i dont know. ive regretted wasting precious hours in my life watching shit films plenty of times. because i always think of the thousands of other amazing films i could have been experiencing in that time slot instead! i’m not immortal. each film i watch is one less i’ll see before i reach the end of the road, whenever that may be.
ok, that seems really depressing. cut me some slack. i just entered my mid-30s. i constantly think in countdowns now!
but i will say this. i have no regrets, and a great feeling of satisfaction, when i finally get to knock off a famous (or infamous) film from my “to-do” list, whether i liked the film or not. thats the explanation for my sensations of mortality. theres so many well-known films from the history of world cinema that i want to see sooner or later. when you think of how short life is, those viewing slots get to be pretty cherished! for me at least.
I think watching bad films is a good thing once in a while, because it makes one realize how good some of our favorite films really are. I believe that if a person always watches great films, then they become numb to the greatness after a while. So, then I’ll pop in something terrible (within reason) and it gives me much joy to laugh at, and then appreciate my favorites even more.
If I could get my time back from watching The Happening I would take it. I don’t know what posessed me to see that film but it’s the worst thing I’ve seen in a cinema.
Now Doomsday, I really enjoyed, for what it is. I love Neil Marshall’s work. I just know I’m going to have fun watching his output. I don’t mind empty, fun fare. It’s self-importance that irritates me.
I work in a movie theater and whenever a new Saw movie comes out I always regret watching any scene.
I wish I could get back the two hours I spent on Slumdog Millionaire.
I sat through Nick Bettauer’s “Duck”. That answers the question.
Whenever I am dragged to the movies with friends to see crap I am always thinking about all the great movies I have at home that I am missing out on.
Colin Houlson
There may have been some films that have bored the backside off me, had me ranting at the screen and swearing I’ll never watch another film by that director again (hello Mr Besson), but aren’t they all worthwhile in the end? Like a nondescript piece of sky or cloud in a jigsaw that has no intrinsic merit, they all help to shape a bigger picture. That’s not to say I’d turn down an offer of compensation for the hours spent watching films I hated, but maybe I wouldn’t appreciate, say, the taut storytelling of Mad Max 2 if I hadn’t gorged on overblown nonsense like Doomsday. Any thoughts?