Netflix, Johnny Mnemonic, prices, outrage, Keanu Reeves, upload, 2019, Reed Hastings

Discussion (23) ¬

  1. daniel

    Did you ever see Circuitry Man? that was AWESOME! Dude had multiple inputs into his head.

  2. Chris Howard

    So I’ve got a question, when HAS the movie been better? Which occasions has the pacing of a film improved the book upon it was based? Or the changes to the plot or portrayal of a character?

    A few I’d put up, Forest Gump, The Thief Lord AND Inkheart, (cause Cornelia Funke is looooong winded) and perhaps some of the later Potter films actually cause I think they stopped trying to edit JK once she got so huge and she could’ve used a bit. And The World According to Garp gets an even split, both are brilliant.

    • Tom
      Tom

      Truthfully, I think its a question of what you were exposed to and when. If I read the book first, generally I don’t find the visuals of the movie can match my imagination. If I see the movie first, it kind of sets the mold in terms of what I expect from the book.

    • 8one6

      I would have to say that the Harry Potter films are definitely better than the books, especially Goblet of Fire.

      • taekwondogirl

        Really? I thought that was one of the weakest movies. Huh, different strokes.

    • CW
      CW

      The best example I can think of is The Godfather. Mario Puzo’s book is good, but nowhere near the level of greatness achieved by the first two films.

    • Amanda
      Amanda

      I would like to vote Fight Club as being better than the book, mostly because of how it decides the lay out the story. The book spoiled things that the movie didn’t right off the bat.

    • Allen
      Allen

      I’d say the Princess Bride fits in that list.

  3. trevor

    While I totally get the joke here, just looking at the slim instant stream selection offered by Netflix in the beginning, I’m betting the flick would be some obscure 1940s flick that no one’s ever heard of.

    Which is what most of their instant streaming menu consists of. Seriously.

    I’ve been with Netflix from the beginning and I enjoy their service, but recognize one of the major drawbacks of Netflix has always been the US Postal System. I know few people who want to add a movie to their queue and receive it 2-3 business days later before they can watch it.

    That said, the instant stream has significantly less movies and TV shows to select from. And with some stations, like HBO, launching competitive streaming products, it’s unlikely that TV shows and movies from those “competitors” will become available on Netflix streaming at any point in the near future.

    The solution would be to discount people who wanted to utilize both services, but unfortunately that’s not what Netflix is doing. Instead, they’re completely separating them from each other.

    In summary, I can totally see how people are feeling cheated about this – but the sad fact is that the change isn’t to benefit the subscribers. It’s to benefit the organization.

    • Tom
      Tom

      Yes, but if the benefit to the organization is to still remain in business long enough to provide content to subscribers… then it’s also a benefit to subscribers as well.

      $2 billion in licensing fees. TWO *BILLION*. There’s no way Netflix is going to keep up with that unless the studios start playing fair.

  4. Sean McNally

    I like Johnny Mnemonic. I feel dirty everytime I say that.

    • melchar
      melchar

      I liked it too. The rant ending with ‘I want my shirts starched …’ is still one of my favorite bits. I also -very- much liked the LowTechs.

      … as for the question about what movies were better than the books? ‘Jaws’ -definitely-!

    • spencer1984

      Same here. Johnny Mnemonic may be bad, but at least it’s not boring. With Keanu, Dina Meyer, Ice-T, and Udo Kier, it’s like the perfect storm of over-the-top. Plus how can you go wrong with a movie that features Henry Rollins running over Dolph Lundgren with a delivery truck?

    • MnM
      MnM

      As well you should! (though I’m right there with you…Grace Jones as a body guard?! priceless!)

  5. taekwondogirl

    I know you’re really just not into it at all.. but seriously. I saw the last movie last night and it was incredible. Finally, great action scenes.

    It’s hard to reflect on the character changes if you’ve only seen the movies, but also happened in the book. Everyone started out so black and white and was a gigantic trope. The characters and the situations evolved so it was shades of grey and you could no longer designate most people as straight up good or evil. I think the way it was done is very clever and more likely to get people to question how they view people in the long run by such a transition as opposed to if everyone started fleshed out.

    You’re really missing out by not seeing the last movie. It’s by far the best of the series.

  6. Kelly
    Kelly

    I don’t mean to insinuate anything, but I find it interesting that Tom defends Netflix on this and at the bottom of the webpage is an ad for Netflix…

    • Stranger

      You know he has no control over what ads show up on the site, right?

      • Tom
        Tom

        Exactly.

        Actually, probably just by mentioning Netflix, my ad servers populated that space with one of their ads.

        But I do appreciate the insinuation that I am somehow in Netflix’s pocket. I assure you, they have no idea who the hell I am.

  7. Phil

    I have been compelled to see all the HP films, and found myself disliking them from the start- I can only cope with the aid of peanut M&MS and ignoring the dialogue, concentrating instead on the visuals.

  8. Kris

    On Netflix, here’s why I’m upset:
    They already raised the prices this year. My plan went up already in January. Now it’s going up again. I solved it before by going down to a lower plan, and I’ll be doing that again. So I’m upset my plan is taking another 60% hike. I’m also upset that the CEO doesn’t give a shit. Basically, he doesn’t care if he alienates customers, because it’s his belief they’ll just be replaced by new customers (which may not be a false belief).

    I get that they have licensing fees, bandwidth costs, etc. But this idea that it’s somehow a good move for the customers, which is how they’re pushing it, is absurd. Fine, some people want DVDs only or streaming only, so they’re offering that option now. Well, OK. But what about those of us who do want both? Why do we now have to pay for two separate plans with higher prices?

    It would be very simple to make me feel better about this mess. Offer a combo plan for those of us who still want both DVDs and streaming, which discounts a plan including both. I bet that would ease a good deal of discontent.

    • Tom
      Tom

      I can agree with what you’ve said about Netflix pushing the rate hike as a good thing for customers. Obviously, it’s not.

      But they’re kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. Because it’s the studios that have them over a barrel and if Netflix comes out and lays the blame at their feet, they’ll further alienate them.

      I’m not trying to defend any of it. Just trying to rationalize things a little.

  9. MnM
    MnM

    Idk what the big deal is about Netflix…my subscription (Streaming + 3DVDs) only went from $19.99 to $23.98. Not enough for me to get steamy about or enough to even really notice since I’d spend a lot more than that getting my movie/tv fix almost any other way…

  10. MnM
    MnM

    My transit costs on the other hand…do you have a blog about the metro system?!

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