Netflix Search – Netflix Searches
If you’re looking for an evening’s entertainment, doing a Netflix search is the best way to go. That’s because Netflix searches allow you to locate an individual movie title, television show, actor, director, or genre. You can still browse through their selection of over 100,000 films, but many cinema fans lead busy lives and need a faster alternative.
Netflix Preferences
For the rest of this post, I’ll be using my own Netflix account as an example. I’ve been a loyal customer since July of 2005, and I’ve rated over 5,000 films during that time. Yes, I’ve got way too much free time on my hands.
When you arrive at your Netflix home page, you’ll be presented with your recent rental activity, a suggestion for a new release film that might interest you (based on previous ratings), and several rows of film preferences. These preferences are put together by completing simple questionnaires that allow you to tell Neflix which film genres you like/dislike, as well as many other options. You don’t have to fill these out, of course, but it does allow the site to make your online movie rental experience a more enjoyable one.
In the interest of full disclosure, let’s take a look at the taste preference categories–and suggested titles–that were available to me as I wrote this post.
- Dark Foreign Dramas – Gamorrah, Flame and Citron, Throne of Blood, Au Revoir Les Enfants
- Cult Demon Horror Movies - Seed of Chucky, The Legacy, Scarecrows, Lo
- Sci-Fi & Fantasy – 9, Surrogates, Green Lantern: First Flight, Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods
- Violent Action & Adventure – Apocalypto, Blood and Bone, Ong Bak 2: The Beginning, The Hunted
- Visually-striking Scary Movies – Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Jacket, Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse, Ginger Snaps: Unleashed
- Local Favorites – 2012, Law Abiding Citizen, The Last House on the Left, 17 Again, Fracture
If I like the looks of any of the above films, all I have to do is click on the “Add” button to place it in my queue. After that, Netflix will send it straight to my house. Five of the films I’ve listed are also available for instant view, meaning I can watch them right on my computer.
But what if I’m in the mood for a specific film or something by a long-favored actor? Well, that’s where the Netflix search comes into play.
Netflix Searches
To conduct a Netflix search, look to the upper right of your screen. You’ll see an empty box where you can type in the name of a movies, director, actor, actress, director, or film genre. Once this has been accomplished, simply press the button labeled “Search.”
For our first example, let’s conduct a Netflix search for The Shawshank Redemption, a film that’s continued to grow in popularity ever since its 1994 release. After clicking the search button, I’m taken to a page that displays The Shawshank Redemption right at the top. I can choose to add it to my queue (on DVD or Blu-ray), or watch it instantly on my PC. A short synopsis is provided, as well as a listing of the genre and various keyword adjective used to describe the film (emotional, inspiring, sentimental). Clicking on these keywords will allow you to find films of a similar type. To the right of the Shawshank entry are “similar titles available to watch instantly,” and these include Glory and Driving Miss Daisy (both featuring Morgan Freeman, one of the stars of The Shawshank Redemption).
Don’t worry if you don’t know a film’s full title when conducting a Netflix search. Their tool is intuitive, immediately providing you with a number of choices once you begin typing. Just entering “Shawshank” would’ve brought up the film’s title as an available option.
For our second and final example, let’s look at one of the Netflix searches as it applies to a performer’s name. Since I’ve long been smitten with actress Kate Beckinsale, she’ll serve as our test subject.
Once I’ve typed in Kate, I immediately see options such as Katey Sagal, Kate & Leopold, Katerina Graham, and the awful Jon & Kate Plus Ei8ht. By adding “Beckinsale” and clicking the search button, I’m taken right where I need to be.
Beckinsale’s name is at the top of the page, and the following films are listed and ready to be added to my queue: Everybody’s Fine, Nothing But the Truth, Snow Angels, and Cold Comfort Farm. I notice, however, that her name is also a hyperlink, so let’s see what happens when I click on it.
The resulting page is dedicated entirely to the actress, and it even includes a bio. From the looks of it, Ms. Beckinsale was an award-winning writer in her teens, and she attended Oxford University before dropping out to pursue acting. I had no idea.
Thirty-one Kate Beckinsale films are also listed, all available for rental from Netflix. Of that number, only one (Serendipity) can be viewed instantly on my PC.
Join Netflix and get access to hundreds of thousands of movies for as little as $7.99 per month.
Hopefully, this gives you an idea of what Netflix searches are all about. While just browsing around can be fun for hardcore film fans, the search option allows you to find a film, place it in your queue, and get on with your business. After all, real life can often be more interesting than the movies (or so I’ve heard).
If you’d like to know more about Netflix, click on the following links:
- Netflix Movies – Watch Netflix Movies Online
- New Movies from Netflix
- Netflix Free Trial
- Netflix Top 100
- Netflix Stock Price – Netflix Stock Symbol
This entry was posted on Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 5:03 pm and is filed under Netflix Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.