What's your philosophy of film and show consumption?

I basically ask this as a chance to expostulate my own thoughts, but it would still be interesting to see how others respond, and could be useful perhaps in a general sense.

So i'm like retired, and i got nothing but time on my hands, but time is slipping away. This is an important factor.

I have 3 loves, film, books and music, film is what i've chosen to focus on for at least 2 years, 2024 and 2025.

I see watching films and shows as a dream job, only i usually pay for it, because i love it so much. A regular job is 8 hours a day, so what i gotta do is average at least that per day.

I go by wake periods, i keep on going till i get so tired, and achey all over from sitting so much, so a good day i'm awake for 20 or more hours.

The challenge is to make more of those 20 or so hours into actual watching time, i need to perfect this art, and put up with a little ache here and there.

This turned out not to be a philosophy so to speak, using academic mumbo jumbo, don't like that kind of philosophy anyways.

On Letterboxd i started all over a few months back and only really got back to watching mid December last, so i've been saving myself a lotta goodies, not enough time for anything in this world when you love it enough, mom died last year, and i dread my pops passing away too, but he's hyper religious, and is of the opinion that me and him will be alive during the rapture, can you believe that hogwash??!! So not only do i watch shows and films because i love them, i do it to escape from certain insanity, whilst keeping him company in the living room, which is a no smoking area, which then also cuts down on my nasty habit.

But enough about me, what's your story?

I don't have an official philosophy of film watching. I watch a lot of movies on my days off and after work. I like to watch a wide variety of films in every genre. I usually find something to enjoy about most movies.

Awesome, you're tastes are cool ty

What I've been doing for the last 5 or 6 years is that I start every month with a set of criteria of what to watch, and let that guide me. For example, for December I had to watch a Holiday film, a western, and a film from Michael Curtiz, among other categories. I even used that as the basis for my podcast.

But going beyond that, I think that setting up certain goals might be helpful, as long as you allow yourself some breathing room to watch random stuff if you find yourself stifled. For example...

• all the films of a certain director
• all Best Picture winners
• all the films from X or Y list (IMDb Top 250, Sight & Sound, etc.)
• one film from every genre every month
• one film from every continent every month

I'm very goal-oriented so those kind of goals work for me, but you can see what fits best your time and overall reception to different films and whatnot.

__________________

You're like famous!! Thanks for the detailed response, honored you took the time! ... You sound a lot like YouTuber HorribleReviews, if you're him i am extremely honored, big fan!

LOL, no. I'm not him and I'm not famous.

You do have your own podcast though, so you are sort of famous.

These days, it comes down to squeezing films in whenever I can, which can be a challenge with a 4 year-old daughter in the house. Finding time to sit and relax while enjoying a film in its entirety in peace is very hard to come by.

__________________

My philosophy is to do everything possible to subvert your hopes of what a film should be.

Just endlessly watch things you don't think you'll like.

Revisit things you hate.

Always keep your arms open to everything that might be different.

And argue like hell to prove everything you find yourself loving is beautiful, no matter what anyone else says.

This has been my thing for a few years now. When I come across a film that interests me, I make my way through all of the director's other work (chronologically of course. I'm not a hillbilly.)
The result is that I've seen (and enjoyed) many films that would never have been on my radar otherwise. Another side effect of this approach is that I'm often watching a film with literally no idea what it's about or who's in it. That's a nightmare scenario for some folks but I consider it the ideal way to approach a movie, and one that we don't often get.
Another benefit is that I wake up knowing what that night's film will be, which cuts down on my aimless indecisive browsing time.

__________________
Captain's Log
My Collection

That's rough, but treasure that little bundle of joy

What you say is powerful, thank you!! I should take each point to heart as my film journey continues.

Lovin' the feedback so far. My approach is evidently lacking in specificity, but i sense that i tend to only gravitate to movies i'm more than 50% sure i'll like, more often i ought to do the ole expand the horizons thing. But i cannot follow a strict schedule, besides sticking with a show i like to choose the film right before seeing it, on this i cannot change, but sticking with shows to completion, which is a trait i need to cultivate, would maybe produce in my inclinations a possibility to follow a pre-planning for films.

My philosophy is the same as with all aspects of life: balance.

Unless I'm sick or housebound for some reason, I rarely watch two movies in one day. I also try to limit my TV viewing - if or when I don't, I end up not feeling good about myself because I view overdoing these activities as wasting time, laziness and procrastination.

"Temperance: Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation."
- Benjamin Franklin

"Everything in moderation, including moderation."
- Oscar Wilde

Hey, this is coming from a guy who watched 15 films in a row two days ago: It's cool to binge films but never at the expense of your health/well-being. If you're starting to feel pain/exhausted/jaded, your body is telling you to stop, so it's smart to listen. Filmwatching is not a race. You don't have to win. It's more like a car ride. Just enjoy it. It doesn't matter how many miles you go a day.

Also, film as a means of escapism works exceptionally great so it definitely can help you pull through whatever you're fighting in real life.

Yeah, Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead subverted my hopes! It was even greater than I thought! A true scat masterpiece!

Just how many more Sirkian melodramas do you want me to watch?

Oh, I'm good at that.

Re: strict schedule. Watching lots of films is strict & demanding in and of itself, so keeping a schedule is too much for me. I usually go for stuff blindly. I rarely plan anything for more than two days. This helps make everything more exciting, too. Most days I wake up having no idea what I will watch and just pick something out of my long list of films ready to watch. Going by a director is great but only if you're genuinely interested in their work or love it a lot. If you don't, stretch their filmography out and put other movies in between.

__________________
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Great advice, i do feel a hard to explain need to watch as if it were a race, it's part of a technique i guess of warding off ennui which includes lack of interest even in what one loves

I like the twist at the end there!! I can respect your approach.

Everything (genres, film movements) from everywhere (all countries, as often as possible) from everyone (directors, actors/actresses, cinematographers)all at once.

As Mark F once said, watch it because it exists.

To me it's about trying to understand the vision and maybe learn something from that vision. As an author, I use the vision to expand on examples set by films and see what I can do with it. Example: Nashville inspired me to write a movie balancing at least 15 main characters.

Further developing the expressing of my approach to film and show consumption, i must add a few more components that may have gone unexpressed. There is a mighty sense of time running out, and of wasted time, you see i'm calculating values on a perverted scale, the credo of which is "the more the merrier" or adapted more accurately here the more the better. Wasted time is time not spent what the focus is supposed to be on. Making up for lost time. Seeing a whole new year, and prefiguring the time period of one whole year as time to prove to myself that i can stay within one focal point for longer than 3 months or so. There is nothing else to do but the focal thing, besides endure them, and i do. I shall implement more exercise.