someone, please splain me entertainment technology

There's online rental which is really the direct replacement for rental stores... I would say most stuff is on there.

iTunes store, and Google Play store both have buy/rent options that are on a per movie basis. Unlike Netflix where you pay per month and get access to all their content. I believe Amazon also has a service like this, which I hear is good, but I think you need to have a free registration with Amazon Prime first? Not really sure...

Some stuff you can buy, and some content you can rent or buy...

After the sanctioned and user friendly (just provide a credit card number) online subscription/rental/device services, a Kodi device is the next choice, but the media powers are working hard to block the content that they supply.  After that comes "roll your own" setups which, as your friend advised, are usually complicated, and can attract attention from your ISP if you download a lot.

I have a torrent setup that works well and gets me pretty much anything I'm interested in, but it definitely isn't a solution that I would recommend to everyone.

Kodi and android box or sideloaded onto Apple TV. Not the easiest to use, and not perfect, but I can get almost any stream I could want. Still learning it's ups and downs, but sure beats $100/month for satellite.

Why not just be happy with what you have?

Start "liking" things on Netflix with thier rating system. Youll be surprised how mych content Betflux has - its not just what you see on the main menu.  Itll start making recommendations towards you viewing preferences.

Yes it is a pain in the ass..... Don't have an answer. There is one vid store on Lonsdale which still prevails. He has 1000's of titles and when I wanna see something not avail he usually has it. For example, Peaky Blinders.