Been aching to have a Grey’s Anatomy marathon? Or maybe a Dexter marathon? How about both – one after the other? I felt the need for both this past week as I set out to check STARZ Play, one of the premiere streaming services available in the Middle East. Thankfully, STARZ Play can give you just that with their collection of box sets on their streaming site! And don’t worry, they cater to French and Arabic speakers too.
STARZ Play has a relatively easy to use interface. I never found myself struggling to scroll through or find what I was looking for. Sure, if you type in ‘Marvel’ in the search bar, the results don’t include Sam Raimi’s ‘Spider-Man’ movies but that doesn’t hinder the experience at all.
“The streaming site offers viewers the choices of viewing Movies/Series in either English, Arabic or French. While not all content can be viewed in different languages, it’s still very accommodating to those viewers with different language preferences.”
Movies
Hovering your cursor over the ‘Movies’ tab quickly gives you a drop-down tab of different movie genres, which even includes a special section for Disney Movies! I’ll admit that I’m a huge sucker for Disney movies, so seeing that STARZ Play has a dedicated section for the beloved movies definitely excited me.
The site does offer sections for Family movies, as well as flicks of the Sci-Fi & Fantasy genre – catering to every viewer’s needs.
Additional genres include Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Romance, ‘Rom-Coms’ and Thriller.
I like that the site allows you to look through different genres. It makes life easier when you’re in the mood for specific kind of movies and just removes the hassle of having to look through the extensive list of movies available.
Series
Navigating through the ‘Series’ tab on the streaming site comes quite easily (as expected). You’re able to sieve through different categories, although not through different genres, such as ‘Starz Original Series’, ‘Arabic Series’, and even series that are currently trending on the site.
Similarly to its competitors, the Starz Network has developed a number of series especially for their very own streaming site – Starz Original Series. Series such as ‘The Blunt Talk’ starring Sir Patrick Stewart comes under that list, as well as ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’. Having stars such as Stewart and Bruce Campbell star in said original series respectively is a sure fire way to attract more viewers; heck, once I found out I’d be able to see Stewart in another TV show, I was stoked.
There’s an impressive collection of box sets readily available. Shows such as ‘Teen Wolf’, ‘House of Lies’ and ‘Lost’ are available in all their glory with each and every episode – if that’s not an excuse to binge watch, then I don’t know what is. And of course, you’re easily able to navigate through episodes of different seasons!
Kids
Yes, that’s right. The site even has a section for kids! I’ll be honest, it did kind of excite me a little bit more than the regular Movies/Series tabs. As I mentioned before, I love Disney movies so I was especially thrilled when I saw that I could easily have access to ‘DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp’; let’s be real, that’s one of the best Disney movies to ever grace the planet.
For those kids who want to relive the glory days of Disney Channel original series that took the world by storm throughout 2006 up until 2011, STARZ Play lets you watch series such as ‘Hannah Montana’ and ‘The Suite Life on Deck’! These are two of the shows that have made me who I am today, I’m not going to lie – so to see that STARZ Play offers these type of TV series while some other streaming networks do not, that was a real treat.
And don’t worry, if you’re in the mood to watch classic early 2000s chick flicks, you can! The ‘Kids’ tab gives you a list of movies available under the category, including iconic movies like the ‘Princess Diaries’ duo as well as ‘Freaky Friday’!
Arabic
The tab for ‘Arabic’ Movies/Series offers Arabic speakers a wide variety of content as well. Like the regular ‘Series’ tab, STARZ Play includes popular Arabic series catered to their viewers as well as trending series.
“Those kids who also prefer watching content in Arabic will be able to watch their favorite kids movies dubbed in Arabic, as well as Documentaries dubbed in the language if interested!”
STARZ Play has impressed me with the way they cater to every type of viewer. There are series in French and Arabic, allowing non-English speakers to indulge in all their favourite movies/series. There’s a broad variety of genres available that will surely attract people like myself, who don’t only dive into one specific type of movie.
While the network doesn’t have every popular show, they’re still making their way up there. Starting off in 2015, STARZ Play has still managed to impress with series that I don’t even get to watch on TV. I don’t get to binge watch Disney movies on TV so STARZ Play is definitely a step up. Okay, so maybe I can’t watch all the ‘Batman’ movies, or have an MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) marathon – but good things come to those who wait.
STARZ has definitely pulled me in. The streaming quality is almost flawless, and it’s such a joy indulging in my guilty pleasures without having to wait for them to buffer. I’m sure in due time, all our favourite series and additional movies will be available on site, but slow and steady wins the race. Until then, we can just binge watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Hannibal’!
