How to Discern a Good Movie

Ever seen a movie and thought it was so-so only because you couldn't decide whether or not you really liked it? Here are some evaluative tools to help you decide. These are the basics of any good movie.

1) Cinematic
Was it cinematic? This is rather open to interpretation but if it didn't feel like a good movie it's probably not cinematic. A question to ask is was the camera able to tell the story without the help of annoying voice overs or subtitles?

2) Construction
Was the movie properly constructed? The answer to this question is yes if you can determine that the movie had a definite and clear beginning middle and end. Movies with lots of flashbacks or indecipherable dreams don't score so well on this aspect.

3) Characters
Where the characters interesting? This aspect is actually very subjective. What one person may like in a character another person my absolutely hate. If you felt you could identify with and sympathize with the characters then this category should receive a thumbs up.

4) Cliches
Where there a lot of them? Cliches are never good. Filmmakers are essentially artists and artists should always be struggling to break down cliches and create original material. If this was a "been there, seen that" kind of movie, it won't fare so well in this category.

5) Content
Was it a compelling two hours that you spent watching this movie? A one joke movie doesn't usually provide enough content to keep an audience very long. A good question to ask is "Would you watch this movie again?"

6) Conversation
Otherwise known as dialogue. Were there long-winded speeches? Was there no speaking at all because the characters were too involved in car chases and explosions? A film must strike a delicate balance between providing the audience with enough substance to keep them satisfied but not too much so as to bore them.

7) Conflict
Does it work? In essence, is the conflict believable? A lot of horror movies have a hard time scoring in this section. Movies like Hostel and Saw are simply too unbelievable to have realistic conflict. What happens when a movie doesn't have believable conflict is that it becomes laughable.

8) Climax
Many people would say this means that there has to be a happy ever after but that is not necessarily so. The climax needn't be happy but must be dramatically satisfying. Casablance and E.T. are examples of climaxes that are not necessarily happy but are very dramatically satisfying. If you left the movie thinking "That's not what I wanted to happen" or "That's not how I would have ended it", then chances are the climax was not dramatically satisfying.