Universal Pictures VS LOVEFiLM: A Call to Arms

************ *********** PLEASE SEE MY UPDATE HERE ************** **********

Film fans, Lovefilm subscribers, the 'good' people at Universal Pictures.... what the flying f*ck is going on here?  I'm seriously pissed off and I'm not sure why it's taken me this long to explode but here it is: 

Since 2009 there has been a dispute between Lovefilm and Universal Pictures.  Lovefilm can't rent out any post-2009 Universal Pictures films.  This means just this month I cannot put Safe House, Wanderlust, Contraband or The Greatest Movie Ever Sold on my rental list.  I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!

Here's a list from Wikipedia of just some of the biggest and best releases that all us Lovefilm subscribers are unable to watch unless we fork out more for cinema tickets or buy the films on DVD or Blu-ray:

2009

Fast & Furious
The Soloist
Land of the Lost
Public Enemies
Brüno
Funny People
Inglourious Basterds
The Invention of Lying
Couples Retreat

2010

The Wolfman
Kick-Ass
Green Zone
Repo Men
Robin Hood
MacGruber
Get Him to the Greek
Despicable Me
Charlie St. Cloud
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Devil

2011

The Dilemma
Sanctum
The Adjustment Bureau
Paul
Hop
Fast Five
Bridesmaids
The Change-Up
Dream House
The Thing
Johnny English Reborn
Tower Heist

And here's five more to be concerned about in 2012!

American Reunion
Battleship
Snow White & the Huntsman
Ted
The Bourne Legacy  

Am I wrong or is that pretty serious?  It's f*cking ridiculous is what it is.  I don't want to move to Netflix or Blockbuster as I really like Lovefilm.  If you want to read a great write up of the similarities and differences between Lovefilm and Netflix, head to this article on Front Room Cinema.  If you want to see why Lovefilm are rated the number one online rental service in the UK, head here.

I still think Lovefilm have a brilliant service and apart from this dispute I have no complaints about them.  They have arranged some amazing free screenings and Q&A's with the likes of Joe Cornish, Paddy Considine, Anna Faris, Danny Boyle and many others.  I think they are excellent value for money and the website is easy to use and filled with great news, features and competitions.   But this dispute pisses me off.

I phoned up Lovefilm to put my investigative journalism skills to the test and the guy from customer services said he couldn't tell me when the dispute would end.  He did say that it was either to do with licensing deals and Universal having an exclusive deal with another rental company OR it might be to do with the prohibitive cost of rental copies from Universal.  But he said he didn't know.  I should have pushed him and demanded he put me on the phone with someone who could tell me otherwise I'd cancel then and there but really I'm a pussy cat and I guess my hard-ass journalistic technique isn't quite there yet.

Anyway I'm sure this is more Universal's fault than Lovefilm's.  Every other film company lets their films be rented out by Lovefilm, so why not Universal?  I remember when I worked at Blockbuster and there was a dispute with Warner Bros that lead to Blockbuster not stocking several of their releases including Training Day.  It got resolved in the end.  Don't know how.  Don't care how.  But it did.


So now I have sent an email to Universal Pictures and this is where you all come in!  Are any of you fine readers and my new 'brothers and sisters in arms' with Lovefilm?  If so, have you noticed this stupid, ridiculous dispute?  Of course you have, and though I'm sure most of us can afford the odd cinema visit or purchase of a DVD or Blu-ray, that's not the frigging point.  The point is that we're being screwed!  We should have access to Universal's films on Lovefilm and something needs to be done!

Here is the email I sent Universal:
....................................................................................................................................
Dear Sir/Madam

I would like to know why Universal Pictures films are not available through the Lovefilm online rental service.

Do you make your films prohibitively expensive compared to all the other studios whose films are available on Lovefilm?

OR

Are you binded by contracts with other rental services that rent Universal films?

OR is it neither of the above and if so what is the problem?

I pretty much watch all films through my Lovefilm subscription (approximately 20-25 per month) and have missed out on a huge number of your titles due to this.  I have still yet to see Robin Hood, Get Him to the Greek, Inglorious Basterds and countless others due to this problem.  I pay enough for my subscription to Lovefilm and therefore will not fork out more to go see your films at the cinema or buy them on DVD/Blu-ray.  I've noticed recently that I will also miss Contraband, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and Safe House.

In an age where piracy is so very easy and tempting for many a film fan, is it not desirable for you to convince us to pay for your films somehow.  I don't want to illegally download films and I haven't done so but why should I pay extra for your films when I pay £13.27 a month to Lovefilm?

I would greatly appreciate a response and an end to this dispute.

Kind regards

(your name here!)
................................................................................................................................
Now it's your turn!  Copy and paste this email, change whatever you want to make it your own personal email and send it to enquiriesuk@nbcuni.com  Let's bombard them and get a response!  I'm not going to let this drop.  Let's put some people power in action!  Let me know if you're with me on this.  Even if you're not with Lovefilm.  Join us!

************ *********** PLEASE SEE MY UPDATE HERE ************** **********

Films on a Plane, I can't complain

Travelling to New York on Virgin Atlantic has made me realise what I'm missing out on every time I've taken a Ryanair or Easyjet flight.  Endless Pepsi's and a huge list of films to choose from on demand to be watched on a little screen embedded in the chair in front of me.  Good times!  Never has seven hours on a plane flown (haha) by so quickly.  And that's coming from the world's most (understandably) nervous flyer. 


I had the choice of Drive, Tintin, The Ides of March, The Inbetweeners, The Skin I Live In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and many many others.  Some I'd already seen and many more I was desperate to see.  Having waited this long to see Drive, there was no way I was going to have it spoiled by interruptions from the pilot, a crappy small screen or one of the 31 students on board freaking out and requiring assistance.  Instead I went for films that I hadn't hyped out of all proportion and that would hopefully not lose much of their impact on a very small screen.  So on the way way to New York, here's what I watched and a short review:

Contagion (Steven Soderbergh, 2011)

Killing Oscar winning actresses left, right and centre is one way to make a story unpredictable and Soderbergh does his fair share here.  When a deadly virus sweeps the world, an ensemble of acting talent deal with the threat of infection in different ways.  Winslet tackles it head on, Paltrow just dies, Damon protects his daughter by locking her indoors and Law blogs about the possibilities of a cure.  Realistically creating the near-apocalypse and the government response but also finding time for quieter, sweeter moments as ordinary people struggle to survive, Soderbergh makes a pretty conventional movie that is both entertaining and engaging.

Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin, 2012)

Another indie with a bit of a non-ending (see also Like Crazy), this demands to be seen for Elizabeth Olsen’s brave and committed performance as a young girl, Martha, who is struggling to come to terms with her former life in a cult.  With a wonderfully non-linear narrative that flashes back and forth in time between Martha’s life in the cult and the time she spends later with her sister, it never feels confusing and finds consistently excellent ways to cross the time gap.  Olsen is perfect and the script is ambiguous in its portrayal of the leader and members of the cult and the more ‘normal’ characters that Martha ends up with.  Haunting and beautiful with great performances, the final scene might annoy even the most devoted indie fans of open endings.

Tower Heist (Brett Ratner, 2011)

Deeply average caper about the service workers in a tower block who are scammed out of their pensions by the rich bastard who lives at the top of the tower.  Rarely funny enough to warrant belly-laughs and not emotional enough to make you really care for the characters, it is predictable and mildly entertaining.  However it is a total waste of the talent (Stiller, Affleck, Alda, Sidibe) and a disappointing ‘come-back’ for Murphy.  At least while in New York we got to see the Trump tower which was used for the exterior shots of the building where the heist takes place.  So that was nice.

Then on the flight home I was too knackered to watch anything except Moneyball.  Great film but what a shame I wasted free access to all the other films I wanted to watch.  Overall what I have learnt is that if you are a nervous flyer, go with Virgin and enjoy all the cinematic fruits that they have to offer!

And is it me or do they not cut films for planes anymore? I thought they all had to be PG rated when shown on planes but this seems to no longer be the case or I just made that up in my head.  You decide...