Is there a difference between watching a movie and seeing a movie? To me, seeing seems deeper, involving a conscious effort to find the message or meaning, while watching is more akin to TV channel surfing. I watch a movie and if there is a message or meaning that I get, then I see.By nature, I over think, and so it is with deciding what to watch. In the years before computers and film guides, movie critics were the best informed source of advice. I found the recommendations of John Hartl of the Seattle Times a good match for my tastes. Then Siskel & Ebert came to TV, with the tastes of Siskel the better match for me (I still like his guideline, "Do you care about the characters?"). Maltin's film guide was handy and extensive, but the accuracy for me was mixed, probably because of the team approach that had to be used to review so many movies.
I used to subscribe to the magazines Films in Review and Sight and Sound, but by the time the magazines arrived, the films were usually gone from the theaters. Foreign films were only shown at the Ridgemont in Greenwood and sometimes at a couple places in the University District. The University put on a quarterly film series which concentrated on films from one country each quarter. The only movies shown on TV were old Hollywood ones.
The most reliable referral source for me now is the Netflix algorithm, based on my own ratings compared with those of other members who rate like me. After watching a movie, I use the Netflix filmographies of the director and actors to find other films of interest. I also look at the reader reviews and sometimes the critics reviews (though Ebert rates so many movies good that I suspect he is influenced by the Netflix desire to keep people renting). I still check out any other recommendations I get from Netflix, family, friends and various media sources, by seeing what the Netflix algorithm predicts for me.
My Netflix queue usually has about 200 movies. If a movie is available from the King County Library (which a little over half are) I get it there, so my Library queue has about 250. I tried to maintain this second queue at Netflix, but found it cumbersome, so now I keep a database with both queues and can sort movies by genre, date, length, language and Netflix prediction. I watch 4 or 5 a week each from Netflix (which is making a smart business move during a down economy by working extra hard to keep the movies coming fast) and the library, with the mix designed to go with my mood and to provide some variety.
Susan is my resident movie watching companion, but she works full time and our tastes differ somewhat. She retires at year end, so may become more involved in movie picking after that.
In November I watched 33 movies, dated 1936 to 2009, all dramas except for 3 comedies, 3 romances, 2 documentaries and 1 sci-fi, all in English except 4 Spanish, 2 German and 1 each Hungarian, Italian and Japanese, predicted by Netflix from 3.4 to 2.8 and rated by me from 3.8 to 2. For my mathematically inclined readers (especially John), the Netflix predictions were accurate on the average to within .1, with only 4 being off by more than .5, and the median being an exact match.
Tangental questions: At what point did foreign films begin to make it into more of the Seattle-area theaters? Was there a particular film that served as a kind of crossover title--something too brilliant or at least too accessible not to show along with the standard US made art house flicks? Did you watch foreign films (at home or in theater) when your kids (that's me and the bros) were young? Were they on TV?
ReplyDeleteI remember the French film "A Man and a Woman" playing in Seattle for about a year, probably in 1966-1967. It was a fairly dull but somewhat sexy movie with a catchy music theme, so it was reasonably appealing to those not familiar with foreign films. Ironically, the success of that movie cut into the screen time for other foreign films. I don't remember foreign films taking off at that time, however.
ReplyDeleteMarriage and babies cut down movie going for me. TV did not offer foreign fare, but a few film theaters continued showing them. I don't remember exposing you, Anna and your brothers to foreign films. The starting of the Seattle International Film Festival in 1976 probably signaled the turning point in access to foreign movies in Seattle.