David Daw has studied the history and future of television and has a master's in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts from San Francisco State University along with a BA in genre fiction from NYU. More by David Daw
My last Now Streaming column focused exclusively on Netflix’s new House of Cards series but, as I mentioned briefly there, Cards isn’t the first or best online-exclusive series. This week O take a look at some shows that are made just for the Web and that don’t even require a Netflix subscription to start watching.
Jeffrey has been a working film critic for more than 14 years. He first fell in love with the movies at age six while watching "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" and served as staff critic for the San Francisco Examiner from 2000 through 2003. More by Jeffrey M. Anderson
It’s nearly Oscar time again, so it’s a good time to take a look at past
Oscar winners, Oscar losers, and Oscar snubs streaming on Netflix.
When he isn't bicycling, prowling used bookstores, or watching movies, PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. More by Lincoln Spector
Netflix is for movies, and Hulu Plus is for TV shows. By now, that cliché seems out of date. While Netflix offers some great television, Hulu Plus provides a digital paradise for both serious cinephiles and fans of entertaining trash. (Come to think of it, I’ve yet to meet a serious cinephile who doesn’t also love trash.)
To really appreciate Hulu’s movie selection, try exploring the various companies that provide the films for Hulu. (In some of its multiple user interfaces, Hulu calls these companies studios, even though most of them don’t actually make movies.) Each of these companies has its own tastes, stakes its own claim to a corner of the cinematic universe, and appeals to its own potential fan base.
David Daw has studied the history and future of television and has a master's in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts from San Francisco State University along with a BA in genre fiction from NYU. More by David Daw
This week’s column focuses on a single show, in part because it’s new, but also—as a Netflix exclusive—because it may herald he future of TV distribution.
Jeffrey has been a working film critic for more than 14 years. He first fell in love with the movies at age six while watching "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" and served as staff critic for the San Francisco Examiner from 2000 through 2003. More by Jeffrey M. Anderson
David Daw has studied the history and future of television and has a master's in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts from San Francisco State University along with a BA in genre fiction from NYU. More by David Daw
Jeffrey has been a working film critic for more than 14 years. He first fell in love with the movies at age six while watching "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" and served as staff critic for the San Francisco Examiner from 2000 through 2003. More by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Holy Smoke (coming 2/1)
★★★★☆
After a huge hit with The Piano (1993), as well as several other
critical successes, New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion hit a snag and
couldn’t seem to please anyone anymore. Her 1999 sexual psychodrama Holy
Smoke (1999) seemed to be both funny and serious, and was very frank
about sex and sexuality. It was probably too hard to define and left too
many viewers uncomfortable. Kate Winslet plays a young woman who jumps
feet-first into a new religion, causing her mother to hire a special
de-programmer (Harvey Keitel) to bring her back to normal. After several
days in the desert—with some dazzlingly colorful, fuzzy, dreamy,
cinematography—the balance of power shifts. Campion masterfully uses
this elusive tone to more firmly capture the movie’s themes.
