NetFlix "Watch Now / Watch Instantly" - Recommendations Thread
 

This is a thread for anyone with NetFlix for recommending titles (movies, documentaries, or TV shows) available in NetFlix's online streaming "Watch Now / Watch Instantly" feature, which is now unlimited for members with an unlimited rentals account. Given the "limited" selection of titles available in the online viewing area, it can be tough to find worthy ones to watch, so the hope is people will use this thread for recommending some "diamonds in the rough" that they have found.



(Note: I put this thread here in the "DVD Talk" subforum because NetFlix is mostly known as a DVD rental site and it has both movies and TV offerings in its online streaming area, so this subforum made more sense than either "Movie Talk" or "TV Talk" for this thread.)

I'll recommend Long Weekend (1979), an Australian film that's definitely "of its time" but is interesting in the depiction of how out of place urban people are in a natural environment.

Well, yes, Netflix is known as DVD rental - however, the Watch Now feature are streaming, its much different from DVD itself. IMO, Movie Talk/TV Talk are probably the best place for this kind.

But the thread can only go in one subforum (here or Movie or TV), so there's the rub.

I recommend the Film Crew releases on there if you are a Mystery Science Theater fan.

Yeah, we can leave it to Moderators to decide. :)

<i>Mod note:
Actually I think the Reviews/Recommendations forum makes the most sense. Since noone else thought of it though I'm not sure how many people actually know about it ;)</i>



WRT answering the question personally I've found the best use of it so far to be old TV shows, I went through most of Hercules and Xena (actually still working on this), next up is Dexter and Mindfreak. What I really hope they do, now that they removed time limits, is allow the profiles to access the "Watch now" feature (currently they don't have that ability). This would mean you can create a "watch now" queue and be able to keep it separate from your regular queue. As it stands I have a "watch now" profile, but I have to login to that to see what's on there, then login to my main account (actually I usually just use different browsers) and actually watch it, then go back to the profile and delete it. Kind of cumbersome but it works...

Until there's some way to get Netflix streaming on my TiVo and/or TV and not just my computer monitor, I doubt I'll ever use it. :(

HTPC. It's the only way to fly.

Oh, and I watched the classic Marilyn Monroe movie The Seven Year Itch on Watch Now the other day. Good fun.

No end in sight is a good documentary about the war in Iraq. For those who haven't seen it, I recommend Dexter (showtime tv show)...

I have also used this new feature to check out things I never would have rented, such as educational videos...

I second that, No End In Sight is the best documentary I've seen on the Iraq War. Well-worth seeking out.

I don't have Netflix anymore, but I'll second this great movie! And, of course, what better time to watch it since Hollywood is remaking it... -ohbfrank-

There are some great concert documentaries on NetFlix's Watch Now. These are the ones I've seen so far:

Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense - Jonathan Demme's great concert film starring the Talking Heads. All music, no talking, and superbly shot.

Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains the Same - the original version, but still a nice "quick fix" until the new Hi-Def editions finally gets released to disc.

Cream: Farewell Concert - this is their original farewell concert in 1970, not the reunion one 30 years later, so they are in their prime. However this is in the old-fashioned music documentary style in which too much time is devoted to talking, not enough is devoted to the music

Festival Express - kind of like "'Woodstock' on a Train", this 1970 tour featured the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and The Band and was only a few month's before Joplin's death.

LoudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies - this is about the Pixies reunion of the past few years.

Storefront Hitchcock - Jonathan Demme's return to music documentary, this time featuring Robyn Hitchcock.

I found The Cars video to be pretty amusing.

when do you suspect Netflix' online catalog will catch up to its dvd rental catalog?

Due to the additional rights issues involved for online viewing, I don't think it ever will match the disc rental selection.

Amazing Stories: Season 2 is on there.

I just noticed that the nature documentary Blue Planet: Seas of Life has two episodes on there ("Tidal Seas" / "Coasts"). This documentary series is from the same group who made Planet Earth and - dare I say - I think this previous documentary is even a bit better than that great one. "Watch Now" doesn't have the whole thing, but these two episodes are a good way to check it out first.

Another great documentary I ran across on Watch Now:

Maxed Out

(Here's the DVD Talk review of this documentary)

Grindhouse: Death Proof and Grindhouse: Planet Terror just were added to Watch Now :thumbsup:

Keep the recommendations coming.

I signed up for Netflix over the weekend again (the 3rd time) and I'd like to know what movies on the instant view feature are worth the watch.

A few new seasons of Showtime series are now available, including The L word and Brotherhood

I recommend both of these

I haven't watched the Penn and Teller series, but that is now available too...

I've always meant to watch "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," and "Shampoo."

ahhh good show people. Now that I have increase my internet speed this thing is now useful to me.

Is it just me or can you not go back/pause if you missed a segment of the movie?? Maybe my connection timed out but It looked like I had to watch the movie over again.

Has anyone had trouble with this lately? I went to watch something, and I get the page to install the player. I thought this was just an update, so I installed it, and nothing happens. If I go back and select something else (or the same movie), I get the install page again. I've installed it several times with no luck.

you can go back and rewind or pause by just sliding the curser over the play indicator and dragging it backward - it is not exact and one of the more annoying things about watching these streaming videos...

drexl - not sure if you had the same problem as me, but make sure you are following all of the specs that are listed on the site - for example, it does not work with firefox (only with internet expolorer)....

Okay, I tried going to the site with the 32-bit version of IE (I was using the 64-bit edition before, in 64-bit Vista) and it worked. I'm not sure why that made a difference, when it worked before, but that doesn't really matter now.

BTW, check out Film Geek. :)

If you like the ex-MST3K Film Crew and their riffed movies,

Film Crew: Hollywood After Dark is on Watch Now

Dexter Season 1
30 Rock season 1
The Office season 2
Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker - Not perfect but very enjoyable if you're a fan of the Batman franchise.
Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale - Hooootttt poccckkkeeets (was that special? not sure...)

Most of these are foreign:

The City of Lost Children (trailer) if you haven't already seen it. (shown Subtitled) Can't really explain it, just watch it.

La Vie en Rose is current and apparently quite good (haven't seen it yet), best actress oscar nom. (shown Subtitled, I think..) Biopic.

The Sea Inside - Javier Bardem. 'nuff said :)

Perfect Blue Hitchcock inspired anime horror mystery about a singer and her obsessed fan. Dubbed.

Night Watch/Day Watch - I didn't care for the series, but I know many did, US cuts (imo they're fine) with cool animated subtitles for both. Russian supernatural/scifi action/adventure flicks.

Pan's Labyrinth - Great flick. Subtitled.

Paris, Je T'aime - A collection of five-minute films about the City of Lights brings Paris to life with a unique patchwork of 20 stories. Numerous writers, directors and actors lend their distinctive vision to the project, employing a wide variety of styles and subject matter. Participants include Gérard Depardieu, Gus Van Sant, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Wes Craven, Marianne Faithfull, Steve Buscemi, Juliette Binoche, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gena Rowlands and many others.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped - remake of Fingers, been meaning to watch it for some time.

Kontroll - Hear it's great, haven't seen it yet.

Last Life in the Universe - Slow and meditative, solid flick.

Joint Security Area - put Park Chan-Wook (Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady/Mr. Vengeance) on the map for me. Murder whodunit on the South/North Korean border.

Seom (The Isle) - (Trailer) Ki-duk Kim flick (3-Iron, Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter/Spring), trailer always attracted me to it (for years now) have yet to actually watch it.

13 Tzameti - A dark little movie about luck based around a multiplayer game of Russian roulette.

Reconstruction - (Trailer) Never saw but always wanted to, so figured I'd make it as a noteable :)

Chaos - A solid kidnapping/caper flick by Hideo Nakata (Ringu, Dark Water).

Three... Extremes - (trailer) 3 horror films by 3 asian directors. I liked 2 a great deal, the other was alright but felt out of place. Beautifully shot considering the content.

"Film Geek" should make everyone on the forum laugh.

If you're up for a *very* strange B-movie... "A Boy and His Dog" starring a very young Don Johnson.

Very Good Thread idea!

I second the "Festival Express" documentary.

For me, the best use of it is for old TV shows. You don't notice the loss of resolution and Netflix has actually developed a pretty good system to go from episode to episode. I can watch one or two 30 minutes shows, but to watch a feature length movie on the computer just gets annoying to me.

The BBC shows are some of my favorites for this format.

Yes, Prime Minister and Manchild are very watch-able.

Comedy concerts are also good.

La Vie en Rose (aka "La Mome") which just won the Best Actress Oscar for Marion Cotillard is on Watch Now

I'm gonna have to check out the Jim Gaffigan special and La Vie En Rose. I've seen the little "Watch It Now" button in my queue, but never had the urge to try it out.

Not to be nitpicky or anything, but how's the picture quality? Not expecting Quicktime HD, but is it along the same lines as the PQ on some of the standard def quicktime trailers?

Because it's streaming, the PQ depends on how fast the Internet connection is. A connection over 2.2 Mbps is roughly equivalent to online SD trailers. A slower connection and PQ takes a hit, but is still vastly better than the PQ available at online video websites (like YouTube). The only real drawback IMO is NetFlix's software requires IE to work (it's the only thing I even use IE for anymore).

Thanks. Sounds like a great idea, especially with a lot of newer releases, but if it means reinstalling IE on my system, I guess I'll just get the DVD itself.

Favoring Firefox,
mt

:D

Me too, so I use Firefox for everything else but use IE for just this. It's worth it to watch movies for free.