What separates a bad movie from a good movie from a great movie?

I have my reasons .

Provably a bad actor, a good actor , and a great actor.

Can anyone say Ishtar?

aa.. is that a language ?? or a catch ??

Glad to see you peeking about!!

-vhelp

Ishtar there u go.

hmm..good question

I think a good movie is one that makes me feel one or a set of emotions that we have; intrigue, sadness, happiness, frightened, interest, awe, humor, admiration, etc......

A bad movie will spur my boredom and I will fall asleep- so it's a waste of time.

The aspects of a movie that influence my emotions are;
a. storyline or plot.
b. believability of the cast.
c. scenery and creativity with camera angles, techniques, etc..
d. soundtrack

The final measure of how good a movie is for me is the degree at which it played upon my emotions and the best movies I've seen have a good balance of quality of the aspects i listed and I think the most important are the plot and acting quality.

Movies that lack in one area can make it up in other areas. I've seen plenty of movies with a generic plot and great actors and vice versa that have been really good. Another example of a good movie I saw was one that didn't even have a plot or a cast but it had beautiful camera work- "Baraka". Some movies don't have much of a plot but the character(s) make up for it- Ace Ventura- pet detective- I thought it was hillarious (but you wouldn't think so if you didn't like Jim Carey).

The bottom line is that if the movie can hold my attention for the duration then it's good. If I think about it for awhile after it's over then it's pretty good. If I think about the movie months or years after I see it then it is DAMN GOOD! If I can't remember what I watched or fell asleep then it sucked. If I remember it because of how bad it sucked then it SUCKED A$$

-ren

How about a movie with "mixed" emotions
I can't give you a movie example right now, but it would be something like watching your mother in law falling down a cliff in your brand new Mercedes Benz

-kwag

Hey kwag, that makes me feels like...
:P

To me, that would make me feel:

That would make me
Unless you hired me for the job, then I'd be - I have very reasonable rates and you won't have to sacrifice the Benz! (j/k!)

-ren

see,,,
that's not very nice....
what if she hasn't been broken in yet?



zTr

oh,,,,
i meant the car, btw,,,,
just so there's no confusion.....



zTr

T&A , my friend..... always T & A

anyone seen Femme Fatale ?
ztr

Hmm.....T&A.....what is this "T&A" you speak of zTr? Must be the Title & Aspect-Ratio!

-d&c

hmmm,
yeah,,,those too....


ztr

You mean Ishtar?

Yes, I think you're right. For me it's also empathy with the major characters -- do I care enough about them to find out if they make it through whatever happens to them in this movie?

That's not always true, though. Take Contact. I love that movie (bought the DVD even ), though I don't particularly care for the way Foster played her character. The story itself is so compelling, though, I'd watch it even if it starred Adam Sandler. If you knew how I feel about Adam Sandler you'd realize that's a big deal .

For me this applies most of the time, but a great plot and great writing can even override the acting. An example, I think, is Casablanca. The acting is okay (Bogie's performance being the best) but by no means great, but the excellent story and fantastic lines (sergeant enters office: "Sir, we have another visa problem". Chief of police, straightening tie: "Send her in") make it a classic.

I find this varies depending on my mood. When I saw Pulp Fiction in the theatre I walked out after an hour -- I really thought it was one of the most boring movies I'd ever seen (though not being able to smoke may have been a contributing factor ). It's now one of my favourite movies. Go figure.

All movies starring or produced by Adam Sandler, you mean? Wait, I've not seen Punch Drunk Love yet -- that's meant to be good. Probably because he didn't have anything to do with writing, directing or producing it .

Noted .

Ok, maybe an easier question would be: is THIS a good movie?

It's 1916. The small city of Berlin, Ontario, Canada is attempting to raise a battalion (1,100 men) to send to fight in France. Problem is, 75% of the population is German or of German extraction and feel no particular compulsion to sign up in the British army in order to kill -- figuratively or literally -- their own relatives.

As frustration grows over the slow progress of recruitment, the officers and British civic leaders implicitly allow more and more strong-arm tactics to be used, resulting in essentially a return to press-ganging, with unwilling civilians being beaten and dragged to recruitment offices where they are berated by officers for their cowardice.

The men of the battalion who have already enlisted grow increasingly out of control, and unchecked by their superiors terrorize the townfolk through intimidation as well as actual physical violence, such as breaking into and wrecking several respectable German clubs in the city, and beating one outspoken Lutheran pastor in his own home then dragging him through the streets behind horses.

At the same time Berlin's city councillors, against the will of the vast majority of the population, force through a motion for the name of the city to be changed to something more "patriotic". They plan to railroad the issue to such a degree that the public won't even be consulted. Only one man on the council is willing to stand against them, opening himself up to intimidation from the soldiers and charges of being "pro-Hun" -- essentially, a traitor.

While this is happening back home, that Lutheran pastor's brother is on the German front line at Verdun, one of the bloodiest and most horrific battles of the war. He watches 150,000 of his comrades and a similar number of Frenchmen die brutal deaths -- some literally drowning in mud -- fighting for a town that has no strategic or tactical significance. After 11 months, the most pointless bloodbath in the history of warfare ends with neither side having gained any ground whatsoever.

---

So that's the movie. It's kinda hard to boil down a couple of hours into a few paragraphs like that, but you get the drift.

Would you watch it?

Sounds interesting....sure, I'd give it a view! (but then again, I also liked The Wedding Singer, so take my opinion with a grain of salt! :P ).

So that's what you've been up to all this time, eh Sansgrip?....writing a movie script! Rumors of your alien abduction have been running rampant here for awhile...nice to see you back (and just in case the rumors were true, I hope those probes didn't tickle too much! ).

-d&c