Netflix Queue 12/11/07

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