Netflix watch instantly on 360 recommendations

For one thing, as Alfred Hitchcock said, “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.”

They added the awesome vampire movie Byzantium, which is absolutely worth seeing.

I saw Amazon is starting to promote their own productions as well.

Has anyone seen any of those that are good? That Perlman series looks popular.

I think it is great that distribution shops get into the production business. Keeps things fresh and different.

Transparent and Catastrophe are more than just good.

Second for Catastrophe, it’s really fantastic. Bosch is a decently hi-quality procedural, if you’re into that.

Haven’t seen Alpha House or Transparent yet, but they’re both on my list.

They had the first episode of Transparent showing for free back when it first came out. I was intrigued, but also kind of repulsed at the same time. It’s full of characters that are so blatantly self-absorbed it’s very off-putting. I imagine that might change over the course of the series, but man, that’s a hell of a starting point to ask the viewer to invest in.

Amazon has been doing shows for a few years now in batches, where they test the pilot, then make the series. Transparent is probably the most well known as it garnered a bunch of rewards; I think Alpha House and Betas are the oldest ones.

Netflix’s entry into movies is about to get going with Beasts of No Nation, which is premiering simultaneously in theaters (well, the non-big-chain ones anyway since the major chains refuse to participate) and online at the same time.

— Alan

I’m about 4 episodes into the Perlman show, Hand of God. It’s pretty good. Doesn’t hurt that the great Garret Dillahunt is a costar. Seriously, is there any role that guy can’t friggin’ do well in?

Watched The Dead Lands on Friday night and really liked it. Low budget and simplistic, it’s still a great little action film. A Maori chief’s son seeks vengeance for the slaughter of his tribe in pre Colonial New Zealand. He enlists the aid of a haunted warrior who is both a cannibal and a tragic figure…seriously. It’s really well done, in my opinion.

I also noticed that White God is available too. I’ve been dying to see that one. It features a dog forced to fight in competitions in a film that’s ultimately a parable about human nature. Was the hit of many festivals last year.

I’m inclined to say no - there isn’t anything Dillahunt can’t do well in. What’s blowing my mind right now is that a show with this guy and Ron Fuckin’ Perlman has absolutely no pull for me. It’s getting such poor reviews and the central plot idea just sounds so lame to me. I’m going to have to get past that somehow.

I’m so glad to hear so much Garret Dillahunt love going around! That guy’s been high on my “must see stuff just because he’s in it” list since John from Cincinnati, which is where I first realized how much versatility he has. I mean, he does what he mostly gets cast to do really well. He’s utterly heartbreaking in Assassination of Jesse James. But I love seeing him breaking out of type. There’s a terrible movie called The Scribbler available now on Netflix that’s worth checking out just for his scenes. They’re very different from the usual Dillahunt.

But, yeah, I’m with Pogue on Hand of God. I’m not sure I can stick with it. I mostly blame Perlman. He’s great and all, but I can’t see him anchoring this kind of plot for however many episodes it’s supposed to go. And I’m not sure I have the patience for whatever Dana Delany is doing. Has she always been this awful?

-Tom

I watched the entire run of Raising Hope. That’s how much of a Dillahunt fan I am. He can even do comedy better than most.

Thanks for the Byzantium recommendation, malkav. From the same director as Interview With A Vampire, only twice as good. Phenomenal mood piece. Makes me not want to go to an English coastal town.

Hepcat, and everyone else, highly recommend White God. Most moving movie I’ve seen in the last 5 years and the ending will bring tears to the eyes of anyone who has adopted a shelter dog. White God is the Nirvana of dog movies that make all other lip synced or narrated dog movies (even Babe 2: Pig In the City which is essentially a dog movie and wonderful) look like 80s dumb hair bands. It’s that good. If it doesn’t win the Academy Award for best foreign picture then I’m never watching that award show again.

Edit: It was submitted as the Hungarian entry last year but didn’t even get nominated. Fuck the academy in their old pruny assholes.

I’ve heard nothing but great things about White God. NPR seemingly bought the rights to gush about the film when it was hitting festivals and during award seasons. This weekend I plan on grabbing a box of kleenex and crying my eyes out over it.

I’m betting Dillahunt plays one of the dogs. Am I right?

Ha. Wonderfully, the dogs play themselves. No voice overs or narration or voice actors. It’s pretty remarkable.

Let me know what you think post episode 6. I will give away no spoilers, but it’s been a struggle at that point after being delightfully entranced until then.

My wife’s greatest joy in life is working with rescue dogs. I showed her the trailer for this, and she absolutely gushed with delight at the idea. Thanks for a great recommendation!

This is her attitude in a nutshell. She was not incredibly amused by the start of John Wick, but I have a feeling she warmed up to it a bit later.

White God is worth seeing, very difficult to watch for people that don’t like to see animals suffer.

The film makers go out of their way during the action sequences to make it obvious no animals were mistreated from a technical perspective, but the subject matter can still be difficult for many.

I started a thread no one replied to, would love to discuss spoilers there.

Why has nobody ever recommended Peep Show to me? My wife wanted a comedic British palate cleanser after I subjected her to the first episode of Black Mirror*, and I found it on a list of shows to stream.

It’s excruciatingly, painfully wonderful. Absolutely hilarious. How this has run for 9 series (last one in production now) without me ever hearing of it I have no idea, as that’s one of the longer runs for a non-Gallifreyian series I’ve heard of on British television.

  • I’ll be watching the rest of that series alone, apparently. Poor pig.