Streaming Services

[ntnon]

I'm a bit amazed at people's comments about the (HBO) Max doc Bama Rush. Due to time constraints, I rarely pay attention to user-generated reviews anymore (e.g. on Letterboxd, Rotten Tomatoes, and IMDB), but the swath of negative reviews across the board stood out to me. It seems people either inexplicably expected some kind of horrifying details to be revealed about rush events, instead of focusing on the films's real subjects, or they were angry about the director Rachel Fleit being on camera talking about how she related to the subjects due to longstanding shame that society imposes on bald women. So many who saw this were really confused about the connection between the body image and socialization-related parallels between the director's personal history and that of her subjects? There are even directly hair-related examples that come up repeatedly. I can't really argue without evidence that anything is awry with these reviews but I do remember that many negative comments about Payne's Nebraska were written in Nebraska. I wonder how many reviewers saw this with an open mind versus how many have ties to U of Alabama, sorority TikTok, etc. So many viewer pans of this just don't make sense to me.

I have read nothing about this, and haven't watched it. But I have seen it pictured on the app, and with just the one picture, title and sentence write-up... I would have expected "[horrifying] details" about "rush events" and for the director of a documentary to not be on camera..

Are the reviews you've seen vehemently outraged, or more bemused and irked? Could it be an advertising failure and it attracting the 'wrong' audience rather than biased or skewed reviews..?

EDIT: I sought out an interview with one of the subjects - none the wiser on any aspect - but then this Yahoo! piece suggests that 'Bama Rush' was a TikTok thing before the documentary, and the documentary may not address what those two words imply to many people..

[Gregory]

Well, I've gotten very used to documentary directors turning the camera back on themselves. It's a real risk for sure.

As the film documents, there were concerns about being able to complete the project due to the difficulty of containing rumors. Any film that tries to "infiltrate" anything must have similar fears about what's going to happen before it's released, even Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, for example (not a documentary but still a guerrilla shoot). Some of that part of the project is mentioned in the Yahoo piece. I don't know at what point the director decided to put her own story into the mix or whether that had anything to do with the process of trying to find a narrative arc that viewers want to see about the film's subjects. But even the best docs can remain very ambiguous about such things.
This just doesn't seem like a film that gets an enormous barrage of one-star reviews without something being up. It seems fishy. If people legitimately watch it and hate it, that's fair. The ire may even get more people to view it.

As for the failure to deliver on expectations or show the horrifying side of these elite-minisocieties, I mean, there was an episode of 21 Jump Street in the 80s called "Hell Week" where Richard Grieco and a couple of the other officers go undercover into fraternities and sororities, and it's much like you'd predict from a TV story about hazing of that vintage. There was nothing that extremely dramatic in the doc, apart from the idea of a powerful group called The Machine that probably leaves viewers wanting to know more about how they operate, but even beyond that I found plenty that saddened and horrified me.

Roll Tide!

[soundchaser]

I went to Alabama and was tangentially connected to Greek culture there (I was in a music fraternity, although it’s not quite the same thing). All the imagined horrors have either been told before or aren’t salacious enough to justify being shown on camera.

I haven’t seen the documentary, but I doubt it could bring much to the subject in the way of shock and awe that’s genuinely new — which shouldn’t be conflated with it saying nothing of value.

[therewillbeblus]

I'm pretty familiar with Greek culture across various regions in the continental US, and they're drastically different depending on where you are, but essentially it's not as wild as many believe or assume. In most northeastern states, the campus restrictions are so tight, many can't even throw parties, or even an unprompted walkthrough where an official finds bottlecaps or a third-hand story of hazing can shut a place down without concrete evidence. I think in the south, things are a bit wilder still, but the really fucked up stories (which are undoubtedly true) you hear from time to time are outliers and not the norm. That's not to give a blanket pass to hazing or anything, but it's rare to find extreme accounts of unsolicited abuse and humiliation; i.e. coerced alcohol consumption is common, and obviously fits a definition of abuse, but many (legal adult, though obviously submissive roles in a power dynamic) pledges are seeking out heavy drinking culture due to their own thrill-seeking or addictive personalities

[Gregory]

I went to Alabama and was tangentially connected to Greek culture there (I was in a music fraternity, although it’s not quite the same thing). All the imagined horrors have either been told before or aren’t salacious enough to justify being shown on camera.

I haven’t seen the documentary, but I doubt it could bring much to the subject in the way of shock and awe that’s genuinely new — which shouldn’t be conflated with it saying nothing of value.

There's an obscure 2008 doc called 'Bama Girl (whose director has only made one feature after that one) that deals with this topic. I don't know where else this stuff has already been explored on camera.

Therewillbeblus: I think this film is more about how young women are socialized there than a condemnation of hazing or Greek life in general (I should not have brought up hazing, just trying to understand what people were expecting here). The specific setting is a stark example of what many girls aspire to and how they feel they have to prove themselves. My questions about the film's reception aside, I was expecting nothing from it about hazing rituals. The fact that there are paid consultants for potential new recruits to sororities is more interesting to me than anyone being pressured to consume alcohol.

[soundchaser]

I went to Alabama and was tangentially connected to Greek culture there (I was in a music fraternity, although it’s not quite the same thing). All the imagined horrors have either been told before or aren’t salacious enough to justify being shown on camera.

I haven’t seen the documentary, but I doubt it could bring much to the subject in the way of shock and awe that’s genuinely new — which shouldn’t be conflated with it saying nothing of value.

There's an obscure 2008 doc called 'Bama Girl (whose director has only made one feature after that one) that deals with this topic. I don't know where else this stuff has already been explored on camera.

Not in documentaries, but it’s been filtered down through popular culture in such a way that the drinking culture and hazing is probably, if anything, less shocking in real life.

The actual horrors (such as they are) of frat/sorority culture — the Machine I gather the doc only mentions — are hardly visual by comparison, because they’re about networking and careful workaround racism.

[yoloswegmaster]

Isabel Sandoval confirms that Lingua Franca will be leaving Netflix in the summer.

[Grand Wazoo]

Isabel Sandoval confirms that Lingua Franca will be leaving Netflix in the summer.

I'd be shocked if it doesn't end up as a Criterion release.

[therewillbeblus]

Not sure what to make of the recent news that WB may start licensing HBO legacy shows to Netflix, but seems like yet another reason to hate this Max transition

[nick]

I was doing some research on Polish cinema and trying to track down some Zanussi films I hadn't seen when I stumbled upon 35mm.online which appears to be completely free (at least at the moment). The site is English friendly, though some of the English titles are different than what they are commonly known as (The Hourglass Sanatorium is on there as The Sandglass). I've tested the Android app and it works wonderfully with my Chromecast. Subtitles seem to be pretty good, though they are rendered with white lettering in a black box and I have not been able to adjust them. There are some titles that have traditionally been more difficult to track down and they do seem to rotate things in and out in the short time I've been using the service.

[ando]

I was doing some research on Polish cinema and trying to track down some Zanussi films I hadn't seen when I stumbled upon 35mm.online which appears to be completely free (at least at the moment). The site is English friendly, though some of the English titles are different than what they are commonly known as (The Hourglass Sanatorium is on there as The Sandglass). I've tested the Android app and it works wonderfully with my Chromecast. Subtitles seem to be pretty good, though they are rendered with white lettering in a black box and I have not been able to adjust them. There are some titles that have traditionally been more difficult to track down and they do seem to rotate things in and out in the short time I've been using the service.

Thanks!

[ando]

One of the late writer/editor Robert Gottlieb's favorite tv series, The Extraordinary Attorney Woo, about a Korean autistic young lawyer, is currently streaming on Netflix. Service came w/my phone contract and I've not been impressed with the programming (to say the least). Did chuckle a couple of times watching the new Wanda Sykes stand-up.

[domino harvey]

GQ pulls article critical of Zaslav, so here it is

[ntnon]

GQ pulls article critical of Zaslav, so here it is

Weird.. any reasoning behind it being pulled?

Also, linking through articles I read that the garbled "creator" lists have been 'fixed'. Checking on my phone, I don't even see a list of persons under the dozen things I checked.. have things been 'fixed' by being removed, or is the phone interface also useless?

[domino harvey]

The publisher of GQ owns an 8% stake in WB/Discovery

[hearthesilence]

GQ pulls article slamming Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Zaslav after complaint

After the GQ article published Monday, representatives for Zaslav pushed back on it. The publication then made a series of edits to the piece.

Bailey, the author of the article, told The Washington Post he requested to have his byline taken off the story after the edits were made.

“I wrote what I felt was the story I was hired to write,” Bailey told the Post. “When I was asked to rewrite it after publication, I declined. The rewrite that was done was not to my satisfaction, so I asked to have my name removed and was told that the option there was to pull the article entirely, and I was fine with that.”

FWIW, "corporate raider" is a spot-on description of Zaslav's whole approach to running the studio.

[lzx]

I was doing some research on Polish cinema and trying to track down some Zanussi films I hadn't seen when I stumbled upon 35mm.online which appears to be completely free (at least at the moment). The site is English friendly, though some of the English titles are different than what they are commonly known as (The Hourglass Sanatorium is on there as The Sandglass). I've tested the Android app and it works wonderfully with my Chromecast. Subtitles seem to be pretty good, though they are rendered with white lettering in a black box and I have not been able to adjust them. There are some titles that have traditionally been more difficult to track down and they do seem to rotate things in and out in the short time I've been using the service.

Wow, talk about comprehensive! I had a quick look, and it seems the library includes the complete or near-complete feature filmographies of every major Polish director of the 50s and 60s—the only exception is, funnily enough, Polanski—plus a wealth of shorts and newsreels. (Basically, if a Polish title has been released by Second Run, it's on there.) All in new restorations and with English subtitles, as well as Polish captions and audio descriptive tracks! The only downside is that, as a non-Polish speaker, I can only watch them on my laptop, as I cannot get the subtitles to show up when casting to my TV via AirPlay (if anyone has figured out how, please let me know!).

[pianocrash]

Had the opportunity to see Grown Ups (2010, finally?), but quickly found out that the streaming version on Hulu is the edited-for-TV version, including all the weird commercial fade-outs and politely smeared-out swear words. Can't say I appreciated that version enough, but afterward I made sure to double check the streaming version vs. physical Criterion disc of Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, and I'm happy to report that all of the fart jokes are still 100% intact.

[therewillbeblus]

Had the opportunity to see Grown Ups (2010, finally?), but quickly found out that the streaming version on Hulu is the edited-for-TV version, including all the weird commercial fade-outs and politely smeared-out swear words. Can't say I appreciated that version enough, but afterward I made sure to double check the streaming version vs. physical Criterion disc of Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, and I'm happy to report that all of the fart jokes are still 100% intact.

But in all seriousness,

SpoilerShow

Was any of the abortion scene cut?

[ando]

Don’t expect it to have much traction here but I’m really enjoying Elvis Mitchell’s refreshingly frank Is That Black Enough for You?!? on NF.

[flyonthewall2983]

I liked that one a lot too. I hope he directs more.

[ando]

I've been glued to the original Dynasty on Prime. It's an 80s eye candy thing. Not even curious about the revamp.

And speaking of Prime Trevor Nunn's (a sound Stratfordian) 6 part lecture (w/British theater icons in tow) on Shakespeare (w/Marquee 7 day free trial) is streaming. Not bad. John Barton extended Playing Shakespeare series is obviously more comprehensive, but I've rarely seen Nunn in the flesh (83 this year).

[beamish14]

The complete run of Moonlighting is coming to Hulu in October with all of the music intact

[Matt]

Warner Discovery is loading tons of their classic film catalog onto Tubi, the free add-supported television (FAST) streaming service owned by Fox Corp. (the TV company, not the movie studio now owned by Disney). And these are not minor titles — mostly high-profile films like North by Northwest, Bullitt, A Streetcar Named Desire, Goodfellas, 2001, The Band Wagon and so forth. They’ve also announced that their DC films and TV series will be added, including the most recent stuff like The Batman.

Not exactly a cinephile’s dream what with the standard-def resolution and ad breaks, but they already have an incredibly deep catalog (some 40,000 titles), and you can’t beat the price. I’ve caught many movies and shows on there that aren’t available anywhere else.

I read an article recently (can’t remember where) that said FAST services are currently the only money-making streamers. The kind of catalog depth we all thought we would see on vertically integrated services like Max or Paramount+ is now actually happening on free services like Tubi and Pluto.

[Jonathan S]

The free Arte in English streaming channel increasingly captivates me. I've just finished their mini-series Naked Above Berlin about two gay teens who imprison their school principal in his high-tech high-rise apartment. It plays a bit like Black Mirror directed by Fassbinder with a Madchen in Uniform subplot. It became a bit too feelgood for me towards the end (but by then I was feeling bad from my botched NHS hernia operation).

Arte in English currently offers long documentaries on Clint Eastwood, Banderas & Almodovar and Lex Barker, plus lots of other cultural and historical productions. Usually there are a few full-length features, including obscure titles, though some of these can be blocked regionally due to rights restrictions. I also enjoy their intelligent magazine shows like Streetphilosophy, Psyche and Unhappy, aimed mainly I think at younger people.

It amazes me that a French/German channel can offer all this free in six languages (just one short ad before each programme) while the overrated, outmoded BBC blocks its TV archive even to British citizens except on payment of their ridiculous annual fee. Of course, I can't vouch for how much of Arte is accessible to countries outside the UK; I'd be curious to know.