Typically, when you hear about good things about a movie it’s because of a star-studded cast or an exciting scene in the film, these things contribute to a good film but aren’t the only reasons people watch. A good film boils down to the pacing, action, and in my opinion the dialogue and sound.
A Quiet Place, 2021 Via: filmdaily.com
Take for example, the film A Quiet Place (2021). In this great horror movie, we see how a movie can be made into something special without a lot of talking or dialogue in general. This movie does a fantastic job of mixing sound, every breath the characters take in the crucial moments of the film are well refined and keep the viewers on the edges of their seats. The sound quality and mixing in this movie makes it quality along with its stunning visuals of its monsters and backdrops. This film was heavily criticized when it came out and it took people a long time to really grasp the beauty of a movie with such delicate and morbid sound.
So, psychologically why do we watch these works of art? According to “Psychology Today”, “When the ritual is over, when the crow and the raven are silent, we return to each other with stories and characters, memories of events that never happened. We want to share them further; we recommend movies, talk about their virtues and failures, and interleave them into our memories of all the other movies and stories we have lived through” (Why We Watch Movies | Psychology Today). This in my opinion is a perfect way of explaining movie culture in the United States, a quality film makes us want to share what we saw with others, a quality film gets people talking.
The Godfather Via: IMDb
Possibly the most “quality” film of all time is The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Oftentimes considered the greatest movie ever made, the film does an excellent job of keeping viewers in suspense while also building an incredible story. Even though it was made in 1972, it still trumps almost all modern-day movies because of its constant action, star studded cast, and phenomenal pacing even though it’s a three hour movie.
All and all a quality film can be measured in many different ways, from the score to the cast, all the way to the pacing. The best of the best though, have all of these aspects. A quality film may have one or two of these, a great one has them all.