Mubi (independent movie site) coming to PS3 tomorrow

johnny_ultimate

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/11/01/mubi-is-launching-on-ps3-this-week/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SCEEBlog+%28blog.eu.playstation.com%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

As mod of PlayStation and film, it's always great to see my two hobbies coming together in wonderful harmony Mubi is an online movie site dedicated to more independent and foreign films. For either a flat fee per film, or a monthly unlimited subscription you can watch some of the best arthouse film. Unfortunately, the current collection available in Ireland isn't quite as rich as some other countries get, but it's a welcome start. I'm very curious to download a film tomorrow now and see what sort of quality we'll be getting out of the PS3 app. There's also some pretty neat community features too.

I've always been disappointed by the mainstream selection favoured by the Xbox Live movie download service (I've only ever downloaded an Akira Kurosawa film :pac:) so nice to see the PS3 getting a more niche and varied support for downloadable films. Hopefully the selection will improve from what is currently available, but for now plenty of gems on there to discover anyway

L'prof

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/11/01/mubi-is-launching-on-ps3-this-week/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SCEEBlog+%28blog.eu.playstation.com%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

As mod of PlayStation and film, it's always great to see my two hobbies coming together in wonderful harmony Mubi is an online movie site dedicated to more independent and foreign films. For either a flat fee per film, or a monthly unlimited subscription you can watch some of the best arthouse film. Unfortunately, the current collection available in Ireland isn't quite as rich as some other countries get, but it's a welcome start. I'm very curious to download a film tomorrow now and see what sort of quality we'll be getting out of the PS3 app. There's also some pretty neat community features too.

I've always been disappointed by the mainstream selection favoured by the Xbox Live movie download service (I've only ever downloaded an Akira Kurosawa film :pac:) so nice to see the PS3 getting a more niche and varied support for downloadable films. Hopefully the selection will improve from what is currently available, but for now plenty of gems on there to discover anyway

A lot done, more to do

Grumpypants

This is good news i've been waiting a while. Good news too on the bit about some free films.

It might be worth having a thread along the line of "i watched this and it was great". As these will be films people have not heard much about so it would be good to discover some gems between us. Also im sure there will be some stinkers to avoid as €3.50 is still quite pricey for an older film.

johnny_ultimate

Nobody Knows is the only film I've ever bought off Mubi, and it was pretty damn good - both the film and quality.

Reason I really dig this coming to PS3 is that two hours on a laptop screen isn't ideal movie viewing medium! Since I don't currently have a decent PC hook up, something I can watch on my main TV is always welcome.

WolfForager

Looking forward to trying this out. Sort of wish we were getting LoveFilm though

Minstrel27

Anyone have any idea of what films will be free?

MarkY91

great aload of chinese movies, how exciting:rolleyes:

L'prof

I wouldn't be so dismissive until you've at least given it a shot!!!

MarkY91

L'prof wrote: »

I wouldn't be so dismissive until you've at least given it a shot!!!

i know but indie movies and foreign movies? come on it will interest 5% of ps3 users maximum...UK got a video service with movies for everybodys taste

Minstrel27

MarkY91 wrote: »

i know but indie movies and foreign movies? come on it will interest 5% of ps3 users maximum...UK got a video service with movies for everybodys taste

I am one of the 5% so I am happy with that.

Don't forget it wasn't just Sony that released the LoveFilm program in the UK. I am sure that if they had the rights we would have gotten it too.

L'prof

I'm happy enough, it's a start at least. It's not going to cater for everyone's tastes, but everyone so what?

Minstrel27

Just had a quick mess around with it there. It seems to be fast enough anyway. Just had a look at one of the free movies. PQ wasn't superb so that so far is my only concern.

Varik

Got an email to say i was now registered on the website and then after having it for no time at all i have a follower.

there are only 5 free films so far and i think only 3 are feature length with the one of the others being a bit on the old side.

this makes no sense i apparently have one follower and am following 2 others but i never did anything.

eddhorse

Thanks for following me

This looks quite good, about time !

L'prof

Does it actually say on the PS how much movies are? Annoying that it shows films that aren't available in the same window!

eddhorse

5 Films free.
17247 films altogether in the library at the moment.
447 films available in our region.

Seems a bit sluggish on my UPC 10MB connection.

I'm all for world cinema as well but they ain't gonna win any people over with some of these films.

Its hard to tell how good the quality is on these older films.

You can rent the movie for 7 days or buy a subscription from Mubi for 30days.
Subscription is €12.99 for the month or €3.59 for the movie for a week.

Just my first opinions, onwards and upwards.

Grumpypants

I tested the Korean free film and it works fine takes about 30 seconds -1 min to load up then plays ok. Hard to judge the quality as its old but it looked ok.

I looked at a trailer for let the right one in and for a new film the quality in the trailer was very bad. I would hope that would be better if you rented the film other wise you are better off watching it on DVD.

If you use the watch menu rather than the discover one it only shows the films in your area as has been said thats around 447 films. Looking at the ones we are missing and its a big loss films like

The dark knight
The big lebowski
No country for old men
Space odessy 2001
Apocalypse Now
Godfather
Pulp fiction.

johnny_ultimate

Grumpypants wrote: »

If you use the watch menu rather than the discover one it only shows the films in your area as has been said thats around 447 films. Looking at the ones we are missing and its a big loss films like

The dark knight
The big lebowski
No country for old men
Space odessy 2001
Apocalypse Now
Godfather
Pulp fiction.

Those aren't really the films you'll find on Mubi, alas. It is very much focused on arthouse and classic cinema. The rights for films like the ones above would be a serious issue, so the site triumphs in rare and underappreciated works. 447 isn't a lot, and as a serious film fan even I'd only recognise a small percentage of them straight off the bat. There are a handful of what I'd consider bigish names on there - Lars von Trier, Thomas Vintenberg, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffiths, Roman Polanski - but yeah the selection is still limited to extremely niche stuff. To me that shouts 'w00t, hidden gems!' but probably won't be the same for everyone.

Anyway, picked up a month subscription to give it a try. The interface is very slick and smooth, nice and contemporary. I watched one full film (After Life) and a few Jan Svankmajer shorts (watch Food, it's crazy!) and the quality is OK, but definitely below DVD standard. It's not distracting or anything, but definitely not something to write home about. Functional though. Didn't have any loading problems or anything like that, and there are plenty of films I've wanted to see for a long time on there that I'll check out over the next few days

If anyone is looking for anything to watch, a few recommendations:
The Celebration - minimalist but extremely engaging family drama. Dark, daring and Dogma One of my all time favourite films.
Inside - demented but visceral horror film from France. Warning: this is very, very extreme cinema!
Dancer in the Dark - there's lots of Von Trier films on there, but this is one of my favourites. Dogville and Manderlay are worth a gander though. Be warned, these films are rather 'difficult' though!
Still Walking - verrrryyyy slow paced but rewarding Japanese family drama. You'll like it if you like Ozu films. If you've never heard of Ozu, you still might dig it

L'prof

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Those aren't really the films you'll find on Mubi, alas. It is very much focused on arthouse and classic cinema. The rights for films like the ones above would be a serious issue, so the site triumphs in rare and underappreciated works. 447 isn't a lot, and as a serious film fan even I'd only recognise a small percentage of them straight off the bat. There are a handful of what I'd consider bigish names on there - Lars von Trier, Thomas Vintenberg, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffiths, Roman Polanski - but yeah the selection is still limited to extremely niche stuff. To me that shouts 'w00t, hidden gems!' but probably won't be the same for everyone.

Anyway, picked up a month subscription to give it a try. The interface is very slick and smooth, nice and contemporary. I watched one full film (After Life) and a few Jan Svankmajer shorts (watch Food, it's crazy!) and the quality is OK, but definitely below DVD standard. It's not distracting or anything, but definitely not something to write home about. Functional though. Didn't have any loading problems or anything like that, and there are plenty of films I've wanted to see for a long time on there that I'll check out over the next few days

If anyone is looking for anything to watch, a few recommendations:
The Celebration - minimalist but extremely engaging family drama. Dark, daring and Dogma One of my all time favourite films.
Inside - demented but visceral horror film from France. Warning: this is very, very extreme cinema!
Dancer in the Dark - there's lots of Von Trier films on there, but this is one of my favourites. Dogville and Manderlay are worth a gander though. Be warned, these films are rather 'difficult' though!
Still Walking - verrrryyyy slow paced but rewarding Japanese family drama. You'll like it if you like Ozu films. If you've never heard of Ozu, you still might dig it

Nice one, Inside is up there! I think I'll watch any subtitled film that I can on this, much handier than through "other" mediums.

Grumpypants

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Those aren't really the films you'll find on Mubi, alas.

I started searching the All movies section (the one with the 17 K films) and they had all those films and loads more but i wasnt sure if they were just trailers because they were not available in our region or if they just have tons of trailers for all films but not actually the full film.

johnny_ultimate

Grumpypants wrote: »

I started searching the All movies section (the one with the 17 K films) and they had all those films and loads more but i wasnt sure if they were just trailers because they were not available in our region or if they just have tons of trailers for all films but not actually the full film.

Well the community aspects would be comparable to IMDB - detailed page for each film where you can become a fan, write a review, check out the trailer etc... The actual streaming stuff tends to be limited to much smaller films. It is half by choice, probably half by distributors. I'd say it would be far easier and cheaper to negotiate with smaller distributors to put films up online as opposed to the big players - it is the same reason bigger music publishers won't sign up to emusic as they are committed to low price and no DRM. Anyway, tangent alert! But yeah, the strength of Mubi as a service is rare and offbeat films available cheaply - most of these films will set you back a good bit, they ain't the sort that are 3 for 15 in HMV. Hell, you'd be lucky to find half these films in a regular entertainment store. For that reason, I wholeheartedly endorse this service and/or product. Hopefully their collection of streamable movies shall grow. If it does, they shall continue getting my money!

Polar101

Well.. I installed MUBI, had a look around the full library, found dozens of films I wanted to watch, and then noticed none of them are available in Ireland. My mood went from WOW, THIS IS AMAZING to "oh well".

Still, there must be some decent films in the 450 or so films, I suppose.

Leiva

Where could we stick a MUBI Sticky to recommend movies .

In the PS3 or Movie Forum .

L'prof

mixednuts wrote: »

Where could we stick a MUBI Sticky to recommend movies .

In the PS3 or Movie Forum .

Better suited to the movie forum really, since Mubi is a site in it's own right that also happens to be available on the PS3.

Minstrel27

Polar101 wrote: »

Well.. I installed MUBI, had a look around the full library, found dozens of films I wanted to watch, and then noticed none of them are available in Ireland. My mood went from WOW, THIS IS AMAZING to "oh well".

Still, there must be some decent films in the 450 or so films, I suppose.

That is annoying alright. I wish they could show a list of only what is available.

F1ngers

Minstrel27 wrote: »

That is annoying alright. I wish they could show a list of only what is available.

It does. Last film I watched was from a list of 459(roughly) that are available in my region.

Minstrel27

What I mean is remove all references to films not available to us.

F1ngers

Minstrel27 wrote: »

What I mean is remove all references to films not available to us.

You have a choice to view the entire MUBI library, or only those available to Ireland.

I can view all films available on MUBI or I can view only films available to Ireland. Don't know how I set it up, but that's the way it is for me.

DangerMouse27

All those films are available but not in Ireland just yet.
Such a great site to watch movies i would have never known anything about from countries i didnt know had such great cinema.
Yeah,in time you can watch star wars or goodfellas(u.s only at the mo)
or have a rumble and be blown away by something old yet new in world cinema