Watching Movies Alone with crumbsroom

I think the Gold Rush question has already been answered better than I could have.


Gold Rush was my introduction to Chaplin when I was maybe 8. And I loved it then. I'm not sure if I"ve seen it since though.



Most of the rest I've revisited. With the exception of The Circus, which I also loved when I was young. But is one I always forget exists.


I'd probably rank those I've seen like this


1) City Lights
2) Modern Times
3) The Circus
4) The Gold Rush

5) The Great Dictator
6) The Kid

7) Monsieur Verdoux

7) Limelight (barely remember it)


Don't have an objectionable thing to say about any of them.

I’m gonna highly recommend rewatching them, preferably after a binge of Chaplin and Keaton’s silent flicks. Keaton’s cameo is hysterical and really helps underpin the meta elements of the bitter swan song to their careers and the slapstick era.

Sometimes, I think it may be my favorite Chaplin but then I remember how much I love MT and CL.

I own it, and have meant to for awhile.


I just never stop being overwhelmed with what to watch. So much I watch to watch for the first time. So much I want to rewatch. So much I want to watch for an unneccessary 50th time.

Same. I’ve started hosting movie screenings for friends to help focus myself on specific rewatches I would find interesting or important. Also to be social and whatnot but it helps. Otherwise, I’m likely to just drift in the ocean of cinema and gobble down whatever blubber drifts past me.

Here's how I would rank his filmography. I either really like or love all of these films.

1) City Lights
2) Modern Times
3) The Great Dictator
4) The Gold Rush
5) The Kid

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I never have any problem recommending movies for friends to check out. I will give them an endless list if they give me an opportunity. If they like them, great. If not, oh well. But I generally don't like watching movies with other people (hence, the title of this thread). I don't like being in the same room as their disappointment or boredom. I get too annoyed if I feel they aren't wililng to meet a movie on its own terms (or at least try). And while my friends and such don't necessarily have bad taste in film (well, not all of them), I feel too many of them know exactly what they want a movie to give them, and check out when it doesn't provide exactly that. Which to me is a sin. And I will tell them this. And my friendships don't need any more aggravation added to them then is already there.

I committed the sin of watching this movie over multiple nights, even though it is extremely short. Unfortunate, in that it is such an understated little mood piece, I'm sure I lost sight of some of the details but breaking it up. As is, I still liked it a lot. But I feel it is the kind of thing I'd probably love if I watched it again, all in one go. The two central performances are great, it has this amusing laid back noirish investigative approach probably most similar to Long Goodbye (a favorite), it looks great and its easy going beginning slowly closes in on itself as it approaches its conclusion. Also, is the kind of low budget production that shows us the possibility of film when put into the hands of people who don't have a mountain of money to get them through. Only the love of making film.



Will definitely need to check out more work by Wang.

While I can relate, I’ve generally cultivated a number of friends and family that are fairly open minded to the movies I’ve shown them, which range from Birdemic to Greasy Strangler to Parasite to Possession so the irritation of disappointment is fairly minimal.

I think the primary difference is in presentation though. I generally do a themed double feature, have some snacks that may or may not fit the theme and, most importantly, I hook up my projector and we watch it on a massive screen. This last part is the most important as I’ve occasionally tried showing movies on the TV and it’s a completely different vibe. It’s not like I have a small tv either but a 4K presentation on a tv gets a less responsive reception than a DVD projected at 100+ inches every time. Magic of cinema?

Also, I never do first watches. Always something I’ve seen and feel comfortable in my assessment of but want to see again.

It’s a good process.

I've been doing Discord viewings with the boys. I do cater my suggestions to an extent but they've been reasonably open-minded all things considered. If anything, I've been the negative element, as they keep suggesting recent prestige TV shows, which I tend to find varying degrees of tedious and insufferable, and have started using my vetoes liberally. (In my defense, even if we alternate a season with one or two movies, that's still a lot of bad TV to sit through.)


I stopped recommending things outright. Without a good gauge of people's tastes, it's a pretty useless exercise, and the worst are the types who give you little to base a recommendation on and then hold it against you when they dislike something you suggested. And the ones who go "never heard of it" and dismiss your suggestion if you recommend something. If you had, you wouldn't need me to recommend it.

A really good example of how a dreadfully cliched narrative structure, marred with stereotypes for characters and just an immense amount of dumbness on the surface, can rise to be a great bit of anxious cinema. I spent most of the first half of this rolling my eyes at how this film was setting itself up. Just a bunch of clunky nonsense. But eventually, the films story telling obviousness starts to function as a funnel, drawing all of these character to a visceral final half hour. For a film in the 60's, it squirms with the kind of 70's menace we'd eventually expect from the coming American New Wave.



Extremely dumb. But don't hold that against it.

This may shock everyone here but I have a fairly assertive personality, so those pithy dismissal types usually have to adjust to me or we don’t stay friends for very long. Practically everyone recognizes that I’m way more into films than they are and that I love to show them movies they will hopefully at least appreciate. I mean, they legitimately appreciate the effort and passion I have to curate these showings. If they didn’t, they probably would’ve stopped coming years ago.

I’m also absolutely terrible about following other people’s suggestions and recommendations. They also aren’t usually willing to set up a screening with snacks and drinks for me to attend to I call it a wash.

Last double was Gun Crazy and True Romance. Whatever irksome responses they could’ve had at times (laughed a bit too much at some of the outdated bits of GC), the strongly positive responses to the great moments in each film certainly outweighed them.

I don't think I've ever ended a friendship over the subject, but dismissive attitudes have tended to be a symptom of other qualities I don't gel to in a person. Otherwise it just means we're friends for some other reason.


But if they'd accept my cinephilic superiorit, we could be superfriends, dammit.

I don’t think I’ve ever “ended a friendship.” I’ll just either immediately find that person unpleasant and not talk again or gradually stop talking to them because, as you said, it’s symptomatic of other issues.

You just gotta pummel them into submission. Only when they are beaten down, can they truly see how much they love your superiority.

What were we saying about symptoms???

I've tried getting some of my friends into classic films, but so far, I haven't had much luck. Granted, part of it was my fault as a couple of the films I recommended (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Paris, Texas) had slower pacing than what they were accustomed to, but lately, I have had some luck with a couple classic Westerns, A Clockwork Orange, and The Twilight Zone, so I think I'm headed in the right direction.

However, one of my roommates who I used to have movie nights with (who I don't speak to anymore for reasons I'd rather not get into) had some weird vendetta with me were he went into all the films I showed with an intention to find things to dislike them for and win in a debate against me or whatever the hell his goal was. He was a massive narcissist and had a weird "I always have to be right" complex amongst our friend group that extended to the movie night showings we had. If he went into the films I showed with an open mind and honestly didn't enjoy them, then fine, but to refuse to like them outright is a different thing altogether, so figuring that it was a waste of time to keep the movie night going, I quickly disbanded it.

Oh yeah, I wouldn’t abide that. That level of disrespect would last less than an evening. As I said, I tend to force folks like that to either abdicate their position as friend or change their approach entirely because I’ll match the degree of confrontation they’re bringing to the table. As Rock said, that treatment of a friend is usually symptomatic of deeper seated issues. However, I wouldn’t have disbanded movie night. I’d have probably found another avenue to host it.


With setting up a movie night, it’s important to do incremental moves. You don’t dive in with Paris, Texas. You find out movies they like and then build on those influences. “Oh, you liked Drive? Let’s watch Thief. You dug that too? Try out Le Samourai next.” And never underestimate the efficacy of a double feature. Pair a crowd pleasure with a connected but “harder” film. Can definitely lead to folks being more receptive. At worst, I sometimes get “I didn’t really enjoy it but I’m glad I watched it.” (See: Half the party when I showed them Possession).

If you keep your suggestions diverse in tone and connected to stuff you know folks like, they start to trust that you know what you’re talking about. And I dunno about you, but I find it absolutely wonderful when you share a film with someone and it becomes a new favorite of theirs. Spreading that cinema love is always worth the risk of them being bored for a couple hours.

The reason I disbanded it was because there were only three of us involved in it (this was at college) and the third person was getting fed up with the other person's behavior as well. I also couldn't think of anyone else I could invite who may have be interested in doing it. Fortunately, I've had some luck with one of my roommates from this semester though, so I'll probably bring some of my DVDs to show him next semester. I've been trying to show movies to him in increments in terms of pacing and that's been going well so far. We usually don't have time for double features, but if I have enough time, I'll have to try some out.

Ain’t nothin wrong with a film watching duo. My best mate and I for a long stretch were the only two willing to watch bad movies. Gradually the group grew and I got a steady group of like 6 folks willing to sit down and watch a double feature of Birdemic and Greasy Strangler (wasn’t a theme. I had a personal wheel of the worst built and it was what the spinner landed on. Though GS is by no means a bad movie. It’s perfect). It gets pretty darn close to that sublime “cinematic experience” that my favorite directors keep waxing about.

An odd offer but if you ever need suggestions for suggestions, you know where to find me.

Forgot I watched Ivan Passers "Born to Win". Junky George Segal schleps around New York. Not bad, but nothing really stood out beyond Karen Black, who plays a hard to decipher romantic interest of Segal.


Passers "Cutters Way" was much better.

I'm admittedly not a huge fan of Segal, but I think this is an instance where he was obviously miscast. I never believed he was a junkie for a second.