Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Serious question: How do I find movies to watch?

I'm not asking for specific recommendations. I'm asking for procedural advice.

I haven't watched a Western live-action movie or TV series in years. Past couple years, it's been anime backstopped by Western animation and J-drama. The couple years before that, pretty much no video entertainment of any kind.

I was asked, "Why not?" There were and are reasons, but to get to the point, I could watch OEL (actually, I suppose foreign films from places other than East Asia count for the purpose of this question...) movies. The problem is, it's not like I've been waiting to. I don't have a long list of movies I plan to see. And because I've been out of it for years, I don't know what my preferences are anymore. I haven't articulated, either in specifics or generalities, what I'm looking for. What are my goals? Am I looking for the same things I'm looking for in what I currently watch, or to get what I'm not already getting? (What am I looking for in anime? I can't always answer that.)

With anime, there are websites that (attempt to) list every anime ever made. And said list is, while too large to actually watch, just feasible to browse, at least enough to find a number of potentially interesting series quickly.

This reminds me of something I knew earlier. I knew some sites for SF book reviews. None of them approached (or attempted) completeness, but they still were useful. I knew of no equivalent for general fiction. Assuming there was one, it wouldn't be possible to use it in the same way, because it'd be too large to browse.

I rely on browsing. I rely on broad fandoms to mention series to remind me of them. Formerly, I relied on TV Tropes. Great source for making works sound interesting; not good as a predictor of whether they'd actually be interesting. Anyway, I no longer can be bothered to spend the time on searching for entertainment that I did a couple years ago. (I just realized a possible reason why I focus on TV series: I get more watching time per decision to watch!)

I'm not really looking for reviews, since I don't (want to) trust them. My problem starts earlier than that; knowing what exists, and finding enough information to guess whether it's interesting. What can I do in fields larger than my traditional foci?

I don't want methods that automatically limit my search. For example, I don't want to only hear about recent releases. I don't want to rely too heavily on my previous knowledge, which is rather limited. And I know from anime and manga that my favorite experiences were when I found something I'd seen nothing like before (doesn't happen much anymore) or when I found something I didn't know I'd like.

Well, one thing you could do is look for lists of the 100 greatest movies of all time from entertainment sites like IMDB or the American Film Institute

I usually find picking a certain actor/director and then searching out their work to be pretty effective.

Trip doesn't want to "limit" his search. Not sure how to respond to that? Almost anything other than choose from ALL movies seems to be contrary to desires?

Me personally, I'll get on an actor kick and just order some from the library. I might go on a genre kick. We're starting to get more British WWII era movies (oddly, no captioning done). There's a different perspective compared to some American movies of the same era.

Mostly though, I just peruse the library's on-line catalog and order anything that strikes my fancy.

This is when I go to Wikipedia, type in a movie I already like, and then just read the article. As I come across other movies I click them. I look at them. Rinse and repeat. Eventually you've looked at dozens of movies, some of which you've never heard of and might actually find interesting.

Another option is to go to somewhere like Amazon type in a name of film you do know/like and then choose something from the 'other people who bought this also bought' section.

Sure some of them are going to be pretty random or awful but it is a quick way of getting to see what's out there.

Sites like IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes have 'Top 100 by genre' sections so you can see a list of the "best" (as voted by critics and/or members of those sites) 100 western or horror or science-fiction or comedy or documentary or whatever movies of all time.

I find those lists great for pointing me towards films I've never heard of, or had intended to see once upon a time but then forgot about. I've discovered some really classic/amazing movies on there.

One tip - don't be afraid to go old or foreign.

The IMDB top 250 list is pretty broad for sure, but it's actually pretty good for a crowd-sourced popular list. If you get an IMDB account (the free one's fine) and start rating movies you've seen (both good and bad), their predictor is reasonably reliable I've found.

If you have Netflix, they have a recommendation tool as well, but I find it hit or miss, but probably because my whole family uses the account.

Just to constrain the responses:

I dislike going by top lists.

One of the the things I mean when I say "limit" is "by credits". I don't want to focus on names I know.