>>duxup+(OP)
I think a large part of that is that Netflix when it was just DVDs was in the age before systematic review abuse reached its current state of the art, and before it became profitable for companies to participate. Amazon's standout strength used to be its reviews!
>>JadeNB+Io
I think it helped too that the volume of experienced film enthusiasts who would order dvds early in the Netflix days and write reviews was probably pretty high.