Off-Netflix Series

Especially with all this time spent in with quarantine I feel it's time to start going through my movie collection. As I mentioned in a previous piece I wrote here on Vocal “Rental Shops Were Better than Streaming,” I have began to notice all the titles that are missing from the streaming wars on the main services. So I will start going through some of my favorite movies that you can't find on a subscription. Many of them you either have to find a physical copy or find on a Video On Demand (VOD) style rental service.

What to expect?

First and foremost I am not a movie buff or anything. I don't follow specific directors or actors. I don't know anything about film production. I am just a guy who likes stories. I don't just enjoy movies specifically. I try to regularly take in things like video games, comic books, manga and anime as well. For these pieces I plan to select a few similar movies to share. For each movie I will write basic summaries and what made the viewing experience enjoyable to me. I wouldn't necessarily consider it a review as I know people like different things than I do, but more of a recommendation. There will be no rating systems. I'm not going to try and make objective evaluations as I am not especially qualified for such things. If the titles are available on VOD or ad supported platforms I will try to include that so you can check them out yourself. Also while I am not against speaking out on things that a film does poorly in my opinion. I will not be showcasing movies to purely trash them. I want to share movies for enjoyment not just to take the piss out on someone else's work.

What is the purpose of this series?

The main thing that I would like to accomplish with sharing these titles with people here on Vocal is to draw attention to titles that many people probably don't notice now during the streaming wars. Since audiences have the option to pay a small fee for a library access, many people use them as their go to media consumption. I always see recommendations for the newest Netflix addition or Hulu original but I rarely see anyone recommend what they watched on Vudu or rented on Amazon Video. And this is a little disheartening for me because I've watched many movies that easily become part of my favorites list that do not become available on the subscription sites. In the end I am just wanting to share some of my favorites with people because I'm worried they will be forgotten.

What counts as an Off-Netflix title?

The main prerequisite is that it is not available on a mainstream stand alone subscription model that is not advertisement funded. Currently I have access to five of these styles of services: Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and Cruncyroll. So those are going to be the prime ones I will search to verify if they are available. For Amazon Prime Video specifically I am limiting it to specifically the Prime library not for any additional channels you can purchase like HBO and Starz as they are optional packages. I also will not be considering movies that you can find on YouTube now because they are starting to grow in legitimate movie streams. This because for my personal viewing habits YouTube is just not meant for mainstream viewing it is meant for online media. There are other platforms that are either ad supported or just lesser known that I will not consider to hold against a title just due to being such a small platform that many people may not know of.

What I'm I wanting from the series.

The main reason I feel this is a worth while endeavor is to start practicing with writing. As someone who enjoys stories I could use some practice actually writing my own stories. I've come up with many story concepts for some projects I've wanted to put together but would fall short in the execution. So my plan is to write up my thoughts on these movies I want to share with people to get better at writing engaging pieces that people would enjoy. I originally had been trying to do research and write opinion pieces on more social and cultural issues but decided writing about movies will allow me to focus on the writing and not any nuance that may surround any specific topic. Eventually I may implement some way for me to connect with readers but to start I'm going to just write and see where it goes from there. So keep an eye out for the first installment over the next week. Where I will go over just some personal favorites. After that I plan to put a theme to the movies that could be applied to a movie night.