Question about Streaming

[Concerned American]

Despite having access to countless cable channels and streaming options, people often experience choice overload and end up watching very little.

I have spend endless hours browsing Netflix and Prime, trying a movie or show and then another and another, only to find nothing satisfying and wasting an entire evening. To avoid this, I subscribe to four streaming services and spend half an hour each week checking reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, creating a shortlist of appealing content. I use this list when ready to watch, skipping most of the browsing, saving time, and reducing frustration.

More is not always better.

I agree. IMHO, there isn't anything that has been produced since about 1990 that is worth my time. I keep giving them opportunities to prove me wrong but I've been unsuccessful at finding anything with any merit.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I also use movie reviews to narrow my choices.
I do movie searches by year.
The 40s and 50s have a lot of good movies.
Sometimes I do searches by actor....Bogart, Mitchum, Lancaster, Cooper, Holden, Lemon, Ryan
Bogart has several great movies

We do that also, we will get into a kick of watching all 60s movies, 50s and before etc.

 

[g5000]

I kept the cable provider for internet, but ditched the cable.
Added services like Netflix and Prime.

Same. I use an Amazon Fire TV cube. We do subscribe to all the streaming services, though. Netflix, Hulu/Disney, Max, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, I forget what else.

That all does add up.

My wife wanted to keep our landline, and we did for a while, but I eventually pointed out we had not used it in over a year and she relented.

 

[g5000]

Despite having access to countless cable channels and streaming options, people often experience choice overload and end up watching very little.

I have spend endless hours browsing Netflix and Prime, trying a movie or show and then another and another, only to find nothing satisfying and wasting an entire evening. To avoid this, I subscribe to four streaming services and spend half an hour each week checking reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, creating a shortlist of appealing content. I use this list when ready to watch, skipping most of the browsing, saving time, and reducing frustration.

More is not always better.

Do you like documentaries? There is an endless supply of those.

I've noticed there are a lot of true crime series. I don't count them as documentaries, but some of them are pretty good. Some really suck. The bandwagon effect has made it hard to find the good ones.

Also, I have posted on here many times that Korea makes incredible movies. Way better than Hollywood.

Some people let their dislike of subtitles make them miss out on some amazing content. That's a real shame.

K-dramas, on the other hand, are really sappy and intended for teen girls.

Some of the ones I'm going to list come and go on the streaming networks, but keep an eye out for them.

Oldboy. The original Korean version, not Spike Lee's disastrous remake.

Parasite.

Train to Busan. I'm not even into zombie movies, but Train to Busan is terrific stuff.

The Host.

Lady Vengeance.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird.

The Chinese also make some good movies. My all-time favorite is Kung Fu Hustle.

Then there's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

 

[g5000]

The only Korean TV series I have found so far that is outstanding. It was a huge hit in Korea.

The actors are Korean A-listers.

 

[g5000]

 

[g5000]

One of Natalie Portman's earliest films.

"Someone's coming. Someone serious."

Gary Oldman is a fricking maniac.

"Bring me everyone."

"What do you mean everyone?"

"EVREEEEONNE!!!"

 

[Flopper]

Pretty much what we do also. There is no real way of just going to Netflix with a library 1569 shows and over 5000 movies and expect to find anything.

I just wish there was an online guide that I could key in the name of a movie and see which streaming service has it.

 

[g5000]

I just wish there was an online guide that I could key in the name of a movie and see which streaming service has it.

The Plex phone app does that. It tells you all the streaming services which carry the movie you are looking for, and how much they charge if it isn't free.

 

[Concerned American]

I just wish there was an online guide that I could key in the name of a movie and see which streaming service has it.

I use the service's search function. My problem has been that Prime will have it, for example, but there is a charge. Hulu has many oldies that I've found that way. I haven't tried the search function on Roku, but I don't watch it often.

 

[Foxfyre]

Hello - Like many, I have an overpriced cable package (TV, Phone, Internet) Could someone suggest a cheaper alternative whereby we can keep our phone number, still have internet access, and ditch those 400+ channels we never watch?

Hombre and I are at an age where we can't travel or get out like we used to and television and our computers are our primary window to the world and source of recreation/entertainment. We keep our cable/internet/land line/mobile phone package because we enjoy having cable programs late night when we're in bed and also have cable for overnight house guests which they appreciate a lot.

We afford it by not eating out a lot, not going to movies much, not going to the casino, not going to concerts, not going to sporting events that we used to go to a lot.

But do beware. I had a Xfinity/Comcast tech talk me into ditching cable in favor of Roku but fortunately I demanded a Comcast tech come out to install the device. When he got here he assessed the situation and advised that we would lose our DVR which we enjoy a LOT as well as all television services to the satellite TVs. All that the tech who sold us the Roku deal--it was a pretty good savings--had lied to us about. Well we sent the Roku box home with the tech and kept our modest cable deal.

I haven't fully trusted Xfinity's 'deals' since that experience.

 

[Flopper]

Worst thing about OTA and cable is commercials. I only watch antenna TV for nightly news, sports, and a selected few shows.

And 90% of the commercials are pharma! Good lord.

Many of streaming services have commercials but you can pay more to avoid.

I remember when movie theaters didn’t have commercials. Slowly, though, they started creeping in. Same thing happened with cable—when it first came out, there were no ads. Then, little by little, commercials started showing up, and now most channels are full of them. Streaming used to be the escape—no ads, just content. Now, most services offer a cheaper tier with commercials.

Eventually, they worm their way into everything.

---

Do you like documentaries? There is an endless supply of those.

I've noticed there are a lot of true crime series. I don't count them as documentaries, but some of them are pretty good. Some really suck. The bandwagon effect has made it hard to find the good ones.

Also, I have posted on here many times that Korea makes incredible movies. Way better than Hollywood.

Some people let their dislike of subtitles make them miss out on some amazing content. That's a real shame.

K-dramas, on the other hand, are really sappy and intended for teen girls.

Some of the ones I'm going to list come and go on the streaming networks, but keep an eye out for them.

Oldboy. The original Korean version, not Spike Lee's disastrous remake.

Parasite.

Train to Busan. I'm not even into zombie movies, but Train to Busan is terrific stuff.

The Host.

Lady Vengeance.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird.

The Chinese also make some good movies. My all-time favorite is Kung Fu Hustle.

Then there's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Do you like documentaries? There is an endless supply of those.

I've noticed there are a lot of true crime series. I don't count them as documentaries, but some of them are pretty good. Some really suck. The bandwagon effect has made it hard to find the good ones.

Also, I have posted on here many times that Korea makes incredible movies. Way better than Hollywood.

Some people let their dislike of subtitles make them miss out on some amazing content. That's a real shame.

K-dramas, on the other hand, are really sappy and intended for teen girls.

Some of the ones I'm going to list come and go on the streaming networks, but keep an eye out for them.

Oldboy. The original Korean version, not Spike Lee's disastrous remake.

Parasite.

Train to Busan. I'm not even into zombie movies, but Train to Busan is terrific stuff.

The Host.

Lady Vengeance.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird.

The Chinese also make some good movies. My all-time favorite is Kung Fu Hustle.

Then there's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Is Train to Busan on Netflix?

I enjoy documentaries that teach you something new, particularly Harlan County, USA and Ken Burns’ works like The Civil War and Baseball. I also prefer fact-based docudramas and recently liked Victoria for its acting and accuracy.

I noticed that Netflix seems to cater heavily to a Korean audience, offering a flood of Korean romcoms that tend to follow a predictable formula: initial dislike between the leads, drawn-out tension, a dramatic twist, and eventual love by episode 15. I found The King’s Affection truly worthwhile—it was long but it had strong storytelling, good acting, and quality dubbing.

Dubbing is important to me because of my vision.

 

[Flopper]

The Plex phone app does that. It tells you all the streaming services which carry the movie you are looking for, and how much they charge if it isn't free.

Thanks I will give a try

 

[hondo 50]

Hello - Like many, I have an overpriced cable package (TV, Phone, Internet) Could someone suggest a cheaper alternative whereby we can keep our phone number, still have internet access, and ditch those 400+ channels we never watch?

radio
then go outside and play

 

[Flopper]

I agree. IMHO, there isn't anything that has been produced since about 1990 that is worth my time. I keep giving them opportunities to prove me wrong but I've been unsuccessful at finding anything with any merit.

TCM

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I just wish there was an online guide that I could key in the name of a movie and see which streaming service has it.

I do that all the time - Roku has that feature. And you can search by voice