comment #1

York "Budd" Durden says ...

It's true, I used to score quite a bit of lonely housewife action at video stores. Hanging around the mailbox after dropping in the red envelope doesn't work out nearly as often.

comment #2

Josh Massey says ...

Oh God, I read that a few days ago. I'm honestly surprised he didn't fit in the ol' "get off my lawn."

He invents or severely exaggerates some of Netflix's flaws (in nine years, I've gotten the wrong movie ONCE), and gives extremely short shrift to its big selling points (number of titles, streaming video, etc.). A lazy, lazy piece.

comment #3

VoiceOfReason says ...

This article is a huge shock to me. I think Netflix's customer service is incredible! The closest depot to Corliss must be cursed.

comment #4

joefilm1 says ...

This guy is just plain stupid. He gets paid for this?

If we're becoming a society of shut-ins, it's because everyone has become so ragingly insecure and rude and self-centered it's impossible to do anything anymore without becoming ensnared in drama. Even those of us who dare to venture out get forced into a world with no manners and no sense of accountability.

That said, going to the movies sucks because people are rude assholes with phones and kids and needless chatting. It's not worth it.

But uh, I still go to the gym, Corliss, you lazy dork.

comment #5

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

I bet five years ago he was writing columns about how hellish his experience in Virgin Megastore was, or how hard it is to find titles on badly stacked shelves or some shit.

The decline of the video store is really nothing to get worked up about. Bars and restaurants and stadiums and clubs, etc. are where you socialise, not Barnes & Noble.

comment #6

MilkMan says ...

Human interaction is a highly overrated endeavor. And this country has nothing on Japan, who, as usual, are about twenty years ahead of everyone. This is the way the world is headed. In 50-odd years some old man is going to complain about how is his day, back in 2011, people actually used their fingers to type, instead of all this voice-activated and brain-stimulated bullshit. Progress doesn't equal better, it just means different. Most people don't like different. And besides, there was no such thing as the "good old days." And the only epiphanies I seem to get when meeting people are of the "Jesus Christ, that guy/girl is a real fucking asshole/annoying shithead" type. If Corliss is in such dire need of human contact when it comes to his rentals, he can pay me to hand deliver his Netflix while feigning disgust for his very existence. That's all I ever got out of the people who worked at places like Kim's and Cinephile and Vidiots; contempt.

comment #7

Wrecktem says ...

Practically any film you want, from any period of history, delivered to your front door. You can watch as many films as you want, for as many times as you want. All for a low monthly fee.

Yeah, that really sucks.

comment #8

p.Vice says ...

"With Netflix, you surrender those basic American rights: impulse choice and instant gratification."

Sounds like someone in need of some reeducation per the Selfish Manifesto.

comment #9

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

Waa waa!! Cry me a bloody river. I can't stand people who are like this. Let me guess, did he resist DVDs and wanted to stay with VHS tapes when DVDs first came out?

comment #10

rockne says ...

Is it too obvious to point out how ironic it is that there's a Netflix banner ad just above the title of the article?
Pretty funny...

comment #11

Circumvrent says ...

I can't tell you how often I receive my red envelopes and reminiscence on the days of interacting with the mutants that stock the shelves at my local Blockbuster, as they tell me how great I Still Know What You Did Last Summer was. O, human contact, I yearn for thee!

comment #12

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

How much of a solitary existence do movie critics lead if they regard Blockbuster Video as meaningful human contact? Jesus. I barely even consider going to the cinema as meaningful contact, given that you're sat in the dark for two hours looking at a screen.

comment #13

George Prager says ...

Video stores are better. The guys and girls who work at mine are always watching something interesting, they are always willing to talk about movies and recommend something good, or take suggestions. Of course most towns don't have these kinds of stores.

comment #14

ErrantElan says ...

"I barely even consider going to the cinema as meaningful contact, given that you're sat in the dark for two hours looking at a screen."

Perfectly said, Bosh, and I could honestly pen a manifesto, or perhaps an epic sonnet, on how mind-bogglingly idiotic Corliss' piece is.

A) People do socialize. Perhaps less than in "the good old days", but funny enough, they prefer to do it at sports events, bars, family get-togethers, parks, or even just having friends over. Blockbuster and a movie theater are social gathering places? Even if they were, we should mourn their loss? Rubbish.

B) Methinks it's one of those "easy for him to say" situations - how many truly public screenings of films has he even seen in the last 25 years? Hell, even the last 10, where audience behavior, I swear, has plunged exponentially into the depths, even at arthouse theaters. I say thank God for being able to watching films on the intimate privacy of my laptop (literally on my lap, so I feel immersed in the film) with noise-cancelling headphones. That's how I prefer to watch a film, for the most part. Perhaps a raucous comedy is better with an audience, but I don't need to watch Bresson or Antonioni with other people sniffling and coughing behind me. Maybe it's just a generational thing.

comment #15

MilkMan says ...

Is your real name Ragle Gumm, George?

comment #16

T. S. Idiot says ...

I haven't visited a video store in over 15 years. Almost every experience was immensely depressing because of the ignorance of both the customers and the so-called workers, Blockbuster being by far the worst. In one case an obviously wealthy middle-aged woman had never heard of the film (forgot which) that had just won the Oscar. Then there are theaters. Humans aren't worth interacting with when they're as smugly stupid as typical Americans.

comment #17

Josh Massey says ...

I was playing trivia at a bar last night, and one of the questions was "Name four John Cazale films." I was the only person to get it right (as well as the only person to name even one).

That said, I don't look at anybody in there as stupid; it's just that obviously their interests have been different than mine.

comment #18

Gordon27 says ...

"He invents or severely exaggerates some of Netflix's flaws (in nine years, I've gotten the wrong movie ONCE"

Not only that, but he ignores the fact that the same thing was at least as likely (I'd argue far, far more likely) to happen at a video store. Purely anecdotally, I have never received the wrong movie from Netflix, whereas I got the wrong movie from video stores at least five times (a much longer sampling period, of course).

comment #19

Gordon27 says ...

"Is it too obvious to point out how ironic it is that there's a Netflix banner ad just above the title of the article?"

It's not ironic, it's automated targetted advertising.

comment #20

Glenn Kenny says ...

Hear, hear to Bosh and to ErrantElan. When I was a full-time film critic, cinema-related venues were the VERY LAST places I went for human interaction, and still mostly remain that way (although I do go to the movies with my wife a little more often now). And even when I went to movies "socially," it was always as part of a larger outing...the group would get something to eat or drink before or after.

And yeah, going to Film Forum and restraining my homicidal instincts as dippy hipsters laughed it up at inappropriate sections of "Night of the Hunter," "The Birds," or whatever else is certainly something I don't miss too much. Corliss is a smart fellow, but Josh M. is right, he's definitely phoning in a standard "get off my lawn" bleat here.

comment #21

ErrantElan says ...

Cheers, Glenn. Good point re: the social gathering aspect being about pre- or post- film gatherings at a restaurant, etc.

I'd even go further to argue that film viewing CAN be a time of social interaction, but ONLY with private home viewing, i.e. a group of friends gets together to watch a film, pause it when desired, discuss, cajole, talk, enjoy, etc. Netflix definitely aids that process, should it be so chosen.

comment #22

Scott Mendelson says ...

It took him 8-10 years to notice that Netflix doesn't work for spur of the moment movie rentals? HORROR! Yes, that's true, but that's basic logic behind a mail-through service. That's why I use Blockbuster online, because I can also rent spur of the moment for free from their actual stores to supplement the mail-order requests. But you know what, anyone who is shocked that Netflix actually requires you to plan your movie going is an A-1 moron.

comment #23

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Not 20 minutes ago the mailman picked up one of the red envelopes and my first reaction was "Yeah, boy does it suck that I didn't have to waste gas driving over to the video store to return that." Not to mention that the title (a TV series) wasn't available at my main video hut.

It's with typical New Yorker myopia that Corliss writes the most derisible he will possible put down all year. It's also apparent that Corliss hasn't had to put up with too-cool-for-school staffs like the ones that loiter like bad 90's cliches at the counter of Cinefile. I always feel like I'm invading their space whenever I want to ask a question or, god forbide, actually rent something.

Even my beloved Laser Blazer has it's limits. In fact, we joined Netflix directly as a result of not being able to get TV titles there. Ron and his staff are great, but it's hard to beat the selection and ease of using the red envelopes. Plus the 2 day turn around is amazing.

comment #24

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Sorry, but no real movie fan uses Blockbuster. Not after the years of de facto censorship and treating customers like children.

comment #25

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

"I was playing trivia at a bar last night, and one of the questions was "Name four John Cazale films." I was the only person to get it right (as well as the only person to name even one)."

That was a real toughie...

comment #26

actionman says ...

Netflix is one of the greatest inventions of all-time for anyone who cares about film.

comment #27

lipranzer says ...

As a video store manager, I'm mostly pissed Corliss didn't mention our store, instead of lionizing Kim's.

Having said that...the human interaction part is debatable. Sure, it's great to to talk in person with people who are passionate about movies, but you can also get that on the Internet as well. And while independent video store clerks are mostly more knowledgeable than those who work at Blockbuster or Hollywood or its ilk, there are always some exceptions (like my former co-worker who confused Mickey Rooney with Andy Rooney). But I have to say, there are problems with Netflix Corliss didn't mention that I've found. For one thing, you might not always get the subtitled version of a foreign movie. More importantly, while they allow you to pre-book new releases before they get released, that means I get people coming into the store asking for, say, I LOVE YOU, MAN, and when I tell them the movie's not coming out till August 11, they whine, "But you can get it on Netflix!"

I also want to say something about late fees, which is something people bring up all the time when bringing up the positive aspects of Netflix. Netflix doesn't want to charge late fees, or in a different way - fine. But it's a way we stay in business, and while most of the time, it's a case of people needing the movie longer than they thought, honestly forgetting they had it, or having to deal with something unexpectedly that prevented them from bringing it back on time. But much of the time, I also hear from people who keep it for two weeks or whatever, while other people have been asking for the movie, and when asked to pay the late fee, complain, "I could have bought the movie!" Well, then, why didn't you, instead of keeping it out late. It's pure arrogance.

comment #28

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

"When I was a full-time film critic, cinema-related venues were the VERY LAST places I went for human interaction"

No offense, but if going out to movies wasn't a time-honored social tradition, you would never have been employed as a full-time film critic, you do understand/appreciate this fact, yes?

comment #29

ErrantElan says ...

"Sorry, but no real movie fan uses Blockbuster. Not after the years of de facto censorship and treating customers like children.:

Agreed in principle, deathtongue, though I must sheepishly admit to using it every now and then for various reasons. but I don't like their practices/vibe at all.

Netflix, on the other hand, has been a genuine godsend in this decade, and I've lived in NYC for most of it. , I agree that it's an even more valuable service if you live in a relatively unserved small town. I've been exposed to so many films/tv shows I never would have taken the time to get into before, and the service is monumentally convenient. Is it 100% perfect? No, but it's been damn close. I hope the good people at Netflix run across this thread, because it's clear that Corliss is outnumbered here, at least so far.

comment #30

lipranzer says ...

Video store manager in New York City, I should add.

comment #31

KC says ...

OLD PEOPLE SHIT

Whoops, I mean - fuck a Netflix, I vastly preferred my old system of hitting up the closest Blockbuster on the South Side of Chicago, where the faggiest foreign film available was some Johnny Knoxville joint that could only find funding from animal fetishists in Wroclaw. Is there a point to this article and the post it spawned beyond old men longing for the days when they could have their youth (in mind if not body) affirmed by going out to be sneered at by some retail-lifer douche at their local Alternative VHS Depot.

Viva la Midwestern Criterion Newsletter-receiver, basically

comment #32

Josh Massey says ...

"That was a real toughie..."

Thanks for missing the point. It isn't tough, at least for people who would spend time on a website like this. But for the general populace, 98% of people couldn't ID Cazale by name today. That doesn't make them idiots, though, just not cinema savants.

comment #33

KC says ...

I do identify with Old Man Corliss' complaint re: delivery time, but I livened up a party with instant-watch Tootsie the other day, and that balances out all the bad you ask me. Before you ask, yes, it is a sad party that is enlivined by a screening of Tootsie, but shit.

comment #34

Scott Mendelson says ...

Yes, I know, as a film geek I should be using NetFlix. But the convenience of having a store almost within walking distance to supplement the mail-order stuff can't be beat (get the new releases in store and get the more obscure oldies by mail). As far as selection, I've never had an issue aside from the occasional horror film being unavailable in its unrated format (Hatchet comes to mind).

comment #35

ErrantElan says ...

Scott, I do agree. My sheepish admission above was alluding to that - I've never, ever, in my 6 years on Netflix ONCE queued or received a "new release". I use it only for older films, foreign films, films harder to find at a rental store, or for episodic serials like miniseries or television shows, particularly foreign ones.

I'm not AGAINST the idea of a rental store - many of them are fantastic places that do great work. I'm just standing up for Netflix in defense against Corliss and his outdated, arrogant, narrow-minded rant.

comment #36

moviemaniac2002 says ...

Corliss might have done a little homework about the demise of the video rental stores....(which I have worked in for over 25 years, including 2 of them with a video-store liquidation company, in which we bought up inventory and ran going-out-of-business sales for private owners and mid-sized chains.
Massively stocked video stores like Corliss'
beloved Kim's have sunk into the tarpits for a variety of reasons..( I ran a liquidation for a similar store in Kansas, with over 60,000 titles)
....it's no longer about customer service, selection,
blah, blah, blah....it's convenience, convenience, convenience....video renters want to fall out of their beds and into their video store....which is pretty much what netflix provides. Couple that with retail landlords who woke up dreaming they're Donald Trump and their modest little outdoor strip centers are Vegas Strip-quality property,,,,so no privately or even company-owned video stores (as well as other retailers) can pay their galactic rental rates)...so thousands of these shopping centers sit with dozens of unoccupied storefronts....except for two industries that have enough cash to pay off these would-be real estate titans...Banks...and Asian families who run Nail Salons.
As for Blockbuster....is there anyone in the country who's really going to miss them when they go? Indifferent, incompetent, ignorant clerks....managers browbeaten and generally terrorized by the upper chain-of-command..(try to find any Blockbuster manager who hasn't been regularly threatened with termination almost every month)....and the Big Blue High Command itself...they're been playing bait-and-switch three card monte games with the American public with decades (remember when their "No Late Fee"
marketing aroused the ire of just about every State
Attorney General).....and Karma is finally kicking in.
So the rise and triumph of Netflix (along with the kiosk machines) isn't hard to figure out. Sure, like a lot of folks, I miss actually holding and reading the back of the DVD boxes.....but ultimately, everyone likes sitting in bed, in their pajamas, picking out their movies by the light of their glowing laptops.

comment #37

Gordon27 says ...

I just wanted to point out, Corliss is wrong about Kim's. The way he writes this article, he makes it sound as if Kim's video went out of business specifically because of Netflix. Now, granting that Netflix threw the final mounds of dirt onto the corpse of "non-chain video stores" that Blockbuster had already murdered and raped the corpse of, Kim's went out of business largely for one reason. Somebody somewhere (most likely on a federal level) targetted them because they were among the most profitable bootleggers in the City. They would sell and rent DVDs, CDs and VHSes which had been copied in the back. Now, I'm not accusing them of doing so exclusively, or when there were other options (I don't mean to say they sold counterfeit merchandise or anything). They were always quite upfront and obvious -- this title is a CD-R with no label, and they have five copies of it. For years they openly sold bootlegs directly on the shelf. At some point, they started repeatedly getting fined, and they had to stop trafficking in bootlegs, and, when they did, their profits fell considerably, because then they were just another indie shop with incredibly high prices, an admittedly wonderful selection, and a pretentious staff of assholes.

That said, I do miss their Used DVD section, the only place where you could ever get a Criterion disc for under $20 [assuming that they hadn't purchased a counterfeit from somebody, which often happened but which I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume was not deliberate].

comment #38

efbrackett says ...

Completely disagree with Corliss's shit article. I've seen nothing but great service form Netflix since I joined almost 10 years ago.

One of the main reasons I first joined was because my local stores didn't carry the older movies I wanted to see. And special ordering them took forever. Netflix solved that with a large selection and as the years have gone by the delivery from Netflix has improved greatly.

Corliss also misses that Netflix streaming is available through Xbox 360 too.

comment #39

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

"Thanks for missing the point. It isn't tough, at least for people who would spend time on a website like this. But for the general populace, 98% of people couldn't ID Cazale by name today. That doesn't make them idiots, though, just not cinema savants."

And this relates to the Netflix/Blockbuster debate, how exactly? Easy to miss a point when there isn't one in the first place ;).

comment #40

Thomas says ...

I worked as a video store clerk for a couple years in the late 90's and the funniest question I ever got was, "Do you have any empty movies?" I knew what the man was referring to, but had him explain it to me in more detail before telling him that we didn't have any.

http://minnesota-meanderings.blogspot.com/2007/04/premiere-video-behind-curtain.html

comment #41

jmevans says ...

Here is a great counter to the Time essay. Netflix is amazing. I think Corliss is a moron.

http://gizmodo.com/5329255/times-richard-corliss-thinks-netflix-stinks-but-maybe-he-is-wrong

comment #42

Gordon27 says ...

I wonder if Richard Corliss is aware that, if you don't line up the bar code correctly with the hole, it adds a day or two to the turnaround time.

Because it would help him get movies quicker *and* it would give him something else stupid and abritrary to complain about.

comment #43

nouvelle_vague says ...

the one thing that makes netflix evil (and I'm both a customer and a vendor to netflix) is they have helped kill off the indie movie distributor, like New Yorker. Trust me, more are going down the tubes. Netflix only needs to buy a small % of what used to be the total market on a title. Remember Piano Teacher? Kino sold a shit load of that title, but if it came out today, netflix would probably buy 30,000- 50,000 TOTAL at the MOST and that might be all they ever need. Distributors can't live on that. Netflix even tried to play in that space and they couldn't make it work. Studios don't want to play in that space. For every Cache that gets picked up by Sony, there's a lot of other gems that will never see the light of day because the arty indie distributors are going away.

Other than that, Netflix is the shit. The people that work there are the easiest people to work with that you can possibly imagine.

comment #44

Gordon27 says ...

That is certainly regretable, but it seems excessive to lay it at the feet of Netflix. It seems to ignore the combination of factors that came together in the late '90's and made DVDs hit as hard as they did.

Kino is a wonderful company, and I hadn't heard they were having trouble and seriously hope that they don't go under if they haven't already (i haven't focused as much on DVDs lately), but the fact that Kino was ever shipping *more* than 50,000 copies of the titles they offer is the fluke, dependent on a lot of things that created a sort-of DVD bubble.

As for the disappearing distributors in general, that's been the cycle since people realized there could be independent distribution; 10 years of build-up where the people want indie movies, 10 years of the studio co-opting the indie stuff. It's due for "indie" to become cool again pretty soon, so don't worry.

comment #45

nouvelle_vague says ...

but if the revenue shifts from a sell through model to a on-line rental model, for indie product, it means A LOT less units and A LOT less revenue. It has nothing to do with indie product being cool. there is always a market for great movies for discerning folks. Netflix is their way of seeing that product now, where in the past, a lot of them would be buying it.

Kino's revenue is like everyone's revenue right now, down considerably. Kino's model doesn't work anymore.Honestly, Criterion's barely does. I dont know any specifics, but their sales are way down. But if Image goes away, its likely Criterion will end up at a studio (i'd guess paramount). Kino will just disappear.

I'm just using Kino as an example, but I could replace it with Zeitgeist, New Video, etc etc. New Yorker went away. Palm went away. Several others are on the verge. I dont know any specifics other than general "business sucks right now".

IFC claims to have made the VOD/PPV model work. They claim that they make their numbers on PPV alone and dvd is gravy. I think thats bullshit, but I dont work there and I dont know for sure and they dont sell any of their product to Netflix. Zero.

At least, they are trying this new model. If the other ones want to survive, they need to adapt as well. They can't survive on netflix alone.

comment #46

Glenn Kenny says ...

@ CitizenKaned etc: Yes, of course I understand that fact. But when one is seeing films more or less full-time, as part of one's job, it naturally causes mutations in your conception of leisure time and changes in the way you spend it. Can you see how that might be the case?

comment #47

Terry McCarty says ...

Almost two decades ago, Corliss complained about what the Siskel and Ebert show was doing to film criticism in FILM COMMENT.

Nice to see that the cranky-man act has been updated.

comment #48

DeeZee says ...

The only "human interaction" I got at Rocket Video was waiting for the clerk to listen to my request for a title he never had in stock, while staring at his sign which cursed out Netflix. Still, the employees at what's left of 20/20 are decent enough folks that I still go there once in a while.
As for Suckbuster, they also still charge too much for their individual rentals after all these years. I ended up payin' $5-$6 for Sky Crawlers, just 'cus it was new. Never happened anywhere else.

moviemaniac: Blockbuster was dying out long before Netflix. The only reason people rented from there was that the prices for tapes were insane. But DVD was cheap enough to own that people skipped the place entirely.

comment #49

LexG says ...

Not to really get Corliss's back on this, because I use Netflix, albeit also almost exclusively for TV shows and obscure movies you can't get at Blockbuster:

But those grungy PAPER ENVELOPES are pretty fucking cheesy, not to mention (as a huge germaphobe) they always seem unsanitary and filthy, plus if you hold the discs up to light, they're scratched to fuck.

Call me a nitpicky douche, but even with a rental I like having a case, a box with cover art with the actors looking all shiny and attractive. Some scuffed-up, flimsy piece of paper is kind of, I don't know, DEPRESSING.

But again, it's a good way to rent a whole series on the cheap, as opposed to coughing up 5 bucks for each individual disc at a videostore.

comment #50

bill weber says ...

Watching films on a laptop is to be avoided if there's any other option.

comment #51

T. S. Idiot says ...

"And this relates to the Netflix/Blockbuster debate, how exactly? Easy to miss a point when there isn't one in the first place."

Josh was initially responding to my point about the general ignorance of video store employees and the populace at large about matters cinematic.

Not to be too much of a cynical old fart, but based on what I hear waiting in lines at theaters, the post office, Starbucks, etc. and while riding in trains to and from Gotham and on the subway, the populace is generally ignorant about everything. You expect people to know something about either show biz, sports, or politics, but I've met hundreds who know nothing about anything in any of these fields. What do they spend their time doing? Goddamn the cell phone.

comment #52

crazynine says ...

Is Wells posting this for discussion, or endorsement?

Because if it's the latter, I can't think of someone who hates contact with humanity more than he.

comment #53

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Yeah, I def. can, Glenn. Sorry. I was grouchy yesterday and sort of left a scorched-earth bitch trail all over the 'net. Pathetic, I know.

"You expect people to know something about either show biz, sports, or politics, but I've met hundreds who know nothing about anything in any of these fields."

So true. So little passion, too, in addition to lack of general knowledge. Years ago, I might have given people the benefit of the doubt just because they may have been a little shy to get worked up in a public place, but no longer -- some of the phone conversations these people have are unbelievable!

I feel as if I'm in their living room (if not the bedroom) listening to one side of these conversations!

comment #54

Ryan Giggs says ...

Netflix provides a large database for movies and you can order any movie at any time. There service is very good.

comment #55

mickey.24smith@gmail.com says ...

I must say your post is fabulous. thanks for telling all this to us.

comment #56

jkmp2012 says ...

Thanks for sharing your thought with us.