For some reasons, Netflix decided to increase their subscription prices in my country, and it has gone a little above budget. With the previous pricing, I had a little difficulty paying for the monthly subscription. I was actually doing a premium subscription, which my family members and friends had access to. Sometimes the sub was paid by me and sometimes a friend of mine, but it was more of me. Since the increase and the disagreement between me and this supposed friend, we don't do the Netflix subscription, and I do not really see the reason to make a premium subscription too as well.
At the same time, I rarely watch movies. I could pay for a subscription for the whole month and not remember to watch a single movie for that whole month, and sometimes I may just watch once or twice. I watch movies when I want to run away from work or give myself a break from work. The other options I have instead of watching movies are to sleep or go on social media to chat with friends or watch reels.
So I decided to try another movie network recently to see how it is. The name is ShutterMovies, and it is owned by a movie influencer on Instagram, @afamthemoviesplug. He does a lot of movie reviews and ratings. He created this app where people can access a lot of movies both on Netflix and Prime for as cheap as 1500 naira for a month. This offer does not include multiple devices.
I must say, there are a whole lot of movies in this application, but yet there is something I do not like about the application, and it is not just about the movies. It is about the lack of AI that is the recommendation system that is in Netflix.
Netflix has an AI algorithm that recommends movies to you based on how you click and watch different movies and the way it filters and changes the homepage each time you open the app. It is very different for this one. It is as if the movies are static and just placed there for you to filter and search, which is your taste. This stresses me a lot out.
It also does have a place for different genres of movies to check out, either series, anime, or recently added movies. As I scroll through, I think it does have a tiny bit of a recommendation system, but it does not function like Netflix does, per se. I cannot totally explain the feel I am getting.
I saw this in my catalogue; this was why I changed my mind that yeah, it would have a bit of a recommendation system. The only issue here is that it did not show in my main page; I could only find the suggestions when I clicked on the options for only movies. This is unlike Netflix, which would start suggesting movies based on the past movies you have watched from the home page.
Anyways, I love the app because it has quite a number of movies. You can get the latest movies from Prime and also Netflix here. I think it would be something that I will get used to over time. If you would like to try the ShutterMovies out. I can share contact with you on Discord.
Netflix has definitely made a name. But one thing we must remember is that Netflix is not the way it used to be when it started. Improvements were made overtime. I'm actually glad that this guy could come up with a platform like this and I believe that he'd do great if he gets the right support and audience. It's supposed to only get better from where it is now.