Extreme difficulty understanding movies and TV shows

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Hello. Can anyone relate to this? Im not sure if it's an aspie thing or not but ever since I can remember, I can never make sense of most movies and TV shows.
I can never understand the plot or the characters Intentions and can never make sense of the characters. The way they act and do what they do confuses me and at the end of the movie, I still don't 100% understand what it was all about. Most movies I watch im very confused through the whole thing like I have missed parts of it. I watched the 2011 movie called drive the other night with friends and at the end, I commented on how the movie made no sense only to find my friends understood it and made perfect sense of it.
Because of this, I can never enjoy most movies, not all but most. I absolutely love the movie coralline and all the 007 movies but that's about it. All my friends are watching game of thrones, breaking bad and other series and I just can't watch anything like That and it's quite embarrassing being the only one out of my friends that can't make sense of it. When I try watch them, I annoy people as I ask so many questions. I am the same with books too.

You could do what I do. I buy DVDs of movies at the local library book sale. That way I can pause the movie whenever I want. I just bought and saw ET this past weekend.

Same here. I have to look up the plot on IMBD or Wikipedia before I watch a movie or else I am lost.

Yes. I don't have as much trouble with cartoons and simple sitcoms, but with more action-based live-action movies and shows I usually find myself lost.

Watch older media. 1995 or earlier.

There are some movies that make sense. I find that action movies are the worst for knowing what the hell is going on. I dont like action movies usualy.

The hardest parts for me to understand are usually about relationships and love.
I have watched some very good drama films, but sometimes I've misunderstood some parts, and after the film ended I had to read the plot summary to understand them.

Yet I've watched a certain sci-fi thriller series and understood virtually every twist and turn in the plot.

I also have this problem. I wanted to be cinema smart but it's impossible for me to even sit down and focus long enough to watch the movie. I like films that are straightforward and have a clear and concise plot. Every time a movie transitions to a new situation or setting, it's like I'm watching a completely different movie and I can't put them together in my head.

I like Coraline. I watched it every single day (sometimes twice a day) for months.

I too find it hard to focus now when watching them as I don't see the point of trying when I still won't get it. I do go to the cinema once a year, only as my friends go and I don't want them to moan at me for not going. Its hard to sit in a room with 50 other people alone besides trying to focus on the movie. Also the issues with transitioning scenes I am like you. My friends watch this series called once upon a time and it's a complete mind f*** trying to understand it. Glad you like coraline too. Its my favourite movie. Its creepy and weird but that's why I like it, it's beautifully made. Movies with animals as main characters I also find much easier to understand, for example a dogs purpose I watched not long ago and it was a great movie.

I'm fine in the cinema/at a concert until someone gets up to visit the...... then I am constantly distracted by people milling about and moving.

While I've been to loads of concerts (rock to classical) I have been to the cinema precisely three times. Twins (1988), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (also 1988) and Paddington (2014).

If the plot is simple and well explained with exposition I am usually able to follow it, but if they start going silent and showing us the plot by mood and effect and facial expressions......... pfft

Saying that I don't watch much fictional telly anyway - Doctor Who is probably the only fictional stuff I watch. There is some fictional stuff that might be on if visitors are around. Pretty much everything else is non-fiction.

One thing to consider is the infamous "plot-hole". [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_hole] Sometimes films/TV shows DON'T make sense in certain places due to bad writing/construction/editing.

I always do this. If I'm going to see a film I always read up on the plot beforehand. I don't really watch television; instead I research shows so that I know every character and everything that happens. I especially look up the personalities of the characters so I can sort of understand them.

I have many TV shows that are special interests, and in general, I don't have trouble with TV shows. But I do have trouble with movies, especially serious movies. I like knowing the plot of a movie, even spoilers, before I see it, so I can better understand what's going on. And sometimes, with special interest TV shows/movies, there will be some social cue part that I don't understand for years, and then, suddenly, I'll make sense of it after about the tenth time watching it. That's why I think I still love cartoons and shows directed towards children- they're easier for me to grasp!

There are probably a lot of reasons why people have these problems, but two I can think of are

1. prosopagnosia, which makes it difficult to understand who is who
and
2. auditory processing problems. I have this, fortunately most tv shows were subtitled when I was little, so it didnt' affect me much, but I struggle much more with it today when there are less subtitles.

Do you guys think Theory of Mind problems also make it difficult to follow plots?

I do like comedy shows also like mock the week, qi, Russell Howards good news and so on as well as history shows like time team

While going to watch a movie with friends can be fun, for full comprehension, I usually wait until afterwards to do research. Also, watching movies online (Netflix, etc.) allows me to select descriptive video, which is very explicit in the description of action and nuances.

For example, a scene shows a man and woman walking in a hallway. She passes him and looks at him. The descriptive audio says "Now, a man walks down a hallway. A woman, walking in the opposite direction, quickly winks at him. He does not notice."

I missed the wink, but the description is very clear.

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