Peculiar Film Viewing Rituals

[MyNameCriterionForum]

I honestly can't remember the last time I listened to a commentary all the way through purely for pleasure.

John Carpenter and Werner Herzog

[domino harvey]

He can't remember the last time they listened to one either

[Sanjuro]

When I pause a movie, I always have to wait for a visually striking image, as though the frame might be burned into the TV forever or something. This admission speaks to the level of pedantry this thread has inspired

Oh, yeah. I do this all the time.
Also (as in my mind it seems to be related somehow) I can't turn the volume up when listening to music without waiting for a dramatic moment to emphasise. And then I usually end up increasing in small increments timed to perfection like I'm some kind of manically obssesed conductor.
Years ago I used to collect my cinema tickets to keep track of what I'd seen. Randomly 'cutting the deck' every so often to see how much I could recall. Then I moved to some place with crap, small tickets, mostly with abbreviated film titles and it became no fun any more.

[Perkins Cobb]

While my girlfriend was watching Shoot the Piano Player, our house burnt down and we lost everything (including my 2000 or so DVDs) and so I'm superstitiously afraid to watch it now.

I met someone once who was playing Super Mario Kart when they're mother unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack. They can never play the game again.

Once I was watching Melvin and Howard when a medium-sized earthquake hit, and before I could get up and run for the nearest doorway, I had to indulge my compulsion to find the remote control and pause the movie (because, y'know, I couldn't possibly just let it keep playing while I was out of the room). I happened to be watching that sitting on the floor, close to the TV, and I remember thinking: Well, that's it, they're going to find my body lying smushed under a giant freeze-frame of Paul LeMat.

I've also gone from conscientiously sampling every DVD extra to now only bothering with the most accessible ones (short interviews, deleted scenes) on the most elaborately produced discs. Sometimes I'll put a DVD on Ebay before I've watched the extras, thinking that I'll get to them before the seven days are up, and of course I never do.

[HarryLong]

Broadway Danny Rose every Thanksgiving.

That's not quite so peculiar as the one NYC-area TV station (was it WOR?) that used to show KING KONG, SON OF KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG back to back every Thanksgiving. I mean, I was grateful -especially in those pre-Home-Video days (for me, at least) - but I always wondered what is it about giant stop=-motion gorillas that says Thanksgiving???

[aox]

Be thankful they don't exist?

[myrnaloyisdope]

I'm a bit compulsive about lists, so my film watching habits over the past 3 or so years have been almost entirely predicated on various lists, the primary one being the TSPDT Top 1000. I managed to watch 998 out of 1000 in a span of about a year and a half. I've worked on other lists as well, like the 500 odd films that have received votes on Silentera.com, the National Film Registry, various AFI and BFI lists, Rosenbaum's Alternative American 100, as well as other odds and ends, like trying to watch every William Wellman pre-code, or all of Myrna Loy's extant films. Right now I'm indulging pretty heavily in pre-1920 films for the forum projet. So when I choose to watch something new, it is almost always something from a list I'm working on.

As for rituals, well I'm too busy at the moment to have much a ritual, but during the last year or so I was living in Calgary (I've been gone almost a year now), I would get up at 6 or so on Sunday mornings and watch as many pre-codes as I could before going to church later in the day. Sometimes I'd get 6 or 7 down, which was quite enjoyable because they are usually so brisk, and clock in around 60-70 minutes.

[PillowRock]

When I pause a movie, I always have to wait for a visually striking image, as though the frame might be burned into the TV forever or something. This admission speaks to the level of pedantry this thread has inspired

Assuming that I can take my time and choose when to pause (as opposed to such things as answering the phone), I actually go completely the other way.

I choose scene boundaries, with literal "fade to black" moments being ideal.

[Svevan]

I deliberately pause at the moments that make pretty actors look ugly.

[karmajuice]

If it's a film I'm seeing for the first time, I always try to watch it alone. With another person, the chances are they'll want to eat and talk during it, or they won't switch to the right aspect ratio on their TV, and certainly won't zoom out in order to see the entire image properly, the barbarians. They'll keep asking me questions, or even trying to make small talk (especially if it's a silent film), and there's only so many times I can press pause or gesture urgently at the screen before they start giving me 'that look'.

I am the exact same way. Or they'll watch the movie with the lights on, or pause it incessantly. Gah! For first times, I strive to watch alone or in a cinema -- which is a pity, because watching with other people can be an extraordinary experience, given the right circumstances. And it doesn't require absolute silence, either. I remember watching Psycho with a friend and my sister. We talked some, but they were so into it that it far surpassed the previous two times I'd watched it alone.

Regarding film duration, I try as hard as I can to watch a film from beginning to end without interruption. Occasionally I'll pause if something comes up, but I typically watch movies pretty late at night so that's not often an issue. I watched La Roue without stopping, Bernard's version of Les Miserables (stopping briefly between the sections to get something to drink), and I wholly intend to watch Satantango and Out 1 in one continuous sitting. A friend and I have even talked about staging a viewing of Reitz's Heimat, all in one extended sitting. Whether that will happen, I don't know, but there's something tantalizing about the absurd marathon ambition of it. One feels accomplished, unnecessary as it may be.

When going to the cinema, I am incredibly particular about sitting in the middle of the row. Distance from the screen is also important (sixth or seventh row in small venues, the first row of the main section in larger multiplexes), but that's secondary to getting in the middle. As a result, I often go to movies very early -- a habit I think I inherited from my parents and grandparents, who do the same.

[MaxS]

I'm a bit compulsive about lists, so my film watching habits over the past 3 or so years have been almost entirely predicated on various lists, the primary one being the TSPDT Top 1000. I managed to watch 998 out of 1000 in a span of about a year and a half.

Great job! I've been slightly addicted to tspdt and rosenbaum lists for about an year aswell but thankfully many movies are quite hard to find (esp. on latter one) so I'm "forced" to keep my hobby bit broader than just them and watch tons of other movies aswell.

[Erikht]

Steak. Beer. Film.

Pretty much a daily occurrence.

Ritual? Perhaps.

[Hopscotch]

I watched Heart of Glass while recovering from general anesthesia, and then proceeded to watch Berlin Alexanderplatz over three or so days in 2 1/2-to-4 hour chunks split up by lengthy, deep naps (I was recovering from removal of my wisdom teeth). Quite the long weekend.

[Murdoch]

Not a ritual, but I get a huge adrenaline rush when I watch a movie I love with someone who hasn't seen it - I'm talking heart racing and everything. I'm only mentioning it since it just happened tonight when a friend and I watched Chinatown during the end scene. I'm reluctant to admit this, but judge away anyway!

[aox]

Not a ritual, but I get a huge adrenaline rush when I watch a movie I love with someone who hasn't seen it - I'm talking heart racing and everything. I'm only mentioning it since it just happened tonight when a friend and I watched Chinatown during the end scene. I'm reluctant to admit this, but judge away anyway!

This is for me too. And, I have to keep myself from staring at my friend more than the screen. I just want them to love the film as much as I do, and I like to see their reactions to key scenes or sequences.

[dadaistnun]

I watched Heart of Glass while recovering from general anesthesia, and then proceeded to watch Berlin Alexanderplatz over three or so days in 2 1/2-to-4 hour chunks split up by lengthy, deep naps (I was recovering from removal of my wisdom teeth). Quite the long weekend.

My first experience with Weekend was the same afternoon I had a molar pulled.

[domino harvey]

I dunno, I'm recouping at home on pain meds today and earlier watched In the City of Sylvia and was mostly just annoyed

[LQ]

I dunno, I'm recouping at home on pain meds today and earlier watched In the City of Sylvia and was mostly just annoyed

This reminds me- Much like Murdoch, I get a rush of giddiness and excitement when I watch my favorite films with other people (better believe my heart beat all the faster during the penultimate scene of 3 Women each of the 20 times I saw it because someone else was sharing the experience with me). However, I will refuse to watch a favorite of mine with another if I even suspect that the person will not like it. In that case, I loan it out. In the City of Sylvia for example, although I intensely love it, I would not watch with a good 90% of my friends because I know they wouldn't care for it. It's bad enough, loaning it out and hearing that they didn't like it, but it's far worse sitting next to someone and feeling the dull burn of their indifference or the sting of their active dislike.
(ps: I hope you feel better, DH)

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Yeah, I've had that experience, too. Sometimes I think it's worse when an otherwise intelligent friend just doesn't like a movie that you suppose they'll enjoy or at least understand. I recent screening of Celia with a friend elicited her unequivocal distaste for the film. The urge to pause the film and start the discussion then and there can really derail the afternoon. Then again, sometimes it's an opportunity to watch more movies and push them further. It's really disappointing when classics from the '30s and '40s get the thumbs down from friends. Different tastes, alas. Musical disagreements on the other hand... At least when someone comes over for a movie that I have to sell them on, I make sure to get them the comfy seat and a drink. Or at least bring out the DVDs they might like instead. Kurosawa has helped save a few evenings with guests. Does anyone have any peculiar rituals for having guests over for movies?

[domino harvey]

Does anyone have any peculiar rituals for having guests over for movies?

If I don't have a particular title in mind, I usually ask what kind of film they'd like to see, then pull three or four possibilities out and tell a little bit about each and let them decide which to go with. Guests tend to feel more invested when they get to make the call, even when its arbitrary (from my own selection). I learned never to let them just sit down in front of the walls of DVD and try to find something, they get overwhelmed and an hour later they'll still just say, "I don't know, you pick"

[zedz]

If I don't have a particular title in mind, I usually ask what kind of film they'd like to see, then pull three or four possibilities out and tell a little bit about each and let them decide which to go with. Guests tend to feel more invested when they get to make the call, even when its arbitrary (from my own selection). I learned never to let them just sit down in front of the walls of DVD and try to find something, they get overwhelmed and an hour later they'll still just say, "I don't know, you pick"

Snap! But this can awry when the guests are so paralysed by the choice that they can't even name a genre, which leads to such helpful prompts as 'old? new? English language?' And occasionally they'll get dead set on watching a film that I just know they'll hate, but that's not my fault.

One particular couple always insist on watching "something really really strange, like we've never seen before" when really they'd much rather watch Aliens for the thousandth time. It almost always ends in tears, even though I've long ago abandoned the heavy artillery.

[Perkins Cobb]

I watched Paris Belongs to Us, Brigitte and Brigitte, and Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes all just after waking up from the anesthesia following a colonoscopy.

I hate watching movies with other people, and have used all manner of ploys to weasel out of doing it.

[Sloper]

One particular couple always insist on watching "something really really strange, like we've never seen before" when really they'd much rather watch Aliens for the thousandth time. It almost always ends in tears, even though I've long ago abandoned the heavy artillery.

I envy you, my friends inevitably say "hmm... how about something light?" Which effectively means it's time to break out the Scrabble board.

I feel incredibly nervous when watching favourite films with friends, to the point where I blush heavily and get sweaty palms. The worst thing is they're often too polite to say what they really think, especially after I've hyped the film to the skies. What I really need to do is hook them up to a lie detector.

Does anyone else do the thing of pre-emptively criticising the film? As in "this one is a bit weird/the opening is quite slow but it picks up/be warned, the dubbing is pretty awful/the acting style takes some getting used to/it's what you might call 'stylised'/try not to be put off by the intertitles", all of which translate to "just make the sodding effort and enjoy it".

[TMDaines]

Does anyone have any peculiar rituals for having guests over for movies?

Yeah, I make excuses so I can chill out and watch the film in peace alone.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Does anyone else do the thing of pre-emptively criticising the film? As in "this one is a bit weird/the opening is quite slow but it picks up/be warned, the dubbing is pretty awful/the acting style takes some getting used to/it's what you might call 'stylised'/try not to be put off by the intertitles", all of which translate to "just make the sodding effort and enjoy it".

Yes, quite often. It helps as often as not.