Some movie thoughts

[carbonel]

I just finished watching Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957) and listening to the commentary track. I liked the movie and it spoke to me, since it's about growing old and reconciling oneself to one's elapsed life. (I almost said "past life," but that's ambiguous.) However, every time I watch one of Bergman's movies, I always wonder if there's really something there or if it's all just a pretentious house of cards made by an old white man. The symbolism is generally not at all subtle.

With the impending shutdown of Netflix's DVD service, I've been trying to make my way through as many of the works from my 4-star list as I can in the DVD versions. There are more "very long wait" works, which I equate to "not available," since Netflix isn't replacing anything that's gone missing or damaged. I'll be able to find most of the not-on-Netflix movies via streaming services, but I appreciate the extras on DVDs, especially commentary tracks.

There are only five movies remaining at the bottom of the alphabet that I can reasonably expect to get from Netflix, and it's going to come down to the wire. The one I'm about to start watching is Woodstock, which runs over three hours. I haven't checked if there's a commentary track. After that, it's The World According to Garp, Witness for the Prosecution, Wuthering Heights, and Zero for Conduct.

I'm sorry that Netflix is discontinuing the DVD service, because there are still almost a hundred items on my queue that aren't available for streaming -- at least not from Netflix. But with the savings from Netflix, I suppose I can add at least one more streaming service to the Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and MAX (formerly HBOMax) that I already have. The only difficulty will be deciding on which one.

Comments

[philomytha]

That’s a shame about your DVD service. I rent DVDs by post from CinemaParadiso, idk if they have an equivalent in the US, but they do have a very comprehensive catalogue.

And I absolutely loved Witness for the Prosecution!

[dreamshark]

Or you could try just rotating through one service at a time for long enough to watch everything they have that interests you.

I recommend Peacock. I subscribed specifically to watch "Resident Alien," but found a surprising number of other interesting shows. I REALLY liked "We Are Lady Parts," and was glad I watched "Mrs. Davis," although I wouldn't call it great. I very much wanted to like "Poker Face" but decided that the concept had a fatal flaw. But if you like Natasha Lyonne enough it might work for you. And I watched a few episodes of the original "Quantum Leap," a show I rather liked from the late '80s that was fun to see again but seems awfully dated in retrospect. I think I'm now done with Peacock, but since I am watching Resident Alien with Richard, we aren't quite done with it yet. I should know better than to start watching a show with him that has more than 6 episodes, because we'll never get through it.

[catalenamara]

I never had a prayer of getting through my DVD.com queue, but I've sure made a good effort - over 100 movies since announcement of the shutdown. One of the movies in my queue bounced from long wait to very long wait to short wait to back to very long wait. I don't expect to get it, and it's not streaming anywhere. I've been prioritizing the ones I can't find anywhere to watch on DVD.com. I've been through my entire queue to determine what other streaming service, if any, the rest of the movies in my queue are on. I'm keeping a list of which movies are on what service, and plan to join one, watch those movies, quit, join another, etc. I figure the money I won't be spending on the dvd service will go to other streaming services. I *am* pleased with the way they're handling the shutdown, with courtesy to their customers and a long lead time before the shutdown. I'm already subscribed to Peacock as they recently offered a year's subscription for $20.00.

[carbonel]

You did better than me at getting through the queue. I think I've managed about half that number. It used to be that I'd alternate 4-star movies with "fun" movies, but I stopped doing that when Netflix announced the shutdown and went to 4-star movies only. Which I managed only because of the number of "very long wait" items on my queue that I don't count.

What's that one movie you can't find? I might have some different sources.

Also, do you have a link to the year of Peacock for $20 deal? That's worth trying.

[catalenamara]

I looked for the $20.00 Peacock deal but couldn't find it - I remember it was limited time only.
The movie I can't find is "Thoroughly Modern Millie".
I've been watching a huge variety of movies - half I'd call "misc". The rest are in roughly equal numbers: pre-Code movies including silent movies; neo noir; gay-themed (mostly foreign); historical; and movies released between 2000 and 2008, when real life kept me so busy that I kept adding movies to my queue without actually watching any of them. Also TV shows like the British Being Human, Ripper Street, Callan, and Foyle's War.

[carbonel]

PM sent!

[athenais]

I've seen several Bergman films and every one of them left me feeling confused. But I look forward to someday visiting Bergman's home on Gotland in Sweden.