Ryan McNeil
A few weeks ago, my awesome sister-in-law was kind enough to officially set us up with her Netflix account (thanks Paola). At first I couldn’t give it much attention, but this week, things settled down enough to finally give it a try.
Of course, once I did, I decided to make sure we were hooked up with the American version to get the added titles that we hosers don’t get up here in The Great White North.
Now, while you fine folk have been using this fine technology for a good, long while, I thought I’d take a second and jot down some thoughts on a man’s first week worth of use.
For starters, I continue to be amused at just how much time can be spent flipping through titles. Granted the queue can save you some time – or it can be where movies go to die – but be honest: sometimes you spend so much time deciding what to watch, that you don’t leave yourself enough time to actually watch it.
Further, with so damned many movies listed, I don’t know how anyone would want to waste time rewatching something they’ve already seen. All those first-timers you see below? Five-of-seven were streamed.
Of course, the amusing thing is that as joyous a piece of technology as it is (and it is joyous), it still leaves you at the mercy of a programmer. Seldom did I find myself watching something I went looking for – usually I was choosing the most desirable of what was available. Or, to quote my most recent Matineecast guest:
“Netflix is the channel surfing of the new millennium”
It’s been an educational week, that’s for sure. But if Paola decides to cut us off tomorrow, I won’t be shedding any tears.
I will miss being able to watch trash like THE PAPERBOY guilt-free though.
Here’s The Week at Hand…
Screenings
FRUITVALE STATION – Seldom has a film destroyed me so completely.
IN A WORLD… – Fancy that: A Sundance darling that transcends!
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Never Seen
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE – Thanks Jess.
THE CROW – Lordy! 16-year-old me would have loved this.
RED EYE – I had to smile at the incident Reel Insight spoiled for me.
RKO 281 – Inspired by my recent round of Orson reading.
TABLOID – Dear God…if that wasn’t one of the very best documentaries I’ve ever seen!
THE LONG GOODBYE – I suddenly want to watch THE BIG LEBOWSKI
WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER – Best motorcycle chase ever.
Blu-Rays/DVD’s I’ve Watched Before
A MAN ESCAPED – You’ll never guess how it ends.
ALL ABOUT EVE – Rewatched for a ranking of all the Best Picture winners. Jandy was right – it was better than I remembered.
No rewatches this week.
Cruising
Elysium
Jules and Jim
Triplets of Belleville
I’m right there with you on the surfing aspect. A few times I started looking for a movie at 8 and didn’t find settle on something until 8:40
Ah The Triplets of Belleville! Such a great film, featuring such a great song. I think I’m about due for a rewatch. Actually, giving it another look will probably get me geared up for Sylvain Chomet’s live action debut at TIFF!
Not much this week as the only first-timers I saw were How the West was One, From One Second to the Next, and my Blind Spot assignment in The Decalogue which I spent the whole week watching. Definitely a must-see for any film buff.
In Re-watches: Forrest Gump, Tootsie, and Detroit Rock City.
I might have to make The Decalogue one of next year’s blind-spot selections to finally get it scratched off my to-see list. Feels like it’s been cemented there for years!
I’d used to use the Netflix queue to bookmark movies that I wanted to see, but my broad tastes led to the queue becoming completely full and then I had to constantly wrangle it, deleting unseen movies and such. Nowadays, I regularly save what I have on it in a text file, and then clear it out completely. It’s freeing and it’s interesting how I don’t miss it when it’s gone, especially since it’s not truly gone as I’ve saved a copy of it.
First time:
The Black Enforcer
The King of Comedy – Blind spot
And I re-watched:
The Frighteners
The Fearless Hyena
Wow – that’s bold! Because I’m sneaking in through the VPN, and because I’m watching through a Wii, I’m not sure I have access to the queue feature…or if I do, I can’t figure out how to use it! So my ‘To-See-on-Netflix’ list is a private tally on Letterboxd.
I wager I’ll never get to the end of it!
Can’t wait to read what you have to say about THE KING OF COMEDY.
Letterboxd makes sense as a good permanent way to keep track of those things. I should get more serious about that. I’ve casually been throwing things into the watchlist there as I come across them, and only recently realized I had put hundreds of movies in there. Sigh. No, we’ll never watch everything we’d like to.
If I remember right, on Netflix’s Wii app one of the movie lineups that you can scroll through is the queue.
King of Comedy was an interesting one, for sure! I’m glad I waited to see that one, as I don’t think I would’ve appreciated it as much in my youth.
Ryan, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence is so good. At some point, I’m going to give it an in-depth treatment. I did a DVD review years ago for a different site, but that didn’t do it enough justice. I like it even more than The Searchers and think Wayne has rarely been better.
A pretty light week for me, though I did watch another movie for my marathon of sophomore features from big directors:
A Woman is a Woman – Really enjoyed the way Godard takes so many chances and seems to be inventing the movie as it goes along. The main plot is the least interesting part about it.
Men in Black 3 – It’s mildly entertaining and Brolin does a good Jones impression, but I’ve nearly forgotten I saw it two days later.
Knuckleball! – Reminds me why I love baseball. It was a bit choppy at times, but the stories were intriguing.
Hey neat – I reviewed Knuckleball last autumn! Really loved it as a baseball film and as a doc on the whole.
I was never a big enough fan of the MIB films to go back for a third helping.
You aren’t missing anything. It sat in the DVR for a long time (recorded during a free movie-channel preview), and I threw it on late at night. It was a good choice for that, but not much of a movie. I hear they’re making a fourth one since it made money, but I think it should stop.
Love Tabloid. Seen it three times now, may need to add it to the collection at some point.
Slow week for me, all new to me:
Elysium – I had way too many issues with this film.
From One Second to the Next – As a person who commutes from one end of the city to the next on a daily basis, and observes so many drivers texting, this one really struck a cord.
Gamer – Good lord was this film ever awful! I still do not understand the love that so many have for Neveldine and Taylor.
Before Midnight – This film was crazy good. So many of the conversations hit close to home.
A lot of the couples I know saw BEFORE MIDNIGHT separately instead of making it a date night.
Did you follow suit?
THE CROW is the only good one. Don’t be fooled into watching any of the “sequels”.
Yikes.
If that’s “the only good one”, I shudder to think what the rest of them are like. Sort of a pity I didn’t see it before – also sorta surprising given our friends and interests from our younger days.
It really hasn’t held up all that well.