As you may recall, Caspar Newbolt, of Version Industries, has an ongoing column over at IFP. His latest entry, The Rules, is a discourse on the restrictions you should place on yourself to properly enjoy a film. Here's the three rule breakdown:

Rule 1. (to kill expectation)
Go into the film without having read or watched anything. Trailers are acceptable, as they are sometimes created by film directors themselves, though even that sometimes is questionable.

Rule 2. (to kill projection)
Assess what the film is trying to say or achieve within the realm of what kind of movie it is trying to be. Do not project your own expectations. Let the film dictate the level of expectation, be that tonally, narratively or conceptually.

Then, assess how well you think the film reaches whatever goals it set out to achieve.

Rule 3. (to kill hype)
Don’t talk about the film with anyone who has not seen it, except if you’re encouraging them to go see it. Only discuss the film with those that have seen it, and discuss it hard. That’s what it’s there for.

The majority of the article goes into explaining why Hype and Projection are killing your movie experience. It's a great article that uses a good bit of personal anecdote and critical analysis to explore the ideas set forth at the onset.

I tend to agree completely with the notion that anticipation and expectation will alter your enjoyment of any given work of art. I don't think you can remove your personal experience with the work when reflecting upon its impact but it would certainly be easier to do so if you followed The Rules.