The Experiment

I am going to watch a movie each day for a year.

Why

I am doing this to see if watching 365 movies that are rated among the best by either critics or audiences, and in some rare instances, both, will change how I see movies; what I expect from a movie, how I respond to movies and what I want a movie to be.

Right now, at the beginning, I often want movies to be entertainment, pure and simple. On occasion I like a “heavier” movie that makes me think. You know the kind I mean, the once that get all the Oscars, and the critics embrace.

Will my preferences in movies change?

If I go back at the end of these 12 months, will I think my earliest recommendations and reports from the movies I watch seem naive or dumb, and will I still feel the same way about those movies? Will I warm to the way critics feel about movies or will I remain in the firm side of the majority of movie audiences?

Reading books about the history of movies, imagery in movies, film criticism and so on, and maybe taking some college classes on such subjects would quite probably make me adore a critics choices in movies. And if my goal was to understand critics better, this would probably be a good approach, but the experiment is simply trying to answer the question: will only watching a lot of movies, and many of them critically acclaimed, make me warm to the movies that critics like?

For more about my reasoning on why I do this see my best movies ever post.

What movies?

I have chosen 365 movies and randomly distributed them on a list of all the dates from June 1st 2017 til May 31st 2018.

The movies are a mixture of critics favorites and audience successes.

The list has animated movies, anime movies, old black and white movies, even a few silent movies. Almost every genre is represented; romance, thriller, action, sci-fi, horror, drama and more. There is a short film, and even a few documentaries, some movies for children and several movies not in English, but most of the movies are full length, English language, and fairly modern.

My sources for  movies that have made the watch list is varied:

For a little bit more on the next few movies on the watch list, see my upcoming movies page.

For some facts and statistics about all of the movies on the list, check out my post about the 365 movies.

Participate

Watch-along, or write along or just check in with my descriptions of the movies that I’ve watched and see if there really is a change over the year that I do this. Will I still just tell readers if I enjoyed a movie, if it was funny, or good, or maybe not so much, or will I start spouting sentences like “I see the influence of early Ukrainian movies in the dialogue.”

If you watch-along with me, will your descriptions, recommendations and taste change?

There are many ways you can participate in my little experiment. Watch-along.

Photo at the top of the page showing interior of cellblock at Ohio State Reformatory, Olivesburg Rd. Mansfield where part of “The Shawshank Redemption” was filmed, was taken by Brenda Gottsabend – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Original photo.