“Dad can we switch this movie off. I’m feeling very uncomfortable with this.”

Son loves Marvel movies but for some reason he just can’t handle Spider-Man Homecoming. It’s just that one movie. The other Spider-Man movies he really enjoys. Certain movies just throw him. It starts off with him fidgeting then he is not able to look at the screen. Then he starts to pacing about. Finally he has to leave the room until it’s switched. Last night a few minutes later he was happily watching a Wolverine movie.

I remember the first film he did this with. We had gone to see Hotel Transylvania at the cinema. Within 15 minutes we had left. We ended up watching another movie and he enjoyed it.

So some movies just get to him. The last Joker movie is another we switched off quickly yet he loves all the other Batman films, even the much darker ones.

It’s so unpredictable. Just can’t anticipate these movie meltdowns. The problem movies don’t have a common theme. Last year a nondescript Disney Christmas movie set him off. At Easter the Pixar movie UP caused another meltdown. It’s not that they are scary. They are not more sensory than other ones. Not louder and not more violent. It’s not about death. We have never been able to pin the reason down.

But at least he knows that as soon as he gets the feeling that a movie is wrong then he can just switch it off. No questions will be asked and we will find another one to watch.

“Dad it’s like you and your football team. ”

He is so right. These days watching them play is deeply unsettling and often requires me to look the other way….

63 thoughts on “Short movies”

  3. Declan has this too. If someone is crying or emotional, we have to leave. If a character is facing possible doom, we have to leave. We don’t always leave leave. Sometimes we can go back in and see the happy ending, we just can’t watch how the movie got there.

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  4. Although it may appear as there is no common reason, I think it simply is about the atmosphere a movie or perhaps only a single scene vibrates. Something in that movie that makes him feel in a way that pushes a button.

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  7. Glad he gets some warning about them Gary, and even better that you comply without question. We’ve been known to turn a film off, mainly because animals are involved and abandoned, or the language is offensive. The last DVD we bought was Darkest Hour as that was only £1 in the bargain basket. There is nothing on the shelf that appeals now. We put it down to old age or boredom at what’s available as it’s all been done before.

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  8. It is interesting how our kids react to certain things. My son has a huge germ phobia and will not touch money or door knobs or clothes that have been worn. He washes his hands frequently and takes long showers, but his room can be a pig sty with the bed unmade and the curtains closed and he doesn’t mind. It’s really strange.

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  9. Ben has only ever reacted negatively to the opening of one movie… House On Haunted Hill. He watches all kinds of Horror or whatever. We let him watch what he wants and watch with him. I did the same with the girls, no “forbidden” to entice, plus explanations and “teachable moments” by watching together.

    Anyway, of course you’re gonna switch it off if it’s bothering him! You’re Gary Kermit Superdad! The guy who does whatever Hawklad needs.

    Too bad about UP! The montage is a total tear-jerker though. Dang Disney/Pixar always makes me cry! Even WALL-E makes me cry!
    💌💌💌💌

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  10. I have a weird compulsion to watch movies in their entirety in one sitting. I have no idea why.

    The ONLY movie I walked out of in my life was “Other People’s Money” starring Danny DeVito. It was no long ago that I don’t remember why it irritated so intensely but walking out was a major big deal for me.

    I was once at a film festival for a collection of short films. When one ended I loudly proclaimed, ” That SUCKED!” It really did… director cast himself as lead when the supporting actor was better and more ethnically appropriate to the rest of the characters… as it was, the ethnic mix was distracting (black, no accent, with white euro jew heavy accent mother), and there was zero chemistry. My friend replied, “Shhhh! The director might be here!” Again, loud, I said, “Then the director needs to know his film SUCKED!” Of course, 5 min later the writer/director/”star” was introduced to the audience for Q&A. I still stand by my opinion!! If he’d cast himself as the boyfriend, and the other, superior, actor as lead it would have been an outstanding film.

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      1. Lol. I hope the nap was worth the ticket price!

        I fell asleep at a Pink Floyd concert, right after Roger Waters left. No drugs or booze, just tired! Fortunately, my ticket was free for passing out flyers before the show. I remember seeing the flying pink pig.. nothing else

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  15. We’ve had a few cases like that, usually if there is a particularly tense scene although it can also be a bit more random.

    hen it happens we stop the film, let the kid(s) calm down, and then decide whether to try again, fast forward the scene or watch something entirely different.

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  16. wow….my kiddo ( at the case i work ) is similar – he absolutely refuses some movies and there seems to be no rhyme or reason.. but mainly with him, it takes up to a year of small repeated exposures to one movie until he learns to like them. It can be frustrating. We watch 5 minutes of a new one, until he gets antsy ,then go back to a familiar one.The next day get maybe 5-7 minutes. In this way we have a selection of only 4 movies he will watch in full after 5 years. I’m trying a new one soon..it’s a process but i can only take so much of Shrek, Secret life of Pets, Nemo, and Monsters, inc…

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  18. Do you ever hear a happy song that also causes your heart to feel like it’s in your belly? Something about it just causes an intense ache and sometimes an uncomfortable feeling…maybe it’s kind of like that? Whatever it is, it’s so great that he knows he has a wonderful support system. 🙂

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