I can tell you that you are (probably) not alone. I don't study film but I do use up my free time editing and restoring films, sometimes trying to "fix" their botched editing or directing, and I've been in your position, specially this past year. It started out that I never managed to finish a movie, which then evolved into not watching movies at all (0nly working on them, which is kind of ironic) I can only say this, if a movie is bad, then it's just bad and you shouldn't blame your criticism for not being able to enjoy it. You need to find interesting movies, for example, I didn't watch any major Hollywood movies from 2019 because I had that same critical mentality which I felt would undermine a good film, same thing with Dunkirk. I've heard very good reviews but I haven't found the right place and the right time to watch the movies I want. I would advice that you either take a week-off digital/physical media, distract your critical mind and do something with your body to focus that energy somewhere else. Say, take a week to do things you haven't done before, then at the end of the week, sit back and watch a movie. You'll realize that your hard work from that busy week will act like a carrot and stick situation you know? Either that or take alcohol and or drugs in your next viewing, but that's a different subject when it comes to the movie experience. Oh also, have you tried watching other types of media? Say, a stage-play? I was surprised last night while watching a rerun of Alegría by Cirque du Soleil and I can say that production (talking about directing and acting) is very unique and it revived my inner child curiosity, specially the opening act

I agree you can overdo it. If you watch too many films it may become a joyless routine. My personal interest in films waxes and wanes; sometimes I watch five films a week, sometimes one film in five weeks. I don't know how professional reviewers avoid hating films (probably some of them do). They're obligated to watch every new mainstream release and give a fresh take on the (often) mediocre content therein. Even if the content is good I think someone could lose focus on other fulfilling things in life if they spend too much of their time gazing at a screen. I also want to point out that watching with a group of people is a different experience than watching alone. I say this because I used to watch films with a group all the time, but not so much anymore. Films were originally intended to be experienced with an audience, many still are. The crowd reactions will affect the feelings of each individual. If everyone in a crowd laughs, you can't help but feel some of that joy. Watching a subpar film with a group of friends can also be enjoyable because the shared social experience is a conversation starter. If you watch alone you'll probably be more analytical, focusing on your personal assessment of the film but lacking alternate viewpoints to start a dialogue.

>>593 I wish I knew, same thing happened to me but with music. I used to listen to new albums all the time but around 2014 I completely lost interest in music and I only listen to a song maybe every once in a while.

I used to watch a lot of the stuff in Top 10 and Essential Viewings back in my teenage years, and after a year it burned me out completely. It will sound pretentious but watching too much of the good stuff will bust you up, and timing is important too. Eating caviar, hickory bacon and choice beef every day is not healthy and will screw your standards, you need to drink your water, rice with gravy and cheap fast food once in a while. After a while (months later) and after criticizing anything and everything, i saw a crude action flick so absurd it got me good, i had genuine fun and eventually i started seeing cheap trash movies until i slowly delved again into "real" stuff, another bunch of months later. Sadly i became addicted of bad/dumb movies for longer You just need to vary your dose quality and do it when you are ready for it, hence why people always download stuff they will not see until years later, if someday one wants to see some obscure south asian movie out of nowhere you just need to go for it in its respective folder and 5 minutes later you are set, i know many will not do that but we can have our luxuries, some feelings last very little and when satiated you feel way better than hyping yourself for hours or days. Also never watch trailers and extended synopsis, that only ruins the experience unless you saw them by chance and gets you pumped. Everyone has a guilty pleasure, use that to cleanse yourself from the good stuff, still eventually you will just feel the whim for a very specific thing and will rarely burn yourself. Although in your present condition, especially with theoretical studies, i would quit for a while and rest in the side hobby, manual labor is good in those instances as it makes you yore for old comforts.

>>600 >If you watch alone you'll probably be more analytical, focusing on your personal assessment of the film but lacking alternate viewpoints to start a dialogue. Depending on your friends, I'd still recommend watching films with others. Good friends know when to stay quiet with a film and when to talk (they'll usually stay quiet during /film/-tier stuff) and you'll all walk out of it noticing stuff you wouldn't have otherwise.