>Which is sometimes the only way to enjoy a film. There are some films
>I watch which I realize have little or no formal interest, but are
>interesting
>sociological snapshots of the time during which they were made.
Have you seen "Los Angeles Plays Itself"? The whole thing is made up of scenes from tons of movies--- good, bad, and ugly--- that were shot in Los Angeles, with running commentary from Thom Andersen, a leftie film teacher at California Institute for the Arts. You could describe it as thoughts on Los Angeles itself as a character in the movies. I thoroughly enjoyed it. One thought I had afterward was how valuable film will be to future historians. You can imagine a dissertation on late 20th century Los Angeles architecture with "Charlie's Angels" as a primary source.