The American

[Travis Bickle]

Ol' Travis would hate being a malcontent if it weren't so damn satisfying. While I can't say I don't complain a lot I can say I don't complain a lot in print.

I had occasion to rent The American and got it home and watched it and found it to be a fine piece of work on many levels. Even the shiny "Rental" emblazoned on the disk was a work of art. As I often do with movies which fall into the fine piece of work category I decided to invest the time in watching Special Features, Bonus Features - call it what you will for this disk the film upon which George Clooney was a producer. Well if you rent this version of the disk you can save yourself the time of doing the above. All the disc allows you to do is see trailers and watch the film. The menu shows the usual deleted scenes, commentary and the making of, but when you select one of those menu items you will immediately and unequivocally be reminded the the makers of the disk consider renters to not be on par with buyers of DVD's. The message, in words to the effect of, "This disk is made for the rental market and doesn't include this selection. To view this selection the disk should be purchased." The might have added further, "Now go to the back of the line" to this.

It would seem that a company dealing in the renting of DVD's would not want it's customers to be made to feel not on par with those who buy DVD's perhaps even before they have had the chance to preview the film by renting it first. The word affront springs to my mind. Maybe I'm overly sensitive.

I hope the powers that be at Netflix read our screeds and take note. I'm not happy with the production people of this film and am a lot less likely to pay for a full version of this film and am also less than happy with George Clooney as a producer of The American since that makes him somewhat responsible. I like and respect Mr. Clooney and his work, but am still disappointed.

I gotta go.

[fushogun]

NOR is this even the first time that I've been annoyed to find that the Netflix DVD extras are missing from the DVD's. WHAT the F am I paying $15 a month for again??!!

[eviltimes]

Guys, I'm the last person at this website to stand up for Netflix, but I am 100% sure they have nothing to do with the "No Extras Rental" situation.  That is what the Owners of the movies have decided to do, starting about a year ago.  They want you to BUY the disc to get the extras. 

Simple, easy to understand.

Stupid, of course, since they are just pissing off potential customers.  But with disc sales plummeting they are desperate to make up the losses.

[Spindaddydad]

Yes, Its the same way wifh some redbox and blockbuster rentals too. If you like extras, buy the disc.

However more and more frequently, the studios are eliminating the extras even on full retail discs. As disc sales go down, their interest in spending money and time on extras also goes down.

[eviltimes]

And thus their self immolation is complete.