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Looking at the BBFC pages, it seems that a fair number of (recent?) Polish films are about to drop on Netflix if they haven't already.

I’m seeing a bunch of interesting classics films showing up on HBOmax - for example “pepe ke moko” with the Criterion logo. Anybody know whats up with this?

schellenbergk wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 8:43 pm I’m seeing a bunch of interesting classics films showing up on HBOmax - for example “pepe ke moko” with the Criterion logo. Anybody know whats up with this?

When FilmStruck shut down (which was Criterion + TCM/Warner branding), they announced that Criterion stuff would be showing up on HBOmax. I haven't really been able to tell if there is much rhyme or reason to which titles are on HBOmax, but it seems to be drawn from mostly the Criterion/Janus owned titles that should also be "permanent" titles on the Criterion Channel app.

paulm wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 9:45 pm

schellenbergk wrote: Mon May 10, 2021 8:43 pm I’m seeing a bunch of interesting classics films showing up on HBOmax - for example “pepe ke moko” with the Criterion logo. Anybody know whats up with this?

When FilmStruck shut down (which was Criterion + TCM/Warner branding), they announced that Criterion stuff would be showing up on HBOmax. I haven't really been able to tell if there is much rhyme or reason to which titles are on HBOmax, but it seems to be drawn from mostly the Criterion/Janus owned titles that should also be "permanent" titles on the Criterion Channel app.

HBOMax has a pretty full TCM tier among its offerings which includes lots of titles associated with Criterion. I was also pleased to discover the service has the 2021TCM Film Festival titles/supplementary content.

I just logged into Netflix and they don't seem to have any Woody Allen films. Did they pull them because of the Farrows' allegations or was their availability always spotty? I don't have an account and I haven't personally browsed Netflix's listing in a while (maybe years), so this is probably very old news.

HBO Max has several of them and they aired the doc, so I doubt that'd be the reason any are missing on Netflix

Netflix UK gets several now and again - certainly Manhattan Murder Mystery was still there last night.

When I had Netflix in July, 2020, I believe Blue Jasmine was on there. I suppose it could've been pulled due to Allen v. Farrow, or perhaps they didn't renew the streaming rights. Netflix does seem to handle controversial films on a case-by-case basis (i.e. they kept Cuties available, but they shelved Gore due to Kevin Spacey's involvement).

Prime has several Allen films.

Netflix US also only has like 20 total English language movies streaming from the 70s and 80s, so I don't think this is some grand conspiracy against Woody Allen.

I was primarily looking for Bullets Over Broadway (1994), but point taken.

Manhattan Murder Mystery is on Netflix in Canada.

I'm very late on this, but Filmmuseum München is streaming a retrospective on Jon Jost from May 13 to July 4th, a great opportunity to see his films for free.

All the Vermeers in New York has unfortunately come and gone, and tonight is the last night you can catch Last Chants for a Slow Dance. Even though it's past midnight in Germany, I was still able to stream it, but Thursday, May 20 was supposed to be the last day so try to catch it if you can. It's actually a beautiful-looking HD transfer, possibly a brand-new one!

Just to follow up, I had only seen Last Chants for a Slow Dance on a crummy old VHS tape, so streaming it via Filmmuseum München was an amazing treat. The film cost $2,000 make - sound's rough in spots, all available light, 16mm film, a cast that (except for the lead and one female character) is essentially locals with no professional experience...and the mise-en-scène is brilliant, all the more impressive seeing it within long takes with the production values of a cinema vérité documentary. Having just watched it, it really sinks in during the final 7 or 10 minute close-up that it's like watching everything Bruce Springsteen's music aspired to be condensed into that single shot - and the music I had in mind came out between 1978 and 1982! (This was released in 1977.) It's very certain Jost would hate that comparison, but I say this as a big Springsteen fan, and it just tickles me because those years were heavily influenced by Springsteen's emerging cinephilia, yet he focused on classic Hollywood so it's doubtful he ever saw this.

If you miss Filmmuseum München's stream, you can rent it from Jost's own Vimeo page. I'm not sure if it's the same HD transfer, but you can certainly contact him and ask.

In case anyone was wondering what happened to all that original programming produced for the now-defunct Quibi streaming service, it now lives on the Roku Channel branded as "Roku Originals" and is all free. I hadn't heard the news that Roku had acquired the library back in January, so I was taken aback from the sudden appearance of so many "Roku Original" shows being promoted... until I noticed every episode of every series was less than ten minutes each!

The Jon Jost retrospective continues with Rembrandt Laughing. Streaming free for only two more days!

As per Variety, Amazon's purchase of MGM precludes the entire film slate prior to 1986, due to a deal MGM made with Turner Broadcasting.

edit: Variety's wording is confusing: if it is the "entire slate prior to 1986" then why would Amazon have rights to Twelve Angry Men and The Magnificent Seven which Variety cite as being available to Prime?

The films made by MGM themselves before May 1986 have been owned by Turner and distributed by Warner ever since, well, 1986. Hence Warner releasing The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, etc.

12 Angry Men and The Magnificent Seven are not MGM films but United Artists, whose catalog is owned by MGM and will therefore be included in this Amazon buyout.

That would make sense. MGM has distributed Woody Allen films made before 1986, but since those were UA and Orion productions, it would suggest that acquisitions of outside catalogs would explain the presence of anything that had been released earlier.

EDIT: Tweaked that because MGM bought UA in 1981.

Is it just me, or has Netflix's video quality gotten pretty abysmal? I've been watching Shadow and Bone, which eponymously has a lot of darkly lit scenes, and they look awful. The blacks are extremely crushed with tons of blocks popping in and out all over the place, and even the well lit scenes have a fuzziness around most characters that make it look like they are standing in front of a green screen. Even my girlfriend, who is usually immune to this sort of thing, has said that it's sometimes pulled her out of the show.

It's been a while since I've watched Netflix, but Hulu and Prime both come through just fine without these issues. Has anybody else noticed this, or is it a problem on my end?

I don't watch a lot of Netflix anymore, but I watched Bo Burnham's new.. 'thing' last night, and it looked fantastic. I'm curious how you're viewing it- I got a Roku TV last Fall and the Netflix quality is terrific streaming through there, but when played through my blu-ray player, or sometimes casting from my comp, the quality is a bit choppier (and without doing a side-by-side comparison, and without having Hulu at all, I don't recall this being as persistent with Amazon Prime content)

I'm using a 4K capable Roku box, so I'd think it would handle it just fine. I'm watching on an old Panasonic plasma that's started to lose its brightness, so that may be a factor in some of the crushed blacks, but it wouldn't explain the blockiness or fuzziness around characters. I actually have a new TV arriving tomorrow, so I can try doing a comparison using the built in Netflix App and see if there's any improvement.

On the topic of streamers, I really loathe what Amazon did to the Fire interface. It’s now a convoluted road map of ads and irrelevant apps, takes longer to start up and throws an “updating remote” screen on top of whatever you’re watching with strange frequency. I have a 4K Roku stick in my drawer but apparently it can’t do YouTube TV now? Can’t win.

If you already have the YouTube TV app on the Roku it still works. YouTube also added access to YouTube TV to the regular YouTube app.

Don’t have the app but didn’t know it worked through YouTube, thanks. Google seems to be the king of purposefully annoying design.