Crossing the Line
I was a Netflix user for quite some time. They were the first to come up with the novel idea of offering movies for rent by mail, and I liked it. They had a great selection, no late fees, and they were very reliable. Then, Blockbuster jumped on the bandwagon and I switched. Why?
Simple. Blockbuster allowed me to rent movies by mail and return them to my local store where I could check out another at no additional charge. Assuming I watched a movie every night, I was seldom left without anything to watch and I could see (on average) about 20 movies each month. Given that the fee is about $20 per month, that works out to $1 per movie, which is a significant savings!
But recently, Blockbuster has changed the rules.
Now, I only get five free return rentals per month. Anything over that limit, I have to pay regular price for (as I suddenly found out today). Once again, corporate greed has won out over customer service. I just hope that enough people take offense to this that Blockbuster is prompted to remember the old adage, "The customer is always right." Gas prices being what they are, I don't know if the trek to my local store is worth it for only five free rentals, and if that's the case, I may as well go back to Netflix (which is about $4 cheaper).
I also take issues with the Youth Restricted Viewing labels that Blockbuster puts on their videos. Blockbuster puts a special label on the packaging of certain DVDs that reads, "Youth Restricted Product: Parental Permission Recommended."
Now, I don't have children, and I'm not offended by nearly anything I see on the screen, so it's a small nitpick, but I want to know what yo-yo is in charge of deciding what gets a YRV label.
I recently rented Monster, a horror film that fictionalized a reason for the 2005 earthquake in Tokyo. The movie was largely a rip-off 0f Cloverfield and otherwise forgettable, but that isn't the point. It carried a Youth-Restricted label. This film had relatively little blood, no nudity, and only a few instances of questionable language. It could have run on network television with no editing! The only really questionable material was the fact that the camera often spent a lot of time pointed at the actresses' cleavage!
Now in that same batch, I rented Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane, a zombie flick that is filled with plenty of blood and gore, with zombies being shot, beaten, and stabbed as they devour hapless passengers on an intercontinental flight. Guess what... no YRV label! This film had throats being ripped out, people getting shot in the head, sexual content, and people being pulled apart by zombies!
And yet season 2 of the blockbuster NBC series Heroes has a YRV label on it!
What is the criteria, and does the idiot assigning these labels even watch the films? I think not! If I were a parent, I'd be pretty upset (though in all fairness, any parent that would let their kids watch whatever they wish without at least reading the synopsis on the box is a moron)!
If Blockbuster will let me have unlimited free rentals for life (including online), I'll happily watch anything they have available and determine (accurately) what deserves a Youth-Restricted label, according to whatever guidlelines they want to set (as long as they provide me with some).
Simple. Blockbuster allowed me to rent movies by mail and return them to my local store where I could check out another at no additional charge. Assuming I watched a movie every night, I was seldom left without anything to watch and I could see (on average) about 20 movies each month. Given that the fee is about $20 per month, that works out to $1 per movie, which is a significant savings!
But recently, Blockbuster has changed the rules.
Now, I only get five free return rentals per month. Anything over that limit, I have to pay regular price for (as I suddenly found out today). Once again, corporate greed has won out over customer service. I just hope that enough people take offense to this that Blockbuster is prompted to remember the old adage, "The customer is always right." Gas prices being what they are, I don't know if the trek to my local store is worth it for only five free rentals, and if that's the case, I may as well go back to Netflix (which is about $4 cheaper).
I also take issues with the Youth Restricted Viewing labels that Blockbuster puts on their videos. Blockbuster puts a special label on the packaging of certain DVDs that reads, "Youth Restricted Product: Parental Permission Recommended."
Now, I don't have children, and I'm not offended by nearly anything I see on the screen, so it's a small nitpick, but I want to know what yo-yo is in charge of deciding what gets a YRV label.
I recently rented Monster, a horror film that fictionalized a reason for the 2005 earthquake in Tokyo. The movie was largely a rip-off 0f Cloverfield and otherwise forgettable, but that isn't the point. It carried a Youth-Restricted label. This film had relatively little blood, no nudity, and only a few instances of questionable language. It could have run on network television with no editing! The only really questionable material was the fact that the camera often spent a lot of time pointed at the actresses' cleavage!
Now in that same batch, I rented Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane, a zombie flick that is filled with plenty of blood and gore, with zombies being shot, beaten, and stabbed as they devour hapless passengers on an intercontinental flight. Guess what... no YRV label! This film had throats being ripped out, people getting shot in the head, sexual content, and people being pulled apart by zombies!
And yet season 2 of the blockbuster NBC series Heroes has a YRV label on it!
What is the criteria, and does the idiot assigning these labels even watch the films? I think not! If I were a parent, I'd be pretty upset (though in all fairness, any parent that would let their kids watch whatever they wish without at least reading the synopsis on the box is a moron)!
If Blockbuster will let me have unlimited free rentals for life (including online), I'll happily watch anything they have available and determine (accurately) what deserves a Youth-Restricted label, according to whatever guidlelines they want to set (as long as they provide me with some).