Movies you couldn't even finish.

Just a friendly question to everyone...why are people so seemingly bothered if another person shuts off a movie before finishing it? Poor Stirch she's been razzed about that since she started posting on this thread.

I find the idea of being compelled to watch every single movie you start to be way more of a problem than having free will and deciding a movie is not for you and shutting it off and going on to the next movie to watch.

Definitely.

I see two big trends here: people who can't get with today's sensibilities and wish today's movies had the sensibilities from 50 years ago; then there's those who wish movies from 80 years ago or so reflected the sensibilities of the 2020s. Neither position seems sensible to me, but let people continue trying to get through movies they have no hope of ever truly appreciating.

The friendly answer is I don’t care what people watch. I just find it odd to start so many movies that two minutes of research would tell you that you wouldn’t like. 100’s of movies a year that I don’t bother with. It’s even more odd to talk about movies you haven’t watched as if you have. Really, that’s what all those conversations in the thread have been about. Not free will. We have a thread for that, at least we used to.

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#JusticeForHamilton

I believe Stirch has said she looks at movie reviews from the New York Times and then puts them on a watch list.

Well if she can read the reviews she should also know what kind of movies they are and whether or not they're the kind of thing she'd enjoy

Not that I care what Stirch does or doesn't do. But I don't think a person can tell from a review or a trailer or from a synopsis if they will like the movie or not. I don't know what it is that Stirch doesn't like about these movies? But I'm guessing she watches stuff that initially sounded good to her. But why is it so frustrating to people that she bails on movies?

People come to movie forums to talk about movies, likes, dislikes, any odd movie-watching habit they want to share.

I believe by any rational standard, renting 100s of movies and not watching them all the way has to qualify as an odd habit, and she doesn't appear to mind people discussing it (or else she wouldn't post about it so frequently).

If I were a more cynical person I would wonder if she's just trolling for attention... but I'm not...

But you do think they can tell from 15 minutes?

Stirch isn't trolling, I guarantee that. For anything else I'll let her answer.

Also, I think asking why it bothers us so much is fair. It definitely shouldn’t. But I would also ask you why it bothers you so much that people are bothered by it?

I don’t comment on Stirch’s inability to finish a film, but it is weird how quickly she comes to her decision to do so and it shouldn’t come as a surprise when people question why.

Of course, that’s her concern, no one else’s. And that goes both ways.

Think I'll stop answering for Stirch!
But me, yes 90% of the time I can tell within 15 minutes if I will like a film or not. And there's been plenty of those films that I've ended up watching to the end and rarely do they improve for my taste. I fully know that they might be great movies but not to my liking.

I don't think anyone here is bothered by Stirchley giving up on so many films. Or, at least, I'm not. Any posts I make joking about her movie watching habits are all in good fun. I don't mean anything personal towards her. What she chooses to watch is her own business. I just find it to be an odd habit to give up on so many films partway into them. She does it more than just about every movie buff/cinephile I can think of. Which doesn't mean what she does is bad by any means. After all, given I watched Warhol's Empire in full, one could say my movie watching habits are also odd.

That said, I think there's a lot you can learn from watching films you dislike, films outside of your wheelhouse, or films which have some controversial/extreme content all the way through. And giving up on them a few minutes in won't help much with this. To paraphrase mark f, you should make it a goal to learn something new from each film you watch. There's not a single film I've watched from beginning to end where, regardless of how much I liked or disliked it, I felt I didn't learn anything from the experience.

Fair question. I feel like Stirch has been razzed from time to time on this thread and I guess it's the humanitarian in me that feels like helping out the underdog. Also myself I have shut off films after 15 minutes, mainly back when I had Netflix so I feel the need to defend people's right to do so. Plus it's something to talk about when the board is slow!

Ohh, I'm back to talking for Stirch...I believe she watches movies for entertainment and has no interest in being a cinephille or exploring film like many of us do. I mean just said today she said she'd never seen a Doris Day film and won't watch one

I'm definitely not bothered by it.

But I am puzzled, baffled, astonished, mystified and gobsmacked.

To me it is unfathomable not to finish any movie once I've started.

Learning how other people do it can still be a fascinating experience!

I don't believe anyone's questioning if others are within their right, it would be churlish to question whether they're within their right.

Why someone would do it can still seem perplexing, no?

The board being slow sounds about right. That’s usually when I find myself in this thread.

Framing this as about free will or someone’s rights is kind of bizarre. Presumably people post on a forum to discuss what they post. Not sure why this thread would be out of bounds.

Topic jokes:

When Stirch first watched The 10 Commandments... she only made it to number 2!

Stirch still has no idea that there is a color portion in the Wizard of Oz!

After turning The Empire Strikes Back off 3/4 of the way through, Stirch thought the plot a bit predictable what with Vader having reportedly killed Luke's father.

Stirch turned The Sixth Sense off halfway through for lacking any significant plot twists!

When Stirch hears people talk about 2001 A Space Odyssey she thinks HAL must be the name of one of the ape men (since it got turned off after 10 minutes)!

Because Stirch turned off Gone With the Wind, she's under the impression that Rhett Butler DOES give a damn!

It's always interesting to learn why people think and do what they do.

I'm not saying it's out of bounds, just taking the counterpoint.