It should, first and foremost, evoke emotion.
It should have relatable characters, with good dialogue, that show growth.
It should leave an imprint upon the viewer, such that it inspires reflection, learning, or growth itself.
The protagonist doesn’t have to be a good person, but they have to be a kind person.
The antagonist should be seen as relatable, even pitiful (think Gollum, not Sauron).
Good musical score, coloring, lighting, sound, and direction are needed but Great acting is required.
An editor that loves the story.
Anything where I am still thinking about the plot months, years, decades later.
I’ll go with:
- Either defining or subverting a genre.
- At least one likeable character, ideally the protagonist.
- Some kind of mystery at their heart.
- Leave you thinking about them after they’ve finished
- Believable characters, convincing dialogue, plausible villain
Way back in the 80s I knew a guy who scored all films by adding up the number of bare breasts and explosions. He said 3 was a minimum score for a good film.
- It’s entertaining.
- It introduces characters in a natural way where you can understand them and get a sense of who they are. This allows you to become attached to them to then…
- Have actual stakes that affect the characters. One example is that kids aren’t safe in dangerous situations. They don’t have to be hurt or die but you have to feel like that will happen, there’s no plot or child armor.
- Memorable. Be it lines, scenes, or just in general. I’ll remember it well after seeing it.
Not comprehensive but a good start.
I like movies with thought provoking themes and good moral messages
- Believable and consistent characters. Their actions should make sense.
- A plot that doesn’t rely on lazy tropes like characters failing to communicate. I’m looking at you, romance movies.
- Character growth or change.
- An interesting and internally consistent plot.
I feel like Aliens is a great example of this. The Marines grow over the course of the mission. Everyone has a sensible motivation (to them), and works towards it. The plot is simple, but there’s clear risk because characters die.
I agree with all of these points. Aliens is awesome, and I think Wreck-It Ralph is actually another great example of a tightly written movie.
I enjoyed Wreck-it Ralph. I thought they did a great job with the reveal.
A plot that doesn’t rely on lazy tropes like characters failing to communicate.
Lmao, isn’t that like how 9/11 happened? The FBI and CIA just failed to communicate to each other about the fact that supposedly they knew about the hijackers already.
Lol bro what
I watch movies to escape reality.
I watch horror, so its usually a combination of these, in no particular order:
- Believable plot.
- Believable character actions.
- Lack of common tropes/clichés.
- Quality of filming (angles, shots etc. Not resolution/film quality).
- Atmosphere.
- Tension/unease, and the handling of such.
- Quality and predictability of scares (if any).
- Good pacing.
- Bonus points for layers/deeper meanings.
- Bonus points for good visual effects, e.g. CGI.
- Double bonus points for good practical effects.
- Triple bonus points if I’m scared.
Do you have some horror suggestions that fit those points?
I don’t really get “scared” by horror movies with supernatural elements, but a good, realistic thriller can fuck me up good.
I have to admit, there aren’t many, if any, that meet all criteria. Horror seems to be a genre that can be very difficult to pull off well. The sad truth is, most horrors suck. Add in the fact that people have very different levels of fear, and different fears themselves… Yeah, recipe for disaster.
One film I watched recently was more of a psychological horror that messed with my head a little. Pacing is a little on the slower side to begin with. No scares (off the top of my head). Great atmosphere. Interesting deeper meanings that will get you thinking. Plot can be confusing to some, but I think that is by design. It’s called Session 9 (2001) if you are interested. Has some light supernatural themes, but is believable imo. And there are no creepy ghosts, or demons or any of that bullshit. Just tense atmosphere and strange happenings. It has a lower budget, which can show at times, if that’s something that bothers you. It didn’t impact the experience for me however.
If you decide to watch it, let me know how you get on!
I will add it to the list thanks!
The seven keys to a great movie are:
- swordfighting
- explosions
- beautiful women
- snappy dialogue
…and I forget the other three
There can be only one!
As you wish.
- Superheroes
- Sexy clothing
- evil for the sake of evil
army of darkness 3
They make me feel something.
The absolute pinnacle of this is “Pacific Rim”. The first time I watched that movie I felt like an 11 year old seeing something for the first time. I was 43 when that movie came out and hadn’t felt that in a lot of years.
Honorable mention is “Star Wars The Force Awakens”. Yes, I know it’s not a great movie, but the feeling it evoked from me was close enough to how I felt when I saw “Star Wars A New Hope” first run in 1977 that I give that particular movie a pass.
I don’t care if the writing is good, or if the plot is tight, or the director sniffs unicorn farts. If the film does not evoke something from me then I just consider it time spent.
shark with multiple heads
What about sharks in a tornado? If so, boy do I have a franchise for you!
how about sharks in a tornado with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads?
i actually never watched sharknado. not sure why. are the newer movies actually good despite having a bigger budget?
I think I’ve only seen like the first two or three. I kinda enjoyed those for what they were. Unsure what they’re up to now or if the quality went down.
E: Just looked them up. Apparently they are at 6 now with the sixth having been billed as the final one released in 2018. It involves time travel. Not sure what more can be said beyond that. There is a 7th one in production slated to release in 2026. I just… I gotta give them props for having that kind of staying power. That’s kinda impressive.
To me, it can be hard to pin down what makes a movie “great” because the criteria change from genre to genre, and much of it is more of a subjective whole than an amalgamation of objective parts.
But, there is one metric my family uses to decide, unequivocally, if a movie was “bad” or not: if you watched it and it doesn’t lead to conversation, it was a bad movie. That means it didn’t spark any curiosity or need for discussion or even stand out in any way. Minimally, it wasn’t worth thinking about once it was over. I don’t mean short comments like “this effect was neat” or “I liked the part where…”, but substantive discussion of 5+ minutes.
By extension, movies that lead to discussions must be good, simply because there was “something about it” that spurred discussion. The specifics of that x-factor don’t really matter by this metric.
One thing I find interesting about this approach is that movies that many agree are objectively bad can lead to discussion if they are also unique or even just uniquely bad. And this approach says such movies are actually good, and I do agree with that.
The ones that end up consistently bad are big franchise films that are always same-samey, or other low-effort films that are mostly derivative.
Maybe, though occasionally a film will just leave me speechless. In a good way
I like your answer.
I was thinking of some of my favorite movies. Some I like that subvert their genre’s tropes. Others I like are examples of excelling at the genre; being the ideal of that genre. And even “bad” can be good if it’s interesting in its badness. I think of Nicolas Cage movies, his “nouveau shamanic” acting style is over the top and ridiculous at times but his movies still entertain and call for discussion.
The difference between lemmy and reddit is that people on reddit would’ve spammed movie titles on first level comments in hope for fake internet points.
Anyway, smart and organic dialogue might be the most important thing for me.
Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.
Fantastic dialogue, therefore fantastic movie.
Large scale space battles
At some point I’d have thought so too, but after Rebel Moon I’m convinced that just large scale space battles is not enough.
- Somewhat unformulaic, in that I should not be able to predict the gist of the ending halfway through the movie, or feel that I’ve seen the same movie before only with different setting (Looking at you, Avatar)
- Believable characters with realistic motivations
- No lazy writing relying on deus ex machinae or poor communication as plot devices
- Originality
I know a lot of people mention plot but plotless movies are also really good. I watched all four of Elia Suleiman’s feature-length films recently. They don’t really have plot, character development, nor the most impressive cinematography. It does have good choreography though if that makes sense.
