I don’t want much. I am very easy to please when it comes to movies. And yet, somehow, I scroll for thirty minutes before choosing one.
Let me start with what I don’t like.
I don’t enjoy movies where the world is ending. Especially the kind where a machine has decided to eliminate humanity but also has a power button. And the only thing standing in its way is one super hero who, against all odds, finally presses the turn off button in the last thirty seconds. I’ve seen it. Many times. I’m done.
I’m also not a fan of movies that begin with a man quietly fixing something in his garage, only to be “called in for one last job.” Nothing good ever follows. If the words “last job” are spoken, I know I’m about to watch two hours of regret.
No horror movies, of course. Not because they are not scary anymore, but because I like sleeping. I am not fond of lying in bed replaying scenes in my head while convincing myself that the strange sound in my room is just the house settling.
I like happy movies. Or at least gentle ones. I don’t want to worry about the fate of the planet for two hours. I just want to watch two people slowly find their way to each other, misunderstand a few things, say the wrong words at the wrong time, and finally meet where they were always headed anyway. Movies where people talk, argue, make up, and grow a little by the end. No one needs to save the world.
I like good dialogue. Conversations that sound like people. Lines that stay a little after they’re spoken. I like movies that feel comfortable, the way a familiar cafe does.
I want to finish a film feeling lighter than I started. Like I’ve spent a couple of hours with people who reminded me that life can be messy, slow, funny, and still very much worth watching. If the movie lets me smile, breathe, and forget about everything else for a while, that’s more than enough for me.
That’s how I tell myself I select a movie. By asking one simple thing: will this let me rest?
And yet, most nights, I still sit there scrolling. Passing over movies that are too loud, too dark, too urgent. Reading descriptions, watching trailers, changing my mind.
I know exactly what I want from a film. I just rarely know which one will give it to me.