Here at writingXstructure I like to use a very scientific approach to grading movies when reviewing them. Below you will find the grading scale. I will pin this at the top for frequent reference.
BAD: Bad story. Bad dialogue. Bad lighting. Bad shots. This is the “how the fuck did this get made” category.
BAD BUT GOOD: Movies that are judged as bad but are actually good. Usually niche genre based. Slasher horror, martial arts, Blaxploitation, sci fi, Romance Hallmark Channel, farce comedy, blockbuster action movies . This is the “great if you like that sort of thing” category.
GOOD BUT INCOMPLETE: Movies in which one aspect is so good that you overlook all of its faults but still can’t say it’s a "great" movie. For instance: great characters, just okay story... OR great story on paper, poorly executed... OR beautifully shot, but it was 90 minutes too long... These movies cause the most arguments. This is the “I don’t care what you think I HATED/LOVED it” category.
And my favorite:
GREAT F'N MOVIE: Movies that transcend their genre to unite all people in saying “wow even though that’s not usually my thing - that was a great f'n movie.” THESE ARE THE MOVIES THAT EXECUTED EVERY STEP OF THE PROCESS FLAWLESSLY: silence of the lambs, seven // The Matrix // the hangover // Midnight Run, Little Miss Sunshine, The Princess Bride //Forest Gump, Titanic, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Jurassic Park, Die Hard // The Godfather, Boyz in the Hood, Shawshank Redemption, Slumdog Millionaire... I could go on.
Every single great f*kn movie has two key components that unite them all: flawless structure, flawless execution.
Aristotle says: Your story structure needs to be so tight that if you take one scene out, the whole would collapse.
Sydney Lumet says: As a director you have to know what movie your making and then make sure everyone else is making the same movie as you.
Combine those two ideas and that's how Great F'n Movies are born.
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