Recently, I was speaking to a relative about Jeanne Dielman. I said I'd watch the movie whenever I found a little over 200 minutes of free time. He said that it took him much less because there was no reason to spend 10 minutes watching someone wash dishes.

Now, I haven't seen the film, but I believe the tedious nature of the chores are kind of the point. Either way, would you agree that you aren't missing anything by watching a 10 minute dish washing scene at 2X?

Let's expand this to all movies. Do you ever fast forward? When? For what types of movies? And...why?

I personally have never done it, but I remember my dad was always able to get through The Two Towers quickly by only watching the scenes with Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli.

If I'm watching movies with my girlfriend and there is an opening credits sequence without any actual movie content in it, we'll skip it. The only time this really hurt was skipping the opening credits of Superman, but sometimes you make great sacrifices for love.

I don't EVER do it the first time I see a film, and rarely at all overall, but I do find it useful when I want to skip obvious padding. The first sequence of The Exorcist is entirely execrable; I wouldn't blame someone for fast-forwarding past its bloated, essentially useless exposition. Great examples are rare, though; usually if a film is worth watching without hesitation, then fast-forwarding can short-change dramatic payoffs at the end or the middle of the film. This merely works with Friedkin's film since the aforementioned sequence is isolated and has an absolutely negligible, poorly explained and sloppily executed payoff. A masterpiece, that film is not.

That's the actual definition of love.

One of the only films I will refuse to skip the credits for is Se7en, since they are a great tell-tale sign that yes, this film is going to hurt. They are essential to the overall effect. Apocalypse Now as well, although both are date movies that even Travis Bickle might think better of picking.

I, too, will occasionally skip opening credit sequences of limited value.

On my last viewing of 2001 I skipped the "light show" towards the end; in my defense it was late and I had already seen it a number of years ago....and I wasn't high.

Yes, but only for films that don't matter to me personally or for something I might have already seen.
-Jeremy

Never.

Honestly yes, if there's a long pointless scene that's going nowhere, chances are i'll probably fast-forward through it, however PowerDVD gives you the option of watching the film at 1.5x or 2x times speed, that way you can still hear the film, but you can speed through scenes you don't really care much about it, that's a handy way to get through a film faster without actually missing any important stuff.

If I missed something and I have to rewind or stop then I'll fast forward.

As for intentionally skipping something, never.

I thought fast forward is only done by people when they watch porn

No, seriously: first time I see a movie I really don't want to miss anything. If a movie is too long, I'll watch it over a couple of evenings, picking it up again from a few moments before where I left off.
I don't fast forward because I am unable to guess what exactly I am fast forwarding through, to say nothing of not watching the movie as it was intended to being watched.

Same here: some movies have plain or dull parts. I'll skip those upon repeated viewing.

Can you believe it: I must have seen The Deer Hunter without any skipping or fast forwarding dozens of times over the years. And that is a movie infamous for its uneven pacing and loooong opening.

If I'm completely bored with a movie I'll just turn it off. I don't ever recall fast-forwarding through any part of a first viewing.

Never even when re-watching a film. I have however used rewind to pick up something I missed or something I found hilarious.

I don't like to leave a movie unfinished (other than in the case of absolute stinkers), but occasionally I'll be halfway through watching a DVD and realise that although it's not awful enough to stop watching, I don't really want to spend all the time it'll take to finish it. So, I'll turn on the subtitles and play the rest at double speed.

This was a funny joke, but it's also the truth for me. When I sit down to watch a movie, I watch the whole movie or however much is left if I pick it up in the middle (which I only do with movies I've already seen).

I fast forward or jump forward with porn all the time. Literally every time I watch it. I never watch when the guy eats the girl out. That sucks. It gets skipped every time. I get bored pretty quickly watching the girl give oral too, but I at least watch for a bit before skipping to the penetration.

HAAAAaaaaa!!

Yeah, porn is pretty boring, for the most part. Just blurry shot of two asses and lots of slapping sounds and fake moans 95% of the time. Two thumbs down.

You must be watching some pretty crappy porn.

I grant you, given the standards of the genre, "crappy" has a lot of leeway here.

You gonna need to stop stealin' from my mommy and daddy's closet!



...I nearly threw up typing that