So far, I’ve watched 23 movies and 9 TV shows on DVD.  I will start posting comments on the movies in sections, maybe 10 at a time.  I’m continuing to watch movies for at least another few days and maybe longer.   I’m watching a lot of the ones you guys suggested, plus a few that were loaned to me by Shannon’s coworkers.

Why am I watching all these movies?  Well, in short, I have a brand-new Medical Condition (yippee).  Things were shaky for the last few months, and then everything came crashing down on March 8.  I’m expecting another 1-2 months of misery until I feel better, and 6 months until I might be “well”.  Long-term, I’ll be fine, but I have to follow a special diet.  I’m having a hard time adjusting to this major change, but I’m trying.  Just taking things one day at a time and trying to sleep a lot.

The best thing I can do is relax, watch movies, and wait for medicines to work.

So that’s what I’m doing.  It’s definitely helping.  I still plan to go to WisCon.  If I’m lucky, I’ll be at maybe 75% of my usual energy and health levels.  If I’m unlucky, I’ll just have to figure it out as I go along.

For those who like to form a complete picture about a person based on their movie tastes, here’s some more data points.

1) Under usual circumstances, I’m quite okay with sad movies and perhaps even prefer them. Some favorite movies that I don’t want to watch right now: Farewell My Concubine, Bridge to Terebithia, Like Water For Chocolate, Tuck Everlasting, Donnie Darko, Amadeus.

2) My violence tolerance has dropped way down over the years. This means that I have a few films which I liked many years ago, and still think are great movies, but I don’t know if I can ever watch them again. Among these are such surprising choices as Seven, Gladiator, The Usual Suspects, and Reservoir Dogs. Maybe in time my preferences will change again. But violence in familiar movies is a lot easier to handle, so who knows.

3) The better the movie, the higher my tolerance for violence. If it’s a tightly written script with great characters, I’ll accept more violence in the movie. Nothing is worse than gratuitous, pointless gore. That said, I sometimes can tolerate violence and blood in very silly comedy, like Monty Python and Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Beavis & Butthead. I don’t LIKE it, but often the rest of the stuff is funny enough that I can ignore the discomfort.

4) Right now, I’m happy to have a list of movies where I can count on little to no violence, plus a happy ending so I don’t get anxious about the characters like I often do. I think I identify too strongly with movie protagonists, which is why movies upset me so easily. They always feel very real to me. Especially in a theatre, which is why I don’t often go out to movies. It’s just overwhelming.

5) It’s really just violence in movies which bothers me–specifically, violent motion. I can read any words I like and nothing fazes me. Books and stories are fine. Still photographs are usually okay. But if there’s violent motion, it triggers panic for me. Sudden noises make it doubly bad. Must be something in the lizard brain. That’s why looking at a corpse in a movie is a lot less troubling to me than seeing a gunman shooting at a running person, even if he misses.

6) Stress causes me to make weird posts at 3:18 AM. Hi.

Dear Internet,

You are the best internet ever.  Thank you.

Shall I issue a report later this week?

Dear Internet,

I’m under a lot of stress right now. I’m interested in Netflixing some new movies, and I’d like suggestions. Usually there’s a good variety of movies I like. But right now, I’m looking for:

MUST-HAVE

–happy endings, or at least bittersweet.

–very minimal violence/blood (preferably none). I could probably handle something like a sword duel, but certainly no guns or on-screen explicit violence. I’m serious about this one.

–a quality story. I’m picky. I prefer movies that have a well-written plot and characters.

THINGS I TEND TO LIKE

–Whimsical, quirky, or goofy (Amelie)

–Surreal and lovely (Like Water for Chocolate, which is more violent than I want right now)

–Artistically interesting (certain animation styles, unusual camera angles, etc.)

–Coming of age stories for girls (Little Women, Anne of Green Gables)

–Powerful, striking, and moving (Baraka, Koyaanisqatsi)

–Light-hearted and fun (The Princess Bride, The Muppet Movie)

–Fascinating characters (Lawrence of Arabia, also too violent right now)

–Historically-based movies (Jane Grey, although like just about every historical movie, it’s really violent)

–Interesting documentaries (Wordplay, Planet Earth, although I’d prefer actual movies)

–Stories set outside the United States, especially foreign-made ones–bonus points for China (Eat Drink Man Woman)

–Kids’ and young adult fantasy movies (Labyrinth, Neverending Story)

–Dancing and musicals (Jesus Christ Superstar, although this might be too intense right now).

Ideas? Let me know. Thanks!