I did search for this topic and came up empty. If there is a similar topic that already exist please point me here and I will delete this thread and post on the original thread.
I have noticed that some of us have been or are still confused between the distinction between our favorite movies and movies that might be called the "greatest of all time". Just look at the difference between your top ten favorite movies for this site vs the AFI or BFI list of great movies as an illustration of this point.
What I am interested in is a discussion of how you determine the films we call our favorites. Your criterea might just be "it entertained me", but surely there might be more criteria than entertainment. If you were going to argue that this movie is better than that movie you would list your reasons.
Here is one of my criteria to start the ball rolling
1) Wide audience appeal? Look at my top ten and you will see that this criteria disqualifies most of my favorite movies from "the best movie" category immediately. There are some that would argue that universal appeal limits the creativity of the film maker. I agree with this criteria because I believe the truly great film makers have managed to produce great films for a wide audience. Look at the films of: Hitchcock, Welles, and Capra to name a few. You can have wide audience appeal without catering to the lowest common denominator, if your story rings true for many.
I have noticed that some of us have been or are still confused between the distinction between our favorite movies and movies that might be called the "greatest of all time". Just look at the difference between your top ten favorite movies for this site vs the AFI or BFI list of great movies as an illustration of this point.
What I am interested in is a discussion of how you determine the films we call our favorites. Your criterea might just be "it entertained me", but surely there might be more criteria than entertainment. If you were going to argue that this movie is better than that movie you would list your reasons.
Here is one of my criteria to start the ball rolling
1) Wide audience appeal? Look at my top ten and you will see that this criteria disqualifies most of my favorite movies from "the best movie" category immediately. There are some that would argue that universal appeal limits the creativity of the film maker. I agree with this criteria because I believe the truly great film makers have managed to produce great films for a wide audience. Look at the films of: Hitchcock, Welles, and Capra to name a few. You can have wide audience appeal without catering to the lowest common denominator, if your story rings true for many.