I Watched 1000 movies

Started since I was 3 years old, I’ve finally watched 1000 movies.

It’s not technically 1000 movies since it also contains tv series, sitcom, short animation and such. It’s more like a 1000-entries on IMDB but that wouldn’t sound as catchy.

I enjoy movies, not just based on movies themselves. Sometimes a great movie experience is just as important. Here are some of the interesting memories I’ve had.

The firsts

The first movie that I’ve ever watched is unknown but Jurassic Park was my first movie in a theatre ever. My mom took me to see giant dinosaurs and it fried my 3 years old brain. I mean it’s big fucking dinosaurs, right at the time Mighty Morphing Power Rangers (whose main robot was dinosaur-based) was popular. It was an old Quoc Thai theatre (best at the time but still pretty bad comparatively to now) but it felt like a 5-stars experience. She also took me to see Lara Croft and Daredevil there before it was permanently closed.

In the summer of 2010, 6 friends bought their tickets to a movie that would blow their tiny brains off: Inception. My brain melted once it got to the 30 minutes mark. My English wasn’t shit but that dialog speed just wrecked me. Once the movie finished, we collectively stand up and left without saying a thing to each other. On our way out, my friend looks up to the poster one last time and mumbled: “They should have warned this movie required 200 IQ”. It is the first movie that show me the endless possibilities of filmmaking.

Not until 2020 when I rewatched this movie do I understand the real meaning of the ending scene.

I have watched somewhere around 700 movies until I decided to start tracking them. One day, I was watching this random thriller drama, budget-friendly movie made by a first-time director and realized: I don’t wanna forget this movie, ever. So, I started the list and the first movie to get in the entry was: Get Out. It is not the first movie to dazzle me with dummy thicc subtext in every scene, but it is the first one to make me get my ass up to find the answers. Around the same time, I stumbled upon The End of the Fucking World. It has a similar premise as what I was working on at that time, but it’s just better in every way. I know I have to learn more and what’s better (or easier) than making a list and tracked what I’ve watched.

Other good memories

One of my best teen memories would have to be the sleepover with my guys watching American Pie. Nothing is better than a bunch of fake tits for our teenage self. Retrospectively, this is a really bad move since it messed with our perception of sex hence significantly lower our chance of having healthy relationships in the future. Sometime, we would even follow up with another pog movie such as Saw or Final Destination. If you’ve been wondering why I am like this, now you know.

American Pie franchise is the pioneer of low budget, titties-based comedy that gave birth to countless other imitations.

Speaking of America...

When I was in America in 2010, my roommate, Ozzy Ndukwu, introduced me to a new genre of movie: stoner comedy in a form of Harold and Kumar. At the time, it was the best comedy ever. The authentic American culture popped out, which coincidentally, match my experience with Oz. Stereotypical enough, Oz gave me my first and last joint(s) and we had a legendary night of laughter, snacks, and Vietnam War stories.

The most fun I had in a theatre, and I don’t think I’m alone here, is the opening nights of Infinity War and End Game. The Avengers reshape geeky superheroes into a basic form of entertainment for everyone and their mom. It is safe to say that my geeky ass was going to spend extra effort to get into the premiere of the biggest superhero movies of all time. When Thor hit the field, he turned the cinema into a stadium. As a civil cinema attendant, I was joining the crowd screaming our lunges off. It was the first time it is socially acceptable to do so. The fans took it to the next level in End Game and shouted at everything. It was insane to think that just 10 years prio, I had no one to discuss all the great Marvel contents that I consumed.

My theatre was even more explosive, imagine that.

The weird moments

“Never have dinner alone” is a philosophy that I agree with. Additionally, “never go to the cinema alone” should be in the same ball park. Despite my great effort, life is gonna hit us with a curve ball once or twice. Tangled was the first and last movie that I went to see alone. Me and my then girlfriend had a movie date. I had to stand outside on the scorching sun for an hour ringing her with no sign of picking up not picking up. I was pissed and decided to watch the movie on my own. Lucky for me, Tangled cheer me up for being the great movie that it is. We broke up shortly after, thanks God.

My reaction when she said she didn't pick up her phone because she ran out of phone money...

I have a deep hatred toward Twilight. Partly, I hate how Twilight has so many fan girls. It was impossible to approach any girl and not having to hear about Twilight in the late 2000s. But the hatred really marinated when somehow, faith forced me to see every single one. The first was out of curiosity. My friend watched the second one in my room so I passively absorbed it. The 3rd one is in the mandatory movie night in my American campus trip. The 4th and 5th are also inescapable since I have a girlfriend at the time. If you have a girlfriend while Twilight is out, you gonna watch the god damn Twilight.

Me and my cousin watched a pretty niche movie called Devil. 5 strangers stucked in an elevator and killed off by an unseen force as the movie progress. It was an average horror movie… until we ran into 3 other strangers on our way down. We stared at each other awkwardly till the door open again.

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There’s no doubt that movies kept me from going insane the past 2 decades and I appreciate every memory I have had with this form of entertainment. Making the list was also a fun journey of which I can’t wait to share more in the next article.

Quanny Nguyen