Happy New Year! It’s the time of year when we all make resolutions to bettering our lives. Some people resolve to quit smoking. Others resolve to lose weight. A lot of people resolve to be nicer to others. Personally, I’m resolving to enjoy more movies.

Now that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to watch more movies. My schedule is pretty busy and I find it difficult enough to make time for one or two new films a week. Plus, with ticket prices continuing to go up, it can be a pretty expensive hobby (and for the record, no. I don’t get reimbursed for my movie tickets because of this column. It would be nice, though. Hint, hint.) No, instead I’m going to do my best to enjoy the movies I do watch.

Too often, I find myself slipping into a permanent critic mind set. I’ll find the smallest, most ridiculous detail to upset me and then the whole movie-going experience is ruined. More often than not, I’ll wind up disliking a movie that I should have enjoyed. A perfect example of this is Sherlock Holmes. It was an enjoyable, intelligent action movie with fantastic performances putting a new spin on a classic literary character. In short, it was exactly what I wanted it to be. I left the theater disappointed. My friends asked me why, and I had no idea. There was nothing wrong with it. I just didn’t enjoy. I wouldn’t let myself enjoy it, because I was watching it with a critical eye, looking for art and significance when I should have just been looking to be entertained. No more! And to help me with my resolution, I have a few ideas.

More Bad Movies

At first glance, this may seem an antithesis to my goal, but hear me out. Bad Movies make you appreciate the good ones more. When you see something completely misfire on every level, smaller disappointments aren’t as noticeable. Plus, Bad Movies, with their B-list casts and lower budgets, offer something most blockbuster productions can’t: heart. In most Bad Movies, you can see that the cast crew are working hard and enjoying themselves, trying to make something out of nothing. When the effort shows on screen, it makes the viewing a more enjoyable experience. Who doesn’t like to root for the underdog? Case in point: Most horror flicks are Bad Movies. They are cheaply produced with no-name or television casts and offer very little in the way of intelligent plot. Danged if they aren’t fun, though.

Less Crap

There is a difference between a Bad Movie and a bad movie. Bad Movie’s can still be enjoyable on some levels. Bad movies are just bad. Usually, they are huge-budget, star driven special effects filled popcorn flicks that turn out to be completely worthless. Michael Bay is the king of bad movies. All the big explosions, extreme close-ups of attractive women in provocative poses, and quick-cut editing don’t mean a thing unless there’s some point behind it all. This is what was wrong with Transformers 2. James Cameron’s recent Avatar suffers from the same problem. All of the computer generated images and motion capture technology in the world can’t disguise the fact that the movie is nothing more than a big budget remake of Ferngully: the Last Rainforest. And since these “blockbusters” usually clock in at close to three hours, they just aren’t worth the time or energy.

Revisit the classics

This is probably the most important part. It’s time to go back and re-watch the movies that made me fall in love with movies. I don’t just mean those film school essentials, either. The Godfather, 2001, Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now are all great movies but they aren’t the only ones I’m talking about. I’m talking about pop perfect movies like Romancing the Stone, cult classics like Escape from New York, and action junk food like the Lethal Weapon series. These movies aren’t just good. They’re fun. I miss having fun at the movies, and I resolve to start having fun again.

What makes movies fun for you? Let me know, along with any ideas for movies you would like to see covered at nick. spinelli@us.army.mil.