Margin Call.....a dead cert!

Had the pleasure recently of, finally, getting to watch the 2010 documentary Inside Job. Cuttingly insightful and providing a hefty dose of concise information that filled the black hole that is my understanding of all things economic. More than that though it sparked real interest in what really happenedd during the 2008 economic crash and left me thinking that the whole story would make a cracking film. And as if by magic Hollywood were way ahead of the game and Margin Call was well on its way. Based on the events leading up to the historic collapse of wall street icon Lehman Brothers and staring some real heavy weights in Kevin Spacey and Jeremy Irons this was one of those rare films that I actually looked forward to seeing these days. And I was in no respect left disappointed, this is a real film in the vein, though not quite the level, of Glengarry Glen Ross or the Insider. Heavy on dialogue and atmosphere it's compelling from start to finish and provided a great balance of the bigger picture and the personal introspection of those involved. Irons deserves a special mention here too, another great performance of the lovable tyrant that he does so well.

A movie well worth watching.

Netflix > LoveFilms (so far at least)

It's one of those things that you can't determine the true value of something until you have something relevant to compare it to. Until this week I had been relatively content with my LoveFilm subscription, especially since they offered me their "instant" streaming only option, reducing my bill from just under a tenner to just under a fiver, happy days eh? I was never exactly blown away by the content but it was always good for sticking something on when hundreds of channels of Sky TV couldn't muster a single watchable programme. Plus it was convenient at least! Available to watch through the xbox, iPad and luckily my Sony Bravia TV (discovered entirely by accident I would add). The only real downside inexplicably being the significantly reduced content on these apps than through the desktop site.

Then along came the new kid on the block with all it's shiny sparkly new spangledness. I'm such a sucker for something new to try out. I have to download phone app updates daily incase there are some amazing new features to play with, even though normally there's nothing more than "improved stability" for an already stable app, but I still do it. Netflix wasn't immediately desirable though, probably because I assumed that LoveFilm, being well established in the UK and Ireland, would have the superior content. Plus the new kid was a whopping £1 a month more expensive. Cleverly, the Netflix UK site didn't allow browsing of their full content prior to sign up. Curiosity then got the better of me though, and by curiosity I obviously mean the offer of a one month free trial! So sign up I did and proceeded to populate all manner of devices with apps. Unlike LoveFilm, Netflix do have an iPhone app that allows streaming and what's more, if I am watching a film or TV show on my iPhone on my way home from work for example, I can pick up where I left off on the xbox, iPad or Laptop when I get home! Remarkably simple but genius and a great example of good user centred interaction design, LoveFilm take note.

When browsing the content it became immediately apparent that Netflix had another, and rather large, advantage over LoveFilm. TV series in their entirety. Again so simple that it makes you wonder why and how LoveFilm haven't already done it. And so there it was, the golden ticket, every episode of the Thick of It. What more would I want, that's worth the £5.99 a month right there. If content is king then Netflix just usurped an ageing monarch.

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