UKC

Back in the 90s and 00s we used to go to various cool video stores where we could rent VHS or DVDs of basically any significant movie that was ever made.  Mostly we loved watching great World Cinema and Art House films.  But all the blockbusters were there too.

Those stores have all gone along with DVD players and I thought everything was now streamed online.  I thought Netflix was the online repository of all great movies ever made.

But after finally signing up for a month to Netflix last week we have been disappointed.

It isn't the great vault of all good movies ever made.  Instead there are quite a few old classics, a couple of modern big names, and then mostly lots of TV-show-like programs and documentaries (some Docs seem OK).  And lots of stuff for kids or teenagers.

For example: we could re-watch The Dawn Wall.  But there is no Free Solo?  And there is the old Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind etc.  But where are the modern day versions?  There isn't even Star Wars or Bond stuff or other big names.

So where do people go these days to rent all the famous movies?  Are they all distributed around various online providers (AmazonPrime, Google, NowTV)...do you have to sign up to all of them? (eg Free Solo appears to be on Amazon and YouTube).  Or is there somewhere or something else? 

Disney channel, all Star Wars films plus all the other hundreds of films owned by Disney.

Sky Movies, rent or buy thousands of films.

Both subscription. 

Pretty much yes, it seems that all the films are spread across multiple providers eg as Disney has its own service, you need to subscribe to that for Star Wars and Marvel superhero films owned by Disney. Worse, it seems that content gets transferred between providers. I signed up for Netflix only to find that I’d missed my window of opportunity to see the second season of Halt and Catch Fire, which I was informed had gone to some awful looking free (ie mostly full of ads and terrible films) streaming service which I signed up for; but I was too late again and it was by then on Amazon Prime. 

I agree that there is rarely quite the film you want and I’ve sort of given up on it all for now (I only ever subscribed to Netflix and did enjoy Bojack Horseman for a while but found that I really wasn’t using the service much at all - this is not to slate the content as such, just my own use of it)

If you are after World cinema and Art house then the BFI online player might be of interest. I took a two week trial of it earlier this year mainly to watch Buster Keaton’s The General in sync with the band Haiku Salut commenting online about their new score to the film, but I also found two old favourites that are very hard to get hold of in physical versions and that I hadn’t seen for 30 years. 

I am mostly still using physical media which can often be bought for around the price of a rental now!

I think the 'ring-fencing of content' model is going to bite the distributors in the backside unless subscriptions are super cheap. I certainly don't want to be signed up to every online repository / channel.

For world cinema you could check out Curzon Home Cinema:

https://www.curzonhomecinema.com/

Not actually tried it myself yet, but it does seem to have a small but decent selection of films available to rent and a monthly subscription option if there's enough to interest you.

Amazon prime in addition to a hodge potch of included films and TV shows has some paid for content. Everytime I've had a strong desire to watch a particular film I've found it available to rent for about £3.

Good call, it probably has a greater amount of more recent content than the BFI, if that is what the OP is after 

free solo was on channel 4 for a while,

worth checking out some of the broadcast channels streaming service eg

bbc iplayer, Channel4  all4, uktvplay (dave), channel5  ...,  as they have films

I am surprised there is not (or maybe there is?) a film stream one-stop aggregater to tel you where to go to watch it ...

We still have a DVD player and subscribe to Cinema Paradiso. 

I went to a friends house at Xmas and he had both Amazon Prime and Netflix. I suggested a film we could watch and he couldn't get on either. I suggested another and he couldn't get that either.

Personally I just get everything over the internet and it's extremely rare, probably never, that I can't find what I'm looking for. I think these online services need to get their act together if they want to compete. There's no excuse for not providing everything like Blockbuster did, and in fact much more.

The British Film Institute have a streaming service with lots of world- and arthouse-type films:  https://player.bfi.org.uk/. You can watch on a TV using a Chromecast. I subscribed during lockdown #1 and found it pretty good. Cost was a fiver a month for all you can eat, with a two week free trial. Unsubscribing was simple. They also have a free tier.

Edit: I just noticed that Blue Straggler mentioned this uothread.

Last time I looked (March!), our local library still had a pretty substantial DVD section. 

Thank you everyone.  That is all very good and useful info.  It does make sense that you should download good movies on a pay per movie basis rather than subscription, as that was how the old DVD model worked.  It's interesting that there doesn't seem to be a one stop aggregator, or service.  But the Curzon and BFI options mentioned look great for the World/Arthouse stuff.  Didn't know about them - Thanks.

I should add that we have no TV, and just use a Linux browser based connection.  So I'll have to look into whether all options are possible.  Might need Chrome browser or something rather than Firefox.

And have just unsubscribed from Netflix, as that clearly isn't the answer.  We haven't had a TV for 30 years.  Having now seen some of the TV-style progs Netflix offer confirms that we haven't missed anything there!  Much better-paced info from home youtubers than TV shows.

Thanks again.

Our libraries (not too far down the road from you) ditched that service about 5 years ago.  Until then that was great!  Lot's of arty films.

That would be the DVD / Video model that has gone out of business. Subscription services have to pay for the right to stream things and unfortunately they are not going to pay for things that a minority want to watch, hence they are full of crap car crash TV because that's what makes them money. 

Agree with everything about the high percentage of crap and non-comprehensive selection available on Netflix etc. Quite a few films are available on normal catch up of course. Our son gets Netflix but we can also use the same subscription in our house. We pay for Amazon Prime which he in turn can access, 

We use a Roku streaming device, £25 plus, to access streaming for our TV. It has its own rather poor selection of films etc at least some of which are free (I noticed Dark star there yesterday). Its 'Search' shows various sites where a film is available including pay per view.

Its sometimes cheaper ordering a second hand DVD off the internet.

You can rent massive numbers of movies through Amazon, the first time your pay 1.99 or 2.49 to rent it seems quite expensive, but then you think "how much did I used to pay for hire a DVD from a video shop?" it doesn't seem so bad and at least you're not using some dodgy streaming site that is making dodgy gambling or porny-"dating" ads pop up in your browser!

I use Firefox for iPlayer, Amazon, Netflix, C4 etc with no problems at all.

Really, you find some home youtuber as entertaining as Netflix funded or part funded shows be that 'prestige drama' or comedies or whatever your thing is?

Netflix (and Disney+) and the included content of Amazon Prime are not like Blockbuster, they are paying for access to a library.

The closest to Blockbuster is renting from Amazon Prime or Google Play, but not allmfilms are available to rent. You could rent the first Star Wars but the last 3 are only available to buy. Making £6 for one month of Disney+ cheaper.

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned MUBI. 

https://mubi.com

I looked at it when its main model was a rolling programme of 30 films, one new one each day,  which didn’t really suit my intermittent watching, but apparently this has been extended to give a wider selection. Has anyone used it?

 There is, try Reelgood or Justwatch.

They'll show where to rent / buy and price, or which subscription service it's on.

Old school! 

cinema paradiso. Huge catalogue of dvds and done by post.

I find Netflix to have a very poor selection primarily aimed towards series, whereas Amazon Prime Video has near enough everything, albeit at a price rather than a subscription (though a lot is free with Prime, far more than Netflix in terms of films, I find).

I'd rather pay per view than subscribe for films then that doesn't matter, though that depends I guess on how many you watch.

I've had Amazon prime a few times (free trial plus a couple of times when it made sense due to buying a few things on Amazon that month). I don't know if I'm doing something wrong but I can't figure out how to use it to watch whatever is included for prime.

I'll spend ages looking for something to watch but then realise as I'm about to put it on you need to pay for it at the same price I would if I didn't have a subscription (often £2 an episode of a series so could be £30 for a series). I then once watched the first series of something only to find the next 5 series were all chargeable (would have been well over £100 if I'd watched them all, although I suppose it would have lasted me a few months).  At least with Netflix it's easy to figure out what you've paid for.

You literally just go into it and if it's included it will tell you it is.  I guess it doesn't include much of your taste in films, in which case it's maybe not the best option for you.

It's more films than series, I'd say, whereas Netflix is more series than films.  I don't do series (I don't like the commitment of having to fit in watching multiple episodes) so I found Netflix really didn't suit me.

If you are subscribed to Amazon Prime you can filter the films that arw includes free with prime. There is an option called "free to me" somewhere on the main screen depending what device you are using. On my android phone there is a slider at the top. On the Samsung tv it is an option along the top of the screen.