I’m addicted to Netflix. Not the mail order Netflix where you receive movies in the mail, but the streaming video Netflix available on my PlayStation, Wii, Xbox  or dvd player.  Who needs cable, when I can search for movies, television shows (without commercials) and incredible documentaries (films I would never rent at a video store) 24 hours, 7 days a week. The days of stopping at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video to rent a movie for movie night are now replaced with Redbox kiosks (in case you feel the need to actually physically rent a video and place it in the DVD slot of your player) and streaming Netflix, Blockbuster on Demand, HULA, Zulu and a wide variety of other instant movie networks.

All you need is the internet. My streaming Netflix cost me $8 a month and with thousands of movies, in every category (action, adventure, thriller, sci fi, romantic, drama, comedy, horror, faith) available anytime and streaming instantly to your TV, computer, I pad, kindle fire, Nook, TV with internet, whatever device that has internet…technology today is epic.

So why am I talking about streaming movies and Netflix in Rocky Point? Well, Netflix generated a movie in my instant queue (under thrillers genre) which I decided to watch and lo and behold it was filmed in Rocky Point. I’m sure some of you may remember two years ago when the movie was being shot on location in Puerto Penasco and on the Sea of Cortez, but somehow I missed that particular news story.

Here I am, searching through movies and I find one titled “In the Blink of an Eye” under thrillers, (My husband’s favorite genre). I didn’t recognize any of the Hollywood actors, (except for Eric Roberts, Julia Roberts’s brother), cast in the film but since it took place on the water, on a boat, on the sea… my curiosity peaked. I love any film with boats, treasures, islands… really any boat -water –beach movies. Fools Gold, Perfect Storm, Titanic are a few of my favorites.

So, movie night begins, I hit the play button and Rocky Point fills the screen with shots of the beautiful Sea of Cortez , Old Port and clips of Sandy Beach throughout the movie. A familiar yacht around town, docked in Balboa harbor “Amelia Rose” is the boat used for the movie. The surprise of my favorite seaside town snapped on tape was the best part of the movie.

The Netflix movie description reads, “What was supposed to be the perfect vacation comes to a horrific crossroad for Detective David Ramsey. Aboard a private yacht on the shimmering Sea of Cortez, his wife and friends suddenly disappear. During the investigation, David begins to unravel the evidence surrounding a worldwide Nostradamus”

‘In the Blink of an Eye” is not a box office smash, not a blockbuster, not an “A” movie, but it is a fair faith and spirituality movie, shot in one of my favorite locations. For all of you Rocky Point lovers just having a movie being filmed in town and being able to recognize it makes me want to recommend it. It has a Christian message and I guess you could say it has some thrilling moments which allowed it to be registered under the thriller genre. For being shot in Puerto Peñasco and the message, I give it a thumbs up.

So it got me thinking…Rocky Point would be a great location for movies. I remember when I lived here in 2005; they shot parts of the film “Babel” starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchet directed by Mexico City born Alejandro González Iñárritu outside of Rocky Point. For those who can remember there was even a fake checkpoint on the road to Caborca, that stated “Welcome to the USA”, quite a surprise to see that on your way driving to Caborca or El Desemboque. The movie crews even stayed at a few of the Sonora properties and the rumor (that I still believe to this day) was Brad Pit drove through Cholla Bay and loved it.

 

We had our share of a few celebrities’ in town. Here’s hoping we get them back to shoot a few movies. Anyone interested in setting up a group to solicit production companies to film movies in Rocky Point email me.

Anita Kaltenbaugh is the Mexico travel examiner at examiner.com and author of the book “Travel Secrets- Insider guide to planning, affording and taking more vacations” available onAmazon.com.