criterionforum.org

More FYI:
These seem to have altered OARs: Angel Levine, Cadillac Records, Gas-s-s-s-s-s, With a Friend Like Harry, The Last Sunset, Wichita.
If I have wrongly impugned Netflix and their licensors, please correct me.
(At any rate, there are only three out of six that are worth seeing, IMHO.)
Cheers...

Great news for SNL fans:

Under the new arrangement, "hundreds" of "Saturday Night Live" episodes from the past 35 years, as well as "day-after broadcast" of the show's next three seasons, will be available on Netflix Instant Streaming. NBC is also offering every previous-season episode of "30 Rock," "The Office," and "Law & Order: SVU." Earlier seasons of those shows already on Netflix will still be available.

All episodes of the venerable SyFy series "Battlestar Galactica" will also be available on the service.

NBC Universal and Netflix said that "Monk" and "Friday Night Lights," among many other shows, will also be included in the expanded relationship between the companies.....
NBC's shows will be available on Netflix's streaming service beginning next week.

I'm considering renewing my Netflix membership just for this. Finally being able to see the Domanian year. Michael O'Donoghue's brief return as head writer. The Harry Shearer sketches that were used. The complete Phil Hartman. It's a treasure trove.

Yow. Have the Doumanian episodes ever been rerun? I don't know if Comedy Central even bothered to touch them back in the nineties. Let's hope they indeed get that many episodes on there. I'll believe it when I see it.

I guess this might be a sign of greater acceptance of Netflix. It seems kind of funny that they don't seem to be planning to put them up on Hulu. I mean, right now Hulu has only five complete SNL shows.

Anyone else having problems trying to stream Black Girl?

Cold Bishop wrote:I'm considering renewing my Netflix membership just for this. Finally being able to see the Domanian year. Michael O'Donoghue's brief return as head writer. The Harry Shearer sketches that were used. The complete Phil Hartman. It's a treasure trove.

Technically, it doesn't say ALL SNL episodes/seasons will be included. Just "hundreds." so probably best to see what actually shows up before getting too excited, of course.

My queue had a note a few days ago that they had changed versions of The Fugitive Kind - they've now replaced the MGM with the Criterion plus bonus disc is available. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh, because at more less the same time the Eclipse Caesar and Cleopatra went "unavailable".

Does the Criterion Blu for Darjeeling Limited fall under that 30 day thing from Fox?

I don't think that's the case here. (If it were, it would probably list an availability date of a few weeks from now.) Also, if memory serves, it actually was available right when it came out, only to shoot down to the saved section of my queue a few days later. (So what, they bought one copy and somebody decided to keep it?) I'd like to be proven wrong though.

Costa's Colossal Youth now listed as "unavailable." Seriously Netflix? Fucking bulshit.

I don't know why Netflix has such a problem with the Eclipse titles. There are plenty of small labels that they just don't stock at all any more, but Eclipse is unique in that they'll wait a few months before they get them, and/or they'll disappear after being available for a short time.

And I love their banner ad that pops up at the bottom of this page:

Netflix wrote:Rent as many movies as you want for $8.99 [except for all the hundreds we don't stock!]"

Fixed.

Yeah, but you can rent Iron Man 2 today.

So much for my friends who argued the superiority of Netflix over Blockbuster Online because, "Netflix has EVERYTHING!"

Oh, it's still worlds better than Blockbuster Online. I mean, let's be real here.

mfunk9786 wrote:Oh, it's still worlds better than Blockbuster Online. I mean, let's be real here.

Please give details. I'm seriously considering switching over.

If something's even remotely a niche item on Blockbuster, expect a Very Long Wait. Also, don't bet on new releases of titles that aren't big studio pictures to be available on release day (at least Netflix is reliable if you send in your return for Monday). And expect puzzling availability for TV series, where, say, discs 1-3 and 5-6 are Available Now but disc 4 is an inexplicable Very Long Wait.

And if there's an edited-for-content version of a film out there, expect to receive that rather than the director's cut.

Netflix still has a whole lot more sucking to do before they hit Blockbuster's level. I give 'em six months.

Swo, don't think of it as a "switch" situation -- Blockbuster will never fill all your needs, trust me (they do not, for example, have the Pedro Costas, or most of the other Eclipse sets). However, it may be worth it to supplement your Netflix with a BB subscription periodically, just to pick up a few of the odds and ends that BB has and Netflix doesn't. For one thing, because nobody uses Blockbuster, they tend to retain OOP titles for months or years longer than Netflix does.

The Tom Waits concert film Big Time is currently available.

Ashby's The Landlord, Axelrod's Lord Love a Duck, Loach's Kes, Fosse's All That Jazz now on instant watch

Police, Adjective has become available to stream. It is listed as HD.

Latest wrinkle on OOP discs: They've started to drop from "Available" in my queue to completely "Unavailable," without stopping at "Short Wait" or "Long Wait" in between. NoShame's Love and Anger just evaporated in this manner today.

How are you guys able to stream HD stuff -- is it necessary to be subscribed to their BluRay plan? I can't see this option on my 2-DVDs-at-once plan.

I think you should be able to watch them. If you go to the Instant Watch tab and scroll down the genres, do you have a category for HD? If so, I would guess that you can watch them with your subscription. Here is what they say is required to watch HD material:

Certain titles are available to watch in HD on your PC/Mac; and on your TV via a Netflix Ready Device.

To watch in HD on your PC or Mac, you need the following:

* Silverlight 3 or higher
* A screen resolution of at least 800 x 600
* A high-speed internet connection at time of playback (typically 5 Mbps or higher)


To watch in HD on your TV via a Netflix Ready Device, you need the following:

* An HD TV and component or HDMI connection from your Netflix ready device to your TV
* A high-speed internet connection at time of playback (typically 5 Mbps or higher)

Nothing about Blu-ray upgrade so my guess is you are good to go.

Ah, thanks, hadn't noticed the "HD" section in the genres tab.

I'm only watching their "instant" films on the PC though, not a TV, which seems to limit the number of titles available to me (in HD). For example, I see that Barry Lyndon is only "Available in HD on your TV" unfortunately. Odd that there's a distinction for some movies and not others.

mfunk9786 wrote:don't bet on new releases of titles that aren't big studio pictures to be available on release day

Heck, I can't tell you the last time I jumped on a title on release day. And if I wanted that kind of instant gratification I could walk into my local BB or any one of the local Mom&Pop video stores in my area & get the title off the shelf.

What I'm reading here, though, is that Netflix has plenty of problems - not perhaps quite the same ones as BB, but on the o0rder of six of one to a half-dozen of the other.

One thing I definitely like about BB-Online is that I can take the discs mailed me to a local BB store & trade them for free off-the-shelf rentals. In weeks when I have time I can easily watch the 3 sent in the mail & 3 from the store in a week. That's a lotta film rentals for $20 a month.