I know a lot of people mention plot but plotless movies are also really good. I watched all four of Elia Suleiman’s feature-length films recently. They don’t really have plot, character development, nor the most impressive cinematography. It does have good choreography though if that makes sense.

To me, it can be hard to pin down what makes a movie “great” because the criteria change from genre to genre, and much of it is more of a subjective whole than an amalgamation of objective parts.

But, there is one metric my family uses to decide, unequivocally, if a movie was “bad” or not: if you watched it and it doesn’t lead to conversation, it was a bad movie. That means it didn’t spark any curiosity or need for discussion or even stand out in any way. Minimally, it wasn’t worth thinking about once it was over. I don’t mean short comments like “this effect was neat” or “I liked the part where…”, but substantive discussion of 5+ minutes.

By extension, movies that lead to discussions must be good, simply because there was “something about it” that spurred discussion. The specifics of that x-factor don’t really matter by this metric.

One thing I find interesting about this approach is that movies that many agree are objectively bad can lead to discussion if they are also unique or even just uniquely bad. And this approach says such movies are actually good, and I do agree with that.

The ones that end up consistently bad are big franchise films that are always same-samey, or other low-effort films that are mostly derivative.

1. A great villain.
2. An interesting cast with unique personalities, perspectives and ideals.
3. Smart or otherwise competent characters. I hate idiot plots.
4. Cool fights (less important, but can be the icing on top of the cake).

A movie doesn’t need all four factors for me to enjoy it, but nearly every movie I’ve enjoyed nails at least one of them. Some examples in no particular order:

1. No Country For Old Men
2. The Matrix
3. The Dark Knight
4. 12 Angry Men
5. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
6. Kung Fu Panda 1 and 2

It is difficult to get all of these in a single film.

However:

• Art direction that makes you love design.

• Cinematography at such scale and intimacy that you love light, shadow, depth of field, and the rule of thirds

• Writing that makes you love language, references, and lived experiences

• Casting that extols the virtues of interpersonal chemistry

• Editing that forces you to feel pace, tone, and contemplation as the story demands

• A plot that twists, turns, and delivers a gut punch when you least expect it

• A twist-in-the-end that, on reflection (or re-watch), makes total sense.

• Compelling, developing characters responding to irresistible forces that wash through their being

• Murphy’s Laws in full force: failure is an option, main characters can die

e:

• A true, hidden, and/or surprise villain whose perspective you can see and might even agree with.

Good examples:

• Synecodoche, New York

• Michael Clayton

• Sicario

• Requiem For a Dream

• No Country for Old Men

I always love it when a movie starts setting up a certain story beat or twist that makes me go “wow I wish they did x, but I have no idea how they’d pull that off!” and then they do exactly that in ways I could have never predicted. Gone Girl is one of my favorite movies because of that.

• Believable and consistent characters. Their actions should make sense.
• A plot that doesn’t rely on lazy tropes like characters failing to communicate. I’m looking at you, romance movies.
• Character growth or change.
• An interesting and internally consistent plot.

I feel like Aliens is a great example of this. The Marines grow over the course of the mission. Everyone has a sensible motivation (to them), and works towards it. The plot is simple, but there’s clear risk because characters die.

I watch horror, so its usually a combination of these, in no particular order:

• Believable plot.
• Believable character actions.
• Lack of common tropes/clichés.
• Quality of filming (angles, shots etc. Not resolution/film quality).
• Atmosphere.
• Tension/unease, and the handling of such.
• Quality and predictability of scares (if any).
• Good pacing.
• Bonus points for layers/deeper meanings.
• Bonus points for good visual effects, e.g. CGI.
• Double bonus points for good practical effects.
• Triple bonus points if I’m scared.

The difference between lemmy and reddit is that people on reddit would’ve spammed movie titles on first level comments in hope for fake internet points.

Anyway, smart and organic dialogue might be the most important thing for me.

Large scale space battles

The seven keys to a great movie are:

• swordfighting
• explosions
• beautiful women
• snappy dialogue

…and I forget the other three

shark with multiple heads

• Somewhat unformulaic, in that I should not be able to predict the gist of the ending halfway through the movie, or feel that I’ve seen the same movie before only with different setting (Looking at you, Avatar)
• Believable characters with realistic motivations
• No lazy writing relying on deus ex machinae or poor communication as plot devices
• Originality

The better the suspension of disbelief the better the movie

Intent is really important, along with a good script, good characters and the pacing of the story. The intent can be a statement, or an artistic vision, or just having a damn good story to tell. Originality is really important too, something I haven’t seen before or at least not told in this way.

I’m not too bothered about production quality as I’m happily enjoying movies from 70s exploitation and 80s b-movies to low budget oddities, art house flicks, auteurs and the occasional cineast pieces. There are a lot of hidden gems in the lower layers of the movie industry, made by people with a vision that worked with what they had to pull through.

I don’t care much for template big budget flicks like romance, action-comedy or superheroes, unless it’s something recommended to me as something that stands out from the genre. I don’t mind that people watch them, they just aren’t my thing. (Though I do sometimes watch series below my uptight movie snobbery as a sort of relaxing enjoyment and dirty pleasure.)

Anyway, I want a movie to be a journey and a great movie is something I’m fully immersed in and takes turns I didn’t expect and that is making me think about it after. I’m very subjective in what I like and don’t care much for neither clout or critics or cineast cred.

Recent great movies I’ve watched, not selected for any particular reason other than I found them great and watched them recently:

• Walker (1987) by Alex Cox.

• Tideland (2005) by Terry Gilliam.

• Noriko’s Dinner Table (2005) by Sion Sono.

That doesn’t insult your intelligence. That keeps exposition down, we don’t need the movie to try and tell itself to people watching it about what it is. Referential nods are okay, but placating to fanfare is obnoxious. CGI is okay when it has a place that practical effects can’t accommodate. Lack of token characters. Characters that are reasonably scripted. Scripts that don’t insult the actors and actresses having to bother reciting the lines to. A movie that is just put together very well and has little controversies surrounding its development as possible.