Is Netflix recommendation engine the best there is?
1. It shows movies that I already saw as recommendations. I personally rarely rewatch movies, and definitely do not want them to be top recommendations. Pretty sure, that many people are the same. Why it does that, I don't know. Also, there is no way to indicate to the system that you watched the movie but did not particularly liked it or hated it.
2. One of the top movies that I should like, according to Netflix is Uncut Gems, which I really hated, because it has an extremely unpleasant protagonist and a boring, uneventful story. There were only three original things in the film: cinematography, music and random "bad luck" events that had profound impact on the protagonist. Netflix thought that I should like it because I like Dark Thrillers, which is true, but I like Dark Thrillers that come with a good story. So if I like Fargo, does not mean that I will like Uncut Gems.
3. This leads to probably the biggest issue, which is: not enough dimensions on which to make a judgement. I would love to watch all movies with a strong original plot, but it is not one of selection criteria. I love watching most movies of my favorite directors, so (say) Tarantino, Lynch, Cronenberg, Nolan, Boyle, Villeneuve, and many more would be a 100% match, and the algorithm should be able to perceive it. I love good foreign and sci-fi movies, but I do not see them in the list, most probably because my taste is a bit more esoteric than the tastes of the crowd.