Good films currently on Netflix

[chocolate teapot]

I've heard The Gift is good. Anyone seen it?

I watched it a while ago so can't remember too much but I know I liked it, it's very tense and it has a decent story.

[hewantstolurkatad]

I've heard The Gift is good. Anyone seen it?

The cast are all game and (imo) well cast, but it's a silly load of shite

[Sal Vicuso]

The Connection: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2935564/

If you ever saw the Gene Hackman films from the 70s, the French Connection 1 & 2, that tells the true-ish story of Popeye Doyle trying to take down a massive heroin smuggling ring operating Marseille - USA, this is the same story told from the French side.

It's a really good thriller, based on actual events with all the standard French trimmings: cool soundtrack, stylish suits, sexy wimmin etc

There was also an amazing Italian mob epic called Suburra which I think is no longer on Netflix, there's a series being made of it at the moment which I imagine will be similar to Gomorrah or Romanzo Criminale (which is a fucking fantastic film if you never saw it). Suburra is based on a novel which afaik isn't yet available in English but is supposed to have been a bit of a publishing sensation it Italy a few years back. Definitely a film worth tracking down on dvd

[phantom_power]

Shanghai Soccer

Do you mean Shaolin Soccer? An awesome film, and Kung Fu Hustle is on there as well I think

[Genevieve]

The Radio Times says that Rear Window and Vertigo came on there today, if there's any chance you haven't already got them on video.  Thanks lads, I have added your suggestions.  I read a chapter in a film book about 80s/90s teen films and thought I'd find them on there, being pretty commercial, but the only one I found was Permanent Record.  Then Bergman/Fellini etc. drew blanks and all the Woody Allens were ones I've seen, seems an odd place to me and difficult to manoeuvre.  I've so many years of "essential" US boxsets that weren't on a free channel behind me that there seems no point in starting now!

[wooders1978]

Radio times done this

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-04-13/top-50-netflix-movies-available-now
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-04-13/top-50-netflix-movies-available-now

[Bad Ambassador]

Daily updates on what's been added: https://uk.newonnetflix.info/
Monthly updates on what's coming up: http://vodzilla.co/category/blog/coming-soon-to-netflix/

[Hemulen]

Best of Enemies - documentary about a series of 1968 election debates between William F Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal. Considerably more interesting than that makes it sound.

[Ignatius_S]

Daily updates on what's been added: https://uk.newonnetflix.info/
Monthly updates on what's coming up: http://vodzilla.co/category/blog/coming-soon-to-netflix/

Awesome – Nashville will be added towards the end of the month. Little bit of trivia that I'm fond of - Keith Carradine won an Oscar for best original song.

Touch of Evil is lurking about there somewhere. A fine film; Welles drunk, sweaty and amoral in prophetic fat guy make-up, Charlton Heston browning it up as a Mexican. More long-takes and cameos than a lazy Apatow joint. Yet somehow it all holds together.

The version on Netflix is the originally released, studio version – although it's still very much worth watching, the restoration(s) are noticeably superior.

Re: Cameos – for me, it's really only the Dietrich one that stands out in terms of big names. Although there are notable cameo performances, these were largely from actors that were supporting ones, rather than stars, like Mercedes McCambrige (although on radio, like The Whistler, she tended to take leading roles... and brilliantly). Although a good proportion were matey/had worked with Welles before, they were cast first and foremost for what they brought to the role.

That said, I think Joseph Cotton is virtually unrecognisable, so that shows how much I know!

[Armin Meiwes]

Blue Ruin went a bit under the radar, absolutely brilliant revenge flick. Clouds of Sils Maria also well worth watching.

[WesterlyWinds]

If you want a really depressing Thursday evening, the thoroughly excellent Fruitvale Station (starring Wallace from The Wire!) is on Netflix at the moment

[steveh]

Belgica I liked. While it has a fairly mundane story about two brothers starting a bar / club and the inevitable stresses on their relationship, the production quality elevates it. The cinematography is excellent, making good use of handheld cameras in the heart of the action without being shaky-cam annoying and there's also nice colour theming. It also has some of the best sound editing I've heard, more akin to a music mix that incorporates story elements than the usual way round of music being entirely secondary. Soulwax did the soundtrack as 16 different imaginary bands across several years and genres and these succeed much better than most pastiches.

Still find it a bit odd to see indie films move from festivals to Netflix in a matter of weeks.

[mobias]

I resubscribed to Netflix yesterday because because I want to start watching Better Call Saul plus I quite fancy a few episodes of the fourth series of Breaking bad. It really is a dumping ground of straight to DVD type films. Why can't they have a few decent   big movies? Presumably they'd have to pay more to have them but consequently they'd probably get a lot more subscribers if they did.

Anyway I watched Beverly Hills Cop last night out of boredom and its still a brilliantly funny film. Although I'd forgotten or just not realised before just how little effort Stephen Berkoff put into his performance as the bad guy.

[steveh]

Depends how you define decent big movies. There's usually a handful each month after the exclusivity periods for DVD / online purchases and first-run pay TV have run out. Sky though are increasingly trying to do deals with US studios that tie up films for longer. Amazon also have some exclusives, like the one with Studio Canal which means a good proportion of British and European films only appear there. To bulk up the numbers Amazon Prime also seems to slightly favour more quirky back-catalogue whereas Netflix seems to go more for trashy straight-to-video fare.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I remember this when it were all lovefim. Ah, those were the days, sign up for their three dvds at a time package, and when a dvd arrived you'd copy it and send it back the day it arrived. Thanks to that I ended up with a massive collection of films I'll never watch.

[Sal Vicuso]

He Never Died, with Henry Rollins as some kind of vampire/fallen angel-type figure is very good, with a nice line of dry wit running through the old ultra-violence

[Bad Ambassador]

Notable titles coming next month:

1st July
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)
Akeelah and the Bee
The Arrival
I.D.
Brannigan
Daft Punk Unchained

6th July
Belle

13th July
The Fault in Our Stars

15th July
Shrek 2
Shrek the Third
Shrek Forever After

17th July
The Purge: Anarchy

20th July
Labyrinth
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Resident Evil: Retribution
The Mirror Has Two Faces

22nd July
Million Dollar Arm

27th July
The Tenant
The Burning Plain
Hard Eight
Pretty Baby

And the entire run of Gilmore Girls on the 1st, if you're a woman or a gay.

[Dr Rock]

Double Indemnity is currently on there, re-watched it the other night, blimey it must be one of the best films ever made. 11/10. Not too many other Noirs, no great Mitchum films, though they are better at having oldies these days.

What was on there, but seems to have now gone, is Nymphomaniac by that Lars Von Trier fella. I've just seen part one. I'll probably give to a write up in that Films You've Seen thread, but if I'll recommend it here too. Not just cos it's got lots of sex in it, that was barely the thing I liked the most. Great performances and it's poetic and even Shia LaBeouf is good in it. Plus it helped with my reverse parallel parking, how many films can you say that about?

Still, I only have Netflix cos its free for the first six months of signing up with Virgin as I did when I moved here. After that I doubt I'll keep it as there isn't enough good stuff, even for a fiver a month or whatever it is. It's also worth it when there's a free month offer, sign up, watch all the good stuff, then cancel.

What are the TV shows worth watching? I rewatch Kimmy Schmidt, Lady Dynamite and Daredevil. I keep meaning to try Archer and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. What else, Flixxers?

[Puce Moment]

Pretty Baby

Really?

[Bad Ambassador]

I did say notable. I think I got it confused with something else.

[Puce Moment]

Not to get gout_pony about it, but I'm just surprised they are putting that film on Netflix.

[Ignatius_S]

Hard Eight is very nice, little film – recommended.

Double Indemnity is currently on there, re-watched it the other night, blimey it must be one of the best films ever made. 11/10...

What are the TV shows worth watching? I rewatch Kimmy Schmidt, Lady Dynamite and Daredevil. I keep meaning to try Archer and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. What else, Flixxers?

If you haven't read the novel, then do – it's substantially different to the adaptation. Apologies if you have, but you'll know why!

Re: TV shows, try Sammy J and Randy in Ricketts Lane.

[Dr Rock]

Hard Eight is very nice, little film – recommended.

If you haven't read the novel, then do – it's substantially different to the adaptation. Apologies if you have, but you'll know why!

Re: TV shows, try Sammy J and Randy in Ricketts Lane.

Cheers - I haven't read the novel(la?) but I did read the iMDB page which talks about the differences. May well pick it up.

Hard Eight is indeed a great little film from what I recall. And will try that TV show - I see it gets 8.7 on that same iMDB.

[Noodle Lizard]

Hard Eight is very nice, little film – recommended.

Hard Eight is indeed a great little film

What's little about it?  I haven't seen it yet.

[Dr Rock]

It doesn't have aliens or superheroes in it I suppose.

[Ron Superior]

Another vote for Blue Ruin. Such an impressive film. Standard revenge film made brilliant by Macon Blair's performance and the believability of it all. Probably the most tense I've ever felt watching a film. I was stood up for half of it cos I just didn't know what to do with myself. It's from the same guy who did Green Room for anyone unaware, which is another impressively tense film, but I think I prefer Blue Ruin.

Force Majeure was really good.

Entertainment is on there already, which I enjoyed.

David Cross's movie HITS. Matt Walsh was absolutely brilliant in it.

I think Netflix is good for some of those sorts of movies that you probably would be less likely to see otherwise, not being on TV or racked in Tesco.

There are also some really enjoyable documentaries on there that I hadn't heard of but were great. All with potentially off-putting wacky premises but actually really pulling off being engaging.

The Final Member - a documentary about the guy who runs the Icelandic Penis Museum and his quest to find a human donation. Loved it.

Finders Keepers - a guy buys a smoker/BBQ at a storage sale and when he gets it home there's a human foot in it. He makes an attraction of it and the guy whose foot it is finds out. A legal battle ensues.

Kung Fu Elliot. Following a guy who wants to be the Canadian Chuck Norris.

Plus Tig Notaro's documentary is on there which is wonderful.

[GeeWhiz]

Finders Keepers - a guy buys a smoker/BBQ at a storage sale and when he gets it home there's a human foot in it. He makes an attraction of it and the guy whose foot it is finds out. A legal battle ensues.

I ruddy loved this film - although the biggest laugh came from one of the closing title cards. Splendid stuff.

[Dr Rock]

The Opposite Of Sex seems to have popped up recently, so I gave it a re-watch. Very good, only 6.5 on iMDB? That's wrong, probably deserves a 7.1. Most people here with any sense have probably seen it, as it was one of Christina Ricci's good movies from the nineties, but if you haven't it's a dark comedy about a manipulative amoral little madam who screws up the life of her gay half-brother who is the fella from those Hal Hartley movies and Lisa Kudrow does some good acting in it too. Ricci's character might also qualify for Character Who Know They Are In A Movie, as she narrates it.

[Bad Ambassador]

Notable titles coming next month:

1st August
Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie
Sicario
The Eichmann Show
Project Nim
Child's Play
I Am Divine
Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
Metropolis

3rd August
Oranges and Sunshine

5th August
The Little Prince

8th August
Brooklyn
Creed
The Lobster

10th August
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

15th August
Over the Hedge
Megamind

17th August
The Way We Were

30th August
The Eye

[Puce Moment]

If you or your friends/partner are looking to watch something without any violence, I would recommend the very well made Brooklyn. It has its faults, but I think it hangs together very well.