I just finished another marathon round on Netflix. The site loads very slowly so I typically only go on and add to the queue in fits. Last time, about two months ago, I ended up adding dozens of old Japanese movies, mostly samurai-focused (only to determine that I don’t really enjoy most old samurai movies. Although I’d recommend Hiroshi Inagaki’s Samurai trilogy).

Even if the site is slow, I find it to be very adept at recommending movies. I will usually start somewhere concrete (say, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, which we own.. on Beta) and then branch out from there. Read the blurb, scan the reviews, check the date released, director, actors… and you have a good feel for whether or not it’s worth putting on your queue. And considering the amount of movies you can “rent” in a month – practically anything is worth adding.

One movie begets two or three recommendations which you’ve forgotten or never heard of, and it continues to snowball, until you have twenty tabs open on your browser and your dial-up connection begins squealing in pain from all the bandwidth you’re asking for that it’ll never be able to deliver. At least, that’s what usually happens with me.

Tonight’s selections are varied. Some are classics I’ve never watched, some are classics I’ve forgotten. A lot are the sort of random, cult and b-movies that you’d never be able to find in your local area movie store. (If you’re lucky, you might be able to find some of them. On VHS. The original copies that the store bought. Totally unwatchable.)

And I’ll admit. Some on my queue are trash. Sometimes, if the reviews are just so bad, a movie has to be worth watching.

God bless Netflix.

Here’s my queue. Show me yours?

(Note: I used Albert Banks’ excellent Netflix plug-in to generate the list with links, and then I copy+pasted the generated html to create a tidy, static list.)

  1. Bob Dylan: The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965
  2. Killer of Sheep
  3. The Wire: Season 4: Disc 1
  4. Incident at Blood Pass
  5. Stand by Me
  6. The Wire: Season 4: Disc 2
  7. Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor
  8. The Wire: Season 4: Disc 3
  9. High and Low
  10. Trial of the Moke
  11. Kagemusha
  12. The Wire: Season 4: Disc 4
  13. Le Samourai
  14. Fires on the Plain
  15. Throne of Blood
  16. Tears of the Black Tiger
  17. Chushingura
  18. Iron Monkey
  19. Flight of the Conchords: Season 1: Disc 1
  20. Flight of the Conchords: Season 1: Disc 2
  21. Kandahar
  22. This Is England
  23. Everything’s Cool
  24. The Madness of King George
  25. Best Motoring: Drift Bible
  26. The Cyclist
  27. Free Zone
  28. Gabbeh
  29. Children of Heaven
  30. Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore?
  31. Badlands
  32. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
  33. Osama
  34. Best Motoring: Rotary Reborn
  35. I Like Killing Flies
  36. Zzyzx
  37. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
  38. Best Motoring: Fuji Fast!
  39. Banzai Runner
  40. Once Upon a Wheel
  41. Skip Barber: Going Faster
  42. Le Mans
  43. Thrashin’
  44. Space Mutiny
  45. Ronin
  46. Hot Version International: JDM Racers
  47. Nine Queens
  48. Bullitt
  49. Heartbreaker: Streets of Fire
  50. Fast Company
  51. Demolition Man
  52. 2010: The Year We Make Contact
  53. Robot Jox
  54. Dead Ringers
  55. Solarbabies
  56. Born in Flames
  57. Dust to Glory
  58. Best Motoring: Skyline GT-R: The Prodigy
  59. Vertigo
  60. North by Northwest
  61. The Deer Hunter
  62. The Magnificent Seven
  63. The BRD Trilogy: The Marriage of Maria Braun
  64. Three Days of the Condor
  65. The Brood
  66. The BRD Trilogy: Lola
  67. Cannonball
  68. Judge Dredd
  69. Billy Jack
  70. True Grit
  71. The BRD Trilogy: Veronika Voss
  72. John and Mary
  73. Masters of the Universe
  74. Freejack
  75. Red Sonja
  76. The Aggressives
  77. The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant
  78. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  79. Speedo: POV
  80. Midnight Cowboy
  81. Existenz
  82. Genghis Blues
  83. Taxi Driver
  84. Dog Day Afternoon
  85. A Fistful of Dollars
  86. Spider
  87. Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train
  88. Z
  89. Marathon Man
  90. I Shot Andy Warhol
  91. Soylent Green
  92. The Boys of Baraka
  93. Fox and His Friends
  94. Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?
  95. Logan’s Run
  96. Westworld
  97. Serpico
  98. Silent Running
  99. The Andromeda Strain
  100. Rollerball
  101. The Black Hole
  102. Tron
  103. The Day the Earth Stood Still
  104. The Hindenburg
  105. The Last Starfighter
  106. Death Race 2000
  107. Sleeper
  108. The Fugitive Kind
  109. Atomic Submarine
  110. 20 Million Miles to Earth
  111. Take the Money and Run