Watch It Twice

Recently, I've begun to see the merit in watching a film twice before coming to a solid judgment on whether or not it is good. I had always heard that most movie reviewers see a film twice before writing their review to make sure they comment on everything that is important in the movie.

I have always been more of a snap judgment kind of person in this regard. I see a movie, and by the time I leave the theater, I know whether or not I'm going to be spending more money to buy it on DVD.

But lately I've found that my opinions coming out of films have been a little wishy-washy. My default response when someone asks me how a movie is, is "It was alright." The movie had some good parts but didn't really wow me. This kind of response isn't really helpful to anyone.

I think part of the problem is that I have a lot of anticipation when seeing a film for the first time. I've stopped reading reviews of films before seeing them because I want to make up my own mind. I don't want to know what to expect going in, I just want to make sure it's worth my money to go see it.

The problem with anticipation is that it can be just as distracting as reading those reviews. I become so focused on seeing the movie, and being able to say that I've seen it, I lose track of whether or not the film is any good.

For example, I started this summer off by going to see "The Avengers" on opening night. I didn't go at midnight (I've grown out of that) but the Friday it was released, my butt was in a seat. I came out of the movie having enjoyed it, but again not really thinking it was as good as most people were claiming.

Later, I went and saw the movie a second time and really enjoyed it. I took it all in and came out wondering why I had been so hesitant to embrace it the first time I saw it.

This problem goes beyond blockbusters though. Today I watched a film called "Charlie Bartlett" on Netflix. It was only the second time I had seen the film, the first being four years ago in my friend's dorm room. I remember walking away from that movie with a hollow feeling. I felt that it hadn't delivered on whatever I was expecting it to be. After watching it today, I found that it really was a solid film.

I think that is where the second coming viewing comes in handy. It diminishes expectations and simply allows for the film to be enjoyed for what it is.