Netflix Instant recommendations thread

Sam

It can be near impossible to find movies you have heard of/give a shit about/want to watch, even though there's a lot of worthwhile stuff. I figure a good sharelist is in order.
I recommend:
Royal Tenenbaums
Pineapple Express
Le Cercle Rouge
Monsoon Wedding
Election
Triad Election
Big Lebowski
Monty Python
Batman Mask of Phantasm
Wall E

Mojo_Jojo

Criticker.com is really useful for this.

Also, you may want to explain your reasoning rather than just posting a list.

Ryadic

I assume that all of these are on instant queue?

Sam

yes only instant stuff. it's hard as hell to find worthwhile stuff they're like needles in barns

Ryadic

Agreed. Speaking solely on the PS3 version, there is no search function which annoys the crap out of me. Shit pops up randomly. Took me forever to figure out that Weeds season 3 wasn't on instant queue. Had to go to the website.

Good thing, though, is you can add things to instant queue through the website.

With that being said, I've been watching a lot of documentaries.

Nerdcore Rising was pretty good. Even if you don't like Nerdcore Hip Hop, I recommend it.

Super High Me was awesome. Supersize me... but with WEED! I'm sure it's better... ON WEEEEEEEED.

Inside Deep Throat is very interesting. Deep Throat is the big porno from the 70's that caused capital hill to go crazy. It's the story about the film being made and it's backlash. I enjoyed it.

I've got a few other documentaries to watch, too.

AngelHedgie

Taken from the old Netflix thread:

AngelHedgie wrote: »

So, documentaries worth watching:

Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room: Seriously, if you haven't watched it yet, you really should. Based on the book of the same name, the movie details the elements that comprised the utter collapse of the former energy titan.

MaxedOut: A good documentary about the glut of cheep credit that permeated the past decade and helped trigger the financial crisis we're currently in. Some of the stories can be pretty chilling, especially the one about the college student who committed suicide over mounting debt.

McLibel: Excellent documentary covering the famous "McLibel" case in Britain. The documentary doesn't just focus on the main McLibel case, but also the problems with British libel law and the eventual second case against the British legal system in the EU high courts, as well as eventual media spinoffs targeting McDonalds (such as Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me (also on Netflix)) in the much safer American system.

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession: Great documentary chronicling the run of the Los Angeles area premium movie channel that became a driving force in Hollywood culture. Worth watching not just for the story, but also for the listing of great movies.

Medival Lives: Hosted by former Python and history scholar Terry Jones, this series debunks many myths of the Middle Ages in a most entertaining manner. Jones puts both his comedic and scholarly chops to work here to great effect.

Reclaiming The Blade: Good documentary about the research and revival of Western swordsmithing and combat. While there is limited discussion of Eastern schools, it serves mainly as a counterpoint to illustrate the lost Western schools from the Middle Ages.

Welcome To Macintosh: Great documentary about the iconic Apple-made personal computer. A bit on the Cult of Steve side, to be sure, but still a fun watch about an important part of computer history.

Bigger Stronger Faster*: An excellent look at American society's frankly schizophrenic view of doping in sports and in life. Pretty eye-opening from a cultural perspective.

Not Quite Hollywood: Excellent documentary about the "Ozploitation" era of Australian genre cinema. Definitely not safe for work or mixed company on account of all the nudity (including one full frontal shot of John Holmes guaranteed to make any man feel perfectly inadequate), but worth watching to learn about a period of Australian cinema that had effects bot domestically and in the international cinema world.

I.O.U.S.A.: Good documentary about the US debt, and what it actually means for the average American, as well as the elements of our spending that generate it.

Raynaga

A bunch of the serialized shows like Dexter are on Instant. I've gotten most of my family following the adventures of a sociopathic maniac throughout their respective households thanks to that. The Shield is on there as well if I recall correctly.

Ryadic

Yeah, saw the first episode of Dexter, but due to such a busy schedule, haven't been home enough to get to the second episode. I wanna know who put the "dead hooker barbie" in his fridge. Nice cliffhanger.

In regards to those documentaries, I've got I.O.U.S.A., Maxed Out, and Medival Lives, on my queue. I've also got a few others on there. I'll have to check when I get home, but thanks for those other recommendations.

Speaking of good documentaries, not sure if it's on Instant Queue, but if you guys get a chance to see The N-Word, I recommend doing it. I loved it and it was what got me into documentaries.

Gyral

Jesus Christ Vampire Slayer - It's so criminally bad, I couldn't help but laugh.

Jekyll - Six part BBC mini-series that's a modern retelling of the Jekyll/Hyde story that's pretty damn interesting.

AngelHedgie

Also, for those of you who are Dexter fans, you might want to look up Wire In The Blood.

The Kung Fu Monkey has more on why you should watch it.

RUNN1NGMAN

Star Trek: TOS.

Arch

Blue Planet is on instant queue.

Watched it last night...be warned, at least on the Ps3, it may be a bit buggy....

I queued up "The Deep" and got "Open Ocean". Still good, but was confused

OptimusZed

AngelHedgie wrote: »

Taken from the old Netflix thread:

AngelHedgie wrote: »

So, documentaries worth watching:

Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room: Seriously, if you haven't watched it yet, you really should. Based on the book of the same name, the movie details the elements that comprised the utter collapse of the former energy titan.

MaxedOut: A good documentary about the glut of cheep credit that permeated the past decade and helped trigger the financial crisis we're currently in. Some of the stories can be pretty chilling, especially the one about the college student who committed suicide over mounting debt.

McLibel: Excellent documentary covering the famous "McLibel" case in Britain. The documentary doesn't just focus on the main McLibel case, but also the problems with British libel law and the eventual second case against the British legal system in the EU high courts, as well as eventual media spinoffs targeting McDonalds (such as Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me (also on Netflix)) in the much safer American system.

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession: Great documentary chronicling the run of the Los Angeles area premium movie channel that became a driving force in Hollywood culture. Worth watching not just for the story, but also for the listing of great movies.

Medival Lives: Hosted by former Python and history scholar Terry Jones, this series debunks many myths of the Middle Ages in a most entertaining manner. Jones puts both his comedic and scholarly chops to work here to great effect.

Reclaiming The Blade: Good documentary about the research and revival of Western swordsmithing and combat. While there is limited discussion of Eastern schools, it serves mainly as a counterpoint to illustrate the lost Western schools from the Middle Ages.

Welcome To Macintosh: Great documentary about the iconic Apple-made personal computer. A bit on the Cult of Steve side, to be sure, but still a fun watch about an important part of computer history.

Bigger Stronger Faster*: An excellent look at American society's frankly schizophrenic view of doping in sports and in life. Pretty eye-opening from a cultural perspective.

Not Quite Hollywood: Excellent documentary about the "Ozploitation" era of Australian genre cinema. Definitely not safe for work or mixed company on account of all the nudity (including one full frontal shot of John Holmes guaranteed to make any man feel perfectly inadequate), but worth watching to learn about a period of Australian cinema that had effects bot domestically and in the international cinema world.

I.O.U.S.A.: Good documentary about the US debt, and what it actually means for the average American, as well as the elements of our spending that generate it.

OutFOXed got added recently. Probably worth a watch if you want a good reason to hurl your remote at your television.

SyphonBlue

LOST

AngelHedgie

OptimusZed wrote: »

AngelHedgie wrote: »

Taken from the old Netflix thread:

AngelHedgie wrote: »

So, documentaries worth watching:

Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room: Seriously, if you haven't watched it yet, you really should. Based on the book of the same name, the movie details the elements that comprised the utter collapse of the former energy titan.

MaxedOut: A good documentary about the glut of cheep credit that permeated the past decade and helped trigger the financial crisis we're currently in. Some of the stories can be pretty chilling, especially the one about the college student who committed suicide over mounting debt.

McLibel: Excellent documentary covering the famous "McLibel" case in Britain. The documentary doesn't just focus on the main McLibel case, but also the problems with British libel law and the eventual second case against the British legal system in the EU high courts, as well as eventual media spinoffs targeting McDonalds (such as Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me (also on Netflix)) in the much safer American system.

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession: Great documentary chronicling the run of the Los Angeles area premium movie channel that became a driving force in Hollywood culture. Worth watching not just for the story, but also for the listing of great movies.

Medival Lives: Hosted by former Python and history scholar Terry Jones, this series debunks many myths of the Middle Ages in a most entertaining manner. Jones puts both his comedic and scholarly chops to work here to great effect.

Reclaiming The Blade: Good documentary about the research and revival of Western swordsmithing and combat. While there is limited discussion of Eastern schools, it serves mainly as a counterpoint to illustrate the lost Western schools from the Middle Ages.

Welcome To Macintosh: Great documentary about the iconic Apple-made personal computer. A bit on the Cult of Steve side, to be sure, but still a fun watch about an important part of computer history.

Bigger Stronger Faster*: An excellent look at American society's frankly schizophrenic view of doping in sports and in life. Pretty eye-opening from a cultural perspective.

Not Quite Hollywood: Excellent documentary about the "Ozploitation" era of Australian genre cinema. Definitely not safe for work or mixed company on account of all the nudity (including one full frontal shot of John Holmes guaranteed to make any man feel perfectly inadequate), but worth watching to learn about a period of Australian cinema that had effects bot domestically and in the international cinema world.

I.O.U.S.A.: Good documentary about the US debt, and what it actually means for the average American, as well as the elements of our spending that generate it.

OutFOXed got added recently. Probably worth a watch if you want a good reason to hurl your remote at your television.

Yep, as well as Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Prices. There are a few other docs I left out in the first round that I might put in a second listing, such as Girl 27 (Netflix's first documentary that they released under their Red Envelope imprint.)

OptimusZed

SyphonBlue wrote: »

LOST

I watched the entire series for the first time in a week in a half. It was great.

Also: The first three seasons of Farscape are up, as are the first two at least of Dexter.

For a touch of childhood SciFi nostalgia (for me at least), check out Seaquest DSV and Earth2. Seaquest hasn't aged particularly well, but Earth2 is actually very impressive visually.

Raynaga

I remember SeaQuest being pretty bad. The dolphin-water-breather-guy, and the dolphin that swam around the whole ship fixing things was strange.

nexuscrawler

Raynaga wrote: »

I remember SeaQuest being pretty bad. The dolphin-water-breather-guy, and the dolphin that swam around the whole ship fixing things was strange.

it was Star Trek underwater what do you really want

SyphonBlue

The first two seasons of Weeds.

Ryadic

SyphonBlue wrote: »

The first two seasons of Weeds.

I agree with this, however I will say this. The third season and so on are not on instant queue. If you're like me and only got Netflix for the instant queue, this will suck.

Season 2 ended on a giant cliff hanger.

SniperGuy

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High is a pretty decent documentary, if you're into that kind of thing. I'd recommend it. It's pretty informative.

nexuscrawler

It's really a goldmine for documentary lovers

Hoop Dreams
Ken Burns Civil War Series
Ken Burns Jazz series
Ric Burns NYC series
Grizzly Man
The Thin Blue Line
Fast Cheap and Out of Control
Standard Operating Procedure
Control Room

SniperGuy

Ooh! And King Corn is excellent. Everyone should watch that one.

Raynaga

nexuscrawler wrote: »

Raynaga wrote: »

I remember SeaQuest being pretty bad. The dolphin-water-breather-guy, and the dolphin that swam around the whole ship fixing things was strange.

it was Star Trek underwater what do you really want

Meh, I liked Trek, excluding Voyager and Enterprise. And its been a long, long time since I've actually seen DSV. I just remember it in a less than fond light.

OptimusZed

Raynaga wrote: »

nexuscrawler wrote: »

Raynaga wrote: »

I remember SeaQuest being pretty bad. The dolphin-water-breather-guy, and the dolphin that swam around the whole ship fixing things was strange.

it was Star Trek underwater what do you really want

Meh, I liked Trek, excluding Voyager and Enterprise. And its been a long, long time since I've actually seen DSV. I just remember it in a less than fond light.

Set production values were slightly lower than TNG, but overall it wasn't really that much hokier.

jimb213

SyphonBlue wrote: »

LOST

they just added season 5 to instant queue, which is great for me, because I missed the last handful of episodes...

and yeah, there's lots of baaaaaaad movies on instant. Flesh, TX may be the most inept movie I've ever seen actually completed. Radical lighting changes between shots in the same room, changing white balance between shots in the same scene, laughably bad audio, terrible acting... it's gone past so bad it's good right back into so bad it's bad territory... I mean, if it was a student film, everyone involved would fail for making something with so little filmmaking skill...

Tomanta

Friday Night Lights is on instant view and better than expected.

As is all of Fraggle Rock!

And a bunch of other stuff. My instant queue list is freaking long.

OptimusZed

Tomanta wrote: »

Friday Night Lights is on instant view and better than expected.

As is all of Fraggle Rock!

And a bunch of other stuff. My instant queue list is freaking long.

Mine is fucking huge, but I always just seem to end up scanning through the various sublistings instead of actually watching the stuff in my queue. I still have to finish Jeremiah at some point.

firewaterword

Friday Night Lights is goddamn fantastic. And it looks great streaming in HD.

Hell of a TV show. My new addiction.

Tomanta

OptimusZed wrote: »

Tomanta wrote: »

Friday Night Lights is on instant view and better than expected.

As is all of Fraggle Rock!

And a bunch of other stuff. My instant queue list is freaking long.

Mine is fucking huge, but I always just seem to end up scanning through the various sublistings instead of actually watching the stuff in my queue. I still have to finish Jeremiah at some point.

Yes, you do!

Netflix instant is the only way you can see it since they refuse to release Season 2 on DVD.

Spindrift

SyphonBlue wrote: »

The first two seasons of Weeds.

Cannot be emphasized enough.

Also 30 Rock.

EDIT: I almost forgot: COSMOS

Irond Will

No one mentioned Primer?

Primer is pretty good. Kind of an indie film, interesting premise, kind of a mind-fuck. Worth checking out.

skippydumptruck

documentaries I liked:

Bigger Faster Stronger
Modify (a documentary on body modification -- not for the squeamish)
Planet BBoy (breakdancing world championships!)

shows:

Dirty Jobs
Survivorman
mythbusters

and the hilarious standup of daniel tosh

mojojoeo

nexuscrawler wrote: »

It's really a goldmine for documentary lovers

Hoop Dreams
Ken Burns Civil War Series
Ken Burns Jazz series
Ric Burns NYC series
Grizzly Man
The Thin Blue Line
Fast Cheap and Out of Control
Standard Operating Procedure
Control Room

Civil war isnt on instant queue is it?

Sam

firewaterword wrote: »

Friday Night Lights is goddamn fantastic. And it looks great streaming in HD.

Hell of a TV show. My new addiction.

That was me back in 06/07 when the first season was running. Then it started getting bad in the second season, and I found myself annoyed that Dillon high seemed to have the same senior class over and over like Archie comics or something.

YamiNoSenshi

It comes and goes, but there seems to be a lot of goof British TV on instant. Go watch IT Crowd, it's funny. You can watch a lot of old Dr Who and some of the new stuff. Red Dwarf is also on there.

The first three seasons of Mythbusters and the Big Blasts collections are also available.

I've noticed when streaming to my XBox or PS3 I get a decidedly better picture than on my PC.

firewaterword

Irond Will wrote: »

No one mentioned Primer?

Primer is pretty good. Kind of an indie film, interesting premise, kind of a mind-fuck. Worth checking out.

I liked this movie, but you kind of have to watch it a few times to even begin to put it together.

nexuscrawler

mojojoeo wrote: »

nexuscrawler wrote: »

It's really a goldmine for documentary lovers

Hoop Dreams
Ken Burns Civil War Series
Ken Burns Jazz series
Ric Burns NYC series
Grizzly Man
The Thin Blue Line
Fast Cheap and Out of Control
Standard Operating Procedure
Control Room

Civil war isnt on instant queue is it?

Crap you're right tit isn't

Jacobkosh

One of the best movies ever made and one of my personal favorites, 1966 Best Picture winner A Man for All Seasons, is up. I really can't recommend it enough to anyone who appreciates good writing or great acting.

kanaesin

YamiNoSenshi wrote: »

I've noticed when streaming to my XBox or PS3 I get a decidedly better picture than on my PC.

HD Instant View streams are only available to dedicated players, like the 360, PS3, or Roku. Your PC can't get them.

nexuscrawler

Brick is on there though

great little movie if ya missed it