What are the most important aspects you look for in your definition of a great m

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   jmartin1344posted 12 years ago

   What are the most important aspects you look for in your definition of a great movie?
   
   Obviously we would love every movie to have a great storyline, great acting, great endings etc....
   
   But I'd like to hear some more specific details - what little niches/aspects/story structures do you love?
   
   For example: I am a sucker for very powerful/profound monologues given in a non dramatic way - eg Tommy Lee Jones speech in No Country For Old Men.

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2. 66

   heatblast92posted 12 years ago

   Awesome one-liners, that's definitely what I'll go for as well. It would also do a movie good to pepper itself with pop culture references, both cleverly and proportionately. Well, references I would instantly pick up on anyway, it somewhat gives me a sense of superiority over the rest of the viewers. An example would be Stan Lee's cameos in the entire Marvel movie franchise, whom nobody here seems to recognize, if at all. :\

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      AhalitaMoonfireposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I have notices his apperences often in them, but not all yet.

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      jmartin1344posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Understandable!  Another example of that, although most people know this so it's not much of a one up, is Alfred Hitchcock showing up in his own movies.

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3. 61

   madelineyochumposted 12 years ago

   I look for movies that have a unique visual appeal. Colors, shots, and angles are important details. Wes Anderson is a great example of a director that incorporates a lot of visually stimulating shots. His sets and shots are thoroughly planned.
   
   Great movies also have great soundtracks. Originality is an important factor. Nothing throws me off more than a conceptual thriller with a Moby soundtrack. Or, a romantic comedy with pop chart hits. 50 percent of my motivation to see a romantic comedy is deflated when I hear some lame pop artist on the movie trailer, or see Jennifer Aniston's starring. Soundtracks have to strongly relate to the content that is being produced on screen. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a good example of a great soundtrack.
   
   My favorite movies though are documentaries...

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      jmartin1344posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Wes Anderson is fantastic.  I am desperate to see Moonrise Kingdom. 
      
      Totally agree on the soundtracks - I remember watching a film called Ondine.  The film was decent but the soundrack made it so much better because it was just perfect.

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   AhalitaMoonfireposted 12 years ago

   I love watching all kinds of movies, though for me,it needs to be highly unpredictable, sure a scene can lead up to a idea of what may happen or make you think it is going to happen then suprises you with something completely different. I can't think of a movie that done that off the top of my head right now.

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      jmartin1344posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Definitely - a great twist is the best.  That is why I try not to read up on films before hand or read reviews - I remember going to see Saw on a complete impulse having never heard of it.  For that reason it blew me away because I had no clue

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   alancaster149posted 12 years ago

   Like Heatblast92 I think the odd one-liner helps, but there has to be more in the way of humour besides throwaways to 'hook' me. As I've mentioned to you before I've been following Michael Caine films since Zulu, with the flow of actors criss-crossing like traffic in Piccadilly Circus. One of the most frequent actors to appear with him was Nigel Green. A tall, well-framed actor with underlying menace even in his lighter moments - remember 'Zulu' (the big Colour Sergeant with the stentorian voice and handlebar moustache) 'Ipcress' (Major Dalby, the officer with a 'chip on his shoulder' about others promoted above him), 'Play Dirty' (Colonel Masters of the Long Range Desert Group - LRDG, see also below). Harry Andrews flitted in and out of Caine's films, as in 'Play Dirty' (Brigadier Blore with his chisel jaw jutting out and plotting the downfall of Col. Masters) or in 'Too Late The Hero' (Colonel Thompson with his laconic, war weary outlook, telling Cliff Robertson to get a British uniform that's a bit 'manky' because the laundry's been done in seawater). Best lines in 'Play Dirty' were given to Nigel Davenport (Captain Cyril Leech), as the Irishman 'press-ganged' into a commission with the LRDG in the British Army in North Africa after being freed from jail for fraud) who bent all the rules ever laid out in the King's Regulations). Caine himself played an officer in 'Zulu' (recently commissioned Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead whose grandfather was at Waterloo) and 'Play Dirty' (Captain Douglas, seconded from the Shell Company for his knowledge of oil installations); in 'Too Late The Hero' he was the lucky 'squaddie' (private soldier) who survived a mission to a Japanese base with Cliff Robertson's US intelligence officer with knowledge of Japanese and in 'Ipcress' he was Harry Palmer, erstwhile private soldier rescued from the 'glasshouse' (army jail) but always under threat from his officers for insubordination. Caine as Harry Palmer goes on to a 'scrape' in 'Funeral In Berlin' and then trying to infiltrate the Soviet Union in the 'Billion Dollar Brain' with Gene Hackman as the renegade American intelligence officer.
   Phew! Ask me another...

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      jmartin1344posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Wow, you know your Michael Caine (and friends)!!  That's great though - I definitely know Nigel Green!  Fantastic character actor...he was in a favorite of mine "The Masque of the Red Death"... I will IMDB some of those other names!  Thanks!

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   VeronicaInspiresposted 12 years ago

   The elements differ based on the genre, but overall I would say: a good plot and story line (something that isn't typical), action, humor and a sound ending.

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