BS: the lack of variety at video chains...

Subject: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 08:12 PM

I've noticed something at the mainline video chains, such as Blockbuster or Rogers, for example, and at video places in general since the DVD began replacing VHS. The variety of choice, particularly in older movies, has gone WAY down. What you see now is a giant wall with the "New Releases", as many as 30 copies of some of them lined up there...an "action" section with pretty well all movies from the last decade or 2...a "drama" section with same...and a "comedy" section with same. And a family section with movies for the kids. Recent ones.

No section for "westerns", no section for sci-fi, no section for mysteries, romances, historical epics, foreign films, etc....no section for *older* stuff from the past 5 decades of film history.

What you will find in "action", "drama", and "comedy" is a lot of stuff from the past 10 or 15 years...and a tiny few crumbs from among the thousands of older movies from the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60', and even such ancient times as the 70's! A few more crumbs from the 80's...providing they were "blockbusters" at the time.

It's pathetic. If this is what the advance of the DVD over VHS has accomplished, I am not impressed.

Nope. I'm bored. They have very little at the video place that I have any desire to see these days. It didn't used to be like that a mere ten years ago before "Blockbuster" and its ilk took over this down and VHS started to vanish from the scene. Obviously, the makers of DVDs can't be bothered to do it unless they are guaranteed that at least 100 million people will rent that movie.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Amergin
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 08:27 PM

This is why god created netflix.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 08:33 PM

What is "netflix"?

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: jeffp
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 08:48 PM

Netflix

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Alba
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 08:52 PM

Seems that the Higher Power hasn't got around to inventing Netflix in Canada yet Amergin **smile**
Little Hawk Netflix is DVD online rental Service. This Company: Zip.ca provides a similiar service in your neck of woods. They explain all on the link.


Jude

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Metchosin
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 09:25 PM

yeah......good luck finding a copy of Ghengis Blues.........

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Alba
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 10:28 PM

One of my all time Favourites Metchosin
Jude

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 04:19 AM

It's the same story all over. The companies who make money for renting video/DVD, selling records, supplying instruments, providing services - they are all in the game to make money. They target the biggest audience for the biggest profits. If a film doesn't make what they expect in the cinema, it may pick up with DVD sales. If a film makes a fortune at the cinema, it'll make a bigger fortune on DVD. Has anyone else noticed that the average time it takes a film to be released on DVD has dropped from 9 months to 3?

How many times have you flicked through channels on the TV to find a film you've seen 63 times before, and flicked past it? We're used to the 'oh it'll be on again' scenario, on some channels, an hour later or the following night. Going to the cinema is no longer the big treat it used to be and it's too easy to see the old films on TV. Releasing and selling a DVD before it's shown free for all on TV is where the money is. Why should a TV company pay a lot for a new film when they already have thousands of old films they don't have to pay for again? It used to be around 18 months before a new film was broadcast on TV (and I mean terrestrial, not satelite), now they're appearing within 9.

The only happy accident is that the old films that do get converted to DVD, quite often appear in the bargain bins for a few pounds!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: GUEST,Scoville
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 10:16 AM

I've found GREAT stuff for $1 a DVD in the bargain bins. Like The Lost World (think Jurassic Park, 1925--campy even at the time but you have to love the stop-motion dinosaurs).

I'm a silent film junkie, which means I hardly ever rent anything.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Scrump
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 10:45 AM

I'm a silent film junkie, which means I hardly ever rent anything

Have you tried muting the sound on your TV?

That would open up a whole new world of possibilities! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Wesley S
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 10:48 AM

Does the library in your town have a DVD section? Our does - it isn't perfect but it will give you some more choices at a reasonable price.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: GUEST,, Bat Goddess at Work
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 11:05 AM

Back in 1987 (the mists of prehistory), Curmudgeon and I opened a video (waaaay pre-DVD) shop specializing in foreign films, classic films, idies, and the totally off-the-wall. We did it because that was our taste in film and we thought Portsmouth, NH ("Venice on the Piscataqua") and the surrounding university community in Durham could support it.

It couldn't. Then, to make matters worse, Blockbuster moved in. No way a mom & pop niche market could compete. Cinematheque went out out of business in 1990.

The problem with mass marketing is that you lose choices and options. Whether it's in soda (remember the '60s when there was a lot more on the market other than colas and Coke or Pepsi products?), or in what's played on the radio or available in the "record" shops. There's no classical radio station around here anymore, and jazz, blues or folk outlets are pretty limited. And traditional English language folk gets lumped in with world music and singer-songwriters in the shops.

Fortunately the internet allows easier access to the niche or obscure, but in meat space it's becoming a more and more vanilla world with only a couple brands or choices available.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 12:05 PM

The library! Now there's a great idea. I shall look into that. The library, thank God, is one of those institutions that is still devoted to thought itself rather than to the shortest route to the biggest $$$ payoff.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: JeremyC
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 12:25 PM

In a perfect world, record stores and video shops would have their products grouped together by similarity (like the Pandora online "radio station"). Half the time, I find myself cruising the sections based on where I think someone might have put what I'm looking for, only to discover it was in someplace nonsensical. Where does Eliza Carthy go in the record store? Is it Pop/Rock (after all, she's done albums that sound like dance music) or Folk? Actually, in this case, the answer is that you don't find her in (American) record stores. But my point stands! Maybe if the stores were simply alphabetical by artist, with a "sounds like" directory you could consult? I don't know. This is why I get most of my CDs from Amazon and rent virtually all my movies from Netflix (just got Genghis Blues, by the way, though I haven't watched it yet).

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: ranger1
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 04:57 PM

I'm so lucky! We have a locally-owned rental place called Videoport that has just about everything going. They even have a section titled "Incredibly Weird Films."

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:08 PM

I go the library route. The library in the nearby University town has a pretty good selection arranged alphabetically by title. You get to keep them for a week and as long as you turn them in on time it's free! They have quite a few older movies but it would be nice if they had even more.

Our little local library has them arranged by subject and you can only check them out for two days but it's closer and they have a decent selection. Mostly newer movies, though.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:20 PM

Going to the cinema is no longer the big treat it used to be.

I think it still is - seeing a film on the big screen in the dark is a completely different experience. It takes you in and blocks out the world. (And I'm not talking about big action-movies where everything rushes around at hyped up speeds with special effects shouting look-at-me all over the place. They're just a bore wherever they crop up, so far as I'm concerned.) TV screens, and DVDs, no matter how good, just don't begin to measure up.

Only thing is it's a rare treat, so far as good films are concerned, and even more so of course for good films that aren't brand new, unless you're lucky enough to have a good film society nearby.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:28 PM

Tickets at the theatre in my little town are $3.50, popcorn is $1.00 (with free refills) and a medium drink is $1.35. Movies don't hit here on opening week but they aren't moldy yet either. It's in an old 'Opera House' that was built in 1912, great place. I also like the fact that going there keeps the money in town.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:39 PM

Mouldy? Old films are far more likely to be good films, simply because there are so many more of them. If one in ten films are worth seeing (I wish that was true) that doesn't add up to all that many in a month or even a year. But it adds up to an awful lot over 70 years or so.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: GUEST,Scoville
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:45 PM

I want a video store with an "Incredibly Weird Films" section!

Our libraries are even worse. Sigh.

I like going to the movies. I don't go that often, but I go often enough to see pretty much what I think looks like it's worth watching.

When I was a kid, the local theater had 50-cent tickets on Tuesday nights, so we saw everything on Tuesday nights (this was in the 1980's, so it was cheap even then). And it was a cool theater. It's a club now. I guess I'm just glad it's still standing.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:46 PM

If I was to give a statistic, I'd say that about 1 in 20 films is worth seeing. And that could be generous.

I would appreciate the chance to see a movie in a theatre without sitting through 20 minutes of commercials and thunderous trailers for other movies first! But then, I'd appreciate a lot of things you can't get out there right now.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 05:53 PM

Yeah, the trailers. Many's the time I've sat through some dire deafening trailer saying "Well, that's one film I'm going to enjoy missing" - and later I do get dragged along, and find its actually quite good.

Presumably the people the trailer was aimed at, who thought "that looks like a really great film" are bitterly disappointed when they see it. Very strange.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Ebbie
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 11:02 PM

Noticed yesterday that one of our video stores is for sale.   "$30,000 or Best Offer" Would that include the inventory? The store is in rented space in Juneau's version of a strip mall (something like 5 other shops in the strip)There is one other video store (a Blockbuster) in the downtown area.

If I were younger I'd be a lot more adventurous than I am today. I don't know why I never went into business for myself.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Little Hawk
Date: 02 Feb 07 - 11:41 PM

Yeah, McGrath, my impression too is that trailers are exquisitely calculated to make just about any movie look totally stupid and obnoxious. Strange, isn't it? Those marketing people are clearly aiming at someone. Who could it be?

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 12:45 PM

Often the trailer is included on a DVD as an extra. It's quite interesting sometimes to watch the film, and then have a look at the trailer

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Cluin
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 01:52 PM

I almost always check out an included trailer on a DVD. It's amazing how often it is non-represetative of the tone of the movie once you've watched it. The trailer often includes scenes that ended up as 'deleted scenes' by the time the movie actually makes to to release.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Feb 07 - 11:32 PM

Cluin - that explains a lot. The latest 'Pirates of the Caribbean' trailer featured a bit that wasn't in the finished movie, and to my mind, the movie suffers for it. It's just a simple, throwaway line but makes a whole lot more sense than the bit they left in!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: RangerSteve
Date: 04 Feb 07 - 08:05 PM

We had a Mom and Pop video rental place near me that was run by film buffs, and had a great selection of classic films, foreign films, and independent films, but BB put them out of business. Most of those films are available on DVD, but BB only seems to carry what will make money for them all the time. Since I discovered Netflix, I have no need for video rental stores. A great deal of British TV is available, and I'm in DVD heaven watching all of it.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 12:50 PM

McGrath, when I refered to 'moldy' movies (2 Feb 5:08 PM) I only meant that movies get to our little town while they are still playing in larger cities. They rarely make it here on opening weekend but they get here within a month. I certainly did not mean that old movies are no good.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 01:31 PM

All chains are he same, HMV sells very little no mainstream music(then they wonder why we download) Fashion store, supermarkets, food companies book stores..all of them have two objectives; put the little local shop out of business and feed pap to the public. And . it works.

Subject: RE: BS: the lack of variety at video chains...
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Feb 07 - 01:42 PM

It used to be that films didn't get released all over the place at the same time. They travelled round the country in a limited number of prints, and you'd keep an eye out for the one you wanted to turn up. And if you missed it you could probably find it somewhere else, not too far away.

I liked that system a lot better.