Movies can be considered the most taken-too-seriously yet underappreciated forms of art. They show us people’s lives through different lenses, they sculpt our dreams, and in some cases, they give us hope and reassurance. But, one thing that we can all agree with is that we all hate terrible movies; we really don’t appreciate not only wasting money but time. Unfortunately, terrible movies are an essential cog in the moviescape’s system. Whether or not they make a lot of money, no one totally sets out to create a flaming piece of garbage.
Something that can be considered to be more malevolent is a passable movie. Recently, this idea was provoked from a video essay on YouTube from The Nerd Writer. These movies fly under the category of films that are a far cry from great or notable, yet they don’t make you want to gouge your eyeballs out. They tend to consist of reboots, spin offs, things that people think they wanted until they saw it. But in the last couple of years I feel like these kind of movies have taken a ridiculous uptick. They tend to do just enough for just about everyone, they make enough money for the studio, the cast, and just enough for us to still go and see them.
To be more specific, a common factor of what makes a film passable is that they don’t usually tell a story of real life but rather stories from different movies. They tend to tell stories of cliche. Filmmakers turn to recycling scenes from other movies or to even reusing entire plot points.
An example of a scene that is recycled often is writing formulas on a window or mirror where they move between the writer’s look of intensity while the rest of the room sits in awe. This scene can be found in movies like, The Social Network, Good Will Hunting, and A Beautiful Mind.
Now, the movies previously listed were some of my favorites, but time and time again filmmakers still have yet to find a way to portray someone’s moment of hurried genius other than a marker and a mirror. This begs the question: have you ever actually seen someone do this is real life? I'm not saying that it’s a terrible idea for filmmakers to pay homage to great films, but this way of thinking tends to harbor cliche.
So what actually makes a film great? To me, it would be that everything was created with a purpose, and that there isn’t unnecessary character arcs and plot points that just end up having us the audience totally confused. (ahem I’m looking at you every Transformers movie after the first one).
Last and certainly not least, they illustrate people or the human experience truthfully. They provide observations that tend to show us things that we didn't see before. They can even help us articulate what we actually go through as being human.
Something that can be considered to be more malevolent is a passable movie. Recently, this idea was provoked from a video essay on YouTube from The Nerd Writer. These movies fly under the category of films that are a far cry from great or notable, yet they don’t make you want to gouge your eyeballs out. They tend to consist of reboots, spin offs, things that people think they wanted until they saw it. But in the last couple of years I feel like these kind of movies have taken a ridiculous uptick. They tend to do just enough for just about everyone, they make enough money for the studio, the cast, and just enough for us to still go and see them.
To be more specific, a common factor of what makes a film passable is that they don’t usually tell a story of real life but rather stories from different movies. They tend to tell stories of cliche. Filmmakers turn to recycling scenes from other movies or to even reusing entire plot points.
An example of a scene that is recycled often is writing formulas on a window or mirror where they move between the writer’s look of intensity while the rest of the room sits in awe. This scene can be found in movies like, The Social Network, Good Will Hunting, and A Beautiful Mind.
Now, the movies previously listed were some of my favorites, but time and time again filmmakers still have yet to find a way to portray someone’s moment of hurried genius other than a marker and a mirror. This begs the question: have you ever actually seen someone do this is real life? I'm not saying that it’s a terrible idea for filmmakers to pay homage to great films, but this way of thinking tends to harbor cliche.
So what actually makes a film great? To me, it would be that everything was created with a purpose, and that there isn’t unnecessary character arcs and plot points that just end up having us the audience totally confused. (ahem I’m looking at you every Transformers movie after the first one).
Last and certainly not least, they illustrate people or the human experience truthfully. They provide observations that tend to show us things that we didn't see before. They can even help us articulate what we actually go through as being human.