4 reasons I watch movies in chunks
The constant tug of responsibilities, fill a lonely meal time, test it out, and worn thin
A good movie theater experience casts a spell.
Years ago, I saw a summer matinee of Inglourious Basterds.
It wasn’t until the end credits started to roll, and I blinked for what felt like the first time in weeks, that I realized how locked in on the picture I was.
I drifted from my seat out through the semi-darkened theater, still chewing on Quentin Tarantino’s World War 2-era, men-on-a-mission movie.
It took a solid while before I’d fully merged back into reality.
Though I love movies, and I love going to movie theaters, I don’t have these kinds of out-of-body experiences anymore.
Instead, I watch movies at home and in chunks.
Here are 4 reasons why:
1. The constant tug of responsibilities
I’m middle-aged, with stuff to do beyond only looking out for myself. I can’t justify two-plus hours in a movie theater to see a movie that only I want to see.
It’s self-indulgent, like scarfing a whole pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving while the extended family watches me, forks in hand.
Questions in my head ruin the alone-in-a-movie-theater-experience:
“This is the best use of your time?”
“What else could you be doing?”
It’s hard to relax and lock in.
But if I stream a movie at home in 25-minute chunks, I can bargain with these inner voices. “Yes, I know this movie is dumb. I’m going to bed in 5 minutes though, okay?”
2. Fill a lonely meal time
At university I started watching movies in chunks. I lived in a shared house with a falling-in roof, four roommates, and sketchy, unironically mulleted neighbors.
I couldn’t justify doling out my student loan money for cable, and my roommates agreed, so we just got a few fuzzy channels via the rabbit ear antenna on our boxy TV.
Eating meals alone was boring. I could only stare at the watermarks on our walls and ceilings for so long and the crumb-bum snowy TV images got frustrating.
So, I started re-watching VHS tapes of movies I’d grown up with and bought secondhand, like Pulp Fiction and The Matrix.
I’ve kept up the practice of watching movies to fill lonely meal times.
For long stretches of each day it’s just me and my thoughts, so having a movie on to take in and fill the living room silence is a little reward.
I’ll eat a wrap at noon and take in 15 minutes of Our Idiot Brother.
Yes, I could find something on YouTube, but the choice on YouTube is overwhelming, and there’s something comforting about a Hollywood movie I already know.
Seeing actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Joe Pantoliano, and Elizabeth Banks in their younger roles feels like visiting with old acquaintances.
3. Test it out
I don’t read movie reviews anymore, and I don’t have a general sense of what’s happening in movie culture either.
Streamers keep hucking content my way though, and I have no idea what new movies are considered good and what new movies are considered bad.
How do I decide what movie to give my full attention to?
Watch the first 25-minute chunk, like it’s a super-extended trailer.
Then go to bed.
I did this with Bullet Train.
I like Brad Pitt as an actor, had heard good things about Bullet Train, and appreciated the rat-a-tat-tat, back and forth dialogue between the characters.
Bullet Train just didn’t grab me though.
The day after watching the first 25-minute chunk of Bullet Train, I never thought about Bullet Train again.
So, I never finished it.
Then I stumbled across Afternoon Delight, starring Kathryn Hahn.
Afternoon Delight is a weirdly intense movie, and I was put off by the first 25 minutes.
But I kept thinking about the characters and wondering where the plot would go, which I took as an indication I should come back to it.
So I did, watching Afternoon Delight in chunks over four evenings.
4. Worn thin
By day’s end, I’m worn thin and tired out, which is surprising because it often feels like I don’t do much in a day.
Watching a 25-minute chunk of a movie in the evening is somewhat relaxing and means my sleep patterns don’t get completely torn to bits.
Watching a full-length movie on a random weeknight and staying up into the wee hours might make it difficult for me to do much productive work the next day.
Two hours might throw me well off my routine.
That’s why I barely drink anymore.
I’ve become somewhat finicky.
While I miss the days gone by of matinees alone in a darkened theater, life rolls on.
Now, I watch movies in chunks because of the constant tug of responsibilities, to fill a lonely meal time, to test out a movie, and because I’m worn thin by day’s end.
I felt the same about “bullet train” - just couldn’t get into it