That I have been watching and liking so much Anime kind of makes up for that. But as someone who choose to at the start of 2017 brag about how easy I am to please, I don't like that I haven't truly been able to be that enthusiastic about the Blockbuster movies I've watched.
Infinity War has possibly broken this trend. So many past movies I've raved about on this Blog after first watching them I was already starting to sour on by this point since seeing it, whether I admitted that publicly or not. So that I still feel the same as what I said about that movie two weeks ago, maybe even appreciating some aspects more, is important. Before that the last Live Action film that I kept loving as much as when I first saw it in the theater was Jurassic World.
Even Wonder Woman, which because of my Feminism I actively refused to say anything negative about while it was still fresh because we needed a Female lead Superhero film to be a hit. The truth is it didn't take me long to realize that I think it's in the same place Superman The Movie and Batman 89 were, good enough that it'll be treated as perfect as long as there isn't another take on Wonder Woman to compare it to, but once there is, the conversation about it will change.
One factor might be I haven't been rewatching stuff as much I used to (that's true for both Anime and western Cinema). Becoming a regular Anime follower has caused me to have a lot more to watch then I used to. And in terms of Films, I used to make a point to always give a film I liked a second theatrical viewing. But now with ticket prices going up while I have had a lot less money, I don't think I've done a repeat theatrical viewing since before I started this Blog. There was a time when I would never fail to see a Comic Book Superhero film in theaters, but in 2017 I skipped out on all the Marvel movies till home video.
The Dark Knight I saw 10 times before 2008 was over, 6 times in theaters and 4 on DVD. For the next few years I wouldn't go more then 6 months without watching it. But Batman V Superman I've still only seen twice and those viewings were not of the same edit. Maybe if during the gestation period of my opinion on The Dark Knight I allowed myself to go over a month only thinking about it without watching it again my mind would have poked more holes in it.
Digibro likes to say the re-watch is the real watch of something. In fact he's specifically said it can take till the third viewing to be certain what your opinion is, that the second viewing you'll notice more flaws then you did the first time but then the third viewing be back to loving it as much as the first. That describes my relationship with The Force Awakens somewhat, I certainly enjoyed my third viewing of it more then I did the second.
But why have I watched TFA more times then BvS? When I care about that franchise less to start with and ultimately feel like I probably like BvS more? Something about BvS has been making me afraid of coming to terms with it.
The lack of repeat viewings can't be the only explanation however. Cause I still only watched 2008's Speed Racer twice when I first saw it last year and I still love it and honestly think it might be able to compete with The Dark Knight as my favorite western movie period, being perhaps the opposite side of the same coin.
Now some of you might say "dude it's because you like things so much you watch it more" even though I kind of already addressed that. Even with the Anime I've been watching, a decade ago something I enjoyed as much as I did In Another World With My Smartphone or Princess Principle I have have watched 3 or even 4 times by now. But I simply have less viewing time available.
None of my issues with Batman V Superman are of it as a stand alone film. The complexity of my relationship with that film is on a purely Meta level. (I'll be talking more about this in future posts.) As a complete film and a work of Art I still think it's the best the DCEU has made and will probably stand the test of time better then most MCU films. I predict 20 years from now the general perceptions of it and Captain America: Civil War will have swapped places.
This post may make good context for a number of upcoming posts I want to make about DC and MCU films, and films in general that have come out since the start of 2015. But those posts will be less personal exploration and more like actual points.
It might be this is a natural consequence of getting so into Anime, the Anime I've watched has raised my standards and perhaps spoiled me to even the best of what America has to offer. Both for escapist popcorn fun and for deep philosophically challenging tragedies. After all some of what I may have to say about Infinity War in the near future is about comparing it to Anime.
Update: Since first posting this I have seen Batman V Superman a third time. Some of the Jump scares and explosions still make me Jump even though I knew they were coming. That's something that's never happened with my home viewings of any MCU films.
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