Netflix - It just gets Better and Better

I'm not a big one for going out at night nowadays.  Each month I like at least one night out with my husband and probably every other month I'll go out with some girlfriends but that is about it, well unless you count my Monday night Spanish class but it is not exactly a big night out!

It's therefore really important to me to have some good TV to watch for those evenings when dh is at work or when I just need to completely relax and zone out. Netflix is my answer to this and over the last 18 months it has been a Godsend, we don't have Sky and we can't get cable due to where we live and thus on demand TV is what we have.

I written quite a lot about my love affair with Netflix, I truly think it is such fantastic value at £5.99 a month, I mean really, what else can you do for 6 quid?  not even go to the cinema once.

Every so often I get an email from Netflix and rather than annoy me, I love it as it flags a film or series that it thinks I might like based on my ongoing viewing preferences and it cleverly builds up a picture of what I like and do not like based on programmes I have watched and rated. It also acts as a reminder for me to head into Netflix and to explore what is new one there and add some new watches to my list.

I received one of those emails this week and it alerted me that Big Momma's House had been added to Netflix and I don't know about you but I think that is a classic.  Such a great family film and one I'll share with the kids and a bucket of popcorn one chilly evening when we cuddle up for some family time. It is a 12 and that's older than my girls but I can't recollect anything in it that concerns me. I'll need to have a little google and see why it is rated as that.

Netflix: Recommended for me

Bloggers are an outspoken bunch, known for having strong opinions so in my quest to find some new viewing material I put the question out there -

What series on Netflix would you recommend and why?

This is the response I got -

Chris at Thinly Spread - Mr Selfridge - I love a bit of historical fiction - with glamour and shopping! (I've not heard of this before and I see there are two seasons available and it was originally an ITV program, which is good as far as I'm concerned. Cheers Chris, I'll give this a try)

Annie at Mammasaurus - Breaking Bad! I got into it late and watched it all in a fortnight - oo and House of Cards, since watching that I keep wanting to do a Frank Underwood in real life and talk to an imaginary camera !!! (Now of course I have to watch as I have no idea what she is on about!)

Sian at You're not from round here - agrees that Breaking bad is totally addictive!

Emma at Emma and 3 - Orange is the new black - I've always loved prison programmes ever since I thought I'd be a prison officer. I turned teacher instead can you spot any similarities!! (Lol, Emma I can;t imagine you are like any of those prison officers. I have actually seen this series and agree with Emma, its a good 'un)

The Boy and Me - Oooh, hard. Charmed - relieving my youth with humour and a little bit of sorcery.

Annwen at the Ramblings of a Surburban Mum - House - addictive, amusing and the brilliant Hugh Laurie. Great combo.

Sim at Sim's Life - House of Cards!! New season out this month! It is beyond awesome, Kevin Spacey is so manipulative and corrupt yet you cannot help but totally love his character!

My husband is currently watching the Tudors and he is getting through it pretty quick which tells me it is good. Both historical but also very watchable, depicting the life of Henry VIII.

Liz at Me and My Shadow - Sons of Anarchy. For Charlie Hunnam and Charlie Hunnam alone. You need no other reason. (I had to google him and yes he has a very nice body!)

Cass at Mummy Never Sleeps - Orphan Black - really clever and enjoyable. (Yep this is another one I have seen and I totally agree with Cas, really clever and not what you expect when you start watching)

Steph at I'm Counting UFOs - Californication. An oldie but a goodie. David Duchovny at his finest (and hottest) (Ohh, I'd not even realised this was on there, so there is one I want to catch up on)

Laura at Max and Mummy is obviously a Netflix fan, as she could not decide on one recommendation for me - Ahhh. I'll give you 3. The league - great comedy. Think inbetweeners with grown ups. Chuck - gripping spy comedy series of a loveable tech guy and a brain full of gov secrets. Pretty little liars - a cult show of mystery and suspense. (Thanks Laura, I've nto heard of any of these so I'll go and check them out)

Chantelle at Mama, Mummy, Mum - the latest series I've been watching is Grimm. A bit different to the norm, easy to follow and reminds a bit of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, got to love a bit of demon slaying (not going to be my bag I'm pretty sure, but I'll put it on here as I know loads of people love this kind of thing)

And I'll leave you with my two newest recommendations -

Covert Affairs with Piper Perabo, there are 5 series and it is an eye-opening insight into life as a CIA operative.

Life Unexpected - I loved this and there is only one series on Netflix, which does make me a bit mad as I want to continue watching and see what happens to Lux now she is reunited with her parents sixteen years after they gave her up for adoption.

There we go, loads of great recommendations. Have you got any to add to the list?

Disclosure: I have received a years free membership to Netflix and a free device to become part of the #Streamteam. They have not instructed me what to write and I remain honest, as always. 

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My Top 6 Musical Film Recommendations for Netflix #StreamTeam

You'll have seen me posting before that I'm loving my subscription to Netflix.  It really is the best thing since sliced bread in my opinion. As I live in the middle of no-where and my internet connection is not great that limits my options but Netflix and my Apple TV are still coming up trumps and even better when the kids lose the little silver remote control (why is the Apple TV remote control so very tiny?) I can stll watch via AirPlay from my iPad to the Apple TV.

Or what you often find me doing is watching programmes (Gossip Girl currently in case you were wondering) and moving from room to room doing the housework, tidying, washing etc and I take my iPad with me and then when I'm ready to move to the lounge I can just stop play on my iPad and put it on the Apple TV and it is all so clever as it knows exactly where I stooped it and it just picks it up and plays from there - brilliant!

This month I thought I'd share with you my top 6 music film picks that we have watched in the last three months. All our family love a good musical film and here are our recommendations, in reverse order -

In 6th place - Pop Star - I just watched this last week with my girls and it is a sweet movie. It won't change your world but the lead singer has a nice voice and it has some good topics in it for conversation starters - like people taking advantage of you and who your loyalty should be to.

5th place is Cadillac records. This film was a bit slower than I might have liked but the tunes are really soulful and it was great to see a little slice of history and to learn how some of the big stars like Chuck Berry and Etta James were discovered.

4th place goes to an iconic movie - The Blues Brothers. The music in this is superb and the film is a lot of fun, this takes me right back to being a kid and I think it is one you either love or hate.

3rd place is for Burlesque with Cher and Christina Aguillaria. not one for the kids as you don't really want to encourage them to think about this as a career option but I enjoyed this film and of course the singing is fantastic.

2nd place is Coyote Ugly, which is one of my favourite films with some great singing and a sweet love story running through it.

And in 1st place it has to be Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act. I kid you not when I say that my husband has watched this in excess of 500 times, he absolutely loves it and when feeling down it is his go-to film. He also seems to have converted all my kids as often I return from a night out and find the four of them watching this or the sequel!

I hope you like our picks and might want to try out one of the movies on Netflix.

Disclosure: I have received a years free membership to Netflix and a free device to become part of the #Streamteam. They have not instructed me what to write and I remain honest, as always. 

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If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

Blown away by Netflix This Easter

Well you know, not literally. I am still sat here in one piece thankfully but I am absolutely in-love with Netflix and our Apple TV that we can stream it on. A couple of weeks ago I was asked to be a #StreamTeam blogger with Netflix and I thought why on earth not?

No buffering
My brother has mentioned Netflix to me before and I didn't take too much notice, we have had subscriptions to LoveFilm before and I thought it would be just the same. As we live out in the middle of nowhere our internet is not that great and we suffer with slow speeds (about 3.2mb for downloads) and buffering when we try to stream from BBC iPlayer, Youtube, LoveFilm etc but I kid you not when I say we have not had one buffering issue with Netflix and we have been using it over a week now. I don't know if the Apple TV box or Netflixs itself works in a different way but it is making my Easter holiday with the kids so much easier.

Such great variety
When we moved to East Sussex last summer we gained so much but one of the things we lost (and our girls have still not forgiven us) is the Nickelodeon TV channels, well by having Netflix they have been able to get their fix of programs such as iCarly and Austin & Aly and that is making them very happy (and well behaved too, thank the Lord!).

JJ has also been happy as he is finding lots of new movies to be able to play on his laptop whilst he plays Lego in his bedroom. Films such as Cody Banks, All Stars, Big Fat Liar and Cop and a Half. Paying £5.99 for all of us to watch as much as we like sure beats me going to the charity shop each week and picking up a couple of new Kids DVD's for a couple of pound each and dh and I watching the same old rubbish.

I suppose I should also admit that dh and I have barely watched regular TV since we have had Netflix. In fact I'm wondering why we are paying a TV licence when no-one is actually watching live TV nowadays, I'll have to see how that goes! Freeview does offer quite a variety of channels nowadays but without cable TV we have been in a rut of watching CSI after CSI and at least now we are able to start exploring some of the TV series available like Suits, Breaking Bad and House of Cards.

Programs at times to suit you (not a schedule)
We have also switched off our laptops and iPads and just sat and watched a good movie together. It makes such a difference to be able to start a program when you want to and not to be tied to the TV schedule. Then the Apple TV is brilliant with its little remote control as you can pause if the phone rings or in my case if one of the girls have a very urgent task they have to disappear for.

Parental control
The remote control is easy to use and even my less confident twin has figured out how to use it and is happy navigating her way round Netflix now. I do like that I have been able to set different profiles for the kids as well and this means they can only access content deemed appropriate for under 12 year olds. Of course there is no password on netflix (or not that I've found) so it does work on trust that they do not just use my profile but I suppose the check there would be that I can see all programs recently watched and they know this.

I was surprised when I came in the lounge the other day to find JJ using his IPad as a remote control, there is an app you can download for free and now he is the master controller! Well, so he tells me, lol!

Smart suggestions
I like that Netflix is clever and trying to get to know me, when I set it up it asked me to pick 5 films from a selection so it could learn a little about me and then once I was online I was able to personalise my profile and choose the genres that appeal to me most and rate films I have watched and as I watch and rate more it becomes more accustomed to my tastes and can make better educated suggestions. It is all good, I may never run out of viewing material again!

As part of my #StreamTeam responsibilities I'll be updating you each month on what Netflix has to offer. For this month I'll leave you with some picks for great Easter movies to watch together as a family -

Disclosure: I have received a years free membership to Netflix and a free device to become part of the #Streamteam. They have not instructed me what to write and I remain honest, as always. 

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If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!