The Movie Search: Digging Deep, July 2013

Monday, July 1, 2013

The Big Dig

New Netflix Instant: July

‘Benny and Joon’ (1993) — Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn. A mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.

‘The Boxer’ (1997) — Daniel Day-Lewis, Daragh Donnelly, Frank Coughlan. A man imprisoned for his involvement with the IRA in Belfast is released from prison 14 years later and tries to resume life as he once knew it.
‘Can’t Hardly Wait’ (1998) — Jennifer Love Hewitt, Seth Green, Lauren Ambrose, Ethan Embry. Multi-character teenage comedy about high school graduates with different agendas of life on graduation night.

‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’ (2002) — Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney. An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris, in which he purports to have been a CIA hitman.

‘Cookie’s Fortune’ (1999) — Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler. Conflict arises in the small town of Holly Springs when an old woman’s death causes a variety of reactions among family and friends.

‘Mary, Queen of Scots’ (1971) — Vanessa Redgrave, Glenda Jackson, Patrick McGoohan. In an Oscar-nominated performance, Vanessa Redgrave shines as Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland. Returning from France to assume the throne, Mary finds her ascension challenged by her brother, her husband and her cousin Queen Elizabeth I (Glenda Jackson). Timothy Dalton, Patrick McGoohan and Ian Holm co-star in this lavish production from director Charles Jarrott and producer Hal B. Wallis, creators of Anne of the Thousand Days.

‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ (1998) — Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich. The cruel King Louis XIV of France has a secret twin brother who he keeps imprisoned. Can the twin be substituted for the real king?

‘Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation’ (2004) — Billy Brown, Richard Burgi, Kelly Carlson. In the sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s loved/reviled sci-fi film, a group of troopers taking refuge in an abandoned outpost after fighting alien bugs, failing to realize that more danger lays in wait.

‘The Truman Show’ (1998) — Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Ed Harris. An insurance salesman/adjuster discovers his entire life is actually a TV show.

‘Twins’ (1988) — Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Kelly Preston. A physically perfect but innocent man goes in search of his long-lost twin brother, who is a short small-time crook.

‘Tokyo Godfathers’ (2003) — Toru Emori, Aya Okamoto, Yoshiaki Umegaki. On Christmas Eve three homeless people living on the streets on Tokyo find a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find the parents. ‘

Windtalkers’ (2002) — Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Peter Stormare. Two U.S. Marines in WWII are assigned to protect Navajo Marines who use their native language as an unbreakable radio cypher.

The Movie Search: Digging Deep, Amazon Streaming

Thursday, June 20, 2013

The Big Dig

Amazon Instant Videos: Prime Eligible

Now, let’s see what Amazon Instant Video offers. They give a 30-day trial and Netflix only offers two weeks. After five days into the trial, how to navigate has become clearer, however, Amazon is not as flexible as Netflix and does not provide as much ease to dig deep.

First, you’ll need to continually click the box to the left that says  Eligible. If you don’t, you’ll view selections that will cost money. This is annoying. Also, while in the big, wide world of Amazon, they’re hoping you’ll purchase other goods. This can be confusing and creates clutter when you just want to see Eligible movie and TV lists. If you’ve bought anything through Amazon, they store your history.  It may help some to delete it.

They do have selections not available on Netflix, such as in the British area arena. For instance:

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During the process of signing up for the trial, Amazon prompts you to select another Prime offer. You may inadvertently do this and that will add to your confusion. By doing so, Amazon manipulates you into another trial having to do with Prime shipping. This step muddies the waters because this Prime trial will also show up in your dashboard area. The videos, however, will not all be free instant watch, but will be movies/TV items for sale. Too much mixing of product.

Unlike Netflix, Amazon wants to cast a wider net that goes beyond the sale of movie and TV show streaming, whereas, Netflix only focuses on movies/TV. They’ve worked hard to refine ways for you to discover your favorite kinds of movies and they do a much better job than Amazon.

You, ultimately, will be the judge. At least, sign up for the trial and see what you can dig up.