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Best subscription service for movies

Adventureracing

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
8,140
So I feel a little late to this party but I've never actually had any of the big subscription services (netflix, Disney+ etc). I'm mainly interested in watching movies and I'm wondering which of these services has the biggest variety of movies?

I've looked at Netflix, YouTube etc but it's really hard to get a grasp of how much they actually have available.

I don't really want to keep building a huge collection of DVD's/blurs us so I'm looking for an alternative.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,979
It's the Criterion Channel and it's not even close. Otherwise, iunno. It's a grab bag with each service being okay.
 
Osahi

Osahi

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,990
MUBI. At least if you're interested in both film history, indie films and movies from other countries than the US.

European here: I feel Netflix and Amazon have a similar mix of blockbuster/mainstraim films, with Netfix purely due to the volume of stuff having a bit more gems (next to a lot of trash). Disney+ has a bit more of its own niche, but with Starz and all the Fox stuff they have a lot of great legacy content. HBO isn't available here.

In the end I'd say you should use the free periods of every streaming service available to check which one aligns the most with your tastes. Or you could go on and off between them, depending on what releases.
 
PlayBee

PlayBee

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 8, 2017
5,719
This would require more effort on your part but if you make a list of movies you're interested in then you can see what services have them using justwatch.com
 
OP
OP

Adventureracing

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
8,140
Brandon said:
Tubi is pretty good for variety.
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Haven't heard of this but I'll look into it.

mrmickfran said:
HBO Max
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Don't think this is available in Australia.

Strings said:
It's the Criterion Channel and it's not even close. Otherwise, iunno. It's a grab bag with each service being okay.
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Yeah this is what I was afraid of. Feels like you've kinda got make use of each service which kinda sucks.

SquirrelSaysNuts said:
Don't you have services in your country like https://www.playpilot.com/ to show you which sites have what?
Other than that, subscribe a month at a time (cancel the subscription immediately after the trial runs out, so that you are not charged with more than one month)
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Will look into that, hadn't heard of it but that seems really useful.
 
zuf

zuf

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,916
Amazon Prime Video is probably the best all-round catalog if you like both mainstream and some more obscure stuff.

There's some Australian-made gems on there too like Money Movers, one of the best heist movies I've seen in a while.

Prime also just added two different Dawn of the Dead (1978) cuts. Stuff like that you'd never get on Netflix.
 
Ravelle

Ravelle

Member
Oct 31, 2017
18,160
It really depends on what kind of movies you want to watch, even with all these services trying to watch a movie and finding is is sometimes a nightmare.

- Checks Netflix and the movie you want to watch isn't on there, or it is but not in your region.
- Checks Prime Video, it's either on there or it's on there but only to rent and then it's the question if they have both HD and 4K available.
- If neither has them I check Rakuten and it's again the question if 4K is available but it's a rental service and no sub service.

HBO Max is only an option if you're US based or one of the few other countries that has access to it.
 
OP
OP

Adventureracing

The Fallen
Nov 7, 2017
8,140
Ravelle said:
It really depends on what kind of movies you want to watch, even with all these services trying to watch a movie and finding is is sometimes a nightmare.

- Checks Netflix and the movie you want to watch isn't on there, or it is but not in your region.
- Checks Prime Video, it's either on there or it's on there but only to rent and then it's the question if they have both HD and 4K available.
- If neither has them I check Rakuten and it's again the question if 4K is available but it's a rental service and no sub service.

HBO Max is only an option if you're US based or one of the few other countries that has access to it.
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Yeah it sounds like there's no real one size fits all option. Just going to have to do a bit of shopping around.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,979
StraySheep said:
Yes that was it. Too bad Criterion isn't available in Germany >.> Its already an anime desert out here for an English speaker.
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You just have to sign up with a VPN - afterwards you're fine to access it without one. It's what I do from Australia (where it's also not available officially).

I'm still sad about Filmstruck. Their catalogue was insane, and the curation introduced me to a bunch of cool stuff.
 
Nameless

Nameless

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,534
Prime Video + Criterion Channel + HBO Max is the Trinity.

AMC+ is also solid between Shudder, IFC, and Sundance stuff.
 
PanzerKraken

PanzerKraken

Member
Nov 1, 2017
15,159
Amazon Prime to me has the best selection of back catalog movies of all the pay services. And Tubi is free and has an insane library also.
 
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