Newspaper Page Text
NEWS OF ATHENS' CINEMA SCENE
Who's Really Sorry?: Last week, when a long
and strange email of "apology" from Netflix
CEO Reed Hastings appeared in my inbox,
I read it, as undoubtedly did millions of my
fellow subscribers to Hastings' service, with
a mixture of bemusement and indignation.
Was this guy really going to strike the pose of
delivering a humble "mea culpa" for the insen
sitive manner in which he had announced
his company's arrogantly prodigious recent
price hike as cover for the announcement of
a convenience-diminishing restructuring of
said company? Yes, he was. Just as Netflix was
implementing the 60 percent price increase
(for some subscription plans) that had cost
it about a million subscribers, it was also jet
tisoning its DVD delivery business to a new
subsidiary called Qwikster, whose custom
ers would have to maintain separate online
"queues" from Netflix's, which would become
an online streaming-only business.
hand, Criterion's February streaming deal with
Hulu has meant that some 600 foreign and
art-house titles—many of them unavailable
on DVD—are offered for instant viewing, on a
dedicated page, to those who can afford the
company's $7.99-per-month subscription fee.
But at the same time, Netflix (soon to become
Quikster), which retains the rights to Criterion
DVDs, no longer offers all the company's titles
to its subscribers in that format.
DVDs—and especially Blu-ray discs—
provide a far higher-quality viewing experience
than streaming, and people who care about
that will always demand a "hard" delivery
format. But if Netflix isn't going to offer
new Criterion editions of films like Jean-Pierre
Melville's Leon Morin, Priest. Satyajit Ray's The
Music Room or Jonathan Demme's Something
Wild—to say nothing of smaller-label titles
like Shout! Factory's recent reissue of Alan
Rudolph's brilliant 1985 Trouble in Mind— then
Senna, a new documentary about Formula One champion Aryton Senna da Silva, opens Sept. 30 at Cine.
It was tempting to presume, when the
rate increase was announced, that it signaled
Netflix's hubristic self-assurance that, having
trounced its brick-and-mortar forerunners,
it was now the only game in town. But the
picture looks a bit clearer now: anticipating
a massive shift in customer demand for video
delivery to streaming, the company is reposi
tioning itself for survival in a market that's
barely begun to take shape. The recent news
that Starz will not renew its deal to provide
streaming content to Netflix (bolting, it is
rumored, to Blockbuster's new subscription
service), as well as Netflix's reported new
agreements with DreamWorks Animation and
Discovery, give some inkling of what that new
market will look like. With companies like Hulu
Plus, Apple, Amazon and Vudu competing for
content, customers may find themselves with
some difficult choices to make.
So, what does all this mean for cine
philes? Well, it's complicated. Many of us
signed up with Netflix because it had practi
cally every DVD available (though Hastings'
claim that "nearly every movie ever made is
published on DVD" is hysterically inaccurate),
which local video stores, while still invalu
able resources, simply couldn't claim. The
shifting of priorities from DVD delivery to
streaming has produced decidedly mixed, and
often confusing results; this year's develop
ments surrounding The Criterion Collection
serve as an interesting case in point. On one
who will? Certainly not Blockbuster. Yet it's
hard to imagine, especially in the current
economy, that specialty DVD labels can get by
without making their releases available to the
many customers who can't afford to buy them
outright. Perhaps this presents an opportunity
for independent video stores to get back into
the game, though that's probably a viable
proposition mainly in dense urban centers.
Maybe we'll see the rise of an iiber-Facet's
Multimedia-style DVD subscription service
as competition fosters increasing specializa
tion among market participants. Whatever
happens, it's clear that the Utopian promise
of a technological age that offers easy access
to all the riches of film history is a long way
from being fulfilled, if it ever will be.
The Rest of It: Coming up Tuesday, Oct. 11,
don't miss the next installment in Cine's
Director Spotlight series: Wpody Allen's
Manhattan (my personal favorite of Allen's
films), which will be introduced by Richard
Neupert, director of UGA's film studies pro
gram. For details, go to www.athenscine.
com... The Thursday, Sept. 29 ICE-Vision
series screening is Vera Chytilova's surreal
1966 Czech film Daisies, at 8 p.m. in Room
S150 of UGA's Lamar Dodd School of Art. Go to
www.ideasforcreativeexploration.com or find
ICE-Vision on Facebook to learn more.
Dave Marr film@flagpole com
A GOOD I*Uf;*
lmiiV/f
ViVA!
2270 Barnett Shook Rd • 706-850-8284
CCD C3KG0
HAND ROLLED EMPANADAS
ARGENTINE CHEESESTEAK
HAND-CUT GRILLED STEAKS
WITH CHIM1CHURRI
GABY’S ATOMIC CUPCAKES
& MORE!
CHOW TO SIESTA!
Ttie-Wed 11 am-9pm • Thu-Sat 11 am-1 Opm
Sunday 11 am-9pm • Closed Mondays
Delivery Available Through orderbuUdawgfood.com
‘.TVv-'
HAPPY HOUR
M-F 2-8
S 1 PBR & HIGH LIFE
s 2 DOMESTIC BOTTLES
s 3 CALL SHOTS
Flight
tapas and bar
TUESDAYS
Half Price Bottles
of Wine
WEDNESDAYS
Live Jazz with Mary Sigalas
8pm
$4 Premium Martinis
THURSDAYS
$2 Terrapins
9/29 Boy Mystic
(Ptiillip Brantley of Modern Skirts)
SUNDAYS
Brunch 11am-10pm
706-549-0200
225 N. Lumpkin St. • Downtown
★ ★★★★ ★★★★
kkkk it irk if ★
> (■■*> <««> <■*»
BRfflDJW EinSQM
DO# CKEA81E
•GUffPiNG AND untStY ENTHIAU1NC
scott ntOMAS o amazing
i 'VROfOUNO
I and rowttru*
SARAH'S
WWW.ATHEHSCINE.COM 706.353.3343
234 W. HANCOCK AVE DOWNTOWN ATHENS
UGA Students and Staff,
Need to find your nearest
Recycle Bin on campus?
There’s an
App for that...
WeRecycle
is available now on
the Android Market
(and coming soon for
WeRecycle is in a national
competition called
Apps for the
so show your UGA spirit and
vote by October 7!
http: appsfOftheenvironment.challenge.gov
submissions 4642-werecycle
WeRecycle was co-developed by
UGA professors in the Faculty of
Engineering with a grant from the
Environmental Research and Education Foundation.
This ad was donated by GoodWorld Cleaning Servic
MEXICAN RESTAURANT
100% Authentic Mexican
and Now Serving California Style American Food
BREAKFAST ALL DAY - HAMBURGERS • SANDWICHES • SALAD
Try our Athens Burger
20% OFF ANY FOOD ITEM
WITH COUPON
MonThurv only • limit one per Utile • Not rabd with lunch specUt
Expires 10.5/11
400 Hawthorne Ave., Sle 12 • 706-353-8557
■
SEPTEMBER 28, 2011 FLAGPOLE.COM 13
