As a movie buff, what self-made achievements are you proud of?

Does it even exist on the internet?

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IMDb
Letterboxd

I see the first eight hours on Reddit. Not good enough for me.

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I came across that as well. For me, it would have to be all or nothing. Like, I wouldn't be opposed to watching it in full. There are just loads of films I'd prefer to get through first.

Anyways, Jonas Mekas' 365 Day Project is the longest film I have logged on Letterboxd (over 37 hours).

I'm in awe of the many "completist" accomplishments here. I can't say I've seen all films for any actor or director, Oscar nominee, etc. Oh sure, I've seen all the Star Trek movies and many of the TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and their spinoff serials. My most productive movie-going year was about 1993, when I saw and made a list (now lost) of 100+ movies I saw in the theater. About half those were double features of classics shown at a splendid restored movie palace, the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto, California.

A different brag: My movie review blog, created from scratch. Nothing remarkable, but does have a few features not commonly seen in amateur blogs. There is no advertising, no signups, no affiliate links. Just for the joy of nerding around and writing. It's the place where I get to explain how I got to be a movie addict, what the Wizard of Oz means to me, and an opportunity to review a few (not nearly, nearly all) of the movies I've seen. I'm particularly thankful for being able to participate in the 24th HoF, as it has really upped the level of movies I've reviewed there. If you go there, you will double the viewership for that day. (Yeah, that's not a joke.) You can find the URL in my profile.

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Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain ... only straw. Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they? Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

With you on 3 out of 4 here. I also think Rashomon is overhyped.

I understand Rashomon was big for its time. It was just a mite disappointing for me. I don't think it's bad. I just don't want to watch it again. I keep meaning to watch Ikiru because I want to watch my six favorite Kurosawa films in release order, and I've watched Stray Dog, albeit many months ago, and next up is Ikiru. I just don't know if I'm ready for the emotions. The ending is such a rollercoaster. Holy crap. Those are stated in good ways.

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"Some day this war has to end."
"Wash your mouth out with soap!"

Watching every Tarkovsky was the best thing I ever did as a cinephile. That awakened me to the art of cinema and raised the bar to the absolute highest standard possible. It revolutionized the way I understood cinema, and opened the floodgates to discovering more of the great legendary masters of cinema like Ozu, Godard, Dreyer, Melville, Kalatozov, Mizoguchi, Jodorowsky, and countless others. I made an effort to cultivate my taste and an appreciation for the highest forms of art in cinema, and while I still have more to learn, reaching the point where I enjoy movies for their cinematography, directing, acting, and writing without any regard for the content, subject matter, or other surface level details, was what I would probably consider my greatest achievement.

I suppose I should be proud of the fact that I'm not proud of anything. When you like movies, watching them isn't any kind of accomplishment. You just do it. It's like breathing or thinking, you don't get pats on the back for those either. Or shouldn't.

What if you reach a serious milestone? A person should be proud once they reach even 1000 movies. I did the same with albums. In fact, my 10,000th album was the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack. I marked the occasion with something very long, beloved and influential.

Why? Is 1000 movies somehow more important than 999? Is this a race? And if so, against who? The world? Ourselves?


And if I like cupcakes, should I celebrate when I eat my thousandth of those too?


Because honestly, are we pretending that watching a bunch of movies is something difficult to do, when it's something we like doing? It takes literally zero effort.


You do you, but sorry, none of that stuff means much or anything to me. If you like something, just do it. Learn from it. Talk about it. But being proud? Nah. My reward is simply seeing the movies. Anything else is just celebrating accumulation and I think thats a distraction from what matters. At least to me.

You seem a bit antsy about this. Numerical values have had symbolism since the dawn of time. There is a very clear difference from 999 and 1000: quadruple digits. That's the milestone. And to be fair, it took a lot of effort for me to rank all of them on one list, a lot of thought and some rearrangements, as well as effort to teach myself the value of genres I didn't previously enjoy.

>Why? Is 1000 movies somehow more important than 999? Is this a race? And if so, against who? The world? Ourselves?

A better question is who the heck is counting? I get that we some programs can record what you watch but otherwise I have no bloody clue how many I've seen.

>Because honestly, are we pretending that watching a bunch of movies is something difficult to do, when it's something we like doing?

Yeah, I'd think quality should be a little more important than quantity...

> There is a very clear difference from 999 and 1000: quadruple digits. That's the milestone.

It's really just because human beings have an affinity to numbers divisible by 50. It's quite understandable, but it does make it where certain "milestones" are only important only because the number is easily divisible. But otherwise these type of milestones are meaningless. They obsess over this stuff in sports as well as it seems it's just a cheap excuse to get easy ratings to see a guy reach a meaningless number.

I don't expect a pat on the back, but do I smile when I reach a benchmark, sure, why not - life kicks me in the arse and makes me miserable plenty, so if I get a chance to smile and reflect on finishing a list I wanted to finish, I do so.

But mostly I'm just on a journey of sorts, and at times I find something to focus on to help me branch out and explore.... this year it seems to be Irish cinema that's grabbed me, a few years ago I wanted to watch westerns I'd never seen, the follow year it was movies by women directors. And as I said earlier, I don't know if that's an accomplishment, I'm not giving high fives to myself, but it does add to my enjoyment. (saying that, completing the 1001 movie before I die list was nice, especially considering the circumstances)

Antsy? I'm saying I can't be bothered with something. It doesn't cross my mind or matter to me how many movies I've seen. That's antsy? Because it seems pretty chill to me.


Now if I was forced to guess, it would be in the 15 to 20 thousand range. And I've yet to have a single celebratory cupcake.



And so if I saw you outside throwing rocks at an eclipse, should it also be considered weird when I ask why you're doing that?


Historical precedent isn't an answer to my question. It just means Im left scratching my head at centuries of human behavior.



I'd shrug, but you might consider that antsy of me.






Fair enough on these points. Those actually take some effort. Unlike watching a bunch of movies, or hitting arbitrary numbers.


Now if you want to celebrate those things, have fun, I hear people like fun. But let's not get proud mixed up in it. I don't like anything where we are suppsoed to be proud simply because we have a lot of something. For me that just an empty ego bragging thing, and not my bag.

I Don't remember saying quality shouldn't have anything to do with it. That's why the effort into reviewing and ranking was put in. Regardless, 1000 is still impressive because most people aren't willing to take the time anyway.

See, this is the part that gets antsy. Symbolic nature is like a birthday. Patting each other on the back and feeling happy about it is why these symbols are here for us. They're here for celebratory purposes as opposed to just being "whatever."

I don't think paying attention (like reading a book) is "zero effort".
Sometimes people watch a film because they want to know it, even if they suspect that they won't enjoy it. And watching films that require you to step out of your comfort zone (which is what many people don't do) can result in a new perspective regarding cinema and its many aspects.
I wasn't joking when I mentioned "watching Star Wars" because that was me massively stepping out of my comfort zone. But it was on my to-DO list, not my want list.

Having said that, I think it's nearly impossible to use the word "proud" in a wholesome context, there's something inherently negative about it therefore I'd rephrase it as "content" or "grateful".

From this perspective I can get it. Putting yourself outside of your comfort zone would be something to have some pride in. It takes effort, it can have value.


Just watching a bunch of movies though, no. That doesn't compute on the pride level for me.

Then it won't surprise you to hear that I think celebrating birthdays are kinda weird too.

Bro, you ain't just a party pooper. You're the party slasher.