Right now on Aro Vision!

Sounds good!

Right now, at least while I’m typing the start of this newsletter, I am watching the movie Alone. I am alone, while I’m watching it. I’ll often write a blog-post (for Off The Tracks) or do some work-admin or life-admin or write an edition of Sounds Good! while watching a movie. I’ll stop to watch the important bits; I’ll watch it again in full concentration – if I need to. It might end up taking me a whole lot longer to write the thing I’m writing because I’m also watching something – but it’s a pattern I’ve fallen into, and I like it.

I don’t always do it. I don’t need to do it. Though there’s a multi-tasking aspect to it that I will – sometimes – feel a bit self-congratulatory about. Sometimes…

So why am I choosing to share this trivial detail with you?

Well, I missed the movie Alone when I had the chance to screen it – and I’ve heard good things about it. And I’m watching it right now as my debut selection from the fairly newly launched Aro Vision platform – an on-demand service brought to us by the good folk of Aro Video.

I’m lucky to live right around the corner from one of the last video stores standing – I signed up to their Patreon deal where I get unlimited rentals for a one-off monthly fee. I feel very good about this, not just for supporting a local business, but also because it keeps the Video Store Dream alive. My taste was formed on the floor of a handful of key video stores. And I appreciate the dig the way a vinyl junkie in a documentary about DJing will also tell you that he/she appreciates the dig…

As a horror-movie fan there is no better place to go than a video store. And I say that as someone that has tried out the online service, Shudder. I say that as someone that checks in on Amazon Prime every now and then – and I should be clear, I have subs for almost all the other viable streaming options going in New Zealand.

But my weekly or twice-weekly or thrice-weekly visits to Aro across the last decade are where I have continued to find the real movie magic. Rewatching old favourites, keeping up with new releases. It’s very easy for me – I’ll admit it – since I walk past the store every day on my way to wherever else.  But if ease of access drew me there the taste of the people running the store and the selection on offer is certainly what keeps me going back.

So I didn’t need to buy into the streaming service they’re offering – at least not straight away. But I was really happy at the idea that it would be another revenue stream for them in tough times, and a chance to spread the good Aro taste around the country. Also I wanted to try it. I wanted to watch something and share the experience here, as a way of (hopefully) drumming up more business and awareness for them. And I process things by writing about them. So I wanted to one-day stream something from the service and post a wee newsletter out into the ether. Because, why not?

Anyway, Alone is 10 minutes in and it looks good.

It took me less than two minutes to get started – which sounds like marketing, but it’s also the truth. I signed up super-quick, added my email, had a password generated and I was in. Away. Choosing a film. It was delivered instantly; I was emailed a receipt. And I’ve got 48 hours to watch it. No dragging, no lags, and I am watching this one on the big screen attached to my computer. But I have it on good authority that it works well to watch from your phone, casting it to a TV or monitor.

Right now, there’s a bargain going on – many really great films (including Alone) for just $2.99. You can also watch A Quite Place II, Promising Young Woman, The Courier, The Dry, Nobody and a bunch of others…a really good deal I reckon.

The price for the other films they have – around about 1000 titles already and they’re added more every week – is about $5-6. And never more than $8. Again, pretty good deal.

So have a look at the selection. Nice curation too – Sunday Horrors, So 90s, Totally 80s, Made in NZ etc.

It’s great to have a local streaming service to connect with – I know there are others. But I’m a first-time user here and long-time fan. So just wanted to give Aro the shoutout it deserves.

Have you tried Aro Vision? Or any of the other recent on-demand movie sites? Or are you a happy subscriber to the big-platform players like Netflix and Amazon and Neon and Disney? There’s room in your life for more if you’re a movie fan. Always more.

Anyway, let me know what you think. Alone is getting really good now, so I’m off to enjoy it distraction-free. Might even watch it again since I’ll have 46 more hours with it after…