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!

1. Malcom X
2. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
3. Quiz Show
4. Reality Bites
5. A River Runs Through It
6. Se7en
7. Fight Club
8. True Romance
9. Taxi Driver
10. American Psycho
11. Chinatown
12. Raging Bull
13. Vertigo
14. Rear Window
15. E.T.
16. All About Eve
17. Alien
18. Some Like it Hot
19. Spinal Tap
20. Network
21. Boogie Nights
22. The Hateful Eight (too scary for L?)
23. The Infiltrator
24. Goat
25. American Sniper
26. Free State of Jones
27. Lucy
28. Where to Invade Next
29. Inside Job
30. Good Will Hunting
31. Shawshank Redemption
32. Silver Linings Playbook
33. Get Out (rewatch!!)
34. The Square
35. Margot at the Wedding
36. Philomena
37. Beasts of the Southern Wild (*J dying to watch)
38. Winter's Bone
39. A Serious Man
40. Precious
41. Mystic River
42. Gangs of New York
43. Capote
44. Doubt
45. Toni Erdman
46. Fruitvale Station
47. Medicine for Melancholy
48. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
49. Ingrid Goes West 
50. American Honey
51. Blue Valentine
52. Place Beyond the Pines
53. Primer
54. Swiss Army Man
55. Lucy in the Sky (*not great reviews, but Nathalie!)
56. Earthquake Bird
57. Shirkers
58. Shoplifters
59. Biggest Little Farm
60. First Man
61. Mid90s
62. The Kill Team
63. Mary Queen of Scots
64. The Irishman
65. A Hidden Life
66. Synonyms
67. Transit
68. Atlantics
69. Dark Waters
70. Honey Boy
71. Man on Wire
72. Muscle Shoals
73. Valley Uprising
74. One Child Nation
75. The Edge of Democracy
76. Honeyland
77. The Innocence Files
78. Walk the Line
79. Ray
80. Crip Camp
81. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
82. Cadillac Records
83. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
84. The Making of Motown
85. Maggie's Plan
86. The Family Fang
87. The Wedding Singer
88. He’s Just Not That Into You
89. Pride and Prejudice (*Leslie's fav)
90. Icarus 
91. Paterson
92. Love and Friendship
93. Fantastic Fungi
94. Saving Face
95. 20 Feet from Stardom (rewatch!!)
96. Dan in Real Life
97. Anomalisa
98. The Nest
99. Stepford Wives
100. Da 5 Bloods
101. On the Rocks
102. Contagion
103. Border
104. Father Soldier Son
105. Short Term 12
106. Search for Sugar Man (L,you would love)
107. Boys State
108. The Devil All The Time
109. The Trial of the Chicago 7
110. Dune
111. Save Yourselves
112. 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!