Our film guru says he's saddened by the news that Netflix will mail its final DVDs later this year.

Netflix recently announced it will mail its final DVDs later this year. Many don't realise the streaming giant began life sending films by post, and many more have no idea that such services still exist.

I still get DVDs by post from a rival called Cinema Paradiso. They have a library of around 100,000 titles, and I have 250 of these films on my rental list. Every few days, once I've posted the last disc back to them, they send me another. They pay the postal costs, and it's ace getting something through the letterbox that isn't a pizza menu, election leaflet, or utility bill.

Some of my colleagues find it hilarious that I still rent films by post, but due to the proliferation of streaming services, it's not possible to get anywhere near the range of new and classic releases without having several monthly direct debits. We have Netflix and Amazon Prime at home, but I find the film selection extremely limited and repetitive. You spend more time fruitlessly scrolling through the menu items for something half decent to watch than you do actually viewing stuff. It's like flicking through the Argos catalogue in a bored fashion.

Much like the days of heading down to Blockbuster on a Friday night, when a film arrives by post, I get the same frisson of excitement.

And since another title won't arrive for several days, you might as well pop it into the DVD player and watch it! I'm fully aware that a lot of young people will wittily remark "what's a DVD, old man?" at this point in proceedings, but I laugh in the face of their sarcasm and milliennial mocking.

I think we value things more when they are tangible products. Streaming is great, but a CD or vinyl album feels so much more valuable. The same goes for films.

I love the experience of watching one at the cinema, and a close second is receiving one in a red envelope by post. So I for one am sad that Netflix is closing down its disc rental division, and hope the service I use will live long and prosper (particularly since I've paid upfront for the next 16 months). It's like having access to the world's biggest video store, and I'm fairly confident that all the streaming services combined don't have close to 100,000 titles.

I've just finished watching the three-hour epic Babylon before writing this, and sadly it was a bit rubbish.

Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie star in an overblown tale of talking pictures taking over from silent movies in Hollywood (didn't The Artist do this a few years back?). There are individual scenes within the bloated story that are fantastic, such as Margot Robbie's Nellie la Roy losing her temper at a load of posh folk and trashing their ridiculous buffet, before vomiting on the party host's expensive rug.

But the film is a bit like going to an all-you-can-eat buffet and overfilling your plate, resulting on the only thing you can remember being the Rennie in the taxi on the way home. Never mind. I'll post it back tomorrow, and wait for my next film to arrive.