MUBI: Stream Great Cinema Reviews

this app is unlike any other platform, with movies you can’t find in any other platforms. It opened a whole new world of cinema for me and for that I’m grateful. However, this app has one undeniable problem. The subtitles are bad. There’s just no other way to say it. I speak more than one language and noticed the subtitles did not translate correctly what was spoken by the characters. I could also notice this problem while watching movies in languages I didn’t even speak. Some sentences were not translated at all. The character would deliver their line and no subtitles were there to indicate whatever was being said. All of this made me very insecure while watching foreign language movies. I was always wondering if the sentences in the subtitles were actually the sentences being spoken. Or had the meaning - the subtlety of the dialogue - been lost to me? Could I trust these subtitles or were they pointing me in the wrong direction? It was almost impossible for me to know during that armenian movie last week and I also had a hard time guessing during that one in mandarin. However, I keep signing this app every month, a bit skeptical of the subtitles, but hopeful nonetheless. Maybe this review will reach the eyes of someone who can fix this problem. Maybe just the eyes of a casual viewer who will now be as suspicious as me. Hope it was helpful either way.

I’m truly in love with this streaming service. The movies that I find on here are carefully and respectfully curated for me to watch. If I didn’t have this app, I’m sure I’d have a much harder time finding these movies. That being said there’s something about this app that kind of rubs me the wrong way. Every month, I have a system where I watch movies that are leaving streaming services that I’m subscribed to. Not every streaming service announces what titles they’re getting rid of, but this app is one that does. My problem is that they don’t tell you at the beginning of a particular month what movies they’re getting rid of. Instead, they tell you which movies they’re getting rid of in the next 12 - 13 days. This impedes my program a bit. I’m sure there’s a particular reason they do this, but nevertheless if they could tell you at the beginning of the month which of their titles they’re getting rid of, I wish they’d do that instead. And I would think the service better for doing so. Ultimately I have the utmost respect for the people working at this app. I will always be a loyal subscriber.

So I see talk of millennials and Gen Z and I think, geez I’m a Gen X and a white girl and this looks a lot like my time at Ohio State in the 80s. True, I don’t know what it’s like to be bi racial, but still I could feel Riley’s multi dimensional self hate, being rejected not only by a white boy but by an Asian boy too (and you want to scream at her: “So what if he’s cute? He’s a skater dude, dumb, he plays video games!”). The doofus white ex boyfriend w whom she fights outside (and I too love the female passerby tells him no one asked him to talk— something I’ve wanted to tell about 4,000 white guys in the last 40 years)— this scene is great, bc she’s so angry, properly, at him, but then sees the absurdity of their situation. Her anxiety attack at home? With her parents? So real.

Again, I understand the element of racism is something I’ll never understand, but this is still the female college senior’s Every[wo]man story, finding yourself humiliated over and over without understanding why. And when her sister says, “It must be boring being so sad all the time,” you realize she just doesn’t understand…. Yet.

I woke up feeling as if a big municipal machine had ran on me. I should preserve my energy more alertly I thought. I opened my eyes. Silence. Reached out to my screen. Searched for something to watch and to listen to. Sound and imagery helps me to redefine my dimensions. I have to do it every long morning I get to stay in bed. Alone and silent. After a long absence from the world while dreaming all night. This morning, however, I was craving for more dreams rather than sinking back into reality. I saw the first seconds of this film. I saw the stuffed animals on the boat, motionless. They suddenly turned their head to the camera, motionless again. I decided to continue this dream. Even though it didn’t make any sense. That’s how I wanted to feel, nonessential.

Between the website and the application there is no continuity. Two years ago I signed up for free trial. Of course, back then this app was having problems with Apple. I canceled subscription with Apple but, of course this app tells me that wasn’t enough I had to cancel through them. Fine, I took the package deal for one year. Again, no problem until year is up and they automatically renew subscription. Again, not happy about that I missed the single e-mail telling me about it because I now have a different e-mail service and the old contact e-mail is no longer applicable. I enjoy their programming and kept it even though now it was twice the original amount. My subscription ended this year because my credit card had expired and they couldn’t renew it. So, a week ago I see that they are having a sale and I provide a new account e-mail and credit card and sign up. Now what’s the problem you ask? I can’t watch their service on my tv because there isn’t a way to change MUBI on there. Now I’m stuck watching this app on my phone until customer service responds within their 3 day time frame. Very unhappy with service.

I love the movies they feature on MUBI.

I’m a writer/director, and the movies they have featured here are phenomenal. MUBI needs some fine-tuning but I don’t think its out of their wheelhouse so I’m hopeful they will be able to sort some of the following things out:

There is no search function on MUBI . Sometimes I’m in the mood for a drama. Sometimes I want a comedy. I don’t know all the titles off the top of my head, as much as I wish I did. If you are interested in making movies, producing, directing, or interested in filmmaking as an art, MUBI is fantastic at finding out what other people are doing, what works well. If you love going off somewhere else for 2 hours, be it sad or happy, scary or intense, the movies featured here will remind you what cinema is for many of us.

But when I have time, at the end of my day and my arthritis is acting up, I still have to fold the laundry, take a shower and catch up on work before 11pm and I was just asked the 974 question... I just need someone else to choose something for me. Please don’t make me do more work. I wanna see how Cannes winners from 2017 pair to 2021, and what people did different. I wanna search by country, or budget, or by narrative method.

Help me make decisions, don’t force me to.

Also they feature movies they don’t have available, but you cannot see that from the thumbnail.

Never overwhelming, MUBI is perfect for anyone who wants to watch repertory and current programming that’s often undermined or little known, but isn’t overflowing with options. My only dislike is that I’ve missed a lot of films that expired after their 30 days on MUBI , but having some sort of alarm system (maybe being able to select films you want a countdown reminder for until it leaves?) would have been helpful. I may still have missed the films, but at least it would have felt like I had tried to catch them. Super user-friendly app and sleek in design too. I love this streaming platform.

this app is great. I’ll start there. It’s the rare service where you always find engaging, inspiring cinema.

But — and this is a big ‘but’ — MUBI is frustrating to use. It’s strangely glitchy. Things you’re downloading to watch later will show they’re downloaded, but when you go to watch them (and you’re off wifi or cellular), I can’t get things to play, as if it needs internet to verify that I can indeed watch what I want to watch. Not ideal when I’m away from home.

When I am at home, AirPlay does not work…but only in full screen. I’m sitting on my couch with my iPad wanting to watch a film, and I AirPlay the sound to my HomePods. The sound indeed plays, but the screen only shows a still of the movie. Strangely, if I put it in Picture-in-Picture, I can watch the movie no problem. It’s only in full screen that the movie won’t display on my iPad.

Again, I can’t complain. This is a great service. But at this point, you expect a streaming app to have basic functionality. HBOMax recently got their act together and worked out these issues… if they can fix things, anyone can.

Update on my second subscription after giving them a year to get it together: still a terrible, user hostile app giving, or sometimes denying, subscribers access to some real cinematic gems. Downloading for offline viewing fails more often than not, and usually at over 80% to add insult to injury. Also, when I resubscribed they started spamming me in German, so it’s a good bet this is not GDPR compliant in any way.

It’s still the only place to find some of these weirder art films, but if you have any need for offline viewing, or you care a lot about subtitles, or you’re picky about UX in general — it will drive you mad.

Original: Curated and mostly serious videos but the user experience leaves much to be desired. For instance subtitle choices are often absurd, which for a cinephile offering is a problem.

this app makes an incredible variety of films available, and their curated series are particularly impressive — easy introductions to new filmmakers, movements, or topics. That said, the download option is so hit-and-miss that it’s nearly useless. I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling MUBI , as well as tried many different wi-fi sources, but the result is always the same: more often than not, films get stuck at about 9% for weeks, or try for a while, and then fail. Given that one of the great things about an app like this app is being able to watch things offline, this is a huge flaw in an otherwise excellent service.

I’m forever thankful for this app for providing access to increasingly hard to find cinema from feature-length narrative films from across the globe to great documentaries and experimental shorts. The curation and special series are always well thought out and have introduced me to new directors that have since become some of my favorite filmmakers.

In a perfect world, I would love the option to pay a higher subscription rate and not have the films disappear after 30 days, but the transient nature of the films presentation adds something to the way I watch the films, so maybe that’s just part of this app’s magic :)

remember that? when films weren’t just self-indulgent drivel?
over-pumped execs trying to maintain their plump bank accounts at the expense of culture? when films were made to connect to each other across boundaries without having to resort to saturated music or plots with the same formulaic push-button repetition or faces? remember when you didn’t think ‘i should really cancel this subscription’? that’s cause you’re watching something on this app.

Wondering in your boutique video store, I’m often amazed by the treasure I find. Great content. Respect to the curators and operations team. However, the user experience especially on MUBI is a bit disappointing. There are a couple of times I can’t download a film, and it’s frustrating that on the train in NYC, I have to switch to Netflix or Sundance Now or other services because of tech issue. I want the quiet moment with Varda back.

Variety, diversity and simplicity. this app provides what other movie streaming services don’t - curated film selections that are hard to come by. Independent, foreign, documentary, vintage and contemporary movies I would not have the opportunity to see or learn about unless I lived in a major metropolis (and possibly not even if I did.)

I particularly like the monthly focus on one particular director’s body of work.

Lots to choose from without the hassle of wading through loads of mass-appeal big-box movies. Very reasonable monthly fee with even better yearly subscription pricing.

If you enjoy “art house” films that you can watch on your Smartphone, tablet, SmartTV or computer (internet connection required) I enthusiastically recommend you check out this app.

Positives: eclectic art house international mix, and good extras like film critiques and essays

Negatives: Poor coordination btwn Apple and this app… never had trouble canceling an app renewal until this app. Then I searched my wallet app and found they billed me 3 times in a month, yet still have me as unsubscribed. Hellish nightmare to try to resolve. Wants me to click twice to pay again to view film of day today 30MAR even though Apple says I paid until end of April 2022.

In a half dozen years of Apple apps, I’ve never written negative review. Unfortunately streak ends, though I hope this app thrives based on its great content, rather than dubious multiple Billings.

For me and many others users “favorites” folder in menu was a very important feature. It allowed you to keep films you enjoy out of any comparisons and ratings, there was a lot of them that I couldn’t just rate because each of them is very unique. I could easily switch even to this new type of order and new rules, but instead of a notice for an upcoming changes people just lost their folders with their collections. Please bring it back for us at least for a short period of time, just to allow everyone rate their films from favorites folder before you delete it, so that the films won’t be lost!

this app is like having an art house cinema in your living room. The film selection is constantly updated, so you’re not stuck waiting for new choices. I’m trying out the service right now, and have had no problems either on iPad or using airplay to view through Apple TV. Audio and video quality are excellent. If I view four films during my week trial (likely will) I’ll go ahead and pay for the access.

Initially I had an issue playing video from MUBI (as well as the web site) through an HDMI cable connected to the lightning port. After posting a review about it, the developer promptly suggested that a non-HDCP compliant HDMI cable was the cause of the problem, not the service, and after selecting the correct cable, the problem was solved. Very happy with both MUBI and the responsiveness of the developers.

I’m experiencing buffering issues when using this app with chromecast in 100% of the times. Every movie I watch, no matter the internet speed (I tested with 20, 50 and even 100M) takes 20-30% longer due to buffering. It can happen every 3-4 min along the whole movie and take up to 2-3 min to resume (the average being 24 seconds - I timed it). In other words, the experience makes it unusable for someone like me that don’t enjoy watching movies in a small screen but rather in a TV set. I really expect a fix for this most annoying problem. Thanks!

I really like MUBI. I don’t always see the films presented but when I breeze through them, I find some wonderful ones. I especially like the choice of foreign films. And certain directors. This is like my hidden treasure. And it works fine. I had this before and stopped it because some months I didn’t like the choice of films. But I started it up again this past year and I’m glad I did.

MUBI needs to revisit graphic design 101. It would be nice to see what MUBI is all about but it’s a mishmash of styles and colors that push esthetics over good old fashion readability. They want $13 a month for the equivalent of art haus trash design. Just NO!

MUBI fails miserably at its primary goal which is to inform its users of great cinema. It’s extremely hard work to read. Click though to a review it quickly becomes sadistic and beyond frustrating to discover the art team made the choice to use anorexic light gray fonts more applicable to fashion models then simple block text for the body of an article. Until they embrace better design I recommend a hard pass.

4/22 update: I tried to stream just now through your app and can't even go a minute without it immediately stopping and being told the network connection was lost. So congratulations this app, for making your platform and movies inaccessible to developing countries without similar internet speeds and money. Thanks for being elitist this app!!!!! Does that sentence make you happy?

paraphrased. This is very... this is very inconvenient especially for countries without the fastest internet connections. I am trying not to fume right now, this app. I have never regretted updating an app this much. PLEASE return that functionality to older iOS it was never a problem before.