I'd love to see the types of movies that people go back to over and over again. They don't need to be good, and it might be fun to include why you have seen them so many times. I'll start with a few of mine:
Reason: I have a child who watched it obsessively
Movie(s): Lady and the Tramp, Finding Nemo
Reason: I am a child of the 80's and my friends rented it obsessively or managed to record it on VHS
Movie(s): The Breakfast Club, About Last Night,
Reason: Fringehusband and I watch every Christmas or New Year's eve
Movie: A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, When Harry met Sally
Reason: Movies I will go out of my way to see because I love them
Movie(s): The Princess Bride, North by Northwest, Bull Durham
Reason: ???
Movie: Dead Again (Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson
Anyone else?
Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure -- One of the best movies to smoke the wacky weed with when I was younger.
Escape from New York -- See above reason and "Call me Snake."
Oedipus the King with Michael Pennington and Claire Bloom -- Because our Comp. II is lit.-based.
The Greatest Showman -- My kids have an odd obsession with the film.
Just about any Barbie movie -- We have four daughters, and my sister-in-law is evil.
The Great Escape: one I watch everybody time I see it scheduled
Dead Again: I watched it over and over in grad school and still love it
Pirate Radio: always makes me smile
There are lots more, but those three were the first to pop into my head. I enjoy rewatching favorite movies the same way I enjoy rereading favorite books.
--Four Weddings and a Funeral, at least 35 times. A riot and for its realism!
--The Fabulous Baker Boys, at least 20 times, for looking at Michelle Pfeiffer.
--North by Northwest, maybe 15 times, for the scenes on the train, not the airplane chemical dusting.
--The Americanization of Emily, maybe 15 times, the first 20 minutes or so, for its riotousness and realism!
--My Cousin Vinny, maybe 15 times, for its riotousness and realism.
--The Magnificent Seven, maybe 15 times for its non-treacly moralism.
I remember as a child, maybe six or seven years old, going to a children's movie in the morning. [Yes, kids were sent out alone in those days.] Around noon, the movie was changed, and an usher came to me, saying I had to leave on account "a foreign picture" was coming up. Since then, I've always had an interest in "foreign pictures"!
Have seen many, but none so often as those above.
(Skipping the kid films we watched mostly because he liked them, plus films I used to teach.)
Animated films I adore and have watched countless, countless times:
Spirited Away--every frame is captivating, and I may have watched this more than all the others on this list combined. Might watch it again tonight, too.
My Neighbor Totoro
The Incredibles
Ratatouille
The Iron Giant
The Triplets of Belleville
Chicken Run
WALL-E
Geekdom:
original Star Wars trilogy--this was regular late-night viewing for years at our house, aka "wanna watch Luke fight evil?"
Galaxy Quest--way, way better than it has any right to be
Other happy places:
Moonstruck--John Patrick Shanley is a screenwriting genius
Roman Holiday--Hepburn+Wyler makes me happy and this is my favorite, although How to Steal a Million is almost as good
The Princess Bride--played constantly in my college dorm and I've worn out a couple of copies since
A Room with a View--inject vintage Merchant Ivory directly into my veins
I would rather, and often do, rewatch any of these in place of watching something new. Thus there are a lot of holes in my more recent cinema viewing.
What a fun thread!
It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story: we watch them every holiday.
The Breakfast Club and Say Anything: yup, child of the 80s.
The Princess Bride: umm, needs no justification
Hoosiers: I can't really explain it b/c I don't really like basketball; I think it's nostalgia from watching with my dad as a a kid. I cry every time I watch this movie--I have never managed to get my SO to sit through it.
Stand By Me: My dad is a horror novel buff, and introduced us to Stephen King (among many other horror writers) early on. I think this may have been one of the few movie adaptations I saw before reading the book (novella in this case), and I think it's better than the novella due to the chemistry among the child actors.
Lord of the Rings (series; extended cuts): SO's favorite movies. We binge the movies at least annually (a tradition started early on in our dating)--reminds me, I think it might be time again.
Roman Holiday reminds me of a slew of foreingesque films from the late '50s to the mid '60s. Often with Cary Grant. Audrey Hepburn looks nice in them. Don't watch them frequently, but I do occasionally.
When I see forumites mentioning
-Princess Bride, e.g., a movie I have heard of, but not seen, I understand there is a generational gap. Perhaps more than one generation! :-)
I worked in a movie theater for about 4 years in high school and junior college. In the end I was there 30 hours a week!
So I have seen many movies more than 10 times. (though some I ve seen parts of many, many times, and only a subset of them all the way through 10 times.
Some notable:
Porky's (it was held over for 13 weeks!!)
The original Star wars trilogy
Star Trek - The Wrath of Kahn.
Arthur (I saw it on TV last week and could still remember most of the lines)
Excalibur (The first movie I worked)
Of course I ve seen It's a Wonderful Life many times
as well as Harvey (Jimmy Stewart!)
A Christmas Carol (Alister Simms version)
A Christmas Story (at the theater! Before it became 24 hours of Christmas entertainment)
Smokey and the Bandit
Close Encounters of the 3rd kind
Dragonslayer
My brother had some great enjoyment over The White Buffalo (Charles Bronson) so Ive seen it many times
12 Angry Men
The Bedford Incident (Sidney Poitier)
Most of the James Bond series, but particularly Never Say Never Again and For your Eyes Only
Rocky 3
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Victor Victoria (very good!!)
Mysterious Island
Paint Your Wagon (also very good!)
So these for sure I have seen more than 10 times
Hmmm. This is a tough one for me. There are several movies where I have watched clips from the movie 10+ times, but I can't remember for sure if I've watched any movie, in its entirety, 10+ times.
The closest to 10+ times, for me, would be Monty Python's Holy Grail.
Edit:
Reason: The movie is a the rare combination of mindless, juvenile slapstick seamlessly combined with very sophisticated humor. It meant that I could enjoy it in my youth, but I could still enjoy it when I got older, wiser, and more demanding of movies. The movie was already ancient, when I got a hold of a bootleg VHS copy when I was a teenager. I admit that I didn't "get" a lot of jokes at first, but when I got older those jokes became really funny. I had many of the lines memorized word-for-word (like the Constitutional Peasant scene), so I'm sure I've watched the movie 10+ times.
Good thread.
Here are the movies that come to mind:
- Jurassic Park
- Goodfellas
- Field of Dreams
- JFK
- Zoolander
- The Prestige
- Dark Knight trilogy
- PCU
Some were always on tv when I was a kid/teenage (PCU, Zoolander), others are great adventures or fantasies that I loved when growing up (OG King Kong, Jurassic Park, Dark Knight movies, Field of Dreams), and others are just incredibly watchable to me for whatever reason (Goodfellas, JFK, the Prestige).
When I was a teenager, a friend of mine and I made it a point to see Monty Python and the Holy Grail as many times as we possibly could. We kept count, but we lost track somewhere around the 60th viewing.
Similarly The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Let's do the time warp again!
In the years since:
The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, and Follow the Fleet — my mother's big favorites, and I have inherited her tastes
Blade Runner
A Christmas Carol (Alistair Sims version, absolutely)
The African Queen. "Mr. Allnut, dear, what is your first name?"
The Great Beauty (so, so much to love about this movie)
And of course The Wizard of Oz. "And you, Scarecrow, I think I'll miss you most of all."
Glad to meet someone else who (inexplicably, according to my family) loves Dead Again, sinenominie.
From other people's lists, I've also seen Holy Grail many times, and also Rocky Horror. And I had completely forgetton about watching Smoky and the Bandit probably over a dozen times with my brother when we were kids!
Quote from: onthefringe on July 22, 2021, 04:49:47 AM
Glad to meet someone else who (inexplicably, according to my family) loves Dead Again, sinenominie.
From other people's lists, I've also seen Holy Grail many times, and also Rocky Horror. And I had completely forgetton about watching Smoky and the Bandit probably over a dozen times with my brother when we were kids!
I completely forgot about
Rocky Horror. That's an easy 10+ for me, and that is 10+ in an actual movie theater. I don't think I ever watched it at home by myself.
I think these come close to 10, at least--
1. The Music Man
2. Diner
3. A Thousand Clowns
4. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
5. The Wizard of Oz
From childhood, The Wizard of Oz. Used to show on TV regularly once a year.
From college days, Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, Roman Holiday. When colleges had their own film series, these were shown every year and I first saw them during that time. Because I liked those old movies, I have watched at least 10 times more over the years.
Since grad school, Hoosiers. I worked in Indiana when they were filming the movie and for a long time afterwards, the Indiana high school basketball tournament continued to be single class. Every year, there was a small school trying to become the next 'Hickory' and the movie showed up regularly on cable. I like basketball and went to many games in Hinkle Fieldhouse which is like going to a baseball game at Fenway or Wrigley Field.
Quote from: clean on July 21, 2021, 08:10:24 PM
Paint Your Wagon (also very good!)
I agree! Though many people would not, including Clint Eastwood. Speaking of which,
The Outlaw Josey Wales is on my list, but my wife hates it and won't let me watch it with her.
Blazing Saddles
American Werewolf in London
Amadeus
Zodiac
The Shining
Dumb and Dumber
Citizen Kane
The Squid and the Whale
The Savages
About Schmidt
Election
Ferris Bueller's Day Off----read the original draft of the script online. Ferris starts out as a pot-smoking delinquent, not the tidy-white preppy he became.
All are classics of their genres. Some are overlooked.
Quote from: clean on July 21, 2021, 08:10:24 PM
Porky's (it was held over for 13 weeks!!)
The original Star wars trilogy
Dragonslayer
Yes!!!
I am embarrassed by my affection for
Porky's (my wife just rolls her eyes when I mention the movie, but hey, I was like 15 at the time it came out---what can I say!?) and
Dragonslayer is an overlooked masterpiece.
Tremors (Kevin Beacon & Reba! )
not sure how I forgot about that.
from the 50s I ve probably seen "Them" that many times, and The Thing from another World (sometimes just called The Thing) (with James Arness) and "The Blob"
Fast Times at Ridgemont High missed my origial list too.
A few documentaries that I've seen (too?) many times:
The Fog of War
Bigger, Stronger, Faster
Project Nim
Hoosiers (its such an oddly morose sports movie, weirdly compelling)
Star Wars (IV, V and VI)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Princess Bride
The Fugitive
Back to the Future
North By Northwest
Grosse Pointe Blank
Moana
A few off the top of my head that jump out for me:
Animal House (>30x)-- somewhat of a documentary for my first foray in higher ed.
Star Wars (9x in theater during original release, then a few times since.)--as a kid it changed my life!
Blues Brothers (20-ish x)-- just a classic--love the music.
Apocalypse Now (at least 10x, lost count)--"I Love the smell of napalm in the morning"
From Dusk to Dawn (>15x): campy, yet best vampire flick ever...
For A Few Dollars More (10+): Classic spaghetti western, classic Eastwood.
Conan the Barbarian (~10-11): Grew up reading Robert Howard--loved the cinematic version--Arnold made a good Conan...
Caddyshack, Stripes (>10x): Bill Murray...
Picking up from others again: yes to Casablance yes to Raiders of the Lost Ark yes to the original Star Wars trilogy (because they are awesome and/or from the 80s)
Not sure it counts, but the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment of The Pumaman. (Because MST3K at Thanksgiving is another fringe family tradition and that's one of my favorites.)
Ditto on the original Star Wars trilogy, Indiana Jones movies and The Wizard of Oz. Also The Bourne Identity, Mission Impossible and their sequels. I haven't seen this in a while, but Thelma and Louise probably also makes the list.
Repetitions R not me....at least, not generally.
Maybe the Wizard of Oz, but more likely only (?only?) 5x until I outgrew it as a kid. I hid under the theater seat the first time I saw it (first year it was out, possibly) when the green face of the witch appeared onscreen, I remember that very clearly. I did outgrow that response, as I recall.
3-4 times:
Triplettes de Belleville (I took three different groups of friends for my birthday the year it came out to see it with me;
I have also watched it at least once online in full since then, and in parts here and there)
Auberge Espagnole Twice in moviehouses, once in full online, maybe again in bits and pieces because I enjoyed specific scenes.
Maybe Casablanca, but I think I've really only seen it in full twice; seen various scenes from time to time online.
White Christmas A family favorite, but I fatigued out of it, too, much as I admired the dancing and singing, as well as the acting.
When you're a musician who gets asked to play a lot of things over and over you develop a low tolerance level for repetitions of certain kinds of performance, maybe.
I've been known to walk out of malls, whether I've finished my holiday shopping or not, if they start playing "Chestnuts Roasting" because I know I'll start screaming....and I like the song, even like performing it (if I can ever remember that one chord transition and play it properly) but I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT AGAIN!
M.
These are all such great movies.
I forgot John Carpenter's The Thing. I have seen that probably 30 times.
Hi, my name is ALH, and I'm an old movie (preferably B&W) addict, to the level of Robert Osborne and Ben Mankowicz. (If I'd only majored in film studies/history, maybe I could have monetized my addiction).
I've seen most of the Golden Age classics 10+ times (many of them embarrassingly far more than 10 times), and nearly every film done by Clark Gable, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, Katharine Hepburn, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart, plus a few others. The same's true of the catalog of Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, George Stevens, and Orson Welles. Buster Keaton was an absolute genius, too. A few very favorite, favorites (i.e. probably 30+ views):
--The General --Bringing Up Baby
--Ball of Fire --The Lady Eve
--The Little Foxes --The Magnificent Ambersons
--Public Enemy --Little Caesar
--The Maltese Falcon --Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
--Meet John Doe --Citizen Kane
--The Grapes of Wrath --East of Eden
--Giant --Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
--All About Eve --White Heat
--The Postman Always Rings Twice --Double Indemnity
--The Best Years of Our Lives --ALL of the Thin Man movies
--The Women --It Happened One Night
That's just a very short "short list." (Probably pretty revealing, too: I like strong, ballsy women; solid gangster and noir films; social commentaries; and good writing--plus, it would seem I have way too much free time!) And I still find something new in all of these whenever I watch, even after so many viewings.
Of the "new"(er) movies on my list, the ones I'll never pass up, even if just flipping through cable and catching a scene:
--Ferris Bueller's Day Off
--Indiana Jones: Raiders, Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade
--Die Hard (and it IS a Christmas movie, and you won't convince me otherwise)
* Animal House -- Filmed at my Alma Mater, so it showed on campus in the fall every year. Forty years ago. This movie is funny, and I have it memorized, but, wow, it does not age well at all. Racist, date rapey, alcohol soaked, etc. They showed it to some students a few years ago and asked them what they thought, and they were deeply conflicted.
* Field of Dreams -- File under "Movies I can't watch with others in the room." When Ray asks his dad for a catch, and then the camera pulls back to all the cars driving to field...I get a bit verklempt just thinking about it. I've been to the real field a few times. It helps that I love Iowa.
* What's Eating Gilbert Grape -- Speaking of Iowa (filmed in Texas, alas). Also one of the sweetest movies ever. Leo DiCaprio is amazing, but also Julliette Lewis, Johnny Depp...and Mary Steenburgen, who is great.
* Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (aka Amélie). -- Another truly sweet movie. The scene near the end where Dufayel tells Amelie "So, my little Amélie, you don't have bones of glass," is wonderful.
* Diva -- My favorite French film. So many plot twists, some deeply funny lines.
You should definitely teach a course.
I'd be very interested in seeing the syllabus!
M.
Several movies, but the one story to tell is one time I was really stressed out and for some reason a friend of mine had Oh God! on video tape. I must have watched it 10 times that weekend. I don't really know why it made me feel better.
Wow, and she put up with me...
Quote from: AmLitHist on July 22, 2021, 02:07:19 PM
I've seen most of the Golden Age classics 10+ times (many of them embarrassingly far more than 10 times), and nearly every film done by Clark Gable, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, Katharine Hepburn, Gary Cooper, and James Stewart, plus a few others. The same's true of the catalog of Preston Sturges, Frank Capra, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, George Stevens, and Orson Welles. Buster Keaton was an absolute genius, too.
ALH, you are an addict after my own heart. I should have had Buster Keaton on my list, as heaven knows I have seen almost all of them more than ten times, especially
One Week,
The High Sign,
Our Hospitality, and of course
The General.
On a nearby list I should add
Safety Last!Good to know there's another of us out there!
I just remembered Burt and Dolly in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas!
Even though Burt sings, the songs are very good!
And I appreciate the Governor!!
I dont think that I have an afinity for musicals, but my lists do include Best Little Whorehouse, Paint Your Wagon, and Victor/Victoria!
I ve seen the Music Man many times, but I dont think that I m up to 10!
I have The Best Little Whorehouse on DVD and play it periodically in the background! I dont have Victor Victoria, but would play it if I did!
Star Wars (A New Hope).
Princess Bride.
Young Frankenstein (and a few other Mel Brooks movies).
It's a Wonderful Life.
Jaws
Other People's Money for the great speeches at the stockholders meeting and the "Who doesn't like doughnuts?" scene.
The Lavender Hill Mob and Kind Hearts and Coronets for Alec Guinness.
The American President, mainly for the president's daughter, but also the speech about America being advanced democracy.
Grosse Pointe Blank, Volcano, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, both versions of Sabrina, which is a weird group to pop into my mind together but I tend to watch them every winter break in that order.
Tammy because my mother was delighted to find a VHS of the movie they saw the night my dad proposed, so it was a staple at our house. I eventually replaced the worn out VHS with a DVD, which only a truly loving child would do, because that movie is syrupy sweet.
Auntie Mame and Mame, plus re-reading the novel, because I can't decide which version I like the most.
Rear Window and The Mouse That Roared, which I consider a perfect rainy Saturday doubleheader.
I remember loving the theme from "Tammy" when I was 3-4 years old, even had some of the lyrics memorized.
I know it was then because I remember singing to it whenever it came on the radio in the kitchen of our old house, and we moved from there when i was 5.
I took the name for my camp name when I became a camp counselor, years later, it still stuck with me somehow.
But I only saw the whole film, online, a few years ago.
Thanks for the memory.
M.
Not meaning to derail the thread, but I'm kind of curious about seeing movies multiple times. (When I was in high school, and Star Wars came out, there were stories of people seeing it dozens of times.) As I said in the "asides" thread, there are very few movies I've intentionally seen more than once. Each time I rewatch a movie, I see more plot implausibilities (or downright plot holes), character inconsistencies, continuity errors, etc. and so my impression of the movie gets worse.
How do those of you who watch the same movies repeatedly deal with that? Or do you not see those things?
(And this is without even getting into things like the mess George Lucas made when he "updated" the original movie.)
Quote(And this is without even getting into things like the mess George Lucas made when he "updated" the original movie.)
First and Foremost, Han Shot First!!
And there are indeed multiple renditions of Star Wars... not just the added CGI, but there are scenes that are in earlier releases that are out of later ones, only to come back to even later ones. (There is a scene in the Death Star where a trooper states, "Close the Blast Doors, Close the Blast doors" Then Han and Chewy get through and he is now yelling "Open the Blast Doors, Open the Blast doors" that i was amused by when I first saw it, but was missing on the rerelease, but then returned in a later release.
I find some of the CGI that was added in Mos Eisley distracting.
but I reiterate, HAN SHOT FIRST! That is the greatest and most annoying change to me!
Quote from: marshwiggle on July 23, 2021, 07:01:58 AM
As I said in the "asides" thread, there are very few movies I've intentionally seen more than once. Each time I rewatch a movie, I see more plot implausibilities (or downright plot holes), character inconsistencies, continuity errors, etc. and so my impression of the movie gets worse.
How do those of you who watch the same movies repeatedly deal with that? Or do you not see those things?
It's an interesting question. Do you also not re-read books? (genuine question, not trying to be snarky).
Yes, there are some movies that I have increasing problems with the more I see them. It's not random that so many of the movies I have seen many times come from my teen years (and for many of them a rewatch 30+ years later with the fringelet revealed things I find much more problematic now than I did when I was watching them repeatedly).
And there are some that are just comfortable — a way to turn off the hamster brain for a couple of hours and relax without much thought (
Groundhog Day or
Holy Grail or
North by Northwest)
But there are some movies that do hold up for me. For some of them it's a way to tap into a specific set of feelings and emotions that make it worthwhile for me to ignore any niggling issues that crop up (
A Christmas Story,
Indiana Jones). For others (
Bull Durham,
Princess Bride, and
Casablanca fall into this category for me) I genuinely don't notice the problems I am sure would be there if I focused my whole intellectual brain on it — And I don't do that focusing thing specifically because I don't want to ruin it.
It's also interesting to me that I hear this concern about issues with re-engaging a piece of art most often with regards to movies. I virtually never hear someone say "well, I've heard the Vienna Philharmonic recording of Beethoven's Fifth once, never need to listen to that again" or "I've seen Michelangelo's David once, no need to go back to that".
Quote from: clean on July 23, 2021, 09:04:53 AM
Quote(And this is without even getting into things like the mess George Lucas made when he "updated" the original movie.)
First and Foremost, Han Shot First!!
And there are indeed multiple renditions of Star Wars... not just the added CGI, but there are scenes that are in earlier releases that are out of later ones, only to come back to even later ones. (There is a scene in the Death Star where a trooper states, "Close the Blast Doors, Close the Blast doors" Then Han and Chewy get through and he is now yelling "Open the Blast Doors, Open the Blast doors" that i was amused by when I first saw it, but was missing on the rerelease, but then returned in a later release.
I find some of the CGI that was added in Mos Eisley distracting.
but I reiterate, HAN SHOT FIRST! That is the greatest and most annoying change to me!
On this note, I recommend "The People vs. George Lucas" to you Star Wars nerds ;)
I've seen a number of these movies mentioned by previous posters. A lot of them have been on TV so I'll watch and change channels when the commercials come.
I remember when the original "Star Wars" movies were in theaters for a special anniversary release in the late '90s. I was in middle school at the time.
Last year, I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" in color on DVD. Brought out details I hadn't noticed in the original black & white version! Also on DVD, "White Christmas" and "Charlie Brown" holiday specials without commercial interruption.
"Ten Commandments" (1956)
"Gladiator"
Most of Disney's animated movies from back in the day as well as the newer ones
Quote from: onthefringe on July 23, 2021, 09:28:01 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on July 23, 2021, 07:01:58 AM
As I said in the "asides" thread, there are very few movies I've intentionally seen more than once. Each time I rewatch a movie, I see more plot implausibilities (or downright plot holes), character inconsistencies, continuity errors, etc. and so my impression of the movie gets worse.
How do those of you who watch the same movies repeatedly deal with that? Or do you not see those things?
It's an interesting question. Do you also not re-read books? (genuine question, not trying to be snarky).
Generally not. (And no snark assumed.) It's pretty much the same. For instance, I read
LOTR and
The Hobbit myself, and then read them to my kids, but I haven't re-read either of them since.
Quote
Yes, there are some movies that I have increasing problems with the more I see them. It's not random that so many of the movies I have seen many times come from my teen years (and for many of them a rewatch 30+ years later with the fringelet revealed things I find much more problematic now than I did when I was watching them repeatedly).
And there are some that are just comfortable — a way to turn off the hamster brain for a couple of hours and relax without much thought (Groundhog Day or Holy Grail or North by Northwest)
But there are some movies that do hold up for me. For some of them it's a way to tap into a specific set of feelings and emotions that make it worthwhile for me to ignore any niggling issues that crop up (A Christmas Story, Indiana Jones). For others (Bull Durham, Princess Bride, and Casablanca fall into this category for me) I genuinely don't notice the problems I am sure would be there if I focused my whole intellectual brain on it — And I don't do that focusing thing specifically because I don't want to ruin it.
It's also interesting to me that I hear this concern about issues with re-engaging a piece of art most often with regards to movies. I virtually never hear someone say "well, I've heard the Vienna Philharmonic recording of Beethoven's Fifth once, never need to listen to that again" or "I've seen Michelangelo's David once, no need to go back to that".
Music I'll grant is different, but even for visual art I'd say that having seen the Louvre once, I don't really feel the need to go back and see it again, and see the
originals of all of those works of art.
Come to think of it, a piece of music I've heard
in concert I wouldn't feel the need to go hear
live again several times. Maybe listening to a music recording is like quoting lines from movies; it evokes much of the enjoyment without the cost of trying to relive the original experience, which is impossible.
Full Metal Jacket, mostly just the first half of the movie, about 20 times. I watched it with some friends in college who saw it maybe 50 times.
I rarely watch anything more than once. I have not kept track but I may have seen Metropolis around 10 times.
Quote from: marshwiggle on July 23, 2021, 10:46:48 AM
Quote from: onthefringe on July 23, 2021, 09:28:01 AM
Quote from: marshwiggle on July 23, 2021, 07:01:58 AM
As I said in the "asides" thread, there are very few movies I've intentionally seen more than once. Each time I rewatch a movie, I see more plot implausibilities (or downright plot holes), character inconsistencies, continuity errors, etc. and so my impression of the movie gets worse.
How do those of you who watch the same movies repeatedly deal with that? Or do you not see those things?
It's an interesting question. Do you also not re-read books? (genuine question, not trying to be snarky).
Generally not. (And no snark assumed.) It's pretty much the same. For instance, I read LOTR and The Hobbit myself, and then read them to my kids, but I haven't re-read either of them since.. Maybe listening to a music recording is like quoting lines from movies; it evokes much of the enjoyment without the cost of trying to relive the original experience, which is impossible.
Hmm, I've never tried to figure out why and how I enjoy re-watching and re-reading. There are many works that I enjoy once and have no desire to watch/read again. I enjoyed
the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but have no interest in seeing it again. There are parts of
Other People's Money that are perfect for checking on the washer, vacuuming the carpet, taking out the trash, but I re-watch it for specific scenes. I usually move about during parts of any movie that I'm re-watching, enjoying the highlights without needing to commit two hours. Re-reading is much the same, a mix of rapid skimming and slow savoring of favorite parts. There are a few books I re-read attentively, generally because the language is beautiful, but I'm usually relaxing into the comfort of familiar words, characters, story.
Also The Exorcist and It Follows.
Very, very few horror films have anything to say, and these are two horror films which actually generate philosophical and cultural commentary.
It just occurred to me that if we extend this to dance films, I can include Ailey's Revelations, which I taught every year in my art history classes, as well as seeing it myself, live, twice, and the excerpts from various versions of Swan Lake, etc. that were used as comparanda.
And as for live performances, as well as films, I'd have to include Nutcracker over the years I reviewed it, and maybe Midsummer Night's Dream, which I probably saw six times at least....one has to view multiple casts, etc. for completeness' sake.
Maybe that's the other point; I enjoyed those multiple viewings (I also didn't have to pay for most of them) because they supported the analysis I wanted to do; again, if it's part of ones work, one might not also engage in as many repetitions as a leisure pursuit unless the comparative qualities of various performances are of interest.
And there's the other point; finances that allow one to see something one's already seen before aren't always available to all, or at least if they're tight, the economic questions of utility and variety come into play, as well.
Hmmm...
M.
Quote from: Wahoo Redux on July 24, 2021, 08:08:52 AM
Also The Exorcist and It Follows.
Very, very few horror films have anything to say, and these are two horror films which actually generate philosophical and cultural commentary.
While I agree that there are lots of horror films without any substance, there are many that offer interesting social commentary. Recent films that come to mind are It Follows, but also Get Out, Us, and the Purge movies, but also classics like Night of the Living Dead*, Dawn of the Dead**, the Fly***, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre****, among others.
* First film to have a black man in the lead role and after saving the day (and slapping a hysterical white woman in the process) he is senselessly killed by police
** Takes place in a mall and key theme is consumerism
*** Some say it is a commentary on the AIDS epidemic
**** Slaughterhouse workers put out of work by automation take to massacring teenagers instead of cows and pigs
In the spirit of the thread, I'll recommend a couple of documentaries that delve into this:
- The American Nightmare
- Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film
As to rewatching: some films definitely DO have plot holes and such (I defy anyone to give a clear and accurate one-paragraph synopsis of The Big Sleep). Others are less clear-cut. Sometimes those plot issues do bother me (Raiders of the Lost Ark, for instance), but there are other reasons that the film calls me back.
In the films I've watched over and over, I still rarely come away without seeing something new, whether internal to the film itself, or (more often) making some kind of connection of a detail to either something in contemporary film/tv or real life, OR to another film from that same era/covering the same period in its plot. I'll also watch something on tv or another film and find myself thinking, "Ah--wait a minute. This is like/a modern version of/directly in opposition to [something in another film]." Exploring and thinking about those similarities/homages/differences is part of the fun.
Certainly, lots of those films are just plain comfort food: I'll watch Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story and White Heat et al. any time, anywhere, even though I can turn off the sound and deliver every characters' lines verbatim. They're just such solid stories that hold up both for what they do and say and for what they mean, that I never tire of them. And it's hard to not see the relevance of a lot of them today, decades after they were filmed (i.e., watch Dana Andrews in the bomber junk yard in The Best Years of Our Lives now, and put yourself in his place, in our shared post-pandemic experience).
Finally, it's a chicken-and-egg thing for me, just as my personal experiences growing up, in terms of how both shaped and are reflected in my professional interests and research. Did hearing my dad's and those family elders' stories of life during the Depression and the war lead to my interest in those eras? Was my surprisingly liberal (for the time and region) church training as a kid instrumental in my interest in 19th C reform movements? Did my exposure to a lot of these movies from my childhood help me as I trained in American studies, and did that exposure and study feed each other? Yes, absolutely, without a doubt. I was an old soul and a chronicler and a sponge soaking up the past from my earliest memories. And because all these things are so intertwined, that's why I can and do re-watch movies over and over: they're definitely old friends, but they each contain something new and unexpected and fresh.
It also probably goes without saying that I can't imagine not revisiting pieces of music, seeing a particular singer/group more than once, and so on. Of course, this isn't to say that I'm right and anyone who feels differently is wrong--we're just different, which is the fun of getting to know other people and their ideas!
Way tl;dr version: I watch and rewatch old movies because I can't imagine not doing so.
By the way: I really appreciate this thread--I'm seriously thinking about using the discussion as the topic for an argument essay for my Comp II class this fall! :-)
There are a bunch of movies I've watched multiple times, but I think the only ones I've probably watched at least 10 times were Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Princess Bride, Clue, A Few Good Men, Dirty Dancing. Possibly Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. Maybe A Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 3, maybe Cloak and Dagger and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I guess something that is on quite often like The Wizard of Oz might be in the list as well, and of course there are plenty of movies for kids that I've watched often because I have kids. I just don't watch a lot of movies, so I tend to try to watch ones I haven't seen rather than rewatch.
It occurs to me that since I used it in classes for a few years, I may have seen Do The Right Thing close to 10 times. It is a good movie too.
I should have added The Truman Show to my list. I've used this movie in class quite a bit. This movie becomes darker and darker each time I see it.
I tend to prefer rewatching some movies for the corny lines and the silliness of them, and so I can mouth the lines and just relax--especially with my kids. It also helps us develop an internal code of humor. For example, when one of my kids' friends lost her bike (her mother had put it in the van without telling her), my daughter chimed in, "Maybe it's at the Alamo. You know, in the basement" and she and I laughed like a couple of idiots. Anyone who hasn't seen Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure has no clue what we are talking about. Which makes it funnier. Likewise, don't ask my kids their favorite color because their obvious response is, "Blue, no, yel-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Quote from: mamselle on July 24, 2021, 09:06:37 AM
I can include Ailey's Revelations,
We saw this live.
It was unbelievably moving.
Yes. The coolest thing I discovered was that my students wanted to see all of it.
I would normally pull "Fix Me, Jesus," and either "Wade in the Water," or the finale to show in class; students invariably asked to either have the whole tape put on closed reserve in the library, or to have an evening viewing time when they could bring friends, which we also did whenever possible.
Several mentioned it in evals as something they were grateful for as well.
M.
It's interesting, but I think I get insights into peeps non-Fora personalities from this thread.
I don't think there's any that I've watched over 10 times, but the closest is definitely Let The Right One In (2008). Probably second place is Ginger Snaps (2000). Oddly enough both horror though I'm not usually a horror fan - but then these are not typical horror movies.
Forgot about The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. In my semi-historical writings, I've gone back to the "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend" line countless times.
It's a movie that rewards repeat viewings--for example, the James Stewart-Vera Miles love story turns extremely sad, and the movie only hints at this and moves on. The film caps director John Ford's ongoing theme of the civilization of the West. And some of it is funny as hell (particularly a coroner's succinct pronouncement after a climactic shootout). Plus it's the John Wayne movie that provides the dialogue for the most efficient John Wayne impression (he addresses Stewart's character as "pilgrim").
Arsenic and Old Lace.
When I was growing up our family watched "What's Up Doc," with Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neill, during an early network TV appearance. It has been a family favorite ever since. We still watch it now and then at family get-togethers.
I eventually learned that it's a very loose remake of "Bringing Up Baby," with Cary Grant and Catherine Hepburn. I got Mom and Dad that one on video, and now we have fun watching it too.