Xiroteus

Over the years have any of you started to find more overall entertainment in watching films you have not seen, films you may not remember well or even television programs?

I notice of late that I am all for watching something new or that I may not remember as well, yet with films I have seen a few times it is just not there as much, maybe I just need to wait awhile longer, give it some time before watching again. Normally it is at least a year or longer in between.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

I prefer watching new things since I have a huge unwatched pile. It's also a different time now than when I was a kid since we have many more choices. Back then it was pull one of the VHS tapes you've seen a thousand times because you don't have anything better to do. Since you're watching the same thing so many time, you get to be a lot more picky about what you buy, or record, since tapes cost more. You couldn't buy a movie for $1 like you can now. If you decided one day to get the movies that exist in the Horror Classics 50 movie pack, I think it would be pretty much impossible unless you had tons of cash and time to throw away.

Ash Ketchum

There are a number of films I've seen many times and insist on going back to, but I like to wait several years between viewings.

Off the top of my head, these are just a few of those films, in chronological order:

KING KONG (1933)
CASABLANCA
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
WHITE HEAT
PORTRAIT OF JENNIE
THE SEARCHERS
GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL
IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD
THE WILD ANGELS
THE DIRTY DOZEN
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
THE WILD BUNCH
8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER
CASTLE IN THE SKY
SWORDSMAN III: THE EAST IS RED
IRON MONKEY
THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT
KILL BILL VOL. 1 (2003)

Xiroteus

Aside from a hand full of films I think I will want awhile as well, even last December there is a movie I normally watch once a year (Non Christmas related, I did watch some of those) and I just did not feel like it, I have seen it ten times in the last nine years, I know every detail so it felt pointless at the moment. Television shows are a bit different because there are so many to remember plus they are shorter so less time has to be devoted to them.

mike07

Ditto.

orangerunner

When I was a teenager and younger I could watch the same movie over and over, never seeming to get bored of it.

Now that I'm older, I obviously don't have the spare time I used to and find that if I watch a film too often it actually spoils it for me.

There are so many new movies to catch up on, it's difficult to re-watch old movies.

Xiroteus

Kind of how it is working for me as well, with a handful of shows, new movies, you tube, work, social activities, internet stuff and so forth it is much harder to watch films I have seen too often. At the moment it is like go watch that movie I know every detail about or go watch something I have not seen or do something more productive or even fun yet new. I imagine this to continue based on how life is.

tonyc3742

I find myself watching TV shows on DVD that I have either never seen, or not seen much of (say, fewer than 10 episodes).
Notable exceptions are the Simpsons and Married with Children.

Movies, when I make time for them, have primarily recently been either movies I have seen before, or sequels to movies I have seen before.

That said, I don't have megamultiple views on many movies - RHPS about 2 dozen times, Cannibal! 2 or 3, Watchmen 2 or 3, Starship Troopers probably 4 (and I'm feeling like another one soon). Pretty much anything else, if it's a rewatch, it's only #2 or 3 at the most.

Ash Ketchum

I was making a 100 Best Films or 100 Favorite Films list last year (probably for one of these forums) and I realized I couldn't include a film if I hadn't re-watched it since I first saw it. For instance, I saw THE GRAPES OF WRATH back in the 1970s and thought it was one of the greatest films Hollywood ever made. But I haven't seen it since. And my thoughts change on so many films. Some films just get better as I got older and some kind of fade in their impact. So I have to re-watch key films to know if they hold up or not. For instance, I always used to think that REAR WINDOW, NORTH BY NORTHWEST and PSYCHO were Hitchcock's best films. As I've aged, I find that REBECCA, SHADOW OF A DOUBT, NOTORIOUS and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN hold up the best. NORTH BY NORTHWEST is a magnificent entertainment, but it seems very lightweight in contrast. REAR WINDOW is an extremely clever exercise, but little more than that. PSYCHO is its own entity and doesn't really lose its impact. But the other four I cited have way more depth.

But it's hard to find time to re-watch the classics when I have so much other unwatched stuff to get through. But I try to work them in when I can.

Xiroteus

I am still working on watching a lot of these classics for the first time, their appealing is not that strong so it takes time feel like watching them. I have seen a few so far and nothing I wish to own overall, maybe a couple.

davidh777

Depends a lot on how I'm going to watch. If it's something I'm going to pay full attention to, I'll watch something new. If it's background for another activity, I'll probably rewatch something I've seen before.

Ash Ketchum

Well, it helps that these films were on TV all the time when I was growing up in the pre-cable, pre-video, pre-internet era, so we all saw them as part of our regular activities. It's been much harder for subsequent generations, who have so many other entertainment choices and so many other distractions and so few TV channels show old movies these days. It's up to parents and teachers to make sure you guys see these films and most of my fellow baby boomers haven't been up to the task.

Trance97

I still have yet to watch s7 of the office and had numerous chances. However, I still watch new stuff I recently bought.

Xiroteus

I was a child of the eighties, I did watch a few olders shows along with new ones back then, cable was sporty, times I watched whatever my parents were watching if it was okay. I of course been watching movies over a lot of years yet did not really get into them strongly until a decade or so ago. So there is a lot to catch up on.

I also seem to be a product of my time for about 90% of what I watch, newer films tend to be more appealing to me to date, however I will watch everything at least once.