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!