Movies: what is the mark of a good one?

[fajrdrako]

elynross and dargie both used the list of the 100 top-grossing movies and though I won't want to go over it movie by movie, I've seen a fair number of them and if offers food for thought. If you want to see the whole list, check out the abovementioned LJs.

Of the top ten, the only one - er, two - that I really loved were the first two of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The fact that these are two of my favourite movies of all time gives them extra weight. In fact, I think this may the the only inclusion that reflects my favourite movies, and you can see that list at The Best 12 Movies . Of my my top 100 movies, and there are a few there I will change if I ever get around to updating that page, there's a little more overlap.

Of the top twenty, I liked Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone well enough. I even enjoyed Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, though it wouldn't have been worth watching were it not for Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor. (I am not at fan of Star Wars in general, though sometimes I hesitate to say so, and have had to go to considerable efforts to avoid repeat viewings.)


I very much enjoyed The Sixth Sense but hated Forrest Gump. The others I was more or less indifferent to, though I quite enjoyed Mission Impossible II, though I don't remember it well and don't have any desire to see it again, but it was a nice taut thriller. Hey, I used the word "taut" in a sentence! I make it a point never to use "taut" in slash, unless I'm discussing clothslines. But I digress.

Onto the top thirty: My favourite there would be Terminator 2, which I went to expecting nothing (I was unfamiliar with Terminator i and I'm not a big Schwartzeneggar fan) and thought was a terrific action movie. We're getting into things I liked more than the top ten. Monsters, Inc. was delightful and so was Ghost. I liked the style of Matrix but not the story. Liked Gladiator because Maximus had most of what I like in a hero, but thought the script was dumb and very predictable.

To the surprise of many, I really like #38 on the list, Pretty Woman, which I thought was smart, bright, clever, fun, romantic and witty. I also liked the romantic theme, and I like both Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.

Now we're getting to movies which I either didn't like or didn't want to see. Batman was better than it had any right to be, but I didn't like Michael Keaton or Jack Nicholson in their roles. I liked #49 The Bodyguard - I think it's the last good movie Kevin Costner was in.

The next one I feel enthusiasm for is #59, The Fugitive, probably my favourite on this list after The Lord of the Rings - not that I liked it even a fraction of much, but I liked it more than most of those others. I quite liked The Rock, rather on the same terms as Mission Impossible II. Good thriller, but not necessarily a great one.

Maybe I missed some good ones.

A few random thoughts:

- most of the movies listed are American-made. Do they generate money because they are able to afford more advertising and huge distribution? And get the backing of people willing to put money into Hollywood movies? And to hire or create the big names and the fancy effects? Is money the bottom line? I think so.

- though certain stars are in several of the listed movies, I don't see that as being the criterion for money-making. Rather, I would guess, the stars become stars because they are in top money-generating movies.

- a lot of them are series or parts of series

- a lot of them are recent, presumably because movie prices are going up all the time. It would be nice to see lists that represent actual attendance, rather than money made.

- amazing how many (especially of the top 20) are SF and fantasy

- interesting (but not surprising) to see how many are primarily action movies. Mysteries and romances (which I prefer, on the whole) are much less represented.

Comments

[isagel.livejournal.com]

- most of the movies listed are American-made. Do they generate money because they are able to afford more advertising and huge distribution? And get the backing of people willing to put money into Hollywood movies? And to hire or create the big names and the fancy effects? Is money the bottom line? I think so.

I think the key factor here is the size of the potential audience. Since English has become a world language, and American culture - thanks to the country's role as a dominant superpower - has spread like wildfire over the globe for the last 60 years, an audience for American movies can be found everywhere. If instead you take a Swedish movie, for instance, no one knows the language, no one understands the quirks of the culture, and the people outside Sweden who want to see the movie decrease in number accordingly. The chances that you could make a large American audience go see a subtitled Swedish movie are next to zero, while practicly every subtitled American movie that is shown here is seen by a relatively large number of people. Because the American is familiar to us, while the Swedish is distant to them. (Though I do believe there were fairly large foreign audiences back in the sixties for Swedish movies like Dear John and Do You Believe in Angels? which were considered sexually overt. At least they seem to have landed us with a strange reputation. *g*)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Whereas when it comes to Canadian movies, it's difficult to get to see them even in Canada and maybe especially in Canada! I'd like to think this is changing; the last three Canadian movies I've seen have been "Men With Brooms", "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "Bollywood/Hollywood", and all were well distributed to major theatres for a change - even mildly famous. Maybe this is a new trend.

Canadian movies are generally made in English or French and these are pretty widespread languages, but the 'quirks of culture' thing is probably an even greater barrier. Especially when it comes to humour.

I think your observations are correct. But I wish we got more chance to see a wider variety of European, Australian and Asian movies more easily than we do. The world is a rich international potpourri of ideas and we only get to see it through a cultural filter.