Gallery: 9 Netflix Classics Worth Streaming on Your Puny iPhone
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Now that Netflix has released an iPhone app that allows mobile cinephiles to stream their instant queues, it's worth considering reorganizing those queues for smartphone screening. So we put together a handy list of films across all genres that ought to look just fine on the iPhone's comparatively tiny display. Once they're all available, that is. As expected, there's not a flick among them that contains ubiquitous subtitles or indispensable minutiae. They're all wide-screen blasts, whose broad strokes and deceptively simple compositions [screen nicely on handsets](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/first-look-netflix-for-the-iphone-arrives-and-does-not-disappoint). The Iron Giant -------------- __Stream:__ Brad Bird's brilliant first film, [The Iron Giant](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2009/08/a-decade-later-the-iron-giants-weaponized-soul-still-stirs) is a masterful sci-fi fable starring a boy called Hogarth (Eli Marienthal) and his interstellar killer robot gone good during the paranoid Cold War. Hounded by an insane government spook named Mansley (Kevin Macdonald) and befriended by a cool beatnik named Dean (Harry Connick Jr.), The Iron Giant (Vin Diesel) must choose between a hard-fought peace and an all-too-easy atomic holocaust. But only after eating all the used cars in sight. __Buffering...__ Effortlessly shifting between measured pacing and kinetic fun, Bird's 1999 debut shouldn't suck up too much bandwidth or battery life. Actually, you should go watch it now. __Bonus:__ The Iron Giant's stunning heart and smarts don't detract at all from its hypnotic wide-screen mash of hand-drawn animation and CGI. It fully computes in any dimension. *Image courtesy Warner Bros.*
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Psycho ------ __Stream:__ Alfred Hithcock's foundational 1960 horror immortal charts the lethal convergence of unlucky losers Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in a remote hotel haunted by sexual jealousy and violence. The rest is film history. __Buffering...__ Psycho's brutal shower murder, culminating in a vertiginous spiral out of its victim's retina, is still capable of deranging both your brain and your sense of safety. Same goes with the climactic reveal, which itself could destabilize your spine from your iPhone's puny display. __Bonus:__ Hitchcock went indie and dialed back the glitz on Psycho, shooting starkly contrasting scenes in fearsome black-and-white. That makes it easier to watch anywhere, even if you keep the lights on. *Image courtesy William Creamer/[MPTV Images](http://www.mptvimages.com)*
Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures and TM & © DC Comics03the-dark-knight
The Dark Knight --------------- __Stream:__ Inception director Christopher Nolan made a billion-dollar splash with this blockbuster 2008 reboot of Batman (Christian Bale) and Joker's first fearsome collision. But the hyper-real upgrade went supernova after Heath Ledger -- whose Oscar-winning portrayal of [The Dark Knight](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2008/07/joker-jousts-mi)'s unhinged villain gave the film its unpredictable fire -- unexpectedly passed away. __Buffering...__ Joker's opening crime, an attrition heist that purposefully takes down every one of his henchmen, is just as galvanizing an opener at iPhone size as it is in IMAX. __Bonus:__ Nolan's preference for thrilling action and taut plots still keeps The Dark Knight from sinking into the morass of most CGI-bloated comics-based films. That renewable tension will also help it keep from sinking down your Netflix queue. *Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics*
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Kick-Ass -------- __Stream:__ DIY superhero Kick-Ass (Aaron Johnson) tries to impress the high school hottie by beating up thugs. After YouTube captures him in action, Kick-Ass teams up with young crime-fighter Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz) to avenge her father's death at the hands of the local crime lord. __Buffering...__ Pint-size superhero Hit Girl, tailor-made for a pint-sized screen, makes her first entrance wielding knives, leaping off walls, and dismembering bad guys while hurling profanities at everyone in her path. __Bonus:__ Candy-colored cinematography pops throughout, firing up pixels like a live-action Saturday-morning cartoon. -- Hugh Hart *Image courtesy Lionsgate*
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Kill Bill Vol. 1 ---------------- __Stream:__ Uma Thurman's [Beatrix Kiddo](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2010/08/gallery-reader-ass-kicking-2/?pid=222), more bloodily known as The Bride, seeks vengeance on her former colleague after he ruins her chances for a normal family life. __Buffering...__ Beatrix Kiddo turns up at the suburban house of Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) and engages in a lethal cat-and-mouse punctuated with jibes and a kitchen-destroying martial arts fight scene guaranteed to leap off your two-inch screen. __Bonus:__ Besides the gorgeously filmed wild west vistas, Quentin Tarantino cherry-picked killer tunes for the soundtrack. Sync it up after the film for a sonic refresher. -- Hugh Hart *Image courtesy Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures*
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The Bourne Supremacy -------------------- __Stream:__In this 2004 sequel to 2002's The Bourne Identity, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) continues his quest for revenge on the operatives who wiped his memory and killed his girlfriend. __Buffering...__Arguably the best action sequence of the decade begins on motor scooters crowding the streets of Tangiers, then shifting to a building-leaping foot chase over the rooftops and through the apartments of wigged out Algerians, before culminating in a brutal slugfest. No dialogue required. __Bonus:__ Director Paul Greengrass' shaky cameras offers gritty picture postcards from scenic sites all around the world. -- Hugh Hart *Image courtesy Universal*
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2001: A Space Odyssey --------------------- __Stream:__ Human evolution, from Earth to the stars to beyond the infinite, is charted with painstaking patience in this [cerebral 1968 sci-fi classic](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2010/07/gallery-cerebral-sci-fi-films/15) from director Stanley Kubrick and writer Arthur C. Clarke. Throw in an overeager and ambitious killer computer named HAL, and you have the ultimate in ironic iPhone screenings. __Buffering...__ You can take your pick of any of Kubrick's breathtaking panoramas, and still come up a winner on your smartphone. We're partial to the zero-gravity space-station ballet, set to Johann Strauss' ethereal waltz [The Blue Danube](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Danube). __Bonus:__ Astronaut Dave Bowman's psychedelic journey into the infinite should induce as much swirling cinematic euphoria on the iPhone as it does on the big screen. Just try to keep your eyes from widening. *Image courtesy MGM/Turner*
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The Hangover ------------ __Stream:__ This road-trip comedy follows three dorks (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis) as they embark on the bachelor's party from Hell in Las Vegas. __Buffering...__ Hilarious scene-stealer Ken Jeong makes a jaw-dropping appearance as a kidnapped thug who pops out of a car trunk furious and completely naked. Jeong's improvised antics, which seem to stun the other actors, translates into big laughs, even on a small screen. __Bonus:__ Perfect for multi-taskers, The Hangover's free-standing set pieces are driven by goofy banter and broad physical schtick that require no "before" or "after" context. -- Hugh Hart *Image courtesy Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures*
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South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut ---------------------------------- __Stream:__ Trey Parker and Matt Stone's riotous feature film follows foul-mouthed Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and a host of hilarious characters -- including star-crossed lovers Saddam Hussein and the Devil -- as they seek to avoid war with Canada. And it's still the sharpest war satire since [Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Strangelove). __Buffering...__ From Kenny's trip through Hell -- soundtracked by Parker, Stone and Metallica's James Hetfield -- to the climactic war with our neighbors to the North, [South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park:_Bigger,_Longer_%26_Uncut) is packed with action. But its ceaseless, often thankfully profane, jokes carry the day, especially on your handset. __Bonus:__ Two words: "[Uncle Fucka](http://www.metacafe.com/watch/45055/south_park_uncle_fucker_video)." That is all. *Image courtesy Comedy Central Films*
