As someone who has been a movie nut my entire life, I sometimes find myself in awe at the world we live in today, which offers immediate gratification to cinemaphiles in a way we never dreamed of.
I have a huge collection of DVDs, and I wonder now if I'll ever buy another one. Between Netflix and Hulu-Plus, I have access to thousands and thousands of movies, both obscure and popular. As a kid, you could only hope to see one of these films when it popped up on late-night TV somewhere in some chopped-up form, or maybe on PBS if you were lucky. (And, of course, the whole notion of recording it to watch later? That didn't come till my teens.) As a college student, you could sometimes track them down at the local video rental shop--although the kinds of films I like were hard, if not impossible, to find, and you didn't want to pay the nearly $100 that early movies cost (because they were sold to rental shops, not individuals, for the most part). Cable brought another option, if you were lucky enough to have access. Tapes and, later, DVDs started to bring the price point down, and the internet brought a whole new way to find them.
But only recently have we reached the moment where I have an interest in some amazing yet still relatively obscure movie--say, Bergman's "Persona"--and I can dial it up via Netflix or Hulu and watch it that moment. Further, I can do the same on my iPad, which is sometimes even better. Beyond that, there are even movies I can download from the web, free of charge: it's how I got to see "Begotten," an art house horror film from the early '90s, via Google Video, which streams it for nothing.
I enjoy nothing more than going through Netflix's list of DVDs and movies available to stream, ditto Hulu, and setting up my queue. At both sites, my queues seem ridiculously long--my DVD queue is 162 choices long, the "watch instantly" list is nearly that long, and I just loaded up my Hulu queue with Criterion Collection films: "Yojimbo," "Wings of Desire," "Picnic at Hanging Rock," "M. Hulot's Holiday."
Suggestions?
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Amen to all that! I'm madly in love with Netflix mostly for how it lets me watch in cycles. Or phases. Or maybe it's just one gigantic helix. Recently segued from Fawlty Towers (laugh-out-loud, rolling-on-the-floor fabulous!) to Monty Python (can still recite all the dialog from "Holy Grail") and then to Mel Brooks ("Blazing Saddles" first, of course, and "Young Frankenstein" up next). Can't wait to start on season one of the original "Prime Suspect" with Helen Mirren.
ReplyDeleteJust realized that "We Live in Public" is on Hulu. (Might be on Netflix too. I just dropped streaming from Netflix, so not sure if it's an instant watch.) Director Ondi Timoner is the only director to win the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance twice, and We Live in Public would be of interest to anyone who thinks even a little bit about privacy, media coverage and the internet.
ReplyDeleteTo Julia: Ironically, other than "Fawlty Towers" (which, I have to confess, left me a little cold, despite all expectations to the opposite), I own DVDs of every single one of the movies/shows you mentioned. Including the box set of every single Monty Python episode, which I got for a song, and it gets regular play, believe me.
ReplyDeleteAnd, to give you further chills: I bought every single season of Helen Mirren's "Prime Suspect" on DVD a few years back, when it wasn't available to stream--and we're right smack in the middle of watching the entire run now. Just watched Season 4 last night!
Tom--"We Live in Public" is going on my queue right now...thanks.
P.S. to Tom: I'll return the favor:
ReplyDelete"The Battle of Algiers." This is available to stream on both Netflix and Hulu, I think. An amazing film that explores terrorism from a completely different angle than we're used to seeing. Very compelling.
Also: "Army of Shadows." I might be willing to rate this as my favorite "war" film of all time. (Quotes because it's about the French Resistance, not actual military battles.) I discovered this French film earlier this year, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Not a dull moment, and some amazing performances. And a very disquieting opening sequence. (Helps to know a tiny bit about Vichy France and the Resistance going in. But not absolutely necessary.)
Joe -- I have goosybumps! We're like cousins or something!
ReplyDeleteOh, and in succession for thematic reasons: "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" followed by "Little Miss Sunshine." I'm still working the moves to "Super Freak"and advising family members to "Try to act normal." :)))
I refuse to watch the new NBC "Prime Suspect," even though I have an enormous crush on Maria Bello. I hate to see the way American television interprets great British television. (I absolutely HATED "The Office" at first. I grew to like it, on its own terms--but it remains absolutely nothing like the brilliance of Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant. David Brent remains the greatest character in television history, sprung whole cloth from Gervais's brain.)
ReplyDeleteGuilty - I watched half of a new PS episode... Really enjoyable if you're into watching women in bare-knuckle fistfights. Not my thing. IMHO, DCI Jane Tennison was subtler and smarter than that.
ReplyDelete