Criteria You Use To Judge a Good Movie?

[ScorpioRising007]

In some movies the storytelling does most of the work. In others the story is an equal or lesser part of a team, with music, visual effects, etc. There's no set formula or list of ingredients for making a movie work.

In some ways I enjoy some foreign films better than American films. The films often follow a slower pace and you have to be more patient with them, Americans might find this boring because it is very different than the typical fast pace American film. I also find many foreign films to have layers of deeper meaning and symbolism, sometimes taking many repeated viewings to understand the film. 8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, Breathless, The Seventh Seal, Aguirre The Wrath Of God, Persona, Balthazar Au Hasard, Rashomon.

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[Sparker]

sometimes taking many repeated viewings to understand the film.

Criteria can be as simple as deciding to watch it again.

 

[my2¢]

I judge it to be good if I stay awake through its entirety.

 

[JohnDB]

I'm going to uphold two movies as examples to aspire to.

The old Predator movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Nice pacing, we, as the audience, are curious too as to what is going on and what the creature looks like.

The characters are identifiable and understandable as to their motivations during the movie. We cringe when they get hurt or die.
Zero Plot holes.

Ghostbusters....
Again the characters are extremely understandable and identifiable. From Egan to Bill Murrey and even Rick Moranis you understand the how and why they are doing what they do. (Even the Mayor or the EPA inspector) Zero plot holes or motivation holes for their nonsense.

These characters pull you in to watch the train wrecks you know are going to happen. You know these people because there are others in your daily life that behave similarly with understandable motivations.

Now for the bad example.....
Captain America with the Red Hulk.
Plot holes? I didn't know there was a plot in this one. Hard to have a plot hole when there is no plot to have a hole in.

Character development?
Ok, it doesn't have any of that either. Zero understandable characters. You identify with no one in this movie. You care about no one in the story line. Sure there are some Cameos of Harrison Ford and Lisa Marie who we like....but otherwise?
We don't know or like anyone in the movie. You are left guessing about the motivations for the villain and his face for most of the movie....and when revealed you still have questions because it still doesn't make sense.
I want my two hours back....it was a waste of money and time watching it.

 

[ScorpioRising007]

I'm going to uphold two movies as examples to aspire to.

The old Predator movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Nice pacing, we, as the audience, are curious too as to what is going on and what the creature looks like.

The characters are identifiable and understandable as to their motivations during the movie. We cringe when they get hurt or die.
Zero Plot holes.

Ghostbusters....
Again the characters are extremely understandable and identifiable. From Egan to Bill Murrey and even Rick Moranis you understand the how and why they are doing what they do. (Even the Mayor or the EPA inspector) Zero plot holes or motivation holes for their nonsense.

These characters pull you in to watch the train wrecks you know are going to happen. You know these people because there are others in your daily life that behave similarly with understandable motivations.

Now for the bad example.....
Captain America with the Red Hulk.
Plot holes? I didn't know there was a plot in this one. Hard to have a plot hole when there is no plot to have a hole in.

Character development?
Ok, it doesn't have any of that either. Zero understandable characters. You identify with no one in this movie. You care about no one in the story line. Sure there are some Cameos of Harrison Ford and Lisa Marie who we like....but otherwise?
We don't know or like anyone in the movie. You are left guessing about the motivations for the villain and his face for most of the movie....and when revealed you still have questions because it still doesn't make sense.
I want my two hours back....it was a waste of money and time watching it.

Yeah Ghostbusters is always a fun film to watch, watched it many times in my life

 

[the watcher]

The quality and quantity of tits is probably the biggest criteria. The painful elimination of confirmed assholes is a close second, especially with smart quips by the good guy. Pretty stoopid script so you aren't distracted from the tits and pew pews.

 

[JohnDB]

Yeah Ghostbusters is always a fun film to watch, watched it many times in my life

It's an entertaining movie with ZERO Hollywood morality lessons in it.

I go to church to be preached at by the pastor with morality I agree with.

I do NOT want to be grossed out by LGBTQ agendas or how women are always better than white men or any other anti Christian nonsense. And the bulk of movies coming out of Hollywood are preaching this stuff and forgetting the basic elements of storytelling.

Which is why nobody wants to pay to see a movie anymore. The likelihood of it being so bad it's a waste of time nevermind the $50 required to watch it in a theater is really really high.

It's gotten so bad even Netflix and Prime Video movies are infected with nonsense.

There have been some notable exceptions....and those movies have "surprised" Hollywood by being very popular. As if they were surprised that people want well told stories without the liberal agenda crap being shoved down their throats.

 

[ScorpioRising007]

The quality and quantity of tits is probably the biggest criteria. The painful elimination of confirmed assholes is a close second, especially with smart quips by the good guy. Pretty stoopid script so you aren't distracted from the tits and pew pews.

Absolutely that's why I love movies like Showgirls, Porky's, Tinto Brass films like Paprika and Saloon Kitty, Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, Eyes Wide Shut, Fifty Shades Of Grey, Blue Velvet, Body Double, 9 Songs, Blue Movie, 99 Women, Nymphomaniac, Striptease, The Master, Romance, The Dreamers.

 

[Ava]

Films with strong familial relationships seem to be the ones I can always watch more than once.

 

[Ava]

I can't really watch movies any more. Since the arrival of TV series that are, essentially, the books of the screen, where you can get to know characters better, stories have time to play out, I watch a movie and I'm like "it's finished already?"

I'm with you. I TV series much more than a movie and for your same reasons; development of the characters.

 

[ScorpioRising007]

I'm with you. I TV series much more than a movie and for your same reasons; development of the characters.

Yeah some of the online streaming shows offer more hours of entertainment. For example I enjoy the Rings of Power and the series offers many more hours of entertainment than the movies.