A Simple Trick for Never Asking "What Should We Watch?" Again
No surprise here, but I've gotten reeeally into watching movies. Maybe it's the fact that they anchor me to what life looked like pre-COVID (anyone else instinctively flinch when they see characters hug?) or the fact that we have *literally* nothing better (or safer) to do at night, but Jonah and I have become full-on cinephiles.
We make popcorn then plop down into a cozy nest of couch cushions and blankets with our cat, remote aimed and ready. We have so many streaming services! The movie world is our oyster! But then it happens: "Sooo, what should we watch?"
The question is a new one for us. Pre-quarantine, we watched TV sparingly enough that it felt like we were always catching up on both must-see shows and movies, so the path was clearly laid out before us. But once we'd bulldozed our way through half of Hulu and Netflix, and signed up for three new streaming services, the options became limitless and less obvious. We'd spend hours watching trailers and cross-checking them against Rotten Tomato reviews. By the time bedtime rolled around, we'd be far more educated on Paul Rudd's questionable '90s roles but no closer to a decision.
It became clear that we needed a strategy—for the sake of our sanity. Here's how we ended the "What should we watch?" curse:
Jonah had an existing "to watch" list, which we started adding to in earnest in a shared iPhone Note. Every time one of us came across a trailer or review that looked interesting, we added it, along with movies we remembered and wanted to rewatch. I'll often add movies I consider "must watches" that Jonah hasn't seen (Goodfellas, E.T.) and he'll do the same for me (The Matrix, Searching for Sugar Man), and add little notes so we don't forget.
Each movie is assigned a number in the list, so when we sit down to watch, we use a random number generator to select three, then go to the corresponding movie: 21. Boogie Nights, 95. 20 Feet from Stardom, 37. Beasts of the Southern Wild. This limits our options—so we don't have the entire oeuvre of film to choose from—but still gives us some flexibility, based on our mood.
If we aren't inspired by any of the three, we select the one we're most interested in and commit to watching eight minutes of it. If we're still disengaged eight minutes in, we remove it from the list and skip to the next! The concept is simple, but it's a relief to have one less decision to make during the day—and has turned movie nights into a sort of spontaneous surprise! (It's the little things, you guys.)
You could do the same for TV shows (I think it helps to have a separate list for shows and movies, but you do you!) and this works just as well whether you have a T.V. buddy or are watching solo! If you have a spouse/roommate/sibling/pet, then just be sure that there's a relatively equal addition from each of you in the list to keep things "fair." I've pasted our (fairly random, all-over-the-map) list below to inspire or incite judgement of our questionable movie taste. Reader's choice!
- Malcom X
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
- Quiz Show
- Reality Bites
- A River Runs Through It
- Se7en
- Fight Club
- True Romance
- Taxi Driver
- American Psycho
- Chinatown
- Raging Bull
- Vertigo
- Rear Window
- E.T.
- All About Eve
- Alien
- Some Like it Hot
- Spinal Tap
- Network
- Boogie Nights
- The Hateful Eight (too scary for L?)
- The Infiltrator
- Goat
- American Sniper
- Free State of Jones
- Lucy
- Where to Invade Next
- Inside Job
- Good Will Hunting
- Shawshank Redemption
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Get Out (rewatch!!)
- The Square
- Margot at the Wedding
- Philomena
- Beasts of the Southern Wild (*J dying to watch)
- Winter's Bone
- A Serious Man
- Precious
- Mystic River
- Gangs of New York
- Capote
- Doubt
- Toni Erdman
- Fruitvale Station
- Medicine for Melancholy
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
- Ingrid Goes West
- American Honey
- Blue Valentine
- Place Beyond the Pines
- Primer
- Swiss Army Man
- Lucy in the Sky (*not great reviews, but Nathalie!)
- Earthquake Bird
- Shirkers
- Shoplifters
- Biggest Little Farm
- First Man
- Mid90s
- The Kill Team
- Mary Queen of Scots
- The Irishman
- A Hidden Life
- Synonyms
- Transit
- Atlantics
- Dark Waters
- Honey Boy
- Man on Wire
- Muscle Shoals
- Valley Uprising
- One Child Nation
- The Edge of Democracy
- Honeyland
- The Innocence Files
- Walk the Line
- Ray
- Crip Camp
- Never Rarely Sometimes Always
- Cadillac Records
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
- The Making of Motown
- Maggie's Plan
- The Family Fang
- The Wedding Singer
- He’s Just Not That Into You
- Pride and Prejudice (*Leslie's fav)
- Icarus
- Paterson
- Love and Friendship
- Fantastic Fungi
- Saving Face
- 20 Feet from Stardom (rewatch!!)
- Dan in Real Life
- Anomalisa
- The Nest
- Stepford Wives
- Da 5 Bloods
- On the Rocks
- Contagion
- Border
- Father Soldier Son
- Short Term 12
- Search for Sugar Man (L,you would love)
- Boys State
- The Devil All The Time
- The Trial of the Chicago 7
- Dune
- Save Yourselves
- The Father (*note to self: Leslie liked the trailer a lot)
What movies should we add to our "to watch" list? Want to know the movies we've already watched (we have a list for that too!)? Did I use the word oeuvre correctly? Tell me in the comments below!