Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Outrageously Expensive

I like to stock up on DVDs and watch movies at home at my leisure and as many times as I desire. Being able to take various breaks in the middle, among other conveniences, certainly makes my private "cinema" more attractive, and less expensive, than going to the movies. And now, I'm a member of a "movie club" here in Shiloh.

Another neighbor's brother has been buying us more movies for our collection. Most movies cost $10 and less, but recently, he reported back that some of them cost more than ten times as much!

I had been looking forward to seeing The Turning Point, but it's so over our budget that it would only pay if we were a "for profit" cinema group with a hundred or more members. Another movie in the "much too expensive" category is Separate But Equal. Another movie classic which is hard to find in DVD at a reasonable price is The African Queen.

We're just a dozen or so neighbors who get together.

2 comments:

Keli Ata said...

I don't have a DVD player and had no idea DVDs were that expensive.

Maybe your group could sign up for Netflix--an online service for about $4.99 a month you can rent DVDs--they're mailed to you--and you can keep them as long as you want. When you want to rent more DVDs you just send back the DVDs you have. The provide pre-paid envelopes to return them.

My sister uses Netflix and it's pretty cool and very reliable. I don't know if they mail DVDs outside of the US, though. It might be worth looking into.

www.netflix.com

Also, I read about an Israeli type Netflix online home delivery unlimited DVD rental service here:

http://dvdyashir.co.il/

From what I read in an English blog it's about 19 skekels for the first month and 59 after that. But it's for an unlimited amount of DVDs, I think.

Unlike Netflix it's mostly older movies not more current releases.

As for me? I don't have cable or satellite TV and going to the movies is outside my budget and I haven't gotten a DVD player yet. My VCR is still in working condition. The local BlockBluster video closed so now if I want to watch movies I rent older ones from the library--for free.

Batya said...

keli, I usually buy movies on DVD for $10 or less, both here and New York. I must weed through our videos, since old videos can damage the vcr. And they take up much more space.

I also lend and borrow from friends. On occassion it seems like I lose track and a dvd seems to be missing, but compared the the expense of a one-time cinema ticket... it's a bargain.

Our movie club is a good way to socialize. It was the initiative of an older man who moved into an apartment in his son's home.