This idea has been rattling around in my head for a couple of weeks without my finding an elegant way to put it, but I'm not getting any younger, so here goes: how much you enjoy a movie is heavily influenced by your expectations going in. You can ruin your experience of a great movie by expecting too much, and you can find yourself cherishing a middling movie, if you didn't expect anything. Here are some examples from my own experience. Judge for yourself.
I went in way too high:
A Scanner Darkly: I don't know, I guess I figured Philip K. Dick, scramble suits, count me in. But the whammer surprise was more like a whimper. And now that I think about it Big Brother pharmaceutical mind control is a plot device on par with Scorpio and his weather machine. "Mwoo-ha-ha!" Eh.
Brick: Enough with your Bogie impression, see!
Pan's Labyrinth: I still don't get it. Much ado about nothing as far as I'm concerned. But I'll give it another try.
The Constant Gardener: This one might just be weak, high expectations or not. Again with the pharmaceutical conspiracy theories. Sheesh.
The Departed: You may be puzzled to find this movie here, given my comments in Pulp Fact. But I walked out disappointed. Here's a perfect example of expecting more than a movie has to offer. But now that I'm on the other side I can see it's a great movie. I'll see it again, reconcile my expectations, and all will be right with the world.
I went in low, or not knowing too much, and wow!:
Bubba Ho-Tep: This movie defies rational consideration. Set in a retirement home, an aging Elvis impersonator, or is he really Elvis?, and his black sidekick, who claims to be JFK, battle an ancient Egyptian mummy. This has no business being as funny as it is.
Life: I'm a sucker for buddy movies, see Bottle Rocket, Swingers, Big Night. But consider, this is an Eddie Murphy joint released between Holy Man and Nutty Professor II. I was ready for garbage.
Nine Queens: Ended up in my queue because a review of the American remake, Criminal, claimed this was the better of the two. Score one for the Argentines.
Shaun of the Dead: A great example of the virtues of ignorance. I'd heard just enough about it (a rom-zom-com?, please), to expect to hate it.
Sometimes, though, a movie is just too good to be diminished by your preconceptions. I went into these movies expecting a lot, and they delivered:
Children of Men: Gripping. Read my comments in Late February Round-Up.
Inside Man: The answer to "how'd he do it?" doesn't insult your intelligence.
Little Miss Sunshine: What struck me when I watched it the second time is how economical the script is. There isn't one wasted moment.
Shopgirl: Steve Martin's best movie since (wait for it) Parenthood. (Go ahead, unleash your scorn.)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada: I like cowboy pictures.
So how to make use of this late-life wisdom, that you can influence your movie-going experience? Going forward I will try (largely without success, I'm sure) to manage my expectations with muttered self-administered brainwashing.
First, there's "I expect little."
300
28 Weeks Later: I know I'm going to be disappointed, but the hair on the back of my neck stands up every time the guitars come in during this clip: http://www.foxatomic.com/#movie:TitleId=7
Black Snake Moan
Flags of Our Fathers & Letters From Iwo Jima
Harsh Times: I want Training Day 2, but I don't think I'm going to get it.
Hot Fuzz: From the same crew that brought you Shaun of the Dead!
The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford: Great Casey Affleck buzz.
The Host: This promises an American Werewolf-like mix of the funny and the scary.
The Lives of Others: Because this story is a low-key surveillance deal, it's a prime candidate for expecting the fireworks but being let down by the slow burn.
Zodiac: Reviewers are calling this Fincher's masterpiece, better than Fight Club?! "I expect little, I expect little."
And then there's "I expect nothing," in the hope of squeezing some enjoyment out of the genre junk food at the center of my movie diet:
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Pathfinder
Shooter
Smokin' Aces
The Number 23
What movies are you waiting for?
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3 comments:
So many comments to make on this one, I don't know where to begin. I've been wanting to post for a while but the essay on expectations is too good to pass up. Nice work with the blog, Will! Good stuff here!
To support your argument, I agree completely that what you take with you into the theater directly affects the result. And the damning thing is that it's so hard to not have any kind of expectation on the big films that are well-reviewed and advertised. Sure, the little art-house flicks can slip into the theaters unheralded or onto a netflix queue and become pleasant surprises, but when I see "Casino Royale", even on opening weekend, I've already heard 50 things about it...(by the way, "Casino.." lived up to and exceeded those expectations, fortunately).
And the Catch-22 is that getting a highly rated review from a friend may actually hurt my experience, because it does raise those expectations, so that I'll leave thinking 'I was told that was great, but it was just really, really good. What a let down!', when I should be thinking, 'wow, that was really, really good!'.
So what's the solution? Not talk about movies with friends? Don't read reviews? Lower expectations across the board, if that's even possible? But there are times when I would have missed a movie completely if it hadn't come highly recommended from a friend or trusted critic and lived up to the recommendation.
So, in short, I don't know what to do. Just see everything you can and try and keep an open mind.
So, on that note,
and at the risk of ruining a movie for you all by raising expectations:
I saw "300" yesterday and really enjoyed it!
I had heard good things about it and so had the expectation of a pretty good time myself,
but I have to say it was fun and beautiful and the cinematography as well as the acting from a pool of unknowns was really superb.
Now, Will, I know you're probably questioning this review since we saw "Gladiator" together and I disliked the gory violence and blood in that one, and the "300" is chock-full of gory violence and blood, but in the case of "300", the stylized camera-work and choreography really make all the difference in the world. This is the first movie set in 'ancient times' that actually feels like I'm looking at a world from 2500 years ago. There's something about 'costume period pieces' and sword and sandal epics that make me aware the modern camera is in the room filming them that takes me out of them on some level; A sort of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle applied to film. But not with "300". It is a fantasy world completely unaware of the camera, and of the future. Not sure why exactly, but it might have something to do with the movie trying to keep the tone and feel of the graphic novel source material. But, for a movie that is essentially one long battle scene, as well as a well-known ending, it overcomes this to be an entertaining, interesting, beautiful spectacle, gory violence and all.
Highly recommended at the theater, so you can see the full spectacle and beauty (and also LOTS of half-naked men in underwear).
Unless of course that raises expectations to high, in which case I'll borrow from Will and give it a 'Meh....'
So, I've logged in and some interesting comments.
I have sat through a Kurosawa but not without the occasional "What", "Ugh" kind of moment because epic though they may have claimed it to be, I missed something.
I recommended "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" to my brother because I loved it. He promised to pick it up even though he couldn't pronounce it. (Spanish was never really his best/fav subject.) I love a good western too and some of the bad one's too ("Big Valley" - Western Serial and the cutesy "Alias Smith and Jones" from back in the day) because I love being able to immediately distinguish good and evil sometimes.
Didn't watch it, just figured it would be crap:
A Scanner Darkly. The preview was intriguing from an effects perspective, but really nothing there.
The Constant Gardener: It took me two tries to realize the love story is the back story. No. I'm not dense, but I thought there was something else and I looked for it. So essentially like the more recent Blood Diamond, Constant Gardener was simply trying to let us know what continent was next up for big pics. Or maybe not!
Movies that work for me:
Proof of Life (hold your Russell comments please!)
Tears of the Sun (notice the rescue theme!)
Others:
Gladiator, Full Metal Jacket,
Boys Don't Cry, Batman Begins,
Essentially I want acting with some reason for being most of the time.
Tommy Lee Jones works hard to deliver a movie. So most of his stuff works for me.
But I also love the idea of a good western -Unforgiven for instance. Strong good and evil concepts, dustballs, horses, etc.
I also liked and maybe I was going through a Sharon Stone phase, The Quick and the Dead (yes I know Russell was there too!).
That's it for now!
Yes, and let us not forget Appaloosa, Michelle.
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