EL5 : How do you consider a story good / good movie ?

Does not treat me like an idiot and doesn't need an exposition dump every 10 minutes.

I like different things in different movies, there isn't really any kind of one size fits all metric besides just "Did I enjoy it?". I am pretty easy to please overall.

Did I like it? Yes/no/some parts but not others

If subjective tastes aren’t good enough, consider studying up on things like writing, composition, color theory, acting. It gives you points of reference as to what things should strive for, and you can mentally check to see if something fulfills those goals

>Is it about strong characters, an engaging plot, emotional impact Yeah, pretty much.

It really isn't necessary to go any deeper than: was it fun? or was i engaged? If you want to break it down further then it depends on the type of film. But questions like: did it make sense, could I suspend my disbelief where needed, did I connect with the characters, did it elicit an emotional response where needed, were any jokes amusing, were the thrilling parts exciting, did it pay off what it set up and how did I feel when the credits rolled?

These in order: 1. Vibes: Does it make me want to watch it. Does it continue to speak to me. 2. Feels: Does it make feel anything. Does it make me laugh or cry or be scared 3. Skill: Do the performances of cast and the work of the crew standout? 4. Budget: Did it have a budge of 10k or 100m. I then rate on a sliding scale.

i thing its subjective. I can think of several 'bad' movies that I will happily watch. Even though the critics/public dont like it. I can also think of loads of films that were considered terrible when they were made but are actually pretty good. Just looking at my DVDs on the wall.... Point break was polarising when it was made, but i watch it at least once a year. Popeye was hated when it first came out, but personally i think it is a surreal masterpiece. Nothing like the other comic adaptations of the time.

Was I entertained? Did I care about the characters?

Have you ever been moved by something out of your normal viewing, try watching similar genres but different ethnicity/cultures, you’ll see what draws your attention and what grounds it, but if your talking in general, for discussion on what’s on Netflix etc, its viewers level of understanding to the displayed content of maturity, (maturity might be the wrong word here) so there’s always recycled material because productions need income, and then original stuff is tested at film festivals, then there’s marketing,( this is way longer than I intended) but this is the basic foundation of it.

To my mind the quality of a story or movie doesn’t rest on how much I or even the broader audience enjoys it, but the structure of the story itself. For me, it all rests on internal consistency. My standard for judging stories is “does it make sense with regard to character, plot, world, and theme?” If a character has been established with certain traits and motivations, do those traits explain what that character does to achieve their goals? Or do they appear to be motivated by different goals than we have been told? Do their actions seem to demonstrate different traits than we were told that they have? Are they acting “out of character”? If we are told that something in the world works a certain way, do we ever see it work differently without a reasonable explanation for the change? Do the characters’ stories support the theme, or do they disagree? Getting audiences to enjoy a movie is the easy part. Just fill it with popular things. But telling a solid story is where the talent comes in

Was I bored? Or was I entertained? Was I emotionally invested in the characters? Marty Supreme is an example of a movie where I thought the lead gave an amazing performance, but I didn't really care about anything that was happening on the screen. So I didn't come out of it thinking "that was a good movie." 

If it’s engaging, if it’s well made, if it brings something unique to the table

While the answer of, 'Did you enjoy it?' is correct, it seems like you want to know what separates a 'good' and 'bad' story. The first two things I noticed people talking about were growth and agency. Growth: did the main character learn or change? Maybe the point of the story was that they didn't. Agency: did the main character's actions / decisions matter? Good writing has cause and effect relationships from one scene to the next, not just a series of 'and then this happened'. Now, a movie could do that well and still be boring. It's the writer, directors, casts job to execute that in an interesting and/or engaging way.

If I am entertained, I enjoy it. I generally don’t watch movies like I would a documentary. Many times I hear the phrase of, “That would never happen in real life”, but framed like it’s a bad thing. ITS NOT REAL LIFE. John Wick, falling down ten flights of concrete stairs? That’s what I am paying for. I like a good thought provoking movie, but I also get tired of people that pick apart every little detail of something of why did they do this or that? I think the one I hate the most is why Jack could not get on the door with Rose in Titanic. You need that for emotional reasons. Rose has to live her whole life with what could have been. It needs emotional weight. The dissection of every movie takes a bit of fun out of most movies for me. Sometimes I just want to watch and enjoy, then be miserable when I have to join the real world again.

If i don't have to check my phone several times during a movie this means the movie is good.

I don't use the word "good" anymore, once I realized I had several different ways of judging films - how much I personally enjoyed watching, how much others enjoyed watching, how true they were to themselves, the level of scriptwriting craftsmanship, the level of directing craftsmanship, etc.

What’s an example of a movie you really enjoyed but online folks thought was bad?

My tastes are my only guideline on what I consider good or bad, learning to ignore others opinions about such things is a part of growing up. A good story is drawing me in, gives me all the tools to follow it, but doesn’t spoon feed me the conclusion.

If I had a good time.