Post by lieutenant on Oct 13, 2013 15:40:55 GMT -5
You watch movies. You have opinions about those movies. You should review movies.
Here's the plan: I want to hear what you guys think of the movies you watch. I want to know in your expert opinion, what made it bad, or good or interesting.
I do not want reviews like "It sucked" or "This is tge best movie evr and whoever doesn't love it is gunna DIE!!!!!!!"
To that end, watch the movie with these points in mind:
1) Characters
Are the characters interesting? Are they the same characters as in every other movie with a different name? Do they learn anything and develop, or do they stay the same through the whole movie? Do they have depth? By that I mean, are there things in them that the movie makers don't spell out? When you read between the lines, is there anything to read?
2) Plot
Does anything happen in the movie? I'm not asking if cars blow up, of course they do, I'm asking if the story makes sense, and does it end? You might assume that because the movie is over, it must have ended. Not nessecarily, in Hollywood some of the time they just stop writing, slap an epilogue on and act like they did their job. What I mean is did the problem at the beginning get solved? If Indiana Jones sets out to get the Ark, do we know, by the end of the movie, what happened to the Ark, what happened to Indy, and if there is likely to be anything happening in the future?
3) Special Effects
This one is easy. Do things look real when they happen? TakIng into account that these actors are just standing on a set somewhere, in no actual danger, do the explosions look real? Or like your uncle did them on photoshop? Does the pure CGI character look like he's standing in totally different lighting than everyone else? Is it too dark to see what's happening? Weird camera angles? Is it obvious that those punches aren't ACTUALLY connecting? Can you see the mic boom? Is Dorothy clearly going to crash into that painted background as she leaves Munchkinland? Keep an eye out.
4) Sound Effects
You know what stuff sounds like. Swords do NOT make ching noises when you wave them through the air, metal has to hit metal to clang. That same scream that's in every movie when someone falls off a high place is not good movie making. Or, do things sound real? Do gunshots reverberate against buildings, does the zombie actually sound like someone shuffling across the floor? Let us know.
5) Music
A totally different category. This doesn't have to sound real to it's scene. If Gatsby plays hiphop and Ulrich Von Lichtenstein jousts to Queen, that's fine. It has to set the mood. It has to get you, the audience, in the frame of mind the characters are in. If it does, it's doing it's job. If it makes you stop thinking about what's going on in the scene ane makes you think about what's going on in the orchestra pit, it's not.
Totally Optional Categories-
These are dependent on the type of movie you are watching.
6) Dialogue
Can you predict every line? That's bad writing. Means that the writer isn't trying, is taking stuff from other movies and books, the people who did it the first time. If the character said something and you immediately want to quote it, that's good writing.
Doesn't Count If: You've seen the movie 700 times.
7) Body Count
More for slasher flicks and action movies, this is a fun category that most people don't think about. So, did the main character gun down a whole army, or did he get by just killing one guy at the beginning and one at the end (Ala Roadhouse.?) Did the badguy kill more people or did the good guy? Points awarded for coolness of the kill. Which badguy is really the worst threat? Is it Kroenen with 19 dead by his hand, or Samael, with only 2? Who has the best chance to take Hellboy out? Who lasts the longest?
Doesn't Count If: You're watching the movie in theater. It's hard to be accurate when you can't rewatch. If you have the DVD, though, there's no excuse for not filling this category.
8) Gore
This has nothing to do with body count, because it's not about how many people die, it's about how they die. Sure, Jason Bourne shoots people, but their guts don't explode visibly from their bodies. The Ring rates low on the gore scale because people get frightened to death, no blood at all. (The horse being the exception.)
Gore has another aspect, though, repulsiveness. Sure, David gets his intestines pulled out in Shawn of the Dead, but it's more of a lip curl moment than a turn your head away moment. Whereas when I was rewatching Alphas and Don gets his head beat in with a chair, that actually made me cringe. So the horror aspect is somewhat personal to what each of us finds disturbing, but the amount of blood aspect evens it out.
Doesn't Count If: No one is hurt.
So these are the review categories. Please think about them while you watch new movies, old favorites, or stuff maybe the rest of us haven't seen.
Remember, if you keep your reviews objective and logical, there is less chance someone will get butthurt.
I hope to hear from a lot of you guys as time goes on. Feel free to PM me about new categories or additions to existing categories. Thanks for reading, everyone!
Here's the plan: I want to hear what you guys think of the movies you watch. I want to know in your expert opinion, what made it bad, or good or interesting.
I do not want reviews like "It sucked" or "This is tge best movie evr and whoever doesn't love it is gunna DIE!!!!!!!"
To that end, watch the movie with these points in mind:
1) Characters
Are the characters interesting? Are they the same characters as in every other movie with a different name? Do they learn anything and develop, or do they stay the same through the whole movie? Do they have depth? By that I mean, are there things in them that the movie makers don't spell out? When you read between the lines, is there anything to read?
2) Plot
Does anything happen in the movie? I'm not asking if cars blow up, of course they do, I'm asking if the story makes sense, and does it end? You might assume that because the movie is over, it must have ended. Not nessecarily, in Hollywood some of the time they just stop writing, slap an epilogue on and act like they did their job. What I mean is did the problem at the beginning get solved? If Indiana Jones sets out to get the Ark, do we know, by the end of the movie, what happened to the Ark, what happened to Indy, and if there is likely to be anything happening in the future?
3) Special Effects
This one is easy. Do things look real when they happen? TakIng into account that these actors are just standing on a set somewhere, in no actual danger, do the explosions look real? Or like your uncle did them on photoshop? Does the pure CGI character look like he's standing in totally different lighting than everyone else? Is it too dark to see what's happening? Weird camera angles? Is it obvious that those punches aren't ACTUALLY connecting? Can you see the mic boom? Is Dorothy clearly going to crash into that painted background as she leaves Munchkinland? Keep an eye out.
4) Sound Effects
You know what stuff sounds like. Swords do NOT make ching noises when you wave them through the air, metal has to hit metal to clang. That same scream that's in every movie when someone falls off a high place is not good movie making. Or, do things sound real? Do gunshots reverberate against buildings, does the zombie actually sound like someone shuffling across the floor? Let us know.
5) Music
A totally different category. This doesn't have to sound real to it's scene. If Gatsby plays hiphop and Ulrich Von Lichtenstein jousts to Queen, that's fine. It has to set the mood. It has to get you, the audience, in the frame of mind the characters are in. If it does, it's doing it's job. If it makes you stop thinking about what's going on in the scene ane makes you think about what's going on in the orchestra pit, it's not.
Totally Optional Categories-
These are dependent on the type of movie you are watching.
6) Dialogue
Can you predict every line? That's bad writing. Means that the writer isn't trying, is taking stuff from other movies and books, the people who did it the first time. If the character said something and you immediately want to quote it, that's good writing.
Doesn't Count If: You've seen the movie 700 times.
7) Body Count
More for slasher flicks and action movies, this is a fun category that most people don't think about. So, did the main character gun down a whole army, or did he get by just killing one guy at the beginning and one at the end (Ala Roadhouse.?) Did the badguy kill more people or did the good guy? Points awarded for coolness of the kill. Which badguy is really the worst threat? Is it Kroenen with 19 dead by his hand, or Samael, with only 2? Who has the best chance to take Hellboy out? Who lasts the longest?
Doesn't Count If: You're watching the movie in theater. It's hard to be accurate when you can't rewatch. If you have the DVD, though, there's no excuse for not filling this category.
8) Gore
This has nothing to do with body count, because it's not about how many people die, it's about how they die. Sure, Jason Bourne shoots people, but their guts don't explode visibly from their bodies. The Ring rates low on the gore scale because people get frightened to death, no blood at all. (The horse being the exception.)
Gore has another aspect, though, repulsiveness. Sure, David gets his intestines pulled out in Shawn of the Dead, but it's more of a lip curl moment than a turn your head away moment. Whereas when I was rewatching Alphas and Don gets his head beat in with a chair, that actually made me cringe. So the horror aspect is somewhat personal to what each of us finds disturbing, but the amount of blood aspect evens it out.
Doesn't Count If: No one is hurt.
So these are the review categories. Please think about them while you watch new movies, old favorites, or stuff maybe the rest of us haven't seen.
Remember, if you keep your reviews objective and logical, there is less chance someone will get butthurt.
I hope to hear from a lot of you guys as time goes on. Feel free to PM me about new categories or additions to existing categories. Thanks for reading, everyone!