The Good, The Bad and Special Effects.

Have you ever cried watching a movie? glassy eyes count!

Sometimes I feel like going on  cinema strike. This is usually when I decide not to watch any movie at the cinema but wait for it to come out on DVD or DSTv. Gone are the days when one was all too eager to watch the next movie showing.

I’m tempted to say that most movies nowadays are rubbish! Its either a bad sequel to a good movie  or a remake where the directors try to insult our intelligence by adding special effects to a movie that lacks meaning.

I think in order for a movie to be called a good one, all or some of certain factors should be present:

Dialogue: 

Intelligent conversations spark up movies! Witty statements and funny remarks always leave a lasting impression on the audience and many modern movies lack this.

Take a movie like Casablanca, in its black and white form, it is still one of the best movies of all time! The dialogue is both engaging and funny!

Citizen Kane is another good black and white film. At first I did not understand why this movie is number 1 in the AFI top 100 films of all time, but when I watched the last scene, I kind of understood. The movie might seem boring but watching it with full attention would make one understand and even connect with certain themes, the effects of living the American Dream is one of them.

I'll have to say The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is one of my all time favorites!

How can I forget! the all too popular *drum roll*

Strong Story Line:

The plot of a good movie has to have the ability to captivate its audience. Suspense works most of the time and is usually best in horror movies! The best horror movie I’ve seen in the last 5 years or so is Insidious! Apart from the quite original and very creative hair raising script, the suspense is really good!

No country for Old men is another movie that I quite liked. Not a very nice ending but I didn’t expect that either.

Good Acting:

If acting in a movie is poor then that movie is doomed to fail!

In order to get your audience attention, they have to be immersed in the world of a movie and this can only be done if it appears real! There are many black and white films that could compete with modern ones today based solely on acting!

To be honest I didn’t really like The Artist the first time I watched it. Not because it was black and white with no sound (in fact I found that really impressive in this day and age) but I did not really like the story line (many would even disagree with me on this one). However, I would definitely recommend this movie for good acting! Very good acting! For a movie to be able to convey emotions and engage an audience without speech is truly a masterpiece!

Special Effects:

This is used by many movies to distract us! It works sometimes (lol).

Good special effects brings out the best in certain movies especially if it has to do with a lot of action, fantasy or science fiction. In my opinion, movies like Avatar are only making money because of the special effects. That’s something anyway,  I’m sure it’s not easy to generate such graphics for an entire movie.

Some movies are called classics today because of the connection they establish with the audience. I just watched E.T (The Extra Terrestrial), a 1982 film and I was greatly moved by it. One might not understand how a movie based on the friendship between a boy and an alien could sell so much and even be considered as one of the best movies of all time... till one watches it!

 Movies like MaryPoppins, Sound of Music etc are classics because of the feelings you get from them.  It is usually advised that such movies are to be seen as a family and before one turns Fourteen. In fact some say if one hasn’t seen certain classics, one probably did not have a good childhood. This is usually because such movies are part of one’s social development process. They also help establish positive relationships when watched together and sometimes help build  lasting memories. For example. you  could find you and your family members singing certain songs from classics  on a road trip, certain actions  imitated as children or certain scenes that cause one to remember a part of growing up. Classics have a connection one way or the other.

In my opinion, most of the best movies ever made were released in the 50s-80s! and that’s why most of the AFI top 100 are classics and old movies. That is not to say that we are a doomed generation producing horrid movies but that movie contents  were at the peak of their quality at that time. Now technology does most of the job which can be sad at times.

Looking on the bright side, there are still some really good movies that have been released in the late 20^th century For example, my all -time favourite The Lord of the Rings Trilogy! In my opinion , it happens to have all the factors stated above and of course made it to the AFI List!!!

The Avengers is another really cool movie! The director really pulled it off and I think the writer is a genius to have been able to keep  the audience interested in the story line and interested in reading about such characters till date!

I might return with another movie themed post (being a movie buff and all ;-) ) but  because  my fingers are tired of dancing on the keyboard, I shall stop here with a couple of movies I suggest  you see!

• 1.       The Lord of the Rings Trilogy! (of course! Eagerly waiting for the Hobbit showing in December!)
• 2.       The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (if you haven’t seen it definitely fix a date!)
• 3.       Citizen Kane (find out why its No 1)
• The God Father Trilogy (Epic!)
• 4.       The Avengers!!
• 5.       Insidious
• 6.       Casablanca
• 7.       My Fair Lady
• 8.       Inside Man
• 9.       Inception
• 10.   The King’s Speech

You could also see why the movies in the AFI top 100 are there….

Watch and See!!!