Movie fever

I think I have movie fever. I am sick. And I am getting worse. I always feel this need to watch a movie. Even after I do so. Movie after movie. This is getting out of hand. And the problem is that I don’t have any problem with that. I just go rent yet another movie and watch it. Or I go to the cinema. If I am too lazy to go out, I just watch a movie off TV. If there is nothing on TV, I find something on the web…

I remember I had this once. I was about 14 years old than. Video club opened at the bus station not far from my house. It was not the one where you rent films (I didn’t have a video player than). It was the one where you pay a ticket and you watch right there. Sitting on the harsh chair and watching it on the crapy 14″ TV. People who were travelling by bus from city to city and had to wait for their next bus having nothing better to do would go there. And I went. With the friend of mine. I think we’ve watched 20 or so films in one week. That was amazing. I wanted more, but I was broke. And so it stopped.

These days, films are so cheap that I will hardly go broke watching them. Many of them come free on TV or on the web. How would I stop? I don’t know. Do you?

On the other hand, I am still thinking if I should do anything about it. I mean I spend a lot of time watching films, but nothing else. Sometimes I watch them alone. Sometimes with my wife. Sometimes with my friends. Is it really bad?

Why do I watch them? Movies entertain. They change mood. They give something to think about (some of them, at least). They give something to laugh about, or something to cry about. Some are educational. Others are scary. Some make me appreciate things that I have. Others make me appreciate things that I don’t have. Sometimes they take me from the reality. Sometimes they bring me back to the reality.

I guess, I am watching them for the same reasons other people read books. Is reading bad? I was always told that it is good. How different is reading from watching movies? Some say that books push one to think and imagine things, analyze what one reads so that he can draw better pictures in his mind. Same some say that movies don’t give this to you. Movies provide you with ready-made thought-over images and you have nothing to do, just consume them. I don’t agree with that. The fact that I see a picture doesn’t mean that I don’t create a similar picture of my own. It does not mean that I don’t think “How would I do it?”. Also, movies are very limited in terms of time, while books are not. Books can cover huge periods of time with plenty of details. Movies cannot do that. Thus, movies provide you with material spread over a period of time, and it is you who should properly connect and fulfill it.

Why am I saying all of this? Because. I am just filling time between two movies. One that I’ve watched, and another one, which I am about to watch. Off I go…