So you would have to decide to watch it "for real" first out of mere possibility.
Yes. That's exactly right. That's the risk and it's one of the reasons I don't have a lot of reverence for critic worship. Or more specifically, using them as a way to limit that risk. Not that there aren't good critics (or at least there used to be). Not that I don't want people to bring some kind of educated or articulate or passionate talk about what they are watching (I obviously do, and preferably all three if I can get it). But because it gets people pre-emptively pushing films away that there is critically negative consensus on. And even during the golden age of film criticism, critics often got things 'wrong'. They pushed back on the supposed lack of morality in a film, or they valued seeing money up on the screen and resented any hint of cheapness, or the film was simply way ahead of the curve and they didn't see the potentially value in it once audiences caught up.
In short, before watching a film, who gives a rats ass what critics think. Not that I can't sometimes be compelled towards or away from a film because of negative or positive accolades. I can. Of course I can because that's how human brains work. We stupidly trust the opinions of the majority. And we desperately cling to our time like it is invaluable currency due to its inevitable finiteness, making us overly resentful for anything that 'wastes' it (but its actually very much this pointless worry that ends up making us hate movies that might not be up to snuff in the first place, something which is in itself it's own conversation that I will save for another time)
So what is the issue I have with this exactly? Well, it has a lot to do with the word youre using here. Possibility. Yes, that comes with all sorts of danger that you will think the film is a total turkey, but it also contains every other positive outcome. And everything in between. And so watching a film now becomes about discovery. And limiting or avoiding risk, limits this. So is risk really such a bad thing? Or is it so terrible to maximize risk? What is that quote about the road less travelled?
Now I already understand I'm not going to get many takers on this. That most people, in general, avoid risk like the plague. Or maybe it's just the majority of people don't think film watching is the place to play these games of chance. That this is the one activity where they want to be as sure of the outcome as possible (and by outcome, I mean their general satisfaction with the movie). Movies are there way to relax. To, effectively, kill time as painlessly as possible.
But for me this is just about as blech as it comes. When I put a film on, I most often have zero idea how I am going to respond to it. Frequently even putting on films that I think might be completely contrary to my tastes. And then....I get to see what happens. I can live in the moment of discovery. I can find and notice things that maybe others have discarded because they were too busy fidgeting from the frustration of not getting what they hoped for. And, I've got to say, it's a pretty wonderous thing. And it's a feeling that can happen even while I'm watching movies I don't like very much. Because it's all about the one experience this movie, and this movie only, can supply me. For better or worse. Just like if you are walking down that lesser travelled road and you pick up some random stone, and hold it, and feel it, and look at it, and know no one else has probably paid any attention to it for who knows how long. Maybe never.
And then, sometimes, the movies happens to be pretty good. Or even great. Sometimes that forgotten rock you have picked up has a bit of a sparkle to it. And if you hadn't thought to hold it in your hand, and the sun didn't hit it at just the right angle, no one would have ever seen the little secret it contains.
So to me, even though it isn't a completely irrelevant matter, it doesn't matter all that much if it was the best stone I could have picked up along the way. Or even a good stone. It just matters that I picked it up. And I am looking at it. And can contemplate it and possibly, somehow, see something beautiful in it. And in those instances where it is little more than just a plain old rock, maybe all that was beautiful was the simple act of picking it up. Choosing something out of everything else that's out there and giving it your attention.
Now, if someone has no particular interest in a rock (or a movie), I don't blame them for not grasping why looking at a rock (or a movie), simply to look at it without any promise of any tangible reward at all can have much value. "Was it at least shaped like a dick", some might hope, in order to understand that maybe it was something to laugh at. Something that will help them measure its worth. But the point is, it was just a rock (or a movie). And if you like rocks (or movies) just being rocks (or movies) it doesn't really matter which one you pick up. It doesn't need to be shaped like a dick. It just needs to be a rock (or movie)
Now at this point, I think you might start thinking that this really doesn't have much to do with movies at all. Or even rocks. And you would sort of be right. It's a philosophical approach to life. And in my life, one of the things I like, are movies (also music, conversation, paintings, books, animals and....that's about it). These are what I like to pass my time with. This is the road I travel down. And since I have chosen my road, I am almost ambivalent towards what I am taking in as I walk down it. It's all good. It's all worth seeing. Because it's my road and no one elses.
Now, of course there will be arduous stretches, and boring stretches, and exciting stretches, and dangerous scary stretches, even times I step in animal turds and shake my fists at the skies. But they are all a part of it. It's all one big discovery and I just let happen. And fretting over whether one part is better than another part, is a distraction. What matters is once all those movies are lumped together, a big lump we can call life, it's about the adventure that led me to each of them.
Of course, I'm pretty firmly on record here of having pretty strong stances on all sorts of films. Ones I say I hate from the depths of my soul, and other ones I'm indifferent towards and then all the many ones I love. So maybe I'm just a big hypocrite. But the reality is, like the title Minio's other thread, is that I don't actually know how to hate any of them. I still appreciate the ones that don't work. Or the ones that have nothing to offer at all. But due to the fact I like the whole nature of debate, I throw these verdicts of mine out there to just generate conversation. And I will debate fiercely to defend those pointless designations, mostly just to keep conversations interesting. But the reality is debate is probably too strong a word for any of it. I don't really need anyone to have their minds changed or to agree with anything I said. All I want is to be heard, and the 'debate' is just a way to tell the tales of my journey. And you've got to have your highs and lows, your ups and downs, to keep things interesting.
As for the rest of your post, maybe I'll get to some of those points later, but this one kind of sapped me for the moment.