NickSchaden

Rewatch more movies

03.30.26 | film | ∞

If you like film, you’d probably benefit from rewatching movies more often. The act can help us refine our tastes, and educate us on a film’s construction, making us more astute film watchers. It’s also a dependably fun way to spend a few hours, especially for movies you love.

Rewatches matter because we can never experience the same movie in the same way twice. Our memories of our first watch always recontextualize the next. They free our brain up to refocus on other aspects of a movie. Often that allows us to pay less attention to the plot (we remember the story beats and ending), and more on the acting and technical underpinnings.

To put it another way, the rewatch, boosted by our memories, gives us a more comprehensive, expansive view on a film. We get to digest more aspects of the movie we may have missed the first time. And as we repeat this behavior over multiple movies, it’s easier to draw connections and patterns in the kind of movies we are drawn to.

Celebrate good movies alongside the greats

03.02.26 | film | ∞

Every awards season, I’m reminded there is an endless discussion of the great films, but not nearly enough of the merely good ones.

Scan any trade publication or film-adjacent social media in the period from December to February, and you’re bound to keep reading the same narrow list of ten to twenty films receiving all the attention. From critics groups to awards bodies and best of the year lists, it can feel like the same playlist on shuffle.

Few may interest mainstream audiences. A lot of good movies will. And a subset of those good films — films I’m calling Good to Great films, can contain the kind of “special sauce” that can convert a casual film fan into an enthusiast. For even the most hard core cineastes, they can broaden tastes and give us more to watch. Champion, recommend, and otherwise suggest Good to Great films, and we all benefit.

Good to Great films are generally regarded as fair to good quality overall. Few champion it, even fewer trash it. Yet the Good to Great movie distinguishes itself from the merely average by having at least one outstanding creative element. It might be an acting performance, or another contribution like cinematography, editing, score, or costume design. It’s the kind of trait that in isolation could be awards worthy and among the best of its class for the year, and can make the film irresistible to the right audience.