BambooLounge

I got into film fairly late in life. As a kid it was all Disney animated stuff and the like for me with the occassional summer blockbuster thrown in. There were the staples of course like Rocky, Jaws, Star Wars, etc, but I was never inclined to being a "film buff." Middle school was spent debating who was better Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey. (The answer is Sandler, me:Sandler = France:Jerry Lewis). Then in high school, I did what all Italian-American high school aged males do, watched Goodfellas, The Godfather, and essentially any/every "mafia" movie I could get my hands on. This phase (granted the gangster genre is still my favorite) led me to branch out to films starring some of those same Italian-American actors, like Serpico and Taxi Driver. I then became almost an exclusive film buff as long as the film was either directed by Martin Scorsese or starred DeNiro or Pacino. Then I took a classic film elective my senior year of high school. We watched On the Waterfront and I was blown away by Marlon Brando (who I erroneously thought at the time was Italian). For an assignment we had to pick a movie off a list provided by our teacher, watch it, and write about it. I picked A Streetcar Named Desire, rented it on VHS and watched it alone in my grandmother's railroad apartment living room, while everyone else was at a cousin's birthday party down the block. The credits rolled and I was addicted to film. In college I majored in Accounting with a self-taught minor in film, watching anything I could get my hands on and reading as much as I could about film. Sophmore year I took an Italian cinema class and became an Italophile (Fellini is second only to Scorsese). No room for film courses Junior year, but I managed 3 film courses during my senior year, but by this point I was already 2 steps ahead of the syllabi most of the time. In the 5 or so years since that classic films class in hs when I seriously argued that Some Like It Hot was a terrible comedy (my most regretable high school memory) to now, I have evolved into a fully functioning cinephile/film snob with a whole lot more to watch/learn about cinema.

The Bus

Not being from the US, I grew up reading subtitles in movies, so now seeing English subtitles in a movie wasn't going to deter my enjoyment from it. The only foreign movie I hated was Jean de Florette. Granted, I wasn't even eight when I saw it. I was also exposed to a lot of stuff that most Americans have no clue about, such as Bud Spencer / Terrence Hill movies, Golan-Globus movies, and cartoons that never got distribution in the US's (Miyazaki's Future Boy Conan, Barpapapas). Not that all of these are the apex of cinema.

In high school I became friends with people who liked movies and devoured a lot of stuff that seemed appealing. Due to video stores, this was mostly relegated to new release stuff: your Killing Zoes, Reservoir Dogs, etc. I also got movie news from the Friday MTV movies show, EW, and occasionally something like Cinefex. I saw a lot of movies, but owned only two VHS tapes at the time I graduated high school: Star Wars (the "special" original trilogy, in widescreen) and Bottle Rocket.

I didn't really start branching out until college and beyond. I still haven't seen a lot of the "famous" movies (Truffaut, Fellini, etc).

TomOpus

Ah, good times. You knew you were in for a quality treat when their names appeared before a movie.

FantasticVSDoom

For me, my dad would always take me to the "bigger" films (Star Wars, Indy, Star Trek, etc) when I was younger, but the one thing we really ever got along doing was watching the old kung-fu flicks from the cheap movie rental store and on Saturday afternoon TV. Then after that, it was weekend matinees because movies were fairly cheap back in the day and that was what I would spend my allowance on. I was lucky because I looked older than I actually was so I could always get into Rated-R films with no problem. Also, they werent to stringent at the time either.

visitor Q

Call me a late bloomer as my interest in film didn't take off until after college. A buddy of mine with a half decent surround sound set up introduced me to a world of films I would have never imagined personally seeking out: Kurosawa, Woo, Jeunet, Besson, old school Jet Li and Sonny Chiba .. the list goes on. Back then my only exposure to foreign films was Saturday morning Creature Double features (Godzilla), Star Blazers and the occasional Bruce Li film. He then spun up his rare laser disc set of the original Star Wars trilogy. Even though the display couldn't mimic the effect of a true theater presentation, it still knocked me over after 20 years since its original release.

At that time I couldn't have cared less about the nuances of film: technical composition, correct aspect ratios (black bars!?? - where's the rest of the picture?), sound formats, listening to the cast in their original language (subtitles - aaargghhh!), etc. Previous to this I was only a casual fan interested in sheer entertainment value, knowing only what types of films I enjoyed but nothing deeper. But after some schooling (convincing) and getting knocked around a bit I was beginning to convert to a more serious observer.

Around this time I purchased my own equipment (TV/home theater/region code player) and began eating up films left and right. Thankfully this was right around the same time as the DVD market began flourishing (98-99). Of course the Internet made access to information and films that much more easy. And years later here I am .. still in search of the next great one.

Not exactly the most exciting story, but because of an old friend I was able to gain a higher appreciation for the medium beyond what I probably would have sought out on my own. And for that I am poorer, but forever grateful.

NoirFan

When I rented Slacker at age 14 and discovered that there were films entirely devoid of fart jokes or explosions. Like PopcornTree above, I didn't really become a movie buff until purchasing a DVD player around Xmas 1999. Before that point, I don't believe I had seen more than a dozen black and white films, a handful of foreign films, and zero silents.

calhoun07

I think the first movie I saw that really opened my mind to what cinema could be and gave me an appreciation for films was The Man Who Knew Too Much (Hitchcock). I was pretty young when I saw it, but it had quite an impression on me.

I wanted to see more movies like that. It kind of raised a bar for me, but I was disappointed that most movies didn't live up to that level.

It wasn't until I got a little older and exposed to movies like the Color Purple and Wings of Desire that I felt I was finding movies I really, really liked that lived up to what I expected from movies.

king3style

Movies that blew me away, emotionally the first time I watched them: Shawshank, Life is Beautiful, One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest, Schindlers List, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Cinema Paradiso, Into the Wild, etc......Always searching for the next one.

Yakuza Bengoshi

I hardly went to the movies as kid, and have gone long periods of my life without watching TV so I never developed a taste for Hollywood films. I didn't really fall into loving cinema until I happened to rent a few foreign films on DVD back in 2000. Since then my appreciation for the medium has grown immensely.

argh923

Probably either Howard the Duck or Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.