Though many things can drag wearily through the post-festive hinterland of January, our streaming service isn’t one of them – it’s positively bursting into 2012 with new films, new TV shows, and all the shouty vigour of a kid who’s had too many E numbers.*
Telly series from ABC (Lost, Cougar Town, etc) and Auntie Beeb* (Doctor Who, Mighty Boosh, etc), plus movies galore – just right for holing up indoors, saving pennies, and giving yourself square eyeballs.*
So here’s my current Top Ten from the LOVEFiLM Instant selection:
- Moon
- Source Code
- Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
- Westworld
- Blackadder the Third – Duel & Duality
- High Fidelity
- Body of Lies
- Doctor Who – Series 2, Episode 4 – The Girl in the Fireplace
- Superman Returns
- 3:10 To Yuma
Didn’t include any Lost episodes, but I loved it first time through – likelihood of my returning to the island and doing it all again? Very high.
And here are five I’m very much looking forward to watching:
- Dead Snow
- Rare Exports – A Christmas Tale
- The Mighty Boosh – Series 1-2
- In The Loop
- Raising the Bar – Series 1-2
Feel free to post your own streaming top lists… Favourites…? Looking Forward To’s…? Shall we say, top 5s…
Darren Bignell, Senior Communications Manager
(* these phrases clearly dating the author of this post)
Great picks for the top 10. I especially enjoyed Moon and Source Code, including the latter second time through on LOVEFiLM instant. Get Smart and RED, both of which I streamed this week, exceeded my expectations by a wide margin too.
Four Lions is very, very good but also very, very dark. Excellent IMO, but not one for viewers of of a nervous disposition or those who won’t enjoy Chris Morris’ brand of pitck-black satire.
I’m looking forward to Lost because I was on VM when Sky pulled the plug on access to Sky 1, leading to my missing out on the series past Season 3 IIRC. I’ve somehow stayed spoiler-free, hoping to getting back into it soon.
Thanks Tim – you’re dead right about Four Lions, wise words. And enjoy Lost: I stuck with it first time around – you’ve got some bombshell moments to look forward to (actually quite jealous)…
Can I ask what seems like a dumb question – is the streaming content available on my TV the same as what I can watch on my PC? I was looking forward to sitting back and reliving “Brideshead Revisited” over the weekend, but couldn’t find it anywhere on the TV. It doesn’t help that the Bravia content isn’t searchable, except through the “Search Internet Content” process.
I ended up watching “Superman Returns” this evening, as it was on the first page of titles. I couldn’t find any way to identify TV programmes separately from films, as they don’t seem to be a separate category on the TV search.
“Tucker & Dale vs Evil” is a top movie.
Hi Fenny – not a dumb question at all. Broad answer is no, streaming content on PC is not exactly the same as on the TV or other devices. Which isn’t at all ideal, obviously, so we’re working hard to sort it.
Current state of play is that, yes, a good number of TV shows ARE now available on all devices: PS3, Xbox360, iPad, Samsung and Sony TVs. In most cases, the best way to find them is in the Collections section.
You’ll know that the Bravia set-up is a bit more basic, though. So when you scroll down through the main genre icons, you should see a few TV shows at the bottom – Doctor Who, Mighty Boosh, Inspector Morse, that sort of thing. But no Brideshead Revisited at the moment, really sorry.
We’re on it, though, and will continue to roll out improvements to search and navigation as fast as we can. Hope you can cope in the meantime, and really glad you’re finding titles worth watching anyway – Tucker & Dale is a real hidden gem, isn’t it?!
Thanks, Darren. At least I know I don’t need to hunt for something that isn’t there. I can always hook the laptop up to the telly for now.
I love streaming and I think that it is a fantastic idea and should definitely stay, love that you are adding more titles to it, I just went back to the island for a second trip with lost. One thing though that really annoys me is that one week a film is free to watch online (with subscription) and then the next week you have to pay extra for it. I pay for a subscription and I don’t think that I should have to pay extra to watch the better films online just because of larger company profits.
You should have the mission to make all films available for streaming for subscription price only!
More choice at no extra cost, that should be Lovefilm!
Thanks
Sorry, if this is a question you are sick of, but…I watch lovefilm via my Xbox and am really impressed with the selection on offer. However you main competitor is also available there and while film wise nowhere near as good, crucially, they are streaming in HD which just makes such a difference on any 40inch plus screen. Does Lovefilm intend to match this anytime soon, as the low bandwidth issue which I am sure was very real when you first launched just isnt really applicable now. Thanks