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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 personally think the Netflix streaming list varies from poor to horrendous and I couldn't care less about 99% of the TV shows that are there or anywhere. It's better than nothing I guess.
01/14/11, 19:41   
I just finished up the series 24. It was fucking amazing. Seriously one of the best shows I have EVER watched.

I really liked how realistic everything was, for the most part, through-out all eight seasons. That approach made the show very believable and emotionally moving at times.

Also, Jack Bauer is seriously one bad-ass, crazy son-of-a-bitch. He's morally grey at best, but I've never had any other story character convince me that their acts of violence were in the name of good like him. He's just amazing.
01/22/11, 10:08   
Edited: 01/22/11, 10:10
casper884 said:
I just finished up the series 24. It was fucking amazing. Seriously one of the best shows I have EVER watched.

I really liked how realistic everything was, for the most part, through-out all eight seasons. That approach made the show very believable and emotionally moving at times.

Also, Jack Bauer is seriously one bad-ass, crazy son-of-a-bitch. He's morally grey at best, but I've never had any other story character convince me that their acts of violence were in the name of good like him. He's just amazing.

Quoted for truth, though I admittedly haven't watched every season. I've watched the first two seasons, most of the third, and most of the last two. I should get back to finishing it. Somewhere along the line I got distracted by Dexter, haha.

If you haven't watched Dexter, you need to watch it. NOW. First two seasons should still be on Netflix.
01/26/11, 08:39   
@PogueSquadron

Oh, wow, I didn't know Dexter was on Netflix. I'll definitely check it out!

As far as 24, at least you've watched the really great seasons (not to say that the other ones weren't good). Although you should make it a point to watch season 5 if you haven't already. It is absolutely phenomenal and my second favorite season (season 8 is my favorite, Iron Man Bauer was some of the greatest shit I've seen on t.v.).
01/26/11, 10:46   
Edited: 01/26/11, 10:47
@casper884

It's really unfortunate that we don't get Dexter and 24 on Netflix in Canada. I'm up to date on Dexter, but I have only watched the first season of 24 and I would gladly watch how the rest of the show evolved.



As far as TV goes on the Canadian Netflix, they added Farscape recently. I had heard soooo much good stuff about this show. Is it living up to the hype? For the most part, yes.

I've never been into Sci-Fi TV shows dealing with alien life forms coexisting on a ship/space station. Never cared about Star Trek or Babylon 5. This show is like that, and it has aliens, but I feel like I care a bit more as it's closer to Firefly than Star Trek so far. It's less about a military group finding new alien civilizations and solving problems, and instead about a group of ragtag outlaws on the run. I like that.

From what I had heard, the show defied conventions a bit, but I'm not sure I see that yet. It very much follows the genre conventions, from what I've see, but it's still enjoyable. It would be pretty hard to do this kind of show and to NOT have the fish-out-of-the-water human, the big brute alien with a painful secret, the sensual blue alien chick and the token tough sci-fi woman.

Speaking of the tough sci-fi woman, is it just me or do all of these sci-fi shows have a tough-looking woman in a strong role who's not quite all that sexy, but that sci-fi nerds fantasize over? I mean, I had heard a LOT of gushing about Claudia Black, a LOT of gushing. But watching the show, she doesn't strike me as a great actress or a sexy/great-looking one.

Maybe it's just because I'm not into tough-looking women? I like the ones who look like they can laugh from time to time. More Rachel Weisz than Claudia Black, if you know what I mean.




VS

There really is no contest, is there? Smile a little, woman!
02/02/11, 01:25   
Edited: 02/02/11, 01:50
Okay, officially giving up on Farscape. It took me one season and a half, but I can still save myself over one hundred hours of this shit.

Everything that went against the grain and was not a cliché in this show at the beginning is now gone. The fact that the crew members could not trust each other and would betray each other if it served their best personal interest? That's over. The fact that they didn't go from planet to planet solving problems? That's over.

Yech.
03/07/11, 18:38   
Edited: 03/07/11, 18:41
I HAVE to recommend 'The IT Crowd'. It's a British comedy that is one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

03/07/11, 18:45   
Edited: 03/07/11, 18:47
@Phalanx - I second your recommendation. Great show (though I think they recently removed one of the seasons from Instant...)

I just finished Firefly for the first time on Netflix. It was a fun ride. The show didn't live up to its massive hype (which it couldn't really have done anyway), but it was still a great show. Looking forward to watching Serneity when I get the chance. (Oh, and it turned out that Firefly was very much susceptible to Whedon's habit of coming up with great ideas full of potential and then either failing to allow the ideas to live up to their potential or forgetting about those ideas altogether, but it's Whedon, and that's been the case with every one of his shows that I've ever watched (Dr. Horrible being the one possible exception), so I shouldn't really be surprised.)
03/07/11, 19:26   
I signed up for the free month trial over the weekend and I've already watched three movies -- Being John Malkovich, Taxi Driver, and Lemmy (it's a documentary about Lemmy from the band Motorhead). I liked all three, but Taxi Driver was fantastic. Classic.

So far I'm really digging Netflix, despite the limited selection since I'm using the Canadian version. I've rated a bunch of movies on their website, and now they're recommending movies for me, and for the most part it seems pretty accurate. Films that I know I wouldn't like (say, any Adam Sandler flick) are rated low for me (1 or 2 stars), so it's a lot easier for me to choose things to watch. I don't even mind the limited amount of movies on the service, as it forces me to watch good films that I might otherwise skip.

I do have a couple of problems though. First, there are a few movies that are not in the correct aspect ratio. Memento, for instance, is in 4:3. I was about to watch Amores Perros based on Pandareus' recommendation, but it too is in 4:3, so I said screw it and didn't watch.

My other problem has more to do with my internet provider, but it sucks that I pretty much can't watch movies in HD because it uses up too much of my 60 gig cap. I wish Netflix would have more than 3 options for video quality, as the highest quality setting uses too much bandwidth but the medium setting is only in SD. Something in between would be nice.

Anyways, I plan on keeping my subscription going after the free month. It's a really cool service that I should've signed up for a long time ago.
07/19/11, 06:18   
@canonj

Neat!

Yeah, I'm making quite a few nice discoveries on the service. If you're looking for something specific, odds are you won't find it, and that's probably why some people really don't like it. But if you allow yourself to check out the recommendations, you won't run out of things to watch.
07/19/11, 06:22   
@Earendil Thirded. Watched the whole 3 seasons (or series as they call it in the UK?) and it was excellent. Wish there were more.

Chris O'Dowd (Roy) had a huge role in Bridesmaids too. Kind of surprised me, I just assumed he was some nobody actor. But he was like... the main love interest in that movie. Bridesmaids was surprisingly good too.
07/19/11, 06:31   
Edited: 07/19/11, 06:32
Just wanted to chime in that I'm LOVING this on the 3DS. Its surreal that this system looks better streaming this stuff than on the Wii. As for a recommend, watch 24 again from season 1 like I am. ;)
07/19/11, 07:00   
There is so much Star Trek! Also watch Psych.
07/19/11, 07:51   
Edited: 07/19/11, 07:51
chrisbg99 said:
There is so much Star Trek! Also watch Psych.

The original Treks are the other things I'm spending some time on. However, everybody knows about Trek. Captain Kirk FT***KIRK_FURROWS_BROW***W!
07/19/11, 16:32   
Finished Dead Like Me. I liked it, but I need better closure than that!
07/24/11, 02:36   
I just started watching Twin Peaks.

What a bizarre show. It's kind of fun though, very quirky and off kilter. I'm only 4 episodes in however thusfar I'm enjoying it.
07/24/11, 02:38   
Pandareus said:


Maybe it's just because I'm not into tough-looking women? I like the ones who look like they can laugh from time to time. More Rachel Weisz than Claudia Black, if you know what I mean.




VS

There really is no contest, is there? Smile a little, woman!

07/24/11, 02:52   
Edited: 07/24/11, 02:53
Haha, the ads are back!

Anyone here ever watched Hey Arnold back in the 90's? It's my favorite Nicktoon, and rewatching the show, I'm pleased to see that it retains all the stuff I remember really enjoying about the show. I think it really starts to hit its stride around the third or fourth season, and pretty much any Helga-heavy episode is great.
07/24/11, 02:59   
I've never watched Hey Arnold! Doug was pretty much the only one that I watched, though.

I've been watching some of the Demitri Martin stuff. His comedy special was funny, but the show is a bit more uneven. Still good, though. He's a pretty talented guy. I think you guys would like him.

@Pandareus
On to BattleStar Galactica!
07/24/11, 15:50   
@Earendil

So I gave The IT Crowd a whirl and wound up watching the first 7 episodes!

Fantastic stuff.

Season 2, Ep. 1 had me splitting with laughter.

Odd set change from season one into two. No explanation for it either.
07/24/11, 15:59   
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