When did you realize most people don't feel about cinema...

Like you do? I feel like we all here had that moment we wanted to share with other people about things you felt about cinema and wanted them to feel too and they kind of spit it back in your face or made some backhanded comment that they had cooler things to do with their lives than enjoy a certain movie you really liked and wanted them to enjoy. It may been times when a person was so caught up in their self delusion with being better than anyone because they felt anti establishment or because they felt booze and sleeping were better. Any instances come to mind?

When did you realize most people don't feel about cinema... Like you do?

Probably shortly after I came to MoFo and realized people here fall into different types of movie camps. I don't fall into any of those camps...which is OK. I mean we're all unique and so it's no surprise we all levitate towards different kinds of movies.


None of that has ever happened to me. The only people who I talk about movies with is my wife and the MoFos, so it's all good from my perspective.

I think I have a lot of common with your taste actually. There's a lot of movies I enjoy that you probably wouldn't, but there is also stuff you like that I typically can't even discuss with most friends or family in real life, such as romantic comedies from the 40's-60's (Which in my opinion is the golden age for them), sci-fi/monster B-movies or charming but relatively more "niché" sitcoms than say Seinfeld or The Office. Nobody I hang out with watches Laverne & Shirley And Orson Welles only gets brought up when it comes to Citizen Kane, even though he has other great films too that people need to check out.

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It was always obvious to me that the majority of people aren't cinephiles.

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Preserving the sanctity of cinema. Subtitles preferred, mainstream dismissed, and always in search of yet another film you have never heard of. I speak fluent French New Wave.

Early Eighties..

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Opposite for me. I grew up surrounded by friends and family who loved movies. Action movies, horror movies, midnight movies, matinee movies, comedies, spectacles, artsy fartsy movies.



It is only as I have grown old that I have found the younger generation has moved on to greener pastures. When people moved away from stage productions to flicker shows I am sure that there was similar lament--and in their case I think it was much more profound and justified (there is nothing quite like being in a room with human players and being caught in an electric moment of performance--listening the a concert bootleg is not the same thing as being at Woodstock).

When I turned 16, tbh. Though I was still somewhat new to slow pacing, I was already starting to get into older films and was aware that none of my friends had the same film taste which I had. In fact, I've still yet to meet anyone from my age group in real life who shares my film taste.

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Okay, so I need to know what these “different types of movie camps” are to see which one or more I fall into.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Before coming to MoFo I thought I watched lots of movies, but then I met real MoFos and realized I'm a layman on movies.

I haven't really given it much thought, but generally it seems at MoFo there are these movie lover types:

• Enamored with foreign language films & often disdains Hollywood movies.

• Superhero/Blockbuster/MC/Franchise fans.

• Horror, Horror Horror movies.

• Dark twisted sexual violent films.

• Obscure foreign films that no one else watches.

• And me mid 20th century films, mostly Hollywood but also mid 20th century foreign language.

*all the above is just for fun!

I would say I fall a little bit into 3 of the camps.

I know you've liked films in camp #4, I'm guessing also #5 and #7?

People in my family often have strong reactions to classic movies, like my dad can differentiate a movie like Blade Runner from the usual stuff very easily. So I guess I come from a family with higher than average sensitivity.

Not #5 because I’m not familiar with Mubi.

I think I can collapse the groups into 4 types of fans who tend to focus more on:

1) Mainstream hoyllwood movies
2) Old hollywood movies
3) Traditional arthouse movies
4) Mainstream non-hollywood movies

The "traditional arthouse movies" crowd for example, likes watching old mainstream non-Hollywood movies like Ozu and Kurosawa, as those movies are considered arthouse now. While more recent movies are regarded as arthouse if they are not mainstream anywhere.

At college while studying film. Walking around with a friend as we left having a conversation. I said something brilliant and witty (probably) and he told me I was wrong and followed it up with "that's because you think we're the cool kids. We're not."

I still disagree, but that was when I realised it wasn't that others just didn't know, it was that they really didn't care and probably never would because it just wasn't important to them and never would be.

Then I went online a few years later and found that 'my peeps' weren't much like me either so, as usual, I stand alone chatting to the occasional passer-by who stops for a while before moving on to their destination.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Same here — was brought up by cinephiles, and while no one I’ve ever met could quite match the fanaticism of my family, I’m quite lucky in that I still watch films/shows with them every week, several times a week, discuss films for hours on the phone with my father who lives abroad, my work colleagues discuss films quite a lot as part of banter, so I’m definitely in the right place. I do feel my current boyfriend isn’t on the same page (he’s exactly the type to criticise most films/shows — not critique but criticise). But this is so temporary, I’m a lifelong loner so I really couldn’t care less. If anything, I’m disinclined to discuss films with him by now.

The family/friend cinephile posse is a great thing to have as a kid. All that great smack-talk, joke-telling, imaginative play, critical thinking, development of relational short-hand, etc. Two obligatory rituals of my youth were intense post-movie conversations and laid-back post nightclub breakfasts/dessert at a late-late night diner.



As to the question of one's SO, that would probably be a good thread prompt. Is it nice to have? Is it almost a necessity? I guess it depends. It's a drag when you want to watch something and your SO doesn't or it they're bored or they don't get it. Maybe when you find someone who vibes with your taste you'll have found more of a keeper.

I've heard so, so many people on this site say some version of this same thing: I can't find anyone in real life to talk about movies seriously with, they all look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about them as being something more than mere entertainment, etc. I've heard it so many times over the years I've lost count. I think it's the primary thing that motivates people to post on forums like this.

Excellent question.


At first, around 17, I had friends who were big movie fans. I just remembered buying Twin Peaks off Amazon, and two other guys alternating my tapes. Or a couple of other friends on my street - we'd rent movies and sometimes watch them together, although some preferred watching alone to pay attention, which I later agreed with. At least once a week. My next door neighbors part-owned three video stores, and he was so used to the annoying "demo" ticker on the bottom. My parents watched a movie every night. They don't even have cable now. None of the guys I grew up have seen a movie this year, and I just talked to all of them in April. That was very, very sad. I just talked to a girl I used to see from time to time, and she says she doesn't remember the last time she saw a movie, but then later said, three years ago, and some movie I have no idea about. It was a 5 hour conversation about nothing I was interested in. I've realized a message board is my only chance at a few minutes of talk.. Sometimes I just check out the "Last Movie" thread and smile when I see the joy someone else received from a movie that gave me joy. And then I try to start a conversation, hoping others will chime in, too, but hopefully for others to see.

I used to chat on AOL. We used to talk movies a ton (and music) until 2016.. Most people, even someone like me who doesn't have a "smart" phone (I had my own cell phone business 20 years ago -- "smart" drug dealers don't use) and I wouldn't hesitate to turn my phone off if I'm stressed, not feeling like talking, or if I'm watching a movie, music, stand-up, etc.. But, I don't have the same focus/attention I used to have, and this is something everyone seems to admit to. I haven't seen a movie in a while. There's no reason I can't watch a handful of movies per week, but I'm down to relying on whatever is recorded on my DVR (unless someone posts a link of a movie that seems enticing) and the movie on TCM with Albert Finney (Photograph For Picasso?) was boring, and it couldn't survive 15 minutes.

I've noticed less movie talk on every message board. There's a lot of miscellaneous talk. Maybe others notice something difference, which is why I love message boards -- there are "checks" and people can easily correct with a fact, or bring in another opinion maybe from another part of the world.

I also think there's a billion shows, and it's easier to watch 18 minutes at a time, especially if you're paying for some service. When I first started on IMDB decades ago, there were only a certain amount of choices.. Or the generation before who only had 3 channels could relate more, but I'm glad I'm not confined to that, but life is becoming lonelier.

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