So I got an Apple TV for Christmas, and I just watched my very first rented HD movie on it: V for Vendetta (4 stars).
I have no idea whether the movie was especially faithful to the graphic novel on which it was based, but I found it, if not precisely thought-provoking—if you think about it, considering its timing, in terms of a political statement, it’s a bit clumsy and heavy-handed—intelligent and well-made.
It was not as visually stunning as we’ve come to expect from modern comic book adaptations, but it was made with aggressive competence, and Natalie Portman’s understated but really rather powerful performance carried the film, along with the relentless and interesting story. I am glad I was watching it with remote in hand, because you really couldn’t look away for a second.
The important thing here is that it worked, leaving everything else aside, as a good piece of entertainment. Recommended.
About the Apple TV renting experience—I’m going to cancel my Netflix account pretty soon, since even though ATV doesn’t have the same selection, I have wasted so much money in the last 6 months alone on the same two movies (which I still haven’t watched!) that I could have rented 20 full HD movies from the iTMS—browsing is a bit stilted if you want to go through the entire library and don’t really know what you’re looking for, but renting and watching is supremely simple. iTMS is steadily improving its selection, so it won’t be long before it rivals Netflix, provided you would be able to rent TV shows like you can with the DVD service.
The quality of the HD film was great, and only rarely was I distracted by visible compression artifacts in the image—my TV has one of the best black levels available in modern plasma panels, but scenes where, for example, you see white smoke on a black background showed some artifacting. Overall, I am very pleased with my first Apple TV renting experience.