What purpose does film serve in your life?

He just needs to start picking some better scripts. Ryan Gosling, his competitor, is already ahead of him now.

But then again, too much fame might ruin Jake.

I feel ya there.

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

I picked three of them. One being the blueprint for reality. I don't know that is how I would express it but I love that movies give me a glimpse into aspects of humanity I don't understand or could ever be a part of. What I mean is when I am watching The Godfather I am seeing the motivations of people in a world I can't comprehend. If I see Sonny's story on the nightly news I write it off as a sociopath that ultimately got what he deserved based on the life chosen. Watching the film I get a glimpse into his psyche, I may not agree with his decisions, but I can see the vulnerability and I can empathize to a point. Sounds corny but it makes me a better person and ultimately a better Christian. Helps me love the people I don't want to.

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Letterboxd

Escapism, entertainment and the desire to be emotionally stimulated.

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"I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me" (Frank Costello)

DId you like Zodiac?

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Hard to put to words, but movies are therapeutic. Story telling in general is a near spiritual thing for me.

I've always been creative, and overly sensitive to emotions maybe to a fault. I think because of that, movies can move me deeply. More so than most anything else. Moulin Rouge! put me in a weekend-long depression. Yeah, there's a bit of lol there I guess.

There's the respect of the craft that I enjoy too. I love to analyze and deconstruct everything. As someone else posted, it can become a puzzle trying to notice various details or to reverse engineer (so to speak) one scene or another. There's a weird obsessive sense of satisfaction in that. Of course the errors of a movie become pretty damned obnoxious at that volume but that's a fair trade off.

Beyond the simulated emotional highs and lows, sitting alone in some bargain matinee watching some random flick just clears my head. If I'm stressed out chasing my OCD head mazes or have some large issue at the job giving me grief, I can burn two hours in a movie and things just become clearer. I notice that I start to focus on the directorial choices, cuts, acting, compositions, audio, etc., rather than the details of whatever may be haunting me. That ...distraction(?)... helps me return to whatever with a fresh and unrattled mind.

Music is the same. David Bowie's music levels me. Particularly The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. HBS In Deep Owl pulls the plug too. <--Casual fan plug, there.

Sadly, The Cable Guy is pretty close to my childhood so maybe there's something to be said for 80's latchkey kids sitting in front of cable televised babysitters?

*twitches*

Yes.

Kinda sad how many people chose escapism. This also explains why so many dumb movies like the new Fast & Furious ones are so highly rated.

Cinema is a form of entertainment. Same as Music. Escapism is what they are supposed to offer.

But, like everything in life, you get movies that offer both Escapism and Intellectual content [in many forms, one of them being Aesthetics].

None whatsoever.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Film is manifestation of states of being through expression of different ideas by use of multitude of artistic means.

Disagree completely. Cinema is a form of art. After that, it's a form of entertainment.
Saying that music and film are mere escaping tools is really devaluing the value of these sources of joy, inspiration, and action.

Don't get me wrong, I watch a movie sometimes for this reason, but I wouldn't care so much about them to write on some forum if that's their main purpose.

Purely film interest, escapism and 'others' because it's cool to see boobs on television.

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“We can destroy what we have written, but we cannot unwrite it.”

They are Art forms indeed. But not all of them are actually art. Most of them is just silly entertainment.

It's not devaluation in it self - that is already done by those who put a price tag on making them - but rather an unavoidable side effect. When something becomes popular [ie when is available to everyone] it will be exploited for revenue. The ultimate downside is that the demand for entertainment becomes greater than the experience for the Art itself.

If cinema was pure Art form, we'd see it being much more of a niche thing [or not see given that it wouldn't be as accessible to the general mass].

You have this dichotomy in every Art form [specially in Fine Art]; where the Museums and "specialists" dictate what is worthy of being called Art or not.

The typical example I prefer to give is in literature. Everyone and their grandmothers write books nowadays and call themselves "writers".

You yourself can write one. You get it to a publisher [put your own money on its production, or not - depends of the publisher] and more often than not it will be accepted and distributed without much of a question being asked [hence why you see books like "all you need to know about women", "the key for success", "how to become a rich person in 3 steps", "50 shades of grey", etc]

It becomes needful to distinguish "Art" from "I did it because I can".

For me it is now a hobby. A pastime that I have identified as something which I use to help me get through the week.

I have so little free time due to family and work commitments that rarely do I have much to look forward to these days. I was ambling along doing nothing in particular every evening and weekend and being restricted to nothing but work and childcare. I decided therefore, that I needed to create a system where I have something to look forward to at the end of the day - and that's a movie. So where possible I'll single out a film in the morning, try and get excited about it in he afternoon, and watch it in the evening. I then try and think about it, and write a little bit about it (on my Movie Forum thread), maybe even do some screenshots or a gif etc. I basically convince myself that watching loads of movies is accomplishing something

Disagree completely. <---bit of tongue in cheek, there, in case it's not obvious. Art is subjective, as is its design and purpose. For me, my art is strictly about the analytical process of creation, reaction, and improvisation towards change. Only a very small percent of my considerations go to the audience and their opinions of what it is that they think I am trying to translate for them. I am not creating for them. I am just presenting the aftermath of a creative process. As a road map to my logic, if anything, because it is the process itself that interests me as an artist. That really does not fit such a black and white view. If cinema is art, then what is art but a variable of intent and interpretation? That intent may simply be to make a buck. Sad, but it is what it is. Luckily other creators have varying opinions on that matter.

Now, that is on the creation side. In contrast, as a member of the audience, the escape comes for me in trying to unravel that roadmap other artists have created. That may not be the intent of the artist, but that is my take-away---just as I can't really define interpretation for my own creations. Instead, I just have to accept that we all see what we see, and we all react based on a set of predefined notions and collective experiences that I just have no control over.

Ultimately, I'm not sure too many people would argue Fast and the Furious as a good, sound representation of art; yet it still exists. Fortunately, that does not define cinema. As Bieber does not define music. Nor does a Big Mac define fine cuisine.

Someone does not need to understand the history, context, or be disciplined in the fine art of oils to be in awe of Rembrandt's work. Someone does not need to be a zoologist or wildlife biologist to appreciate a poster of a cat with the caption, "just hang in there!" We bring to the table what we bring, and take away what we take away. There is a wide range of offerings between the two to cater to both the design intent and target audience.

Someone may view a film as a mathematical formula, deconstructing the various elements used to create that film. Others may escape vicariously through the film to experience that that otherwise may never be experienced. Personally, I think defining cinema (or art in general) as one or another is terribly limiting the tools available to the artist that may help shape that artist's design.

...just my $0.02 though.

If I'm misreading your post, then carry on. These are not the droids you're looking for.

ish.

Extremely well expressed.

Kudos.

awe shucks! Now I'm blushing.
*curtsies*


...the things that I do in the time I am paid to do other things.