Web Sites Can Help Cut Through the Clutter at the Video Store

There is no worse feeling than going to a local video store and seeing rows and rows of movies without a clue as to what you should rent. It’s a bewildering, numbing experience leading to rash judgments or an entire night spent at the store. Thanks to vast databases of info online, though, the Web can help you make the decision in advance, and even let you buy or rent videos via home delivery.

There are a lot of video sellers online, but Reel.com (https://www.reel.com) takes the cake for nice design, great selection and even better editorial and matching features. The cyber-shop sells new and used videos from $4.99 and up (plus delivery and tax), with a good selection of laserdiscs and DVDs. You can also rent videos, but with the added cost and hassle of delivery, you might as well pay a few more bucks and buy.

Reel.com (now owned by Hollywood Video’s parent company) offers 85,000 movies but is strongest on art-house, classics and rare titles. Its hidden talent is helping you choose a movie. A Movie Match feature lets you look at a movie you like and see others that are similar. It doesn’t purport to read your mind or tastes (like moviecritic.com), instead relying on knowledgeable writers sifting through thousands of films. Under “Taxi Driver,” for instance, are close matches such as “Midnight Cowboy” with the apt comparison: “More poignant, less chilling tale of losers in seamy underworld.” Creative matches also include a brief line of explanation, making you feel like someone’s leading you through selections in a competent way.

Blockbuster Video has a home online (https://www.blockbuster.com), but it’s a graphic-heavy, plodding site. Its search engine is painfully slow.

For a broader view of the video world, check out OnVideo (https://www.onvideo.org), with release news, a free e-mail newsletter, a guide for kids’ titles, and resources to help you find and buy rare videos. The longer feature stories are well written, with recent ones featuring looks at Albert Brooks, film noir and the AFI’s Top 100 films list. Silent film fans should take a gander at the Silents Majority video page (https://www.mdle.com/ClassicFilms/FeaturedVideo), run by Diane MacIntyre of Santa Monica. There are amazingly detailed reviews and a thorough list of places to buy silent vids.

Of course, the Internet Movie Database (https://www.imdb.com), now owned by Amazon.com, is the best source for free movie information anywhere. Its vast database of more than 150,000 films covers just about everything released from the 1890s to the present--with previews of upcoming movies too.

One of the more fascinating studio-related sites is MGM’s Video Savant (https://www.mgm.com/savant/index.html). The Savant, a.k.a. Glenn Erickson, answers questions on a variety of topics that go beyond MGM/UA classics. His insightful answers turn into long-form essays on topics like the supposed munchkin suicide in “The Wizard of Oz” (impossible, he concludes), or editing “flubs” found in “Poltergeist” and “Singin’ in the Rain.” The site’s a great read for film buffs, and will have you really scrutinizing the movies you rent.

Mark Glaser is a San Francisco-based freelance writer and critic. You can reach him at [email protected].