OldBoy

So I was posed with this question by my sister.

What kind of enjoyment do you get at watching the same movie more than once?

This was because we were all gonna watch Raging Bull. Me for the who knows how many times and them for the first. I was kind of flummoxed. I really didn't know how to answer. I said because it's such enjoyment and you can find new things each time you watch it. But that seems like such a weak answer.

I mean they all loved it of course. But, that was it for them. One and done...

What do you say?

kgrogers1979

Movies I really love I will watch over and over. Why? Because I love them.

Why would you want to experience something you love only once? Do you eat pizza only once in your life? Do you have sex only once in your life? If you enjoy something, why would you limit yourself to experiencing it once and only once?

OldBoy

Nicely put.

johnnysd

Because they make us happy and are comfortable and predictable and loved.

As an example, I feel happy and upbeat and optimistic about the inherent goodness of people in the world every time I see Amelie. I can't imagine anyone seeing that and not being caught up in it's positivity warmth and charm. And who would not want to re-experience that from time to time.

inri222

Why do you listen to song over again?

OldBoy

i think it is a little different with a 4 minute song as opposed to a 2hr. movie. she thinks it's a waste of time...

Solid Snake

As opposed to what? Humanity is pretty much a waste of time. While we are great things to ourselves, we're really not all that important to the world as a living thing. We're walking things of wasted time.

I eat this food I like a lot cuz I like it. It's a very fucking simple thing. You like it. It's safe. It's enjoybale. It's blah blah blah bullshit that we just prefer.

kgrogers1979

All entertainment is technically "a waste of time." If you're not doing something productive, you're technically "wasting time."

But who cares. Most people are only productive for a few hours per day anyway.

hanshotfirst1138

Thanks, Snake. I think I'll go stick my head in the oven now.

Great films reward repeat viewings. And cult movies frequently have worlds and characters that viewers like to play in and with, and want to come back to.

RichC2

Do I risk 2 hours on something I might not like or 2 hours on something I know I love.

Sonic

asianxcore

I think everyone hit it on the head with their comments.

If I really love something, I want to experience it more than once. In this case, being a film we love instead of just like, is because it offers us a fantastic experience and never grows tired, no matter how often we watch it.

Life can absolutely be a pile of shit sometimes, watching some of my favorite films (no matter how many times I've seen them), offers me both a feeling of happiness and sense of escape.

Mondo Kane

Just to see if they're as good as everyone else says they are.

And, for me, it has worked on a couple of occasions:

Apocalypse Now
Little Shop of Horrors
Ride the High Country
Das Boot
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Raging Bull
The Seventh Seal
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia
Suspiria
The Lady Vanishes
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Paths of Glory
American Graffiti

The Bus

What I have never understood is why I rarely watch what my true favorite films are over and over (with the exception of Snatch.).

I could watch Inside Man or Miami Vice right now if they were on even though that year had much better movies. I guess these are films that consistently communicate their mood, and can take you away from where you are now, or make you feel a certain way so I gravitate to them again and again.

Ash Ketchum

I go back to certain films (several dozen worth) again every so often to remind myself why I'm in this field and why I have devoted my life to this art form. E.g., seeing A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE or INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS or SEVEN SAMURAI or GOODFELLAS again just reinforces my belief in this art form after some big blockbuster that everyone raved about here (and will go nameless) has shattered that belief. If I just kept seeing new films that I don't like I would get deeply discouraged.

davidh777

So it's not a waste of time to re-listen to a song, but it is for an album?

hanshotfirst1138

I don't know of any 2 hour albums, much less 4 hour ones .

inri222

2 hr 33 min

stvn1974

I watch The Dark Knight once a day when I first wake up. It is so amazing that watching it beats taking vitamins or exercising. I was balding but it made my hair grow back and I am sure I will never get cancer because of Ledger's performance.

Wolf359

That really is beyond tiresome. How is this not trolling?

rbrown498

I think that you're missing the point here. Why don't we change "4 minute song" to "Beethoven's Ninth Symphony," which, depending on which conductor is conducting it, runs anywhere from 65 to 75 minutes or so. Either way, with a song or a symphony, after you've listened to it once, you've experienced it. Why go back to it again?

Because, in the language of Richard Bach, it contains a gift for you.

One of my favorite films is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I watch it every so often because of the gifts that it gives me: the first reveal of the Green Destiny sword; the way Michelle Yeoh catches a poisoned dart with her hand; the flashback to the desert; and, most particularly, the line "I would rather be a ghost, drifting by your side as a condemned soul, than enter heaven without you." These are just a few of the gifts (or reasons, to be more mundane) that keep me coming back to the film.

We, as film lovers, appreciate the gifts that cinema gives to us. Your sister obviously doesn't, just as I don't appreciate the gifts that reggae music or french cooking gives to us.

Different strokes.

JimRochester

Because some things you never get tired of. Sometimes people want to have a sure thing vs. an unknown. Kind of like going to a chain restaurant. There is comfort in knowing what is on the menu and that you'll like it. For some its Star Wars, for me its Smokey And The Bandit. No matter how many times I see it, I am still entertained. I've probably seen it hundreds of times if you include twice in the theater in 77, all the HBO and network TV showings, then the DVD, DVD SE and then the HD DVD. Never get tired of it and still laugh at the "the goddamned Germans got nuthin' to do with it" line.

stvn1974

I have seen the Star Trek Original Crew films more times than a person probably should over the years. Same goes for the Original Series TV show. No matter how bad a day I have had or how terrible I feel they always bring me out of it. Same goes for Firefly/Serenity and the original Star Wars trilogy. I do tend to rewatch TV series more than movies. I have 5 favorite series that I will watch through then move onto the next and then once I have watched all five I start over. As I type this I am listening to my favorite album which is Blonde On Blonde by Bob Dylan. Still as good the 1579th time as the first.

hasslein

There are a lot of films that I watch over & over. Having said that though, I have some friends that have seen only a handful of movies & they watch them over & over. I (and their other friends) loan or buy them other films, and they never watch them, they'd rather watch The Replacements, GI Jane or The Rite for the 100th time... That is very frustrating...

kgrogers1979

I had a roommate in college who would watch Adam Sandler and Pauly Shore movies over and over and over.

He had to have watched Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, Son in Law, Encino Man, and Bio-Dome at least 20 times each in the single semester I lived with him.

Seriously. 9 times out of 10 I would come back to our dorm room and he would be watching one of those movies.