A letter to Netflix

Dear Netflix: You say you have the Ingrid Bergman version of Gaslight, but you don't. You have the Diana Wynyard version from four years before. Please fix this on your Web site so other people aren't hoodwinked.

(This means part three of The Triple Crowners will be somewhat delayed. In the meantime, catch up with parts one and two.)

Netflix by zip

It's been rough for Netflix lately. Subscriptions are down, its stock price tanked (I sold last year, phew) and its Web site was out of commission for most of the past 24 hours.

Yet I continue to subscribe. One of the enjoyable features of Netflix.com is Local Favorites, however unscientific or rigged it may be. You can search top rentals per zip code (although it's really by city, as you'll see if you target different zips in the same city). For whatever reason, I get a kick out of it. I think one's taste in movies says more about a person than most anything else -- one of my first questions upon meeting someone is "What's your favorite movie?" and I never take "I don't have a favorite..." as an answer -- so I delight in discovering the top rentals for certain neighborhoods of the country. Some seem a little obvious, though...

The top three rentals in my current zip of 20009 in the Adams Morgan 'hood of D.C.? The War Room, Our Brand Is Crisis and Primary Colors.

The top rental in my old zip of 10128 on the Upper East Side? Old Acquaintance (the 1943 Bette Davis movie based on the John Van Druten play that is currently revived on Broadway with Harriet Harris), Talk Radio (whose stage version just finished a run on Broadway) and the eight-disc series New York.

Savannah's watching Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Chicago has Northside 777 at the top of its collective queue. The top rental in my hometown of Buffalo, N.Y.? Buffalo '66. It's all too obvious, right? Not if you go to spots two and three on the Buffalo list: The Caine Mutiny and Angels in the Outfield.

Let's play a game! Here are five cities: Beverly Hills (90210). Corpus Christi, Texas (78407). Charleston, W. Va. (25312). Cheyenne, Wyo. (82001). Brunswick, Maine (04011). Below are five sets of top-three movies. Match the city to the corresponding top three. Not as easy now, is it? Answers in the comments section.

Naked Lunch, Life as a House, S.W.A.T. = A schizoid taste in cinema -- Cronenberg, Kleenex and Colin?
Avenue Montaigne, Wordplay, All the President's Men = A hotbed of cultured urbanity venerating the art of words and the word of art.
Stargate Atlantis: Season 2, The Rundown, Fingersmith = Home to nerds, wrestling fans and appreciators of lesbian-tinged British serial television.
Thoroughly Modern Millie, Ella Enchanted, Practical Magic = A town obsessed with fantasies both earthly and supernatural.
Double Jeopardy, History of the World: Part I, One Night with the King = These folks are watching Ashley Judd thrillers, Mel Brooks and the coming of age of Esther, Queen of Persia.

Way to piss off a legion of movielovers

The Weinsteins made a deal with Blockbuster Friday. A bad deal. Bad for us, anyway. Starting Jan. 1, all Weinstein Co. films will be rentable only via Blockbuster stores and their mail-rental service. The great appeal of Netflix -- which I assume is infinitely more popular than Blockbuster's equivalent -- is that you can get any movie. Not anymore. Not until 2010, at least. From the press release:

In exchange for exclusivity, Blockbuster will pay TWC a minimum guarantee, determined by box office performance, for each theatrical picture, and based on the acquisition or production costs for each DTV title. ... Blockbuster plans to showcase the TWC movies in special sections in its stores and online. It will also offer customers the TWC movies under its in-store guaranteed availability program, which guarantees customers that select movies will be in-stock or they get a “rain-check” free rental coupon for that movie. Blockbuster also plans to share general trending information with TWC, such as the types of movies and actors the Blockbuster consumer would like to see more of, which could provide valuable insights for future film projects.

This is horrifying and annoying. It's like the movie rental industry has gone fascist. Doesn't this tread on anti-trust laws? If not, it should. I'm certainly not starting a Blockbuster membership in addition to Netflix. So I guess it's Splitsville for me and the mishpuka Weinsteins, even though they are distributing the year's best film thusfar.