Friday, September 16, 2016

I Stream, You Stream Vol. 1

by Patrick Bromley
A new version of an old favorite starts today!

After almost 200 installments of Netflix This Movie!, the weekly column in which we recommended movies to watch on Netflix Instant for the last few years, it's time for a change. While I'm still happy with the Netflix service, it was getting nearly impossible to recommend four or five new titles a week with the rate at which they add new stuff. The model for the column was no longer sustainable.

So welcome to "I Stream, You Stream," in which I'll be recommending movies not just on Netflix but across a number of streaming platforms. After all, that's more or less how we consume our media these days, sampling from a number of options instead of putting all of our eggs in one streaming basket. Hope you like it!

Big thanks to JB and his wife Jan for naming the column (including the "Movie Love for Paid Subscribers" tagline, which was way too funny not to include -- it was one of the 30 hilarious options they came up with) and, as always, Doug for creating the graphic. #KuffsLife
Finders Keepers (2015, dir. Bryan Carberry, Clay Tweel, Alexander Yellen) This got mentioned on the podcast a few months back, but if you haven't caught up with it now you've got another chance. Like the great King of Kong, the documentary that this most closely resembles, Finders Keepers follows the conflict between two men over the discovery of a human leg. As the film goes on and we get to know the two men more, the leg starts to represent very different things to each. What a funny, often sad, even moving film. (Watch on Netflix)
Confidentially Yours (1983, dir. Francois Truffaut) Though it was made in the '80s, the final film of Francois Truffaut (he died of a brain tumor one year later at age 52 because life is pain) feels right out of the early 1960s in the best possible way. It has the same loose, black and white cinematography, the same bouncy energy and the same love of genre tropes (many of which were absorbed from a diet of American crime movies) that all adds up to something special -- not one of his masterpieces, but a really fun minor effort. It's worth watching just for Fanny Ardant, playing a secretary-turned-detective when her jerk of a boss is accused of murder. She's the best. (Watch on Hulu)
Vicious Lips (1986, dir. Albert Pyun) Listen, just because this is a new take on the weekly recommendations column and I now have access to the arthouse Criterion library doesn't mean I'm going to abandon my love of lowbrow nonsense like the works of Albert Pyun. To enjoy a movie like this you have to be able to abandon conventional ideas of narrative...or performance...or budget...and just appreciate the weirdness of a movie about a girl group that gets stranded in space and stalked by a monster. Pyun's vision and ideas are almost always bigger than his means, and I find that tension fascinating. (Watch on Amazon Prime Video)
Dream Home (2010, dir. Pang Ho Cheung) There's a lot of great stuff to watch on the all-horror streaming service Shudder, much of which I will be recommending throughout October. For now I'll suggest Pang Ho Cheung's extremely dark Dream Home, about a woman who is very, very intent on securing the apartment she has always wanted. Incredibly well made, brutally violent and deeply satirical of life in China, Dream Home will be a very tough watch for a lot of you. Those with a high tolerance for nastiness should find a lot to like. (Watch on Shudder)

18 comments:

  1. Hell F-ing yes! So glad you broadened the scope. Great pics! Dream Home was a great surprise.

    Btw - I found out last weekend in chatting with Brent P. that if you sign up for Shudder through Amazon you are getting screwed. They do not include numerous titles that are available by directly signing up on the Shudder website. Just an FYI in case anyone has done this.

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    1. Thanks for the tip! I had noticed this months ago while trying to watch something I heard was on shudder but couldn't find using the app on my fire stick. I just thought it was a glitch.

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    2. Yes, I can confirm this is true. I canceled my Amazon/Shudder subscription and re-signed up through their website. Kind of a bummer but worth it to get access to all their titles.

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    3. Yes, I can confirm this is true. I canceled my Amazon/Shudder subscription and re-signed up through their website. Kind of a bummer but worth it to get access to all their titles.

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  2. Excellent! Netflix is fine and all, but I'm making it rain on too many streaming services to have to hunt and peck through their catalogs all by myself. Word on the street is THE WITCH hits Amazon Prime tomorrow. Sure, I COULD hold off a couple of weeks to hit that #ScaryMovieMonth window but who am I kidding?

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  3. Love the new format! Finally my vast indecisiveness across multiple streaming platforms will be cured!

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  4. This is awesome - I love seeing the full menu of delicious movie streaming services that aren't available to me in Canada! :P But the jokes on you, assholes - you might have thousands and thousands of great movies available at the click of a button but you can't watch every season of "Two Lumberjacks and a Beaver" on CBC.ca for FREE. Your asses are region blocked!

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    1. Haha, well, technically no one HAS to be region blocked ;)

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    2. Remember, VPN is NDP spelled backwards...everyone can have their cake and eat it too!

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  5. Nice. I have these things but aside from Netflix im usually just scrolling more than watching on the other ones..

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  6. Really like the expanded focus of the column Patrick! I'll have to check out Confidentially Yours in particular when I have the chance. Hulu is a treasure trove of good stuff.

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  7. Finally, someone listened to me... several years after pointing out that Netflix isn't the end all, be all of streaming options. Pleased as punch that the other streaming services will be getting some of that Bromley lovin' I've heard so much about. :-O

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  8. Love the new column (and the name, and tagline - 'cause JB and Jan are awesome). I recently cancelled my Netflix subscription because I haven't been using it much, so I'm glad for the Prime streaming suggestions.

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