What do you look for in a movie?

Mizzougrad96 · Aug 21, 2012

Buck said:

I will go to the theater to see anything involving Charlie Kaufman as writer or director.
I will go to the theater to see anything Wes Anderson directs.
However, if they stop doing interesting stuff, that could change.

I will still go to see anything M. Night Shyamalan directs, but I'm on the brink of giving up on that.
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I'm impressed that anyone is loyal to M. Night.

I loved the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable and thought Signs was OK, but he's on one hell of a downswing lately...

DanOregon · Aug 21, 2012

Directors: Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson, Fincher, Coen Brothers
Writers: Tony Gilroy, Mamet, Brian Helgeland.

Buck · Aug 21, 2012

Mizzougrad96 said:

Buck said:

I will go to the theater to see anything involving Charlie Kaufman as writer or director.
I will go to the theater to see anything Wes Anderson directs.
However, if they stop doing interesting stuff, that could change.

I will still go to see anything M. Night Shyamalan directs, but I'm on the brink of giving up on that.
Click to expand...

I'm impressed that anyone is loyal to M. Night.

I loved the Sixth Sense and Unbreakable and thought Signs was OK, but he's on one hell of a downswing lately...
Click to expand...

I loved 'Unbreakable,' and 'The Sixth Sense' and 'Signs' were very good.
I respect 'The Village,' 'Lady in the Water,' 'The Happening' and 'Devil' because, in each case, he has attempted something interesting and different. None of them, ultimately, worked.

Brian · Aug 21, 2012

I'm strange in that I only really love films that disorient me. I don't want my views and beliefs to be reassured by a movie. I want to be little shaken as I walk out of theater. Kubrick, Lynch, the Coens, they make movies that make me shudder. I love that.

Mizzougrad96 · Aug 21, 2012

I don't think I have unrealistic expectations with movies... I want to laugh, I want to think, I want to have fun and every now and then, I want to say, "Wow..."

That doesn't happen nearly enough anymore...

TrooperBari · Aug 22, 2012

Dick Whitman said:

For the most part, I like movies that have something to say, but it doesn't have to be profound, merely well-told. Take David Lynch's movies, for example. "Mulholland Drive" is about Hollywood delusion, a simple enough idea - but incredibly well-crafted. "Blue Velvet" is about, among other things, the non-profound idea that our perfectly manicured suburban havens are not what they seem. But, again, it is impeccably and compellingly put together. Compare to "The Hunger Games," a movie with, seemingly, a lot of interesting and nuanced things to say about our entertainment consumption that is, in execution, a hot mess.

For the most part, with plenty of exceptions, I tend to like the small better than the grandiose. I absolutely love when the small is used to illuminate the grandiose. So I like something like "Melancholia," where the end of the world is viewed through the window of one isolated family, better than something like "War of the Worlds" or "The Day After Tomorrow." But not too small. I don't love movies like "Hard Candy" or "Carnage," which feel like you're watching a play. ("Carnage" also represents one of my biggest pet peeves - movies where people don't talk like they really talk. Although there are exceptions - like "True Grit" or "Clockwork Orange" or even "Brick," which is probably a swing and a miss for me, where the odd diction is stylized and serves a purpose. It is, admittedly, a fine line. But I think there's an internal logic - I don't think I'm arbitrary.)

[snip]

For the most part, pure escapism does not do it for me, and I understand that this annoys the ever-living piss out of some of my fellow posters. But so be it. I want to learn something or feel something or think about something. I do want to be intellectually challenged. Or emotionally challenged. What do I look for in a movie? Resonance. That probably best describes it. Resonance.
Click to expand...

I agree with a lot of this, especially the bit about "Melancholia." I'd throw "Take Shelter" in there, too. Like music, my most basic requirement for a movie is to make me feel something, not pass straight through me like cotton candy with a Mountain Dew chaser. Joy, despair, disgust, laughter — just move me in some way.

On the point of small vs. grandiose: I'm more willing to forgive a movie that tries to do something great and falls short than one that's a percentage play designed to do little more than make back its investment. Movie studios will do what they must to stay in business, of course, but who grows up and goes to film school wanting to make the sequel to "Scooby Doo?" Dare to be great.

Rosie · Aug 23, 2012

I will watch any Pixar movie.

I usually want something light and happy. I have too much doom and gloom in real life.

But I rarely have time to watch a movie.

Bodie_Broadus · Aug 24, 2012

Greenhorn said:

Original plot
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Good luck with that one.

turski7 · Aug 24, 2012

TrooperBari said:

Dick Whitman said:

For the most part, I like movies that have something to say, but it doesn't have to be profound, merely well-told. Take David Lynch's movies, for example. "Mulholland Drive" is about Hollywood delusion, a simple enough idea - but incredibly well-crafted. "Blue Velvet" is about, among other things, the non-profound idea that our perfectly manicured suburban havens are not what they seem. But, again, it is impeccably and compellingly put together. Compare to "The Hunger Games," a movie with, seemingly, a lot of interesting and nuanced things to say about our entertainment consumption that is, in execution, a hot mess.

For the most part, with plenty of exceptions, I tend to like the small better than the grandiose. I absolutely love when the small is used to illuminate the grandiose. So I like something like "Melancholia," where the end of the world is viewed through the window of one isolated family, better than something like "War of the Worlds" or "The Day After Tomorrow." But not too small. I don't love movies like "Hard Candy" or "Carnage," which feel like you're watching a play. ("Carnage" also represents one of my biggest pet peeves - movies where people don't talk like they really talk. Although there are exceptions - like "True Grit" or "Clockwork Orange" or even "Brick," which is probably a swing and a miss for me, where the odd diction is stylized and serves a purpose. It is, admittedly, a fine line. But I think there's an internal logic - I don't think I'm arbitrary.)

[snip]

For the most part, pure escapism does not do it for me, and I understand that this annoys the ever-living piss out of some of my fellow posters. But so be it. I want to learn something or feel something or think about something. I do want to be intellectually challenged. Or emotionally challenged. What do I look for in a movie? Resonance. That probably best describes it. Resonance.
Click to expand...

I agree with a lot of this, especially the bit about "Melancholia." I'd throw "Take Shelter" in there, too. Like music, my most basic requirement for a movie is to make me feel something, not pass straight through me like cotton candy with a Mountain Dew chaser. Joy, despair, disgust, laughter — just move me in some way.

On the point of small vs. grandiose: I'm more willing to forgive a movie that tries to do something great and falls short than one that's a percentage play designed to do little more than make back its investment. Movie studios will do what they must to stay in business, of course, but who grows up and goes to film school wanting to make the sequel to "Scooby Doo?" Dare to be great.
Click to expand...

Agree with your musical assessment. So many times a bad soundtrack/score and just ruin a film.
I thought Eddie Vedder's soundtrack in "Into the Wild" was a major influence on why I liked the movie so much. I read the book, but the music lifted the atmosphere of the movie.
Also, great storytelling. It's hard nowadays, but a movie like "The Hurt Locker" is a prime example. No political angle, just a fantastic story.

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What do you look for in a movie?

Mizzougrad96 Active Member

DanOregon Well-Known Member

Buck Well-Known Member

Brian Well-Known Member

Mizzougrad96 Active Member

TrooperBari Well-Known Member

Rosie Active Member

Bodie_Broadus Active Member

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What do you look for in a movie?

Mizzougrad96 Active Member

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Rosie Active Member

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