Feature Unlocked!

(I probably could have just tossed this info into the previous post, but oh well)

Look, I'm a Netflix fanboy. This should come as no surprise, now that I've shared my obsessive Netflixing habits with you all, but it just needs to be said. Netflix and other disc-by-mail/streaming services are exactly what I dreamed of as a kid. They bring Patton Oswalt's ETEWAF (Everything That Ever Was, Available Forever) one step closer to reality, for better or for worse.

But there's an awful lot of content out there. It can be pretty tough to figure out what to watch, even with Netflix's generally-decent algorithms—they almost always know what I'm going to rate a movie, though they've not yet figured out which movies I'll actually want to watch. Even then, their accuracy is only even that high because I rent and rate so many movies, movies that I learned about elsewhere without the benefit of an algorithm. Maybe you aren't so obsessive with your Netflixing, or don't have a background that allows you to say you wrote a Master's thesis about Snakes on a Plane.

So that's where I come in!

Every so often, I'm going to look through the things that are currently available on Netflix Instant and find examples of movies that I think everyone should see. This new feature will be called "Five-Star Streaming," or "FSS" for short. I'm somewhat stingy with my five-star ratings when it comes to films, so these may not always be genuine five-star selections. But they'll definitely be movies that are well worth your time and effort, whether you stream them, rent them, or acquire them by other means.

This helps me further my mission of telling people about interesting, thought-provoking, or just plain fun movies. It also lets me draw from my knowledge of movies I haven't just watched and returned, so that my posts won't always be dependent on maintaining a quick turnover. And it lets you know about some great films just waiting for you to click play. It's a win-win for everyone!

Look out for the first FSS post sometime this week. I've already got a few movies in mind!