Do you ever pick up movies at the library or video store based on nothing but whim, or has your viewing become completely purposeful and organized with the advent of Netflix? I usually at least glance through what’s available at the local library – since their only two sections are “multi-disk TV shows” and “everything else,” there’s an element of serendipity to it that I find charming.
My two most recent random choices:
Solaris, the sci-fi flick with George Clooney. I had a vague recollection that the reviews weren’t that great, but I figured what the hell, how bad can it be to grok on George Clooney for an hour or two? Answer: Pretty bad. I gave up after 20 minutes.
Conversations with Other Women, which came out a couple of years ago, but to the best of my recollection I never even heard of it. Indie flick, Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter play two people who run into each other at a wedding, and end up going upstairs together – it turns out they’re not meeting for the first time. The whole movie is in split screen, which is very gimmicky to begin with, but you quickly get used to it and it ends up enhancing the storytelling. Liked it a whole lot – perhaps all the more because I went into it with zero preconceptions, other than liking both of those actors.
Anyone else still viewing the occasional random pick?
I’ll rent something from Netflx if there’s a good-looking foreign chick on the cover that I expect I’ll get to see naked. I guess that’s not really random. Actually, rather specific. Oh well.
I used to go into the local video rental and just look over the backs of the boxes. The only find I can think of at the moment was Cobb, which is an excellent and overlooked film.
Though of course I also enjoyed Solaris (but I wouldn’t particularly recommend it to anyone.)
Well, there was this movie about a guy who has women tied up on his yacht that I’d like to see again, but I’ve never been able to duplicate the original random selection that let me see it the first time, and I forget what it was called.
The serenditpity of random finds is what keeps me going to physical stores instead of transferring all of my movie buying/renting to online.
Until recently, a large number of rental stores around here would have special sales on used DVDs-- buy 2 get 3 free, 8 for $20, or whatever. Invariably, I’d find a few titles I knew I wanted, then I’d just look for random stuff to fill out the required number for the deal. I got a bit of crap this way (Domino and Stealth-- both picked up using the aforementioned “hot chick on cover” process), and some pretty good stuff (most of the 50 or so documentaries in my collection: In the Realm of the Senses, Why We Fight, League of Ordinary Gentlemen, etc.).
Two words - doggy poo! I now own this on dvd! That and penetration angst. I originally bought it as a joke but I soon found out that the film was a real classic, such riveting plot…
Someone from the Dope – was it you? – recommended this in a “recommend an obscure film” thread, so I got it from Netflix and liked it a lot. Don’t think that counts as random, though.
