Ahh. It’s Friday night. Let’s stay in and watch a movie. We’ll get take out, settle into some comfy chairs in the family room and enjoy family time together, for which the room is named. I love a room that lives up to its name. And we love this night together, my two boys and hubby. We don’t get to do it as often as we like because of sports schedules or social conflicts, but when it happens, it’s bliss. However, the tranquility of the evening comes to a screeching halt, like a Got-Milk? moment with this simple statement: Which movie?
In a house-ratio of three guys to one gal, movie selection is a problem. Of course the minority, me, must always settle. Any attempt to “win” is futile, even If I try to pass off the word “devil” as a possible, as in “The Devil Wears Prada”. Something about the high heel on the cover blows its cover for them. I’m pushing for “True Grit” but cowboys can’t cut it anymore than the devil in spiked heels.
Instead, it’s all about the Star Warsy/Sci-Fi/Explosion/Bash-and-Crash stuff. For the good of the family, I can work with an Iron Man (love Robert Downey Jr.) or Get Smart (Steve Carell, yay!). It really comes down to the boys wheeling and dealing as long as it’s not a rated G for Gore and Ghouls for mom’s sake. I can’t take spooks or slaughter any more than they can take fashion and passion.
In the old days, the battle took place at the video store. We roshambo or cut deals to get the movie of choice, right in the aisle. “Come on…you can have the next two movie picks if I can have mine tonight.” A lot of great options existed then, a fight worth fighting. Then videos turned into DVDs, same argument different delivery. And now, the simple caustic days are over. The neighborhood brick-and-mortar option is extinct; Blockbuster is a goner.
Netflix is the next best option. It delivers movies to the home. This is a fine deal when your kids are very young and you are happy to re-watch features from the 60s, 70s and some 80s. Kid-flicks are particularly easy to get. Any more sophisticated and well, those movies you’ve never heard of are as available as air. No current box office hits! We make the best of the worst movie choices. And on the DVD plan, we wait for the cherry red envelopes to arrive in our mailbox. It’s like the Oscars at home, “the envelope please” and we open to see what we will be watching that night. If we didn’t order in time or the disc is broken, we are more stuck than watching a movie of little interest.
Now, Netflix’s streaming technology gets us around the local Blockbuster shut down and snail-mail snafu. We can get a movie immediately, but it’s the same problem, the movie choices stink. It’s like a lackluster political election, choosing the lesser of two evils. Who wants to fight over movie scraps?
Our new Internet service, ATT, links us to more services like Netflix with the same bad movie selections, just faster. It appears there is a bigger fight over movies on a much bigger playing field. Hollywood is very choosy about who shows their winners. “And the privilege goes to….Xbox!” Lucky for my guys, and now me, we have one even if I’m not a big fan. The little black box is stuffed with Oscar-worthy films, real choices!
Xbox is a gaming system and most boys aged 5-55 know all about it. (All-girl families may not be aware of this fascinating fact.) For the record, I hate it. It’s like the bad guys from the biggest movie blockbusters live in it and cast a powerful spell over my boys. The gaming part draws them in like “Precious”, the evil golden ring from The Lord of the Rings. Once connected, the Death Eaters from Harry Potter slither out and suck the life from my boys; they come out hollow and lifeless.
Xbox is very powerful. Microsoft owns it for starters, hence the movie collection coup. They’ve got flash, cash and muscle, serious roshambo skill. Since Hollywood stuffed itself into this multi-talented contraption, we can watch movies we want to watch, no hassle. Except the hassle we expect: Which GREAT movie are we going to battle over before we settle in as a loving family on a Friday night?
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