Do you always finish a movie you've started?

[Torgo]

Not concerning the legitimacy of your checks, just something I've been wondering about.

Bonus question: Do you always watch a film in one sitting? If not, how often so? (e.g. Start a film too late at night, get tired, watch the rest the next day; or realize you're not in the mood and continue completely another time)


For me, it's pretty simple: I started it, so I will have to end it. It's like a samurai codex and I got this mindset long before ICM. Don't even know why, maybe something about respecting the work? Then again, the cancelled film won't knock at my door to complain, so I don't know. Perhaps to have a funded opinion on things, opposed to just scratching on the surface. And then, I probably just like watching movies and used to think I will always learn something from a film, even if it's just how not to make one or how many clichés fit into 90 minutes and so on.

I'm beginning to reckon, though .. facing an age that may mark half of a lifetime, maybe I can filter some stuff out. Because I actually "learn" zero from so many average movies (IMDb most-voted, I'm looking at you!). And with genre films, I somehow will watch them to experience genre tropes (good or bad) and will always have more money in the bank afterwards; I gain lesser of that feeling by enduring a slow arthouse drama which doesn't appeal to me at all after half of the runtime anyway. Especially if these are not about the plot, but about how humans behave and what they have to say (or think) and I can't relate at all. But then, maybe that's just me.



This thread totally wasn't opened just the week in which that 4-hour superhero supercut came out

[OldAle1]

Yes, always. The only exceptions really are movies that I've seen before that I'm watching "casually" - i.e., it happens to be on TV and I see part of it. But this is something that virtually never happens these days so... always. I have, in the past few years, occasionally fallen asleep during something and finished it the next day, but even that is a rarity and I don't think it's happened this calendar year so far.

[kongs_speech]

I turned The House That Jack Built off a couple weeks ago because I could tell that my friend was bored. I'd have finished it by now, but a film that I've already seen and love just isn't a big priority when I'm trying to finish my 2020 watchlist as well as the films expiring from streaming this month.

To answer the question, yes. I finish 100% of the previously unseen films I start. I've sat through some seriously miserable shit. My new least favorite film, Deep Throat, is so bad it triggered a real panic attack, but I finished the fucking thing.

[Torgo]

The only exceptions really are movies that I've seen before that I'm watching "casually" - i.e., it happens to be on TV and I see part of it. But this is something that virtually never happens these days so... always.

Oh, I concur.

Which brings me to the bonus question I forgot: "splitting" films. Gonna edit the OP.

[Torgo]

I turned The House That Jack Built off a couple weeks ago because I could tell that my friend was bored.

I understand that (not how he was bored by a Lars von Trier serial killer movie of all choices, but turning it off).
Social commitments are a completely different animal from sitting alone at home and be in perfect control over the remote. And isn't it fucking great that we didn't have to mind that at all for the last 12 months and counting ..

In my case, group watching had already significantly decreased by every year after turning 27 - not that I didn't want to pump up my rookie numbers on movies, but somehow people around me had increasingly getting things like jobs, liabilities, spouse, kids, family and other really weird stuff in their way.
Mind you not a single of my real-life friends is a cinephile; most of them wouldn't watch "old movies" (<2005 - you get my gist). (They're still worthy and nice and interesting people, unbelievable as it may sound!)
If we will ever enter the mythic times of post-Covid, Inshallah, I'll see who of my pals still would be up for "group watching". Probably in 2023, it will be focussed so much more on TV series anyway, so ...

[mightysparks]

Not always in one sitting, but I'll always finish it. There are too many times I start a film and realise I'm too tired or not in the mood for it or something comes up. I'd rather watch a film in parts and be attentive, then have my mind wandering and not paying attention.

[Ebbywebby]

I'd loosely estimate there are about three films a year that I choose to watch but end up deciding aren't worth the trouble.

[3eyes]

Having had no options but theater for the first 50 years of my life, I wasn't prone to waste that 7 cents by walking out unless my parents dragged me. Old habits died hard, but eventually (after joining ICM and working on checks and challenges for a few years) I decided that I could allow myself not to finish something I hated even if it meant forgoing some awards. Also I've gotten much freer about watching movies in installments. Sometimes I just need time to pull myself together to continue.

[joachimt]

I started a Rohmer on MUBI last week and I decided I really wasn't interested in watching yet another Rohmer and there were enough other options in my MUBI-queue. So after a few minutes I turned it off. That's a very rare occasion though. I normally always finish what I started.

Watching movies in one sitting. That's also a rarity to me. If I would set that as a rule, I could probably watch one movie a week or so.

[Lonewolf2003]

I started a Rohmer on MUBI last week and I decided I really wasn't interested in watching yet another Rohmer and there were enough other options in my MUBI-queue. So after a few minutes I turned it off. That's a very rare occasion though. I normally always finish what I started.

Watching movies in one sitting. That's also a rarity to me. If I would set that as a rule, I could probably watch one movie a week or so.

That's the main reason for me to for the rare occasion I don't finish a movie too; because after a few minutes I decide I'm not in the mood for that kind of movie or just too tired to watch (another) one. When I do start that movie again when in the mood or still full of energy I do finish it from start to end.

The movies I didn't finish, cause I couldn't sit through them I can count on one hand.

[Lammetje]

If after a few minutes I realize I don't feel like watching the movie, I may turn it off. But if I'm like 30 minutes in and it turns out to be terrible, I always force myself to sit through the whole thing. After all, it doesn't feel right to rate or check a movie I haven't finished. Terrible movies deserve a dislike on iCM, and a low rating once in a while makes my IMDb bell curve look prettier.

[kongs_speech]

If after a few minutes I realize I don't feel like watching the movie, I may turn it off. But if I'm like 30 minutes in and it turns out to be terrible, I always force myself to sit through the whole thing. After all, it doesn't feel right to rate or check a movie I haven't finished. Terrible movies deserve a dislike on iCM, and a low rating once in a while makes my IMDb bell curve look prettier.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I watch bullshit sometimes on purpose to get a low rating because I don't want my Letterboxd numbers to get too far out of whack.

[burneyfan]

Always, unless there is some technological obstacle (blackout, wrecked tape/DVD/file, etc.). In such cases, those films don't get checked until I get to see the whole thing. Even if it sucks.

[Ebbywebby]

I'd loosely estimate there are about three films a year that I choose to watch but end up deciding aren't worth the trouble.

Just occurred to me that I bailed out of "Schizoid" ('80s Klaus Kinski trash) last weekend. But I entered the film with a kind of a "Let's just see what this is like" attitude from the start.

[jal90]

I usually finish what I watch, but there have been some occasions where I felt sleepy or didn't find the right mood midway through. In those cases I'd usually stop and watch from the beginning some other day. It happened as I recall with Kusturica's Underground or Garrel's Le révélateur.

I also tend to pause a lot, and I noticed that it's only increasing over time. Not that big of a deal because I end up watching it that same day, and maybe what would take 2 hours takes 3, but there was one single occasion that I dragged it over three consecutive days. It was Kaurismäki's Le Havre. Weirdly enough, I actually liked it.

[kongs_speech]

I'd loosely estimate there are about three films a year that I choose to watch but end up deciding aren't worth the trouble.

Just occurred to me that I bailed out of "Schizoid" ('80s Klaus Kinski trash) last weekend. But I entered the film with a kind of a "Let's just see what this is like" attitude from the start.

With Klaus Kinski and a title like that, I'm shocked that it wasn't tasteful.

[joachimt]

Stretching over three days is quite usual for me for movies in the 2h-2,5h range.

[Bing147]

Rarely, but once in awhile I may stop something because I can't stand it. I generally wouldn't rate such a thing though. I may also once in a while put something on and realize in the first few minutes I'm not in the mood and turn it off, but I'd usually go back to it within a few days. I'm usually pretty good at powering through something and rarely start a movie if I don't think I have time to finish it as I dislike splitting a viewing in two but if I'm really exhausted and just can't make it, I have finished things the next day before. Not often, but it happens. I don't like to though.

[Red7]

Pretty much always. There's probably been less than a dozen times I've turned something off, and it's usually not because of how bad I think it is, more just realizing I'm not in the right state of mind to be watching it right then.

[Torgo]

Pretty much always. There's probably been less than a dozen times I've turned something off, and it's usually not because of how bad I think it is, more just realizing I'm not in the right state of mind to be watching it right then.

Excellent and welcome to the forum, Red7!

[Coryn]

I think I skip about 1-2% of my movies.

Most notable last skip was Alphaville, after an hour or so my body couldn't cope with the awful voice anymore.

[cinephage]

I always finish the movies I watch, but I often watch them in 2 parts, in case I am too tired to watch them in one shot. After a day's work, I easily get tired, and often fall asleep watching a late movie. I will watch the second part the following day, if possible...

But I also enjoy watching short pieces of the films I enjoy. One scene, one dialogue or moment, a dance, a fight, a transition... I do that a lot, but that's for films I have already watched entirely, of course.

[kongs_speech]

I think I skip about 1-2% of my movies.

Most notable last skip was Alphaville, after an hour or so my body couldn't cope with the awful voice anymore.

Godard is my favorite, but the burp voice just about ruins Alphaville. In all of his work that I've seen, I rank it last.

[Armoreska]

I think I skip about 1-2% of my movies.

Most notable last skip was Alphaville, after an hour or so my body couldn't cope with the awful voice anymore.

Godard is my favorite, but the burp voice just about ruins Alphaville. In all of his work that I've seen, I rank it last.

Ah yes Microsoft Burp.
Solution for those who know a different language:
watch it overdubbed if possible.
Just did that on rewatch.
It wasn't even so bad judging from background.
And the movie is great.