End Game !

Are you ready for Ant-Man crawling up Thanos' ass and expanding himself?

 

Hahahah, brilliant.

 

You're not missing out Doug. Ditto, by the way.

Really? I fell asleep. All I could think was "uh oh, another 45 minute fight scene, the family's having a conflict! I suppose it will be resolved next episode with no consequence." Much like family sitcoms of the 90s.

 

Thanks for sharing your impressions with us Doug. I'm glad you enjoyed the event so much!
The only recent blockbuster movie I saw in a cinema was Alita, and I hated it. I genuinely felt like I'm "getting too old for this crap", even though I'm only in my thirties. Watching two such movies back to back sounds very exhausting and unappealing to me. I'm deeply fascinated by how vastly different results such media experiences produce in people. Do you have any theory how you managed to preserve this high level of immersion and emotional engagement for yourself, where many others failed to do the same?

 

I think LOTR gets a marathon showing a least once a year in some places. I don't know whether it's the extended editions or not. Extended editions total runtime is 11h 24min. The cut stuff adds even more depth to an already deep story. There's a scene in the third one that I just don't have a clue why did it get cut in the first place, since it's so important. On the other hand, the third one's extended edition clocks at 4 hours sharp, so they had to cut some 50 minutes or so for the theatrical release.

I did the extended edition marathon twice, albeit in my own home cinema with a few friends, and it really is a blast. This was back in college days when life was simpler, I'm not sure if we'll get to do it again anytime soon hah. But I wholeheartedly recommend.

 

I am on the fence about seeing it, actually. I have seen Infinity War and I liked it a lot, enough to shuffle the idea of not wanting to see a sequel to it, believe it or not.

My reasoning is *POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR INFINITY WAR AHEAD* (and excuse my wild assumptions here, I have seen or read absolutely nothing about the movie before it came out, not even teaser trailers) that things ended in a way in which they should have. I am not really sure I want to see a movie that is (possibly, it's a guess but I don't think I'm that far off) full of miracle resurrections, sad as it may be that those heroes have perished. Your review does leave me wondering if I should just unplug my brain and go see it, though.

 

I never really understood marathons, until now. The "sporting event" idea makes sense.

Fantastic summary.

Okay this makes more sense to me. I never understood movie marathons, but it's supposed to take you to a "check your brain at the door" kind of place.

Nailed it.

You mentioned long-form. How have you not seen LOTR yet? If you marathoned 11.5h you'd probably get the same experience, but rationally, I think this might not be the best approach for the first time through, unless you're not a fan of fantasy at all. It doesn't do the majesty of the books justice, but the music is actually long form and interesting, the characters and themes are coherent and interesting, and there's actual plot, set-design, dialogue, etc. You're missing out! Dilly dilly.

I'd really love to hear your take on the score. Oh and do the extended editions. It's not just a bunch of filler, it's "mandatory plot they would have included if studios could handle the thought of a long film".

If you're really looking for a trip, try Harry Potter. 19h39m.

 

I saw Breaking Bad years ago and I remember it being pretty good.

The only show that I'm watching at the moment is Game of Thrones and I'm really excited since this season is the final one. When they end it, it'll be 74 hours total. So far I'd only say they had one shit episode, and that was last season. Right now, it's in the final phases of the story and all the loose ends are being tied, character arcs are being completed and it's incredibly satisfying after you've been through such a journey with all of them. What a story. I won't spoil anything, but there are things that you can easily take for granted in any other movie that you appreciate so much here because they've been built up to for 60 hours and then executed masterfully.

I'm also excited for the ending, having read the (available) books 5 years ago, since George is always postponing the sixth one. Fifth one released in 2011, right when the show started. First one released back in '96. Some people have actually been with this story for 23 years now.

 

Oh damn. Hah, I bet you felt like a teenager all over again. The only thing missing is the sax riff on the PA.

Gotta do something for yourself every once in a while. Maybe a bit more often than that. With the world in such a hurry all the time, a lot of people tend to forget that. I'm really glad you had a fantastic experience. Do some more of these "just you" things!

 

I can completely see the effects of checking your mind at the door being really fun. You're caught up in the emotion without really caring about a great deal of anything else. I agree the crowd effect is probably a huge part of this -- I don't care about football that much, but I watch the Superbowl with my rowdy football friends because it's fun. It's liberating and fun to get lost in those things. I don't think I could do 6h of Avengers, but it was interesting reading about your experience. I'd love to see someone sit down and watch a good series or set of films (i.e. LOTR as we were talking about) first in the "normal" way, and then in this way and see what the difference in experience is like.

There's a lot of music that sucks me in in an involuntary, non-intellectual but deeply emotional way. It's usually quite simple; sometimes as simple as a particular set of intervals. I've chalked it up to these random moments being what my most intensely emotional dreams feel like -- often not that much explanation, story or events, just an insanely strong atmosphere and emotional impression.

 

Alright, I'll try to get drunk for my next Marvel film, maybe that helps .

They'd had to watch different but comparable movies, because nothing beats the "first time" viewing experience imho.

I tried that with a soccer match that I watched with friends. Worldcup and our country won, I even was drunk, but I just couldn't manage to give a shit about the game. I was glad it made my friends happy, but neither could I immerse myself in the experience, nor did having a crowd around me help (it was a public viewing in a big tent with a couple hundred of people).


I've talked about "immersion" in relation to video games with a friend a couple of times. He says it's almost never happening for him to get immersed, but there still are some games he enjoys (Darkest Dungeon currently). For me immersion still works sometimes, but I feel like it's getting harder and harder as I grow older.
I consider slowly losing this ability a significant loss, and I've asked numerous people on forums how this affects them, and so far the consensus seems to be "it just gets harder the older you get, because you've seen so many things already".

Maybe this is the cause. I've watched quite a few shows and movies, and played 200+ games, and I feel like I'm getting more and more jaded and less able to enjoy these experiences.

I want to say "I agree", but maybe keeping them for "special occasions" is the key to maximizing their enjoyability?
I gotta read this when I'm less tired:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill

 

Feels like soaring! I was going to make a quip about the music in Avengers, but it was actually done by Silvestri. Could you tell, or has he fallen to the demands of "loud and disjointed"? Other than the main "Avengers" motif, I can't remember anything from the first two.