Redbox DVD rental

Absolutely. But if you're in Miami and you're up for something off the wall, don't be surprised if it's shipped from Seattle and you get it six days later.

 

I think Redbox would be a good choice if there was a specific movie you wanted to see, you knew you were going to watch it that night and it was easy to return (i.e. on the way home). Otherwise, your normal movie rental places are probably a better bet in terms of selection and cost.

I use Blockbuster through the mail and really like it. I can skip the transit problem mentioned by Ben by dropping the movie off at a Blockbuster. Once they scan it like the rest of the returns, the system is instantly notified and the next movie starts out. I dropped off a movie last night and when I checked my queue this morning, it showed the next one as shipping out. When you return a movie to the Blockbuster, it can also serve as a coupon for a free non-new release.

Buck, I completely understand. But if you have a queue filled with movies you would like to see, you are going to have a movie you want lying around the house and you simply have to take it back to the mailbox.

 

My intention is to never set foot in Blockbuster again, and for new releases, Redbox is cool. If you want to watch North By Northwest, though, you'll have to find another way to do it.

 

NBN is widely available, remaindered, in the $5 range. As the towering Hitch effort of them all . . . well worth it.

 

Biggest problem with Netflix is you have to get the movie in the mail by Saturday's last pick-up if you want to get something to watch before Wednesday.

Redbox is good for movies you kinda wanted to see but didn't get around to seeing and for taking flyers on movies that didn't get a lot of marketing push. I rented Flawless with Michael Caine and Demi Moore and The Grand recently and enjoyed both. Flawless is a caper flick set at a 1960s diamond importer, The Grand is a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary set at a World Series of Poker -type event with obvious riffs on well-know poker players. Most of the dialogue is improvised by the cast (featuring Woody Harrelson, Judy Greer, Cheryl Hines, Dennis Farina, Richard Kind) David Cross, Chris Parnell, Ray Romano and German director Werner Herzog) so some of it is hit and miss but Parnell as an autisic poker player who talks about Dune and is extremely socially awkward and Herzog as "The German" who needs to kill an animal everyday for "the rush" are hilarious. Farina was also funny.

 

I get new releases when I take mine back.

Here's how mine generally works.
Monday: movie arrives. Watch it Monday night.
Tuesday: Return movie at store, check out another movie free. Next movie is shipped.
Wednesday: watch checked out movie.
Thursday: Movie arrives.

 

Redbox is a great service in conjunction with Netflix.

Netflix gives me the ability to rent just about whatever the hell I want and allows me to take a chance on a TV show I think I might like but want to try out first (aka Damages, Tru Calling, the Wire).

Redbox is a good way to get through the "transit days" for Netflix.

This is my usual renting schedule:

Thursday: Watch the 4 Netflix movies I got Tuesday
Saturday/Sunday: Usually finished with Netflix movies, send them out with the mail. Will rent from Redbox if I want to see something new.
Monday: Will rent from Redbox if I want to see something new
Tuesday: Get more Netflix movies.

 

When do you work?

The girlfriend likes new releases, so we use the Redbox. I'll pick it up on the way home, or on dinner break, and return it the next day.

 

I work pretty much all of my 40 hours between Monday-Wednesday, so that leaves me a decent amount of freetime Thursday-Sunday. It's also why I can't really watch anything from Tuesday-Thursday.

 

OR you could, you know, send the movies back one at a time so you always have something to watch.

If you get four movies, watch two, send them back, watch the next two the next day, and then you've got two more. You can do a whole rotation that way.

I only get one at a time, because I was ending up holding on to movies too long and it was costing me money.

 

Do not underestimate your local library. Mine has an excellent selection which frequently tides me over during Netflix-daunted periods like these. Picked up
Shoot Em Up last night, via this route. A cartoon, and further evidence of the dumbing down of America -- but apart from those minor flaws, frequently hilarious.

 

Well, the problem becomes that anything I send after Thursday at 6p.m. won't get sent until Friday at the earliest and therefore will arrive at Netflix on Saturday. They don't send movies out on Saturday, meaning I don't get shipped another flick until Monday and receive it on Tuesday.

It's a vicious cycle, but I don't mind. I have four fresh flicks in hand Thursday and four days really to watch them.