I'm the GOAT

I’ve become what I hate: someone who’s picky about movies in theatres. It’s not like I wanted that, as I used to see several a month, but between two jobs, my limited income and the cost of movie tickets nowadays, I’ve had to become selective. I also have a monthly movie budget that could be easily blown with one theatre trip. Basically, it takes something extra special for me to watch a new release. But this is something I’ve said before, so I’m probably being redundant.

Anyway, I recently saw GOAT, that anthropomorphic basketball movie, on the big screen. Despite looking mid-tier initially, I enjoyed it. Yes, sports aren’t my jam. And yes, the movie has a fart joke involving a CPAP. But when you get past that, it’s not half-bad overall.

This begs the question: why has movie-going become exclusive? Why do we shell out insane amounts of money on movies, only to go online and complain about them? And why do we treat them like sports, always trying to one-up everyone else? Movies are meant to be escapism, not life. So why treat them like life?

I’m not guiltless here. Before the pandemic, I went to my local cinemas regularly. Sometimes I’d go twice a week, assuming I had time. Movies were my bread and butter for years. And while they burned through my bank account, I got a lot of joy out of them. Movie-going was fun, if somewhat obsessive.

That changed in March of 2020. Not only did I stop going for health reasons, but whenever movies were shown in theatres, such as Tenet, it backfired. Simply put, seeing new releases was dangerous. And streamers noticed this, with watching movies at home taking off. It’s unfortunate, but that was the reality for over a year.

Once the restrictions lessened, and theatres opened again, the novelty had faded. Movie-going wasn’t fun anymore. It didn’t help that problems I might’ve dealt with in the past, like bloated ticket costs, were now no longer worth ignoring. After all, renting movies was cheaper! And more convenient! So why bother?

That’s when my budgeting experiment began. For one, I didn’t have time or funds to go to the theatre regularly anymore. And two, I had adult responsibilities, responsibilities like paying for groceries. So it’s no wonder that I started going out to theatres less frequently. Even if it meant skipping something I was looking forward to.

Which brings me back to my questions. It genuinely feels like seeing movies in theatres is now less a hobby and more a chore, with people pressuring others to see new releases. This includes mini-reviews on Letterboxd, as well as debates in forums and on YouTube videos. It also includes endless, aggressively-long video essays deconstructing every detail of new releases to “prove” they suck. That’s not what I signed up for.

It also makes me less-excited to see new releases. I remember getting roasted on Bluesky last year because someone discovered that I hadn’t seen Sinners yet. This individual then lobbed Antisemitic remarks, having found out I was Jewish, before promptly Blocking me. I still haven’t seen Sinners. But if this is the reaction I get for not watching it, then is it worth it?

Going back to GOAT, part of why I saw it is because I knew it wouldn’t be amazing, yet I was curious. And that’s okay. A movie doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel to be enjoyable, and I think people have forgotten that. In a sense, GOAT might be worth it as a reminder. Because we appear to need that reminding.

Let me reiterate: not everything needs to reinvent the wheel to be enjoyable. This includes GOAT, which is basically Space Jam if it wasn’t conceived for cynical reasons. The movie, save for its visuals, isn’t doing anything revolutionary, but it does it well anyway. Even visually, Sony Animation has done more interesting stuff recently. But that doesn’t matter when the movie is fun anyway.

It sounds like I’m going in circles, but I want fellow movie fans to understand this. GOAT might not rock your world. It might only be okay! However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth watching. Neither should I be judged over it being the only movie I’ve seen theatrically this year so far. Even if there are better movies out there, you shouldn’t berate me for being budget-conscious. Nor should you berate me if I wasn’t being budget-conscious. You don’t know my personal circumstances.

I’ll end with the following anecdote: a reviewer I used to be a fan of once chastised moviegoers for only seeing MCU movies in theatres. Said reviewer compared them to junk food, stressing that people needed a varied cinema diet. I didn’t agree, but at the time I got the sentiment. I don’t anymore, however, as life’s too precious to gate-keep people’s preferences. If that makes me “lame”, so be it!

So yes, I’ve become what I hate, but I wouldn’t change that. Because I feel much better about myself, if we’re honest.