Movies | i am sarah kohl

TCM Falls Short with Streaming Video Service FilmStruck

December 6, 2016 / Sarah / 0 Comments

i-wanted-to-love-filmstruck-by-tcm-but-the-app-and-ux-are-terrible-sarah-kohl

I need to confess, before I signed up for FilmStruck I already had it in my head the kind of glowing review I was going to write. I was going to talk about how FilmStruck was going to run away with a bunch of Netflix customers, but then I created an account. I used my computer and while it wasn’t a horrible experience I did take note of the bulky join flow they had.

“That’s ok,” I told myself. “It’s just a join flow. Not everyone’s spent years optimizing those like me!” The selection was fantastic. [More]

Netflix is Officially More Expensive Than Amazon Prime

April 9, 2016 / Sarah / 10 Comments

netflix price increase means amazon prime is officially cheaper than netflix

Do you remember Netflix way back in the day? Before it was primarily a streaming service, their tiered plans revolved around how many disks a month you could order. You might also remember their marketing practices were horrible. They used misleading banner ads, hid the terms of your account billing, and made it so that no matter when in the billing cycle you canceled your account, your access was instantly shut off and you received no refunds. There goes that free month you got when you joined!

Yeah, for those of us who remember, Netflix has never actually been a, “good” company. [More]

Venture Brothers Season 6 Sponsored by NY State Taxpayers

February 4, 2016 / Sarah / 7 Comments

I love New York and I love the Venture Brothers. If you’re keeping up to date with the show (no spoilers) you might notice an image of New York State and some text fly by in the end credits. Most people probably wouldn’t know what it’s for, but after working for the local Economic Development Center I can spot those logos anywhere.

The Venture Brothers is just one of the many TV shows produced in New York, likely for some of our juicy film credits. The program known as Governor’s Office for Motion Picture & Television Development is part of the Empire State Development program. [More]

Get Your Money’s Worth From Amazon Prime

January 22, 2016 / Sarah / 3 Comments

I’ve had my Amazon account for 10 years. In that whole time, I’ve never subscribed for a Prime membership despite all of the tempting offers Amazon’s made. This year I caved. I finally needed something so soon that it made sense to get Prime, but not soon enough that buying next day shipping made sense. In agreeing to subscribe I decided I would make the most of my new Amazon Prime membership though and really make sure that I got my $100 worth of value from it.

Most people don’t really know all the benefits of Amazon Prime. [More]

Netflix New Terms of Service

January 10, 2016 / Sarah / 2 Comments

Some people may have noticed that Netflix released a new terms of service this week. When users logged onto their account, they were greeted with a message that essentially said, “agree or get lost.” I was going to put off reading the fantastic bit of literature, but thought I might as well sift through it to see what the changes were all about.

Of course, I found the typical garbage like agreeing to arbitration (your case has to be seen by a likely-biased mediator not a judge,) allowing your account to be terminated for any (or no) reason, agreeing that your personal information can be used for advertising, agreeing to your personal information being sold without notification, and Netflix absolving itself of liability should your personal information be stollen. [More]

January 7, 2016

“The man who pulls the lever, that breaks your neck will be a dispassionate man. And that dispassion is the very essence of justice. For justice delivered without dispassion, is always in danger of not being justice.” – Oswaldo Mobray, The Hateful Eight [More]

7 Movie Marathon of Star Wars

December 18, 2015 / Sarah / 5 Comments

Alright so you may or may not know I made the potentially foolish decision to get up at 1am this morning to head to a seven movie marathon of Star Wars in Rochester. There wasn’t reserved seating so of course I went early to get a good seat. I wasn’t looking forward to rewatching episodes 1 through 3 so I wanted a good napping spot. I have to say though, after seeing them again, they really weren’t that bad.

By episode 2 I have in and got myself my usual popcorn and ICEE and promptly stained my pants with butter flavored palm oil. [More]

Netflix Releases Adam Sandler’s The Ridiculous 6

December 13, 2015 / Sarah / 4 Comments

Adam Sandler’s latest movie was released on Netflix this weekend. The Ridiculous 6 was a fun family movie with countless actors, including my personal favorite, Steve Buscemi! The main characters were all recognizable even for me. There was Terry Crews (Herbert Love from Arrested Development,) Jorge Garcia (Hugo from Lost,) Taylor Lautner (Jacob from Twilight,) Rob Schneider (Deuce in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,) Luke Wilson (Joe from Idiocracy,) Will Forte (voice acting for everything ever,) Steve Zahn (Tucker in Dallas Buyers Club,) and well, I think you get the idea. [More]

‘Max’ on Playstation Version of Netflix

December 7, 2015 / Sarah / 2 Comments

I have been waiting a couple years to figure out if Netflix planned to introduce Max to the other Netflix interfaces, but it seems like he’s just stayed on the Playstation Network and I really have no idea why.

If you don’t have a Playstation and Netflix, let me fill you in. ‘Max’ is a interface much like “Face” that was on Nick Jr. back in the day with his goal to help you ‘Max’imize your Netflix experience. Max talks to you and asks you a number of questions to help you decide what you might want to watch. [More]

The Wolfpack Documentary

November 30, 2015 / Sarah / 4 Comments

Like most things I watch on Netflix, I wasn’t really sure what I was in store for when I started watching The Wolfpack on Netflix this evening. The documentary focuses on a family of seven children who spent the majority of their lives inside an apartment in New York City. Their only outlet to the world outside was movies.

I love movies and certainly learned about society and life from watching TV, but it was hard for me to imagine knowing nothing about the outside world other than what is captured in the movies. [More]

Shaun the Sheep Movie is Out

November 16, 2015 / Sarah / 2 Comments

This movie came out in theaters this summer and I may have forced my youngest sister to accompany me to the theater to watch it. I think she actually wanted to see Straight Outta Compton, but a) I had already seen it and b) these two movies are practically the same.

Shaun the Sheep is one of the spin-off movies from the world of Wallace and Gromit. If you don’t know Wallace and Gromit, well, there is no hope for you. I kid, I kid. Let me explain. Wallace and Gromit were created by Aardman Animations, an animation company out of Bristol, ya know, across the pond. [More]

Rochester Celebrating Marty McFly Day

October 22, 2015 / Sarah / 0 Comments

So yesterday was the day that Marty McFly went Back to the Future. You couldn’t miss the endless Facebook posts and Tweets. If you’re on Instagram, then you even saw the costumes and excitement there.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Rochester, NY. I love all of Western NY, but I do have a particular fondness for Rochester. It’s not flashy, it hardly ever makes lists like Best City to Live, Best City for Tech, or Best City to Raise a Family. I personally think that’s just because it’s one of the United States Best Kept Secrets. [More]