Going into a movie blind

[Colonel Green]

od0_ital wrote:

---

Its become a lot more common since I started workin' for a movie theater. Before this job, I would watch a trailer or read up about a movie I was payin' to see. I'd even watch trailers for stuff I had free passes for, just to decide it if was worth waitin' in line.

Now, I just walk up & pick what I haven't seen yet, and sometimes that means goin' into a movie I wouldn't watch in a million years...

I saw a lot of movies this way when I worked for a movie theatre as a teenager. These days the only time I see a movie blind is if I'm at the video store (yes, I still go to one) and there is nothing that I've heard of that I want to see.

Saw Ever Since the World Ended this way last week. I quite enjoyed it, all I really knew from the cover was that it had won a best film award at a SciFi film festival.

[Alidar Jarok]

tomalak301 wrote:

---

I think the last movie I went in not knowing much was earlier this year when The Descendants game out. I had seen some of the trailer and thought it was a comedy, and I knew George Clooney was in it. Boy I was wrong on the Comedy bit because it ended up being one of the more depressing films I've ever seen.

Well that's not blind because you saw the trailer. It may be bad marketing, but that's not quite the same thing.

SiorX wrote:

---

I used to do this all the times as an undergrad. I had a 12-month cinema pass, and didn't own a TV or read entertainment magazines. My friend and I would just rock up to the cinema and pick a title that we'd never heard of. We got pretty good at not even looking around at posters inside the cinema (which might have given us genre clues as well as info on who was in it).

One of the most fun parts was trying to gauge what kind of film was about to start based on the audience demographic and the trailers.

I saw some good movies that way. And a lot of utter rubbish. I'd love to take the hobby back up if I can ever afford a pass again.

I like the idea of doing it as a hobby instead of just a fluke. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or money for this, but it sounds like it could be an interesting experience once you've done a couple to know the routine.

[Non Sync]

Sorcerer (1977) with Roy Scheider, directed by William Friedkin. It opened the same weekend as Star Wars, which I saw the next day. It was a Friday night and really didn’t have anything else to do so I thought I’d check out Sorcerer without a clue of what it was about. I missed the opening and the first scene I saw was handheld footage of war in Beirut that abruptly cuts to a tree lined street in Paris and a couple speaking in French.

It did turn out to be a good movie, but I was really wondering what I had walked in to...

[auntiehill]

I rarely go in "blind" on a movie; I've seen so many movies already and have so many that I'd like to see but haven't yet. I just don't want to waste the time, I guess. The very few times I've gone in completely blind, I've ended up hating it. Bad luck, I guess.

[teacake]

I was taken to see Under the Tuscan Sun by some women nine years ago which I had never heard of. I spent the whole movie obsessively thinking about how spending that time doing absolutely anything would be better. I'm not a good candidate for going in blind as there are few genres I can sit through. I often feel trapped in a theater and intensely bored which doesn't happen at home with a dvd because I can multitask.

[Owain Taggart]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

---

Well, to be fair, Harrison Ford has always seemed to hate interviews. I'm sure he would have been as stingy with details for Star Wars had he been asked.

Yeah, you're right. He is. He always seems rather uncomfortable in interviews. However in this one, they talked a lot. Just not a lot about the movie itself, as if it were an afterthought, even though this was to promote the movie.

[tomalak301]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

---

Well that's not blind because you saw the trailer. It may be bad marketing, but that's not quite the same thing.

Even if you saw like 5 seconds of the trailer? I guess I wonder how far do we go on the definition of blind. Is it pretty much not knowing anything about the movie, especially those who are in it? With the availability of media these days, I would think it's hard to go into a movie completely blind.

[Mister Fandango]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

---

Has anyone ever gone to see a movie without having seen anything about it beforehand?

I actually had the advantage of seeing The Matrix that way. Long enough that it made it to the video rental place. What miniscule information I had about it lead me to believe that it was just going to be another insipid hacker flick like the one Angelina Jolie was in, maybe taking place in a future earth or something. While it's not the greatest movie ever, I was completely blown away by it once it dawned on me what was going on. I have no doubt that my ignorance of what it was contributed significantly to that.

Now with movies advertising years ahead of their release and the utter impossibility of avoiding things if you surf the web to any significant degree, it's nigh impossible for me to have that experience. It's usually only independent or little known films that catch me by surprise now. Chocolat, Memento, and Being John Malcovich are some notable examples for me, and I ended up loving all three.

While people won't admit it to themselves, going in with expectations is the major way of insuring that you're going to hate a film, especially if you go in hating it already. Which, honestly, is something I will never understand. But, c'est la vie.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I went to see Remo Williams: the Adventure Begins knowing nothing at all, nadda!. I was pulled in by the action, the story, the music (with it's Indiana Jones-like theme!)the comedy, but mainly the characters. When Remo was balancing on something, I was on the edge of my seat wondering if he'd fall. I still don't know how they safely filmed the scene where Remo is and his master are running along the side of a tall building.

But it came to the characters, the funny/serious interplay between Joel Grey as Chiun and Fred Ward as Remo, right down to their final lines. I found myself caring - really caring - when it was revealed in the middle of the film that part of Chiun's contract was that he would have to kill Remo if it was necessary for the agency to disappear.

It was the first film I saw with my buddies with no parents around and I was hooked. I loved and still do.

[Ood Sigma]

The only time I can remember seeing a movie knowing *nothing* about it was for a movie called "A Price Above Rubies" which I saw while visiting my wife's grandmother in Florida, and we just went to the local theater and picked a movie at random.

I just looked it up on IMDB because I couldn't remember if I had the title right (yeah it made that much of an impression)... and I see that Christopher Eccleston was in it! Very cool for a Doctor Who fan like me!

[DarkHorse]

Haven't gone to a movie theatre without having a choice in mind.

However, there was a time when I wasn't preoccupied on a Saturday afternoon of watching sports when I would run through the cable movie channels and catch a movie there. Usually, I have already missed some portion of the movie but begin watching and get engrossed by the story. I know I found Rounders this way, plus Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, Boiler Room, Catch Me if You Can, and Devil this way. All great movies by my opinion and usually not the type of movie that I will run to the theatres to 'must see.'

It can be so frustrating trying to figure out some of the early details or reasons for relationships until you get a chance again to see it repeat through on Cinemax or Showtime for another showing that day or the next.

[Spot's Meow]

I'm sure I'll get hate for this one, but The Matrix was actually one where I went into it blind (not in a theater, but as a rental), and I absolutely hated it. I was liking it at first, but then I found it to be cheesier as time went on, and eventually I got so bored that I left the room and didn't see the last 20 minutes of it.

Oh, and I forgot a good story that brings up uncomfortable memories. When I was a teenager my dad and I went to the movies and blindly chose American Pie, knowing nothing about it. Most awkward experience EVER.

I really can't think of any movies I've gone in blind to that I ended up liking!

[od0_ital]

Colonel Green wrote:

---

I saw a lot of movies this way when I worked for a movie theatre as a teenager...

Well, ya know, not all of us worked in movie theaters when we were teenagers. Some of us put that sort of thing off 'til our thirties!



And I still go to Blockbuster, too, but usually with something in mind that I want to watch, or at least an idea of which genre I'm in the mood for.

[JarodRussell]

When I first saw the Matrix, I remember saying "This is a piece of art!" and now when I look back at it, I realize how shallow that film is. I don't hate it, but it's just a bag full of hot air.

[sidious618]

I heard great things about David Lynch's Eraserhead from a friend I trust but hadn't seen any clips and had no idea what it was about. So I rented it, put it in, and... whoa.