lovefilm

Joining Netflix

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A screenshot of the Netflix home page when logged in

Christine and I decided to sign up for Netflix last week. I’d been pondering it for a while but we decided that the price (£6 per month) was worth it considering the number of TV shows on offer. Unlike in the US, Netflix in Britain is online streaming only.

We’ve previously had a DVD rental by post subscription – originally with Amazon, which then got taken over by Lovefilm, and is now back in with Amazon again. That was £3 per month but we were barely using it. We were mainly renting films, and whilst we often have a spare half hour or so for a TV show it’s harder to find time on an evening for a film lasting two hours or more.

Amazon’s takeover of Lovefilm also meant that it was a lot easier to cancel. I almost cancelled Lovefilm a couple of years ago, but whilst on the phone I got talked into taking a cheaper package. Now Amazon just let you cancel in a rather nonchalant way online. I get the impression that Amazon see the DVD rental by post part of their business as a niche that it doesn’t have much of a future when compared to streaming.

Of course, Amazon has its own Instant Video service which does the same thing as Netflix, but we decided not to sign up; Netflix is available on more devices, and you can access everything on Netflix at no extra cost. Amazon, on the other hand, charge extra for some premium content.

What we’ve watched on Netflix

So far we’ve only watched a few things – in fact, Christine has watched more than me, mainly because I was out quite a bit last week whilst she was at home, on call. We’ve started watching Heroes together, as I never watched it when it was on, and Christine’s not seen all of the episodes. Considering it was shown in 2006, it already looks dated, with big CRT monitors in the background, non-smartphones and it being filmed in standard definition. Christine has also watched Grimm, and… Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. Yeah. We’ll get around the watching Orange is the New Black as well at some point, as I hear it’s very good – and a Netflix exclusive.

Netflix’s library extends into the few thousands, although there are some interesting omissions. For example, the second Iron Man film is there, but not the first or the third. Such is the weird world of entertainment rights I suppose. Still, you get a lot for £6 a month, and you can dip in and out of series as you please. And there’s no DVDs to return.

The film queue

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On Saturday I moved house again, although this time the move should be a little more permanent. I’m now living in North-East Bradford, rather than in the western area around the university, in a refurbished Victorian stone-built terraced house with two other lads. It’s a nice house, although it does mean a longer walk to work.

Unfortunately we don’t yet have internet – that’s a story I’ll leave for another entry – so I’m using the opportunity to watch some of the films that I own on DVD which I haven’t seen before.

Thus far I have watched the remaining episodes of Torchwood Season 2 that I haven’t seen – previously I have watched the first 4 and last 4 episodes, but missed those in the middle of the series. This included the episodes ‘Adam’ and ‘Dead Man Walking’ which are quite important to the overall story arc – having watched these episodes now, the final episode makes more sense. I also watched Baseketball, a film starring the creators of South Park, which I enjoyed but would only recommend to those who enjoyed South Park or Team America. Otherwise you’ll find it puerile and immature.

On my list to watch next are:

  • The Dark is Rising – a film that Hari wanted to watch and that we rented from LoveFilm, but haven’t yet got around to watching
  • Nacho Libre – kids film starring Jack Black that I picked up cheaply in a sale
  • Hellboy – heard mixed reviews, some people say it’s great, others hated it
  • Robots – another kids film
  • The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – Thought the first film was very well done, but never managed to see this in the cinema.

Incidentally I posted a similar list this time last year – so a year later and I still haven’t seen Hellboy or Nacho Libre.

I also have various DVDs like The Simpsons Movie, Shrek the Third and most of the Matrix Trilogy which I have seen in the cinema but haven’t since watched on DVD. I’m going on holiday a week today and at the current rate we won’t have the internet installed by then, so I have another week of keeping myself busy.