After (or perhaps before?) watching a film, how much do you read up on it?

*Hi ya Zensky!

I do look at the literature on the topic if the trailers don’t provide enough information or shine a bad light on the film.

I do enjoy the goofs and trivia and especially the memorable quotes.

I typically become excited about a movie several years before a release.

I will follow the progress of the film on the internet, usually on “aintitcoolnews” or something similar. If the movie was enjoyable I will review all the goofs and trivia, while never contributing. If the movie was disappointing I never think about it again.

I’ll look at both IMDB and Wikipedia if I don’t know who a particular actor is. I don’t look at the trivia or quotes or goofs unless it’s a really old movie.

Any movie that stirs my interest would compel me to read a lot about it before watching. And if the film proves to be a good one, I follow up with more reading on it’s subject.

If I enjoy or am challenged by a film, I start with the reviews in The New Yorker, NYT, James Berardinelli, and possibly Roger Ebert.

If it’s a movie I’m really psyched about, I’ll probably follow it for months until it releases. Whenever I finish a movie, though, I generally check it’s score on Rotten Tomatoes, look at some stuff on IMDb about it, mostly Trivia, quotes, and FAQ’s, and read a few professional reviews.

Actually I usually frequent Wikipedia, IMDB, and many others to gain more info on a film. And if the film is based on a best-selling book, or an independent, I will absorb as much details as can from that as well. Phillip Roth’s The Human Stain is one I would like to read thoroughly. And I still haven’t read all of Stephen King’s creepy-snowy Dreamcatcher. My reading backlist is long and very winding, and that’s just for books adapted to film.

If the movie or film really catches me in some way, I will go to some length to source out more info, however, thanks to the internet library it really doesn’t take long to get to the story behind the story. A couple stories recently that I have found captivating are the stories of Charles Van Doren, you will remember him as being party in the $64,000 question scandal and then got his thoughts on things 50 years later. Pretty interesting.

Also the story of Templeton Grandin the autistic who became a doctor of animal science eventually. Very compelling human interest stories – one so inspiring and the other about the follies of mankind.

I read lots about a movie, but after I saw it. Usually reviews, then the obligatory Wiki entry, and then I wander around in some links. I like to know what people thought, the history and all. I get curious and interested. But I don’t wanna read any of that before seeing it, because I think it might ruin stuff for me. Unless it’s something I’m really interested to see and can’t resist. A lot of my movie watching isn’t really planned though. It’s not like I know what I’m going to rent two hours form now, usually, or what someone is gonna lend me.

Most of my trivia taking involves Xena and zombie movies.

But yeah, I like doing a bit of homework after seeing something.

Also Zen, you should totally check out Paul. I bet you’d love it. :)

It depends. If I really loved a movie or am really confused about a movie, I’ll read pretty extensively about it. If something about it is driving me crazy – the name of a certain actor who looks familiar is – I’ll pause it mid-movie to look it up. I’m not really bothered by spoilers. I can read the entire plot of a movie and all of the things that ‘ruin it’ and not really be annoyed. Usually I see movies long after they’ve been released, so I already know what happens anyway.

Recently, I researched A Streetcar Named Desire because I thought it was one of the most dreadful movies I’ve ever seen, and what I found out about it (all of the things they pretty much skipped over that were in the original play) pulled it together for me.

@Symbeline I will look into it thanks.