You could choose to actually ENJOY movies again

I've been dabbling in the Prometheus thread, which will doubtless lead to re-opening some of Ridley Scott's other movie threads, like Blade Runner or the original Alien.

The Prometheus thread is classic AVS. Over 1000 posts before anybody has seen the movie. Everybody expounding over what THEY want the film to be, and making it clear how disappointed they will be if it's NOT what THEY want.

Too bad, so sad. People who are actually good enough at moviemaking that they don't even have to have a "real" job are the ones crafting these 2-hour slices of entertainment. By now, most of you should be aware that most likely EVERYBODY else who expresses a desire for what the much-anticipated movie SHOULD be is gonna be disappointed.

Not that I believe most of you, anyway. Somebody who takes the time to explain to me in 10+ pages of text how TRUELY BAD a movie like Avatar is, is - obviously and with no doubt whatsoever - a bigger fan of that movie than me.

Wallowing in your misery for page after page because you were disappointed yet again is one way of enjoying movies. However I would point out that there are far more rewarding ways. You could, for example, wait until you have seen a movie and THEN form an opinion. You might even try walking into a movie you don't know anything about, and being surprised.

It's called "The Critic's Disease". There are a few AVS members who review movies as a job. That's a horrible thing for a movie buff, because it's gonna ruin a good hobby. Instead of enjoying yourself all the time, you are forced to watch and even analyze and comment upon movies you would on your own, never see. The symptoms of the Critic's Disease in the acute phase is that your Editor edits your reviews a lot. That happens until he figures that he should be writing less and you should be writing more - then he cans you.

The problem here at AVS is we don't have Editors, only peers. We don't ever get canned. The Critic's Disease develops slower, because none of us are forced to see stuff we don't care to watch - but there is never a cure either, because we never get canned.

Allow me to suggest that simply awaiting the movie with no preconceptions, then enjoying what actually is shown on the screen, is a way to enjoy this hobby we share more.

When you go to a pizzeria, you order from the menu. You select a pizza that has ingredients you like, and avoid pizzas that contain ingredients you don't like. When you attend a movie, you select a genre you like (i.e. Science Fiction) and you avoid genres you don't like (Romance, Documentary, etc).

You COULD order a custom pizza with a unique set of ingredients, if you were willing to wait that long. You CANNOT order a custom movie, constructed to your personal taste. If you express the wish for such, especially in an online Forum read only by AVS members, you understand that you will be disappointed.

The essence of my suggestion was, you can in fact choose NOT to be disappointed, by not expressing a wish for a custom movie to your tastes. You are NOT, after all at a pizzaria or anywhere else that you have any degree of choice about movie plot elements. In this case, you can choose When you see the movie, Where you see the movie, Who you see it with, and Whether you see the 2D or the 3D version of the movie. But you can't pick anything about the plot. In fact, if you predetermine your like or dislike of the movie based on your personal set of desired plot elements, you will be disappointed in virtually every case.

You made a very apt choice of metaphors with the pizzaria. I suspect you did understand my point after all.

My main point was that many dozens of posters in the first 1000 posts had already decided - before anybody anywhere had seen any version of the movie - that they did or did not care for the plot elements, or the casting, or the concept of a prequel, or something else.

It's a free country. You can make up your mind that - because someting is not to your liking - the whole film is flawed. But I don't think you'll be happier thereby.

You could also make a deliberate decision to suspend judgement, and judge the movie on it's merit alone, after it's released.

Although it seems tame now, the "money shot" in the original Alien was the creature bursting out of a living man's chest. The rest of that movie, because of the pre-digital, man-in-a-rubber-suit special effects limitations, was a ghost movie, with the monster unseen. But like all ghost movies, the second viewing has 10% (or less) the impact of the first. Prometheus has layers in it that can be discussed at length for a long long time, as do other RS movies. Prometheus will stand up to multiple viewings. It's a better movie. It's very probably the best SF movie of 2012.

All I said, my whole point: Don't make up your mind BEFORE you see it.

And to the many, many of you who (judging solely by your complaining comments in this Forum) have not enjoyed any movie made by anyone since your teen years, maybe it's time to seek out a new hobby.
Edited by Gary McCoy - 6/11/12 at 9:17am

I've been around this Forum long enough to know who is always critical and who has never admitted to actually enjoying any of the films they have commented on. You all know who you are, and I don't need to name names - nor am I going to dish out personal criticism.

I happen to enjoy movies, even imperfect ones. I don't pick out a single flaw and condemn a 2-hour movie.

But honestly, look at the first 1000 posts in the Prometheus thread. The word "hypercritical" comes to mind. This is the Forum that frightens new members. If you guys enjoy watching movies, it's often difficult to discern that.

Well then, wallow in misery if it truly makes you feel better. I choose to enjoy movies.

The people commenting on movies in this forum are like a bunch of cranky old people. Nothing pleases them. Nothing is enough. Even those 50% of movies that are above average (note that phrase, it's a mathematical certainty) don't ever get a break, everything is just SO BAD that they can't be bothered to see it more than a few times and crank out 10+ pages of discussion.

Rank hipocrisy is what it is.

Not at all. I've done this before. Whenever the "Critic's Disease" symptoms get too bad I remind everyone that a hobby is for having fun, and not for spreading and sharing misery. It does work, at least for a while, althouigh the number of hypercritical members is much larger than it used to be.

The people who make movies do so to pry your ticket money out of your hands (and for the other sources of revenues). You have fullfilled your purpose if you have seen the film. As for me, I'll be going again this coming weekend. I'm still thinking this will be the best straight SF movie this year, a rating I would never allow for a movie based on a graphic novel.