“The General”; “All Above Eve”; “Rosemary’s Baby”; “Double Indemnity”; “Birth of a Nation”; “Annie Hall”; “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”; “12 Angry Men”; “The Graduate”; “Apocalypse Now”; “Terminator 2”, etc. These are all considered some of the greatest, most historic movies in their genre, if not of all time—and they are all available to watch on Netflix. And I don’t mean via the mail, which is counter to our generation’s impulsive “I want it now!” nature, but on instant view ready to pour magic into your eyeballs. That is extraordinary. Even a decade ago, unless a studio decided to redistribute an anniversary edition, trying to find certain movies was the biggest pain in the ass. This is why the fall of video stores was so immediate and fierce given the rise of streaming giant Netflix. Now you can get the largest and deepest collection of movies in the palm of your hand. And yet, there are still unprecedented amounts of bitching.
“There’s nothing to watch”, “Why don’t they have this movie?”, “These movies are dumb and old.” If you have ever heard someone mutter these phrases, please, hit them as hard as you can and continue to do so for every following incident. There’s nothing to watch? The only problem Netflix has is that there is too much to watch. It’s like being a child and being told, “Okay, you can have any toy you want”, and every toy is either a Game Boy/Pokemon bundle, Hulk hands, a Slip N’ Slide, a trampoline, one of those big plastic battery powered cars you can actually drive, or a scooter. The mind can only implode from sheer excitement when given so many epic choices.
And that’s what Netflix is: an entire aisle of the world’s most awesome choices. Who cares if they don’t have the only movie millennials think exists, “Frozen”? They have “Birth of a Nation” on Netflix! Not only is it the first true epic, but it’s the first movie to tell a narrative with such scope and fluidity, not to mention with set pieces and battle scenes that seem unfathomable given the time it was made, 1913, which was over 100 years ago! Plus, it gives you direct access to the mindset of the period. Sure it was extremely racist, but it’s the most direct way to grasp history other than going back in time, punching George Washington and stealing his wooden teeth. I mean, try getting ahold of music that’s that old on Spotify. Just like with reading those classic books they give you for free on your kindle (God bless public domain laws), you owe it to yourself as a human to at least watch those movies, and you will be better for it.
And not only do old movies make it on there, but the third highest grossing movie of all-time and the second greatest superhero movie (behind only “The Dark Knight”), “The Avengers” awaits you at any time. Sure you’ve probably seen it, but the fact you can watch such a massive movie at any moment makes my head feel like an orange being juiced by an overly aggressive jogger. Who cares if they don’t have “The Little Mermaid” for you to sing-along to for the 1500 time? If you really love a movie just buy it, and use Netflix as your own personal time-capsule. I discovered the greatest actor/director of all time, Buster Keaton, solely through Netflix. So stop getting excited to watch “Friends” all the time, or whine that there’s nothing on, and explore the world around you, ya whining baby.
