I thought I'd use this entry to point out some of the Instant View Film Festival pages I've been developing to help you quickly find good stuff to watch. The "Quick Picks,""In My Queue," and "Streaming Tools" pages will always be available through the links on the top navigation bar, and I will update them periodically (and I will try to remove dead links quickly).
On the Quick Picks page I will simply list titles that I've liked that are currently streaming. Currently, the page only features Netflix and Hulu Plus titles, but I plan to add other streaming sources very soon (Amazon Prime Instant Video, in particular). As I point out on the page, almost everything in the Criterion Collection on Hulu Plus is worth watching, so I put together a list of one film for each letter of the alphabet (more or less). Below I have pasted the list that I updated this week to give you as sense of what you can expect and save you a click.
On the In My Queue page I will simply list titles that I hope to get around to watching soon. The difference between the two pages will be that "Quick Picks" are titles that I've seen and recommend, "In My Queue" are titles that I find intriguing but haven't seen yet, but I think you will want to know are currently available.
On the Streaming Tools page I will periodically add tips that I have discovered using the Roku Streaming Player, Chromecast, and Samsung Smart Hub apps. For example, I just added a tip on how to watch Conan without commercials using the Roku Plex App. In the future I will also add notes on lesser known Roku channels worth exploring.
Netflix
Classic American / English Language Films
The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, USA, 1974, 113 minutes)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989, 124 minutes)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, USA, 1995, 121 minutes)
Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, USA, 1933, 68 minutes)
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, USA, 1940, 129 minutes)
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, USA, 1941, 91 minutes)
Intolerance (D.W. Griffith, USA, 1916, 192 minutes)
The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, USA, 1973, 112 minutes)
Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, USA/Italy, 1968, 165 minutes)
Slacker (Richard Linklater, USA, 1991, 100 minutes)
Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill, USA, 1972, 103 minutes)
Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Buster Keaton, Charles Reisner, USA, 1928, 70 minutes)
Classic Foreign Language Films
8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1963, 138 minutes)
The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948, 89 minutes)
Children of Heaven (Majid Majidi, Iran, 1997, 87 minutes)
Metropolis Restored (Fritz Lang, Germany, 1927, 148 minutes)
A Woman is a Woman (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1961, 83 minutes)
Xala (Ousmane Sembenne, Senegal, 1975, 122 minutes)
The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy, France, 1967, 124 minutes)
Recent American / English Language Films
Boy (Taika Waititi, New Zealand, 2010, 87 minutes)
Compliance (Craig Zobel, USA, 2012, 89 minutes)
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, UK, 2009, 122 minutes)
Four Lions (Christopher Morris, UK, 2010, 101 minutes)
The Limits of Control (Jim Jarmush, USA, 2009, 115 minutes)
Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, USA, 2006, 83 minutes)
Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant, USA, 2007, 84 minutes)
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, 158 minutes)
This is Martin Bonner (Chad Hartigan, USA, 2013, 83 minutes)
Recent Foreign Language Films
Alps (Giorgos Lanthimos, Greece, 2011, 93 minutes)
13 Assassins (Takashi Miike, Japan, 2010, 125 minutes)
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, France, 2010, 106 minutes)
Chico & Rita (Tono Errando & Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba, Spain, 2010, 93 minutes)
Exiled (Johnny To, Hong Kong, 2006, 109 minutes)
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (Joann Sfar, France, 2010, 121 minutes)
Holy Motors (Leos Carax, France, 2012, 115 minutes)
The Intouchables (Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano, France, 2011, 112 minutes)
Klown (Mikkel Norgaard, Denmark, 2010, 91 minutes)
Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, Sweden, 2008, 114 minutes)
Le Quattro Volte (Michelangelo Frammartino, Italy, 2010, 88 minutes)
Tabu (Miguel Gomes, Portugal, 2012, 118 minutes)
Trollhunter (André Øvredal, USA, 2010, 103 minutes)
White Material (Claire Denis, France, 2009, 105 minutes)
Documentaries
Armadillo (Janus Metz Pedersen, Denmark, 2010, 101 minutes)
Bill Cunningham New York (Richard Press, USA, 2010, 84 minutes)
Hoop Dreams (Steve James, USA, 1994, 171 minutes)
Man on Wire (James Marsh, USA, 2008, 94 minutes)
Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg, USA, 2010, 82 minutes)
Pina (Wim Wenders, Germany, 2011, 103 minutes)
The Red Chapel (Mads Brügger, Denmark, 2009, 87 minutes)
The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, USA, 1988, 101 minutes)
Room 237 (Rodney Ascher, USA, 2012, 103 minutes)
Television Series
Arrested Development
Doctor Who
Little Britain
Louis
Portlandia
Twin Peaks
Okay, it is a no-brainer that Criterion films are worth watching. Here are a few that you might not have considered, one or more for each letter of the alphabet.
L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, France, 1934, 88 minutes)
Burden of Dreams (Les Blank, USA, 1982, 94 minutes)
Chafed Elbows (Robert Downey, USA, 1966, 58 minutes)
Chronicle of a Summer (Jean Rouch & Edgar Morin, France, 1961, 90 minutes)
Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, 1990, 97 minutes)
Daisies (Věra Chytilová, Czechoslovakia, 1968, 73 minutes)
Elevator to the Gallows (Louis Malle, France, 1957, 91 minutes)
F for Fake (Orson Welles, USA/France, 1973, 88 minutes)
George Washington (David Gordon Green, USA, 2000, 89 minutes)
House (Nobuhiko Obayashi, Japan, 1977, 87 minutes)
Innocence Unprotected (Dušan Makavejev, Yugoslavia, 1968, 119 minutes)
La Jetée (Chris Marker, France, 1962, 28 minutes)
Juliet of the Spirits (Federico Fellini, Italy, 1965, 137 minutes)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, USA, 1976, 108 minutes)
The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1938, 95 minutes)
Mala Noche (Gus Van Sant, USA, 1986, 77 minutes)
Mickey and Nicky (Elaine May, USA, 1976, 106 minutes)
Mr. Freedom (William Klein, France, 1969, 91 minutes)
The Naked Kiss (Samuel Fuller, USA, 1964, 90 minutes)
Osaka Elegy (Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan, 1936, 71 minutes)
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, France, 1959, 76 minutes)
Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam, UK, 1979, 114 minutes)
Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1950, 88 minutes)
Schizopolis (Steven Soderbergh, USA, 1997, 96 minutes)
Shoot the Piano Player (Francois Truffaut, France, 1960, 81 minutes)
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (William Greaves, USA, 1968, 75 minutes)
The Times of Harvey Milk (Robert Epstein & Richard Schmiechen, USA, 1984, 87 minutes)
Umberto D. (Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1952, 89 minutes)
Vivre sa Vie (Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1962, 83 minutes)
Who Are You, Polly Magooo? (William Klein, France, 1966, 101 minutes)
Wise Blood (John Huston, USA, 1979, 105 minutes)
A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, USA, 1974, 146 minutes)
WR: Mysteries of the Organism (Dušan Makavejev, Yugoslavia, 1980, 84 minutes)
The X From Outer Space (Kazui Nihonmatsu, Japan, 98 minutes)
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1961, 110 minutes)
Zéro de Conduite (Jean Vigo, France, 1933, 44 minutes)
