What makes a movie good?

                Cinema are one of the major parts of the entertainment industry. Some argue that films are easily made and that films do not deserve the revenue it gets. These people do not see films as a an art form. Not any movie can be good. Watchable and good are two very different levels quality-wise and many think that all films are good because they are watchable. People fail to appreciate the few good movies that are actually out there. How do we tell a good movie from a mediocre movie? Simple, there are plenty of factors to what makes a good movie.

                The cast is an important part to a good movie. With a great script and dialogue, actors are needed to deliver them with passion. To those that argue that acting is easy, it’s not. There are many type of actors. From your popcorn actor to your Oscar-worthy actor, a movie needs to be able to find the suitable actor to play its character. Sometimes, an actor can make a mediocre film good. In ‘Primal Fear’, Edward Norton plays an altar boy with a multiple personality convicted of murder. The film had nothing special in it, with it’s courtroom drama not as exciting as it should’ve been and the story as normal as possible. Richard Gere has his moments but Edward Norton was what brought the film to a whole new level.

                A good script is a very important factor to a movie. Every movie needs a script because without a script nothing can be played out the way the director envisions it to be. A good script does not necessarily mean a mind-blowing concept but rather means a script with great dialogue which inserts realism into the movie and personality to its characters. After all, with the exception of the slasher genre, what would a movie be with uninteresting and bland characters. What would a movie be if the movie is way too imaginative and unrelatable to its audience. Pulp fiction is a classic with the script carrying the quality of the film. Giving the audience characters who are involved in the crime industry and yet transforming characters to normal pedestrians that we see all the time on the streets.

                Direction and style are the most important factors to making a good movie. A good director would play out the script exactly as he envisions it to be. The style varies depending on the director. The direction is what really brings out the genre to the audience. With lousy direction, the film would bring a completely opposite affect onto the audience, thus not being able to give them the director’s vision of the film. David Fincher is a master at direction and always gives the audience such a realistic style and feel of the movie. In ‘Se7en’, he makes the theme and the message of the movie clear with the addition of a dark realistic which made the movie one of his best.

                The factors are all inter-connected to one another. Only a great movie will have all three factors. Look at the classics, ’Citizen Kane’ or ‘The Godfather’ has the audiences captivated with a great cast, great script and most importantly, great direction. Movies are common, good movies are rare, and great movies the rarest.

Taxi Driver(1976)

To me, this is a very special movie. It stars Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, and this movie really centers on the main character and his thoughts. Travis Bickle is just an ordinary taxi driver in the trash city of New York somewhere between the 60s or 70s I believe. Robert De Niro really gives a lot of insight on his character's mind and what his opinions belie on. This film shows amazing character development on Travis Bickle and really shows the transformation of a taxi driver to someone who lost his mind. The narrations are all done by Travis and I find this to be a very effective technique to express Travis's thughts and emotions. Of course there are other characters but no other character proves to be as significant to the audience as Travis is. You have Betsy, some kind of love interest of Travis but not really. Then you have Iris, a girl who Travis pities and tries to reach out to. The film is slow however and only really picks up near the end. Is it boring though? No...It's slow in an interesting and captivating way, allowing the audience to understand Travis's action and feelings. Another great thing about this film is its ability to portray New York as a shithole. It shows how messed up the people were back then and how nobody gave a shit if someone died out there in the open. The monologue in this film is amazing and really gives depth to Travis's personality. There is the classic 'You talkin' to me' scene which I really found intense. That one scene just completely changes the audience's perspective on Travis. He was no longer just a taxi driver or a man on a street. He was Travis Bickle, crazy and psycho. Fun fact: that scene had Travis's monologue improvised 100% by Robert De Niro. I strongly feel that Robert De Niro doesn't get enough respect from the younger generation for his acting talent and effort. Instead, many people favour Robert Downey Junior, Chaning Tatum, Scarlett Johansson and the list just goes on. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike them at all but gone were the days where Robert Downey Junior produced good performances such as Harry in 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' or Charlie Chaplin in 'Chaplin.'All he does now is play himself in movies. Chaning Tatum is far from establishing himself as one of the greats and as solid as Scarlett Johansson is, she is no De Niro. Robert De Niro I would consider on of the best in Hollywood with the exception of a few. I am just waiting for the day when he reunites with Martin Scorsese and pulls of another amazing performance which I have yet to see in the last 10 years. All in all, this film is really great character development with a very unique Scorsese style. This is easily my favourite Scorsese film and remains to be one of my favourite films. I highly recommend this movie to people who are looking for a psychological film or just a movie buff who wants to watch a great movie.

Good Will Hunting(1997)

Goddamit Robin Williams. Goddamit. Good Will Hunting is an amazing film which uses Robin Williams acting talent to the its full potential, not wasting on any on ridiculous humour or slapstick. This film had so much acting talent in it. Matt Damon was amazing in his role. There were some moments where I thought that Matt Damon actually stole the scene from Robin Williams. Both were great, but Robin Williams clearly won out as the better actor of the film. Ben Affleck was super fun in this film. Am I convinced that he is the dark knight yet. No....but I think he has the ability to pull off a Heath Ledger. The biggest surprise to me in Good Will Hunting was the love interest of Matt Damon. Not exepcting her to have a huge impact on Matt Damon's character and thought her to be an expendable character  at first, she impressed me the most. Mostly thanks to Minnie Driver who really made her character part of the story. Another really underrated actress. Just because of her performance in Good Will Hunting, I am willing to give Beyond the lights a chance. Its an upcoming romance film going to be released this year which looks like total bullshit...but hey I'm gonna give it a shot.What else can I say about Good Will Hunting? The story overview you have seen it before...kind of but the direction with this film is so fascinating. One other element that I love about this film is the amount of details and realism put into it. Nothing seems over the top and the film seems so possible in real life. That's one thing I admire about Ben Affleck's films. The realism followed up in Gone Baby Gone and Argo. Yeah...and Casey Affleck is in this film. He is kind of funny. Wasn't really a big role that he did though. He acted as just one of Matt Damon's close friends. He did however add to some aspect to the amount of hopelessness that Matt Damon's circle of friends faced. Hopeless is not really the best choice of words but there really is no other way. More like hopeless freedom. If that doesn't make much sense, I basically mean that they are aware that they don't have much of a future and they have already given hope. All they do is just have fun and live their life. No careers for them and I actually kind of like them. I love the whole psychology aspect of the film. Robin Williams plays the psychiatrist of Matt Damon and in every scene, a sense of  sadness appears in his face. For me Robin Williams was the best part of this film. As a friend and a psychiatrist to Matt Damon, Robin Williams does an amazing job keeping the feels real. This film deserves much more recognition than it gets and is definitely a really inspiring film.

Stories for the fun of it

I may post some short stories(fictional) from time to time. I will not have a schedule for the stories but i will publish some. I will just post some of my writings when I am in the mood for it. This is my blog after all. You may or may not like them but I don't really give a shit. Just have fun reading them and feel free to comment. Negative or positive I think opinions are a great thing to hear. I will take no offence nor will I take any encouragement but I will be entertained by the comments. These writings are 100% my own and are not plagiarised. I do however take inspiration from movies, stuff I hear and stuff people tell me so I cannot take 100% credit for my writings. Again, if you think this is bullshit, I won't care. I do have a story that I am going to publish right now. One of the many stories to come. Enjoy..

THE MESSENGER
The sky was dark.The clouds covered up the smiling face of the sun. The enviroment was drop dead quiet. The smell of blood filled up the air, coming from the blood-stained letter in my right pocket. It was once owned by my buddy, the proud and fearless Archie.Was...now, he lays in the mud-filled, barren land of Vietnam. His eyes open, staring into the sky with aimless thoughts. His legs were two metres away from him, the result of an operation gone horribly wrong. After some time, a huge, long vehicle came into sight. The bus stopped infront of me, welcoming me to join it. The automatic door opens for me as if I was a king. I entered the transport. With the exception of a middle-aged man in the driver seat, nothing else could be seen except rows of empty seats.Awkwardly, my feet scooted all the way to the back. The door closed, and the wheels started to roll. I looked into the window, hoping to forget everything, especially Archie. The land was barren...Just like Vietnam...Green... Uniforms...I was holding an M-16, so was he. Sounds of gunshots were everywhere. It was just me and him. The rest of the squad were nowhere to be found. An enemy tank was approaching, slowly but steady. Soon enough, the mass weapon of destruction was going to come upon us. The operation was doomed, I knew but stupid Archie didn't. That bastard was full of hope. He smiled at me, like a puppy wanting get back a smile from it's master. Archie was stupid, but brave. He pulled an M-16, got out of cover, and continuously fired against enemy lines. I shouted at him to stop, but he wouldn't listen.

"You're going to be the cause of your own death!"

"So be it, no better way to die than to go out with a bang!"

I knew he had to stop. He was attracting too much attention. Before I could do anything, Archie jerked back in a sudden motion. Blood poured our from his mouth. I examined his body, to find that a bullet had entered his guts. Reaching for a letter, he coughed out blood unstoppably.

"Let me do it."
"Give...(cough)this to(cough)my wife...."

My eyes opened. The bus had stopped. This was my stop. I gave a sad smile to the bus driver, handed him some worthless green papers and got out. I saw her, Mrs Hicox standing at the door, like a puppy its master to return. I walked towards her. She looked at me, visible tears starting to form in her eyes.

"NO!It can't be!He promised!"

"Here you go mam, he said he wanted you to have this."

I handed her the letter. I put my arms around her, comforting her and myself.

Fight Club(1999)

Possibly the best movie of 1999, I can't believe it has taken me this long to watch it.Fight Club is definitely one of my top 10 films of all time. Maybe it will stay there. Haven't exactly watched all the movies in the world yet. This movie raises a lot of questions about life, rather just one major question; why should I give a shit at all. Society says this, we follow. Society says that, we follow. We're all playing a game 'Uncle Sam says.' Of course the film itself was simply badass. Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter spells 'Great' in terms of the film industry. Heck, even the best supporting actor of 2013 was in it. I didn't even know that Jared freaking Leto was in the Fight Club. Awesomely underrated actor...or singer...both...in my opinion. Brad Pitt in this film is just that man you listen to. His amount of charisma is just too damn high. He is the ultimate badass. He doesn't give a shit about what anyone thinks. Sometimes, in your crappy little workplace life, you just wanna run away from it all and do what he does. Become free. All of us would love to become free. What's holding us back? Ourselves. We're all scared of what society thinks. Deny it if you want and unless you've got no pressure at all its the painful truth. Am I a pessimist? I would think not. Rather, I'd like to think myself as a realist. Edward Norton was also quite the actor. His portrayal of the average Joe is so perfect. Insomniac, hates his job, and under the illusion that popular shit is good. What's not to relate about him? He is us. We are him. In a shitty world, we have shitty jobs. Again, screw the world. I just love the main theme of this film. And also everything else about it. Except maybe Helena Bonham Carter. I have no freaking idea what she is suppose to portray. Her character seems interesting enough but maybe David Fincher could have done a bit more to maximize the potential her character had? I don't know. I am no director. Just a regular guy watching a great film. Keep in mind, this is not a movie review. Read it...does it sound like a movie review to you? This article are more like my thoughts on the film. Now, it might come across your mind that this is not your typical way to start your first blog entry. Might not. But honestly I don't give a shit. And feel free to disagree with my view on anything at all. I won't give a shit. Probably would just find it mildly entertaining. And if you haven't watched Fight Club yet, I highly suggest you check it out...if you don't like it you're probably a Michael Bay fanboy. I am going to end it with my favourite quote of Fight Club,"It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything."And see you readers in the next post which might or might not come pretty soon. Have fun.