DVD - Buy or Rent?

The way in which we consume media these days is drastically changing, I'm sure we're all aware of this. The internet not only offers us new ways of consuming media (be it downloading, youtube, streaming etc.) but it provides more quality and secure services too. Remember back in the day when you'd get spammed by those video rental services through the post? "Get a yearly subscription and get the first 10 videos for 99p!* *£59.99 thereafter, minimum of 100 in any given year"


Well these days DVD Rental is becoming bigger online, but due to stiff competition from many leading services, you can get great value for your money too. You can argue that legal downloading is the 'next big thing', or even pay-per-view TV, but I think that DVD Rental will be here for a while yet, especially given some of the deals currently available!

So which DVD Rental site is best, and who offers the best value for money? Well, it kind of all depends on how many DVDs you think you'll be able to get through in any given month. They're pretty much all the same in how quickly they send out the discs, and they're all pre-paid which is nice. All of the top players also offer different pay plans depending on your needs. It may be that you only want to take out one at a time, but want to have an unlimited amount of times you can do it that month.. or you may want to take out two at a time but be limited to 6 in any given month.. it's really up to you!

LoveFilm was the very first service and offers over 65 thousand titles. That makes it the largest online service and offering pretty much every single DVD there is - nice! They were also the first to offer game rentals - and with some of the prices on new next gen games that's not too bad a service. Their engine also powers some of the other services out there (such as Tesco).


Aside from Lovefilm, it appears that the other big hitters are as follows:

Blockbuster
Amazon
Tesco

Blockbuster are always going to be big due to their history, but massive companies such as Amazon can really afford to offer value for money.

Personally I don't think I can see myself using these services anytime soon. It's not that I don't trust them or that I'm lazy, it's more that I have a weakness for owning films that I love. If I really love a certain director or particular film I'd like to always have it and share it with friends. Although thinking about it, maybe this is just the way to be more experimental in your film choices. Why worry about a film being rubbish if you can return it immediately? Screw it, maybe I will sign up afterall!

INLAND EMPIRE Special Edition DVD

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very pleased to announce that I have just purchased the INLAND EMPIRE 2 Disc DVD which came out yesterday!

Now it may seem strange me urging you all to buy this given that I haven't even seen it yet, but I do know that David Lynch is a twisted genius, and I do know that this film will mess with my head in a very disturbing, yet strangely beautiful way. It's been compared most to Mulholland Drive which is my favourite of his films by far, and I also sat through Eraserhead in its entirety so I'm sure I can handle this.


Surprisingly it's going really cheap, just £10.99 from all the major internet retailers. HMV have some sort of special art card exclusive which looks cool, but I went with the Play one as it came with a free poster too - sweet! Plus.. if I'm pushed I'll probably choose Play over HMV anyway, as they've been consistently reliable to me over the years.

Interestingly this DVD actually has some special features! You may know that Lynch is remarkably lax on his previous DVD releases, so this comes as good news. It's mainly interviews with Lynch himself which cheers me up no end - the man is fascinating to watch! He comes out with the most delightfully dark and bizarre concepts, and yet all the while he has a kind of underlying cheekiness to him, kind of like a naughty schoolboy, and like it's all one big in-joke. I'm never sure with him if he is in fact aware of all the different layers and symbolism in his films, or whether he is just some massive weirdo creating nonsensical (yet brilliant) films. I've always found with films like these (Eraserhead/Lost Highway/Mulholland Drive - even Twin Peaks to an extent) that plot doesn't really matter at all. It's all about the feeling and the mood. And when it comes to mood, Lynch is an absolute masterclass.


I wish I could have seen this film at the cinema, but then again maybe it'll be all the better for watching it at home in the dark, alone, with distorted Lynchian noise pummeling me from my home stereo.. man I can't wait!

- Jimmy