In the Beginning, There Was Film; Then Came Expectations
That Was Then. This Is Now.
As a movie watcher, films that appeal to me have dramatically evolved in recent years. There was a time when you couldn’t have paid me to sit down and watch most Oscar-type films. As for independent films, I pretty much stayed away from them. My filmmaker brother would have to twist my arm to get me to watch an independent film in the old days. I was all about the big budget, summer blockbuster films for the most part. While my film tastes had already started transitioning from so many blockbusters, I would say Spider-Man 2 was a pivotal shift in my film viewing experiences.
Spider-Man 2 was a blockbuster film, but it was something different. It actually had a good story and good acting, which was far more interesting to me than the action and special effects. From Spider-Man 2 onward, I started measuring other blockbusters against it. If Spider-Man 2 could deliver an action film that was Oscar-worthy (in my opinion and other film critics), then others could do the same. Is it unfair to hold other blockbusters up to the greatness of Spider-Man 2? Yes, it is. Nevertheless, I started to expect more from blockbusters. When I didn’t get what I wanted, I started viewing fewer blockbusters and checked out the independent/Oscar-type films.
You’re too Predictable.
Over the years, I have become a film fanatic…so much so that my filmmaker brother told me I should have went to film school. When I watch a movie now, it is really hard for me to turn the analytical side of my brain off and just enjoy it. Part of that has to do with the fact that I am a writer. My mind is geared towards plots, as I have to construct them for my own work. As a result, I am plotting ahead of the film to figure out the plot on a subconscious level. Unfortunately, it can ruin the movie experience for me because I often figure out the twist and/or “see” what’s coming next. Of course, my ability to see what’s coming in a movie can be attributed to a bad script and/or directing. Additionally, imaginative scripts are hard to come by in mainstream Hollywood these days. It is rare for me to watch a film these days and not figure out what is coming. When a film manages to genuinely surprise me and keep me in the dark (regarding the plot), that’s a huge plus. Unfortunately, my ability to predict the film’s plot occurs more often than not. The same holds true for movie trailers when I watch them.
Oh Trailers! How I (Mostly) Dislike Thee!
I have a love/hate relationship with movie trailers. Trailers often give away the end of the movie, which annoys me and lessens my enthusiasm (if I want to see the film). I don’t mind watching teaser trailers, but full-length trailers often show more than my liking. Additionally, trailers can be bad or plain misleading on what the film is about (i.e. Adventureland). Since I don’t watch commercials at home, I avoid seeing movie trailers altogether on TV. Yes, I watch some full-length trailers online by choice but not as many as people might think. I have some criteria for determining which full-length trailers I will and will not watch to keep my movie experience “clean.” Unfortunately, my right to avoid trailers is not that simple when I go to the theater. Therefore, I developed a habit of looking down or away when trailers air before a film. I don’t do this for every single screening; however, I do it often enough, especially if I know a trailer for a film I want to see is airing. I plan to watch certain films, and I don’t want to have the experience tainted for me by watching the full-length trailer. I just don’t want to take a chance that the trailer is going to show me too much.
Expectations Are Eeeeevil!
I’m mentioning some of my movie quirks for a reason. I have learned that my expectations for a film often affect my viewing experience when I watch a film. I had expectations (high or low) because I saw the teaser or full-length trailer for films, I was interested in seeing. For example, I had high expectations for Terminator Salvation. With Terminator Salvation, I saw the teaser trailer and at least one version of the full-length trailer in theaters. Where I had excitement for Terminator Salvation, the full-length trailer had me very concerned. I lowered my expectations for Terminator Salvation, but I wanted to believe it wouldn’t be as bad as the negative buzz it generated. It’s a Terminator film – one of my favorite sci-fi movie franchises – so I expected it to be fair to good but not James Cameron great (The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day). Even with lowered expectations, I was severely disappointed by Terminator Salvation. I rated the movie an “F” via my film tweet review earlier this summer. My movie experience and the expectations I had with Terminator Salvation has been echoed in previous films I saw and ones afterwards. I try not to have expectations or to keep them lowered when watching a film; however, it is not always an easy task to accomplish. This is why I am trying out a new experiment – the “blind movie” experience.
What is a “Blind Movie?”
I think of a “blind movie” as a film that falls into these categories: 1) I haven’t seen the trailer for it and 2) I haven’t heard of it, or at the very least, I just know the title. In this instance, many “blind movies” would classify as independent films, but some mainstream films fit the “blind movie” criteria.
The idea of watching a “blind movie” is something my youngest brother thought of recently. He and I are similar in that we believe expectations can affect how good or bad a film is when watching it. Recently, we were discussing movie expectations, which is what prompted him to suggest watching a “blind movie” together. Initially, I wasn’t too crazy about the idea, but he convinced me to try it one weekend. We did exactly that approximately two weeks ago. Of course, we had to establish some criteria/rules for our “blind movie” experience before deciding on a film.
Rule #1
You couldn’t have seen the trailer for the film. If you saw the trailer, it’s an automatic disqualification.
Rule #2
You couldn’t read the description when selecting the film. Additionally, you couldn’t have read any reviews for the film or heard anything about it via film podcasts. However, at the very least, you can do some research to find out if it has subtitles. Subtitles are painful when I’m watching films since I spend more time reading than watching the film.
Rule #3
You cannot look up the film at RottenTomatoes.com to see how many fresh or rotten tomatoes it has. This means I can’t use my “Now Playing” app on my iPhone when selecting a “blind movie.”
Rule #4
If you have an idea what the film could be about based on the title, then you can’t watch it. It’s an automatic disqualification.
Rule #5
If the film has an interesting title that sticks out, add it as a potential “blind movie” experience when going through the selection process.
Rule #6
Once you have a list of potential “blind movie” films, 1) randomly pick out a film title, or 2) pick out the title that intrigues you the most.
When my youngest brother and I conducted our first “blind movie” experience, it was difficult to select something. We both pay attention to what’s going on in the film industry, and there were many films we had to discard. Nevertheless, we managed to go through our list of rules, and we selected Pandorum as our first “blind movie” experience in theaters.
If you follow me on Twitter, then you probably saw my Pandorum film tweet review. In a nutshell, Pandorum was far from original because it borrowed from several popular and not so popular sci-fi/horror films. Yes, I figured out the plot as the film went along; however, I wasn’t annoyed. Why? Because I had no expectations. Through my “blind movie” experiment, I learned that it truly is a freeing experience to have no expectations. I didn’t get mad because Pandorum was a C grade film. Actually, the fact that I enjoyed it better than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Terminator Salvation speaks volumes. Yes, my expectations for two of 2009’s big blockbusters affected my viewing experience. However, at least Pandorum was enjoyable whereas Terminator Salvation and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen were shiteous.
With a successful “blind movie” experience under my belt, I plan to make this experiment more regular. I really like the feeling of 1) not knowing what I’m seeing, 2) not knowing what the film is about, and especially 3) not having any expectations. I plan to aim for at least one “blind movie” theater experience per month.
A “blind movie” experience is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re gonna get. That aspect alone is what makes it fun and interesting.
Note: I will attempt to write a proper movie review about my “blind movie” experiences, but I can’t make any promises. I will try to work something out for my readers that are not on Twitter and post something here on my blog. At the least, you will be able to follow my “blind movie” exploits via Twitter. As usual, I will always post my tweet film reviews on Twitter right after the movie, which I now add as “Favorites” for easy access.
Tags: blind movies, entertainment, film, movies
