What makes a movie a good or a bad one?  That answer is different from person to person. I personally have two different answers to that question.  

    I’m going to start with telling you my favorite movies.  I often say it’s James Bond, and I do throughly love the 007 franchise. However the film I love dearest is Gattaca, from 1997. The reasoning behind my affection for both bits of cinema are different.

    The one consistency for all films is am I entertained?  How I am entertained will vary though.

    Gattaca is a thought provoking film.  I found it relevant almost to its thirty years ago and that relevance has held up through the years. The film has challenged me ib a positive way.  I found it to be artfully done as well as entertaining. 

     The James Bond franchise are popcorn flicks.  They are designed to be thrilling and entertaining. I can sit back in my seat for a few hours, and basically enjoy the ride.  I like how the franchise is a marker in time. You can see how things such as science, international politics, and social perspective hace changed In the course of the long running franchise and all through the eyes of one individual.  This fascinates me.

    A good film will also show me a bit about life. Gattaca does this well.  You may not find this throughout the 007 franchise but some of my favorite entries, such as On Her Majesty’s Secret Service does.   

   On the flip side of the coin there films I do not like.  One thing I do not like in film is be preached at with a message. I appreciate a message I don’t like it when the message is flaunted in my face.  I find these films condescending and insults my intelligence that way.  Angel Studios is notorious for this. 

    The other thing I do not like is art for the sake of art.  Films can abd should be a form of art.  Doing so, just to do it, makes the film unnecessarily showy to me and uts message is lost to me.  Citizen Kane (1941) and Manchester by the Sea (2016) are under that umbrella for me. 

  Good or bad I still enjoy the movie going experience.

    Until next time k will see you at the movies!