How To Select Interesting Movies To Watch On Netflix

The movie industry has experienced great advancements. Gone are the days when you had to wait for your neighbour or friend to finish watching the movie taped on VCR or VCD. Now, anyone and everyone can watch whatever they want from wherever, thanks to the various online streaming media we have all over the place.

More and more movies are released almost on a daily basis and as these movies are paraded on our screens, we are left with the dilemma to choose a good one. In this article, I will be sharing with you pro tips on how to choose an interesting movie that would be worth your while.

When I first settled in my apartment, I thought decoders were cool, you know, access to several channels which would mean a variety of options. Hence, I purchased the DSTv decoder and after paying a whopping sum of N6,800 monthly for a couple of months just so that I can watch movies on MNET (because Nollywood movies will what? You know), I had to retrace my steps.

Here’s what happened: it turned out that DSTv mostly aired old movies and as if that was not uncool enough, they replayed these movies almost every other day. With this unacceptable deal, I remembered that I had a Netflix account. Without further ado, I dusted my account off the rack and became a subscriber. (Don't mind me, I was used to streaming for free on a friend's account.)

Three thousand Nigerian naira will grant you unlimited access to movies that are available for viewing in Nigeria, except you have a VPN of course. You probably already know that so I will get straight to show you pro tips that will guide you through choosing correct movies on Netflix.

1. Check the rating Before you click that play button, how many stars is the movie worth? Unlike Amazon Prime Video, Netflix does not yet have the rating feature. The best you will get is the Percentage Match (more on this later).

In order not to fall prey to mind blowing trailer and crappy movie content, always do this first. Go to your browser and type in the movie title in your search box. Movies that are available for streaming on Netflix will mostly appear top of the page. Scroll down until you find the IMDB search result. There, you will find the movie's ratings.

What should you do with the rating? (In my American voice now), hold on, I'll tell you.

It's simple. What is the rating? 5/10? Run, darling, run. Don't bother you. Any movie that doesn't rate at least 7.5 - IMDB rating - will not be worth your time. Personally, though, I seldom consider 7.0+ ratings.

2. Percentage Match In lieu of IMDB ratings that Amazon Prime Video offers, Netflix gives a percentage match on the left right under the movie title. This is a specified percentage figure of how likely you are to like the movie. But, what is the actual assurance that you will like the movie? The apparent way to know is to play the movie and find out for yourself.

I regard this a “walking by faith” method. There is one way to get around with this tip. It would require you to be committed.

Every time you watch a movie and you genuinely like the movie, give it a “like”. Doing this gives Netflix an idea of what you like and guides them on which movies to suggest to you in the future.

3. Check the genre of the movie Netflix always gives a range of applicable genres for each movie. For example, comedy, horror, crime, animation, romance, thriller, etc.

Look out for movies that have these tags: “based on real events” and “based on true life”. I have tested this method and up to eighty percent of the time, the movies turn out to be great.

A similar tag is “based on a book/novel”. Although a novel’s plot may be interesting, its movie imitation may not be as impressive. A classic example is The Da Vinci Code. Anyone who has read the book will agree that the movie did not do justice to the story. As a matter of fact, the mental imagery I developed while reading the novel beat the relay of plots in the movie.

4. Who are the main characters? Certainly, this does not give one hundred percent guarantee. Still, you will agree with me that there are certain actors who do not deliver shallow acts and they do not appear in mediocre movies. Whatever role they play, they dazzle and kill it, literally. Similarly, there are certain producers and directors who are known to only churn out spectacular movies.

Watching movies is a great way to relax. However, for lovers of great movies, it would be an absolute waste of time to see a movie that either has a weak plot or was poorly acted. For a logical and analytical person like me, I look out not only for fine videography but also a realistic expression of the story in addition to fine acting.