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TitsMcGhee's avatar

I just got a Netflix account - what should I put in my queue?

Asked by TitsMcGhee (8286points) September 16th, 2009

I finally got myself a Netflix account, and I’m looking for movie recommendations. I’m down for just about any kind of movie, with a preference towards high-quality (ie Paul Blart: Mall Cop just isn’t going to cut it for me). I’m not a big horror fan, but I do like thrillers along the lines of The Game, Sunshine, and Se7en, and I did really like Audition, though I swear I’m not fucked up in the head.

Not that recommendations have to be similar to these (in fact, different is good!), but here are a few of my favorite movies, just to give you an idea of my jumping off point (and letting you know some of the ones you might recommend that I’ve seen):

Brick, A Clockwork Orange, Milk, Almost Famous, Amelie, Pulp Fiction, The History Boys, Bottle Shock, Black Snake Moan, Kill Bill, Lie with Me, Rushmore, Gaslight, Fight Club, Gone with the Wind, Waking Life, I Heart Huckabees, Lars and the Real Girl, The Graduate, Inglourious Basterds, Blue Velvet, Waking the Dead, Reefer Madness, The Royal Tennenbaums, Gattaca, Requiem for a Dream, Donnie Darko, American Beauty, Best In Show, Memento, Hard Candy, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Usual Suspects, The Princess Bride, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Shining, Brokeback Mountain, Coffee and Cigarettes, Saved!, Annie Hall, Citizen Kane, Knocked Up, Puccini for Beginners, Away We Go

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61 Answers

dpworkin's avatar

I liked having so many foreign movies available.

aprilsimnel's avatar

All 5 series of Kids In The Hall.

KatawaGrey's avatar

Well, if you like Best in Show, you might as well go down the whole list of Christopher Guest films: This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. I haven’t seen the last one yet, but all the others are great. Also, you might like Zach and Miri Make Porno. Some of the jokes are cringe worthy but if you peel away the crude jokes you get a genuinely sweet and wonderful movie. Also, 28 Days Later and Sunshine. These are amazing movies by an amazing director.

nikipedia's avatar

Try Lust, Caution and let me know what you think. An unexpected favorite of mine.

Axemusica's avatar

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas!

evegrimm's avatar

Firefly, I’m sure, is available through Netflix. Then watch Serenity, then, after you’re hooked, go watch Cowboy Bebop. :D

Also good are Ghost in the Shell and Innocence (the sequel), although the first is much more accesible. (And if you like either or both of these, the Stand Alone Complex is very, very interesting, involving anime that, despite the fact that it is “cartoons”, deals with some very deep, complex philosophical questions. There are two series, and although they take place before the movies, they can be watched on their own.)

While Quills was available on Hulu, I watched that and enjoyed it, although seeing Geoffrey Rush in the buff was a little…geurgh.

Akira is good anime, and one of the “originals”.

Hayao Miyazaaki films are great because they’re pretty and mature and interesting. My favorite is either Howl’s Moving Castle (the book is also awesome!) or The Cat Returns.

If you haven’t seen Batman Begins, it does a great job of introducing Batman and Bruce Wayne, in a very serious manner.

Sleepy Hollow is fun, especially on/near Halloween. It has some cringe-worthy moments, but it’s Tim Burton, and is also somewhat (morbidly) funny.

I could go on, but IMDb’s top 250 will get you started with similar movies to what you’ve said.

teh_kvlt_liberal's avatar

@Axemusica I can’t believe I forgot that movie! I love the lines
@evegrimm Sleepy Hollow was the shit. I used to watch that all the time in the second or third grade.

tinyfaery's avatar

Gas Food Lodging
But I’m a Cheerleader
The Science of Sleep

peedub's avatar

Every episode of Mr. Show
Every episode of Pete and Pete
Season one of Alf

For films I usually pick a director and watch all of their works. Some that I like:

Seijun Suzuki
Frederico Fellini
Alejandro Jodorosky
Ingmar Bergman
Werner Herzog

Documentarians:

Ulrich Seidl
Les Blank

Another idea, something I’m attempting, is to view all the Criterion Collection films.

jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities's avatar

Catch up on all 5 seasons of House.

rooeytoo's avatar

I too enjoyed most of the movies on your list, but I am almost embarrassed to admit that I truly laughed out loud at a lot of the scenes in Mall Cop. It is so stupid and silly, you had to laugh.

I think that Sampson and Delilah is about to be or has recently been released in USA. It is not a happy movie, but very well done and an eye opener about life here for some.

Syger's avatar

Lost in Translation.
Wonderful rainy-day movie.

aprilsimnel's avatar

24 Hour Party People.

Axemusica's avatar

I can’t believe no one has said catch up on Dexter, yet.

Jeruba's avatar

Make sure you put in your ratings for movies you’ve seen. That helps the program to send you recommendations of other movies you might like.

teh_kvlt_liberal's avatar

I love Dexter’s Lab!

Axemusica's avatar

@teh_kvlt_liberal not dexter’s lab. Dexter, the serial killer in forensics. Although I used to watch that cartoon too, lol.

evegrimm's avatar

Six Feet Under is good, for the first few seasons.

Catch up on your favorite TV show—Bones, Fringe, CSI (any flavour), NCIS, Angel, Buffy, Star Trek, Chuck, etc.

True Blood is lots of fun, if you’re into that.

Samurai Champloo and Trigun are both great, but not exactly “serious”.

teh_kvlt_liberal's avatar

The justice friends!

limeaide's avatar

Start rating movies like crazy Netflix’s recommendation engine is great and keeps getting better. In no time you’ll have a bunch of recommendations that you will like. I have rated about 1,400 movies and have 288 suggestions. Like I’ve told other people this is a product of a misspent youth.

kevbo's avatar

I would kill to see “Burnt by the Sun” again. They don’t make it anymore! Buying it on eBay is like $80.

“Snow Cake” is a giant sleeper.

“Frozen River” is also very good.

EmpressPixie's avatar

The new Doctor Whos—starting with the ones in the instant queue.

Also Torchwood. True Blood.

Yes, I realize these are all series, but I also know that Netflix has them.

ABoyNamedBoobs03's avatar

I just got mine also.

I movie that I heard a little about but isn’t well known at all is “Let the Right One In”. it’s a swedish film about vampires… it’s so creepy and well shot, and you can’t watch it instantly, I high recommend you give it a shot, it was really cool.

aprilsimnel's avatar

Oooh, Brit shows if you can get ‘em: Gavin & Stacey, Footballers Wives, Green Wing, The Fast Show, the first series of Little Britain ONLY, Black Books

The original Manchurian Candidate, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Reversal of Fortune, Secret & Lies, The Grifter

EmpressPixie's avatar

@ABoyNamedBoobs03: Do you happen to know what version of the DVD Netflix has? I’d really like to see it, but only with the right version. (The issue—the better version has been released in the US on DVD, but I wouldn’t want the movie ruined by the other one...)

ABoyNamedBoobs03's avatar

@EmpressPixie the one released in 2008, they have it in reg def, blu-ray, and streaming online.

link

and it’s not the dumbed down version, lol sorry, I should have clicked the link before posting.

Kraigmo's avatar

Waking Life
Rome (the series)
The Cube and its 2 sequels

ABoyNamedBoobs03's avatar

@Kraigmo the waking life I thought was interesting, but some of the lectures were a little out there and kind of watered down the rest of the film. really awesome concepts though.

jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities's avatar

The Wire is another amazing series. I highly recommend it.

Noel_S_Leitmotiv's avatar

Do not pass go, go directly to Kubriks ‘2001’.

Anon_Jihad's avatar

Breaking Bad.

mcbealer's avatar

I’ve rated a lot of my favorite and not so favorite movies here.

aprilsimnel's avatar

Yeah, I got more:

Mad Men series 1 & 2, Stop Making Sense, Auntie Mame, Quadrophenia, The Palm Beach Story (well, any Preston Sturges movie, really), Lovely and Amazing, Secretary, The Postman Always Rings Twice (both 40s and 70s versions), any film, and I do mean ANY film with Barbara Stanwyck, because she’s so kick-ass.

avvooooooo's avatar

Just start rating movies. I was astounded that when I looked at my Netflix the other day I saw that I’d rated over 1,000 movies. Once I’d done that, and rated genres, I started getting a lot of good suggestions of things that I would want to see, which I love. There are some things that I have to click “not interested” on… But many of them are good for me or things that I would be interested in. You can also search an actor/actress and find most every movie they’ve been in… and rate those. It works out well! I just didn’t realize that I’d seen so many movies. And when I see something new on TV or something like that, I hurry on over to rate it to further improve my suggestions.

ABoyNamedBoobs03's avatar

only thing I wish netflix would do is expand their ‘streaming’ selections. my laptop actually has a better picture than my TV does lol, so if I’m just sitting at home on a tuesday night or what have you it’d be nice if I wasn’t limited to either “blazing saddles” or “Bill Envail’s 15 degrees off cool” as my watch instantly choices.

EmpressPixie's avatar

@ABoyNamedBoobs03: They are working on it swiftly! When we started watching the new Doctor Who stuff, the wait was insufferably long for a DVD. Now there is barely a wait at all because… it’s all streaming! I think it is possible they work on getting TV shows up faster because there are so many DVDs that each person will want. Just a guess though.

ABoyNamedBoobs03's avatar

@kibaxcheza great movie. I was enthralled from start to finish.

@EmpressPixie I have noticed they’ve been adding more and more to the instant lists lately. come to think of it I almost like how they don’t have a lot of blockbusters streaming, because I’ve been forced to find some really lesser known foreign films/independants etc that are really awesome, very intellectual and creative movies instead of your run of the mill pretty lights and loud noises(not that those aren’t cool in their own right) that you usually find in more mainstream cinema.

andrew's avatar

Ha! I was in History Boys when it remounted in LA!

I’m only going to suggest streaming movies since that’s all I do anymore.

Bridge over the River Kwai.
My Architect.
Helvetica.

Let me think of a few other ones, since you and I have exactly the same movie tastes.

Sampson's avatar

In no particular order…

Delicatessen
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (AWESOME!!! GET THIS MOVIE!!!)
House With The Laughing Windows
Eraserhead
The Wicker Man (the original, not the remake)
Eyes Without A Face

kevbo's avatar

@andrew, “My Architect” is a great recommendation. I get
the best discussions from others who have seen it.

Just found “Burnt by the Sun” used for $35. Sweet (indulgence)!

evegrimm's avatar

North by Northwest (well, any Hitchcock) is good.

Cary Grant is amazing in older movies.

So is Charade, but afaik, that’s now available on Hulu.

chelseababyy's avatar

How come no ones said True Romance or Snatch?

dalepetrie's avatar

Give a man a DVD recommendation, he’ll watch for a night, teach him to find good movies, and he’ll be entertained for a lifetime. I could rattle off the same recommendations I do every time, but here’s what I’m gonna do.

Look at the IMDB list of the top 250 movies of all time.

I haven’t seen every movie on this list, but 1) I think I’m like you….many of the movies you listed are among my favorites, so I suspect we have similar tastes and 2) every movie I’ve seen that is on this list is one of my favorites.

So what I suggest is, see some of these, and if you like them, look for other films by the people who wrote, directed or produced that film. This oughta keep you busy for several years.

andrew's avatar

@evegrimm Charade is fantastic.

andrew's avatar

Oh.

You must, must, must watch Summer Heights High. It’s the best thing to be created in the last few years.

kibaxcheza's avatar

lucky number sleven
District B-13
(its more a 3 part miniseries but yeah) Samari x
Dog soldiers is pretty good tho rather cheesy

im having a tough time thinking of some movies that i thought were really good XD

drClaw's avatar

Dead Like Me would be good, it’s a dark comedy series.

Sampson's avatar

Seriously. Get “The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. You will thank me.

Noel_S_Leitmotiv's avatar

‘City of Lost Children’.

janbb's avatar

Coraline
Adventureland
The Lives of Others
Three Kings
Juno
Walking and Talking
Being John Malkovich
Adaptation
Whale Rider
Cape of Good Hope
It Happened One Night
Kitchen Stories

@andrew That’s cool that you were in History Boys. I loved both the movie and the play.

evegrimm's avatar

@drClaw, re: Dead Like Me, it’s available on Hulu, last I checked.

@janbb, lurve for Coraline!

Jeruba's avatar

@Sampson, lurve for The Wicker Man (1973), with Edward Woodward and Christoper Lee.

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HasntBeen's avatar

For sheer fringe-of-reality joy and rock-and-roll, curl up with Hedwig and the Angry Inch . If that gets under your skin, you won’t stop scratching for years.

Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

You are a fan of mine just by knowing “A Clockwork Orange” many Gen Xers do not know that gem, and for mentioning Gattaca. Some movies you may like:

District 9 (every interesting but you have to play attention)
Shawshank Redemption
Breubaker
Natural Born Killers
The Godfather trilogy
A.I Articifial Inteligence (another one you have to play attention to to really get.)
Bladerunner
Doubt
Rightious Kill (twist you never seen coming)
The Lover (a good Indy film)
Rosemary’s Baby
Aliens (the 1st one)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (original)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Jet Li’s Frearless
Enter the Dragon (Bruce Lee at his finest)
The Car (would love to see them remake that one or have a sequel)
Lawrance of Arabia

OK I will stop here less I be here another hour, but there are many great movies you can put on the list.

christos99's avatar

shawshank redemption, carlito’s way, scent of a woman, heat… to start… 5 stars for these awesome films

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