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Anyone else had their enjoyment of films somewhat ruined by TV shows?

I have a hard time staying engaged through a whole film. My husband prefers movies to TV shows, so it gets interesting in our house at times.
Weirdly, although films seem to just zip by, I find myself a little bored. I could happily (Perhaps not the right word) binge a few hours of a show, but be bored an hour into a movie. Perhaps, like Señor Healey, I just need to choose better movies...and shows.
 
Weirdly, although films seem to just zip by, I find myself a little bored. I could happily (Perhaps not the right word) binge a few hours of a show, but be bored an hour into a movie. Perhaps, like Señor Healey, I just need to choose better movies...and shows.
This is true. I can watch TV shows for hours. I DVR things then watch multiple episodes at once. But 2 hour movie, nope. Need breaks.
 
i definitely know what you mean. my observations:

tv shows are set up in a way that the story arcs over and over and over again in 45 minute intervals. this means that not only do you have more time to develop characters and perform exposition BUT it also feeds a lot of peoples need for resolution(over and over again). movies have to do this with less characters and usually one major plot point/twist/resolve within 90-150 minutes.

i wouldnt say it has made me like movies less but i do think less great movies are being made because of great series.
 
i definitely know what you mean. my observations:

tv shows are set up in a way that the story arcs over and over and over again in 45 minute intervals. this means that not only do you have more time to develop characters and perform exposition BUT it also feeds a lot of peoples need for resolution(over and over again). movies have to do this with less characters and usually one major plot point/twist/resolve within 90-150 minutes.

i wouldnt say it has made me like movies less but i do think less great movies are being made because of great series.
Yes, that intuitively makes sense. One thing that drew me to tv shows was that ability to further develop characters and their motivations. but I've started to become quite sensitive to when a show sets out to honour a well-crafted plot/story-line and arc and when it just devolves into becoming a soap opera or procedural, just spinning wheels and making fake drama long enough for a season renewal. They can only play on our need for resolution so much. Mind you, it only takes an attraction to one of the actors to seem to short-circuit that issue e.g getting through five seasons of 'Covert Affairs', cause Piper Perabo :emoji_heart_eyes:
Still, i wasn't expecting the move back to movies to be quite so jarring. I guess with a bit more practice (And again, better movies) I can re-tune my expectations.
 
Yes, that intuitively makes sense. One thing that drew me to tv shows was that ability to further develop characters and their motivations. but I've started to become quite sensitive to when a show sets out to honour a well-crafted plot/story-line and arc and when it just devolves into becoming a soap opera or procedural, just spinning wheels and making fake drama long enough for a season renewal. They can only play on our need for resolution so much. Mind you, it only takes an attraction to one of the actors to seem to short-circuit that issue e.g getting through five seasons of 'Covert Affairs', cause Piper Perabo :emoji_heart_eyes:
Still, i wasn't expecting the move back to movies to be quite so jarring. I guess with a bit more practice (And again, better movies) I can re-tune my expectations.
I think my problem is I like to read books. Action movies based on comic books that are really short stories work well. Movies (and even some TV shows) based off of bigger books tend to lose something in the telling. And when they change the characters too much, I really lose interest.
 
Not at all. Its a completely different thing for me. my last movie was "knives out" and it was a wonderful experience ❤️

It depends completely on what the movie wants to tell. A good action-flick does not need more than 80 or 90 minutes. Sometimes shorter is better because it makes you want to watch it again - like a good short song. a good thriller or scifi-movie can be very good from 90 to 180 minutes and is deep enough without rushing through the story and characters (like "the girl on the train" or the original "the girl with the dragon tattoo").

I never was a series-guy. I´ve watched some but only when I can binge seasons like a long movie. Live on tv and only one episode per week is not my thing at all. Also I like mini-series with 5-6 episodes like "Chernobyl", "Dead Set" or "The End of the fucking world".

I only watched some few series with more than one season - Fleabag, Stranger Things, 4 Blocks, The Walking Dead, Firefly and some more. And sitcoms like Two and a half men, How I met ur mother, Big Bang Theory, South Park, Simpsons, etc. - "The Breaking Bad" lost me with the episode "The Fly". That was so strange and annoying...I never get back to it even when all my friends told me it gets sooo good after that 😂🤷‍♂️ but I plan to buy the complete box of "Games of Thrones" some day.

It also happens that the first season of a series is enough for me (in a positive meaning) like "The Boys", "True Detective", "Westworld", "Mr. Robot", "Fringe", "Killing Eve", etc. - there is so much stuff out there - its mostly overwhelming and sometimes you skip through all the streaming-menues and after two hours you did not watch anything.

I love to buy haptic media like cd´s and blurays. I buy a lot I´m interesting in and have always a little pile with movies I am interested in the most. So I can choose fast and have fun for some hours. Also the streaming sound- and picture-quality is not good enough for big screens and beamer - still much too compressed. I´m very picky with that ;)

But as always - at the end its just a matter of taste and time...
 
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I think my problem is I like to read books. Action movies based on comic books that are really short stories work well. Movies (and even some TV shows) based off of bigger books tend to lose something in the telling. And when they change the characters too much, I really lose interest.
One example of a graphic-novel/comic-book adaptation that I thought was done really well was 'Preacher'. There'd been a long time between my reading the books and seeing the show (Still need to watch the final season).

One show that did everything wrong was 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' (US) version. They took the quintessentially British, slightly surreal humour of Douglas Adams and gave it a shot in the neck of adrenaline. What an abomination :(
 
TV shows have improved exponentially in the past few years. There is so much money being poured into them that they really are in a way very long films ie the Mandalorian, Game of Thrones. Witcher, Westworld and so forth. At least the top tier ones.

Add to that the fact the a lot of movies are just trash like that new Wonderwoman movie.

I think the whole model is changing as a lot more money is going to go into high quality tv shows with the intension of carrying on several seasons. I've honestly been a lot happier with those shows than what I'm getting from the movie department.

Even the new Dune movie which I'm looking forward to, probably could or should have been for television. Kinda perfect for that really as it's based on a huge series of books.

I'm not sure why most movies are bad these days, but over the top action and effects is a big reason. Too safe is another.
 
I think my problem is I like to read books.
I was just typing a similar thought - to me, nothing ruins both movies and TV as much as reading.

These days I'm only watching TV about once a week and sometimes movies feel as if it's the same single TV episode, repeated over and over again. The same thing, warmed over and repackaged.

The big advantage of reading is that your own imagination gets to work filling in all the details (that are provided visually on the screen in a TV show), and that the pacing seems work on a different level that I cannot quite articulate.... I also find that the more "emotionally" and actively I read, the better it gets...
 
Not at all. Its a completely different thing for me. my last movie was "knives out" and it was a wonderful experience ❤️

It depends completely on what the movie wants to tell. A good action-flick does not need more than 80 or 90 minutes. Sometimes shorter is better because it makes you want to watch it again - like a good short song. a good thriller or scifi-movie can be very good from 90 to 180 minutes and is deep enough without rushing through the story and characters (like "the girl on the train" or the original "the girl with the dragon tattoo").

I never was a series-guy. I´ve watched some but only when I can binge seasons like a long movie. Live on tv and only one episode per week is not my thing at all. Also I like mini-series with 5-6 episodes like "Chernobyl", "Dead Set" or "The End of the fucking world".

I only watched some few series with more than one season - Fleabag, Stranger Things, 4 Blocks, The Walking Dead, Firefly and some more. And sitcoms like Two and a half men, How I met ur mother, Big Bang Theory, South Park, Simpsons, etc. - "The Breaking Bad" lost me with the episode "The Fly". That was so strange and annoying...I never get back to it even when all my friends told me it gets sooo good after that 😂🤷‍♂️ but I plan to buy the complete box of "Games of Thrones" some day.

It also happens that the first season of a series is enough for me (in a positive meaning) like "The Boys", "True Detective", "Westworld", "Mr. Robot", "Fringe", "Killing Eve", etc. - there is so much stuff out there - its mostly overwhelming and sometimes you skip through all the streaming-menues and after two hours you did not watch anything.

I love to buy haptic media like cd´s and blurays. I buy a lot I´m interesting in and have always a little pile with movies I am interested in the most. So I can choose fast and have fun for some hours. Also the streaming sound- and picture-quality is not good enough for big screens and beamer - still much too compressed. I´m very picky with that ;)

But as always - at the end its just a matter of taste and time...
Interestingly (although, maybe not) 'Knives Out' is a film I've been saving because I want to enjoy it without having this same nagging issue. I'm hoping that after a certain amount of movies that I'll get back into the swing of it.

I do agree with you about Mini-Series', but I also like the Anthology style, e.g Fargo and 'True detective', in which the individual stories are able to run a good arc, without danger of being kept on life-support until eventual cancellation. I also like limited-run multi-season shows, such as the original British 'The Office'. Gervais knew not to over-do it, which is quite surprising for him.

And I also agree with being happy with just one season of a show. Never felt too compelled to go back to Westworld', though I may do at some point. Disliked the first season of 'The Boys', but not only did i continue watching but eventually started season 2. It took till a couple of episodes in before it grabbed me, then I just binged it till the end :( Was ok with one of 'Killing Eve', but definitely enjoyed 'Mr Robot' till the end (and probably will, again).
 
I think the whole model is changing as a lot more money is going to go into high quality tv shows with the intension of carrying on several seasons
I like the idea of the story being mapped out before shooting. If it takes multiple seasons, then great. As long as they avoid teams of writers coming up with ways to extend a story for nothing more than keeping getting renewed.
 
I was just typing a similar thought - to me, nothing ruins both movies and TV as much as reading.

These days I'm only watching TV about once a week and sometimes movies feel as if it's the same single TV episode, repeated over and over again. The same thing, warmed over and repackaged.

The big advantage of reading is that your own imagination gets to work filling in all the details (that are provided visually on the screen in a TV show), and that the pacing seems work on a different level that I cannot quite articulate.... I also find that the more "emotionally" and actively I read, the better it gets...
I used to read a lot more. Then somewhere along the line fiction got replaced with non-fiction and it was no longer any fun. Should probably get back to fiction.
 
I like the idea of the story being mapped out before shooting. If it takes multiple seasons, then great. As long as they avoid teams of writers coming up with ways to extend a story for nothing more than keeping getting renewed.
I know it. Even when they do a huge Trilogy like the new Star Wars they couldn't map the story out and do it properly.
 
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