i have been to the video store too often, in the past few weeks. clearly it is providing a release of some sort. however it grows harder and harder to pick a movie there, the pain of picking a movie is very real and difficult to bear. Each time I wonder if I can ever return. it seems my tastes are growing narrower. I'm starting to see patterns, of things in movies that I do not care to watch. I'm making categories.
Category 1: Monster movies with a crappy looking monster on the front of the dvd. There are too many to count. As soon as I see one of these, I imagine the terribly made film it entails, all the scary thrilling moments that lead up to first seeing the creature, and then the rest of the unsatisfying film. in a moment, it is over, and I am bored, and made all the less for this moment. I think I saw a movie like this when I was thirteen, can't remember what it was called. They've made this film, no need to remake it, which itself is an entire category of movies, but I'll skip that.
Category 2: A thrilling new action movie starring your favorite set of familiar actors who really really needed this job. Dean Cain, Christian Slater, any of the Baldwins (sorry Danny Boy) are examples. These actors' names or faces are generally enough to get people to rent a film, and these actors get paid, transaction complete. Except for being entertained. Yes. This part was missing from the process. So, I cannot watch these films again.
Category 3: Love movies. they are quite happy. people fall in love, inevitably. I do not wish to watch these movies. They are for people who want to watch other people's fake happiness, and derive enjoyment from this. I cannot.
Category 4: Good movies. Quality movies. Dramas. Foreign films. This is very hard to admit, but often I recognize that a movie might very well be an excellent film. But I cannot rent it. I do not want to watch any good movies right now. Starring excellent actors, who make the performance of a lifetime. This is sad. There have been many other times in my life, most of the times, when I sought out the best movies I could find. This is not the case right now, but it may phase back into what I like later on.
Category 5: TV Shows. I do not watch cable TV for a reason. I will never rent these.
Category 6: Many no doubt interesting characters deal with personal trauma, and then somehow meet in a very unlikely circumstance, drawing all of these stories together. This has been done.
Category 7: Horror movies that rely on some evil killer person. Most of the movie is seen through the victim's eyes, everyone is very afraid and then usually most people are killed. At the end, the evil killer person is killed, by some good guy like a cop, or sometimes by the last would-be victim. Mostly I'm just tired of this fear-thing. It does not stimulate me anymore.
Category 8: Movies with almost no text on the back. If you do not care enough to describe the movie and make it sound interesting, I am not going to make an effort either. Sometimes I've watched movies that were worse than they seemed from reading on the back, so I definitely can be sold on a movie even if it doesn't pan out. Read This Comment, you people out in the world who are in charge of writing the blibs on the backs of dvd's. This is good feedback.
Category 9: Movies that are For Display Purposes Only. You have no text on the back. If all I have to go from is the name of a movie, a picture of some thing or some actor on the front, This Is Not Enough For Me. I will never rent you. Video rental stores, read this comment.
...
So what is left? Are there any movies left? I don't think so. I am asking you. I am asking Fate, and The World, God, or Chaos, or any being more powerful than me. If you tell me new things, it's possible I'll invent a new category of things that I do not want to watch and include what you've told me into this, perhaps as the defining template. I do not doubt this. Mostly I look for sci fi, action, werewolf or vampire movies that i have not seen and that do not take themselves too seriously. I can basically re-watch any movie in this category of movies that I do like, which is fortunate because I physically want to rent a movie certain occasions and when the selection sucks I have no choice here. Movies like Starman. Or Underworld. X-men. Spiderman. The Punisher. Hmm. there are a lot of movies about comics here. Hmmm. This is a new pattern.
(Note: certainly there are various exceptions to the above categories, and I am no hypocrite for making exceptions. sometimes an item is just exceptional. So I exception exception exception your exception exceptionally. Exception. Gesundexception.)
...this is all for now. After watching The Punisher to boost my enjoyment of life levels, I am ready to watch the two movies I have not seen, for better or probably worse.