Trash or treasure on netflix

[CMoon]

I couldn't find a thread for this. Please list amazing(ly weird) things you've found streaming on netflix. There's clearly some gems here. I'm not looking for you to just list your favorite films, but rather unusual films or oddities that have most escaped public attention but I can watch with the click of a button.

The Keep for instance is a good example. Never made it to DVD, interesting score by Tangerine dream with a really odd look and atmosphere. I still don't even know if I like the film but I can't get it out of my head.

I mentioned Fire & Ice in the movie thread. Again, it is streaming, and even if you don't care for what's going on here, it is honestly a highly unique if not even rather strange (rotoscope ontop of water colors) movie. Worth at least mentioning.

What else?

[Moniker]

Just watched "Best Worst Movie" - it's a documentary on arguably the worst movie ever made, "Troll 2". A friend showed me Troll 2 awhile ago and the documentary makes it soo much sweeter. I.e., certifiably insane (in real life) cast members, the insane hubris of the director. Make sure you watch the movie first, though. It's available for streaming as well. Spoiler alert: Troll 2 has nothing to do with Troll 1 and doesn't actually contain any trolls.

[BrianC]

I found this cool anime called Rideback about a ballet dancer named Rin who ends up riding on a half bike half robot and being mistaken for a terrorist.

[xbl0x180]

Netfix has a lot of anime available for streaming that they don't carry on disc or are outta print. The bad thing about their streamed anime is that most of it are only available as the awful English dubs (i.e., no subtitled option available). I don't have streaming anymore, just the 2-disc option, which is cheaper than one-disc with streaming

[PC Engine Fan X!]

After viewing Fire & Ice on Netflix, it was filmed with live action actors & actresses and re-done by superimposing animation on top of the live action. No wonder why the hand-drawn animation seems so life-like. So in a sense, it was filmed twice. I've never seen another animated film done with the techique like that of F&I since then. Gotta love the Ice wizard who uses the "Force" for his own nefarious deeds. I do recall that F&I was released on VHS & Beta tapes back in the early 1980s during the Betamax vs. VHS wars era.

And Tokyo Gore Police is up on Netflix...it was placed there recently.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Moniker]

After viewing Fire & Ice on Netflix, it was filmed with live action actors & actresses and re-done by superimposing animation on top of the live action. No wonder why the hand-drawn animation seems so life-like. So in a sense, it was filmed twice.

Sounds like "Waking Life" (essentially a philosophy-for-dummies movie). I'll have to check it out.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I can just imagine if the classic Dragon's Lair arcade LD game used the same animation techique as that of the Fire & Ice movie, it certainly would've turned out quite different, indeed.

Cold Fish is another dark Japanese horror flick worth viewing on Netflix.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

Netfix has a lot of anime available for streaming that they don't carry on disc or are outta print. The bad thing about their streamed anime is that most of it are only available as the awful English dubs (i.e., no subtitled option available). I don't have streaming anymore, just the 2-disc option, which is cheaper than one-disc with streaming

At least they are available. I like watching in subtitles as well, but I disagree on the dubs. A lot of them use talented voice actors and make effort to stay true to the original. Yes, there are crappy ones, but I find it disappointing when "awful" is still being used as a generalization for dubs. I found the dub of Rideback to be very good and I don't recommend avoiding it just becuase it's dub only on Netflix. As for the disc thing, I'm disappointed that Netflix hasn't kept up like they used to. A lot of stuff goes to unavailable way too fast and they aren't getting as many new disc releases as they used to. I stopped renting One Piece becuase of this.

One thing I like is that Netflix actually had the Japanese Gojira in subtitles streaming. Not very obscure or lesser known, but as awesome movie the way it was meant to be seen. I'm not sure if it's still available, though.

Edit: I checked and Gojira is still available.

[Frenetic]

"The Great Happiness Space: Tales of an Osaka Love Thief"

Ever wonder what goes on those Japanese Host Clubs? You know...those guys with the bleached teased hair looking sooo metrosexual. Well here ya go!

--the F-man

[Ed Oscuro]

I watched Fire 'n' Ice a while back - think the old "animated" version of The Lord of the Rings (1978) - it's what Ralph Bakshi did once he got the rotoscope process down. I actually felt that it worked pretty well in that film, surprisingly. The movements of the characters on screen are a bit like a silent movie, a bit exaggerated, but since it's rotoscoped it didn't seem ludicrous.

[EllertMichael]

And Tokyo Gore Police is up on Netflix...it was placed there recently.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Yep. I was gonna mention this.
Watched it a few months ago...Yikes. haha

[xbl0x180]

Netfix has a lot of anime available for streaming that they don't carry on disc or are outta print. The bad thing about their streamed anime is that most of it are only available as the awful English dubs (i.e., no subtitled option available). I don't have streaming anymore, just the 2-disc option, which is cheaper than one-disc with streaming

At least they are available. I like watching in subtitles as well, but I disagree on the dubs. A lot of them use talented voice actors and make effort to stay true to the original. Yes, there are crappy ones, but I find it disappointing when "awful" is still being used as a generalization for dubs. I found the dub of Rideback to be very good and I don't recommend avoiding it just becuase it's dub only on Netflix. As for the disc thing, I'm disappointed that Netflix hasn't kept up like they used to. A lot of stuff goes to unavailable way too fast and they aren't getting as many new disc releases as they used to. I stopped renting One Piece becuase of this.

One thing I like is that Netflix actually had the Japanese Gojira in subtitles streaming. Not very obscure or lesser known, but as awesome movie the way it was meant to be seen. I'm not sure if it's still available, though.

Edit: I checked and Gojira is still available.

I do not like the majority of movies and teevee shows that are dubbed (not just animation and not just English dubs). It's tantamount to editing and/or censoring an original work of art - it's how I view it. Hence, I never used Netfix streaming for watching anime.

Adding one more into the pile: the only movie I've streamed through Netfix was Kynodontas ("Dogtooth"). After watching that, I was gobsmacked. The movie was really bizarre, yet compelling. It was very mindful of Arturo Ripstein's classic, El Castillo De La Pureza ("The Castle Of Purity")

[antron]

Ah, breaker one-nine, this heres the rubber duck. you gotta copy on me, pig pen, cmon?
ah, yeah, 10-4, pig pen, fer shure, fer shure. by golly, its clean clear to flag town, cmon.
yeah, that Big 10-4 there, pig pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy...

[xbl0x180]

I can just imagine if the classic Dragon's Lair arcade LD game used the same animation techique as that of the Fire & Ice movie, it certainly would've turned out quite different, indeed.

Cold Fish is another dark Japanese horror flick worth viewing on Netflix.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Rotoscoping has been used a lot more often than you think. I think it was a technique that may have been around since the silent-film era and early years of talkies. Richard Linklater expounded on this technique by creating a rotoscoping program for his Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly (as well as some television commercials). Another series you should check out is Avenue Amy, which employs the same technique and tells vignettes of the titular character about being single.

Modern Japanese animation seem to be using a kind of program that allows to record live human movement and then superimpose animated characters onto them to create a sense of "smooth" animation; it probably cuts a lot of corners that would've otherwise been used to hire more animators to do the tedious in-between work (and the animation would look "choppy"). For me, it gives the appearance that something "wasn't truly animated" in the same manner people here would view a video game run unacceptable if one were to use outside/cheat programs to get a perfect/high score rather than gaming skills

[BrianC]

I do not like the majority of movies and teevee shows that are dubbed (not just animation and not just English dubs). It's tantamount to editing and/or censoring an original work of art - it's how I view it. Hence, I never used Netfix streaming for watching anime.

I don't view it that way. Many dubs pay respect to the source material and the DVDs usually have both versions availabe (and I'm not fond of when a company releases only a dub that tries to "improve" the source material). Quality dubs are done to translate a work into English, not to edit or censor it (and by quality dubs, I don't mean crap like 4Kids. BTW, the One Piece I mentioned earlier was the Funimation release in subtitles, not the awful 4 kids dub only version). Anyway, I just wanted to post something I found on Netflix that I thought was different and enjoyable. I should have mentioned how much of the anime is dub only, but some stuff is available in subtitles. BTW, I don't like to watch live action movies dubbed either (and Gojira was something I posted as an example of something that is NOT in the dub. It's in the original Japanese with subtitles, as I said before).

This is just something we have to agree to disagree on. I posted Rideback becuase I found it was something different and enjoyable and, while I understand your opinion, I wasn't found of my choice getting crapped on becuase it was dub only. The mention of how you have 2 discs rubbed me the wrong way too, especially since a lot of anime releases that are available on disc aren't on Netflix.

[brokenhalo]

i just watched "rubber", a film about a car tire that has come to life and can blow things up with its mind. really whacked out and fun.

[drauch]

Ah, breaker one-nine, this heres the rubber duck. you gotta copy on me, pig pen, cmon?
ah, yeah, 10-4, pig pen, fer shure, fer shure. by golly, its clean clear to flag town, cmon.
yeah, that Big 10-4 there, pig pen, yeah, we definitely got the front door, good buddy. mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy...

Oh god...Convoy is sooooooo horrible!

[CMoon]

Rotoscoping has been used a lot more often than you think.

There's actually some quasi-rotoscoping in Snow White, which is sort of weird since there was absolutely no shortage of talent. Yeah, Bakshi certainly didn't invent the technique, and it is IMO a pretty wretched one that always sticks out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, it sort of works for Fire & Ice in some weird way.

[Estebang]

i just watched "rubber", a film about a car tire that has come to life and can blow things up with its mind. really whacked out and fun.

Saw this on a friend's recommendation a while ago, and it was actually pretty damn boring. Nowhere near as crazy or interesting as the creators obviously thought it was.

Should have just been an hour and a half of the tire rolling around blowing up stuff with no dialogue whatsoever. Sadly, they felt the need to shove some semblance of plot into it.

[xbl0x180]

Rotoscoping has been used a lot more often than you think.

There's actually some quasi-rotoscoping in Snow White, which is sort of weird since there was absolutely no shortage of talent. Yeah, Bakshi certainly didn't invent the technique, and it is IMO a pretty wretched one that always sticks out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, it sort of works for Fire & Ice in some weird way.

If I remember correctly, the Fleischer Bros. and some early animators played around a bit with that style in the 30s, which may have led to Disney trying their hand at it (I think it worked okay... but, then, they were expert animators). Hell, there were some early artists that did a little bit of hand-painting the film images back in the 20s.

I don't mind Ralph Bakshi's works, but I also view rotoscoping and CG as akin to "outsider art" or "independent art" (a la Liquid TV) and wouldn't pair it up with or view it as highly as traditional, hand-drawn animation (thus, my main dislike of modern anime). Personally, I find 3D FX and that horrible, horrible, creeeeeepy Polar Express/New Adventures Of Tin Tin animation to be really ugly (I wouldn't even bother seeing it)

[Ed Oscuro]

Rotoscoping has been used a lot more often than you think.

There's actually some quasi-rotoscoping in Snow White, which is sort of weird since there was absolutely no shortage of talent. Yeah, Bakshi certainly didn't invent the technique, and it is IMO a pretty wretched one that always sticks out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, it sort of works for Fire & Ice in some weird way.

If I remember correctly, the Fleischer Bros. and some early animators played around a bit with that style in the 30s, which may have led to Disney trying their hand at it (I think it worked okay... but, then, they were expert animators). Hell, there were some early artists that did a little bit of hand-painting the film images back in the 20s.

I can't think, at the moment, of something like what you mention, but there is the 1935 prototype of a film based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars" (from the John Carter series). Had it gone through, it might have beat Snow White to market as the first feature-length animated film from the U.S. Despite using some rotoscoping, it wasn't clumsy (a lot of tough animation problems are solved in the film test, including four-legged Martians and eight-legged "horses") and looked brilliant, really.

Finally, after all these years, a new film based on that franchise will be released this year. We've all heard of another Burroughs franchise that made it in film - Tarzan.

[iconoclast]

Cold Fish is another dark Japanese horror flick worth viewing on Netflix.

Seconding this. Great movie, one of my favorites from 2010. It's got some pacing issues though.

[BrianC]

If I remember correctly, the Fleischer Bros. and some early animators played around a bit with that style in the 30s, which may have led to Disney trying their hand at it (I think it worked okay... but, then, they were expert animators). Hell, there were some early artists that did a little bit of hand-painting the film images back in the 20s.

I rented the official 1930's Popeye set and I was surprised to see that it had some of the early Fleischer cartoons on it. Some of them were those Out of the Inkwell cartoons that made use of rotoscoping. From what I read, these cartoons were made during the 1920s. Very enjoyable and fun cartoons too.

[Estebang]

I thought it was funny that on the 30's Popeye DVDs, there's a disclaimer before the menu that says something like "these cartoons are a product of their time and contain examples of racism and sexism that may be offensive...not recommended for children."

[Acid King]

Mad Monster Party - A stop motion movie from the 60's about Dr. Frankenstein choosing a successor.

[BrianC]

Mad Monster Party - A stop motion movie from the 60's about Dr. Frankenstein choosing a successor.

oh cool. I was thinking of watching that since I love Rankin Bass stop motion stuff, but I had no idea it was available streaming.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Forks over Knives. A pretty interesting documentary about the Western diet and how it's killing us. It actually made me want to become a vegetarian for a while (didn't last long). It will definitely open your eyes.

[Frenetic]

Guys you gotta watch Who Is Harry Nilsson?

Trust me, when you watch this documentary about the songwriter Harry Nilsson, you'll find yourself listening and then going "Oh yeah that song!" and then later, "Dang, that is a pretty good song!" and even later still, "Oh wow, this guy wrote a lot of dang good songs."

[BrianC]

I found out that a great deal of the Funmation animes on Netflix are available streaming on Funimations website, many for free. Rideback, included. Rideback is even available in Japanese with subtitles. Many that Netflix doesn't have are there too. The episodes of One Piece being available there for free in subtitles was also part of the reason I stopped attempting to rent the One Piece discs. Hulu seems to have the same videos available too (not surprising since the video player for Funimation's videos was from Hulu).

[xbl0x180]

I found out that a great deal of the Funmation animes on Netflix are available streaming on Funimations website, many for free. Rideback, included. Rideback is even available in Japanese with subtitles. Many that Netflix doesn't have are there too. The episodes of One Piece being available there for free in subtitles was also part of the reason I stopped attempting to rent the One Piece discs. Hulu seems to have the same videos available too (not surprising since the video player for Funimation's videos was from Hulu).

You can also go to Funimation's YouTube account and catch their latest releases - sometimes subtitled, as well. It's how I watched some Sekirei - fo' free - when it was first released