What is the criteria for a good movie?

Some people might say that the question posed can be summed up simply as,

1. Good Script
2. Good Soundtrack
3. Good Photography
4. Good Costumes
5. Good Theme

And yes its true, in order to be called a "good" film it must contain some of these criteria. Moreover a good movie is not simply explained as Good cast, good script and a good soundtrack. but what exactly makes the script good, and what is the soundtrack supposed to do? Well here is my version and a explanation of the criteria of a good film. 

Some viewers may enjoy the Summer blockbuster with millions of dollars invested in it like the ones being churned out today, other movie watchers might just enjoy a classic 40's-50's black & white film that was made when Hollywood was at it's peak. But in order to be called a "good Film" every movie must contain the same criteria. 

First off a good film must have a strong story. If a movie has a simple story told in the right way it can be better than a very intricate story with a lot of plots that don't really go together. A good story is about connecting with the audience in an emotional way, not just adding a million special effects and explosions. The job of the writers is to do exactly this, writers create story line and active characters that lead them down a path. Its the writers job to also create a well written dialogue that sounds natural and believable for the characters. 

A good Movie has to evoke emotions in the viewer. After all, if we want to watch a comedy, then you should be laughing at some point during the movie. And if we are watching a scary movie, we should feel scared. If we are watch a Dramatic film then we should feel sorrow for the characters in the story. Good Actors and actresses lend to the feel of the story, they fallow direction and also add their own touch to the movie. 

Cinematography plays one of the biggest roles in the making of a good film because it makes up the visuals of the overall film as well as the sound. Good cinematography sets the mood for the entire film it contains transitions between scenes that are effective and creative, as well as containing creative camera angles, good lighting, and it dosent bore the audience with stuff that isn't important.

2 prime examples of good films are,

"The First Rule about fight club, is you don't talk about fight club"

Fight Club (1999) this is a film adapted from a book of the same title by writer Chuck Palahniuk. The writer Chuck Palahniuk bases most of his writing off of personal experience and stories that friends have shared with him. Fight club is said to be the coming of age film for the year 2000, the story of fight club is told through the narration of an insomniac who tries to do everything he is taught to do, tried to fit in to the world by becoming the thing that he isn't. Because the narrator can not find happiness he starts a journey on a path to enlightenment and unknowingly creates a split personality character named Tyler Durden who in turn creates a underground fight club. After the start of the underground fight club a series of uncontrollable events begins to occur and the the life of the narrator begins to implode, ultimately leading to a nervous breakdown and his demise. 

Though the film does not have a large amount of CGI visual effects the Intro (title sequence) shows a composition of the inside of a brain at the microscopic level. This sequence is evenly paired with music that is not your typical movie score. The music score was created by the electronic music duo, The Dust brothers to give the film a futurist style score of Electronic samples and re verb scratches. More than anything the cinematographic styling stood out in the film most. This was achieved by use of Super 35mm film and florescent lighting which lent to the films natural and real theme. Scenes like the first fight between Tyler and the narrator seem bland and realistic. Colors of costumes, make up and scenes are very bland and unsaturated. 

These charateristics of filming stye and film processing such as vinets, flashing, high contrast and petina green filtering (shown above) lend to the over all feel of the movie. Camera angels and movment of the camera are another key point of the movie such as the fight sequences where the camera seems to be viewing the fights from the point of view of a spectator then changing to the fighters perspective. 

The next film is said to be "A masterpiece that endures the test of time and is a model of craftsmanship." 

A Place In The Sun (1951) is a remake of a movie with the same title, both movies were based on a Novel by Theodore Dreiser titled An American Tragedy. It tells the story of a poor young man who is the nephew of a well off Business owner. The young man George is employed by his uncle to work in the family business. While working there George develops a relationship with two women; one who works in his wealthy uncle's factory and the other a beautiful socialite. When the working class girl announces that she is pregnant and makes it clear that she expects George to marry her, he creates a plan to murder her. Although when the time comes and he is in the moment he has a change of heart and cant go through with the act, but Alice still dies accidently. Though George is innocent the information and evidence is stacked against him and he is sentenced to death in the electric chair.  

This film about star crossed lovers has a very Romeo and Juliet feel to it, along with an underlying theme of “The American Dream” that audiences today can also relate to. The writers of the screenplay and cinematographers all pay great attention to detail and it is evident through out the film from the raw black and white film, Great background, and music.

The cinematography in the film was unmatched during its time. The cinematography is the place where most of the attention to detail is focused in this film. Camera angles were a key feature in the film. durring some scenes the camera seemed to just sit back and play as an observer, while in other scenes the camera seemed to just sit back as a long scene played out never cutting. The long overlap in scenes mixed with a fade creates a contrast in images that is a very forceful kind of story telling, paired with the Juxtaposition of Social class, sex, education, and religion.