The rule is: life is way too short for crappy movies. The problem is there are a LOT of crappy movies out there… so how do you find the gems?
Of course “crappy” is completely subjective, and some bad movies have to be seen, anyway, from a collective culture standpoint. I will still watch a trainwreck of a film if I can be doing something else while the film runs or if I can watch it with others who will help to lampoon it, and who will share the pain. For example: Expendables 3 was a disaster of a film — lousy plot, too many players, and truly awful scripting — but since I loved the first Expendables, and enjoyed the second, I wanted to round out the trilogy. Plus: Jason Statham was on screen for parts of it. Sharknado was bad on a whole other level — but because a few celebrities started live-tweeting their experience, it suddenly became part of the zeitgeist.
It’s pretty easy to come across bad movies. On the other side of the scale, I love movies and I love finding movies I’d never heard of that turn out to be great; the trick is finding them — so here’s a few methods I’ve used.
Up Next Serendipity. Scrolling through TV listings — I prefer movie channels that run the films without ads, but I will even suffer through Peachtree’s continuous ad breaks for a good film — sometimes I take a chance on whatever is playing next. Last night, I found one called Stuck in Love about a family of writers and how they struggle with relationships. Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly are the adult leads, and it made me cry, damn it. Turner Classic Movies is a great channel for Up Next Serendipity because they often show films in clusters based on theme, director, or actor.
Scroll and Select. Netflix and MovieCentral’s “on demand” listings can hold the odd surprise. Recently I watched In A World and Stories We Tell on MovieCentral. Both are about adult daughters’ relationships with their fathers; one is a quirky independent film about the male-dominated world of voiceovers and the other is a documentary by Sarah Polley about tracking down the truth to a family secret. Both very much worth seeing. On Netflix one of the best documentaries I discovered recently was Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay — completely engrossing. I have watched it twice and if I find it on DVD I will buy it so I can watch it again and again.
Trailer Tracking. You know how DVDs have trailers at the beginning? Sometimes, especially for independent films, that’s the only place you’ll ever hear about a film. One of the DVDs we picked up on a whim, Happythankyoumoreplease had a bunch of great trailers for films that we have never been able to find. Anywhere. But I have a list… and I regularly check it against Netflix and other sources…. one day, I will find those films.
Recommendations. Yes, I listen to other people’s opinions! However, sometimes the recommendation tells you more about that friend, or what that friend thinks of you, than anything else. I also read lists, reviews, books about films… and sometimes I will seek out a specific film but often the titles just settle into the back of my mind for those scrolling and up next moments when I find myself thinking, “Oh, yes, I wanted to see that!”
So… what do you recommend?