Strikeout

My dear Netflix,

This week you and I are not seeing eye to eye. I'm not sure where we went wrong, but I think we both need to put the time in and work on making this relationship successful.

You recommended A History of Violence to me, so I got it. It came, the disc was cracked. I sent it back. You sent me a new one. It sat on the table for a week because I was feeling lukewarm about watching it. Yesterday I started to watch it. I didn't like it. It started weird, it was overly graphic, the characters were hard to identify with, and I knew it was only going to go downhill. I turned it off and today I'm sending it back. [cue the anonymous commenters who will not leave their actual name but still leave a comment telling me I'm crazy and this is the greatest movie ever and Viggo Mortensen is the greatest actor alive blah blah blah - though let me save you a little trouble. I really like Viggo. I'm a big fan of LOTR. I know he's talented. This movie just wasn't for me]

I put Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in my queue. I've already seen this movie and I already know it's not exactly award-winning, but I was reading something about it on imdb the other day and I talked myself into wanting to watch it again. I like Jude Law and Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow. I really WANT to like this movie. Plus, as I recall there's a miniature elephant in it that I'm pretty sure I would have for a pet if it actually existed. I was eager to pop this baby in and give it a second chance. The movie arrived yesterday, cracked. Two cracked DVDs in a row, Netflix? Where is the quality control? In fairness, I'm not sure if my beef is with you or my postman (who is already on my list after the whole Harry Potter debacle) but still. This is not cool. I was looking forward to watching this crazy blue screen fantasy land flick last night and instead I had to settle for the first part of that movie up there and then this:

Ratatouille. You recommended this, and I figured this was probably a safe bet. I hadn't been too excited about it in the theatre, but it's Pixar. I like Pixar a lot, as you well know based on my ratings. After A History of Violence didn't pan out I put this in, because I figured at least I could watch one movie I'd probably enjoy. I'm sorry to tell you that halfway through I left Houseguest watching it and I went into my room to read. I wasn't loving it. Try as I might I just can't get past the fact that it's a rat in a kitchen. That just doesn't say "cute Pixar movie about cooking" to me. It says, "kind of unsanitary, this rat is sort of a know-it-all jerk, and maybe they were trying too hard with this one". [I know, crazy internet people, it won an Oscar. But keep in mind The Simpsons Movie wasn't even nominated and that was WAY better - admit it, you know I'm right] We probably share the blame on this one, I just wanted you to know it was a let down.

So I guess what I'm trying to say, Netflix, is that we need to work on our communication. I will do a better job of researching and evaluating your recommendations, and you could probably work on making sure you're not sending out cracked discs that cause me to have to wait two extra days before I can watch a particular movie. Cause I gotta tell you, it's a pretty big disappointment to open up one of your bright red envelopes only to find that I have no way of watching the movie it contains.

Fondly,
Jessie

PS - Becoming Jane was excellent. Thanks for that one! That Anne Hathaway is pretty great, and James McAvoy isn't exactly hard to watch either. So you see, the magic is still there, we've just hit a rough patch!