I watch a lot of movies. Some would say that i consume them with a vigour matched only by my love of good food. I think i enjoy movies as much as i do because of the escape it provides, even if only for brief moments. Away from reality, away from all the baggage that the environment creates. To be lost in the problems, humour and lives of characters i see on the screen is the perfect way to end the day.
I've got a few ways of measuring how "good" or "bad" a movie is. Completely unscientific ways you would argue, but they seem to give me a pretty accurate representation about the quality of a movie. Allow me to share the ways with you:
1. If i fall asleep before the movie ends, then the movie sucks. As i watch most movies in the evening, after dinner, after taking a bath, after settling my last rounds of email, and the such, falling asleep is a distinct possibility. The last movie to make me fall asleep in this manner was... i forget. Once i fall asleep, the movie is erased from my consciousness. Sorta like a defence mechanism to protect me from the horrors of poor movie making.
2. If i feel sleepy during the movie, barely making it to end, then the movie is watchable. A sure way to know that this is the case is if i actually manage to get up and switch off the DVD player before sleeping. If its off in the morning, and i remember the movie's name, then its a good movie. The last movie i watched to fall into this category is "Spiderman" (Toby Maguire et al.)
3. If i watch the movie till the end and, at the end, feel refreshed, full of thoughts (about the issues in the movie), and (possibly) disturbed, then the movie is a contender for my Greatest All Time List. These are the movies that i never forget, movies that i can remember the names of the characters and the actors, movies that will continue to be in my mind for months and years to come, and movies that i will automatically recommend to anybody who asks, "So what's a good movie to watch?"
The 3 best movies i've watched this year (2002) are:
1. Signs (Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix)
2. Schindler's List (Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson)
3. Princess Mononoke (Anime - featuring the voice talent of Gillian Anderson, X-Files)
Princess Mononoke - winner of at least 2 dozen international movie awards
All three are great, great movies in their own right, and each moved me in different ways. Signs taught me the value of faith, Schinler's List the depths of human misery, evil and courage, and Princess Mononoke... that was pure jump-up-and-down-roll-around-the-floor-cheer-for-the-good-guys entertainment.
