Netflix - Not bad! Qwikster - uh, never mind...

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Is it just me, or has service gotten worse at Netflix? I just restarted my membership after a couple of years off, and I still haven't gotten the last of my initial three picks after five days of waiting (and it's not like it was that obscure a pick-- Ozu's Ohayo). The last two times I was a member it seemed like shipping was a lot faster-- when they told me they'd shipped something I'd usually get it the next day. On the plus side, I've got 300+ movies in my queue and they're supposedly all available "Now" except for one that's on "Short Wait". Previously, a lot of the more obscure/fringy items I selected would be on wait list for a while before they'd become available. But I'm bummed by the stuff that they've stopped carrying altogether-- no Last Year at Marienbad, no Sunrise, no Cannibal Holocaust...

― Chris F. (servoret), Friday, 23 December 2005 05:04 (twenty years ago)

Shipping has gotten A LOT slower. I'm considering cancelling.

― Not That, Friday, 23 December 2005 05:12 (twenty years ago)

I'm sure most of the copies of Marienbad and Sunrise (one OOP, one only available with a $40-50 box) were stolen by members. I briefly considered stealing the copy of Two-Lane Blacktop I had but would rather find one on EBay.

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Friday, 23 December 2005 05:18 (twenty years ago)

I am a frat boy, yes.

Shipping has gotten a bit slow, yes.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Friday, 23 December 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Slipping has been slow for nearly a year, but apparently it's still faster than any of the alternatives (at least according to the breakdowns I've seen.) Sigh.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 December 2005 16:25 (twenty years ago)

My shipping is still pretty quick, with the odd exception. Usually just a 2-3 day turnaround from sending one in to getting one back. And anyway my viewing has slowed down so much from other competing demands that it doesn't really matter.

I think I've got a pretty good spread in my friends' list now, at least judging from the ratings of "Lost in Translation": one 5-star, three 4-stars, two 3-stars, one 2-star, two 1-stars. (I'm a 4-star on it myself. The bile toward it seems misdirected. But I like the range of opinions.)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 23 December 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Netflix rocks! The selection kicks Blockbuster's ass, and I think that not having to go to the video store has saved my relationship. I don't think I really watch enough movies to save any money though.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 23 December 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I'll go through a period of tearing through the movies I have and then not watch another for another 4 weeks. I'm really not getting my money's worth but whatever.

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Friday, 23 December 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

I just figure I'm not paying only for volume but also selection and convenience.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 23 December 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

Haha so me and Adam were the ones who hated it.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 December 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

And Zoe, too.

I have vol. 1 of the Yakuza Papers home right now, will probably watch it this weekend. It sounds Christmasy.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 23 December 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

but apparently it's still faster than any of the alternatives

"SF"=San Francisco? What about Greencine? Admittedly, they also had big wait list problems two years ago when I was a member.

I'm not paying only for volume but also selection and convenience

Yeah, but given new shipping problems I don't know how long I'm going to stick with it this time. My county library system has a surprisingly good selection of titles available on DVD (for instance, some orderer there really likes old Japanese flicks-- they have almost every Seijin Suzuki flick Netflix has and a motherload of old samurai flicks besides-- plus they have Suspiria! WTF?), so I'm pretty much going to use Netflix to fill in the gaps-- which makes me wonder how many obscure exploitation flicks and "film classics" I really need to experience in the privacy of my own home. It's too bad that my local revival theater just went kaput-- I'm starting to envy NYCers and Chicagoans their access to movies as they were meant to be seen.

― Chris F. (servoret), Friday, 23 December 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

"SF"=San Francisco? What about Greencine? Admittedly, they also had big wait list problems two years ago when I was a member."

It is San Francisco, but Greencine is more expensive and the shipping times are supposed to be about the same. I probably should switch anyway, but the fact that I would have to re-rate everything is kind of deterring me.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Friday, 23 December 2005 19:05 (twenty years ago)

If you guys would like to friend me, try

jonathan
****dot****
williams
**snail**
gmail
**d0t**
c0m

― GET EQUIPPED WITH DVD MAILZ (ex machina), Friday, 23 December 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

My email address on Netflix is the same as the one below.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 23 December 2005 19:16 (twenty years ago)

Ditto. I've got 543 movies rated, but I have trouble with keeping my rating criteria consistent. I guess 5 stars is supposed to be for my pet favoritest movies, but the difference between 3 and 4 stars gets blurry, especially when I look back at older ratings and can't remember what drove me to assign a movie one over the other. 4 stars = "really a lot of fun" and 3 stars = "it was OK"? Negative ratings are easier: 2 stars = "boring", 1 star = "unwatchably bad" (e.g., Baise Moi).

I thought Greencine's turnaround time for SF residents was supposed to be screaming fast. Was that a myth, or is Netflix in SF comparable?

I'm getting annoyed with the slowness. The Ozu flick still hasn't shown up, and of the two movies I sent back together two days ago, Netflix has only bothered to process one today. Are they still closed on Saturdays?

― Chris F. (servoret), Saturday, 24 December 2005 01:15 (twenty years ago)

Hey, this friends thing is kinda neat! It makes me feel like I'm being really stingy with 5 stars though. I'm sending invites to people who asked to be invited already (and Alex in SF, because his 3000 ratings intrigue me).

― Chris F. (servoret), Saturday, 24 December 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

I share our account with my wife and daughter, whose interests I don't always share, and they've done 80-85% of the movie-rating. So, when you see that the first X-Men movie got rated 5 stars? That wasn't me.

― I do feel guilty for getting any perverse amusement out of it (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 24 December 2005 02:42 (twenty years ago)

I've handed out 5 stars pretty liberally, I guess. I'd prefer a more carefully calibrated system. Out of 100, maybe. Or 1000. Then I could really differentiate between an 896 and a 957.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 24 December 2005 03:09 (twenty years ago)

i used to have a netflix subscription. as soon as all my grad skool applications are in (two more to go) i'm getting myself a new subscription to congratulate myself on a job well done.

― inger lynde (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 24 December 2005 03:25 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and feel free to invite me, other people that might be interested.

Some of the ratings I've seen so far surprise me-- Jon's tastes seem to map pretty closely to mine, Alex's not so much. (I'm sad that he gave It's a Wonderful Life only two stars. I take it you don't like Capracorn, Alex?)

― Chris F. (servoret), Saturday, 24 December 2005 11:48 (twenty years ago)

I can't stand It's a Wonderful Life and I'm not generally fond of Capra, no.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 24 December 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

Wait you disliked Ong-Bak: Thai Warrior!?!!?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Saturday, 24 December 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

I feel asleep watching it, plus I didn't think it was that well done overall. I don't hand out stars to Jackie Chan just for having good stunts in his movies either.

― Chris F. (servoret), Sunday, 25 December 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

I can't believe you fell asleep watching it, but I do hand stars to Jackie Chan for having good stunts in his movies. I mean why are you watching if you don't want to see good stunts.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Sunday, 25 December 2005 13:53 (twenty years ago)

I want thrill-power all the way through an action movie-- some of his flicks get pretty boring and inane in the sections between the set pieces, and some of the later movies are much lamer than the earlier ones. (Or cheesiness is just more acceptable as things age, or I just got really sick of Jackie Chan somewhere during the flood of releases in the US after Rumble in the Bronx came out here.)

The Ozu finally showed up on Saturday-- it was held up because it got mailed out from New York for some reason (They don't have their selection perfectly duplicated at each distribution hub? Or they've fixed the wait time problem by shipping from whatever hub's got a title available when it's in demand?). But I did get fast turnaround on the one disc they decided to process on Friday-- I got my next one in the mail the next day.

― Chris F. (servoret), Monday, 26 December 2005 08:22 (twenty years ago)

I think jaymc has the right approach. The rating thing is starting to bug me while I'm still watching movies, and it's pointless-- who TF cares if I give Bad Timing three or four stars?

― Chris F. (servoret), Saturday, 31 December 2005 08:38 (twenty years ago)

My sister got me a netflix gift certificate for Christmas, woo!

I have a question: when you order/queue individual discs for TV series, do they try to send it to you in sequential order? I'd hate to put "XXX, Season 1, Disc 4" and "XXX, Season 1, Disc 5" in the queue and then get disc 5 before I've seen disc 4.

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Monday, 2 January 2006 06:52 (twenty years ago)

The only time I can think of where you don't get the first queued disc is when it's not designated as being available "now." Then it sometimes skips over to the second or third in line.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 2 January 2006 16:10 (twenty years ago)

Yeah I always buffer TV series in my queue with other discs to make sure that I don't get disc 2 or 3 before disc 1. The Netflix software isn't smart enough to ensure that you get them in order and disc 1 (esp. on brand new to DVD hot series) are always the most popular and likely to be checked out.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 2 January 2006 16:37 (twenty years ago)

And, it might just be me, but I think watching an entire disc of TV episodes (much less an entire season) in a short space of time is kinda draggy.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 2 January 2006 16:40 (twenty years ago)

Stuff that's sitting at the top of my queue, teasing me with "very long wait":

Story of a Love Affair
R. Kelly: Trapped in the Closet
Sins of the Fleshapoids

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 2 January 2006 16:42 (twenty years ago)

Yep, Still waiting for "Swamp Thing"

― Polysix Bad Battery (cprek), Monday, 2 January 2006 17:03 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I've been waiting on "Trapped in the Closet" for a while now!

― Lars and Jagger (Ex Leon), Monday, 2 January 2006 18:07 (twenty years ago)

Sins of the Fleshapoids

Say what? I can't even find this offered on Netflix!

― Chris F. (servoret), Monday, 2 January 2006 20:38 (twenty years ago)

Netflix has been mostly ok with sending tv series in a row, although they sent me the Homicide TV movie (and Repo Man and Repulsion) while I was still in the middle of season 4 or 5.

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Monday, 2 January 2006 20:45 (twenty years ago)

ah the joys of user reviews -

No nudity that I can recall, some violence, some deaths shown very gently, no serious cursing that I can recall.

― [tuvan throat singer's profound lyric sheet-must read again] (nordicskilla), Friday, 6 January 2006 04:27 (twenty years ago)

Fleshapoids is totally there. It's the DVD that just got released by Other Cinema. Maybe search Mike Kuchar?

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 6 January 2006 07:26 (twenty years ago)

The only Kuchar DVD I can find is some '80s thing by George, and Fleshapoids itself brings up no hits. Netflix is hiding things from me?

― Chris F. (servoret), Friday, 6 January 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

It'll do that.

― [tuvan throat singer's profound lyric sheet-must read again] (nordicskilla), Friday, 6 January 2006 19:44 (twenty years ago)

Netflix makes me want to actually TURN IN my Blockbuster card in defiance. Like, have a ceremony, one with robes and burning sage, in which I sever myself from their shittiness forever.

I have an Amon Duul DVD queued up!! Sharing the account with the woman has been daunting, though - I want Ilsa The Wicked Warden and the Townes Van Zandt DVD, she wants Play Misty For Me and The Wicker Man. Right now, we have A Dirty Shame (sucks but she loves John Waters and insists on calling me a 'neuter' now), Bullshit Season Two Disc One, and Over The Edge.

I have two questions though - what happens if you lose the little envelope that the CD comes in? I don't mean the mailer - i mean the little sleeve with the description? I think we lost one for good.

also - uh...not that i'd do anything UNETHICAL, but, err...how do I put this? What is the 'video guard' situation for burning? Does Netlix guard everything, some things, or none?

― Harvey is a Funny Name, Saturday, 7 January 2006 04:16 (twenty years ago)

Aww, screw it, I'll ask in a new thread. I expect it'll start a whole new debate, anyway.

― Harvey, Saturday, 7 January 2006 05:22 (twenty years ago)

I dunno if this will work, but this gets me to the Fleshapoids page, anyway.

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=70040927&trkid=90529

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 7 January 2006 06:28 (twenty years ago)

Thanks, Eric! It worked, but unfortunately, the little button below the picture of the box doesn't even say "Save", it just says "Unavailable". WTF? Did they maybe decide to phase this title out right after acquiring it?

― Chris F. (servoret), Saturday, 7 January 2006 11:33 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

After mocking the folks who baulked at the Wal-Mart thing and bitched about slow return times, i will now join you! I sent out two discs last Monday, got one return on Wednesday (very good, but as expected) and only got the second yesterday! What fucking gives? Not the first time either.

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 19:15 (twenty years ago)

Yea, wtf ours are slow now :(

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 19:57 (twenty years ago)

Also we didn't get disc 2 of BSG 2.0 and were all wtf and filed for it and then they found it there?

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 19:57 (twenty years ago)

They are worse than CRIMINALS.

Just saying.

― phantasy bear (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 19:57 (twenty years ago)

a friend of mine has a theory that when you initially join, they are very timely about sending you your discs. once the romance is over, even before you're ready for it to end, they take long & longer to send you anything on time. i merely joined to save $$ on episodes of Six Feet Under.

― R. Kelsey (kelstarry), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:02 (twenty years ago)

I've never had problems with timeliness. But then they are making a fortune on me, so they probably don't care.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 20:04 (twenty years ago)

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