When I was asked what my New Year’s Resolution was at the past Thanksgiving, I had a simple answer.
“I want to watch more movies,” I said, taking a bite of blueberry pie. My mom had let out a giggle at this. She had just listed off a multitude of goals she had wanted to do in 2026, like continuing with her conversational Portuguese skills, and here I was — aspiring toward leisure.
But the truth of the matter is, I want to watch more movies. I have a Letterboxd account, and I have started a small physical media collection for when the streaming age eventually hits rock bottom from ongoing censorship and price gouging.
There are so many big movies that I haven’t seen that it makes me think of the small movies I haven’t seen. Then I get nervous, and I go on my phone, get stuck there, and don’t start the movie. I’ve already developed a complex about how I’ll never read all the great books ever written — but now I’m adding in movies, too. Who do I even think I am?
There are so many incredibly famous movies that I’ve never seen. “Star Wars.” “The Godfather.” “Pulp Fiction.” “Paddington in Peru.” Where to start? Where to begin?
Two simple things are holding me back from this goal. First off, I’m not making enough time for movie consumption. I’m addicted to my phone and I love reading books, so films tend to get pushed to the back burner when I do have time. Still, as an English major and a general lover of narrative, I’ve decided I need to prioritize movies as well as books.
The number one gift I asked for for Christmas is a DVD player for my room. I will be simply unstoppable with this purchase, and I will finally be able to watch the Paddington movie franchise, as intended. I love that bear. When my large extended family asked me what I wanted, I told them a list of movies, a mix of some I’ve seen and some I know I’ll like that are never available to stream.
This does not account for thrifting DVDs — a highly underrated practice — or borrowing them from your local library, an even more underrated practice. I had to watch “Fight Club” for a class, and I had never seen it, so I grabbed it from my local library and returned it a week later. I will be so powerful when I can regularly borrow movies for free and test the waters before actually buying them for my own collection.
On a recent trip to my local Goodwill, I was able to pick up seven movies for fourteen dollars. Most notable of these was all of the Tobey Maguire “Spiderman” movies, which have been on my watchlist for a while. The only thing holding me back was I don’t have Disney+, but now I own the DVDs. On top of this, my local library is able to acquire many new releases, which are always displayed when I walk in.
I also saw two movies in theaters this year, James Gunn’s “Superman” and John M. Chu’s “Wicked: For Good.” I like going to the theatres, and both movies lent themselves to the big screen, but a lot do not. While I’m not opposed to seeing new releases in theatres, it’s not the focus of my energy at the moment. I think the DVD is the middle ground between seeing all movies in theaters of the past and streaming every single form of media of the future.
I love movies. I love the convenience of streaming, but intentionality must sometimes be sacrificed for convenience. And I want to get that intentionality back. I think there’s a lost art in picking up a movie at a store like Blockbuster and making plans to watch it that night with loved ones. Movies and art are meant to be shared and cherished, and when we haphazardly throw on whatever Netflix original that is just agreeable enough, we lose that.
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