The Top 5 Movies to Watch on Netflix with an OLED TV
The battle between streaming sites and film studios is a heated one, and one that often asks about the viewing experience of the audience. While there is much to be said about the movie theater experience, there are some ways new technology is moving closer and closer to recreate the theater experience- with clear, crisp, and dynamic picture quality right to your home. LG believes that the magic is in the picture itself, and with its OLED technology, has created a TV that is optimized for the best theater experience.
Self-emissive display
The secret to OLED is that they are able to control each individual pixels. Because of this, OLED is a self-emissive display, meaning that it can light itself. This gives it some important benefits such as perfect blacks, wide viewing angles and eye comfort.
Perfect blacks improve the contrast ratio immensely and make images stand out more clearly, even when watching dark scenes in a bright location. This has been where a lot of other TVs have failed, which causes film quality to look subpar or degrade some gorgeous shots in a movie simply because the color is too dark or faded (we see you Game of Thrones!). I don’t know about you, but for me, the cinematography is part of the experience, and if it’s subpar, I can’t envelope myself in the story. Perfect blacks just make the experience worthwhile and keep the filmmakers vision intact.
Now, imagine hosting a viewing party for you and some friends. With most TVs, the friends that sit at the side angle, end up not having the same viewing experience as the rest of the group, which can make a party sour pretty quickly- especially if you’re watching a major film or event, like the big game. So why take that risk? OLED screen also provides a clear picture even when viewing the display from a side angle, guaranteeing a great viewing experience from every angle of your home theater or living room.
In this day and age, streaming sites, like Netflix, are producing quality content around the clock, every day of the year. Binge watching has become the new normal, and spending hours consuming a show or two is not so unusual anymore. Personally, when The Haunting of Hill House dropped, I was so obsessed with the show, I had to watch all ten hours ASAP. But, we are all human, and our eyes can take a beating from the consumption of too much blue light that screens emanate. OLED emits less blue light than LCD technology and makes the viewing experience more comfortable with less eye fatigue even when viewing for long periods of time.
That’s right- a TV made for your binge obsessions! So find those faves, plan a weekend of bringing without worrying about eye fatigue and enjoy that perfect black screen. With all the incredible advances in OLED in mind, I spent a day watching some of my favorite films available on Netflix to see just how they looked on the LG OLED 65” 4K Ultra HD TV. Here are the five best films to stream on Netflix with an OLED TV:
Thor: Ragnarok
While almost all MCU films have gorgeous cinematography going on, Thor: Ragnarok is one of the most colorful of the 22 films thus far. By taking Thor to Sakaar, and out of Asgard and Earth, a new color palette was created to delve into, along with humor, action, and a whole lot of fun. That OLED perfect blacks really pays off in scenes with Hela, and that final battle looks so crisp, that it almost feels like it’s actually happening right in your living room. You’ll almost feel like picking up a hammer and joining the action (but, you know, don’t do that).
The Last Jedi
Regardless of what side of the coin you fall on in your opinion of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, the cinematography and fight sequences are stellar. The throne room battle is exquisite, and it’s here that the power of OLED’s Perfect blacks really pay off. The contrast and the saturation of hues really brings the battle to life, and OLED screen allows a sharpness that you can literally see Rey and Kylo Ren’s pores in close ups. But it’s not just in battle that these contrasts pay off, it’s also in the little things, like when Luke Skywalker drinks blue milk fresh after pumping it from an alien’s teet. The dark background can make it nearly impossible to notice the textures of the environment around Luke, but with Perfect blacks, everything is crisp and in focus. You can see just how disconnected Luke is from everything by seeing the area around him, and how he chooses to live. It is the little things like that that truly allow the suspension of disbelief needed for a family drama in space.
Roma
Netflix now offers several of their original shows and films for 4K Ultra HD viewing, and the winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar is just one of the many selections. Alfonso Cuaron served as his own cinematographer on this gorgeous story of a young live-in nanny/maid who tends to a family in Mexico. The film is entirely in black and white, and yet, each shot was carefully crafted to exude an element of memory and warmth to delve into the filmmakers own memories (the film is semi-autobiographical). Perfect blacks make this black and white film come alive in hues of warm grays and sharp whites, and truly welcomes you into the film itself.
Pan’s Labyrinth
The world of Guillermo Del Toro is full of monsters, and things that go bump in the dark. His films always embody the tragic beauty within the monsters he crafts so lovingly. There is no one stand out shot in Pan’s Labyrinth, but the entire film is a lesson in beautiful sequences and shots. However, much of the underground labyrinth the main character explores is in hues of blues and blacks. When I watched it on my usual smart TV at home, I could see my TV struggle to really make those shots look crisp, and therefore, I lost a lot of the texture of the scene. Rewatching it on the OLED screen, reanimated the labyrinth and really set the tone for how Del Toro wanted you to watch, and love the world he created for the audience.
Hero
Acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yimou really outdid himself with 2002’s Hero. The film is stunning to look at, with a wide ranging color palette and action shots that are both unique, invigorating and intense. There’s a scene I call the Red Leaves battle, and it is one of my favorite fight sequences ever filmed. It’s also where I really noticed how much having a perfect black screen brings to life a variety of other colors and tones. The yellows and reds, with Perfect blacks contrast of the OLED screen, really come alive. It turns the story into a vivid atmosphere that fully invites the viewer to the fantasy of the world Yimou created. By far, it was one of my favorite films to watch on the OLED because the colors are just so alive, that the story was elevated. That’s exactly how the home viewing experience should be.
