A Defence of Netflix Canada
By Matt Baker, October 14, 2010
I listen to a number of movie podcasts, almost all of which are from the US, and I have been hearing about Netflix for a while. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this, Netflix is an online movie rental service where you create a list of movies and they are sent to you in the mail, one at a time. When you are done with the disc, you mail it back to the company and then they send you the next one. Although this seems like an excellent no fuss-no muss way of renting movies it does have the unfortunate drawback of delayed gratification. To make up for this Netflix started their Watch Instantly service where you can download as many movies as you want from a more limited selection (~16,000 titles as opposed to ~1 million). Needless to say, for the past few years I have been exceedingly jealous of my southern movie watching compatriots. But all that was supposed to change September 22, 2010 when Netflix would launch in Canada (albeit without the mail order stuff).
At 10:00 am, September 22, I get the official email that Netflix Canada is up and running. At 10:05 I log in to my account for the first time to see the New World that has opened up before me.... and it turns out to be pretty small. First I checked out what new TV shows I would be able to watch, hoping to catch up on Lost (I stopped some time in season 2) or maybe have some 30 Rock at my finger tips. But no such luck. With the exception of Mad Men and Heroes, there was not much in the way of big name TV available. So I checked out the movies. Again, disappointment. Other than (500) Days of Summer and Slumdog Millionaire, there was not much in the way of relatively recent, big name movies either. And this seems to be where everybody else on the internet stopped looking.
I have a strange fascination with comment boards and so I scoured the interweb to see what people had to say and I was shocked. I can’t believe the hate that people are spewing at Netflix Canada. Now some people just seemed to have unrealistic expectations, perhaps because they were not really aware of how Watch Instantly works in the US (for example, there are no HBO shows, nor are there many movies less than 2 years old). And of course many of the people on comment boards are just trolls and can be safely ignored, but there was still a surprising number of people who complained that there was just nothing to watch on Netflix because they searched the last 10 movies they rented and only found one, or maybe even none, of them, or because there were no new video releases. And that is where I am flabbergasted.
There are still hundreds of movies available! Just because they are not brand new or you haven’t heard of them doesn’t mean they are not worth watching. The service only costs $7.99/month. Are people seriously saying they can’t find 2-3 movies per month to watch? How about instead of being upset that you can’t get the latest new releases, think about it as an opportunity to catch up on some movies you might of missed, or check out movies you may never even have heard of. If you take the time to look through the available movies there are tons of worthwhile movies. You could actually even get a decent survey of the history of cinema using Netflix, if you were so inclined (as I am).
Over the course of my first week with Netflix I used their website to make a list of movies I’d like to see, so that I could keep track of them and remember what is available (also, I just love making lists). I limited myself to movies that I already recognized (even if only from seeing an intriguing cover in the video store) or were by directors whom I recognized. I did not include any documentaries or romantic comedies. I did not include movies I’d never heard of but whose descriptions looked interesting. And I still came up with 170 movies. At the three movies per month required to justify the cost that is still almost five years of movies. And that is not taking in to account the fact that they add a few movies per week. Granted, I can probably recognize a lot more movies and directors than your average person, but still, there has to be enough there for everyone.
If you have been thinking about Netflix but are unsure if it is worth getting, here is a brief sampling of some things that are available.
Super Troopers, Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Standing in the Shadows of Motown, Snatch, Avatar: The Last Airbender (TV), American Psycho, Cube, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Primer, Mother, The Limey, Out of Sight, Broadway Danny Rose, The Fog of War, A Bridge Too Far, Night of the Hunter, Mythbusters, The Guild, Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog, The Human Centipede, Return of the Living Dead, Wall Street, El Mariachi, The Hidden Fortress, The Seven Samurai, The 39 Steps, Psycho, The Birds, Buena Vista Social Club, The Life of Mammals and many, many more.