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Thursday, May 25, 2023

What Makes Me Want to Watch It?

I recently posted a list of ten things that make me want to try out a book over on my book blog.  I had so much fun figuring those out that I thought I should do the same about movies.  What makes me think, "Yup, that is something I would like to watch?" about particular films?  I've come up with ten magnets that will always draw my attention.


1.  It's a western.  I will try basically any movie or TV show based solely on the fact that it is a western.  I don't have to know what it's about.  I don't have to know or care about anyone who's in it, the director, the composer, anything.  It's a western?  I'm there.  (With the obvious caveat that, if I learn it's skanky, I will either proceed with caution or skip it.)

2.  It stars someone I hold dear.  For a fairly large number of actors and actresses, not even remotely limited to my top favorites (actors, actresses), I will try nearly any movie or show.  Nearly -- I do have some standards, so even top favorites occasionally have made something I will pass on.  But the presence of someone I hold dear ties with "it's a western" for the top thing guaranteed to get me to watch something.

3.  It's set during WWII.  I mean, my top favorite TV show of all time (Combat! [1962-67]) is based in WWII.  That should tell you a lot.  A WWII-era setting, whether it's a war zone or the home front, will always grab my interest.

4.  It's based on a good book.  Bonus points if it's a classic book, but yeah, I love movies that are adaptations of books!  I often watch them first to find out if I like the characters and story, then go read the book if I do.  That makes the book feel like an expanded version of the story, rather than making the movie feel like a condensed version of a book I've read.

5.  It has heroes in it.  Yes, that includes superheroes, but it includes a lot more than that, too.  You throw words like "hero," "rescue," "sacrifice," and "courage" at me, and I am instantly paying attention.  I do enjoy superhero movies, but it's heroism in general that draws me to so many action movies, fantasy and sci-fi movies, and so on.  Westerns and war movies appeal to me because they so often involve heroes.

6.  It's film noir.  Got some gritty stories and mean streets and fatally attractive women and weary almost-heroes and murky shadows you could drown in?  I'm here for it.  Yes, heroes are thin on the ground in this genre, but they're there.  And antiheroes abound.

7.  It revolves around a platonic friendship.  If there are two characters who have or form a close bond of friendship, and that's the main relationship that the story centers around, I am interested right away.  So many of my favorite movies and TV shows revolve around either a pair of friends or a group of them!  "Found families" play into this -- group friendship bonds interest me just as much as a friendship between just two people.

8.  It's set in the 1960s.  My husband likes to tease me that I grew up in the sixties.  I didn't -- I wasn't born until the eighties -- but when I was growing up, most of the movies and TV shows we watched at home were made in the sixties because that's when my parents grew up, so that's what formed their taste.  And so, it's what formed my taste.  Whether a movie or show was made in the sixties or later on, if that's when it's set, I want to try it out!

9.  Someone I trust tells me I would like it.  I definitely will try movies just because specific people tell me I should.  My parents, my brother, DKoren, and two or three other people can get me to watch a movie on their recommendation alone.

10. It has a detective in it.  Yes, I love mysteries.  I particularly love to read them, but I enjoy watching them too.  Many of my favorite TV shows revolve around detectives solving crimes, and I like movies about them too.

So, basically, if it has a certain setting or specific types of characters, or simply stars particular people, I'm interested!  

17 comments:

  1. We definitely have a few similarities here! And I like seeing the carryovers from the reading list to here. We like what we like, right? The "set in the 1960s" one cracks me up. But I've been having almost as hard a time coming up with 10 of these as I am the reading one! I may shorten both to 5. That, I think, I can do. Hee.

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    1. DKoren, I am not surprised :-) And yeah, since I kind of experience books and movies in extremely similar ways, it's not at all surprising that there are some major similarities between my two lists.

      Five would still be interesting!

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    2. I managed to get 7 for the reading one and post that, so we'll see what I can come up with for this one!

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    3. Just grabbed a minute to read your post, DKoren, and it was so fascinating! Like, everything on it made sense for what I knew about you, but I wouldn't necessarily have come up with any of them myself if you asked me what I thought made you want to read a book. Aside from fantasy settings and adventure on the high seas -- I probably could have figured those out.

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  2. "It stars someone I hold dear" - I have watched the weirdest, most obscure movies and TV show episodes thanks to actors like Sean Bean and Dana Andrews. XD

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    1. Eva, ohhhhhh, yes. Obscure and unusual and just play weird stuff gets watched for the same of a beloved actor or actress allll the time here.

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  3. I think it's cool that you have a strong affinity for the 1960s even though you didn't live through it, because your parents did and shared their favorite '60s movies with you. I'm curious, do you feel the same way about music from the sixties (the Beatles, etc.)?

    I think I'm the opposite when it comes to book adaptations; I prefer to read the book first just because books naturally make more sense to me. I struggle with visual storytelling because I'm not a super visual person. So once I've read the book, I have a "map" in my head that helps me follow the movie.

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    1. Katie, I LOVE sixties music! I mean, Bobby Darin is my favorite singer, and he was recording from the late '50s through the early '70s, so the bulk of his stuff is from the '60s. I also love the Beach Boys (I even went to a concert of theirs while in college), Dean Martin, Elvis, Neil Diamond, the Monkees... and Cowboy owns every single song the Beatles recorded.

      Most people do tend to prefer to read the book first, whether because they think they are "supposed to," or because they just process stories better that way, like you.

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    2. THE BEACH BOYS!! I love them!! Their music always makes me smile :D

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    3. Katie, the Beach Boys are Feel Good Music in the best way!!!

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  4. This so should be your next tag with these enticing titles.. as my dad would say go for it kid x

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    1. Gill, that would be fun! Maybe I'll do something similar on up the road...

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  5. I am already mentally thinking of how adapt your titles.. and love your musical tastes

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    1. Gill, awww. I love my musical taste too, lol! Happily, I married a guy who also loves Oldies.

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  6. What an interesting post! I, too, never really thought about what makes me want to watch a film...besides the obvious rule of watching something with a favorite actor/actress in it. If you like movies with heroes in it, then you have plenty of titles to choose from! I don't think you will ever run out of films with that criteria. This might sound strange, but I would watch a film based on its color scheme. If I happened to see a lobby card or a photo online of a film ( especially from the 1960s ), and the color looks really fetching, I'd watch it. And I think just about any film set in an English village would go to the top of the list as well. :-)

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    1. Metzingers, I'm so glad you enjoyed this! It's fun to ponder, isn't it? And yeah, loving heroes means I definitely have a lot of options.

      Katie Hanna, who commented above, often likes moves based on the strength of their visual aesthetic, so I get what you are saying. Sometimes that specific use of color can be very important!

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