feeling listless

Film I promised I would get back to on the ScreenSelect dvd rental by post issue and now that my free period has crashed to an end I thought I'd for once keep my word. Over past sixteen days I've seen thirteen films and generally the service has been excellent. Only one of the discs has been skippy but I think that had more to do with the quality of the disc itself (a budget title to begin with). Some anomalies:

(1) Barring a slow post, its impossible to received new discs on a Monday. They don't yet work at the weekend which means that any discs sent back on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday should arrive on the Monday so the quickest replacements can be sent in Tuesday.

(2) I haven't had a premium title like SeaBiscuit yet. The newest release was Le Mepris but that's an oldish film anyway. I suspect I'm doing them a favour by listing lots of international cinema which might not be out as much. Although they're supposed to be working their way down my list it seems mostly random.

(3) Sometimes they'll have received a disc but don't send a new one until the next day or the day after which considering the size of my list, doesn't make any sense -- they can't all be out. But without any indication of how many subscribers they have I don't know that for sure.

But some pluses ...

(1) One of my first discs, The Gingerbread Man was lost in the post. After six days from their dispatch I was able to visit the site and tell them -- and they just sent another disc out straight away.

(2) The selection is massive and I'm yet to find something which I know is in release which isn't there. So there is always the temptation to add new things. They recommend a list of 30-50 titles. Mine is pushing eighty. But they're all films I really want to see so I'm not too upset that the new releases aren't showing up. Like a mini-IMDb you can look at an entire career in DVD which means you can catch up on all the things you've missed. So I'm in the midst of a mini-Gwyneth Paltrow season, Emma last week Duets tomorrow. It's also been a joy to finally see all that French new wave I've been missing all these years. Although it's not all gone to plan (check back tomorrow to see what I mean).

(3) It means that more often than not they're some good post for you amongst the bank statements and bills. And the system is really simple. The disc comes in a mini-caddy sans packaging, and with a bit of tooing and frowing the envelope it comes in becomes the return envelope. Magic.

So as the first ?14.99 drifts off my credit card, for now its all good. We'll if they can keep it up. No more going to the dvd shop and hiring something crap because its the only thing in....