In this blog for the Herald, I look at how on-demand services have removed the stigma of movies that bypass theaters, and I review five new Netflix Original Movies: Mercy, I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House, True Memoirs of an International Assassin, Mascots & Rebirth. 

It used to be the case that any movie that bypassed cinemas had a certain stink on it. It was hard not to see them as compromised in some way. Either too indie to garner a theatrical audience or too crummy to generate enough excitement. Or even worse, a TV movie.

The rise of digital on-demand services has changed all that, and although the market has several major players, Netflix has led the charge in terms of bringing A-level movie talent and budgets to a model not focused on theatrical exhibition.