I think we all need at least one really nice positive thing about the entertainment business every single day of the year, including weekends. Sometimes it may be something simple, like a video that showcases something fun and sometimes it may be a movie poster that embraces the aesthetic we all want Hollywood to aspire to. Sometimes it may be a long-winded diatribe. Sometimes it’ll be from the staff and extended family of CHUD.com. Maybe even you readers can get in on it. So, take this to the bank. Every day, you will get a little bit of positivity from one column a day here. Take it with you. Maybe it’ll help you through a bad day or give folks some fun things to hunt down in their busy celluloid digesting day.

8.4.10
By Jeremy G. Butler  (Author Page, Twitter Page, Facebook Page)

What I’m Thankful For:

Netflix Instant.

I suppose I could say this applied to VOD services in general, and perhaps it does, but Netflix Instant is my service of choice and I am head-over-heels in love with it.  And it’s not just the functionality of it – push a button, watch a movie – it’s the depth and breadth of the selection.  I once read where someone had said that they would have killed for this kind of access to movies as a child.  I think that‘s a sentiment to which we can all relate.

Some people may complain about the lack of newer, bigger releases on the Instant service and I suppose that’s valid, but – for me, at least – the appeal of Netflix has always been the non-mainstream stuff.  Foreign-language films, art house, exploitation, independent and silent films – all the stuff that you (or at least I) would have never been able to find at my local brick-and-mortar store.  At the time there was a sort of romanticism to it all: figuring out how to order your queue; watching the mail and waiting for that next disc to show up; making sure you sent it back in time to get the next one in before the weekend started – it was all part of the Netflix experience.

But, as it turns out, you never really knew how much of a pain in the ass all that waiting was until you didn’t have to do it anymore.  Now, instead of waiting for two mail cycles in between every one movie, I can watch as many movies as I want on any given day.  And not just bullshit filler movies – Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini, Godard, hell, damn near anything with a Criterion logo on it.  It’s all right there.  And they’re adding more every single day.  It’s a gateway to one of the single greatest educations in film history that you could ask for – and it only costs you nine bucks a month.

As someone who came into my own as a film fan a bit later in life than a lot of you, Netflix Instant is more than just something I’m simply thankful for – it‘s more like a miracle.