Film Strip

This past weekend, my wife and I passed by our local Borders bookstore, and saw that they were having a store closing sale 20-40% off. I had heard about Borders recent bankrupcy filing and knew that they would be closing stores throughout the country, and I had finally stumbled upon a wonderful sale…or so I thought.

We turned the car around and raced into the parking lot. When we got into the store, it was bustling, but not crowded, and definitely not a madhouse. I then looked at the terms of the sale. Books – 20% off, Cookbooks – 10%, Games – 20%, DVD’s – 20%, Blu-Rays – 30%, Magazines – 40%, and so on. My initial excitement over this sale started to fade.

I could get all this stuff cheaper online.

It’s true, most of these items are roughly 30% off everyday at Amazon.com. There are many other online retailers that provide similar everyday discounts. All I could do was roam the store casually looking at items I wanted to buy, but holding off because I didn’t want to pay the extra $5 – 10 plus sales tax.

I then started thinking about the whole retail operation. From what little I understand about items like books, music, movies, games, and magazines, the retailers purchase them wholesale for roughly 30 – 40% off the cover price. Then then retailer turns around and sells for cover price to make a healthy profit. This is why most new books are “20% off” at many retailers. They know they need to push the new items, and what better way to do so than to give the customer a perceived “deal.”

I have no qualms with this system because that’s how it has worked for decades. You see, the retailer is doing us a huge service, and we should pay for that serv–

Wait. No, that’s not right.

They’re not doing us a service anymore. Someone on the Internet came along and provided a better business model that provides low costs to me, the consumer. Online retailers don’t have the overhead costs of running hundreds of stores across the country and can charge much less than cover price or MSRP (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price). I imagine these online retailers just have a huge warehouse like in Raiders of the Lost Ark, where my Walking Dead graphic novel gets pulled off the shelf next to the Ark of the Covenant and shipped to me free with Super Saver Shipping 🙂

I actually went in to Fry’s Electronics two weeks ago to purchase an Over-The-Air Antenna for my TV (we cancelled Cable remember), and they had employees handing out flyers explicitly stating that they would match any online price. I found that odd. Would they really match online prices? Sure enough, they matched the Amazon.com price for my antenna and I saved $30.

It’s actually a good business policy for them. Sure a lot of people will force them to match a ridiculous online price, but a lot more people won’t care, notice, or try, and they’ll make full profit off of those people. In essence, they’re catering to the Internet crowd, while not alienating the “regular” crowd. I don’t know how long that policy will keep them afloat, but it’s a decent strategy.

All that being said, why do I even go to retail store locations for my books, movies, and other media anymore? Last year, I made this post indicating my anger when a store offers to order me an item to pick up in the store later. What a stupid idea from a customer standpoint. I can easily stand there and order the same item on my phone and have it delivered to my house.

I know why I still go to stores. It’s a habit. When I have a little time to kill, I habitually go to Borders, Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy and browse. Like I used to. When I used to by a ton of movies, books, and magazines. Like a dummy. That was before I realized I didn’t need to “own” everything.

Unfortunately, now going to those stores just makes me angry. Books, movies, graphic novels, and video games can all be bought cheaper online. Magazine articles will be on they Internet in a few months when they publish the next issue. Sure it’s fun to hold, inspect, and “try-before-you-buy,” but really, with customer reviews, word of mouth, and personal interests, everything really is a click away online.

I was fooled by a Sale sign to go into a bookstore with hope and joy only to leave unhappy and unfulfilled. When all along I should’ve listened to my mother who once told me, “A sale’s never worth it unless it get’s to 50% off. And even then I try to wait till it’s 75%.”

Last week, a coworker and I were on the subject of movies, and he posed the question, “What are your top five movies from the last five years?”

My immediate follow-up was of course, “Five years back from today, or do you mean 2006 – 2010?” 🙂

“2006 – 2010.”

I said I needed a few minutes to gather my thoughts, and look up what came out in that time span, before I would get back to him. I of course checked my Rating History on IMDB. For those of you who do not know what the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) is, then you are missing out on winning any movie trivia contest ever. But on IMDB, you can rate movies from 1 – 10, and it saves those ratings on a big list in your profile (free to register and they never e-mail you stuff or sell your e-mail).

I had ten movies that I rated 10 over that time span, and about twenty more that I rated 9. Some surprised me with their ratings, but considering I usually rate the movie right after I watch it, my ratings don’t account for a movie holding up over time. That is, until I go back and realize the folly of my ways and update a few ratings.

I fiddled with a ranking system for these thirty-or-so movies, and knowing that what I like best might change from day to day, I decided on the following as my Top Five Movies From The Last Five Years.

1. Toy Story 3
2. WALL*E
3. No Country For Old Men
4. There Will Be Blood
5. Up

Now, I will say before you make too many quick judgements that I debated going back and forth between which movies entertained me the most and which movies were the best cinematic films, and I couldn’t decided and ultimately made an arbitrary list.

Looking back, of these movies, I’ve only seen Toy Story 3, No Country For Old Men, and There Will Be Blood one time each. WALL*E I’ve seen twice, and Up I’ve seen five or six times, once with the Director Commentary. So using that as a barometer, they may not be my favorite movies because I’ve watch Superbad at least eight times and I’ve watched Star Trek three time in the last three weeks. But that just means I like those movies, despite their flaws, and I’m not putting them up in my arbitrary definition of “Top” at this time.

In the past five years I can remember only one Oscar Race where I was on the edge of my seat, and that was between No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. These are such fantastic movies. Do I want to watch them every day? No. But I can still deem them great. Schindler’s List is an amazing movie, but I can only bring myself to watch it once every few years because of how powerful it is. Therefore, multiple watches does not make is “Top.”

But here’s the issue I wanted to highlight. My coworker’s biggest problem with my ranking was that I had three Pixar movies in my Top Five. He didn’t necessarily argue with Toy Story 3, but he did have problems with WALL*E and Up. Those who know me or have read my older blog posts know that my inclusion of three Pixar movies in my Top Five is not unusual. In my opinion, Pixar consistently creates the best movies out there. Hands down, no question.

There’s a reason Up and Toy Story 3 were nominated for Best Picture, and sooner or later a Pixar movie is going to win.

Well, it turns out this guy had not seen WALL*E or Up and had no basis for discounting them. I often forget that not everyone is a kid at heart like me, and people don’t all rush out to see the latest “kids” movies. (At least the ones that look good.)

Long story short, I stand by my decision to include three Pixar movies in my Top Five Movies of the Last Five Years. I personally admit to shedding a few tears at the end of Toy Story 3 (thankfully behind my hug 3D glasses), and I will fight anyone who challenges my doing so (with words, not fisticuffs).

Our Friday Blog segment “What’s Friday’s Entertainment” is back! Once again we will look at 1) What movies are coming out, 2) What movies are tops in the box office, 3) What DVD/Blu-Ray might be better, or 4) a Wildcard of my choosing.

So here we go!

1) What movies are coming out?

• Sucker Punch
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
• Miral (limted)

2) What’s tops at the box office?

1. Limitless
2. Rango
3. Battle: Los Angeles
4. The Lincoln Lawyer
5. Paul

3) What DVD/Blu-Ray might be better?

• Pan’s Labyrinth
• (Anything else)

4) Wildcard!

• March Madness

Last week was a no-brainer for watching the Wildcard! being the first weekend of March Madness. I enjoyed it, and I hope you did too. This weekend, it’s not so cut-and-dry. March Madness is still going on, but there aren’t as many underdogs, you’re office pool bracket has already been busted, and your team is probably already out of it. It’s still fun to watch, but as happens every year, we have such high hopes for the first weekend, and then those hopes are dashed.

Plus, two possibly decent movies come out this week in Sucker Punch and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. If you have kids, nieces, or nephews, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is probably your choice. Don’t worry though, it might be a fun movie. And as I always say, if you go into it with no expectations, it’s always better than you expected.

Sucker Punch is a different story, and I don’t know what to think of it. At first glance, it’s another Zach Snyder super-computer generated action movie like 300 and Watchmen before it, and as we found out in this previous comic strip, there will probably be a slow-motion sex scene filmed from the profile.

At another glance, this story sounds just like Pan’s Labyrinth. A young girl trapped in a bad situation where only her dreams and imaginations can help her escape. (Well, Pan’s Labyrinth mixed with Tank Girl.) If that’s all this is, and you’re over a certain age, you might be better off renting Pan’s Labyrinth. But if you’re under a certain age, and your holding out for that nude scene, by all means buy a ticket to Sucker Punch.

Summer Blockbusters can’t come soon enough.

Edit: Sucker Punch has been getting horrible reviews. I don’t usually buy into reviews right away, but I already had my reservations on this movie, and it is being tanked by critics. Buyer Beware!