cancelled our HBO/cable subscription, wanted to be sure it was the right thing to do - for us. We're convinced now, I think.
ReplyDeleteRealising that there's still more to pay for some items (many items) even after paying the monthly or annual subscription. I had wondered if it'd be more economical for us to continue renting DVDs locally - there are lots at 2 for $1 for 5 nights, and 1 for $1 a night. But Amazon or Netflix seems like a better deal on the whole and with no hassle about returning DVDs on time.
Annie,,
ReplyDeletejust my opinion of course, but based on having all those I mentioned, if I ha to choose only 1, it would be Netflix. As you said, for vast range of of shows. Movies, documentories, seasons of tv shows, special made by netflix series, old movies that are often hard to find. All these available with one click AND they are there should you wish to go back in a week or 6 months and watch them again. we gladly pay the yearly fee as its about what 4 times to a theater would be for both of us. We do choose to pay for netflix by the year because there's a 30% discount to do so.
I am a home and alone too much to do without the tv on, even if its just for background noise:)
good luck with whatever you choose.
Internet streaming is the new "thing" and it looks to be knocking cable and DSL into the dark ages of digital TV. I've read that a subscription to Netflix and Hulu is about all that is needed to enjoy anything-everything, with a combined cost of approximately $20 per month...extra for new-release movies. I like the idea of viewing exactly what I want, when I want.
ReplyDeleteGood luck dumping Amazon when your free month expires...LOL. I'm always leery of trial offers...they can have a way of sticking like glue, requiring more effort to extricate than the freebie could ever be worth.
Ahhhh...doggy stories. I can't bear to watch "Old Yeller"...gets me every time. Up there with "Bambi" and "Dumbo".
I saw this dog-with-happy-ending on the news last night:
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/saskatchewan-dog-who-lost-hind-legs-gets-new-prosthetics-this-week/41957
Wow...no captcha...a check-box stating "I'm not a robot".
After checking the box, I still had to verify with smeary letters! Oh, well. At least I passed the test.
mike ~ I doubt we'll bother with Hulu, but Netflix seems to be most likely, come the New Year.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the "fall-out" from free offers, and did mention this to anyjazz when he first told me what had happened. He hadn't intentionally clicked for the free offer - but it turned up anyway - maybe a crafty move by Amazon, a trap set for the unaware. We'll have to deal with the problem of getting rid in due course.
Awww what a lovely story about the dog legs !!
Yep - I get the catchpa click box now, but without any additional smeary letters.
Sonny ~ Thanks for the additional information. Discount for Netflix when paying annually sounds to be a good deal. :-)
ReplyDelete