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The Netflix recommendation thread [community]
 
Netflix. It's on the 360, it's on PS3, it's on the Wii, it's $8 a month, it doesn't require a disc, and it's now even in Canada (with a severely reduced selection). So. Unless you're really poor, a picky Canadian, a hater of the 7th art, or European, there's no excuse for not having it!

What movies has the streaming service allowed you to discover?

Because of the limited selection here in Canada, which denies us access to some of the more recent and popular movies on the service, I've been using Netflix to watch 2 different kinds of movies: terrible crap that I'd never make any effort or pay anything to see (The Happening, Teen Wolf Too), and highly respected and acclaimed foreign movies that for some reason I always put back on the shelf without renting when I'm at the video store.

So here's a recommendation for you:

Amores Perros - This movie received much acclaim, won many prizes, and I'm probably one of the last chumps to see it. But hey, maybe you haven't seen it either, so at least I'm better than you. From looking at the title, you may recognize the word "amores" (love) and get totally the wrong idea about the movie. You may also recognize "perros" (dog) and be completely befuddled. Basically, the movie contains three vignettes in which cruelty and, yes, love, are central themes.

For one third of the movie, you follow the story of a kid using his dog to participate in dog fights and win money so he can elope with his brother's wife. For the second part, you follow a couple's crumbling relationship and oh god you're getting totally the wrong idea again. Don't worry, it's totally interesting and plays out a bit like a thriller. Actually, watching it I felt like I was reading an Edgar Allan Poe short story, but maybe it's just because it features... sounds... coming out of the floorboard. The third story is about this vagrant who abandoned his family to become a guerillero, went to prison, and now takes on hitman jobs from the corrupt cop who arrested him.

The characters cross each others' paths a couple of time, so you could say it's a bit like Pulp Fiction in that way, except I found the stories and characters in this film infinitely more interesting. Heh.

I don't know what your experience with foreign movies is or what you think of them, all I can say is that this movie is absolutely not boring. From the first scene to the last, I was hooked.

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11/30/10, 02:22    Edited: 12/31/17, 09:54
 
   
 
I watched the first (and only so far) season of Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp that Netflix created, and while entertaining I guess, I didn't laugh all that much or find it highly compelling. The main thing that kept my focus was its all-star cast. It was a treat to see who would be making an appearance. Did anyone else check this show out yet?
08/03/15, 02:50   
@NoName

I'll definitely watch it, but I wanted to see the original movie again first. Haven't seen it since college and at that time I didn't really buy into the hype, so I want to give it another chance.
08/03/15, 03:04   
@Jargon

I never saw the movie the show is based off of, so I watched it not knowing what to expect. Perhaps seeing the movie first would have bettered my viewing experience? I could have seen the movie on the big screen, as one of my local movie theaters was showing it a weekend or so ago. Oh well. The show was a silly, fun way to spend a super late Saturday night. And there were only eight half-hour episodes.
08/03/15, 06:47   
Just finished Daredevil and didn't much care for the final episode. As "real" as the series has been, this episode felt very comic book-y. One witness statement then dozens of people are whisked to prison. And Daredevil's fighting has become quite cartoony. How do you evade bullets? Spin jumps, of course. And apparently his costume can take near limitless punishment with little effect. Oh, and the suit looks terrible.
08/03/15, 06:50   
@NoName

Well, I just re-watched the original movie and there were plenty of funny to very funny parts, but it was rather uneven. That's just the way it is the kind of comedy that just tries to pack in as many jokes as possible. Often hard to keep up that kind of pace successfully for a whole movie. Might work better as a TV show in fact.
08/03/15, 06:54   
@NoName
@Jargon
I was planning to come here and discuss Wet Hot American Summer but since you guys are expressing a somewhat positive attitude towards it I think I will keep my opinions to myself. I'll just politely say that the comedy did not land with me or my wife. We managed 3/4" of the movie and epesode 1 of the series. I will also say that we really wanted it to work because the cast is so strong, on paper.
08/03/15, 10:33   
Everyone should see An Honest Liar. Great documentary on charlatans and frauds.
08/03/15, 11:59   
@Super_Conzo

Haha... No, no. Don't take my comments as positive! I posted here to see what others thought of it. I found few laughs throughout the eight episodes. What I enjoyed was its all-star cast; that's what kept me going. All in all, I was entertained, just not delightfully so. I can see why you and your wife stopped watching it. I kept going to see what other celebrities would be making an appearance. That's what made it worth it. This kind of show isn't my type of show, but it was late and I was feeling vulnerable.
08/03/15, 14:57   
@NoName
Hey, maybe there are good laughs later on in the series but there was no way we were going to find out. Our problem was that episode 1 paid too much homage to the movie (handcuffed to the same jokes, if you will) and don't get me started on the movie. It's an utter shambles! Like a spoof movie made by someone who has never seen a good spoof movie strung together by a series of unpolished sketches. Good grief. Janeane! Amy! You deserve better than this!

They must have had a blast on set for all these stars to sign up for the same tepid, one-joke action 15 years later. A BLAST I tells ya.

But I suppose it's a cult movie, which means I'm not in the cult. I'd love to hear from a cult member though, study them, find out what makes them tick. Get in touch please.
08/03/15, 15:57   
Edited: 08/03/15, 16:14
@Super_Conzo


Similar here. Watched 10 minutes with no laughs and turned it off. That said, I'm a few years younger than the hey day of camp comedies like Meatballs, so maybe it works better if you have that point of reference.
08/03/15, 16:06   
@kriswright
Yes, that might explain it. I've never seen Animal House / Meatballs / Porky's etc. Nothing about the horny frat-world appeals to me.
My points of reference are Police Squad, Airplane!, Mel Brooks and even Hot Shots. Different beasts altogether. I see that now.
08/03/15, 16:34   
Anyone here watching Bojack Horseman? Netflix original animated series about a half-horse washed-up TV actor from the 90's.

Full disclosure, it starts off pretty weak. Dumb cutaways, too much gross-out sex humor, forgettable plots. By the sixth episode, though, it suddenly gets consistently interesting and has a surprising amount of thoughtful, melancholy moments and good characters. And the humor gets quite a bit better too. I'd recommend it, just keep in mind it's not very good at the beginning.
08/03/15, 18:44   
@TriforceBun

Could we just skip, say, eps 2 through 5?
08/03/15, 19:15   
@TriforceBun
@Guillaume
Bojack is a great show! I also agree that the first few episodes are weak-ish.

As for skipping any, I wouldn't simply because of character moments. The show gets quite good, and season 2 is consistently strong.
08/03/15, 19:41   
Edited: 08/03/15, 21:22
@Guillaume

It's a show with a continued storyline, so like @ploot says, it might be a little tricky to skip some and get the full effect. It's probably for the best to just check it all out in order, with the knowledge that it gets quite a bit more interesting and engaging.
08/03/15, 19:44   
Or just watch the 3rd season of torchwood... That works as well.
08/04/15, 03:59   
Anyone checking out Narcos? Mini-series about the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar. He's not someone I know much about but his seems like a story worth a'tellin'.
Episode 1 was great and pretty quick about setting the scene. Episode 2 had 3 SEX SCENES IN A ROW! Totally unecessary. Hopefully it has all that out of it's system - I'm gonna stick with.
09/15/15, 14:27   
Karen and I enjoyed the first episode of Bojack Horseman enough, in spite of the gross-out humour (which was pretty tame. Cotton candy, heh). I think we'll stick with it.
09/15/15, 16:53   
New Portlandia is up. We burned through most of them already.
09/15/15, 17:15   
@Guillaume
Good--in most fans' eyes, the first ep of Bojack is definitely the weakest so it's all uphill from here. For the gross-out humor, I was more referring to the sex stuff (which for some viewers is more off-putting because of the whole animal/human universe). The show ends up doing a lot of interesting things with its cast.
09/15/15, 18:46   
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