Me can turn brain off too!

I wanted to take a moment to clear up something. Over the last week or so, it's been suggested to me that people feel I can't just watch a movie for its own sake; that I'm too critically inclined to watch a movie and enjoy it with "going into theory" mode.

While I admit that I do tend to work through a movie when I'm writing about it, the actual process of dissecting a film and getting "critical" doesn't usually occur until after I've finished the movie. For the most part, I try to go into every film I see without too many preconceived notions. It's true that positive and negative reviews do influence me a bit (I am only human, or a human-like robot programmed to pretend he's human), but for the most part, I like being entertained. I really like being surprised by something, and I always thought of myself as awfully forgiving of movies that others have been harsh to.

There are the odd occasions where something in a film makes me switch over into "theory" mode, but it's not actually that common. I don't take notes when I'm watching movies, not even during class screenings. It takes away from the experience for me. When I sit down to write about movies, then the critic / theorist takes over, even during "So You Don't Have To"'s. It takes a special kind of movie (good or bad) to really pull me out of the experience and turn on the critic in the Cap'n.

I only ever try to watch something critically the third or fourth time I've seen it. The first time is purely about experience. The second time I'll try to pick up things I missed, although I'm pretty good at catching narrative tropes (it's kinda hard for me not to see a "twist" coming, so I really like movies that can do that) so I'm looking for details I didn't catch beforehand. For example, Moon is full of recurring visual motifs that make more sense once you know what GERTY is trying to warn Sam Bell about. When I watched it the second time, it's pretty clear exactly what's going on from the get-go, and Duncan Jones puts it all right out there for you to see.

So does this mean that things only occur to me after I finish a movie? Not really. Like I said, I'll catch things and make a mental note of it for later, but I am actually trying to watch any given movie on its own terms. I don't always succeed, but I am not so steeped in theory that I can't just "enjoy a movie without dissecting it."

Glad I could clear that up for you folks.