Recently Blinkbox contacted me asking if I’d like to review their service in exchange for film vouchers.* For those of you who don’t know, Blinkbox is a company which allows you to watch movies online, similar to Netflix or Love Film but works on a pay-as-you-go basis. The average film costs between 99p-£3.49 for a rental and you have thirty days to watch it. It’s a good idea, particularly for students who can’t really afford to pay a regular sum of money for a monthly service. So far I’ve watched two films and I’m planning to use my last voucher on ‘Come On Eileen’ in the next few days. The films I’ve already watched are:
Gambit
Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman.
An art curator decides to seek revenge on his abusive boss by conning him into buying a fake Monet, but his plan requires the help of an eccentric and unpredictable Texas rodeo queen.
My review
Rating: 3.5 Stars
When I saw the trailers for this I thought this could go one of two ways, either it would be amazingly pretentious, only appealing to hard core art fans, or it would be super patronising, assuming the audience didn’t know who Monet or Picasso were. But it wasn’t, it was a surprisingly pleasant blend and met perfectly in the middle. Colin Firth plays his usually bumbling fool, Alan Rickman has perfected the ‘scary authoritative man’ and Cameron Diaz… well, she’s something else in this. It was, to say the least, more than a little bit weird to hear a strong Texan accent come out of her. Convincing, just odd. Once you’d gotten over the general weirdness, Gambit does a fantastic job of showing the differences in culture between the US and Britain, in a both accurate and comedic way. With a complex enough storyline to keep you concentrating, but simple enough that your brain doesn’t hurt, this was a thoroughly entertaining way to spend two hours.
Ruby Sparks
Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan.
A novelist struggling with writer's block finds romance in a most unusual way: by creating a female character he thinks will love him, then willing her into existence.
My review
Rating: 3.5 Stars
With Jonathan Dayton directing (Little Miss Sunshine’s director, incidentally my favourite film ever) and Paul Dano starring I was expecting great things, I wasn't disappointed. Zoe Kazan’s character is great, the kind of girl you’d go for a drink with – and she, as an actress, is fantastic - but does have that irritating quirky cuteness quality; whereas Paul Dano nails the wonderfully awkward, tortured artist aspect of Calvin. I’ve only ever seen Paul Dano in Little Miss Sunshine previously, so I would be intrigued to see him play a character that is actually happy for once. This film has a fresh take on the idea of a ‘perfect woman,’ control in relationships and the power of the imagination, although it can be a little cliché at times. Overall, Ruby Spark is a beautifully crafted, feel-good film about a messed up boy and the girl that loves him. Overdone, perhaps. But definitely worth a re-watch.
The Service
I probably would use Blinkbox again, but I’d probably use it to browse through the 99p sections and find films I’d never heard of, instead of looking for a specific film. Although they have a wide range of films, £3.49 feels a little bit expensive for one rental, considering you can often buy DVDs for £3 or less, plus if it was a popular film it is quite likely that I could borrow a copy from a friend. If you’re a massive film buff and like slightly obscure films though, the choice is great, I can justify 99p on a film that I may or may not like.
There are two options, one is to download the film to your laptop/computer and the other is to stream it online. For my first two films I streamed it directly from the internet, I liked this method as I avoided long downloading times. However, if you’re internet is a bit slow it does sometimes take time to buffer, which can be quite irritating. Also when I accidentally refreshed the page during my Ruby Sparks viewing the film went back to the start of the film, instead of saving the place where I had watched, like services such as iplayer or 4od do. It’s a fantastic service, just I may choose to use it in a way that I wouldn't do if I subscribed to other similar companies.
Here's the link for you all:
http://www.blinkbox.com/movies
*I was gifted these vouchers courtesy of Blinkbox but I am not being paid for this post. All opinions are strictly my own.
