Friday, June 12, 2009

netflix history

i am morbidly drawn to actually rent and watch at least one of the films by the Antichrist Duo of Filmmaking, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.

these guys are known for Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans, and Disaster Movie - if you've seen a commercial or trailer for any of these movies i don't think i have to explain why they are satan's offal splattered on celluloid.

don't get me wrong; back in the college days with my friends i ran through countless bad movies (Dolemite , Death Race 3000, any Van Damme movie, etc.) that provided hilarious entertainment, even if that wasn't the original intent of the people involved in their production. these Friedber / Seltzer vehicles, though, seem different in a disturbingly bad way - as if they're scraping the ultimate in lazy writing and directing, devoid of any real personality.



so i already know they're bad by reputation, why would i want to watch one? basically because i feel compelled to know just how bad they are - i suspect that secondhand accounts from friends and others who have seen them will not quite convey the full impact of having personally experienced one of the films.

problem is back in the old Blockbuster days i could have just waltzed in and picked up a copy of one of the films and, if given an askance look by the clerk, calmly explain why i was paying good money to watch an encapsulated reflection on the decline of civilization.

but now i live in the Netflix era where any rental is indelibly marked on your rental history for all time - sure i could rate the movie 1 star but someone perusing my history might be left wondering if the rental was a snarky hipster affair from the beginning or if i had been earnestly seeking a hilarious good time but was left disappointed due to my seemingly terrible taste in movies. not sure if i can risk my online reputation in such a way among the powerful, anonymous internet elite.

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