how i enjoy movies
I'm not much of a movie watcher. I somehow prefer watching multiple episodes of a TV show over a few hours over investing 2 hours into a movie. I get antsy in the second half of the movie and episodic stuff can more easily be paused for a break.
My wife has gotten me into more movies the past few years though, especially the recent months. Catching up on classics like all the Star Wars movies, Lord of the Rings 1-3, American Psycho, Fight Club, some popular Studio Ghibli movies, some old genre-defining horror movies, and more.
What makes movies a lot more bearable to me is talking about them while watching them, even pausing the movie while discussing. I know many people hate this and just want to watch something in peace, not tear it apart during or even be interrupted. Understandably, they don't want the fantasy and make-believe to be destroyed during. But my wife and I are on the same wavelength about this. She is my favorite person to watch movies with because of this.
It would bore me to death to sit through 2+ hours in silence, just staring, and then both of us moving on from it and just saying "Yeah it was good.". I need to have some breaks to readjust my position, get something from the kitchen, drink some water, and have minutes in-between just psychoanalyzing characters, giving our interpretations of things that are still unclear, or saying what we would do if we were the characters. Also discussing the broader context, production, if something was real or CGI... I love it. It keeps me engaged, and it makes the movie more memorable for me. I also learn so much more about it and plot details I would have otherwise missed get revealed to me.
I especially love watching something with my wife when it's something she is really interested in or has seen multiple times. Last night, we watched an Indiana Jones movie (Raiders of the Lost Ark), and I got so much info from her during it.
"Harrison Ford improvised this scene because he was tired of reshooting it all the time."
"In this scene you can spot C3PO and R2-D2 in the background. And you can see the Ark in the background of a Clone Wars episode."
"I think this shot is actually a matte painting on glass."
I'm more of a Lara Croft person, and so we also talked about the similarities and differences between the two, especially with Lara's reboot content and her grappling with the fact that her work tends to cause more harm than good, something Indiana doesn't seem to have to face that much.
We also discussed some silly stuff; like how the snakes would realistically survive in that pit, and whether a bunch of snakes are flammable or not. All while watching it and occasionally pausing.
Technically, we also do this for TV shows. Severance and Pluribus especially, but even X-Files. It's just so good! I just need to engage with someone about what I'm seeing and pick their brain about an aspect of it. Acknowledging something was produced, these were all actors, this didn't really happen, this was CGI, this is a plot inconsistency etc. doesn't ruin the entertainment for us at all :)
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