In Contention

Tag: Netflix

  • Catch up with Oscar nominee ‘Dogtooth’

    For those of us who like to make wholly informed decisions when entering our Oscar pools, the Best Foreign Language Film category can be a bit of a thorn in the side. Unless you’re a particularly well-travelled festivalgoer, it’s mighty difficult to see all five nominated films ahead of Oscar night.

    This year is no exception, as two of them — the arguable frontrunners, “In a Better World” and “Incendies” — aren’t opening Stateside until April, while double-nominee “Biutiful” continues to creep out in limited release. The other two have been and gone in US theaters, but unless you’re lucky enough to live in one of a select few cities, chances are you didn’t see “Outside the Law” or “Dogtooth” either.

    Thankfully, for the latter film, Nexflix has come to the rescue. Yorgos Lanthimos’s disquieting adult fable, which has received perhaps the most significant publicity boost in the wake of its eyebrow-raising nomination, is already out on DVD, but curious awards-watchers can now watch it instantly on the streaming site — simplifying at least some of your homework in that category.

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  • 9/30 Oscarweb Round-up

    George Clooney in The Men Who Stare at Goats• Roger Ebert talks “Capitalism: A Love Story” with Michael Moore. [Chicago Sun-Times]

    • Noah Forrest stands up for Megan Fox against a weird culture of hatred toward the actress. [Movie City News]

    • George Clooney vs. George Clooney at the November box office. [Vulture]

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  • 8/14 Web Round-up

    Redbox• Drew McWeeny sits down with animation legend Hayao Miyazaki. [Motion/Captured]

    • Desperate to get theirs, Warner Bros. imposes a 28-day waiting period on its titles for Redbox kiosks and plans the same for Netflix unless the studio can squeeze some money out of it. [Company Town]

    • Anna Faris gets hitched. [CNN]

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  • 8/12 Web Round-up

    Cover of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger• Kevin Kelly digs into the J.J. Abrams “Dark Tower” project. [Cinematical]

    • In honor of “Julie & Julia,” 10 blogs that could be movies. [Film School Rejects]

    • Liam Neeson walks his first red carpet since the death of wife Natasha Richardson. [Associated Press]

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  • Why Richard Corliss stinks for thinking Netflix stinks

    NetflixThis Richard Corliss column over at Time, titled “Why Netflix Stinks,” is so wrong-headed and off the mark that I find myself scratching my head, wondering whether there was some AOL/Time Warner mandate to offer up a sniping and skewed account, but it’s not like there is any real competition between the conglomerate and Amazon.com (which could own Netflix in the near future), so I’m basically left thinking Corliss is just stuck in an ancient time he’s unwilling to relinquish.

    To begin with, “real well-stocked video stores” are a relic of a forgotten time.  Corliss betrays a disconnected sense of reality with an anecdote about a lower Manhattan store with 55,000 titles, failing to realize the chain locations the people between the coasts have to deal with.

    Have you been to a Blockbuster Video lately?  An overall disdain for the medium seems to permeate, generally owing to an apparent bottom-of-the-barrel standard for hiring, entry-level positions for those finally moving into the private sector.  And the catalogs are maddening, consumer theory writ large: 50 or 60 copies of “12 Rounds,” but don’t figure on finding “City Lights” buried somewhere.

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  • Amazon to buy Netflix?

    Amazon/NetflixIf you don’t have a Roku player and you’re a movie lover, you’re missing out.  It’s a $99 item (also built in to the XBOX 360) that allows you to stream your instant Netflix cue directly.  Seriously, your movie mecca is limited only by the Netflix catalog.  Bliss.

    Another feature of the Roku, however, is the ability to log on to your Amazon.com account and stream content from there as well, which could come in quite handy with some of these VOD releases that pop up on Amazon for purchase prior to theatrical release, like Steven Soderbergh’s “The Girlfriend Experience” did recently.

    Now there is talk that Amazon, already devouring everything in its path (and in most cases, for the better), might actually buy Netflix.  Speaking as a consumer, I’m all for it.

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  • You said it, not me

    Sandra Bullock in CrashSo, what does Paul Haggis have to say about the recent revelation that “Crash” (not the 1996 Cronenberg film, surprisingly enough) has remained the most rented film on Netflix since September 2005?

    “I have no idea why anyone went to see the movie in the first place, let alone rent it.”

    Truer words, etc, etc. But snarkiness aside, Haggis has a fair point here: the film was never meant to be any kind of phenomenon. Whether by calculation, alchemy or sheer good fortune, it happened to resonate with certain audiences upon its spring release four years ago — and if those Netflix numbers are anything to go by, it still does. Credit where it’s due.

    Academy voters thrust a weighty reputation onto this slender film that forever altered the way audiences would approach it, and I’ve long been unsure how it would support that weight. For my part, I disliked “Crash” immensely when I saw it in the summer of 2005, but I didn’t resent it the way I do today — though the fault there lies with me, not the film.

    “Crash” is a fascinating case study of the way the public’s relationship with art can shift with time, but the film’s evident popularity on DVD suggests that the relationship is more in flux than its detractors may have guessed.

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  • Josh Brolin/Netflix announcement?

    This just arrived in the ole’ inbox.  I have no idea what this is all about unless I’ve missed the boat somewhere along the line here, but my interest is certainly piqued:

    WHO: Josh Brolin, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, and Film Independent’s Dawn Hudson.

    WHAT: Josh Brolin, Netflix, and Film Independent to announce an exciting endeavor that will inspire the indie art house audience and movie lovers everywhere.

    WHEN: Thursday, January 8, 2009; Press check-in: 9:00am; Press conference start: 9:30am

    WHERE: W Los Angeles – Westwood, Studio 1 and 2; 930 Hilgard Avenue; Los Angeles, CA 90024

  • The Netflix Player by Roku

    The Netflix Player by RokuSo…is this the future?  That’s the debate, and part of the reason why I’ve stayed out of the HD-DVD/Blu-ray pissing match for the last three years.

    Indeed, it’s probably safe to say by now, what with the drastic changing of the tide in the music industry, that streaming and internet downloads for home delivery is the wave of the future.  And Roku’s Netflix Player is a big step in that direction.

    Wired (among other outlets) already shot its load over the player back in May, when the $100 equipment first hit the market:

    On the technical end, this small set top box is dead simple to configure and use with my existing Netflix account. Plug it in, hook it up to the HDTV with an HDMI cable, plug in an Ethernet cord, and then use a confirmation code to link it to your account. I was running within five minutes.

    And today, our friend John Campea has got his box up and running in Los Angeles, with a number of choice comments to add:

    The video quality is FAR better than I was expecting…I’m watching it on a 42′* plasma TV and it looked GREAT. Not HD, but fantastic nonetheless…The future is here…instant streaming movies right to your TV over the internet. This must be how my parents felt when man first walked on the moon!!!!

    Maybe so.  Apple has been tinkering with this kind of thing for a while now, though they have their head in the end game: owning flicks, not just renting them.  That is the real future — huge databases packed with movies and in HD quality.  Basically where music technology is now, no?  And some intrepid folks have already made steps toward those ends, loading up their iTunes libraries and pushing their Front Row program to the limit.

    As long as we get to the stuff in “Minority Report” before I die.  That’s all I’m asking.

    *If John’s TV is 42 feet long, I’ll eat my hat.  We’ll chalk it up to a typo.