How many of you never give a movie a 2nd viewing?

If it's a Big Film and I disagree with the general populace (Aliens), I make a note to watch it again and give it another chance, some time.

If it's a movie I love (Better Off Dead), chances are I'm going to see it again some time, because I'll probably try to own it, and about 70% of all films I watch are films I own.

If it's a movie I hate, I'm probably never going to see again unless I hear a Chorus Of The Many cry foul upon my negative reactions (Dead Man's Shoes). Then I make a note to watch it again and give it another chance, some time.

The rest (Smoking Aces), I let fate fall where it may. In this world we live, we are given many opportunities to return to films once forgotten.

I'll still do mutliple viewings on occasion, but I find I do it significantly less often these days than when I was younger, due to the little voice of mortality telling me there are too many films I want to see and haven't seen yet and do I really need to see this movie a sixth time?

If it's a movie I've seen before but haven't written a proper review of yet, it's fair game, I feel.

One person who famously seldom if ever watched a movie twice was Pauline Kael.

According to your profile, you're 22. I felt the same way at 22. Enjoy it while it lasts.

With a few exceptions*, I'm a watch-it-twice kinda guy... generally, it works both ways for me -- I've learned to appreciate more a film I didn't quite enjoy the first outing, and I've realized the true shittiness of films I, stupidly, loved upon initial viewing.

Like The Boondock Saints... which was, in my defense, released when I was 13. Also, as most of the older Chewers can remember, until pretty recently, I was kind of a dumbass WRT just about everything.

Also, I'm still working up the nerve to re-watch The Neverending Story. I saw it and (I think) the sequel back to back when I was a kid and have just-this-side-of-hated it ever since. Greg Clark has maintained that my memory of the original is tainted by the shittiness of the sequel.

ETA - *Example... X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

It depends on the movie. Some films I have seen like Transpotting for example are fantastic films but due to the content I have no desire to see again. However a film like Ghostbusters I can watch again and again because I like it.

On the flip side if I hate a film I don't see any reason to revisit it unless a lot of time has passed.

I usually don't watch a movie twice within a 365 day period unless I really, really, am madly in wuv with it. And even then, it usually has to be a comedy, or comedic. I find a lot of foreign films kind of exhausting. Frankly, the only older foreign language film I would leap at the chance to see again is Breathless. Well, maybe Grand Illusion as well.

City of God?

Also, veto on the use of "wuv".

Jesus, are you on life support? I'm 35 and haven't felt the icy hand of death impacting my movie viewing habits.

On topic, being a collector, I'll often pull out movies from my collection for a re-viewing. I like seeing how my impressions change with time, even if it's for the worse.

Interesting, I was toying with the idea of making a thread about this subject.

Between DVR and the DVDs I buy, I hardly ever rewatch, unless it's to introduce a friend to a movie I like - I highly enjoy these opportunities, though. On one hand, there's just SO MUCH STUFF that I want to see, but on the other, I do worry that in the long term this will only give me shallow, vague notions of the movies I've seen - I'm sometimes alarmed by the amount of movies I've mentally placed in the "love" and "hate" categories, only to discover that when someone asks me to justify my (dis)like I hardly remember anything about them.

I was actually hoping that, through getting older, I would start to naturally gravitate towards rewatching stuff, because I'd be less hung up on wanting to fill gaps in geek knowledge and more interested in exploring the things I've known to a deeper degree.

Heh. I'm 40. It's not so much age as knowing I don't have as many years ahead of me as I did when I was 22. That and the added responsibilities of being 40 as opposed to being 22. Also, just hitting 40 is sobering in a way that being 35 isn't. Logically it's only a difference of five years, and yet...

This thread is ALL about 'Scott Pilgrim', right...?

I often revisit movies I've already seen, but usually I try to put some distance between each viewing in order to give the rewatch some sort of purpose, generally meaning watching it with the benefit of a deepened knowledge, a more educated eye. *

The exceptions to this are flicks I've catched theatrically and that I might want to revisit as soon as they hit home video - mostly because in this disgraced shithole of a country 99.9% of the theaters and multiplexes only offer badly dubbed versions of the movie, so more often than not I take the first chance to see it in its original language.

Another exception are a handful of favourite films that I revisit each year - Escape From New York, The Thing, They Live, The Mist and a few more.


* This doesn't mean I don't feel like a lazy sucker everytime I pop in an already seen movies instead of filling my massive gaps in film knowledge - can't help it.

I think the rewatch factor is strongest with those of us who still have premium cable. I must have watched In The Loop partially or in full multiple times over the past two months because it was constantly on Showtime. But often I was doing other things while it was on, so that may not be exactly what we're talking about.

I'll watch a movie again if it's with someone who hasn't seen it.

It's a vicarious thing.

To be fair, my damn near scholarly love for the original novel helps me fill in gaps that even the first movie didn't include (like the whole thing being Bastion's journey to accept his mother's death and find a way to hold onto his childlike imagination while also helping his father cope as well--neither movie really gets this right). I do maintain that the original is a solid 80s fantasy movie, one that's a bit more unique than your standard Krulls and knock-offs of that variety. It's also really pretty to look at. And yes, much of what you hated is from the second, shit-filled entry.

As for repeat viewings, if it's a movie I love or really really like a whole huggy bunch, I'll see it over and over again. I've got easily over a thousand viewings of Ghostbusters in my lifetime, and if someone popped it in right now I'd end up watching it right now, no complaints. Other times I'll be moderately impressed with a film, then go ten years without watching it again--I had almost forgotten Pleasantville had existed until two months ago, when it popped up on Netflix. I championed it back in my early message board years (1998...sheesh) but it had totally left my mind.

If I hate a movie, there will have to be some sort of outside persuasion to get me to watch it again (read: the promise of sex or a well reasoned argument that I got the film all wrong...and sometimes both). Except for Ultraviolet. Even if Christina Hendricks straddled me and said I could Boss Nass her all night long if I just gave 90 minutes to watch Ultraviolet again, I'd have to very stiffly show her the door. Then cry.

The Dark Knight.

Seriously. I have no desire to see it again. I saw it, it was intense and a high-quality film and all that, but . . . theres just something there that I just don't want to see it again. Maybe it's too grim. Maybe the third act is just too gibberish. I dunno. I will say I will definitely watch Batman Begins if its on TV anytime.

I'm not sure how to approach this question...

I think, like most film fans, there are plenty of favorite films that have received multiple viewings and will continue to (the holiday films I always watch, my need to see The Godfather at least once a year, my "never say 'no' to a suggestion of An American Werewolf In London, Scarface or Magnolia" policy)

And there are also several films that need to be seen more than once. (Any Kubrick or Lynch... Or the more recent Inception)

On the other hand, some films are so vanilla that you don't particularly care if you ever see them again.

And if I disliked a particular movie, I would never be in a hurry to revisit it.

There are exceptions... A movie may not have worked for me, but had enough about it that was intriguing and compels me to give it another look. Repo: The Genetic Opera is such a film. But I still have not had my second engagement with it.