My parents were very big on innocence--that is, they didn't want me seeing things before I was ready to see them. Sex, violence, etc. There were a lot of movies I wasn't permitted to see; it's hard to get tickets when you don't look old enough to get into a PG-13 movie. A lot of people in town (mentioned in a previous post) got to see things like Halloween or Gladiator. My parents weren't down for that. Consequently, my knowledge of movies after 1978 was pretty flat. This changed after coming to film school.
I opted to take the critical studies route for a variety of reasons. For one, it was the quickest way to get into film school--waiting for eligibility to apply to production would waste two years, and there's no guarantee I would get into the program. I hate wasted time (which seems odd because of all the time I actually waste). I also had a little bit of experience in it from high school. I also figured (and rightly) that most people in the production program wanted to be directors or cinematographers. Some are pretentious, it's quite annoying, but expected of an artist of any variety. I can be pretentious myself. When I started interacting with other film majors I heard stories about how when they reached the final production phase the people who didn't get to be directors would sometimes become lackadaisical about the project. I didn't want to sign up for that. Not to badmouth the program or the people--humans are humans, I expect behavior like that.
What I wasn't ready for was the amount of media I was about to digest. Sure, I knew it was coming, but anticipating the experience and experiencing it are two different things. Watching around 15-17 movies a semester (at the least) and remembering details is a daunting task. There were times when I had two classes at once--seeing upwards of 40 movies in 15 weeks in a bit ridiculous, but mandatory. Eventually I got tired of watching movies. I'm really behind in terms of movies form the last 4 years...I rarely watched new releases because I could never turn my brain off (and other people hated my running commentary).
But now I'm FREE. No more critical studies, no more analyzing movies (for now), and I can go back to enjoying things that love about movies. There really is a huge difference in perception when you have to turn off parts of your brain, lest you get distracted by what you enjoy. I missed enjoying epic film scores with super heavy brass and silvery strings, getting into characters' heads, enjoying sometimes the simplicity of everything.
I'm currently watching Ponyo. Maybe not everyone's style, but I've pretty much run the gamut this break. I've seen a handfull: Moon, Brick, Surrogates, Dragon Wars, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (shhh), Black Sheep, Foreign Correspondent, Up, The Flight of the Red Balloon, The Red Balloon, The Men Who Stare at Goats, and California Split, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse, and Transformers: The Movie. That's a lot. And I've enjoyed all of it.
Clearly I watch a variety of films: the campy to the serious, ultra-retarded to classic films (I didn't get to finish Dirty Harry because of family games). I keep a running tab of movies that I love: I keep a list of the good movies, and also of the good bad movies (I love love love Troll 2, super campy).
I'm going to see so much stuff this semester. Here we go.
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