Pre-theatrical Video on Demand is emerging as a mainstream platform for movies. In 2012, I watched thirteen movies on Amazon VOD, YouTube and DirecTV BEFORE they appeared in theaters. These films included Take This Waltz, the Sarah Polley film that made it to my Best Movies of 2012, as well as three other movies that I really liked, the affectionate documentary Paul Williams Still Alive, the rip-roaring satire King Kelly and the thriller Deadfall. Of course, I also saw a higher proportion of stinkers on VOD than in theaters. Anyway, I find that nowadays it’s well worth checking the pre-theatrical VOD offerings (which I do on IndieWire).