If you have ever tried to get a complete list of all the movies and TV shows that Netflix or Iflix has to offer, you will quickly realise that it’s not so easy. Netflix for instance won’t let you browse through their selection unless you sign up for an account. And both don’t provide an easy way to list out their complete catalog.
I suspect they do this, to hide the fact that, their offering isn’t that large. In any case, after a little digging, I was able to come across the information at justwatch.com and finder.com.
As of this writing, Justwatch says Netflix Malaysia offers about 2908 movie titles while Finder says 3017. So who is right? WHO CARES when you consider that themoviedb.org currently list 427,161 movies in their database.
This sucks, because the reason I got into Netflix and Iflix, in the first place, is so that I could watch, in theory at least, every movie I would ever want to see. So that would at the very least include every American movie made since the 60s.
So imagine my disappointment to discover that even regular ‘popular’ movies, like Drive (2011), Leon: The Professional (1994) and Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), aren’t offered by either of these services.
Was I FOOL?
Was I naive enough to believe that if I subscribed to both these services I would never have to torrent a single movie ever again?! (please note that illegally torrenting movies over the internet is, well, illegal and me mentioning it here should not be viewed as an admission or a confession of such a despicable act).
Was it silly to conclude that both their catalogs combined, save new releases and obscure films, would include every movie I would ever want to watch?
After a little more digging, I came across a fact that I find even more disgusting: That ‘Drive’ and ‘The Professional’ IS available on Netflix! Just not in Netflix Malaysia.
Is it right that only Non-Malaysians get to watch Natalie Portman walk down New York city with a potted plant?
That Singaporeans get to watch Ryan Gosling beat the crap out of someone in an elevator and Malaysians don’t?
That here in Malaysia, we are left to watch Pulang (2018) – not hating – a movie that IS ironically offered in Netflix US and Singapore.
I’m not the FOOL. You’re the FOOL.
Not offering the same movies to Netflix Malaysia leaves viewers with only 3 options:-
- Choose another, ‘inferior’, movie to watch
- Buy the DVD. HA HA HA
- Torrent the movie illegally
And what choices are these? What is a person to do? I believe that people want to do the right thing. Help them, do the right thing. Help us help you.
Note: At the time of this writing, Do The Right Thing (1989) and Jerry Maguire (1996) are not available on either Netflix or Iflix Malaysia.
