Do you consider yourself a lover of movies? If so, have you been finding it harder to enjoy a range of films that goes beyond the latest blockbusters or thrillers? The trends in cinema have been leading in very specific directions, with superhero films, Star Wars, and other franchise-expanding cinematic universes taking over most of the charts aside from cartoons. As such, you might find that your love of cinema has even dulled a little. However, there’s always more to discover, if you’re willing to take a look.
Here, we’re going to look at some of the ways that you can get access to a much broader range of films.
Join a film club
One of the best ways to find films that expand your horizons is to meet other film fans. Just as you may have some beloved movies that you can share with them that they may never have heard of, they can do much the same for you. Joining a film club may involve watching a few of the more notable classics, but that can help you refine your thoughts and tastes on films, as well as help you fill those gaps in your own history of the film canon that all of us have.
What’s more, film clubs are a great way to help foster the kind of community and communication that has been lacking in the film scene as of late. There are online movie clubs that you can join as well if the experience of watching films with other people isn’t quite your style.
Find reviewers that match your style
If you prefer to get into films alone, but you still want to hear the opinions of others who have plenty of film-watching experience and history that they can lend to your efforts, then why not look for those who have made film-watching their careers? There aren’t as many notable film critics in print or on the TV anymore. Rather, you’re more likely to find them online. There are plenty out there that tend to wade in waters close to what’s trending in the box office right now, but you should be able to find those that meet your own niche without having to look too hard.
There are plenty of great movie review YouTubes out there, not to mention movie review podcasts that can help you not only discover new movies but also help you grow your movie-watching insight. The more you listen to critics, finding yourself either agreeing or disagreeing, the more you might notice that you have more independent and deeper thoughts on the films you watch.
Work through some lists
Yes, yes, there are a lot of listicles out there of varying quality. If you go hunting through them, it’s not uncommon that those of you with a more well-rounded viewing history will have seen most of the suggestions and see them get suggested time and time again. However, these listicles often play it on the safe side to make the content more publishable by whoever owns the website.
The better lists can be found on, of all sites, IMDB. It’s true you’re going to see a lot of the same here, as well. However, if you find users who like similar films to you, you might find their own lists have a lot more to offer that is in line with your tastes. Working down a list and ticking it off doesn’t always offer great films, but it sure does offer a wide variety of experiences. IMDB does have its own list of top-rated movies, as well, to work through.
Run through a director’s canon
Take a look through some of your own favorites. It’s not too unlikely that you might spot a director pop up here and there. One of the easiest ways to find more movies that you’re more likely to enjoy is to take a deeper look through the canon of a director that you already enjoy and sites like IMDB and Wikipedia make it easy to find them.
However, you can also use your favorite directors to springboard off into other suggestions, as well. If you just search in Google for “film directors like,” you’re going to get plenty of comparisons to work with. Don’t invest too much in the idea that they’ll be super similar, as it can be hard to find any director that knows how to recreate the style of the greats.
Dive into your streaming services
Browsing the local Blockbusters is no longer an option and, if you ask your friends for recommendations, it’s very likely you’re going to get nothing but movies you have already seen before. This is especially true if you’re something of a movie buff. Getting into more independent and creative films is the best way to get out of a rut, but the aisle browsing of the past has been replaced by a much more convenient alternative.
If you’re looking for streaming services with movies you’ve never seen before, then you need to look at away from the most famous platforms. Lesser-known providers like DistroTV can be much more rewarding for those willing to try movies on a whim. Plus, streaming services tend to remember your film-watching history and recommend titles based on what you have seen before. Just remove recommendations you have already seen before and it becomes an easy way to go down a highly curated rabbit hole.
Don’t sleep on foreign cinema
The notion of “foreign language” cinema might be dated, especially when things like Parasite can get nominated at western-centric award ceremonies. However, there is still a big barrier between a lot of Engish speaking viewers and the rest of the world. It’s a huge shame, too, as skipping out on cinema outside your own country is one of the easiest ways to miss some fantastic movies.
Take a look at some of the best world cinema films as widely recommended. You might soon find that certain styles and cultures of cinema appeal to you, like so many have. You wouldn’t be the first to start looking much more deeply into Japanese cinema after going on a lengthy Kurosawa marathon, that’s for sure. There are a lot of countries with their own rich histories of film that offer experiences entirely unlike what you will find in the box offices.
Take a chance
Perhaps you don’t want to rely too heavily on your history of film-watching or any one given critic or community’s opinion to find your next watch. If you want to go fully off the wall, then perhaps going for a totally random pick might be more your style.
If you have been on the internet for long enough, you might remember StumbleUpon, a tool that allowed you to visit random notable web pages at the click of a button. Suggest Me Movie is effectively the film version of that, giving you the IMDB scores, genres, and trailers of random movies that have been entered by other users. You can either keep clicking through until you find one that catches your eye, or you can narrow down the options and go with the very first one that pops up on your feed.
Take a questionnaire
On the other hand, you might not like the idea of throwing yourself wildly into the abyss of the sheer number of films out there. You might prefer to make sure you’re at least spending time on things that you are somewhat likely to enjoy. If the random approach isn’t for you, then you can take the more detailed and hand-crafted route, instead.
There are a lot of questionnaires out there that can help you find movies. However, few of them are as comprehensive as the StayIn app. You can get a list of recommendations through a variety of yes and no questions. If you make an account, it can save your past answers as well as preferences to help you choose depending on what you’re in the mood for, as well.
Get a curated list
Just as there are streaming services that can start offering great recommendations based on your watch history, there are also services that specifically try and recommend movies that are more interesting and thoughtful than the average cinema far. Mubi is an example of one such service. As with any service, there’s no guarantee that every movie is going to be a hit but you will at least be watching the kind of cinema you might not discover otherwise.
From there, you can take the selection of movies that did work for you and start looking for more by that director or production house, helping you expand your tastes.
Though it might seem that the latest releases have all been following the same trends for roughly a decade or more, now, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t plenty of gems to discover out there, still. Hopefully, the tips above help you find a few of them for yourself.
