Inspired by the "How / Why did you develop your love for the cinema?" thread:

So Is it just liking to see movies, seeing a lot of movies, seeing a variety of movies, liking independent-classic-foreign movies, the ability to study the film makers art and skills.

I love to watch movies, but I tend to mostly watch popular titles.

You're only a film buff if you agree with my opinion.

You're a film buff if you spend more time talking about movies than watching them.

Okay that's probably not true, but what the hell.

A film buff knows the name of all those character actors like

Whit Bissell
J.C. Flippin
Paul Fix
etc.

I would say that just enjoying watching movies makes you a film buff. Just like reading books would make you a book buff.

However, there is also the "film Aficionado" which to me is someone that appreciates films on another level than to just enjoy watching them. An aficionado likes to find out more about the film. The nuances of the story, how scenes were shot, what was the goal of the director and why he keeps some of the scenes and cuts others. What were the actor's goals, motivations and what were they thinking during the filming and so forth. These are the people that enjoy the entire process. These are the people that buy movies not just for the film, but also for all of the extras and they watch all of the extras.

I think I can safely say that almost 100 percent of the people you find in this forum are film buffs. But maybe 25-40 percent here are really aficionados. For myself, I am closer to the the film buff catagory. I enjoy movies for what they are, entertainment. Something to take my mind off the everyday and help me to see things in different ways. When I read, it is all most always for enjoyment and to relax. I approach movies the same way. I watch stuff that I think I will enjoy watching and give a pass on things that are just not interesting to me for enjoyment.

All of that being said, I am not beyond looking into new kinds of movies i.e. independents or foreign, if they appear interesting.

duly noted

I think you just have to really like film(s) and/or have some sort of informed opinion.

To me it's like an infection, it just keeps spreading. I remember looking at books of horror movies when I was a kid, and the stills from movies, I just had to track down and see.

Discovering directors like Scorsese and Kubrick, and then needing to see every film they made.

Reading an article on Reservoir Dogs, and hearing Tarantino was partly inspired by Jean Pierrre Melville, and then being in awe that a French director had eluded your film watching experience, and desperately seeking out his films.

Getting really excited when you meet someone who has seen obscure films and wants to discuss them.

And the character actor part is true for me. Discovering Preston Sturges, and wanting to see some of his stock actors in other films. Starting to learn the names of small bit players in westerns, and following them from john Ford, to Howard Hawks, to Sam Peckinpah.

Realizing Sterling Hayden can go from Asphalt Jungle to Dr. Strangelove to 1900. That's the stuff I love.

2 requirements, in my opinion, to be a "buff"

1) have love for it / enjoyment
2) have significant knowledge of it (more than an "average" person)

creating and insane amount of threads here...

for example...

Steroids.

Easy question to ask yourself when you're at the movie theatre:

Am I seeing this movie because of who's in it or who directed it?

This was my first thought.

I was thinking the same thing hehe. You go from following actors to following directors.

Can't quite say for sure, but apparently having an immense disdain for Michael Bay has something to do with it.

A love for film and well-developed pecks.

I consider myself a film buff. I like to watch movies for fun and like all genres. I tend not to like older, "classic" stuff. Whenever I watch a movie I look up who played what on IMDb and what other movies they have made and go over trivia, bulletin board posts, etc. Sometimes I search stuff about the movie on Wikipedia. And if anyone in my family wants to know something about a movie, they come to me I'm not really interested in technical aspects.

I disagree.

Whether or not they've seen Krull.

You know it's bad when you look at the cover for Dark Sector and think, "Nice, rip off the Glaive why don't you?"

There's a blink-and-you-miss-it Krull cameo in "Pineapple Express." I advise everyone to keep their eyes peeled.

I guess I'm slowly becoming a film buff.

I got into film mainly from my collector/hoarder OCD. But lately, I've been actually watching my DVDs instead of just buying and talking about them.

One thing I'm noticing is that older films are a lot better than I imagined. Also, foreign films are blowing me away.

I always was, and perhaps still am to some degree, a "mainstream" "popcorn movie" fan. But the more I watch my collection, the more I realize that almost all American films in the last 30 years are just light entertainment.

A scarf.

- you know all the queastions of the movie answers on Jeopardy!
- you always pay attention to movie commercials.
- you're rarely stumped when playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
- you know what the Wilhem scream is, and you notice it every time you watch a movie.
- you watch the entire end credits.
- you watch any and all kinds of films.