Hey, look at me! I'm a writer! Saturday, March 08, 2008 District B13  One of the greatest, less appreciated values of Netflix is that it lets you experiment. Because the cost of the movies you're watching is spread out over the month, you don't find yourself wondering whether you've picked something worth the $5.75 (or whatever Blockbuster is charging these days). If you end up with a lemon (which I've done more than once), just return it -- of course, then you have to wait for the new disc to arrive, and that's always a bummer. There's now a way, however, to get rid of even that small annoyance: Netflix's new Watch Instantly service. If you use Netflix and haven't tried it, it's time. If you don't have Netflix, it's worth it for this feature alone. Download a simple extension to IE7, and boom: you're watching movies on your computer on demand. Truly the way things were meant to be. Up until recently, I've been using it mostly for known TV shows, either 30 Rock, when I'm watching with Sara, or old episodes of Columbo, if I'm doing housework. But last night, when faced with an hour or so before bed and no interest in any kind of entertainment that required my participation, I took a little gamble, and it paid off big time. Banlieue 13 (or District B13 in English translation) is eighty minutes of sweet, sweet action without any of the annoying love interest crap or useless sub-plots that American action directors seemed compelled to include. And if you're a fan of parkour, the acrobatic Jackie-Chan-like art form of the chase, then all the better. I'd like to say that I can't recommend this film too highly, but the fact is, I could do so pretty easily. The two male leads were almost certainly chosen for their parkour skills rather than their acting abilities, and the plot is about as conventional as the chase scenes are awesome. Even within the genre, these two gifted acrobat/athletes don't bring the kind of charm and wit to the action that Jackie manages so effortlessly. But if you've got a little under an hour and a half to waste some evening, and you're in the mood for formulaic fun, then I really, truly recommend this movie. Aw, geez, there I did it; I recommended it too highly. Please ignore. p.s. If you want to see what I'm talking about, but don't want to watch the whole movie, try this on for size. // posted by dug  @ 9:34 PM [link] [comments (2)]	This is Me. [*] Blogs I Visit: Defective Yeti Fanatical Apathy Apostropher OnReligion.Com Static Zombie This Modern World Where I Waste Time: Working For Change (great comics) Uselab - Acno's Energizer (darn that level 35!) Ironic Times My News Sources: National Public Radio (the show, not the site) On The Media (these shows I download) Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me The Onion (America's Finest News Source)
[*] Okay, no it's not. I found it somewhere in the Blogosphere.	...and a little .NET of my own design...