Saturday, October 24, 2009

Jason urges you all to put THE END on your Netflix queue

Back in Cinequest 2008, I saw this brilliant little no-budget thriller, and loved it (scroll down for my review). Since then I've been waiting for it to come to DVD. And just a couple days ago I got an e-mail from the director Jeremy Thomas announcing my wait is (almost) over. Cinequest is actually releasing it on their own DVD label (good for Cinequest!) No firm date yet, but could be early December (in time for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Solstice Festival/Festivus/whatever else you celebrate in winter)

But the size of the DVD release depends on pre-orders, and the best way to get pre-orders up is for more people to put it in their Netflix queue. So if you have a Netflix account, click here and click Save.

If you don't have a Netflix queue, then follow these instructions:
  1. Go to Netflix.com. (US residents only)
  2. Register for a free-trial.
  3. Pick a plan (one DVD at a time, 2 at a time, unlimited, etc.), and enter billing info.
  4. Click "Get Started"
  5. Click tab reading "Your Queue"
  6. Type "The End" in the Search Box in the upper right corner
  7. Click the second title (the one directed by Jeremy Thomas)
  8. (Optional) It would be great if you gave it a 5 star rating!
  9. Hit "Save" when the confirmation box comes up!
If enough of you do this, it'll get a bigger DVD release. So let's show 'em what my army can do!


Okay, enough of my shilling for others, let me talk a bit about my favorite subject--myself.

In my review I mentioned that I was telling everyone else at Cinequest to go see it. Well, a few of them took my advice and came back to me thanking me for recommending it. That was really cool. In fact, I realized that's what I want to do with this blog and all my movie watching/reviewing. I love it when someone sees a movie on my recommendation and comes back and tells me they liked it. In fact, I realized that is exactly what I want to do with this blog (how to do it is something I haven't figured out yet). So the reason I'm pushing you to see THE END is:
  • If you read my blog regularly I assume you're interested in strange, obscure, independent movies. And if that's the case, I think there's a good chance you'll like THE END.
  • You'll be helping a young independent filmmaker who I want to see succeed so he can make more movies that blow my mind.
  • I hope some of you who see it will let me (and more important, Jeremy Thomas--you can find his contact info at the film's website) know what you thought of it. Even if you hated it, and hate me for telling you to see it, go ahead and let me know (and tell all your enemies to see it out of spite)
Well, that's pretty much all I have to say. Other than re-posting my review from 2008:
...I ended the night with "The End". I am so grateful that I ran into Jeremy at the VIP party [earlier that night, where he convinced me to see his film instead of whatever else I was planning on], because this ended up possibly being my favorite film of Cinequest. Absolutely awesome. In this no-budget existential thriller/comedy Jeremy stars as Joseph Rickman, a schoolteacher with a legendary past. Years ago, he could see what no one else could see, and as a result saved a girl. Now he's got the same feeling again. Pulled by some force, he wanders into the woods and witnesses a shadowy figure lobotomizing lawn gnomes (yeah, and it hasn't gotten weird yet). Perhaps he's going crazy, and if it wasn't for his past, the local detective (and sister of the girl he saved way back when) would have him locked up. But she goes with it, at least for the time. And then...there's a huge freakin' twist, and I won't tell you what it is. This actually put me in a weird position, because for the rest of the festival I was telling people to see this movie and also telling them to not be afraid to walk out. You see, when the twist happens you'll know, and if you're not ready to follow the premise to well beyond it's logical conclusion, this movie will be painful for you. So just go ahead and walk out. And that's all I can tell you of the plot. I'll just tell you it's weird, it's original (although I could name a half dozen movies that employ some part of the twist, I haven't seen it handled quite like this), it's funny, and it's exciting. It keeps you guessing, and just when you think you know the next twist, something even stranger happens.

4 comments:

baceman007 said...

Done and done. I would also urge those of you who haven't looked into it to check out Netflix streaming on PS3, etc. A lot of movies that aren't available to be shipped to you in the mail end up in the instant streaming queue, and the PS3 is the best priced high end Blue-ray player, media server, and Netflix streaming device right now. Plus it plays games for those who care.

puppymeat said...

Thanks for the tip, baceman. Do you know if the PS3 can play foreign region DVDs? I confess I'm not even up enough on Blue-ray to know if there are region codes. But as someone who doesn't give a smelly, slimy turd about playing games but is interested in movies that aren't released in the U.S., the ability to play foreign DVDs/Blue-Ray Disks is vital.

baceman007 said...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091030065136AAWzsO0

These guys, well most of them, answer the question well. DVDs are very into the whole region code thing. So in short, no it can't. The Blueray stuff, especially the games, are usually not coded or coded as the DVD equivalent of region 0, but the ability to lock things down exists. The motion picture industry is still doing the equivalent of sending their old men out into the information sea to fight the tide of the modern age with, amongst other things, their region code boogie boards of fury. I'm 99% sure a hack is out there if I look hard enough. If I run across anything I'll post it. Funny how hard it is to play things you haven't stolen sometimes isn't it?

baceman007 said...

Also, older PS3's can run other operating systems like Linux. Linux has a very nice region code program that changes the region code of your internal drive called "regionset." I am not sure if this combnation works on the PS3, since I haven't had a need to try it out yet, but now I'm curious. My region free DVD player still works so...